#the gad allegory

[fluffydice]

Guy with Generalized Anxiety Disorder be like

[mellifluousoctopus]

Is there a fandom for Wolf Like Me? Can someone with more experience than me write the more technical analysis of Wolf Like Me's portrayal of trauma

[reachartwork]

extremely funny to me that like just 5 years ago everyone was (rightfully) making fun of the concept of ai/robots being used as a racism allegory in sci fi, because obviously nobody would ever treat a robot like that, and now we have the world's most GAD-inflicted internet users calling for a literal butlerian jihad. crazy how things change

[princesilverlining]

I need more characters who have generalized anxiety disorder. Social anxiety is real, even I struggle with it, but it's not the only form of anxiety. "It's easy to portray and more relatable to neurotypical people" bestie it's like being in the world, barely living your life. Twiddling your thumbs in dread as things happen around you until you finally cave and do something rash. Normal people may think you're weird at the moment, but you are too engulfed in stress to think too much about it. Every moment is a drop into the dam and a leak is a dumb little impulse decision, I don't know how to finish this allegory, but I'm glad I can't. I love characters like Kobeni from Chainsaw Man who embody this sense of everlasting dread, and her cave scene was just perfect to me. It's more than just that though, the entire air around her reeks of dread and anxiety. She's scared, and I'm scared, which makes me feel ok to be scared.

Please tag anime characters with gad who vibe like Kobeni, I need more instances of gad characters being treated like normal people. Also just you know... existing.

[torahtantra]

Parsha 23.  Pekudei, “The Torchbearer", Part 2.

8 They fashioned the breastpiece—the work of a skilled craftsman. They made it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. 9 It was square—a span[g] long and a span wide—and folded double. 10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. The first row was carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; 11 the second row was turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; 12 the third row was jacinth, agate and amethyst; 13 the fourth row was topaz, onyx and jasper.[h] They were mounted in gold filigree settings. 14 There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

-> the Twelve Tribes and Stones are not Twelve Tribes or Jewish Zodiac they are the Attributes God named as antidote to the plagues: 

Simeon- Law Abiding

Levi- Harmonious

 Judah- Praises God

Dan – Intuitive

Naphtali – The Fighter

Gad- Fortunate

Asher- Happy

Issacha- Reward

Zebulun- Honorable

The Four Rows are the Four Directions, which are respectively:

North: Superconscious.

=Leadership, honor and unity.

East: Awareness.

optimism, friendliness, and diligence.

South: Realization. "The Glowiest."

Intuition, practice and professionalism.

West: Enlightenment. Balls to the West Wall, Baby.

Happiness, prosperity, all Goodness and Godliness.

15 For the breastpiece they made braided chains of pure gold, like a rope. 16 They made braided chains of pure gold, like a rope. 16 They made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and fastened the rings to two of the corners of the breastpiece. 

17 They fastened the two gold chains to the rings at the corners of the breastpiece, 18 and the other ends of the chains to the two settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front. 

19 They made two gold rings and attached them to the other two corners of the breastpiece on the inside edge next to the ephod.

 20 Then they made two more gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the seam just above the waistband of the ephod.

 21 They tied the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband so that the breastpiece would not swing out from the ephod—as the Lord commanded Moses.

Ephod is the sum total impression of the Attributes, it is the nature of the character(s) embedded in the breast plating. 

Other Priestly Garments

22 They made the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth—the work of a weaver— 23 with an opening in the center of the robe like the opening of a collar,[i] and a band around this opening, so that it would not tear. 

-> speech must be bound to the nature of the Ephod. 

24 They made pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen around the hem of the robe. 25 And they made bells of pure gold and attached them around the hem between the pomegranates. 

26 The bells and pomegranates alternated around the hem of the robe to be worn for ministering, as the Lord commanded Moses.

.-> Pomegranates symbolize wisdom the gold bells are “thinking”. These hem the “garment” of the High Priest. 

27 For Aaron and his sons, they made tunics of fine linen—the work of a weaver— 28 and the turban of fine linen, the linen caps and the undergarments of finely twisted linen. 29 The sash was made of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn—the work of an embroiderer—as the Lord commanded Moses.

-> Embroiderers are always the Teacher. 

30 They made the plate, the sacred emblem, out of pure gold and engraved on it, like an inscription on a seal: holy to the Lord. 31 Then they fastened a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban, as the Lord commanded Moses.

-> This is how we know this is all allegory. No one attaches a breastplate to their head using a blue cord. Once again, the thread of blue symbolizes Vaulting, the containerizing of God’s Creation within a sentient ecosphere. 

Moses Inspects the Tabernacle

32 So all the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses. 33 Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent and all its furnishings, its clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; 

34 the covering of ram skins dyed red and the covering of another durable leather[j] and the shielding curtain; 35 the ark of the covenant law with its poles and the atonement cover; 36 the table with all its articles and the bread of the Presence; 

37 the pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all its accessories, and the olive oil for the light; 

38 the gold altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the curtain for the entrance to the tent; 39 the bronze altar with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; 

40 the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; the ropes and tent pegs for the courtyard; all the furnishings for the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; 

41 and the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when serving as priests.

42 The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 43 Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

-> So all of that was manufacturing, and now that the parts have been blessed, they were made properly of the proper materials, God says "set things up."

