#vim-official

[vim-official]

30 Vim commands you NEED TO KNOW (in just 10 minutes)

[flatpak-official]

i am excited about no-neck-pain.nvim years old

[sed-official]

im good! was just eating dinner (chicken and pasta), and have had a great rest day today with my dogs. i did nothing of note! yippee!

how are you?

echo -n "meo" && while [ 1 ]; do echo -n "w"; done

- @sed-official

MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

hi sed how are you

[melinoelliones]

Your parents had asked you to babysit your siblings on halloween night as they had, “an important seminar they had to attend” and “needed you to watch them”.... So who was the guy at the door?

MINORS DNI/AGELESS BLOGS DNI/ANTI DC DNI/18+

Kinktober 2023 Masterlist

Warnings: Brainwashing, quickie gone wrong (kinda), death, biting, no prep, dub con, tears, incubus, creampie?, rough sex! fem reader

2.3k words

Imma say this is Dark Content so if you do not like death, blurred lines between consent and no consent or no prep DO NOT READ THIS!! This is not for you i’m afraid. Sae is a incubus. I have never written this kind of thing before so don’t jump me ya’ll. 

“Ugh can you two shut up already, I’ve been dragged to every house in the neighbourhood, cut me some slack will ya” you groaned, throwing yourself onto the couch. Totally ignoring the trails of “but mom said” and “please” that followed behind you.

You had just got home from taking your younger siblings out for Trick or Treating as you did every year, however this was your first official break from starting Uni so you had hoped they’d let you off this time round. To be fair, there was never a dull moment with those two though you had to admit, even if they forced you to dress up with them.

Watching the two kids dressed as ghosts fling their tubs of candy all over the floor you sighed, “I hope you know I’m not cleaning all that up”. “Yeah yeah we know” they rolled their eyes in unison as they began their candy trade whilst you simply scrolled on your phone idly. 

“Stuck babysitting once again, never gets old” you mumbled to yourself, shifting your angel wings off your back and onto the floor. Your siblings had forced you to dress as an angel but you only agreed if you could pick the clothes. 

“Stop, you’re messing up our piles” your sister moaned, flinging them at your head on impulse. “HEY, STOP THAT OR I’LL HA~”, you were cut off as the doorbell rang. Your eyes turnt to the kids on the floor as if to ask if they knew who that was, yet you were met with two matching pairs of clueless eyes.

You all stayed frozen as the rings continued, over and over again until you mustered up the courage to walk over to the front door, your heart pounding out of your chest at this point as your hand hovered over the knob. Who could be at the door at this time, your house was the only one on the block that didn’t have major decorations so people knew to not come knocking.

Slowly turning the doorknob the door flew open causing you to step back a bit, standing a foot away from you was a boy who looked about your age, staring pure daggers at you. “Wrong house maybe?” you questioned sarcastically, pure vim rolling off the tongue as you retook a step forward. Who was he anyway?

“Definitely the right house” the boy scoffed, looking you up and down as he continued “I’m the babysitter, and by the looks of it, I was needed”. You stood dumbfounded as he swerved straight past you and into your living room, turning to face him you retorted, “Wait a minute, you can’t just waltz up into people's houses like that, who even are you?”.

“Sae, the babysitter as I said a second ago, now hurry up and shut the door” he huffed, scanning the cluttered floor. “Oh yeah did mom and dad not tell you? They hired a babysitter", your brother spoke up before going back to his candy exchange. “Weren’t saying that when we were statues two minutes ago were ya. Didn’t wanna mention that huh?” you sighed, face planting your hand before shutting the door behind you. 

Why would your parents hire a babysitter if they knew you were staying the night? You weren’t a little kid anymore, what was the point of that? Not to mention the dude didn’t look like he’d be good with people in general, let alone kids, where’d they even find him. 

You watched as Sae strolled across the room scanning it thoroughly, same blank face plastered on his face as before, “well then? Start cleaning up this trash, it's late”. You stood behind the couch, since he’s the babysitter tonight you thought ‘maybe I’ll get a break after all’.

The twins scoured the man with looks of disgust as he barked orders almost immediately, “and who are you to tell us what to do?” “We are in the middle of a candy exchange”. “They got a point” you sniggered under your breath, turning away sharply as he glared at you. 

