#zak acts like its all American??

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Heyo! Quick question: Do the HoMies have a common place to meet up/chill/sleep between missions, or they just bust into any of the members' canon houses?

That's a question which kept invading my brain since I discovered your stuff. I'm especially curious on how you'll tackle June being unable to leave Orchid Bay because of her role of protecting her town.

Not really? 😅 They indeed most likely will crash in each other's towns/bases/homes, after a mission/team-up or just to hang out!

Jun is indeed a complicated situation, with her canonically being unable to leave Orchid Bay, but actually in HoM, there is a ... 'development' that allows her to temporarily leave it for a brief time! ;) It's going to be partially covered in Act 2, and more in depth in flashbacks, which I'm actually very excited about, because its one of the more important parts of this AU!

But honestly, besides Jun, others are also very location bound (even if they are not restricted by a magical barrier lol), so each of them would prefer to stay on their own territory for various reasons.

Danny is in or always close by to Amity, because it has a stable portal to the Ghost Zone. Jake is more or less required to stay on East Coast/New York because he is a guardian of one of the most central magical communities on the American Continent (the other major being Orchid Bay aka West Coast).

Kim, Zak, Jenny and Ben all have their solid homebases in their respective towns (or his parents/Saturday's mansion/lab house?? in Zak's case), but they travel a lot for work. Kim and Zak are more Earth bound, while Jenny and Ben also take trips to outer space. But each of them have a place where they can recuperate.

The only vagabond out of the lot is Rex (he is like a total opposite of home bound Jun lol), by circumstances and choice, so he often crashes in one of the other HoMies places, when he doesnt travel.

While I enjoy the AUs where heroes all live/work/chill out together in one complex (remember all those times of 2012 Avengers-live-in-Avenger-tower-domestic-shennanigans?? good times lol), I don't really want HoM AU to be like that, I guess. <;D

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

The members of Geelong, Australia-based outfit ORB — Zak Olsen (vocals, guitar, bass), David Gravolin (guitar, bass) and Jamie Harner (drums) — have had a lengthy career, starting in earnest with a lengthy stint in their first band as teenagers, The Frowning Clouds. Since starting ORB, the Aussie trio have released two albums, 2017’s Neutrality and 2018’s The Space Between, which they supposed with a European and North American tour opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard back in 2019. The band’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated album, the Tim Dunn-produced Tailem Bend is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Fuzz Club globally and through Flightless Records in Australia. The band didn’t intend for six years to pass without an album, but there’s little in life that happens as expected — or as desired. Much like all of us, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans. And then add side pursuits and the other vagaries of daily life that we all know too well. Tailem Bend derives its name from a quiet South Australian town, whose name caught the band’s collective eye while on tour. For the band, the name conjured images of some long lost prog rock act; however, the town’s name reportedly is derived from the Ngarrindjeri word “thelim,” referring to a sharp bend in the nearby Murray River. Written over the course of 2021 and 2022 and finished in the studio early last year, Tailem Bend‘s material is saturated in vintage warmth and depth while showcasing a bold leap forward in their sound and approach that’s not a complete departure: Continuing to be anchored around their unerring knack for being tunefully hypnotic, the album’s material sees the trio infusing heavy doom-leaning jams with a lighter psych pop sensibility and funky rhythmic grooves. There still fuzzy power chord-driven riffs, but the material also features some mellower passages and a renewed focus on rhythm and space. A deep sense of shared history also informs the album’s material. The Aussie trio reunite with Tim Dunn, who produced several Frowning Cloud albums. The album also features guest spots from former Frowning Cloud bandmate and current frontman of Banana Gun, Nick van Bankel (conga); The Murlocs‘ Callum Shortal, who often plays live shows with ORB (guitar); Leah Senior’s Girlatones‘ and Baby Blue’s Jesse Williams (piano) and Emma Bailey (backing vocals) and Ashely Goodall (backing vocals). To celebrate the album’s announcement and build some buzz on the album, the members of ORB recently shared “Can’t Do That”/”Morph.” The A-side “Can’t Do That” is an expansive jam anchored around fuzzy blues-tinged power chords, a funky and mind-bending, motorik-like groove paired punchy hook that channels a synthesis of Thin Lizzy, Ram Jam‘s “Black Betty,” Black Sabbath and jazz fusion. “‘Can’t Do That’ started out from a demo of mine,” the band’s David Gravolin says. “Tried to sound like W.I.T.C.H., ended up sounding like Thin Lizzy.” The band’s Zak Olsen adds that “Lyrically it’s about having self-respect in low times.” The B-side “Morph” features some heavy yet melodic, Black Sabbath-like riffage paired with Olsen’s reverb-soaked Ozzy Osbourne-inspired delivery singing some trippy lyrics. Play loud, smoke some ganja and then vibe out!

[fcb-mv33]

Every single team has a number 1 and number 2, with Mclaren they aren’t wanting Daniel out if the points each weekend…and yes maybe they are giving Lando the number 1 preferred strategies but it means nothing to them if Daniel cant get in the points, so I couldn’t see why they would sabotage him?? But they aren’t giving him good ones…and I really don’t know why unless it just them genuinely fucking up…./

First off I don’t like Zak either. I think it’s because he’s so intent on getting an American driver or someone from the Indy 500 and he makes it out it’s all for the American popularity. Might be being misquoted or it comes across differently than what he means but you need a good driver and not just based on popularity. Shouldn’t pick a driver for that reason only for one… and there are still plenty of talented drivers in the formula series that deserve a chance so maybe don’t pick purely on nationalities/popularity Zak… he has two of the most popularity drivers on the grid currently but they weren’t given a chance purely to win a popularity contest 🙃 I know some people will argue with me on this and I’m sure the drivers rumoured to be in co tension for a seat are good but this is how I feel about the situation.

Secondly, i reckon Mclaren are the kind of team that come up with one really good strategy and struggle for a second one. It’s like a school project where you’re brainstorming and after 1 good idea, your mind goes blank. That’s how I view their strategies meetings for Daniel tbh. But Mclaren have to be careful as despite all the hate Daniel is getting he is still a really popular driver and I’ve seen plenty of fans getting annoyed at what’s happening… and you might be right, Daniel will potentially leave after next season which will be sad… and f1 will definitely see a drop in popularity after that in Australia (my friends lives there and says the majority only watch it for him) 😬

Honestly I feel like Zak is so concerned about keeping Mclaren in the spot light. Like tbh Zak tries to keep in the media, bitching about Max with DTS, bitching about Red Bulls young driver program, bitching about Christian having a number 1 driver. He wants to shove all the ‘good vibes’ out into social media…thats what he wants. I do think its a good thing f1 getting into the American market but honestly he is pushing the ‘American driver’ on everyone way too much, especially when he has Daniel till 2023. I think its a slap in the face to Daniel who is one of the most popular drivers on the grid.

If they cant stop fucking up his strategies then they need to employ more people…like I agree I think they focus on the best strategy and then give the left overs to the other driver ie Daniel. Look I’ll be sad when Daniel leave but….im excited to start seeing new drivers on the grid and also imagine how DTS is going to do without Daniel💀

[thebrisingamen]

Something frustrating I've noticed, especially in the early aughts shows I liked, exceptions of course existed but I'm talking as a broader whole.

GENERATOR REX:

-Dr. Holiday; The 'motherly' figure, who's super smart and figures things out but like...she doesn't DO much of anything to advance the story or plot and she's often not doing much

-Circe; An extremely satellite love interest who disappears? idk wtf happens to her, tbh. she has 0 personality

-Black Knight; The villain lady, Ice Queen Archetype. Boring

And that's all I can think of that are NAMED, APPEAR FOR MORE THAN ONE EPISODE female characters....

SECRET SATURDAYS

-Drew Saturday; Mostly a good character, but falls into the Mom trope. She's the mother/relative of our main character and so is often more supporting than active. At least she is active and complex.

-Wadi; Love Interest, bratty child one because they're 10-11 but she gets very little screen time and we don't know much about her beyond the fact that she likes to steal items & likes Zak.

-Rani Nagi; A Naga, who is evil and wants to revive Kur and is a villain with no more depth than that...

-Dr. Miranda Grey & Abbey Grey; The Grey Sisters are supporting cast and not very interesting--they just fulfill story purpose but at least they're women. Secret Saturdays is the least bad about this, but 5 named female characters appearing for more than one episode is...bad...

BEN 10;

-Main Female Lead is Cousin, who is supposedly pretty powerful in the following series though we only ever see her do support, we never see much of a focus on her as a character and she is rather static.

She remains bossy good girl cousin, the brainy one of the trio dating emotionally unavailable Kevin who needs to deal with his trauma, despite Kevin and Ben having more connection and scenes in the entire series.

Her entire character revolves around who she is related to (Ben, Their Grandfather, Her Grandmother, etc.) or who she is romantically attracted to (Kevin, Morning/Dark Star, etc.)

We never talk about Gwen's interests, what Gwen likes, who Gwen is outside of her family. Apparently she likes school but WHAT ELSE GUYS?

-Kai Green; There's a lot to unpack here; Her first name is at least Native American, but the whole introduction episode has not aged well and, just. Wow. Also she's boring and evil, I guess? Like what the hell? Oh also a love interest who is introduced in one ep and returns in the third series

-Julie Yamamoto; Another LOVE INTEREST and she does actually seem pretty cool, but then they broke her and Ben up because reasons???? Reasons.

Reasons Being That A Strong Female Character With Actual Screen Time Was Too Hard

ESPECIALLY since they had them break up OFF. SCREEN. in between series.

That is totally not suspicious at all.

-Other Female Characters; forgettable, one-shot, etc.

This is pretty much an epidemic for early 2000s cartoons & is also well exemplified in the Nolanverse Batman Trilogy

Female Characters Have A Very Limited Range To Be

They Are

1. The Mom/Sister/Cousin etc Relative Character who has some moments but is mostly support for the main cast and rarely, if ever, showcases her abilities unless everyone else is out of it. This character is only comic relief and rarely presented as pretty and is relegated to side-kick.

2. The Good Girl. Pure of Heart, Usually The Love Interest Satellite Character Who Acts As The Morality Pet/Compass to Main Male Character. 9/10 times she's also a virgin or too innocent to be overtly sexual....

3. The Traitor/Villain/Bad Girl. Almost Always Sultry and/or Sexy (bc owning your sexuality is "bad") and clearly represents temptation for our hero. Can't be evil just to be evil, must have a reason.

And that's it. I think its why I always disliked Ben 10 in many ways, the same for Generator Rex; I wanted to like these shows, but there was either too much going on to follow a coherent story (Rex) or the ongoing issues with a series made in the 2000s

Alien Force WAS SO GOOD and that is WHERE the show should've ended its run, but then Omniverse happened.

-So yeah, stop doing these three female characters please, PLEASE give us varied people in shows. It is happening, slowly but surely.

Also we were robbed

-Ben 10 (alien series)

-Gen Rex (AU alien earth)

-Secret Saturdays (Cryptids)

-Magic? MAGIC? it's been mentioned several times in original BEN 10 series that magic exists & is real, same with Secret Saturdays and its been established they share the same universe so...

WHERE IS OUR MAGIC SHOW, MAN OF ACTION?

[rockislandadultreads]

LGBTQA+ Fiction You Should Read Right Now

reading lists in honor of PRIDE 

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

An electrifying novel of an unconventional family in Trinidad mended by their individual, and collective, quests for love After Betty Ramdin's husband dies, she invites a colleague, Mr. Chetan, to move in with her and her son, Solo. Over time, the three become a family, loving each other deeply and depending upon one another. Then, one fateful night, Solo overhears Betty confiding in Mr. Chetan and learns a secret that plunges him into torment. Solo flees Trinidad for New York to carve out a lonely existence as an undocumented immigrant, and Mr. Chetan remains the singular thread holding mother and son together. But soon, Mr. Chetan's own burdensome secret is revealed, with heartbreaking consequences. Love After Love interrogates love and family in all its myriad meanings and forms, asking how we might exchange an illusory love for one that is truly fulfilling.

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

A dazzling and darkly comic novel of love, violence, and friendship in the California suburbs Bunny Lampert is the princess of North Shore⁠--beautiful, tall, blond, with a rich real-estate-developer father and a swimming pool in her backyard. Michael⁠⁠--with a ponytail down his back and a septum piercing⁠--lives with his aunt in the cramped stucco cottage next door. When Bunny catches Michael smoking in her yard, he discovers that her life is not as perfect as it seems. At six foot three, Bunny towers over their classmates. Even as she dreams of standing out and competing in the Olympics, she is desperate to fit in, to seem normal, and to get a boyfriend, all while hiding her father's escalating alcoholism. Michael has secrets of his own. At home and at school Michael pretends to be straight, but at night he tries to understand himself by meeting men online for anonymous encounters that both thrill and scare him. When Michael falls in love for the first time, a vicious strain of gossip circulates and a terrible, brutal act becomes the defining feature of both his and Bunny's futures⁠⁠--and of their friendship. With storytelling as intoxicating as it is intelligent, Rufi Thorpe has created a tragic and unflinching portrait of identity, a fascinating examination of our struggles to exist in our bodies, and an excruciatingly beautiful story of two humans aching for connection.

Let's Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih

What Does It Mean to Be a Gay Man Today? It’s just weeks after the historic Supreme Court marriage equality ruling, and all Sebastian Mote wants is to settle down. A high school art history teacher, newly single and desperately lonely, he envies his queer students their freedom to live openly the youth he lost to fear and shame.   So when he runs into his childhood friend Oscar Burnham at a wedding in Washington, D.C., he can’t help but see it as a second chance. Now thirty-five, the men haven’t seen each other in a decade. But Oscar has no interest in their shared history. Instead, he’s outraged by what he sees as the death of gay culture: bars overrun with bachelorette parties; friends getting married, having babies. While Oscar and Sebastian struggle to find their place in a rapidly changing world, each is drawn into a cross-generational friendship that treads the line between envy and obsession: Sebastian with one of his students and Oscar with an older icon of the AIDS era. And as they collide again and again, both men must come reckon not just with one another, but with themselves.

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

In this bewitching debut novel, a sensitive teen, newly arrived in Alabama, falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don’t know what to make of a South pining for the past, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball, how to point a gun, and how to hide his innermost secrets. Max already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new, American friends—like their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy, and their locker room talk about girls. But he doesn’t expect the comradery—or how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles, Max feels like he’s “playing dress-up.” That is until he meets Pan, the school “witch,” in Physics class: “Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up.” Suddenly, Max feels seen, and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers, and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of the local church. The boys, however, aren’t sure whose past is darker, and what is more frightening—their true selves, or staying true in Alabama.