The Torah is a Tantra...a spiritual narrative that illustrates how one should sort through the realities to arrive at one coherent blessed and functioning successful approach. The Torah do not lie this is not easy; how we should work for the same things in the same ways for the same reasons but do so with the longing to be wholly impersonal, selfish, individualistic, testing limits and risks all the way.

The Torah says some, but not all of this is possible- you can indeed eat, drink, dress, schcrew, plant, harvest, work and rest in all the ways you want, but first comes the government, the temple, the law, and the library, and these depend on how well we incorporate the Instructions.

Setting Up the Tabernacle

40 Then the Lord said to Moses: 2 “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. 

3 Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain. 

4 Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.

5 Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

"Bring in the Table and the Lampstand"= assemble the People of Israel, wind them together in unity and on the entrance of First Day of the New Era, light its wick and illuminate and scent the world with new of the New Covenant."

6 “Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; 7 place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. 8 Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard.

9 “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. 

10 Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. 11 Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

12 “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 

13 Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. 

14 Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. 

15 Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.” 

16 Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.

-> dress the sons of Aaron, Nabab "generous" and Abbihu, "my father is".

"To show generosity exalts God."

Dress yourselves up in the generosity of the Lord, the God of Israel.

17 So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. 

18 When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts. 

19 Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord commanded him.

20 He took the tablets of the covenant law and placed them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it. 

21 Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord commanded him.

22 Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain 23 and set out the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

24 He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle 25 and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded him.

26 Moses placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain 27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded him.

28 Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. 

29 He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord commanded him.

30 He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, 

31 and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. 

32 They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.

33 Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

-> Now Moses creates a partition, the final curtain is hung. We know the youngest, brightest, feistiest are allowed in those without even a trace of Egypt or Pharaoh’s influences left in them. Desiring to be bound to a sentient not a slave driving civilization, they seek the Entrance and are delivered by the Moshiya who educate them in the manners, laws and customs of Sovereign Nations, those that resist tyrants, tyranny, lies, propaganda, bullshit, chaos, all the denizens of the Deep. 

The Glory of the Lord

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 

37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 

38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

-> The Cloud Guardian arbitrates whether or not the Temple Effort has been successful or not. If not, back to the fire, incense, threads, frames, foundations and our best behaviors we must return. 

Upon satisfying God all nattering, bitching, idolatry and stubborn behaviors are consumed, the clouds and obscuring smoke lift, and the journey towards Sovereignty continues. 

Thus ends Parsha Pekudei, "The Torchbearer" numbered 23 of 54 contained in the Holy Torah.

[thesynaxarium]

Today we also celebrate the Holy Prophet Ezekiel. The Prophet Ezekiel (meaning "God is strong") was the son of Buzi and a priest by rank. He was taken captive and brought to Babylon during the reign of Jechonias. In the fifth year of this captivity, about 594 or 593 B.C., he began to prophesy. Having prophesied for about twenty-eight years, he was murdered, it is said, by the tribe of Gad, because he reproached them for their idolatry. His book of prophecy, divided into forty-eight chapters, is ranked third among the greater Prophets. It is richly filled with mystical imagery and marvelous prophetic visions and allegories, of which the dread Chariot of Cherubim described in the first Chapter is the most famous; in the "gate that was shut," through which the Lord alone entered, he darkly foretold of the Word's Incarnation from the Virgin (44:1-3); through the "dry bones" that came to life again (37:1-14), he prophesied both of the restoration of captive Israel, and the general resurrection of our race. May he intercede for us always + Source: https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=138 (at Iraq - Al-Hillah, Babylon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgP6VAOP5St/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ourladyofghouls]

I know it’s been a hot minute since BATB (2017) came out, but there’s something on my chest about it that I really need to get out (I swear I’m not going on my costume rant again) about it.

So, let’s talk about Howard Ashman.

Ashman died due to aids in 1991, the same year the original BATB came out. it was his last project (correct me if I’m wrong) and it’s because of this that the queer subtext is very strong. In a way, the beast was a metaphor for how he felt: he was an outcast because of who he was, and everyone hated him for it. Notice how, after the Mob Song, the Beast doesn’t try to fight back against the mob/Gaston? He’s just sad and wants it to be over. He’s defended by the castle staff, who I guess could represent the queer community in the 1990s but more on that later. The town praises Gaston, who’s an allegory for homophobia. Some of the words in the Mob Song hit different when you think of it in that context (“we don’t like what we don’t understand, it frankly scares us”). Of course, I can’t necessarily confirm that this was the message Ashman was working towards, but that’s the overall metaphor I’ve seen people agree on.

Now, let’s talk about LeFou.

LeFou is, even in the remake, Gaston’s lackey. Despite his change of heart, he’s still the villain’s minion. He’s the punching bag/butt of the joke, and is treated as such, even in the remake. Having the character written to represent the bigoted, ignorant public to be your token gay character feels insulting, especially when it’s heavily implied that they have a thing for the human embodiment of homophobia.

I’m not trying to say that the representation was necessarily bad. I’m glad there was some, and I think Josh Gad put a lot of heart into the role. However, the history and subtext behind it doesn’t sit right with me, at least.

But ourladyofghouls, you’re probably not asking, if LeFou shouldn’t have been the LGBT representation, who could have been?

And with that, I bring you Mr. David Ogden Stiers.