“I won’t ask you again, sort this out.” the guy ordered, hovering over the two as if they were ants. Should you step in? You weren’t the babysitter but maybe that was a bit harsh. As you went to tap him from behind the twins nodded, beginning to tidy away their candy in silence. 

“Now how did that work?” you muttered to yourself, you’d have to bribe them with a year's supply of goods to even get them to brush their teeth, let alone tidy up while they're in the middle of doing something. “And why aren’t you helping them?” Sae asked, back still to you as the kids hurried to pack away their candy. 

“Umm, maybe because I don’t need a babysitter, nor do I need a strange pink haired boy telling me what I should and shouldn’t do in my own house” you pointed out. What was not clicking for this guy; first he comes to the house unannounced and now he's barking orders? What is going on today, where did your parents even find this guy, maybe if yall met at a party you could have hit it off but God was he rubbing you up the wrong way right now.

You heard a faint sigh from him as he took a step to the side before pointing at the staircase, “N’ go on, I don’t even want to see your faces till your parents get back”. Your face showed an expression of pure disbelief as you watched your siblings almost march up the stairs with a simple “okay, goodnight”, no rebuttal, no fight back, just compliance. 

As you tried to comprehend the scene that just played out before you, Sae managed to make his way around you, his hand trailing your waist and to your hand, gripping it ever so slightly “I don’t need a strange pink haired babysitter telling me what I should and shouldn't do, was it?” he chuckled, reiterating what you had already said prior while pulling your hand closer, your back pressed up against his left side as he examined it.

“Maybe I should make you eat those words angel”, “what are you doing, this isn't very professional of you mr babysitter” you spat, did he really think this would be the case of easy girl sleeps with the hot babysitter.

“Is there something in the air today” you scowled, yanking your hand out of the guys grasp and turning to face him, your back hoving just in front of the couches back, “If you’re a babysitter, what’s with the fangs and pointy tail hmm?”, “Oh you like em?” he smirked.

You stood your ground as the guy inched closer and closer to you till he was almost towering over you, your eyes refusing to meet his while you spoke “No, do babysitters usually dress as… Wait a minute”.

“You didn’t come in the house wearing that, what are you?” you stuttered, your eyes darting around his body taking in all the new features. There was no way something like that could have slipped your mind, absolutely no way. “Oh lighten up angel it’s just a costume, maybe you’re just exhausted and didn’t notice. But hey, if you wanted a closer look you could've just asked” he ribbed.

You could feel Sae’s presence as he stepped closer, his cold body radiating an eerie aura that made your heart almost instantly start racing like never before. His icy hot hands cupped your face, trapping you in his gaze till you could no longer move your own body, it almost felt as if there was someone else in your skin and you were just the mere shell.

Under the trance he had put you under, your lips met in an all-consuming kiss, every inch of your body quivered with nothing but lust and desire but you had no control anymore. A small moan slipped your lips allowing him full access, tasting every inch of your mouth as your tongue wrapped around his.

Deepening the kiss, Sae slid his hands down your tight fitted dress, tracing every curve of your body as he lifted you with ease, wrapping your legs around his waist and arms around his neck. Sae walked you both around the couch, laying you on the cushions below yet your lips never broke apart.

“Sae please” you whined needily against his lips, pulling him in as close as you could. “Oh don’t worry, I’ll give it to you” he snickered, breaking away from you, a trail of saliva still connecting you both as he looked into your eyes, “It’ll be the last thing you get”.

Those words resonated with you, what was even happening right now. Fear started to sink in as he gazed into your fearful eyes, all you could see back was corruption and death. Sleeping with him was one thing, but what did he mean by “it'll be the last thing you get?”. You weren’t even sure which thoughts were yours and which were his that were being planted in your head.

Sae ran his fingers down to your underwear, the trail of a icy hot burn lingering where they touched as he slipped them down your legs and onto the floor in one swoop. Without warning he pushed himself between your legs with a groan that was lost amongst your own curses, “did I catch you off guard” he asked sarcastically, pressing his lips against yours to swallow your cries.