[sanisclepius]

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I have been doing some dog training with Zak George’s youtube channel. Rolphy seems to be pretty smart and its fun and stimulating for all of us. He is also a breed that gets vicious when untrained and bored, but pretty obedient when well trained. When my neighbor saw me today, I explained to her what I was doing. I immediately felt her judgement followed by a “ perfectionist” friend story who wanted her puppy to learn everything in a week and was laughed at by the dog school due to high expectations. My neighbor’s dog knows two commands and roams the village by herself all day long just like her four and six year old sons. They play completely unsupervised for hours inside as well as outside. They play with saws, hammers, in creeks, on bridges, trees and working farms. They ride bikes and horses without helmets and go into the freezing cold without jackets or shoes. They dont get vaccines, medical attention after recurring severe head trauma or proper nutrition leading to deficiencies while sometimes resorting to horse food when their mom forgets to feed them lunch. On the other extrem of the spectrum there are little American kids who are drilled like soldiers while every step is monitored and commented on. Cats are declawed and dogs put into cages. One can observe the respective kids and animals acting alike. The hippie side is demonstrations externalizing behavior with lack of respect for boundaries and social norms and the drill soldier side demonstrates internalizing behavior with severe anxiety. There must be a balanced middle ground somewhere to be found…

[aion-rsa]

Ghost Adventures Checks into the Cecil Hotel: Zak Bagans on Investigating the Crime Landmark

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

In Stephen King’s novel The Shining, the Overlook Hotel is an expansive structure with a dark past, located in the remote Rocky Mountains. Despite its opulent beginnings, the hotel becomes a place where brutal murders occur, madness sets in, ghosts lurk, and evil itself is a permanent occupant.

Relocate King’s Overlook to Downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row, and you have its closest real-world equivalent: the Cecil Hotel. The hotel’s checkered history, and lore involving curses and ghosts, has made it a dark tourism landmark situated at the crossroads of true crime and paranormal fascination. But despite lots of interest on the internet, the Cecil, since rebranded as Stay on Main Hotel, has never officially permitted cameras inside for a paranormal investigation.

Until now. Enter Zak Bagans.

(Disclaimer: I have previously worked with Zak Bagans on television shows, and currently appear as an expert on the Travel Channel series Paranormal Caught on Camera.)

Executive producer and star of Ghost Adventures, the long-running paranormal reality series on Travel Channel, Bagans leads his team of investigators on an exploration of a location he calls “spectacularly frightening” in Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel, a two-hour special streaming exclusively on the new Discovery+ service.

For fans of the ghost-TV genre, Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel boasts evidence of scratches, disembodied voices, light anomalies, a faucet seemingly turned on by an invisible force, and more. But regardless of one’s personal beliefs about the unexplained, the special lives up to its hype of a “first time ever” examination of the infamous hotel.

Bagans tells Den of Geek the special is also a culmination of a decade-long pursuit that began “before Elisa even died.”

The “Elisa” that Bagans refers to is Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian student with a kind, sarcastic sense of humor who loved fashion and Harry Potter; she frequently blogged observations about guys she liked, figuring out a place in the world, as well as her own insecurities and mental health struggles. Lam was a daughter and sister, and a real person on a journey of self-discovery before her life ended too soon, and she made the Cecil internet famous. 

While on a solo trip to California in 2013, she went missing and died while staying at the hotel. An elevator surveillance video showed the young woman acting erratically as she pushed buttons, paced in and out of the elevator, and even appeared to be hiding from someone. Her body was discovered in a rooftop water tank weeks after she disappeared. Despite her death being ruled accidental, with her bipolar disorder deemed a contributing factor, questions remained as to how Lam could have gained access to the roof or closed the lid to the tank from within.

But before that two-and-half minute viral video made Lam a popular topic for podcasts — and before American Horror Story: Hotel drew inspiration from the landmark’s past — the Cecil’s reputation was more tied to tragedy than travel despite its beginnings in 1924 as an LA destination, complete with a grandiose lobby.

Multiple suicides took place at the Cecil as well as infanticide and the unsolved murder of Goldie Osgood in 1964. Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, was reportedly seen in the hotel bar in the days leading up to her murder in 1947, and two serial killers are known to have stayed there – including Richard Ramirez, who committed a murder spree in the 1980s, and the investigation of whom is the focus of the Netflix documentary series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer.

“I knew the history of Richard Ramirez there, and the deaths, and knew it was a big creepy building,” Bagans says.

Although prior attempts to gain permission to film there had been rejected, he thinks maybe the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdowns convinced the hotel’s owners to allow it because of the location fee paid by production. “Or maybe they had things happening to themselves and had enough of it,” Bagans says.

Either way, Cecil fits neatly into Bagans’ pursuits, and it comes as no surprise that the hotel has long been on his bucket list. He has a fascination with the darker sides of this world — as well as the next. When not investigating the paranormal on television, he collects and exhibits haunted dolls and possessed possessions, along with “murderabilia” from serial killers, such as drawings by Ramirez.

“I collect his things. I have his death row TV, his sketches, his clothing,” says Bagans before adding, “I study these people.” Bagans says he even visited the Concordia cemetery in El Paso, Texas, where Ramirez “got started” and was said to practice satanic rituals.

As a result, Bagans believes that Ramirez was engaged in a “top-tier possession” with the horrors he was committing ultimately in the devil’s name. Bagans doesn’t give a pass to the murderer but does theorize that the serial killer was generating more negative energy and entities at the hotel.

Saying he believes the Cecil is “saturated with dark energies,” he thinks Ramirez’s satanic rituals added an evil residue to the building. Interestingly, however, Bagans also thinks there’s something supernatural about the grounds upon which the building stands.

Though he references The Shining, he says he also thinks of the Cecil like the vampire-infested strip club in From Dusk Till Dawn. In the final shot of the film, it’s revealed the club sits atop an Aztec temple. Bagans equates the hotel to this, saying it’s part of some ancient “machine.”

“I’ve been to a lot of places throughout the world, but when you walk through the doors of the Cecil Hotel, you know there are other doorways to other worlds,” he says. “If we were to see deeper dimensionally, you would see all these other doors and rooms, and I believe it goes way down into the earth and draws a lot of energy through the earth. It is then magnified by the dark energy and criminal activity of Skid Row, and amplified by the rituals [serial killer] Jack Unterweger and Richard Ramirez did.”

For the Discovery+ special, Bagans says he wanted to be delicate when discussing the circumstances of Lam’s death. He references the hotel’s history of suicide, and murder attributed to temporary insanity, and believes malevolent energies fed off her mental illness and influenced her.

It is admittedly a problematic theory for skeptics and non-believers of the paranormal, but Bagans — like many with lingering questions about Lam’s strange death — looks to her past behavior as telling. Lam had previously disappeared and required treatment but wasn’t known to have suicidal ideations. There were no unusual drugs detected in her system and the initial cause of death was deemed inconclusive.

“It didn’t make sense she was having a manic episode,” he says. “From my research, no one was able to say she had had a manic episode this bad before. If she was having an episode and acting that bad, how could she have taken such a calculated journey to end up in that water tank under that manic sense?”

While Bagans strives not to diminish Lam’s death, he says, “that building has the power to mess with your mind.” During the investigation he says teammate Aaron Goodwin was overcome with feelings of rage, and that his interviewees, including a crime scene photographer, were so disturbed they often needed to leave the hotel.

“You don’t know what you’re feeling there. There’s too many spirits, too much energy.”

Indeed, during the course of the special, the Ghost Adventures crew believe they encounter several spirits, including those of Lam, Ramirez, Osgood, and more. 

For Bagans, investigating Cecil, or even conducting interviews about it, only serves to charge the battery of this machine. But, quoting his favorite film, 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he says, “there is much to be learned from beasts.” Bagans is seeking to understand the unknown despite the risks.

Whether or not viewers of Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel choose to share his paranormal theories about the building — or simply view it as a strange nexus of true crime — Bagans says there is no denying its inescapable reputation.

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“You can renovate it, change the name, or paint it a different color, but you’re never going to erase the darkness of the Cecil Hotel.”

Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel is available to stream on Discovery+.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2KEBW7b

[berniesrevolution]

THE RINGER

Nick Hayes is sweating. Hiking up a rocky trail and lugging a 40-pound camera, he pauses every few steps, frames a shot, and then scrambles uphill to stay ahead of Zak Ringelstein, Maine’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

It’s unseasonably hot for September, the kind of balmy weather that’s usually sequestered to a few summer days here in Maine. But even though a smattering of leaves have begun to turn orange and yellow and red, the air is hugging us as we trudge up one of Bradbury Mountain State Park’s steepest hills in an act of performative outdoorsiness for Hayes’s camera.

For Hayes, the sweat is worth it. He and his partner Naomi Burton have traveled from Detroit to Maine to film a campaign video for Ringelstein, a 32 year-old freshly declared socialist looking to knock off Maine’s independent senator, 74-year-old Angus King. It’s a huge ask for a first time candidate, given that Maine hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988 and King boasts a reputation for bipartisanship and a mustache that gives him the bearing of an aging but dignified L.L. Bean model.

Enter Hayes and Burton. They’re here to introduce Mainers to Ringelstein’s campaign and open another front in the larger war that the left has been waging against the Democratic Party’s establishment this election season. “I think the challenge is less bringing the Democratic Party to the left and more bringing the Democratic Party to its knees,” Hayes told me that day. “And, like, really just scooping it out, every single person in there, and building something totally new.”

Hayes and Burton already won the first round of their fight. In March, they cold pitched a then-unknown 28-year-old socialist from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on a short film that would frame her U.S. congressional campaign as a struggle on behalf of New York’s working class. Unlike established production companies, Hayes and Burton were willing to do it on the cheap, quoting her campaign a budget just south of $10,000, a number her underfunded campaign could afford. To keep costs down, Hayes and Burton traveled from Detroit to New York by train and accepted no fee for their labor on the project.

It was a risk, but one that paid off for both parties. When the ad hit the internet, it turned Ocasio-Cortez, later endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, into a political sensation and helped her grassroots campaign knock-off 10-term Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in a June primary. Overnight, she became the face of the Democratic Party’s ascendent left wing.

The victory also turned Hayes and Burton into in-demand campaign ad makers this election season. They’ve fielded calls from more than 40 candidates who have asked that their production company, Means of Production, turn them into the second coming of Ocasio-Cortez. So far, they’ve traveled from Rhode Island to Hawaii making what they call “propaganda for the working class,” work that has gotten them featured in The New York Times and on MSNBC. Next month they’ll be named to Filmmaker Magazine’s list of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

It’s not a bad start for having started doing this work full-time in only March. “This was an insane summer,” says Hayes, who is 21 years old. “You know, what the fuck?”

Though their short-term goal is to elect left-leaning politicians like Ringelstein, Hayes and Burton’s ambitions extend far beyond campaign work. Electoral politics matter, but Means of Production wants to broaden its fight to take on a different enemy: capitalism.

Everyday, as they see it, Americans are bombarded with capitalist propaganda. From Hollywood films like Black Panther to television shows like Shark Tank and news networks like CNN, Hayes and Burton contend that the underlying ideology of our media and entertainment system promotes a status quo that oppresses working people, and they believe it’s time for some counterprogramming.

“Our next project is making socialism cool again and making it entertaining,” Hayes says. “Really breeding that ‘Fuck capitalism’ mind-set. Then it’s like, we can put whatever we want in place of that.”

Over the next year, they’re looking to raise $5 million to launch a socialist entertainment platform, “a Netflix for the left” that will showcase everything from anticapitalist documentaries and comedy specials to cooking shows and narrative films. Taken with their political work, they are hoping to execute an “inside-outside” strategy. They want to keep working inside the current political system to support candidates like Ocasio-Cortez and at the same time build popular support for socialist ideology with entertaining content.

The next day, Hayes and Burton are hunting for squalor. Most visitors in downtown Portland seek out the city’s hipster stations of the cross: the natural wine bar founded by an indie rock drummer, the James Beard award-winning restaurants, the coffee shops with enough cold brew to keep all of Williamsburg caffeinated.

Instead, we’re looking for images that juxtapose the wealth coursing through gentrifying Portland with the hardscrabble experience of the working class. Rusted lobster traps. Fishing boats leaking oil. Signs of the state’s rampant opioid crisis. Anything that looks like it hides in society’s darkest corners is fair game.

(Continue Reading)

[howardschatzphotography]

On Seeing, A Journal. #282 Above and Beyond. Playwright, John Guare. December 4th, 2018

The cast of my ongoing project Above and Beyond was joined, recently – and perhaps fittingly – by the great American playwright John Guare. He is best known for his plays “Six Degrees of Separation,” “The House of Blue Leaves,” and “Landscape of the Body.” Guare, born in New York City, is now 80 years old, and says he wrote his first play when he was 11. His style, which mixes comic invention with an acute sense of the failure of human relations and aspirations, is at once cruel and deeply compassionate. Guare’s plays have won every imaginable award, among them, many Obies, the Laurence Olivier American Airlines Award for Best New Play, several Tony awards, New York Drama Critics awards, and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a Master American Dramatist. In 1993 he was elected to the American Theater Hall of Fame. After our photography session, Guare and I sat down to talk. HS: You’ve said, " I love theatre for recognizing that everything is something else.” What does that mean? JG: That’s what makes poetry possible -- that everything is something else. There is no event, no incident, no object that cannot become something else. Yes, everything is something else, because everything is made for art. HS: You’ve also said, “Theatre is a place of poetry, suggestion and dreams." JG: Well, I couldn’t say it better myself, even if I did say it. That’s the best thing about the theatre, that the theatre is the place of transformation, and the removal of a mask. People go to theatre to see the mask removed. HS: And, you've said, “Theatre has never been an easy place." JG: Never. How could it be? It’s always competition. On one level, just trying to get fannies into the seats. I can write something but how do I get people to come and see it? The fact that a play even opens is a miracle. That you got X amount of people to come together to meet on a certain day -- a director, a designer, actors -- all to show up and tell the same story as the writer is telling, or even for all the people involved tell the same story. Everything conspires against getting a play on. And then having it run is just beside the point. Anything else is pure gravy. The fact it even got on is what is extraordinary. But the competition is mainly to be heard. There are so many valid voices out there. Why should mine be heard? Moss Hart said, brilliantly, "An audience will give any play 15 minutes of their time. They’re there; they’re yours for 15 minutes. And at the 16th minute they’ll decide if they want to go on that journey or not" The audience comes to a play to be costumed, and a failed play means the audience chose not to be costumed in the garb that the playwright and the people on stage have chosen to confer on them. And that’s what that first 15 minutes is about. It is extraordinary that, in those first 15 minutes of a play the entire conflict is laid out and we’re given the imagery to hang onto to make that play come alive. The imagery is what’s going to garb us, what’s going to cloak us. It’s extraordinary what the first 15 minutes of a play are.