Stiers was the voice actor for Cogsworth in the original and was, also, a gay man. Even though he plays a supporting/comedic character, it’s important to note that, despite some queercoding, wasn’t written to be bad or harmful. He supports our tragic protagonist and is a pretty nice guy overall, all bitterness aside. Hell, he was even slightly based on Stier’s role in M*A*S*H. With these ties to a known gay actor, and the intentions of Howard Ashman, he would’ve been an easier and less derogatory option. Ian McKellen, who plays him in the 2017 version, is ALSO an openly gay man. I’m 99% certain that, when it was announced that BatB 2017 would have a gay character, Cogs was the first character that came to most minds.

I should mention that I’m aro/ace, and can’t exactly connect with the struggles and feelings of the gay community, since they’ve gone through significantly more hardships over history. However, I personally believe that LeFou being gay was poorly written and disrespectful to Howard Ashman (and, by some extent, David Ogden Stiers, who died in 2018). I’m open to commentary and criticisms from those who have a different opinion than mine, and I’d love to hear other takes on this that I haven’t considered. With that being said, best wishes to everyone, and happy pride month.

[sir-adamus]

Gotta love how the Thirteen Doctor is often derided for the very things fundamental to the Doctor, things that both Russel T. Davies and Steven Moffat together never shyed away from. Grand speeches, preaching, political allegories, etc. You can say that how they pull it off in the finer details is what makes or breaks this sort of stuff but the double standards, man. Ye gads. :/

yeah, can't think what the reason might be for THAT

[mattholicguilt]

Olaf in Frozen 2 was genuinely so funny I loved him

he WAS. i felt like there were some lines that would have been annoying rather than funny if josh gad hadn't delivered them perfectly. but he did, and they were hilarious. ("samantha? ... wait skdhsjdhskj i don't even know a samantha" ) also i loved how much he was like. an allegory for being a child and learning about the world like. yeah olaf was great.

[c0nsumptionblr-blog]

Day 2: Spoons as a Resource

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Spoons. Most likely, you use them everyday whether to stir your morning coffee or to take a sip of soup. You probably don’t think about them as a resource nor a limited resource at that. Now, imagine you have 12 spoons and each of them represents a finite amount of energy. Each activity you partake in throughout the day uses 1-4 spoons worth of energy. For example, it takes one (1) spoon to get out of bed in the morning, it takes two (2) spoons to get ready or study, it takes three (3) spoons to socialize or walk the dog, and takes four (4) spoons to run errands or go to school. As you can imagine, your spoons will get depleted very quickly. To make things even more complicated the amount of spoons you use one day affects the amount of spoons you have the next day.

This is called “Spoon Theory” and is an allegory meant to describe what life is like for those living with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses. This theory was first described via a personal story from  Christine Miserandino and is now a common metaphor used by sick people when talking to healthy people. Healthy people have the luxury of having a large supply of spoons at the ready but many disabled and chronically ill people need to strictly manage what they spend their small amount of spoons on.

I myself am a “spoonie,” or someone who struggles with having limited spoons. I have a disability called Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH), which essentially means too much sleep (hyper=excess, somnia=sleep) from an unknown cause (idio=peculiar, pathic=affected in a certain way). It is also known as “the sleeping beauty disease” and is a similar condition to narcolepsy. Along with IH, I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), and Fibromyalgia, which is a chronic pain condition characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain due to over-activity of nerves, again with no known cause. Because of these conditions I have to greatly manage my spoon usage and often miss out on activities that most “normal 21 year old’s” get to do. I have a difficult time doing day-to-day activities like feeding myself, tidying up, and bathing let alone managing school and work on top of that. I often don’t have the resources of time nor energy to do things like socialize or exercise and often am unable to do things I enjoy like painting or making art. 

I hope to discuss how I use my spoons further in the future but I leave things here for now. See y’all tomorrow!

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2017, Part II

Part I can be found here. I should have mentioned the films I haven’t seen, which include BPM; Faces Places; The Square; Coco; Thelma; Last Flag Flying; Roman J. Israel, Esq.; Wonder Wheel; Jane; and I, Daniel Blake. Long-time AHOLs also know that I’m in the fifth year of a self-imposed five-year break from superhero culture, so I haven’t seen Logan or Thor or whatever else. With that: ENDEARING CURIOSITIES WITH BIG FLAWS 87. The Great Wall (Zhang Yimou)-  Zhang Yimou's The Great Wall has a lot in common with Wong Kar-Wai's The Grandmaster. Both are high-concept international co-productions that bear just enough of the filmmaker's signature but feel unfortunately cut to ribbons in the editing room. Computers have made us all a little worse at our jobs, Zhang included, and his spectacle is achieved despite CGI, not because of it. I liked watching a boulder's journey through the stages of being catapulted, even if it eventually landed into a physics-negligent pit of cartoon monsters. By the end, the picture is more bloodless, sexless, and simplistic than a game of toy soldiers, which makes it seem just as child-like. It's a forgettable sort of fun, but it is often fun. 86. The Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders)- A bit more comprehensible than the original but far less beautiful. It's a shame that visions of future exteriors haven't improved or at least changed since Blade Runner. Big advertisements. Got it. (Also, we have telepathic walkie-talkies, but people sleep on the floor?) There are a few good ideas drizzled around. If people can basically toggle back and forth between languages, why not hire a famous actor who doesn't speak English for one of the supporting roles? Speaking of acting though, Johansson is pretty bad in this, hamstrung by the whole playing-a-robot problem. (She looks as good as she ever has though, which is saying something.) She could have taken some notes from Michael Pitt, who brings some edge and skitter to his cybernetic replicant or whatever they call it. 85. Wilson (Craig Johnson)- It hits the notes that a Daniel Clowes property usually does: misanthropy, formlessness, begrudging acceptance at the end. I laughed a few times and appreciated the huge left-turn at the two-thirds mark, but I didn't think it amounted to much. 84. Patti Cake$ (Geremy Jasper)-  Other than the Basterd character, there's nothing really broken about this movie, but I'm selling on anything with double-digit dream sequences. 