The heated kiss intensified as the guy slid his hand under your shirt, feeling the warmth of your breast as he took your harden nipple between his fingers, twisting ever so slightly every now and then. He could feel himself harden as he touched you, a feverish heat coursed through his veins. 

With every thrust you felt a fiery coldness inside you that was both unbearable and exhilarating - it was almost as if he was feeding off of your energy, taking pleasure from your body beneath him. “Fu~ck I need you” Sae groaned against your ear between moans, your body was taking him so well. You clung to him, your breathing becoming heavier as he moved inside you. 

You wanted him so badly in this moment yet you knew you didn’t want to die, your mind couldn’t even comprehend the situation you were in at this point. Pain, lust, fear and desire just mixing into one as your body held onto him. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and pretend this was a nightmare, this was your reality and there was nothing you could do. You had no control over your actions.

“You’re so fucking warm” he grunted, his thrusts getting deeper and more frantic as you cried out his name over and over again, tears streaming down your cheeks from the sensations. “S~Sae” you choked out, your eyebrows furrowed as his tip continuously pressed against your sweet spot, it almost felt as if with every stride more air left your body. You were almost suffocating but he made you feel so good.

The sounds of skin slapping against one another and passionate moans filled the large room, Sae’s body almost seeming to get more powerful as your needy cunt swallowed him in each time he grew faster.

“Sae please, i’m so close” you begged, your foreheads almost resting on one another's while he fucked you, your eyesight slowly fading away with each thrust. “Fuck I wish I could keep you to myself, too bad I gotta let you die” he cursed, not wanting to have to let you go, but as an incubus he had no choice.

“Go one, cum for me, paint this cock white before you go” he grinned, his vulgar tone hooking you in one final time, all that was on your mind was the need to fulfil your sexual appetite. Doing as told you came, your walls constricted around him, milking him dry but also coating his shaft completely.

“That’s it” he hissed, longing out his thrusts to allow you to enjoy your final orgasm before sliding out of you. Your vision began to blur and your eyes grew heavy, the realisation that you were fading away hitting you once again. 

You just wanted to slip away and forget everything, before you could drift away Sae whispered in your ear, “Can’t let you go without leaving my mark can I?”.

He sunk his fangs into your neck, an odd coolness running through your veins as he did, any energy you had left escaping as you took your final breath. This was it, this was how it would end for you, where did it all go wrong? Would he have left if you hadn’t opened the door? So many unanswered questions but sadly, time was up for you.

“So sweet, just how I like em” Sae laughed, composing himself while taking in the sight of your cold lifeless body laid on the couch. You were nothing more than a vessel to help him regain his power, however he had to admit, you felt different, not many were able to resist an incubus for as long as you could. But no matter the circumstances you had to pay with your life, life didn’t always get to go smoothly for everyone, life isn’t fair.

Just as those thoughts popped into his mind, Sae heard a car pull into the driveway. As he waltzed out of the house a man blocked his way, a confused expression on his face as he spoke, “erm, who are you and what are you doing here? I was told I was babysitting children”.

Glaring daggers at the smaller built man who looked no older than you, Sae rolled his eyes, “I don’t think it matters now anyway, you’re too late”. Stepping to the side and off into the distance Sae muttered, pointing back towards the babysitter, “But I will say, you’d better get ready to explain the scene in there”. 

Following the direction of Sae’s point the babysitter shuddered, panic and fear seeping in as he turnt the door handle to see the most horrific scene he had ever seen. Turning back in pure terror, the pink haired guy was already gone into the night.

[rust-official]

Given how @neovim-official hates me (see here) I have started learning @emacs-unofficial , using @doom-official and hence @emacs-evil-mode.

(this is not entirely a shitpost, one of my partners has been showing me around, largely for org mode but I've always been curious. Back when I got my start with Unix/Linux in the late 90s on a shell provider, emacs was the first editor I tried, but it was so slow to start back then that I switched to vim. How things would've been different for me if computers were faster when I started!)