HS: Are there guidelines as to what ingredients need to be written into those first 15 minutes? JG: The first 15 minutes needs to convey the central conflict of the play and the emotional coloration in which that conflict will take place. HS: I recall that you said in writing House of Blue Leaves, the first act flowed readily, but it took you five years to complete act two. JG: I didn’t have the craft to handle eight or nine people on stage. It’s a hell of a lot of people to know how to balance and not lose them. It took me a long time to learn. Actors just can’t sit there. They have to be doing something. It’s maintaining everybody’s motivation and everybody’s action, because everybody, every character in the play, has to think that the play is about them or they don’t belong in the scene. It took me a long time to learn the craft of dealing with many actors on stage. HS: The theatre is constantly coming up with innovation, new ideas, new ways of seeing things. Do you derive inspiration or ideas from seeing the plays of others? JG: Of course. I see as many plays as I can. I love to go to the theatre. I have learned a lot. I watch a lot of the new technology. I don’t get seduced by it and say, oh, it’s new, let’s use it. I say, how can I use this? Coupled with less is more. HS: What are you working on currently? JS: We’re doing a new play, called, "Nantucket Sleigh Ride", at Lincoln Center that opens March 18th, so I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have a new play, and an old friend, Jerry Zaks, who’s directing it. I love Jerry, and I’m loving the cast that we’re assembling. So I’m trying….Whenever I go into rehearsal with a play I like to have another play ready to work on the morning after. HS: When you write, do you surprise yourself? JG: I hope so. All the time, actually. You just say, oh, I didn’t expect that to happen. Every play has its own life. There are no rules to apply. I mean, we’ve been working on Blue Leaves to go back to the past, 100 years ago, and I did not…never expected Artie to kill Bananas. It was never in any of the notes, never. And when it happened I was so upset I got up and I threw up. The characters take on their true identity, where they really want to go, and you have to let them go, give them the grace to go.

HS: What is curious to me, as an artist you have to turn your work over to others; the director, the lighting, costume, actors; set. JG: No, I don’t. I’m sharing it with them. I’m letting them into the process. HS: You have control? JG: Yes, I do. If you check the Dramatists Guild contract, nothing can go on that stage without the playwright’s consent. The playwright can choose to give up that consent and allow the designer, or the costume designer, or the casting director to put whatever they want into the play. But everything that will be on that stage has to have approval of the dramatist. And that’s what the Dramatists Guild exists for… only for that purpose. That’s what holding the copyright of our own plays means. Writing for movies is so humiliating, because you give it over and you don’t know what you’re going to see of anything. That’s why I love the theatre. HS: What if a director wants to do this and you don’t want him or her to do this? JG: I would fire them as I’ve done on a couple of occasions. There’s a difference between disagreements and  coming to compromise, and understanding where you might be misguided. I’m not a fascist. There are some playwrights where nothing can be changed. HS: Your plays are done in lots of different places. JG: I’m only interested in the first production, and the first production should be a touchstone in how the play should be done. I just had my three Lydie Breeze plays done together for the first time in Philadelphia. And it was like a set I never imagined, with a cast I never imagined. And it was absolutely thrilling. It went from one until ten o’clock. And it was nothing like I imagined, a revelation, so it was just a gift to me. HS: Does the opposite occur? JG: Absolutely, absolutely. Oh, very much so; very, very, very, very much so. But that’s why I don’t go and see out-of-town productions. The nightmare of a bad production is they’re showing me the truth of my play. And that’s why I avoid it: self-protection. HS: I read about how Six Degrees of Separation came about, a story you heard. And then I understand about this young man who was a sociopath; a brilliant, imaginative, awful human being, how afterwards he then was resentful that you would write a play that was essentially, he thought, about him. And created pain in your life, I heard there was a lawsuit, there was a harassment. JG: He was trying to kill us… it was like death threats. I don’t want to go into it. 

HS: Has the current administration in Washington affected theatre or your work? JG: Sure; it’s screwed up everybody’s heads. Everybody’s…there’s nothing that we don’t see today that we don’t see in the life of injustice, of cruelty, of sheer meanness; relations between men and women. We can no longer look at things with the eyes of the tens, the nineties, the eighties, the seventies, the sixties, or whenever.

[autisticmrfantastic]

Excerpts from Zak-Site

Chris of zak-site (http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/index.html) has basically written a whole dissertation on the early years of the Fantastic Four which is worth reading.

However for our purposes I will just be quoting his entries about Reed’s autism:

Issue 182: Reed's autism - the evidence

[Image depicts two comic panels, on the left Sue Richards is crying and says “ Franklin-- He’s been kidnapped!” On the right, the text box says “Reed Richards struggles to find the right words. What would his counterpart say? How would Susan Richard’s real husband react? So many questions, and by the time the answers are formulated-- the game is up!” We see Reed facing away from Sue with a scowl, Sue looks at him with a similar expression and says “now I know you!”]

This issue gives perhaps more evidence that Reed may be autistic. Maybe it's time to summarize the case:

Reed is highly intelligent, but only when he focuses on a narrow area. In other areas he seems less intelligent than his peers (see later examples)

In FF182 we see that he has difficulty with neuro-typical emotional responses. The parallel world Reed provides a useful experimental control for comparison with "our" Reed. As a parallel world Reed, we should assume he's the same in every way unless stated. Notice what happens here: Sue tells him that Franklin has been kidnapped, and this Reed struggles to find the right thing to say. This is classic autistic behavior. Note that a small delay is normal: we should expect a second or so of shock. After that, any fake actor would know what to say. It's not difficult to come up with a look of shock. But for this fake Reed it's very difficult. He stands here struggling to think of the appropriate response. The Real Reed of course has had years of experience in Franklin getting hurt, so he would know what to say. This is why it's so difficult to diagnose adults with autism: adults learn the right thing to say, even if they find it difficult. But this adult does not have a son, so he never learned, so it's really hard for him to fake the emotion.

Reed is obsessively narrowly focused. He will happily spend days in his lab and even forget to eat. This goes beyond a normal obsession or interest.

Reed lacks social awareness. He does not see how his put downs affect the others emotionally. He genuinely cares for Ben, and cannot see how his criticisms (especially in acts 1 and 2) have driven Ben to depression. He loves Sue, and cannot see how his actions almost led to divorce. he cares for Johnny, but cannot see how Johnny feels so trapped.

Reed prefers solitude, and if he has to deal with others he wants to make all the decisions: his world seems to be filled with himself. (The word "autism" comes from the same root as "automatic" and comes from the prefix "auto" meaning "alone".)

He avoids eye contact. We often see him, as in the sequence above, looking way from the person he's talking to. FF51 is another classic example, when Sue stumbles on his secret work and he says "how did you find out?" without looking at her. In FF271 it's a big deal that he can't remember his mother's eyes. Possibly she was he only person he would look in the eye. Of course, adults eventually learn what's appropriate, so he will look into eyes when he remembers to, but it doesn't come naturally.

He gets angry and frustrated or depressed when things don't go his way. FF9 is a good example of this. This leads to his need to be in control. In FF184 he's depressed that he cannot stretch, even though as Sue points out that is not his main power so rationally it doesn't matter.

His speech patterns show he isn't really aware of how he comes across; he's very verbose even though others ask him not to be.

He takes things very literally. This is most clearly seen in John Byrne's run where Reed is at his most socially withdrawn.

He is more paranoid than the others, seeing danger everywhere. Johnny has more fun, Ben is more relaxed about beating foes, and Sue likes to sometimes leave a danger alone (e.g. the first time they saw the creature from the black lagoon) but Reed is constantly on edge.

He doesn't like to change routine, though his lifestyle forces him to. Franklin would interfere with his routine some he likes to send the boy away to Agatha Harkness, and won't change that routine even when it's obvious that Agatha's house is not safe. Reed is also the only one who has never deliberately changed his uniform. Sue has tried skirts, Ben occasionally has an all over suit and even a helmet, and Johnny tried a red suit for a while, but Reed is happy with the same uniform every single time.

he seems to hate social complexity: how else do we explain why he did so well in FF181 in the negative zone? He was superb! Such a simple situation, just Reed on a rock against Annihilus. No powers, no other people, no stress. This shows that losing his powers is not the cause of his stress: it's the fact that losing his powers makes his life complicated that he can't cope with.

And so on and so on. None of this is proof of course, but the circumstantial evidence is very high.

Issue 200:

[Image description: Three panels depicting a struggle between Dr.Doom and Mr.Fantastic. Dialogue:

Reed: Don’t you realise you can never succeed? All your life you’ve been seeking vengeance on a world you believe has despised you...There’s still time, Doom--work with us! Your genius can benefit the very people you think hate you!

Doom: Insufferable idiot! You believe Doom is so petty that he seeks mere vengeance? Ignorant poltroon! I seek power because it is rightfully mine! It is a birthright I inherited from my mother--a woman who was murdered by a suspicious, frightened pack of cloddish morons who were too stupid to see the truth! I have ever sought to claim that with is already mine!

Doom freezes Reed in a block of ice

Doom: When we first met, Richards, I thought you a somewhat intelligent student with some promise. Perhaps your scientific intellect grew, but your understanding of human motivation is astonishingly limited! Vengeance? Bah! Doom is above such petty things ]

Reed' doesn't get it This issue contains possible evidence for Reed's autism, in not appreciating Doom's motivation. At the very least, it shows Doom's depth. It is easy to pretend that Doom as a two dimensional villain who simply wishes power for its own sake, or who just wants revenge. No, such a shallow motivation is an insult. Doom simply wants what anyone wants: what he sees as justice. Reed's remark about working with others to help mankind was especially naive: from Doom's point of view everything he does is to help mankind: Doom sees himself as a superior ruler, able to bring the order and plenty that mankind needs. There is some logic to this, as we shall see in later issues when Zorba gains power. 

Reed's diplomacy (or lack of it) Further evidence of Reed's autism is the flashback: when Reed told Doom about the error in his calculation he was incredibly insensitive. Doom was trying to rescue his dead mother. He was breaking all the rules in the most dangerous way possible, all to save his mother. Imagine how Doom was feeling! Doom was not good at handling emotion at the best of times, and here he was on a knife edge, emotionally laid bare and vulnerable. All he asked of others was privacy. And Reed just burst in and said "you got the sums wrong." Does Reed have no appreciation for feelings? Yes, Reed was right, but being right is not enough: you have to think of the other persons feelings. Knowing what Reed did about Doom, there is absolutely no way Doom could have accepted Reed's advice. So why bother? Instead, Reed could have said something diplomatic, like "somebody may have tampered with your sums", and give Doom a way to save face. Literally: because Doom, unable to "save face", literally lost his face.

Great writing The passage on revenge is another example of this being The Great American Novel. What might appears to be a childish revenge story is in fact a discussion of justice and what is best for humanity. The fact that we can sympathize with Doom and share his frustration, even at the same time that we side with Reed, is a testament to the quality of the writing.

Source: http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/ff-act4-FF176.html

[brokehorrorfan]

Best New Horror Movies on Netflix: Winter 2018

There's an overwhelming amount of horror movies to sift through on Netflix, so I've decided to take out some of the legwork by compiling a list of the season’s best new genre titles available on Netflix’s instant streaming service.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed and share your thoughts on any of the films you watch. You can also peruse past installments of Best New Horror Moves on Netflix for more suggestions.

1. Gerald's Game

IT was undoubtedly the most entertaining Stephen King adaptation in recent memory, but Gerald's Game may be the most tense. The novel - which revolves around a middle-aged married couple's attempt to spice up their love life - was seemingly un-filmable, but director Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil) takes a creative yet logical approach to successfully translate the story from the page to the screen. The direction is stylish, despite largely involving only two actors in a single bedroom. Carla Gugino (Watchmen) and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) star, both delivering brilliant performances, with Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) and Carel Struycken (The Addams Family) in chilling supporting roles. Its left-field epilogue won't work for some, but the film remains a suspenseful, dead-filled experience that includes perhaps the most cringe-inducing sequence of the year.

2. 1922

1922 is an adaptation of a little-known Stephen King novella, published in his 2010 collection, Full Dark, No Stars. Like much of King's work, it doesn't shy away from the supernatural, yet it's firmly grounded in reality. The always-reliable Thomas Jane delivers a transformative performance in his third King film (following Dreamcatcher and The Mist). He stars as Wilfred James, a conflicted man who confesses to murdering his wife (Molly Parker. Deadwood) with the aid of his son (Dylan Schmid, Once Upon a Time) in 1922. Akin to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," Wilfred's unbearable guilt manifests itself. Cinematographer Ben Richardson (The Fault in Our Stars) utilizes a lot of natural light, while Faith No More's Mike Patton composes an atonal score. Writer-director Zak Hilditch (whose previous film, These Final Hours, is also worth seeking out) delivers a brooding, character-driven slow burner.

3. Raw

Raw made waves on the festival circuit when it caused multiple viewers to faint. It is indeed a uniquely repulsive film in more ways than one might expect - depicting everything from animal dissecting to bikini waxing to eye licking in graphic detail - but it's much more than a mindless gorefest. The French film is a compelling, darkly humorous coming-of-age story... with cannibalism. The plot revolves around Justine (Garance Marillier), a young vegetarian, as she enters her first semester at veterinary school. She receives the full college experience: hazing, coed living, experimentation, partying, flesh eating. Marillier's fearless performance is matched by a strong vision from writer-director Julia Ducournau.

4. Super Dark Times

From the first act of Super Dark Times, you might expect it to be a coming-of-age genre tale in the vein of Stranger Things and IT, but by the end you will find a film that shares more in common with River's Edge and Stand By Me. It's set in the '90s, complete with scrambled "adult" channels, but it doesn't beat the viewer over the head with nostalgia. Owen Campbell (The Americans) and Charlie Tahan (Ozark) star as best friends with a secret that drives a wedge between them. Co-writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (Siren) capture the adolescent banter better than most films, while director Kevin Phillips makes an impressive feature debut. Living up to its title, Super Dark Times is a dark, tense experience.

5. Cult of Chucky

Child’s Play is a rare horror franchise that has maintained its original continuity, thanks to having Don Mancini - who has written every installment and directed the latter three - as the driving creative force. Cult of Chucky, the seventh entry in the series, brings together the franchise’s three distinct story lines - Nica (Fiona Dourif) from Curse of Chucky, Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) from Child’s Play 1-3, and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) from Bride/Seed of Chucky. Taking cues from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warrior, the film takes place in a mental institution, where Nica bonds with the members of her therapy group. When they start dying one by one, Nica struggles to convince anyone that a possessed doll named Chucky (voiced, as always, by Brad Dourif) is responsible. Mancini’s well-paced script is fearless in its exploration of delightfully weird ideas, in addition to balancing the more serious tone with lighthearted fun. The result is as close as you can get to pleasing fans of all eras of Chucky. Read my full review of the film here.

6. The Bar

The Bar is the latest effort from reliable Spanish filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia (The Oxford Murders). It finds a group of strangers trapped in a seedy bar in downtown Madrid. Anyone that tries to leave is killed by an unseen assailant, with their bodies disappearing - blood and all - when no one is looking. Reminiscent of an episode of The Twilight Zone, suspicion grows and intrigue builds as the group must come together to solve the mystery. Iglesia does a fine job establishing an ensemble of quirky characters in a short time and then maintaining that momentum throughout the duration. He also injects his signature dark humor into the plot, helping to further set it apart from other contained thrillers.