83. Colossal (Nacho Vigalondo)- The ending, both the final act and the final note, went a long way to save what was a tedious sit for me. I appreciate the big swings that everyone took with this budget and material--Sudeikis once again gets to show impressive range. But this is an hour of material stretched to an hour and forty-nine minutes. 82. Rough Night (Lucia Aniello)- Hide-the-body movies never work, but what makes this one disappointing is that there's a daring, original corrective somewhere on the margins. You can tell from the comparatively tame bachelor party or the unexpectedly positive threesome that this movie has refreshing ideas, but both the Machine and TV visuals from a TV director shaved the edge down. No one wants to hear such a thing about a sorely-needed female-driven comedy, but Paul W. Downs is the funniest thing in this. 81. Beauty and the Beast (Bill Condon)- Shout-out to the morons protesting this movie's gayness but not realizing that the original was always an allegory for AIDS. These live-action remakes are all around the same quality, but this one feels especially bloated, with really dicey CGI. Things get borderline boring in between the musical numbers, but, man, do those numbers hold up. There's the title track obviously, but songs that would be throwaways in something else--"Gaston," "Be Our Guest," "Something There"--are BANGERZ here. The real IP is the music, and Disney is just going to get each generation's Josh Gad to sing them forever. 80. Darkest Hour (Joe Wright)- This movie reminded me of The Imitation Game in the sense that it's a staid presentation with a solid structure that feels cheap whenever it zooms out beyond its back rooms. The grander version of this, which Joe Wright in some ways already made, is probably just as unsatisfying, but it wouldn't have the pinnacle of goofiness that will hereupon be known as The Underground Scene. I’m a bit bored of this type of film. Darkest Hour might be worth seeing for Oldman's performance, which is a true transformation, absent of any actory vanity but invested with some real myth-making. Churchill gets introduced with just his hat, then lit by just a match, then lit by a shock of sunlight. Oldman is very good in his scenes with Scott Thomas, so it's a shame that her character disappears for a half-hour at a time. The more troubling thing to note is that there are many men in this film who are so English that they can't pronounce their r's. If you catch it eawly, it's a weal distwacting pwoblem. 79. The Fate of the Furious (F. Gary Gray)- Since some of the dumbest stuff is some of the best stuff*, I'm not going to get caught in the web of assessing how much sense The Fate of the Furious makes. But I can say that this entry is the least intentionally funny of the series, and other than "the White girls' soccer team is the Monarchs," it loses some of the class undressing of 6 and 7. From the endless scene-setting to the overstuffed character roster, this is now more of a comic book than a movie, an exercise in being a plot without being a narrative. *- See: the "make it rain" sequence, Statham swinging the baby carrier through a gun battle, Rock redirecting the missile with his bare hands.

78. Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press (Brian Knappenberger)- The first hour, centering on the Hulk Hogan/Gawker case, is compulsively watchable, even if it doesn't shed much extra light for anyone who followed it when it happened. Terry Bollea explaining that his penis is shorter than ten inches while Hulk Hogan's, the character's, is not: That's what I signed up for. When that case veers into the bizarrely vengeful, pretty much when Peter Thiel comes in, Nobody Speak becomes something else. The final third pits the sensitive, diligent bullpen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal against billionaire liver spot Sheldon Adelson, who bought their paper to suppress it. Then, of course, the doc expands to Donald Trump's vilification of the free press. If that sounds like a straight line, it doesn't come off that way in the film. The Hogan/Gawker stuff, which takes up the majority of the running time, feels unresolved after all the tangents. 77. The Reagan Show (Sierra Pettengill, Pacho Velez)- I'm cringing for the next five years, in which I'll have to judge a movie's success based on how subtly it invokes its mandatory Donald Trump comparisons and allegories. They're coming. In general, it's kind of sad to see how much more literate people were even thirty years ago, even as they populated a medium we all agreed was low culture. This documentary feels sharp at first, understanding something essential about the way Reagan owned his own persona. With the American Right treating him like some patron saint, it's also helpful to remember how much pushback he got at the end of his second term, for something that would be, like, the fiftieth most controversial thing Donald Trump would have done already. (See?) When the doc gets to its own fascination with Reagan's Star Wars program, however, it basically loses its thesis. As lean as it is, it still sort of stumbles to the finish line. 76. Beatriz at Dinner (Miguel Arteta)- I appreciated this portrayal of a culture clash way more than I liked it. For a while the characters are highly specific. (The delivery of "It's 6:13, Kathy" made me laugh out loud.) Then the plot turns into "Oh, so we're talking about Trump's America, right?" (See?) Here's a critique that's catty every time: This film has great ideas about class and race if you've never thought about class and race before. 75. I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)- Oscar is calling...for the fat dude playing Shawn Eckhardt and no one else. If Allison Janney wins for doing the thing she always does over Laurie Metcalf's fully realized human, then it's a huge mistake. Successful in some of its comedic goals, especially in its depiction of northwestern goons, the shame of the working class, and period detail. (I laughed out loud when I saw the Girbaud tag on Gilooly's jeans.) Unsuccessful in most of its other goals--if I'm even reading the film correctly in my assumption of those goals. The most obvious one is the slippery nature of the truth, and that idea is handled clumsily. Gillespie goes to great GoodFellas-aping lengths to grapple with perception--having characters break the fourth wall even though there are already voiceovers and to-camera interviews. That talking to the camera comes up a few times in the disturbing scenes of domestic violence, which do humanize the characters because the other elements of the film can't, but they distract the viewer with their blitheness. The most puzzling angle of the film is the Hard Copy reporter, played by Bobby Cannavale in yet another example of his agent not knowing how famous he is. It's a missed opportunity in a movie full of them. 74. It (Andy Muschietti)- I don't get why people went nuts for this. The ensemble avails itself pretty well, despite all the sitcom-y dialogue. (Dialogue that, based on the Stephen King that I've read, is probably faithful to the book.) Some of the visuals nail the distinction between surreal and unreal--my favorite is the children's TV show that sporadically drifts into the murderous. But the movie just kind of hangs there, all the way to its interminable ending, satisfied with its own literal presentation of events that seem to be metaphorical. As I understand, It--however It manifests itself--represents the death of childhood and the emergence of an adult banality of evil. But the movie engages with that level as little as possible, and maybe that's why people are going nuts for it. This is a scary movie if you're a child, and most of the moviegoing public seem to be children. 73. Before I Fall (Ry Russo-Young)- I mostly watched this because I think Zoey Deutch is a Movie Star, and if I'm going to be there for her Speed, I have to be there for her Love Potion No. 9's as well. I appreciated Before I Fall's brevity, but the premise offers a lot more fun than the film is willing to have. In the end the balance was off: It had to be either more moralistically PG-13 or go way darker. For example, just like in Groundhog Day, the character realizes that she'll live out the same day no matter what she does, and it triggers a nihilistic phase. But rather than going on a shooting spree or stealing stuff from a mall, she just, like, wears a sexier dress and talks back to her parents. Good swing, kids, but I'm waiting for the crazier version.

72. War Machine (David Michod)- There are some standout moments in War Machine, many of which are thanks to its impressive cast, but I don't think the film is cohesive enough for me to recommend. I know what Michod is against--counter-insurgency, military hubris--but it's harder to figure out what he's arguing for beyond some sort of level of transparency. The war sequence near the end feels at odds with the tone of everything else, even though it benefits from the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis score. In a similarly frustrated vein, I feel as if I know exactly who Glen McMahon is, and the script's greatest strength is how sharply it draws him, but Pitt's studied performance adds distance to it. It's as if all of the film's comedic nature is supposed to come from how people revolve around his straight man, and that expectation is too much to put on his shoulders. There's more than a little Bud Turgidson in the voice Pitt affects, but the difference is that, as mean as this sounds, I always believed George C. Scott when he played a smart person. 71. The Trip to Spain (Michael Winterbottom)- Diminishing returns. 70. Downsizing (Alexander Payne)- There's a meta-effect to the structure of Downsizing. Its characters decide to shrink themselves, finding unpredictable challenges in the process, and the film similarly gets more problematic as it focuses further into each of its four legs. The first part, the outside world, is when the film is at its most cutting and well-observed. It still lays its points on thickly--dude at the bar asking if downsized people should be able to vote, for example--but the questions are worth asking. The second part, Leisureland, the bourgeois subdivision lil' Damon lives in, is more satirical and less satisfying. (I do love that downsizing ends up being such a gauche pursuit though. Payne has always had his finger on the pulse of people with poor taste.) The third part, which takes place in the downsizing slums, is a sharp, unfunny left turn that discards characters but at least develops the protagonist further. And then the wheels come off in Norway. At least we got to hear Udo Kier say, "I do love my boat." 69. Okja (Bong Joon-Ho)- Since Okja is such a unique movie, I feel as if people will overpraise it as a way to brand themselves: Its poster is probably going to be in a lot of dorm rooms. But there's a lot that you have to look past in order to recommend it. In general, I find that Bong's English language work has a bizarre mixture of muddled themes being presented in direct ways. There is some sweetness here--most of it due to the amazingly detailed rendering of the pig--but too much of the comedy doesn't work, and the ending feels a bit easy. I liked most of the stuff with the Animal Liberation Front, and I kind of wish they had been the focal point of the movie. Can I say, as my main takeaway, that I'm worried about Jakey G? He is so big here, so out-of-tune with the rest of the film, that I blame Bong for not reining him in. At the same time, I keep making excuses for Gyllenhaal, claiming that his parts are under-written, but at a certain point, you have to point the finger at him if there's such a pattern of bad performances emerging. I didn't see Everest, but this is his fourth brick in a row. Help us, Dan Gilroy. You're our only hope. 68. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)- An interesting swing that ends up missing for me. Excepting The Lobster, Lanthimos's works seem obsessed with family dynamics, and he plays some interesting games with this family's perversions. Farrell's character's story about his father dovetails with his somnophilia, which seems to inspire the way his daughter offers herself to her object of affection. From Anna's medical past to Steven's alcoholism, these characters seem to have full lives that have been in motion long before the events of the story. But I kind of suspect I'm worshiping at the altar of auteurism, and I wouldn't have half the respect or patience I do for this film had I not known who made it. The dialogue and performances are purposefully flat and stilted, thus creating an off, eerie quality before we know why we should be unnerved. But what if the performances are just, you know, bad? The film also creates a premise that concludes in an inevitably unsatisfying way. I don't know what I would have done instead, but I'm not a genius filmmaker who gets the benefit of the doubt.