[tomwambsgans]

poltergeist (2015) nicholas braun + enfield haunting mattmac.... imagine

[soupsie-daisy]

you there vim or emacs -@perl-official

vim til i die

[yuurei20]

It seems they changed “old man” to “damn bat” in the tamashina rerun (sorry I can’t find the tweet anymore 🙏)

i wonder if it’s because it’s supposed to be a secret that Lilia is old from the cast? (Maybe hinting this is before book 7)

Hello hello!! Ooo thank you so much for this! 🦇

Was it this tweet 👀

It is all true! Leona's original line involved じじい (an impolite word for an older man), but in the ongoing rerun it has been changed to コウモリ野郎 ("damn bat" is a great interpretation!), with the original localized on EN as "grungy" and "old" 📝

The same poster points out in a follow-up comment that じじい was changed again later on in the story and again to "damn bat," in a line that EN localized as "geezer" in the first run of the event.

So interesting 👀 That is a good point that maybe it is because Leona was not supposed to know that Lilia is old yet?

Vil has a line about how Lilia does not show any of the "youthful vim one would expect from a student," but maybe Leona's comment had been a little on the nose? 🧐 Very curious!

Thank you again! "Lilia and Bats" post has been updated! m(_ _)m

[emacs-unofficial]

Should I learn emacs I've been coding in nano

@perl-official

I always recommend emacs. But depending on your use case you might want to learn something else first.

If you hop between different servers a lot and can't expect to have access to your favourite editor on there, I recommend learning the basics of vi/vim since that is preinstalled pretty much everywhere. Also, most bigger IDEs you might use in the future have a setting or extension to use vim-keybinds.

If you just want to program on your own machine, I recommend trying out a few different text-editors and then decide on one.

To learn emacs, I recommend using the built in tutorial. You can access it using C-h t (thats CTRL-h followed by t) while beeing in emacs.

To learn vim, you can use the vimtutor. I think it is automatically installed with vim on most distros, but may have to be installed separately on some. Also neovim/nvim is way better in term of extensibillity to regular vim

Other Editors you could try:

- VS Codium (Visual Studio Code fork that removed most Microsoft Stuff)

- helix - a Vim like Editor

- zed - way too fucused on AI features for my taste but I heard it has some other nice features

If you want some more infos on why emacs is great: here two semi serious posts I made in the past:

Pingin some people who also might have something to say:

@vim-official @helix-editor @emacs-evil-mode

[remembertheplunge]

The human shall protest to the grave

February 1, 1992

Today I’m feeling really shaky—distraught—ANXT. Is it because last night things got shaken loose? Jumbled up—like the physical system after a tough work out—

I keep thinking about “Fried Green Tomatoes”. Nice life inspiration—kind of the “Chariots” of 1992.

Yesterday was incredible—really—at noon…Terry Loyal Jones signed his will. Blinded…he signed  his proposed will instructions which said  “I leave all else to my long time companion. Bury me in my tennis shoes—why waste a good pair of boots? Later, he decided—the boots would be ok, and his jeans and new shirt. If a certain 3 people attended the funeral, have them arrested (including a sister). At the funeral, come dressed for a party, I want balloons and two songs (I can’t recall now what the songs were). And, he included who he wanted to do his eulogy.

And, there he lied—all thin, giant, Auschwitz like. Blind. But full of vim and fire and life. His life flame burned as brightly…and his friend loved him as intensely and freshly…as any I have yet experienced..Terry and I shook hands twice. I said at the end “take care”.

And they, Terry and his partner, were just as fervently “Living”  the life style…”Why should we give up our property to relatives? We’ve lived like husband and wife”…so, the “will: will serve as their official statement of intent.

“We were legit.

BACK OFF.’

The book says—“The human shall protest to the grave.”

Thank God.

End of entry

12/3/2024. Notes:

Terry Loyal Joes had Aids. A 2/17/1992 margin note to the above entry said “he died last Thursday.”  He was matched with a volunteer with the Stanislaus County Aids Project who helped him through his illness and death. He was not my match. I must have been there to help him with the will signing. 

Late stage a

Fried Green Tomatoes was a 1991 movie. “Chariots” refers to “Chariots of Fire” a 1981 movie.

I’m not sure what book I was quoting from at the end of the entry (the human shall protest to the grave).  But, I still totally agree with the message. 

One AIDS related complex was loss of vision ability and blindness

Auschwitz was a German concentration camp where Jews, Gypsies LBGTQ and others were taken to be torched, starved and killed during World War II. The inmates grew to look like a late stage AIDS victim of the 1980's and 1990's.