7. Creep 2

2014's Creep (which is also streaming on Netflix and should be viewed first) was perhaps the last good, original found footage movie, made on a shoestring budget with copious improvisation. Star/co-writer Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed), whose eerie performance as an idiosyncratic murderer anchored Creep, and director/co-writer Patrick Brice return for Creep 2, which slightly expands the mythology without sacrificing the intimacy that made the first film so effective. Duplass' character now goes by Aaron, assuming not only the name of Brice's character from the first Creep but also his interest in filmmaking. Sara (Desiree Akhavan) responds to Aaron's Craigslist ad looking for a videographer, and it’s not long after their meeting that he admits to being a serial killer. But Aaron is going through a bit of a midlife crisis, so he employs Sara to film a documentary about him. Much like the first Creep, not a whole lot happens before the climax, but Duplass' eccentric character and vulnerable performance keep you watching with bated breath.

8. Killing Ground

Killing Ground is an unapologetic Australian thriller in the vein of Eden Lake, Wolf Creek, Deliverance, and The Hills Have Eyes. In other words, it's an intense punch in the gut. In the film, a couple's romantic camping trip is interrupted by unhinged locals against whom they must fight for survival. The familiar set-up is elevated by intriguing flashbacks to events a few days prior to the main story, the context of which adds even more weight to the harrowing situation. Although not the most original story ever told, Killing Ground is an effective, realistic debut for writer-director Damien Power.

9. Veronica

Verónica is a Spanish-language psychological thriller from Mexico. Co-directors Carlos Algara and Alejandro Martinez-Beltran opted to shoot the film in black and white with gorgeous, precise cinematography, bringing to mind the recent The Eyes of My Mother. A psychologist (Arcelia Ramírez) is offered a substantial sum of money to take on the evasive yet intelligent Veronica de la Serna (Olga Segura) as a patient. It's a simple set-up, consisting of little more than dialogue between the two characters, but the intriguing therapy sessions slowly reveal Veronica's deep-seated issues. The plot takes an unexpected, exciting turn for the final act, but it ultimately leads to a twist that is trite and, frankly, unnecessary. But don't let that deter you; the rest of the film is positively riveting.

10. Red Christmas

Red Christmas is a holiday horror film that - despite hailing from Australia - captures the typical Christmas season quite well, complete with the family drama it often entails. It also addresses the topical subject of reproductive rights, employs both a genre legend (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial's Dee Wallace, in one of her strongest performances in years) and an actor with Down syndrome (Gerard O'dwyer), and tells a decent horror story in the process. Similar to You're Next, the film features a killer interrupting a strained family gathering, blending home invasion and slasher influences. It won’t replace any of the classics, but Red Christmas is a fine addition to the Christmas horror pantheon. Read my full review of the film here.

11. Don't Kill It

Don't Kill It is a fun amalgam of horror, action, comedy, and western from director Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider). A rash of homicides - in which each killer murders the previous killer - lead FBI agent Evelyn Pierce (Kristina Klebe, Halloween) back to the podunk Mississippi town she once called home in order to investigate the case. She reluctantly teams with Jebediah Woodley (Dolph Lundgren, Rocky IV), a self-described demon hunter, to stop the body-hopping demon on the loose. There are a couple of big, bloody set pieces that make the abundance of exposition worthwhile. Clocking in at a lean 83 minutes, the film plays like a more charming and entertaining version of a Syfy original movie.

Bonus: Dark

Comparisons between Dark and Stranger Things are inevitable - both Netflix original series concern a mystery of a missing child in a small town in which supernatural elements are at play - but Dark approaches the material in am much more subtle, subversive manner. In addition to Stranger Things' coming-of-age through a genre lens, the German show has the mind-bending rhetoric of Donnie Darko and the mystique of Twin Peaks, with a touch of Back to the Future for good measure. There may be a few too many characters for its own good, but the story - in which a disappearance in the present is somehow tied to similar events that occurred in 1986 - is undeniably well told and well shot. I'm already eager to binge a second season.

Bonus: Mindhunter

Mindhunter is an original series from executive producer David Fincher (Gone Girl, Seven), who also directs several episodes, with Joe Penhall (The Road) serving as showrunner. Based on the true crime book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, it follows FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff. Glee) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany, Alien 3) as they conduct interviews with convicted murderers in the late '70s for their groundbreaking work in behavioral science. After an attention-grabbing opening scene, the show takes a couple of episodes to gain momentum, but it's virtually impossible to look away after that. There's an abundance of heady dialogue, in typical Fincher fashion, though it's never short of enthralling.

[amandaj718]

Today I realized that I’ll never fit in the Emmerdale fandom on Tumblr and I shouldn’t expect to fit in here. I’m American. I’m new to fandom. I hold back and just write out my opinions as nicely as possible, but people still tell me I’m a horrible person on anon. So, holding back the way I do...won’t be happening again. To get out how I’ve been feeling, (since everyone else gets to do this around here) here is my Robron/Emmerdale Social Suicide Note (list really): 

1) Aaron is not the same person anymore. He isn’t the fragile 2010 boy. He is a man in 2017. I wish fandom would stop treating him like he is a fragile angel that will fall apart at the drop of a hat. No. He makes his own choices. He decides his fate (as much as a soap character can). He is smart. He is brave. He will figure out his own place going forward.  

2) Robert is not trash. Robert doesn’t deserve to die. Robert isn’t a shitbag. He is a character that does things for the wrong reasons (Oh wait...Aaron does that too...shocking).  He is usually wrong and screws up often. HE FUCKED UP. Plain and simple. However, people just LOVE to rub his face in every mistake this character has ever made. Which gets us nowhere and annoys the shit out of me. Also, when he tries to do better, the fandom attacks him. When he slides back into old ways...the fandom attacks him. Pick a lane. I see Robert as layered and conflicted. It's never black and white when it comes to him. 

3) Its ok to talk about Ryan being a great actor without bringing up Danny. Just something I noticed. Before people talk about Ryan being amazing in his storyline, people have to be like, “Danny is a great actor but....” IT's OK. We know Danny is a great actor. You don’t have to qualify the statement. You can leave him out of it. I never see anyone go, “Well, Ryan is a great actor but...” when people talk about Danny so...yeah. Its ok to love them as individuals. They are their own people. They are both strong, amazing actors that have bright futures ahead of them. 

4) It’s Roberts Story. It's not the Aaron show. Robert gets to play too. Not everything has to be about Aaron. Aaron will always be a factor when it comes to Robert and Robert will always be a factor when it comes to Aaron. However, right now, it's Roberts story. Aaron is supporting till he needs to move forward and join forces with Robert. Same as last year when Aaron was the lead, and Robert was supporting. It's balance. 

5) Robert is allowed to love this child. He is allowed to be conflicted about the child (I call him Little SJ for short).  He is going to go on a journey with this kid. Regardless of how he got here. He isn’t evil. He isn’t the problem. He is the MOST INNOCENT character in this storyline. Everyone has their part in this story. The baby has the most innocent part of all. Never blame the child for the parent's sins. 

6) If I see one more, “Aaron deserves better” while bashing Robert I’ll throw everything out the window while giving everyone the Jersey salute. I hate to break this to some people, but everyone deserves better. This is the storyline we got. It's classic soap. Its rough and hellish but everyone (except Emily) has acted the hell out of it. Speaking of Emily...

7) I will never warm to Rebecca. It's not because she is a shipper irritant and brought in to be just that. I just don’t like her. They promoted her as this fun-loving, smart and “good” white family member who showed up to take her family down. She has been written horribly. She was never a victim in my eyes. She never will be. She isn’t the “good” white family member either. That's a laugh. Emily Head, god bless her heart, got the job because she is pretty and has good PR from her family connections. She always sounds like she is above the material in the little interviews we got and I just don’t like her acting style. I’ll celebrate when she is gone. I’ve written enough about Rebecca. I’m sick of her. Come at me. Call me misogynistic or anti-feminist, but I don’t have to like her. I’m not going to let certain parts of fandom bully me into liking her. Just like how I won’t force people to not like her. Let me have my own thoughts when it comes to this polarizing character. 

8) I’m excited about the future of the show. I don’t think it is the worst show ever because Robron got a rough long-running storyline that a lot of people are upset with.  Looking outside of Robron (I know...I know...there are other characters) there is a lot of interesting stories being developed. We are getting something with Jimmy which excites me to no end. We have Tom finally moving into Home Farm (once they burn it to the ground and rebuild).  I can’t wait to see Faith match wits with Graham. You know its coming, and it will be awesome. I can’t wait to see Zak and Lisa find out that their home is in danger. I can’t wait to see more Lydia, Bernice and Nicola antics. More about poor Eliza and her condition. Moira and Cain have a kid. Moira is a mess! How will this bring Coira back together after all this time! What the hell is going on with Chas these days? Vanessa and her journey to understand her sexuality. Will they let the book club come back? (Ok that one is just my wish). There is SO MUCH to be excited about. I love this little village, and I’m not going to let fandom ruin my excitement because they hate one storyline. 

Ok, that's it. I’ll be ignored or attacked, but that's ok. I have my favorite people to talk to and sometimes that is all you need while watching a soap opera. Thanks for reading. 

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/its-a-big-big-swing-trump-loses-ground-with-whitevoters-politico/

'It's a big, big swing': Trump loses ground with white voters - POLITICO

Just a handful of states could decide who becomes the next president. POLITICO reporters from across the country break down what it will take for Donald Trump and Joe Biden to win over the most critical voters.

In 2016, white voters cast over 80 percent of the vote in each of the three states, according to exit polls.

“It’s a big, big swing,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “What [Biden’s] doing among whites is more than offsetting the slippage among nonwhites … The recipe is very different this time, right now anyway, in terms of white voters.”

It’s possible the focus on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s replacement will help Trump, reminding voters who have drifted away from him what they cared about in 2016. Four years ago, one in five voters — many of them white, social conservatives — said Supreme Court appointments were the most important factor in their vote.

But Trump is working from a disadvantage this year. There are relatively few undecided voters left to persuade. Democrats are also highly energized about the Supreme Court. And Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the court one month before the midterm elections two year ago did nothing to stop Democrats from steamrolling Trump and the GOP.

The erosion of Trump’s white support — and its significance to the November outcome — was never more obvious than in Trump’s messaging in recent days. Last week, he called for the creation of a commission to promote “patriotic education,” while dismissing “critical race theory” and the 1619 project of The New York Times Magazine. At a rally in Mosinee, Wis., he lit into Kamala Harris — the first major party woman of color vice presidential nominee — lamenting the possibility of her becoming president “through the back door.”

On Friday, he released a TV ad in Minnesota and Michigan lashing into Biden for supporting increased refugee admissions, including from “the most unstable, vulnerable, dangerous parts of the world.” Then, before an overwhelmingly white crowd in Bemidji, Minn., Trump mocked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) — the first Somali-American in Congress and a former refugee — and said Biden would “turn Minnesota into a refugee camp.”

He praised Minnesotans for their “good genes.”

But Trump’s rhetoric does not appear to be resonating with white America to the degree it did in 2016. That year, whites cast nearly three-quarters of the vote nationally, and Trump won those voters by about 15 percentage points, according to Pew Research. Four years later, Biden has torn into that advantage, though to what degree is uncertain. The latest Morning Consult poll showed Trump now beating Biden among white likely voters nationally by just 5 percentage points. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on Sunday put Trump up among white voters by 9 percentage points, while a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll on Friday showed Biden and Trump essentially tied with white voters.

Anywhere in that range is a problem for Trump. It is a major reason why Biden, despite underperforming with voters of color, is still running ahead nationally.

“Suburban whites are pretty much gone” for Trump, said Ed Rendell, the former Pennsylvania governor and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. And Biden is far less objectionable to many working-class whites than Clinton, a more polarizing nominee whose favorability ratings were lower than Biden’s.

“If Trump loses Pennsylvania by 4 or 5 points,” Rendell said, “then the suburbs and the working-class whites, that accounts for the loss.”

Trump is doing better with whites in some states than others. In North Carolina, he is drawing noncollege-educated white voters at about the same levels he was in 2016. But in other states, including some with sizable populations of people of color, he is underperforming with whites. In Florida, Trump is running ahead of Biden with white voters 56 percent to 39 percent, according to a Monmouth University poll. But that is far short of the 32 percentage-point margin he posted in 2016. In Arizona, he has seen his 14-point edge with white voters in 2016 cut as well.

It wasn’t always clear Trump would have any problem with white voters — or that he would be making gains with people of color. Even in the midterm elections, when suburbanites recoiled from Trump and Democrats retook the House, Republicans carried the white vote nationally by about 10 percentage points.

But white voters have not proved immune to the damage inflicted on Trump by the coronavirus and its resulting economic wreckage, which have been a drag on Trump’s reelection campaign since spring. In particular, the pandemic appears to have hurt Trump with seniors, including older white voters concerned about both their retirement accounts and their health.

“It’s these older white voters that I think are the ones that are moving” away from Trump, said Jeff Link, a veteran Iowa-based Democratic strategist who has studied voters who turned from Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. “The older people are like, ‘What the f— is this guy doing?’”

Earlier this year, Trump appeared to have an opening to recapture white support. Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis — and the ensuing protests across the country — Trump pivoted to a law-and-order campaign, with overt appeals to suburban whites. But the effort has largely fallen flat, with numerous polls suggesting the turmoil was doing little to improve Trump’s prospects.

And the issue that motivated many white voters in 2016 — immigration, amplified by Trump’s promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — has all but fallen out of view. During his successful presidential campaign, 13 percent of voters ranked immigration as the most important issue facing the country. Last month, immigration barely registered at 2 percent in Gallup’s survey of the most important problems facing the country.

Pat McCrory, the former Republican governor of North Carolina, said he has been “very surprised” that the Trump campaign has not leaned more heavily into immigration, particularly around Biden’s past statements about health care for undocumented immigrants.

But with the coronavirus and months of civil unrest on the electorate’s mind, “the two moving factors [in the election] may be the violence and the virus: The two V’s. Both parties are throwing ads and mail out on those two issues.” McCrory said, “There does seem to be a little flip” between Biden and Trump, with Biden courting working-class whites and Trump “actually trying to go after the Black vote, and the Hispanic vote.”

Appearing at a town hall last week in his childhood home of Scranton, Pa., a city that is more than 80 percent white, Biden cited his “Scranton roots” in an appeal to the working class, saying he was accustomed to people deriding those “who look at us and think that we’re suckers, look at us and they think that we don’t — we’re not equivalent to them.”

Not only do public safety-based appeals appear to be faltering for Trump, white voters “still really care about pocketbook issues, and that is the underlying issue that drives their vote,” said Zak Williams, a Democratic mail strategist based in Duluth, Minn., near where Biden campaigned Friday.

“College-educated white voters were the first group that moved away from him,” Williams said, and now Trump is “starting to drive away noncollege-educated white voters,” too.

At the center of Trump’s reelection math has always been the expectation that he could turn out more white, noncollege-educated voters in 2020 than he did in 2016, squeezing more juice from a diminishing base. Nick Trainer, the Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategy, said “the vast majority of polls are oversampling Democrats and are relying on an outdated sampling formula.”