[leslie-shut-your-fucking-piehole]

Personal Thoughts and Opinions on “Hummels and Heroin”

So I kinda forgot that I hadn’t yet made a post for this episode (likely because college has been killing me this past week), which surprises me considering how much I loved this episode. Easily second favorite behind “Put It Down”. 

I think I’ll start with the negatives however, because they’re fewer in number. Firstly, it made the previous episode more confusing considering I thought “Franchise Prequel” would lead into a trilogy of some sort, but I suppose this episode is not at fault for that. My biggest (and really only) issue with this episode is the ending with Marcus confronting the pharmacists at their gathering was a little too ambiguous. The issue there didn’t really feel solved just because Josh Gad’s character walked up to the source of the problem. I wish we had more time for a conclusion.

But other than that, I thought this episode shined! I think I speak for all when I say it was nice to have Stan back in action. This really felt like an old episode in set up and story telling, like season 15 or 16 since we’ve had a story like this. What I mean by that is there was a simple story, revolving around one or more of the boys and a specific issue they had to face that is an interesting play of an everyday sitcom cliche. They took the idea of a nursing home and made it an allegory for prisons (though many find those terms synonymous), and filled it with plenty of laughs with insightful social commentary. No forced “current” references or set up for serialization: just a story. All of the jokes landed for me (especially the dapper Dans parody), which is what I ask for most in a South Park episode: be funny. I’m really enjoying the direction (or redirection) Matt and Trey are taking this season, and I hope their streak continues.

[kristoffbjorgman]

I'm new to your blog so sorry if you've answered this, but why don't you like lice action Lefou?

because disney decided that a movie that was heavily influenced by a gay man’s experiences living during the aids crisis and is essentially an allegory for the way lgbt people were demonised as monsters by society in the 80s was a good “testing ground” or whatever for future gay representation in their movies by deciding that a secondary antagonist whose name means “the idiot” is actually secretly in love with the misogynistic hypermasculine villain and gets his own “exclusively gay moment” hyped up by the press that ended up being a 2 second shot of him accidentally spinning into another man’s arms during the finale ballroom dance scene that’s full of the dozen or so straight pairings the movie added

what’s even more annoying is how ridiculously far both sides of the argument got like some idiot cancelled her disney trip over it and entire countries were banning the movie and people were acting like it was going to be a fucking sex scene or something like lefou was gonna pull down his pants and bust his ass right open on screen then on tumblr there’s now like huge groups of teenage girls woobifying gaston and headcanoning him as a pansexual demihomoromantic or whatever and shipping with him and lefou and shipping lefou with the random background character he danced with and all this shit over a 2 second improvised dance scene and josh gad’s extremely questionable decision to “play gay” in his acting without telling anyone what he was doing

[courtneysmovieblog]

The “Beast” is a “Beauty”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Which means that not everyone is going to like Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.  These include, and are not limited to: people that didn’t want a new version at all, people that don’t like Emma Watson, people that think the whole story is an allegory for Stockholm Syndrome, people that don’t like fairy tales, people that have a problem with LeFou (Josh Gad) being gay, and even people that don’t like musicals.

If none of that applies to you at all, then you’ll enjoy it just fine.

Don’t bother comparing it to the original cartoon, because you aren’t going to win there.  It will always have a place in our hearts that no amount of remakes will ever take away.  Bill Condon and the cast are well aware of this; their deep love and respect for the original is well evident in how faithful the movie remains to the spirit of its animated predecessor.  Yet like last year’s live action Jungle Book, it tries to add its own unique spin by incorporating elements from the original fairy tale and giving a bit more depth to its characters.

Ever wondered why the Beast/Prince was such a jerk before he got cursed?  Why the people in Belle’s village didn’t seem to have any idea that there was an enchanted castle a few miles away?  Why Mrs. Potts and the others got cursed when they didn’t even do anything?  Or even what happened to Belle’s mother?  Well, you get the answers in this movie, and it does effectively fix some of the movie’s biggest plotholes.  

Now to the performances.  Emma Watson has a decent singing voice, auto-tuned or not, and more importantly, she makes Belle even more of a badass than she already was.  She has a decent chemistry with Dan Steven’s Beast, which is assisted by another big change from the original story: they bond over their mutual love of books.  While the cartoon Beast (and the one in the Broadway show) is illiterate until Belle teaches him to read, this Beast is very knowledgable and witty, thanks to his expensive education.  He’s still very much a spoiled man child, but it’s nice to have the two of them as more intellectual equals.  It makes their blossoming romance seem more natural.