[vim-official]

:help

help.txt For Vim version 9.1. Last change: 2024 Dec 06

VIM - main help file

k

Move around: Use the cursor keys, or "h" to go left, h l

"j" to go down, "k" to go up, "l" to go right. j

Close this window: Use ":q<Enter>".

Get out of Vim: Use ":qa!<Enter>" (careful, all changes are lost!).

Jump to a subject: Position the cursor on a tag (e.g. bars) and hit CTRL-].

With the mouse: ":set mouse=a" to enable the mouse (in xterm or GUI).

Double-click the left mouse button on a tag, e.g. bars.

Jump back: Type CTRL-O. Repeat to go further back.

Get specific help: It is possible to go directly to whatever you want help

on, by giving an argument to the :help command.

Prepend something to specify the context: help-context

WHAT PREPEND EXAMPLE

Normal mode command :help x

Visual mode command v_ :help v_u

Insert mode command i_ :help i_<Esc>

Command-line command : :help :quit

Command-line editing c_ :help c_<Del>

Vim command argument - :help -r

Option ' :help 'textwidth'

Regular expression / :help /[

See help-summary for more contexts and an explanation.

See notation for an explanation of the help syntax.

you might be a girl: Wear eyeliner and a dress, go someplace where nobody knows who you are, and make a friend.

Search for help: Type ":help word", then hit CTRL-D to see matching

help entries for "word".

Or use ":helpgrep word". :helpgrep

Getting started: Do the Vim tutor, a 30-minute interactive course for the

basic commands, see vimtutor.

Read the user manual from start to end: usr_01.txt

Vim stands for Vi IMproved. Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, but only

through the help of many others. See credits.

[sorrisos-love]

Nossas Noites De Aventura

Todas as  vezes que ia pra sua casa era diferente , eu chegava lá, cumprimentava sua mãe,  e depois a gente ia pro seu quarto,  a gente escolhia uma série pra assistir comia algo dava risada,  eu com a perna em cima da sua , seu braço em volta do meu pescoço,  me puxava pra perto de você ,  começamos a se beijar , vários e vários beijos , o clima ia esquentando, você tirava a minha roupa e eu a sua , você vinha por cima de mim , minhas pernas por cima da sua cintura , você colocando sua parte íntima em mim com cuidado pra não me machucar,  mas depois ia aumentando a velocidade, conforme ia colocando eu ia arranhando suas costas toda,  e você sussurrando no meu ouvido : você sabe que fico louco quando arranha forte né .

E eu sabendo isso já fazia pra provocar , você se tornava outra pessoa, suas mãos no meu pescoço,  eu gemendo no pé do seu ouvido,  te pedindo mais , e falando que estou gostando ,  você colocando com mais vontade ainda,  me colocando de lado , levantando a minhas perna pra cima , apertando meus seus , minha virilha toda molhada ,  fazendo barulho de água ,  que delícia.

Você me pedindo pra ficar de quatro pra vc , puxando meu cabelo , dando tapas na minha bunda, colocando o dedo na minha parte de trás,  tapando a minha boca pra não gemer alto , pois sua mãe estava no quarto do lado , me puxando pra mais perto de você , e do nosso lado um espelho ,  no qual eu ficava olhando enquanto você acabava comigo ...

suas mãos no meu pescoço,  sem me machucar,  você sussurrando no meu ouvido :

Quem é seu homem , fala pra mim .

E eu respondendo que era você.

me pedindo pra deitar na cama de novo ,  e me puxando pra ponta,  você em pé do lado de fora da cama , colocando minhas pernas pra cima , colocando com tanta força que a sua cama acaba saindo do lugar , puxo vc pra perto de mim , te dou um beijo demorado ,  e você a todo falando q sou sua , fizemos amor tão gostoso.