Your guide to the year-round campaign cycle.

Trainer acknowledged Trump “has room to improve his numbers with certain voters, including suburban women and voters who disliked both candidate Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.” However, he said “sustained preelection attacks on issues we know these voters care about will hurt Joe Biden and boost President Trump.”

Even if the result is a margin of victory with noncollege-educated white voters that is smaller than it was four years ago, Trump will almost certainly carry that group. And if he can turn them out in greater numbers, he could shift the electorate toward him in several predominantly white states. Republicans and Democrats alike estimate there are hundreds of thousands of unregistered, noncollege-educated whites in key swing states that Trump could still pick up.

That fight for those voters was on display in Minnesota on Friday, where Trump and Biden appeared not in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs, but in more culturally conservative, northern reaches of the state. Republicans there and in some of the whitest counties in the country say they haven’t seen any falloff for Trump, and many of them suspect that polls are still underrepresenting his support.

Stephanie Soucek, chair of the Republican Party in Wisconsin’s Door County said she sees more Trump signs in her county than she did in 2016. Jack Brill, acting chair of the local Republican Party in Sarasota County, Fla., said “the base in Sarasota County is as strong as ever.”

In Duluth, the target of much attention from the Trump campaign, the city’s former mayor, Gary Doty, acknowledged that the president may have shed some support among some white women because of “the way he presents himself. He’s sometimes crude and rude, and I don’t care for that style.”

However, he said, “I think there’s this silent group of people” who support Trump and will turn out for him.

Doty said that after he endorsed Trump recently, “people that wouldn’t talk to me about politics … after they heard I had supported the Trump ticket, would come say, ‘Hey, I’m for him, too.'”

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

Does President Trump’s Ban On TikTok Violate The Constitution?

By Lily Johnson, Skidmore College Class of 2022 

August 31, 2020

Celebrities, dancing, music and more! “TikTok gives users a chance to be authentic, creative, and let their hair down. It doesn’t require high-quality photos or video production skills.”[1]With the click of a button, users can upload videos for others to see. The social media platform has become an internet sensation, especially for Gen Z users, holding “100 million US users.”[2] TikTok has provided a glimpse inside American culture.People vocalize their opinions and expressed themselves via TikTok. The world is disposed at users’ fingertips. However, President Donald Trump on August 6th had signed an Executive Order banning TikTok for 45 days. The arising question is whether President Trump’s Executive Order--banning TikTok--can overrule the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

President Trump has invoked an Executive Order under the International Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Besides that an IEEPA “allows President Trump to declare a national emergency,”[3] it also bars information from being “imported or exported.”[4] An IEEPA prevents “‘any transaction’” between a U.S. citizen and TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance.”[5]President Trump declared the app a threat to national security.

There is uncertainty of whether TikTok has shared users’ data with the Chinese Communist Party. An Israeli cybersecurity firm found that the app had “allowed attackers to obtain TikTok accounts and manipulate their content, delete videos, make private “hidden” videos public and reveal personal information.”[6] Accounts could be seized after users clicked on links that were provided by the attackers. Hackers could retrieve “personal information.”[7] Since TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, it is not required to comply with U.S. policies. It must follow China's regulations. “Quartz’s David Carroll researched the company’s privacy policies and found that they indicated that user data could be shared ‘with any member or affiliate of [its] group’ in China.”[8] Nevertheless, TikTok could potentially share data with the Chinese government.

However, TikTok has pushed back. It has “attempted to distance itself from its Beijing-based owners, ByteDance.”[9] TikTok has hired “an American CEO and [has announced] an initiative to bring 10,000 people to the U.S.”[10]According to a source, President Trump’s has lacked solid ground.[11] The Executive order has been “based on pure speculation and conjecture.”[12]TikTok has said that it has patched any privacy issues. The platform has claimed not to have sold users’ data to the Chinese government.

TikTok has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court Central District of California Western Division, arguing that the Executive Order violates the First Amendment and deprives the app of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause[13] (which says that the federal government must not deprive anyone“‘of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”’)[14]

[15]

TikTok feels deprived of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, because the app has lacked time to respond and rebuttal. Moreover, TikTok has claimed that their First Amendment right has been stifled. The platform has argued their coding is a form of communication, which allows users to vocalize and express themselves via the social media platform freely. President Trump has allegedly overstepped, misperceiving a false threat. Thus, would the district court consider President Trump’s Executive Order as constitutional?

The district court might review the President’s power to create and implement Executive Orders. Article IIof the Constitution does not specifically define an Executive Order. The Presidential power is ambiguous. Judges must interpret President Trump’s Executive Order. Based on Authority To Use Military Force In Libya: Memorandum Opinion For The Attorney General, the Office of Legal Counsel (under the Department of Justice) argued that President Barack Obama’s military strikes in Libya were constitutional. Since the strikes were “limited in nature, scope, and duration,”[16] the Executive Order could be deemed as constitutional. There was a greater risk not to strike.

[17]

And so, President Obama’s successors can draw from precedent set by the memorandum to defend their Executive Orders as being constitutional. President Obama and Trump have both invoked an Executive Order based onthe President's war power. Would the ban be constitutional so long as the Executive order serves the greater good?

Judges might turn to prior Supreme Court cases, such as Schenck v United States. The Court, in Schenck, unanimously upheld that the right to free speech can be overridden given the right context. “The First Amendment may become subject to prohibition” if there is a necessary circumstance calling for “a clear and present danger” test.[18]President Trump’s Executive Order might undergo the “clear and present danger.”[19] If the ban passes, judges might find the Executive Order to be constitutional despite violating the First amendment.

Alternatively, the district court might hold the Executive Order under legal scrutiny for infringing upon the First Amendment and depriving TikTok of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.Even if banning TikTok complies with the IEEPA, President Trump “could face legal scrutiny for discriminating against certain speakers or types of speech.”[20] Violating the Fifth and First Amendment are serious matters. In addition to carefully observing the government’s procedures, judges might discern President Trump’s reasons for banning TikTok.There might or might not be a compelling enough interest to override either amendment.

Assuming that the ban takes hold, Gen Z might wonder what America would look like without TikTok. Even though TikTok communities would no longer exist, American users’ could migrate to other social media platforms. But there is much to be decided. Walmart, Microsoft and Oracle Corp in the bidding pool of buying TikTok.[21] Buying TikTok could help either company connect with more young people. However, if all deals fall through, TikTok has still filed a lawsuit against President Trump. Only time will tell whether President Trump’s Executive was constitutional.

________________________________________________________________

Aaronson, Susan A. “Recent US Policy Responses Appear Protectionist.” Data Is Dangerous: Comparing the Risks That the United States, Canada and Germany See in Data Troves, April 1, 2020, 15–17. http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep24303.1.

Allyn, Bobby. “TikTok To Sue Trump Administration Over Ban, As Soon As Tuesday.” NPR. NPR, August 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/08/900394707/tiktok-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban-as-soon-as-tuesday.

Bauman, Sheri. Political Cyberbullying: Perpetrators and Targets of a New Digital Aggression. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2019.

Bergman, Ronen, Sheera Frenkel, and Raymond Zhong. “Major TikTok Security Flaws Found.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, January 8, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/tiktok-security-flaws.html.

Brewster, Jack. “TikTok Responds To Trump: 'We're Not Planning On Going Anywhere'.” Forbes. Forbes Media, August 1, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/08/01/tiktok-responds-to-trump-were-not-planning-on-going-anywhere/.

Cullins, Ashley. “TikTok to Trump: Ban Violates Due Process and ‘We Simply Have No Choice’ But to Sue.” The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, August 24, 2020. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tiktok-trump-ban-violates-due-process-first-amendment-1306760.

Department of Justice, Authority To Use Military Force In Libya: Memorandum Opinion For The Attorney General § (2011). https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/olc/libya.pdf.

Doffman, Zak. “TikTok Caught Breaking Google Rules To Secretly Track Android Users-Report.” Forbes. Forbes Media, August 12, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/08/12/tiktok-google-android-breaking-rules-secretly-track-android-users/.

“Due Process.” Legal Information Institute. Legal Information Institute. Accessed August 29, 2020. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/due_process.

Feyissa, Solan. TikTok. Photograph. Flickr. SmugMug Flickr., August 1, 2020. https://www.flickr.com/photos/solen-feyissa/50179272367.

Hamilton, Alexander, Federalist No. 70 § (1787). https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/text-61-70#s-lg-box-wrapper-25493456.

“I Set up a TikTok House: a Trump Ban Would Be a Huge Blow to Teenagers | Timothy Armoo.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, August 11, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/11/tiktok-house-donald-trump-ban-teenagers-china-social-media.

Kumar, Uday Sampath. “Walmart Wants to Go Viral with TikTok, Wall Street Thinks It Can.” Reuters. Reuters, August 28, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-tiktok/walmart-wants-to-go-viral-with-tiktok-wall-street-thinks-it-can-idUSKBN25O28F.

Press, Associated. “TikTok and Its US Employees Set to Sue Trump Administration over Ban.” New York Post. NYP Holdings, August 13, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/08/13/tiktok-us-employees-set-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban/.

Robertson, Adi. “The Big Legal Questions behind Trump's TikTok and WeChat Bans.” The Verge. Vox Media, August 10, 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/10/21358505/trump-tiktok-wechat-tencent-bytedance-china-ban-executive-order-legal-sanctions-rules.

Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), Justia (Supreme Court 1919). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/249/47/#tab-opinion-1928047

Sonnemaker, Tyler, and Leskin Paige. “Trump's Attempt to Ban TikTok and WeChat Could Face Legal Trouble for Infringing on Free Speech, According to a First Amendment Expert.” Business Insider. Insider, August 7, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-tiktok-and-wechat-bans-could-violate-first-amendment-expert-2020-8.

THROnline. “TikTok Complaint.” Scribd. Scribd, August 24, 2020. https://www.scribd.com/document/473491411/TikTok-Complaint.

Wingard, Jason. “The TikTok Invasion: Massive Success, Massive Mistakes, Massive Risks.” Forbes. Forbes Media, December 6, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwingard/2019/12/06/the-tiktok-invasion--massive-success-massive-mistakes-massive-risks/.

Wu, Tim. “A TikTok Ban Is Overdue.” The New York Times. The New York Times, August 18, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/opinion/tiktok-wechat-ban-trump.html.

[1] “I Set up a TikTok House: a Trump Ban Would Be a Huge Blow to Teenagers | Timothy Armoo.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, August 11, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/11/tiktok-house-donald-trump-ban-teenagers-china-social-media.

[2] Press, Associated. “TikTok and Its US Employees Set to Sue Trump Administration over Ban.” New York Post. NYP Holdings, August 13, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/08/13/tiktok-us-employees-set-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban/.

[3]Sonnemaker, Tyler, and Leskin Paige. “Trump's Attempt to Ban TikTok and WeChat Could Face Legal Trouble for Infringing on Free Speech, According to a First Amendment Expert.” Business Insider. Insider, August 7, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-tiktok-and-wechat-bans-could-violate-first-amendment-expert-2020-8.

[4] Robertson, Adi. “The Big Legal Questions behind Trump's TikTok and WeChat Bans.” The Verge. Vox Media, August 10, 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/10/21358505/trump-tiktok-wechat-tencent-bytedance-china-ban-executive-order-legal-sanctions-rules.

[5] Allyn, Bobby. “TikTok To Sue Trump Administration Over Ban, As Soon As Tuesday.” NPR. NPR, August 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/08/900394707/tiktok-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban-as-soon-as-tuesday.

[6] Aaronson, Susan A. “Recent US Policy Responses Appear Protectionist.” Data Is Dangerous: Comparing the Risks That the United States, Canada and Germany See in Data Troves, April 1, 2020, 15–17. http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep24303.1.

[7] Bergman, Ronen, Sheera Frenkel, and Raymond Zhong. “Major TikTok Security Flaws Found.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, January 8, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/tiktok-security-flaws.html.

[8] Aaronson, Susan A. “Recent US Policy Responses Appear Protectionist.” Data Is Dangerous: Comparing the Risks That the United States, Canada and Germany See in Data Troves, April 1, 2020, 15–17. http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep24303.1.

[9] Brewster, Jack. “TikTok Responds To Trump: 'We're Not Planning On Going Anywhere'.” Forbes. Forbes Media, August 1, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/08/01/tiktok-responds-to-trump-were-not-planning-on-going-anywhere/.

[10] Brewster, Jack. “TikTok Responds To Trump: 'We're Not Planning On Going Anywhere'.” Forbes. Forbes Media, August 1, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/08/01/tiktok-responds-to-trump-were-not-planning-on-going-anywhere/.

[11] Allyn, Bobby. “TikTok To Sue Trump Administration Over Ban, As Soon As Tuesday.” NPR. NPR, August 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/08/900394707/tiktok-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban-as-soon-as-tuesday.

[12] Allyn, Bobby. “TikTok To Sue Trump Administration Over Ban, As Soon As Tuesday.” NPR. NPR, August 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/08/08/900394707/tiktok-to-sue-trump-administration-over-ban-as-soon-as-tuesday.

[13]Cullins, Ashley. “TikTok to Trump: Ban Violates Due Process and ‘We Simply Have No Choice’ But to Sue.” The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, August 24, 2020. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tiktok-trump-ban-violates-due-process-first-amendment-1306760.

[14] “Due Process.” Legal Information Institute. Legal Information Institute. Accessed August 29, 2020. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/due_process.

[15]THROnline. “TikTok Complaint.” Scribd. Scribd, August 24, 2020.https://www.scribd.com/document/473491411/TikTok-Complaint.

[16] Department of Justice, Authority to use military force in Libya: memorandum opinion for the Attorney General § (2011). https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/olc/libya.pdf.

[17]THROnline. “TikTok Complaint.” Scribd. Scribd, August 24, 2020.https://www.scribd.com/document/473491411/TikTok-Complaint.

[18] Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), Justia (Supreme Court 1919). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/249/47/#tab-opinion-1928047

[19] Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), Justia (Supreme Court 1919). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/249/47/#tab-opinion-1928047

[20]Sonnemaker, Tyler, and Leskin Paige. “Trump's Attempt to Ban TikTok and WeChat Could Face Legal Trouble for Infringing on Free Speech, According to a First Amendment Expert.” Business Insider. Insider, August 7, 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-tiktok-and-wechat-bans-could-violate-first-amendment-expert-2020-8.

[21] Kumar, Uday Sampath. “Walmart Wants to Go Viral with TikTok, Wall Street Thinks It Can.” Reuters. Reuters, August 28, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-tiktok/walmart-wants-to-go-viral-with-tiktok-wall-street-thinks-it-can-idUSKBN25O28F.