Luke Evans is definitely the breakthrough in this movie.  He might not be the size of a barge, but his pipes definitely are.  You can tell he and Josh Gad were having a ball every second while making this movie, and it definitely shows in uproarious “Gaston” number.

On a related note: the subplot of LeFou being gay was completely blown out of proportion by the media.  Not that it matters: Gad is perfect as the character, and he gets some of the best lines in the movie.

Also clearly having fun were the voice actors of the enchanted objects/servants: Cogsworth (Ian McKellan), Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), Cadenza (Stanley Tucci), and Madame Garderobe (Audra McDonald).  McGregor especially makes a wonderful Lumiere, even if the French accent isn’t genuine -- Jerry Orbach’s wasn’t and we didn’t hold it against him.  As I predicted, he sold the hell out of the “Be Our Guest” number.  It doesn’t matter if the objects themselves look creepier in CGI form.  We have to remember than not everything that looks good in a cartoon looks good in live-action.

Other than that, the movie is visually gorgeous, especially the costumes.  There are certain outfits and numbers that make you feel like it’s Disney as told by Marie Antoinette and Moulin Rogue, but not in a bad way.  Actually, the color adds to the movie’s charm.  And Alan Menken’s songs and scores remain mostly unchanged, save for a few new songs that are well done, if not as memorable as the original ones. 

Beauty and the Beast might not be perfect, but it’s another example of Disney doing right by its own work.  Unlike Once Upon A Time, Maleficent, or the Alice in Wonderland movies, it manages to modernize a classic without butchering its characters.  It modernizes a classic story while remaining faithful to its original spirit.

And really, isn’t that all we ever wanted from this movie?  

8 out of 10

[evergreen-soul]

The Distressful Allegory of Discovering my Career Path

Michelle Viloria

Purpose: Writing Sample

Introduction Class

August 22, 2017

            For the majority of my life I had always been organized and determined to achieve my goals. At a young age, I developed admirance for the way health care professionals provided help to the ailing, despite age, hierarchy or ethnicity. I was astonished that one could make an affluent living by simply caring for others and bettering their lives. Logically, my mind was set on the path of pursuing medicine. I progressed through life and my studies with a fixated goal to which i was determined to achieve. After years of diligent research on the pediatric field, I was certain on my readiness to embark on the 11 year collegiate journey required in becoming a licensed pediatrician. I was tailoring my high school classes toward a major that corresponded with my intended profession until I abruptly found myself lost in the depths of an existential cataclysm.

It was my junior year of high school. The year known for being the most stressful and nerve wracking of all four. It was the year a student was expected to be taking rigorous college prep courses, applying to colleges, studying for the SAT’s, weekly tests and essentially preparing for the rest of your life. Moreover, said student was expected to maintain a healthy diet, hygiene & social life, all while receiving a substantial amount of rest per night and being active in extracurriculars, seems simple right? Of course we can’t neglect the students parental unit, notorious for bombarding remarks about cleaning their room and doing the dishes instead of recovering the rest sacrificed to studying the night prior. Being oblivious to these upcoming adversities and due to my inherent passion and optimism for academia, I commenced my junior year with vibrant enthusiasm regarding my several AP classes. Prioritizing immense workload and tormenting deadlines over my own health, I progressed through the first semester of my junior year with poor strategies. I was receiving 3 hours of rest per night and relying on high doses of caffeine in order to surmount the subsequent school day. I found myself transitioning into academic machinery, utterly emotionless, monotone and my diet and sleep routine solely consisted of the bare minimum required to survive. I expended my remaining energy on completing each night's assigned workload and making another cup of coffee. The only ounce of self care I took part in was allowing for brief moments of rest when applicable, this left little room for outlets of enjoyment.  My loved ones became concerned for the toll that these habits would inevitably unveil. Despite their unease, I was rendered sightless in a desperate state of in denial. I insisted on fortifying an unrealistic concept of balance that i yearned for internally. Although being one I had never anticipated, the most detrimental adversity occurred in the midst of the chaos. I gradually grew distant with my faith and as a result this eliminated any remnants of hope and motivation that lingered within myself.

To no astonishment, my physical health deteriorated as i continued to advance through the year. My undeviating lack of sleep ensued a constant state of low energy by default, an unwavering lethargy and poor social skills attributed to my absence of interest or motivation for anything other than rest. I was utterly hopeless and simply striving to get through each mind numbing obstacle that prevented me from returning to the solace of my bed. I awoke every morning distressed at the sight of sunlight peering through my blinds, as this entailed another day of compliance. Eventually my daily routine became mechanical and involuntary,  everything from showering to walking to school was a hurdle, an irrational yet unbearable internal battle i wasn’t sure i could overcome yet proceeded to endure mindlessly, simply because that’s what other people did. These overwhelming daily hurdles were tasks expected of all students, this being said, i spent hours desperately contemplating why these were particularly difficult for myself to overcome. This ongoing frustration soon ingrained feelings of worthlessness, disappointment and self loathing.  Despite the daily battle of having to face the unrelenting emptiness, i proceeded to let my loved ones be oblivious to the gravity of my despair and simply attributed my disinterest and gradual distance to my substandard sleep habits. I spent each day feeding a facade that was silently eating away at me. In a bittersweet prosperity, i had succeeded. Absolutely no one, had noticed that the light in my eyes had gone out.