Te pedi pra ficar sentado ,  e vim de frente pra você ,  encaixei e fui sentando,  que sensação foi aquela que eu senti , parecia que estávamos conectados ,  ligados um no outro , fui cavalgando tão gostoso,  você segurando meus seios nas mãos , devorando eles. meu gemido ficou diferente,  era um gemido de prazer, estava com a minha mão no seu pescoço, virou seu rosto pra te beijar , olhei nos seus olhos e te disse:

Eu vou gozar,  deu um suspiro na hora.

logo em seguida ,  você me pediu pra ficar por cima de você de novo , sentei em você naquela noite perder minhas forças,  me apoiei na sua barriga,  e pelo espelho eu me olhava quicando no seu p* , você me pediu pra continuar ,  estava quase gozando , assim que sentiu que ia gozar,  me pediu pra parar .

sai de cima de você ,  me ajoelhei na sua frente , segurei seu p* nas mãos e comecei a te chupar e bater uma pra você ,  fui batendo bem rápido,  conforme ia batendo seu gozo ia caindo pelo meu corpo.

E finalmente você gozou bem gostoso e bem quentinho.

Me sentei no chão,  você me olhou e disse :

O que foi ?

Eu te olhei e disse : Estou com as pernas bambas , me ajuda a levantar ?

e você sorriu ...

#My Post .

@minhas-historias-official

[groggygrimalkin]

Updates Thistle's sprites!! Plus finally added her werewolf sprite. As a Witch of Life she's able to use a gambit schema for herself without the need of a schema pumpkin. Her official gambit schema's title is "Absynth Werewolf" which sharply increases both her Vim and Pulchritude

[the-story-dragon]

(Thumbnail from the official VBTV website)

Sir Susa Vim Perugia vs Mint Vero Volley Monza (SuperLega Serie A - 23.02.25)

Watched On: 23.02.2025 - 24.02.2025 Duration: 2h 35m

This was a very interesting match to watch. I panicked after Perugia dropped the second set and stopped watching. I watched the rest of the match the next morning. Oleh's service runs were so damn spectacular to watch. And Ishikawa's aces as well. And his fake set to Bentara !! Man, I can't wait until the VNL starts !!!

Perugia won, 3-1.

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Scrublands review – Chris Hammer adaptation is a rock solid addition to Australian rural noir

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jay Ryan plays murderer priest Byron Swift in Scrublands, now streaming on Stan. Photograph: Sarah Enticknap

A journalist is assigned to write about a traumatic event, speaks to wary locals, scratches away layers of obfuscation and discovers All Is Not What It Seems. Yes, we’ve been here before. Ditto for crime stories based in rural Australian locations; the bounty for this year alone includes Deadloch, Black Snow, Bay of Fires, The Clearing and Ivan Sen’s feature film Limbo.

However, Stan’s new four-part mystery series Scrublands, directed by Greg McLean and adapted from Chris Hammer’s bestselling novel of the same name, demonstrates why genre-ified tropes and formulas have evergreen appeal if staged with some vim and flair.

These kinds of narratives don’t have to be fresh, per se: according to Campbellian wisdom there’s nothing new under the sun. But templated stories should always feel fresh and be invigoratingly staged. That’s certainly the case in Scrublands, which at its worst feels a little potboiler-ish but is grippingly sustained across four episodes of roughly one hour apiece and never overstays its welcome.

-----

The series begins provocatively, with a priest – Jay Ryan’s Bryon Swift – shooting at his own congregation with a sniper rifle, murdering five people before turning the gun on himself. Not the most effective recruitment drive for the church. Twelve months later, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist – Luke Arnold’s Martin Scarsden – arrives in the town where it happened to pen a “one year on” anniversary article. One local accuses him of writing “torture porn” but Scarsden says his brief is a colour piece: “just weekend supplement stuff”. Nothing to challenge or upset people. The protagonist will change his tune, of course, when he gets an inkling that something is wrong with the official narrative and attaches himself to the story like a dog with lockjaw.

We know that things can’t be as they seem but we saw the priest killing in cold blood, so what kind of twists and turns await? Good mystery writing is sometimes about appearing to box things in, to construct narrative limitations before finding ways to circumvent them – by widening the context, perhaps, or unveiling different perspectives, or laying out a tangled backstory, all of which is the case in Scrublands. Like other crime mysteries such as The Dry, McLean alternates between timeframes, the current one having a hot glazed look, the palette taking on cooler hues during earlier times. The latter moments feel reflective, distanced from the white-hot part of the flame. Later on, these once-lighter looking scenes get warmer, signifying that the plotlines are merging and the drama is coming to a head.