[cardsvistas]

The History of Target Visa Card | target visa card

Millions of immigrants administer for a attempt at a blooming agenda through the assortment acceptance lottery, sometimes applying year afterwards year. But this year, best winners are out of luck.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Millions of immigrants administer for a adventitious at accepting a U.S. blooming agenda through the anniversary assortment acceptance lottery. Some administer year afterwards year. The communicable threw a bend into the processing of those visas this year, and afresh the Trump Administering chock-full arising them altogether. Shannon Dooling from affiliate base WBUR has this report.

SHANNON DOOLING, BYLINE: Five years in a row, Katia Karslidi has activated for a assortment visa. Finally, this year, her chain paid off, and she was about called in the lottery.

KATIA KARSLIDI: It’s like a dream appear accurate because it’s such a baby odds.

DOOLING: The biographer and LGBTQ activist from Russia was on ambition to complete the vetting action and get her blooming agenda by the September 30 deadline. She was alike extensive out to -to-be administering in New York back she beatific an email to a U.S. consular appointment aftermost ages allurement for an update.

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KARSLIDI: They beatific me with automated reply. Thank you for your inquiry. Due to atypical COVID-19 outbreak, all interviews in the assortment acceptance affairs accept been suspended. And that’s basically it.

DOOLING: Karslidi is not alone. Of the 55,000 action winners, about 42,000 haven’t been able to complete the process, which includes consular interviews and accomplishments checks. Now that the affairs has about been shut down, they’re all out of luck, and immigrants like Karslidi are doubly incredulous, both at actuality called and afresh at accident their spot.

KARSLIDI: It’s not only, like, our adventitious to alive in a bigger country. It’s America’s adventitious to accept a lot of accomplished bodies from about the apple to account country. And Trump aloof demography abroad this opportunity.

DOOLING: President Trump opposes the assortment acceptance affairs and generally mocks it at attack rallies.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Anticipate of this. You anticipate they’re activity to put their abundant citizens – they accept abundant citizens. They accept abundant bodies like we accept abundant people. Do you anticipate those bodies are activity into a lottery? No.

DOOLING: This year, the affairs slowed to a clamber back U.S. consulates and embassies bankrupt because of the pandemic. Afresh President Trump dealt addition blow, banning assortment visas and abounding adopted artisan visas from actuality issued. Aftermost month, he continued the ban through the end of the year. Trump says he’s aggravating to bottle American jobs, but Danilo Zak, a action accessory at the National Immigration Forum, says Trump is application coronavirus as an excuse.

DANILO ZAK: I anticipate absolutely, this is an archetype of the administering application the communicable in a way to added goals that it’s had a continued time apropos to the abolishment of the assortment acceptance program.

DOOLING: The assortment acceptance affairs is advised to allure immigrants from countries commonly underrepresented in the U.S. Applicants charge accommodated educational requirements and can’t accept bent records. Once they’re here, Zak says, these immigrants tend to acquisition success. Mahmoud (ph), an Egyptian accountant who grew up in the United Arab Emirates, has activated every year for 15 years. This year, he assuredly won.

MAHMOUD: So the acumen I’m block this dream – I don’t anticipate it’s aloof me or, like, everybody about the apple is applying for the affairs because, you know, they accept the U.S. is the greatest nation.

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DOOLING: We agreed to use alone Mahmoud’s average name because he doesn’t appetite to aching his affairs if the bearings changes. Immigrant advocates are calling on Congress to extend the assortment acceptance processing deadline. They’re additionally suing to annul Trump’s acting ban on these visas.

MAHMOUD: We anticipation it’s activity to be a acting problem, but it angry out to be that, you know, based on the accepted bearings appropriate now, like, this befalling is gone forever.

DOOLING: As it is now, Mahmoud’s alone best would be to put his name in the action afresh abutting year, but he says that’s unlikely. He aloof can’t booty the disappointment again. For NPR News, I’m Shannon Dooling.

Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website agreement of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for added information.

NPR transcripts are created on a blitz borderline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced application a proprietary archetype action developed with NPR. This argument may not be in its final anatomy and may be adapted or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The accurate almanac of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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[tube-thoughts-blog]

Vol. 10

zero stars - terrible, 1/2 a star - dull, 1 star - folly, 1 1/2 stars - lacking, 2 stars - fair, 2 1/2 stars - decent, 3 stars - terrific

Killer Couples: Toybox Killings *An interstate prostitute escapes from a Truth or Consequences, New Mexico "rape dungeon" after being held hostage by a near retirement park ranger party animal and his much younger but still nearing middle aged yet still a white trash party girl at heart lover and willing accomplice. Oxygen network thrives on this kind of investigative murder porn, but gives mixed signals when the show's main sponsor is Oxygen's previews for a feel good family sitcom featuring Damon Wayans.* either zero or 2 stars

Breaking Greenville: You Are Now Safe *An orange tanned, obnoxious news anchor goes weird on the air and starts having a midlife crisis while talking inappropriately to the viewers about his pending divorce. The same guy brings together his news crew, in his small apt, to give them facial masks and it gets surreal looking at newspeople being reality tv stars buying for fifteen minutes of fame with these strange painted faces. Then, a nerdy meteorologist gives an awkward report from a tornado bunker, followed by a spunky morning reporter trying her hardest to be serious for a story of a church burning. A news veteran, with a walrus mustache, gives the spunky reporter advice, while inhaling a chocolate covered donut, to cover more stories about happy topics like food.* close to 2 1/2 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Plastic Surgery, Nip-pocalypse *Put a bag over your head, if you must, but don't put a butterfly tattoo on your ankle.* close to 3 stars

The Ben Stiller Show: Season 1 Episode 12 *"There's nothing like being part of the team. That feeling that you're just an insignificant part of a much larger scheme." All for one and one for all. You can't handle the truth or pull the sword from the stone. "Human flesh is the ultimate fun food."* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Look Around You: Ghosts *They're there in their room.* close to 3 stars

Hippies: Muddy Hippies *Pitching a tent with the socialist state, landing in doo doo, and selling out to the bank.* 2 1/2 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 4 *The original Gong Show had acts more absurd and interesting than 20 something hipster nerd that's kind of good at yo yo or stripper catholic school chick lesbo act that's entertaining only at bachelor and frat parties.* running from 1 to close to 2 stars

=== Ghosts Adventures, Aftershocks with Zak Bagans: Zozo

*D-bag Zak puts on a sports jacket over his muscle shirt to give some former haunted people, from the show, a bit of paranormal therapy, Dr. Phil style.

The poor sap on this episode gets hammered with accusations that his conjuring of a demon via a oujia board (available at toy stores and gag gift shops in malls nationwide) led to his ex-wife having an affair with the nasty spirit and to her current stay in jail.

You can't make this stuff up. Oh, wait... you can, and they did, and it's as laughable to watch as it sounds.

Also, and I'm not making this up, there's some kind of contention, that needed to be explained by host and guest, about said lady's crotch odor actually not being her fault and instead was a sulfur smell from the pits of hell.

No kidding.*

1 star

-----------------------------------------

---- 12:01 Beyond --- Episode #5 --- Love Is Sex Misspelled ---------

*RKO cartoon - Cupid Gets His Man: An all out Cherub amorous assault on an old maid and an old bachelor.* 2 stars

*Old school, praise-filled promo for the cult classic Dr. Caligari 1989.* 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo sends one out to the lovers who like to "cop a feel."* 2 1/2 stars

*"Eavesdrop on America's darkest secrets." Intimate Secrets "Adults only. $2.00 per minute. Classic sleazy 900 number phone service.* 3 stars

*Ninja the Mission Force - "N" Is For Ninja: "Keep your money in your shoe." and your heart off your pajama sleeve.* close to 3 stars

*Super retro anti-drug cartoon circa late 60s or early 70s from Hanna Barbera.* 3 stars

*Republic Pictures Serials - The Crimson Ghost in Chapt. 5 'Flaming Death': Collision course on a collision course.* 2 stars

*Ballroom Dance Floor (interesting music video inspired by the Great Gatsby.* 2 1/2 stars

*Grindhouse trailer showing an "Oath of Green Blood."* 2 1/2 stars

*Mr. Lobo romances a potted plant.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

*A big costume heart shows up and sings to Mr. Lobo and his potted lady.* 2 1/2 stars

*Tom Sizemore in "Bad Love": Tom is Lenny -a lowlife, jealous, pathetic, controlling, abusive, mostly terrible lover/boyfriend to this short-haired city chick, who could do much better but is too dumb to try, in a saxophone and soft piano filled skid row setting softcore sex in the mid 90s romance flick.* close to 2 1/2 stars

*Videotape advertisement for satellite signal descrambler to have "American eXXXtasy" available to all those using a video cipher 2 for only a few hundred bucks. Get all the porn you want, same as an average schmoe in a trucker hat and a plaid shirt.* 3 stars

*A colorized King Kong goes car shopping for a Volkswagen to haul his captive sweetie around in a 1960s or early 70s car advertisement.* close to 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo can't get any privacy or satisfaction from the invasive Heart mascot, a cloud of poisonous urinal cake gas, or a post-apocalyptic plant lady mishap.* 2 stars

*Classic TNT Monstervision theme song, sung by Joe Bob Briggs, intro video where Joe Bob can't get any love from the hot, white trash bimbo TNT "Mail Girl."* 3 stars

*"Red Nightmare": Jack Webb stands on suburban street corners, staring into windows, abducting family men, who won't get in line and act like a good American, sending them to Soviet society where their freedoms are stripped away. Jack Webb is too ignorant to see the irony of his own thoughts and actions.* 1 star

*Superman in "Jungle Drums": "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Superman saves Lois from stereotype African savages who are trying to sacrifice her for not spilling top U.S. Navy ship location secrets to the savages' Nazi overlords." 3 stars

*"Women fear being raped, but it's double the fear if it's in outerspace and by aliens." in this grindhouse quality trailer for "Insemenoid."* 3 stars

*Colorful, quirky, scale model filled XXX outerspace adventure with horny space women, Harry Potter look-a-like with his Hogwarts professor sidekick, and overtly gay alien ship's computer voice. "Spaced Out." a grindhouse style trailer.* 3 stars

*"Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders" another retro trailer.* 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo is the last man on earth, left to his own devices -licking telephone receivers.* close to 2 1/2 stars

*Zero stars for the annoying voice over lady who complained during everyone of her intros. Was an enhancement the first few episodes of 1201, but for this episode it was a real detraction. Not sure if it was part of the act, or if it was a legitimate show of feelings. Either way, it sucked. Get rid of it, and her, if necessary.*

===========================================================

VH1 sneak preview "Hot Grits" *Another insipid reality mess featuring "good looking" people, this time the cast being overprivileged 20 somethings from the southern United States (A number of other cable networks have similar shows. So, it's already a tired premise.) and VH1 really is daring its idiotic viewers to "hate watch" the awful people and antics on this steaming vomit, served in a bowl, excuse for a tv show.* zero stars

Red Letter Media presents Best of the Worst: Blood Debts, The Tomb, and Undefeatable *Generic Charles Bronson with a tiny cannon and a wife named simply "his wife" in the movie's credits, then a Indiana Jones rip off that has nearly zero action... limited stars' screentime... and phone filled exposition, followed finally by a mom jeans karate lady in a universe where everyone knows karate and an eyeball ripping out serial rapist is on the loose.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

American Horror Story - Asylum: Continuum *Communal state of delusion.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Hellphones versus Interthreat *Electronic etiquette.* close to 3 stars

Forensic Files: Bitter Potion *Poisoned by Pie. Scratch that. Poisoned by Coca-Cola. Better yet, poisoned by a member of MENSA. A real 'Walter White type' chemist / former meth cook.* 3 stars

Weird Science: Fatal Lisa *"Getting it on (on the hood of a Dodge Viper, which is true love)" with a genie who won't take no for an answer.* 3 stars

Wizards and Warriors: Night of Terror *For the night is long and filled with spiders.* 3 stars

Swamp Thing: The Prometheus Parabola *John Wayne and Arcane have a tech-war shootout showdown.* either 1 or 3 stars

Viper: Firehawk *"Beware the Bandersnatch" Urban assault and compromising situations of a vehicular nature.* either 1 1/2 stars or close to 3 stars

Spicy City: Manos Hands *Redbeans, bongo musica, and bruja? brewha?* close to 3 stars

X Files: Darkness Falls *Pitch black.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Mother Earth Bitch *Throwing a live chicken, wearing a jet pack, into the air is not pollution.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Forensic Files: Fatal Fungus *Mold takes hold in the ghetto.* 2 1/2 stars

Gargoyles: Reawakening *Castle and community.* close to 3 stars

Hill Street Blues: Gatorbait *Passive aggressive "Prelude to oblivion."* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Robocop the series: Trouble In Delta City *Strange side effects. Tame violence and hokey characters are just fine when the satire is funny and biting.* close to 3 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 episode 5 *This show is so far removed from the spirit of the original Gong Show that it reminds one of a skanky Hard Rock Cafe amateur talent night. Adam Sandler's production company "Happy Madison" is in charge of the show, so that says something about the quality and the reason why this episode featured two unworthy, obnoxious female friends of his who were also "actresses" in one of his terrible movies (Something something Zohan).* 1 1/2 stars

Everything Is Terrible -----------------

*Family Easter Hell!: "Because he lives, we can face tomorrow. Now, here's an egg." A decorated egg.* 3 stars

*Christ Or Die: Too busy to hear about salvation? Think it's nonsense? Boom, comically horrible death without redemption.* 3 stars

*Jesus Has A Big Dick!: #BOING!# "That's right!" Gitty up, little doggie.* 3 stars

----------------------------

VH1 Classic --- Pop Up Video --- Episode 3

*Meredith Brooks - "Bitch": A female dog was the first earth creature to orbit in outerspace.* 3 stars with pop ups 2 1/2 stars without pop ups

*Gin Blossoms - "Allison Road": According the the U.S. Census Bureau, you are watching television right now.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

*Madonna - "Take A Bow": Madonna wanted to get knocked up by Dennis Rodman. True fact. And true that she is as pretentious as this gorgeous 90s artsy music video.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

*Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True": The only thing true about Milli Vanilli was they were both lip syncing.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars (guilty pleasure) without pop ups

*Bobby McFerrin - "Don't Worry, Be Happy": "Happiness is a psychiatric disorder."* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

----------------------------------------------

Look Around You: Sulphur *"9 hundred billion, billion, billion, billion matches."* 3 stars

Twitch City: People Who Fight Too Much *"Alleged spontaneous nature of..." dynamics.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Voting, Electile Dysfunction *Don't "Rock the Vote!" More people coupon than vote. Voting should be fun like the lottery or the Pepsi Challenge.* 3 stars

The Ben Stiller Show: season 1 episode 13 *"Doomed souls wander the earth, unfit for either Heaven or Hell." Special guest Howie Mandell, and a Jeffersons reunion.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

"Bad Dudes Versus Dragon Ninja" (A Data East arcade game) *In 2015, Islamic terrorists are beheading innocents, Hillary is once again running for the highest office in the land, and a moron lands a gyrocopter on the lawn of the capitol building. In the 1980s, we had a president named "Ronnie" and he was kidnapped by ninjas.* close to 3 stars

"Shaq Fu" (*Brought to us by PEPSI and ego*) *Shaq wanders into an Oriental antiques shop, the kind that would sell a Mogwai to a stupid Westerner. The little old man sends him to retrieve a golden child from an ancient realm where Shaq ventures across what looks like the map from Super Mario World for the SNES and there he beats up voodoo women, cat women, and stereotype Universal style monsters.* 2 stars

Hippies: Disgusting Hippies *Young punks think Simon Pegg's hippie newsletter editor character is a cunt.* 3 stars

Weird Science: Killer Party *"Did you just turn my parents into teenage party animals!?!"* 3 stars

The Greatest American Hero: Reseda Rose *First off, it's crummy being an 80s kid with a flakey parent who won't spend her weekend with a kid at the zoo, 'cause she's too busy with her acting in commercials career. Then The Greatest American Hero breaks Superman's privacy rule by using his x-ray vision powers to peak through walls at a cocktail waitress hogtied by Russian undercover spies.* close to 3 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 6 *More b list celebrities flirting with Las Vegas "rawker" looking skanks and trying way too hard to be edgy talent/comedy routines.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars

Bob and Margaret: The Dental Convention *Oral hypnotism. Bob's "matter of fact" attitude charms the masses and puts off his smarmy, new age dental clinic dental school classmate at a dental convention in Frankfurt, Germany.* close to 3 stars

Flinch (Vertigo - DC Comics) ------

*Mostly White: Women lose their small child during the insipid panic surrounding a big department store's Christmas rush. Reminds one of a more bleak Storm of the Century by Stephen King.* close to 3 stars

*The Harvester: Surgery of harvesting a deadbeat's organs goes through, even with the moral dilemma of the supposed braindead deadbeat not being dead.* 2 1/2 stars

*Sitter!: A neurotic slacker gets stuck babysitting his thug friend's wrapped in plastic dead stripper girlfriend's body that he shows up at his apartment with.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

-----------------------------------

--- The Ben Stiller Show: Unaired Sketches

*An absurd and kooky wrestling characters battle royale. Ben dresses up like a deformed Ron Perlman and along with Bob Odenkirk and Andy Dick predicts the sad, pathetic lives of what would become "furries" in a mascot competition.