To contribute to these disheartening series of events, came an inconvenient epiphany. In the midst of embracing the planes of my emotional solitude, although I was unsure of how to find happiness again, I was certain that I would not find it in pursuing a profession in medicine. As an individual who has incessantly identified with habitual organization and structured goals, I had developed a fixated vision of my desired career path. Due to this adamant notion, this newly found consensus of uncertainty rendered me spiraling into a state of turmoil with utmost severity.  

As predicted, the anticipated toll  arrived as the year came to an end.  I completed the year in a spiraling nature plagued by immense confusion and a conceivable diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) along with an anxiety disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder, which confined me to several involuntary hospitalizations and psych ward transfers.

On a much lighter note, although i cannot declare that these were in fact a misdiagnosis,  I can fortunately say that I am undergoing medication and intensive treatment in an effort to repossess my life. Can I say that i’m happy? No. Can I say that I overcame that introductory hurdle to mental illness that many never got the chance to? Yes.  Although I am admittedly not the familiar enthusiastic spirit I was prior to these events, I can confidently attest that I have learned more about myself than i ever thought possible. In the midst of the abyss that was my mental stature, and within the countless installments of disassociation and forgotten purpose, I was exposed to a significant lesson-one to which would resonate with me perpetually. Promptly, the confusion and distress that had afflicted me daily, had ceased.  Within the damaged networks of my mind, a brief yet momentous period of clarity had manifested itself into existence. I discovered the value of embracing the peace encompassed within the unknown. I became aware that directing my energy toward accomplishing set goals and desired incentives were utterly meaningless and served as merely underlying factors when seeking happiness and self fulfillment. It occurred to me for the first time in my life, that it was acceptable to not have everything figured out. Upon this awareness, a weight was instantaneously lifted from my chest. It became apparent that the path of uncertainty was to my astonishment, manifested as a more desirable condition-instead of being distressful, burdensome and therefore additional evidence of my own incompetence.  The state of not knowing was no longer a stressor nor ignorance but rather an embodiment of liberation.  

Although a catastrophic concept among asian academic culture along with my own onset beliefs, I learned that the exploration of  life’s various opportunities performed as a more beneficial and educational route than pursuing previously set fixations in order to guarantee safety. A common misconception fails to acknowledge a paradox within this unpopular design; the definite elimination of conventional walls rather than the creation of additional obstacles when striving for genuine happiness. What if in reality your safety net was in fact acting as a driftnet? A figurative prison floating through the sea of life’s vast opportunities, awaiting release within the enclosures of doubt within your mind.

There presents a great irony in how those who have lived and done more than the rest of us, are most tormented by the brief instances in which they simply did nothing at all. For the sake of preventing the influence of primary biases, I have no intentions to conceal the risks responsible for deeming this concept vastly unorthodox, even blasphemous among average scholars. Although advancing through one’s life in this manner surely entails an expensive risk, it is accompanied by invaluable wisdom. When asking an elder upon the rearmost stages of their life of their utmost regrets, the most common responses were regarding the decisions in which they never acted upon. These actions which were never fabricated into existence do not simply vanish upon loss of opportunity, they discover vitality lingering as a ghost in your conscience, haunting an individual's memory and manifesting itself as repentance. By choosing a path that promotes a greater chance of whole hearted decisions, This ensures a more accomplished livelihood.  Regrets are decreased significantly as one who exhibits fundamental control over the changes in their lives is more likely to sustain authority over their own fulfillment.  As originally theorized by psychologist  Julian B. Rotter, an internal locus of control is strongly linked to an increase in an individual's quality of life. From a brief  analysis of Rotter’s data one can begin to create an implication that undergoing a lifestyle with little regret is in fact ideal and something we should all strive for. Without risks the pursuit and purpose of finding the meaning of life itself is invalidated and essentially eradicated by those who submit to conformity. This introduced the idea that perhaps the risk is greater when choosing the safest proposal.

To conclude the distressful allegory that was discovering my career path, my goal in the next 5 years is to be nothing short of utter and unapologetic happiness. I intend to work part time for the duration of my senior year in hopes of shortly moving out following my graduation along with bidding farewell to my financial dependency along with becoming the primary guardian of my younger sister while my parents deservingly enjoy their retirement residing in the Philippines. I plan on sharing a living space with close friends in order to efficiently meet the demands of rent as a working student. I intend on beginning my collegiate experience of 2 years of community college at De Anza, with intentions of transferring to Southern California for the remaining years and graduating from a university. As much as I would have coveted for a more conventional response to this prompt, this is one that renders most true to the heart. I learned that in order to genuinely find yourself, you first have to completely lose yourself. Caution is to be expected when being exceptionally vulnerable and raw, however, the utility of adversities to your advantage results in a refining effect rather than a detrimental one. After the smoke cleared it became apparent that the debris left amidst the rubble were far more valuable than anything the storm could have initially destroyed.  Whichever direction in life this may encompass remains another glorious uncertainty that the universe grants us the good fortune of witnessing unfold. Before I found myself spiraling involuntarily, plunging directionless and simply anticipating the impact. In my newly found perception, I am choosing to free fall, releasing my inhibitions, embracing the possibilities, and in that choice- lies all the difference.

Prompt: Where do you wish to see yourself in 5 years?