Luke Arnold is compelling – and he doesn’t overdo it. Photograph: Sarah Enticknap

Luke Arnold is a compelling lead: from the start you feel invested in his presence. When Arnold does that thing when an actor frowns while examining a piece of evidence, as if to say “now I’m putting two and two together”, he doesn’t overdo it; it feels genuine. This is a less showy performance than Simon Baker’s heroin-injecting cop in Limbo or Travis Fimmel’s sleepy-eyed detective in Black Snow – perhaps because Arnold is playing a journalist who can’t afford to indulge in too much self-destructive behaviour, with all those bloody deadlines to hit.

But when it comes to dramatic purpose, the journalist and the detective often occupy the same essential role: as upsetters of the apple cart, sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, making people uncomfortable and creating a chemistry change that draws dormant feelings – and, of course, The Truth – to the surface.

Bella Heathcote, who co-starred in the excellent 2020 horror movie Relic, is very persuasive as Mandy Bond, who has, shall we say, unique knowledge of the late priest. Just by the way she holds herself, by the longing in her eyes, the actor very effectively communicates that Bond wants to be somewhere else, emotionally and physically.

Mandy Bond (Bella Heathcote) in Scrublands. Photograph: Narelle Portanier

As the aforementioned priest, Swift initially seems a little imposing and Ironman-like for a man of the cloth, as if he should be in a Nutri-Grain commercial rather than a confessional. But stay with it; this tale is tangled and things feel quite plausible (notwithstanding the need for a wee bit of disbelief suspension as it rolls and tumbles along).

Like much of McLean’s work, Scrublands can be a bit pulpy but here not in a bad way: this isn’t trashy or schlocky. It’s a rock-solid addition to the rural noir genre, engaging from the start, all the way to a satisfyingly explosive finale.

Scrublands is streaming now on Stan.

Source: The Guardian

[md-guel]

a happy, happy guel wednesday to everyone but most especially to the boy ever guel!!! jeturk!!! who's finally made it back to the screen as an unwilling accessory of what I think is one of the darkest episodes to have been shown by the anime. people love to hate on this for being such a combo breaker, but me, I love to love on this, so here's me showering it with all the love that I have

if i may, I'm going to start with the lighter stuff first and by "lighter stuff", I actually mean "guel jeturk" in spite of all the stuff he went through

the feeding scene is such a traumatic opener, especially for us who've been eager to see how guel has been doing. but it's such an effective way of setting the mood for the entire episode and I'll always be happy that guel was used as a vehicle for it. but from that scene alone, it becomes obvious that the situation is dire, for both guel and olcott (standing for the dawn of fold). guel is steeped deeply in depression that he's completely lost sense of himself, and olcott is also desperate enough to use a living human being as a ticket to safety

with the out-of-canon uh...official headcanon, though, of guel being a bit of a home cook, I really have to wonder how this experience affected his feelings towards food. did he suffer from an eating disorder? did his palette change or is there a type of food that he just can't eat anymore without being triggered?

when the building fell, I still think that for all of guel's inherent goodness, it would have still been the easiest thing to just abandon seethia and get himself out there to safety. but even though he does explain later that he did it because he felt sympathetic towards seethia who wanted to see her father, I think this one scene just speaks volumes about how brave he really is. remember, he's just a kid. he's never had to kill someone before and when he does, it ends up being his dad. seethia is nobody to him, and it's easy to be more concerned of his own traumatic experiences (seethia had been found in a very bloody state) and his safety than some child who's been left for dead, anyway. but he really went through the trouble of getting her out of the debris, never mind that seethia blamed him for everything

I love that little kind of subtle blink he makes when he hears that his company and his family are going bankrupt, and I think it speaks a lot about how boundless his love is for them, too. the whole situation with vim is unfortunate, but I don't think it's guel's fault to still default to loving him especially after his guilt for killing him. I just like that guel is ready to just give up on life until he heard about his family, and then he suddenly comes alive. because it's not just about him anymore, and he's never been one to just sit on his hands especially when his loved ones are concerned.

shortly before the building fell, too, I remember reading a lot of fans saying that guel had tried to protect the kids with his own arms. like use his arms as a shield to protect them from the collapsing roof. I often watched that exact scene with 100% screen brightness, and I think it could be plausible! if guel is the skillful pilot that he is who knows the in-and-outs of pilot and mobile suit safety, and if it's true that asticassia had earth survival classes, then it would have been automatic for him to put his arms over his head to protect himself. but he doesn't. instead, he extends them outwards in the direction of the kids, and I like that he did it, too late, too. like he'd reached out towards them in alarm when the roof fell before he got buried in it, too.