'Hard Edition,' a Hard Copy tabloid tv show parody keeps catching a horny, teenage Andy Dick whacking off to nudey magazines.

Three's Company era Don Knotts portrayed by Andy Dick joins a spandex wearing and lasso swinging Ben Stiller infomercial workout expert and his dominatrix.

Bob Odenkirk is a creepy, conspiracy theorist sitting on a bench in a park rambling about cancer, Dick Clark, Elvis, adult diaper cartels, tainted peanut butter assassinations.*

(I can see why some of these didn't make the cut, but still funny.)

3 stars

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crossballs, the debate show: Sex Battle USA *A flamboyant pansexual Matt Besser character gets bitchy with a conservative reverend who believes the sexes should act their sex. A feminist has to explain the 1964 Civil Rights act allowed for women's rights not to be sexually exploited in the workplace. Ha. A business consultant thinks that the WNBA should dress their ladies like the Lingerie Football League so that they'll stop be unsuccessful in the ratings and attendance. A crazy inventor presents a robot vagina for the workplace.* close to 3 stars

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES) *So we've got an evil sorceress Latoya Jackson look-a-like, a turkey behind a computer terminal, and a jacked up toad zipping its way through hordes of pig-beasts wearing amateur wrestling singlets and viking helmets, raccoons with magnets, moles on checker board pieces all through fast flying obstacles and platform puzzle levels, like one where the toad has to hang on for a ride on the back of two tropical snakes through the holes of their tunnel nest. A rare gem alongside Donkey Kong Country and Rayman.* close to 3 stars

Death Rattle #18 (Kitchen Sink Comix) -------

*Bulto the Cow Camp, Thirty Years Later....: Historical and allegorical tales of ancient deposits of precious minerals sought by 19th century men of manifest destiny with gold and silver twinkling in their beady eyes.* 3 stars

*The Old Wisconsin That I Knew: Musings of an early 20th century bigot thinking back on when he and the white man could exploit and show unpunished cruelty to the red man out in the frontier of Wisconsin. Thanks to nature's natural ways, a cruel fate meets the old bastard in the most bleak and darkly poetic way possible, spilling his guts before his eyes and leaving his bones to be drenched by pounding rains and dried by the menacing sun.* 3 stars

*Small Acts of Revenge: A loner, whose overbearing parents still haunt him from the grave, tries to escape reality into the grotesque world of Tales from the Crypt style comics. That is when he's not being haunted by the gruesome visages of the victims of his wrongfully applied revenge.* close to 3 stars

*When I Grow Up: Kids playing make believe, on a suburban lawn, see a shooting star. A somber girl makes a wish, and strangely they begin aging and acting out the drama of their teenage through adulthood to middle age and death life sorrows.* close to 3 stars

----------------------------------

The Angry Video Game Nerd: Atari Porn *In the early days of videogames, designers were happy just to be able to pixelate  penises, humping, and ejaculating. It was that immature. Take history's tragic a-hole, General Custer, and have him dodging arrows so that he can poke a naked Indian chick tied to a cactus. Have a guy jerking off on top of a building with willing naked bimbos below to catch his falling semen. How bout a topless witch squirting milk to men with their goobers poking out of their pants? Or even a juvenile fantasy of a poorly pixelated naked chick stalking a neighborhood and breaking into houses to hump men in their sleep?* 1 star for the shitty games 3 stars for Nerd enduring the absurdity of it all

Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (Electronic Arts for Super Nintendo) *When Michael Jordan was the most exciting athlete in the world, he was careful about how he had his image used. He'd play Larry Bird in a ridiculous game of h-o-r-s-e for a Big Mac or Pepsi, and he'd sell overpriced sneakers in an arthouse commercial co-starring and directed by Spike Lee, but you couldn't live out your dreams of being like Mike in basketball videogames like the awesome arcade dunkfest NBA JAM. No. At the time, you could play this game and bounce a basketball around a haunted, flooded, bat infested house / dungeon to platform hop and rescue Michael Jordan's NBA All Star team-mates.* 1 1/2 stars

Look Around You: Music *Don't play the forbidden notes.* 2 1/2 stars

Obscurus Lupa Presents: Pocket Ninja *If you were an 80s or early 90s kid, you were a martial arts spazz. You watched Ninja Turtles, you watched 3 Ninjas (barf), Surf Ninjas (laughs). and you were a threat to kick another kid or adult in the nuts while stupidly attempting karate. This one, Pocket Ninja, is a relic of its time. It's a cheap and direct to video IMDB bottom 100 "movie" featuring poor editing, awful slapstick in place of entertaining chop sockey, bad acting 90s brats, and a lot of taking itself not serious at all while thinking it's funny when it's not.* 2 1/2 stars for Obscurus Lupa's review and 1 star for the movie clips

=== Dead Rising *2006* (All story cutscenes in movie form)

*I'm not here to discuss the sandbox gameplay.

The cutscenes play like any other zombie outbreak flick, and nicely, with the usual mad science government conspiracy gone wrong.

This time with a theme of Americans' insatiable lust for red blooded meat and the abuse of the third world to get it.

Like with their Resident Evil series, Capcom nails the ambiance of a survival horror story with the crawling up on your shoulder sounds and music cues, and the mall setting is a nice homage to Dawn of the Dead.

Expect over the top acting performances from the CGI created stars and voice actors.

But unfortunately like more recent Capcom survival horror games it strays off the path with too big of a narrative scope and not knowing when to stop and what genre to stay in

(zombie wasps, Oriental stereotype psychopath butchers and grocery store managers gone mad, and an ending involving a military jeep battle with a tank commanded by the type of military a-hole like in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket).

Other than that it fits in nicely with the zombie revival craze of the 2000s.*

2 1/2 stars

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Xenophage, Alien Bloodsport (Story Mode) *A "faces of meth" David Duchovny look-a-like, in a Canadian tuxedo, along with a Gillian Anderson look-a-like, both get abducted by the United Federation of Planets & Hokey Outer Space Martial Arts Tournaments. Nick (Duchovny) is midly disturbed by this. Think Mortal Kombat meets Celebrity Deathmatch levels of uncanny valley faces on the two humans. Of course, these two everyday Joe and Jane pair can hurl energy blasts from the palms of their hands, as requirement by all fighting games. The lizard / insect alien creature designs are at least visually interesting and deserve to belong in a better mid-90s sci fi PC game.* 1 star

River City Ransom (NES) *This game lives up to its name. You pretty much walk along the streets, by a river, in a nice Japanese (posing for American, I guess?) city, getting hit in the back of the head by "student" thugs, with street gang weapons, as you try to rescue your girlfriend from a high ranking crime lord named Slick. Sounds like the plot for many other 80s beat 'em ups / karate movies, and it is. Charming little title with the bite sized NES and cute little Japanese flare, including a bad side of town called "Generic Guy Territory" or something along those lines. And don't worry about the enemies, because our hero has a superfast kick attack that would make Street Fighter's Chun Li's loins quiver.* 2 1/2 stars

"No Exit" (Amiga) *A 2D fighter that looks like it pre-dates both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. More like Mortal Kombat, though, and a possible influence (?) on the series. It contains small character sprites but they can perform special moves like turning into killer fish and screaming banshee faces. There's even a hilarious finishing move sequence where the loser walks around headless, with the head floating just there, before they collapse into a  pool of blood and electric sparks. The backgrounds are dark and gothic with demonic statues and menacing trees with faces, again like Mortal Kombat. Also there's an intro screen / possible box art with a regular Joe street fighting man set against a dark and gritty cityscape with the 'Satanic-goat-horned' image of what must be the main villain against the background, and that's just pure exploitation goodness for ya.* 2 1/2 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 2 Minute Super Soul Brother *"Doing it" in the name of science (?), money (?), bulletproof skin, mad science midgets, and big tittied blonde women.* 3 stars

Mortal Kombat: Defenders of Stupidity *Kombat krazy white chick special operative in gymnastics attire, untrustorthy ninjas of all kinds of variety, bumbling super computer wizard Native American stereotypes, and a black dude with bionic arms who calls a Thunder God the unflattering insult name of "girlfriend."* 3 stars

Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis) *A 1920s gangster, who knows kung fu, is teleported to a mystical martial arts tournament after his death. Fight against trident wielding mer-men, prehistoric brutes, neo ninja chicks, and cyborg dudes in a colorful Street Fighter 2 clone.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

Red Letter Media presents Best of the Worst ---------

*Ghetto Blaster: An urban warfare expert returns to his home city and finds it full of crime. After the convenience store robbery death of his dad and the brutal burning to death of his old black man friend (and his alley cat), the guy decides to take action. Pulling off mildly harmful clown pranks on the goofy acting gang bullies around town.* either 1 star or 2 stars

*Terror In Beverly Hills: "Terrorists have kidnapped the President's daughter and are holding her hostage in the old bean factory." (PfffHAA!) Cue keyboard cat-lady and Frank (totally not Sylvester) Stallone.* either 1 star or between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

*Killing American Style: Elephant Man look-a-like Robert Zadar and his gang of escaped convicts and sex perverts pull off a violent / half assed home invasion "thriller" at the home of a Rico Suave look-a-like and Steven Segal martial arts expert.* either zero stars (uncomfortable family murder / rape), 1 star, or 2 stars

Red Letter Media agrees that Terror In Beverly Hills is Best of the Worst

-----------------------------------------------------

Natsume and Milton Bradley present "Abadox" *Imagine Metroid for the NES, only with monsters ripped from the minds of H.R. Giger and Clive Barker.* 3 stars

"Guardians of the Hood" (Atari Arcade) 1992 *Some Jersey Shore rejects battle their way through a poorly digitized bad side of town filled with hookers and gangbangers and flashing perverts. Cheered on by a haggard looking gym owner similar to Mickey from Rocky. And unconvincingly menaced by a lipstick wearing model in "guy drag." In a tacky twist ending (to go along with the tacky rest of the game), the "Big Boss" (the model) takes off her old school gangster disguise and has a final fight with our steroid muscled and orange tan heroes while she wears dominatrix attire.* 1star

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Bulletproof *Gary Busey invents and overuses the catchphrase "butthorn." Whatever that means.* 3 stars

"Kakuto Chojin" (X-BOX) *In the early 2000s, industrial techno noise & nu-metal guitar riffs were a grating chorus to America's bleeding eardrums, and the same "xtremez" who enjoyed this were likely to take Fight Club literally. This game represents the kind of turn of Y2K, gritty, urban fist to face revivals supposedly going on in back alleys and parking garages across cities nationwide. Gritty, but pretty in the same way Ninja Gaiden could be on the X-Box hardware. And featuring a nice presentation effect of having the camera do a 360 degree slow motion pan around each KO. The most memorable thing about the game is the controversy around one character's Muslim extremist dialogue in the game. This lead to it being pretty much dead on arrival in the American videogame climate of the early days after 9/11.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

"JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" (Dreamcast) *Over the top manga presentation style with characters drawn in the same way mannequins' faces are both appealing and appalling. Each fighter fights alongside a spirit / avatar being / creature. It's like the Monty Python cartoon, but creepier, cousin to all the other highly animated 2D Japanese fighting games of the 90s. Funniest moment, that I witnessed, being when a steam-roller gets dropped on a pug sized dog character and the opponent begins pounding the steam-roller, with his fists, as the dog whimpers beneath.* 2 1/2 stars

"Dark Edge" Sega 1992 (Arcade) *Set in a sprite art pixelated and nifty cyberpunk dystopia. Battle it out as leather clad ninja chicks on hoverboards, mech dudes with missiles and flying torpedo dive attacks, biological monsters, another guy in a monkey-fighting-style inspired mech suit, and a final boss that's a techno ghoul nightmare like out of Frank Miller's Ronin. Fighters can move around each other giving the illusion of early 3D gameplay, and featuring the upbeat style of 90s Japanese video game music and bad "Engrish" phrases like "Wound One" instead of round one.* close to 2 1/2 stars

"Strider" Capcom (Arcade) *"All sons of old gods die!" Pretty dramatic, eh? Well, if Emperor Palpatine made a deal with space pirates, Amazon women, and robotic commies you wouldn't need no Jedi, Wonder Woman, Captain America, or Flash Gordon to save the day. Just take one arcade token and about 15 minutes and let a wall climbing ninja do what the galactic rebels couldn't do in a trilogy of movies.* close to 3 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Netforce *'So dated that it's funny' fearmongering about the dangers of global e-terror during the early days of the internet.* 3 stars

---- Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 (Nintendo 64)

*The world of pro wrestling is a niche part of entertainment culture.

Fans watch it for a variety of reasons:

kids who enjoy the heroic action, adults (who never grew up) for a more nostalgic reason, fandom fans who admire the celebrity surrounding the hunky dudes and buxom babes of the sport (er... sports-entertainment), and the internet wrestling community who dissect the current product and the past eras of the product and consider it an artform with varying degrees of level of quality of product and performance.