I will also always love that seethia asked him what he wanted but that guel said he didn't know. ironically, this is the first day he is well and truly free of anything. free of his dad, free of the dawn of fold. but it's a kind of freedom say, a domesticated animal would find out in the wild. he's free, yes, but he doesn't know how to be free. his whole identity has been tied up to his dad that now that he has to stand on his own two feet and make his own decisions, he's lost. he's pretty much just running on instincts here, and that bit of stubborn bravery that's keeping him moving

seethia is just so thin here 😭

another example of just how brave I think he really is: this is only his second encounter with death, though it's the first time he's really looking at a corpse. it would have been completely understandable if the stress just became too much for him and he just ran away and hid somewhere else until the whole thing blows over. but for the sake of seethia's life, for that simple hope of bringing her to her dad, he pulls through, he wears the flight accessories of a dead man and even sits in the place where he was murdered

if people ever doubted his skills on piloting a mobile suit, since he only ever flew jhm's ones before, I think this is a stunning example of his innate skills. the prodoros suits are far from being the shiniest mobile suits, and I won't be surprised if this is an older, or less technologically-advanced suit than what he's used to. even the cockpit screens looks far too different than the spacian suits but he's able to operate it without difficulty

I love this scene so much. I really love how guel was given the imagery of a star that lights up the skies when things seem so hopeless. and slightly off-tangent, I also love how a lot of the artwork, from ippei gyoubu, from the fans, that came out during this episode got the memo and ran away with it. guel is such a bright star, all right; he's an ace pilot on skills alone, and he's a well-loved house leader and friend. I also like to think that this was to symbolize his rebirth. he'd fallen far enough so now he can only go up

and I love that that's how he found the strength to move forward. he's still clueless, he's still lost, but he knows he has to start somewhere and he can't just be stuck there anymore. he probably has absolutely no idea about what's going to happen in the future, only that he has to save his dad's company so that's what he's going to focus on for now. which, maybe some people think it's stupid. vim had abused him, and now he wants to preserve his memory. will guel ever learn? or will he always be stuck in his dad's shadow

in the end, guel doesn't get to save seethia and he ends up...absolutely nowhere. not at the bottom from where he started or at a better place. hes just...existing somewhere at this point. this time, he really truly is nobody, more nobody than even 'bob' ever was

if you ask me, I think at this point of his arc, he's still very much stuck in his father's shadow because he wasn't able to extricate himself properly from it. but I don't think it's fair to say that he failed to grow as a character just because he's going back to his old cage. you can't blame a child for loving his father. it's not a person's fault if he wants to go back to his loved ones. if what he's doing is bad or wrong, then is it good or right to hate and abandon his people? it doesn't make any sense to me, not in the context of guel's history and character

but, so that's the lighter side of this episode for me. as for the heavier one, oh boy. if anyone's ever doubted that the spacians are as bad as the dawn of fold says they are, this should clear things up. the dawn of fold are terrorists, all right, but who branded them as terrorists in the first place? who pushed them to such lengths?

it was hard to watch guel being tortured with force-feeding but if you ask me, it's much easier than watching the earth garrison force picking the dawn of fold pilots like fish in a barrel. these guys are helpless. they're scared and they're small! their lives have been ruined by the greed of capitalists, and they're only trying to fight back because of what the capitalists did to them! it's a losing battle the minute they concocted the plan. benerit group may as well have sent trained soldiers out on a bunch of farmers with pitchforks. that's how large the gap is between them, but the benerit group didn't care as long as they could take their hurt feelings out on them. and boy, does it feel very personal, knowing what's going on in real life with the rest of the world