Well, you can't get more niche than a Japanese version of pro wrestling and a pro wrestling game that was made in the late 90s.

The popular AKI "No Mercy" wrestling engine featuring a legendary wrestler and anime character "Tiger Mask Number 2" and portrayed by a legendary Japanese wrestler (Misawa) who tragically died while performing his "art."

In this game, it's made weirder by the fact the game features a crowd of cardboard cut out Japanese wrestling fans.

Yeah, pro wrestling is niche, and weird, but it's fun, just like this wrestling game featuring great action and a great game engine that's had a lasting appeal of fun gameplay to play or watch for close to two decades.*

3 stars

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"Buriki One" (SNK) 1999 *Remember that scene in the movie "Lost In Translation" where Bill Murray couldn't get the tone right for his Japanese whiskey commercial? That's sort of what this game is like and that weird period of time when combat sports mayhem was trying to figure out just how to go about what would eventually become mixed martial arts like the UFC. Different styles of throwdown meet here, on the mat, including everything from karate to pro wrestling to low impact elderly ancient Chinese exercise technique (jk). It's interesting, but it works about as well and is almost as boring as the first time these different styles of sport met when boxing clashed with karate in the infamous Ali versus Inoki fight where one challenger, afraid of the other's fists, chose to lie on the ring floor and kick at the other like a scared rabbit.* either 1/2 a star or close to 2 1/2 stars

"3 Count Bout" (SNK) *Superficial and on the surface is a stigma when it comes to video game graphics. As soon as developers could make 3D and fans could get their hands on it, we entered into a trying time. Blocky and often ugly characters replaced sprite animation because it was the new thing. Dreary attempts at 3D environments were as fun to look at as getting about an inch away from a dirty, grey concrete wall and cracking your skull against it. Things have improved from those early days of 3D graphic experimentation, but at the time, I would have rathered stuck with something like this game. An early 1990s arcade button smasher featuring colorful kabuki ninjas throwing big bad Mad Max movie inspired bruisers around & into electrified deathtraps in a cheesy, and dated, --beat'em up-- 'eye candy' grappler.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

---- "Real Bout Fatal Fury Special" --Level 7 Ultra Hard-- (SNK Arcade)

*Playing as a Jacki Chan inspired Hong Kong super-cop wielding a set of nunchaku through a series of scantly clad karate babes, little old sensei who morphs into huge muscle bound badass, and dance fighting dudes from the Caribbean.

Finally beating the purple haired Euro-dictator-themed final boss, one would think that an arcade battler would be done munching one's quarters.

But think again. During the celebrating credits, the music changes to a wind instrumental samurai movie sounding theme and one is transported through a  series of sliding open doors featuring beautiful classic Japanese artwork of feudal warriors.

It stops at a martial arts badass with his back turned towards the camera and standing amidst huge samurai warrior oni statues in a menacingly eerie flame lit dojo.

It's secret final boss, by the name of Geese Howard, who looks like a handsome American corp executive or presidential candidate and is ripped with muscles and decked out in kung fu threads.

The screen reads the bold words "Nightmare," as he precedes to backfist you in the mush and charge up monster truck tire sized energy blasts to pummel and embarass you with and make you feel like a loser, even though you beat the game.

It's cheap, you feel like a klutz, but it's pure unadulterated martial arts tournament cliche movie/game exploitation goodness to the last clud to the floor in agonizing defeat.*

3 stars

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"Ninja Master's" (SNK/ADK) 1996 *From an artistic eye viewpoint, feudal Japan was one moody place. In this setting, one might witness a lone swordsman standing in a rainstorm with a flash of lightning to reveal ninja assassins creeping up on him, or a samurai sword clash in front of a desolate and overgrown farm overran by crows, then maybe another bloody encounter on a lone pier watched over by a willow tree above other trees in the newly flooded river with mountains in the distance, an honorable duel to the death might come in a cave filled with bats, and moonlit temples often played host to battles with evil samurai overlords like the dreaded Nobunaga and his sentient, burning blade.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

"Weaponlord" (Namco for the SNES) *Long before Namco mastered weapon based combat games with the Soul Calibur series, they jumped in on the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat 2D fighter action. What it boils down to is stone aged brutes bashing other stone aged brutes, Viking women, and demonic brutes in the skull with swords, axes, and huge rocks tied to huge clubs with leather. Featuring  an artistic style similar to a Frank Frazetta drawing -thanks to comic arist Simon Bisley who is famous for his dark fantasy artwork in Judge Dredd & Lobo. Eyecandy for fans of 1980s heavy metal album covers, sword and sorcery flicks of the same era, and readers of Conan the Barbarian pulps and comics.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

---"Sexy fights and brutal deaths in" **The Black Heart** (indie) *An indie (Mugen, a form of online fighting game mashup creator and sharing service) 2D fighting game with over the top super moves similar to Marvel vs. Capcom. However, darker than Capcom's own horror based fighter Darkstalkers. Inspired by the more bloody Silent Hill, Hellraiser, and the Japanese ghost genre of The Ring. It does feature a few comical characters like a twig man who smokes pot and wears a green suit like another silly horror villain in Warwick Davis's Leprechaun. Also there's a sexy "fan service" spider-lady who looks like something out of a Tim Burton stop motion movie.* 2 1/2 stars

"Abobo's Big Adventure" (New Grounds & I-Mockery) *The alternate history imagined tale of a random baddie from the arcade and NES classic "Double Dragon." The bald, mean faced, and lovingly dumb, newly protagonist murders his way through tons of classic NES game characters. It's a tribute / parody with a very morbidly entertaining sense of humor.* 3 stars

"Martial Masters" 2001 *Playing like a brightly colored cousin to Capcom or SNK fighters, but featuring a setting and cast from China of old. Gorgeously pastoral with scenes of old men sweeping the floors of temples as cranes pose gently near about, a monkey boy and his actual monkey friends dancing around, and children sitting in a meadow playing with and feeding a panda that's rolling to and fro for their amusement, along with the typical market scenes of the genre. For fans, like myself, of Shaw Brothers kung fu movies and modern fare like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.* close to 3 stars

Everything is Terrible: 3 Minute Unborn 2 *Overly dramatic bad horror movie about a killer baby that's such a horrible looking prop that it's even harder to take seriously than it already would be. Ends with mom having had enough and elbowing monster baby in the face, several hard times, before blowing herself and junior (and even more unbelievably the house) up with the old homemade explosive device in the microwave trick.* either 1 star or 3 stars

Dave's Nostalgia Trip: "Big Bang Pro Wrestling" (SNK) Neo Geo Pocket Color --2000-- *For a handheld wrestling game this has a nice presentation. The crowd is lively, the tunes have a headbobbing gentleness that's not so grating, and the action packs a bang (even if the game is bite sized). Any pro wrestling game where you can pull off a top rope moonsault has an instant fun factor.* close to 3 stars

Weird Science: Sex Ed *"You don't understand the meaning of the words funky cold medina, shoop a doop, zoom uh zoom zoom in the boom boom."* 2 1/2 stars

Manimal: High Stakes *Wild horses couldn't chase as much tail as Manimal.* either 1 star or close to 3 stars

Ed the Happy Clown: Issue 6 of 9 (Drawn & Quarterly Publications) *A micro-dimension has been discovered when the tiny head of another dimension's Earth's president Ronald Reagan appears as the penis head of a loser named Ed. Tiny pygmie savages, of the city, want to worship it as a penis god. And a tv show/government agency of science wants to investigate this other dimension, but they turn against the whole idea, rather violently, when they discover the only way to again contact this other dimension is to put the other dimension's Ron Reagan into a dimensional gateway that also happens to be the anus of a dead man. It's not the necrophillia that they have a problem with, it's the homosexuality.* 3 stars

"Burn: Cycle" (Phillips Compact Disc Interactive) --1994-- *"Sol Cutter has something on his mind... ...in two hours it's going to explode!" You kind of know what to expect from a dated full motion videogame when you hear something like that as a tag line. This one has all the cliches of the cyberpunk 90s genre: cityscape right out of BladeRunner only with poor 90s cgi, flying cars, high tech espionage plot, sinister new-age cult, cyber addiction, hipster nite club with neo-jazz music, and a main character who narrates his broken down in the gutter life like a noir tragic figure. It's like Johnny Mneumonic (sp?) with an "Everybody betray me!" Tommy Wiseau level of bad acting, yet dull.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars

Super Star Wars --SNES-- (Lucas Arts) *Storywise, it's the even more juvenile imagined parts of Episode 4 turned into a run and gun sidescroller. But in reality, it's set in a galaxy far, far away. A very long time ago before the edited special editions and prequels killed most of the magic of the series. And before Disney dug up the holy corpse to cash in on it. It's Luke blasting first and asking questions never, pulling an Annie Starkiller and wasting countless lives of Jawas, Sandpeople, and Stormtroopers. He hadn't really got a handle on the whole more peaceful side of the force yet. You can get Chewbacca (for a more whimsical approach) or Han (for a more morally ambiguous path). Still, it feels rather repetitive and very Duke Nuke'em instead of Jedi Knight or loveable space rascals.* 2 stars

"Mace: The Dark Age" (N64) *Some would say this 3D brawler wants badly to be either Killer Instinct or Mortal Kombat. Especially with a voice announcer who demands "Execution!" after the final round. But you can't totally dislike a game that puts a dwarf in a steampunk powered war-mech built out of ale barrels and carrying a Thor hammer and spiked mace as weapons.* close to 2 1/2 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 7 *It all feels a little too rehearsed. Everyone of the contestants has an edgy or alt-2000s carnival act. Where are the true weirdos and not these phonies?* 2 stars

Spicy City: Tears of a Clone *One in a million girl with a one in a million genetic code. But not anymore, and hardly worth the trouble. Still, you kind of feel for her.* 3 stars

From Dusk Till Dawn, the series: Self Contained *Owed a soul and a crossing over.* close to 3 stars

Farscape: Family Ties *A cross between the lunar landing and Return of the Jedi, only more bleak.* 3 stars

Attack On Titan: Episode 1 *Taking the tired concept of refuge from a horde of cannibalistic humanoids (zombies) and turning it on its head. This time instead of thousands of zombies clawing outside a wall or a building, it's giant, mindless humanoid cannibals clawing outside a giant wall. The people inside are shaken from their sense of comfort when one is big enough to bring even the huge walls down for the first time in a 100 years or something. Made even more entertaining by the grandiose over the top anime style acting and voice performances. Also, this show reminds me of SouthPark, for some reason (maybe the kids?), and that's definitely a good thing.* 3 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Death Drug *Angel Dust makes Miami Vice's Phil Michael Thomas go crazy and destroy a supermarket.* either 1 star or 3 stars

"Nasty Hero" circa 1980s or officially 1987 via 'The Private Movie Company Inc.' (ooh fancy) *A real Neandertal is released from the slammer after being framed for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's out for ridiculous action movie revenge. He always wears a dirty wife beater or mechanic's shirt (hence the name Nasty Hero, I guess). He'll have to take down the blackmarket sports car ring of obnoxious yuppies out to make his life a living hell. The main douchebag is even after his old flame Yolanda (*snickers*). Set in the "So 80s it hurts!" time period in the thousand flushes blue toilet bowl of America that is known as Florida. And featuring a ton of bad movie cliches and homo-erotic moments. Still, the cheese and action goes down easy.* close to 2 1/2 stars

Heart She Holler: Fear Is Dog Spelled Bassackwards *Perversion of the conversion. Regular folk, n-word, chicken dinner.* 2 1/2 stars

Kung Fu, the series: The Soul is the Warrior *A rose grows beyond the wall.* 3 stars

--- "Daraku Tenshi, The Fallen Angels" (Psikyo) 1998

*Usually fighting games don't have a uniting theme when it comes to stages.

If they can animate it, then they'll fight anywhere from the jungle to outerspace.

Even if it doesn't make any sense.

Here is not the case. The setting being a decade after a major cataclysm leaves a west coast city, with an obvious Asian influence, in the climate of a cesspool and never recovering from the disaster.

It makes sense then that a dirty karate master, who is followed around by flies, would fight in a dingy back alley near the trash dumpsters in which he'd fight cats for his supper.

Or a somber, rainy graveyard which would be filled with victims of the earthquake.

The criminal element, like crazed kung fu dudes in leather jackets and hired gunmen, would go for the little bit of human blood left in encounters in dingy bars that are in disrepair and haven't seen a patron in years.

Fat, mutated freaks would fly into fight in tire filled junkyards with the rubble of the never cleaned away destroyed city as the backdrop skyline.

It really has a beautiful art style.*

3 stars

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"Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe" (Warner Bros.) --2008-- *Most modern videogames play like movies, but they often find a hard time defining whatever generic protagonist is the lead. The lead usually designed by committee to fit the bland tastes of a mass audience. Fighting games and superhero comics don't have the problem of generic characters. They're usually bold. This game plays like a movie and has an ensemble of really bold characters. But these two "universes" don't mesh together out of a "Gee, what if?" concept put down on paper. I applaud the cinematic effort, which the MK team would improve on somewhat in the sequel/reboot (Mortal Kombat 2011). Still here, it's awkward and filled with unintentionally funny moments and dialogue (a lot of it laughed at by The Joker who almost seems in on how ridiculous it all is). either 1 star or close to 2 1/2 stars

---- "Samurai Showdown" II thru V-Special (SNK)

*In my early teens, during the 90s, I was an Mortal Kombat fan.

I wish I would have had better taste. The gore and juvenile humor and dark fantasy appealed to my angst ridden desires.

At my local arcade, no one crowded around the Street Fighter machine. Even the Marvel versus Capcom series didn't appeal to me, though a few years earlier, I was a big fan of the X-Men cartoon.

Nope, me and the neighborhood kids craved blood, guts, farts, glimpses of titties, gangster rap, Beavis & Butthead, Summer blockbuster movies, alt-rawk.

In my early 20s, I started appreciating Samurai movies on cable, and in my later 20s, I began reading Lone Wolf & Cub samurai manga.

During the 16 bit 2-D fighting game craze, I wish I had been sopisticated enough to have taken notice to this highly artistic, and yet still bloody and fun, take on Samurai and a fighting game.

It does a lot of what made Mortal Kombat appealing to my teen tastes, but with a master stroke that has the lasting effect of standing the test of time as true art and not mindless "junkfood" fun that really has more of a nostalgia appreciation value (like Mortal Kombat).

3 stars

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--- Jason Vorhees special guest character in "Mortal Kombat X" --2015--

*My generation had a lot of movie boogeyman.

They were so much in our young, collective conscious that they were almost urban legends seemingly lurking in the woods at the end of the street.

Kids, today, could care less. When, the internet "nerd culture" began reporting on this horror icon coming to a fighting videogame, the comments sections below the articles read something like this, "Laaame, LOL, who'z this f@g, no one wants thhis hockey face lozer INOURGAME!!!!"

To that I say, this guy invented "fatalities," kid.

He was figuring out ways to dismember long before there was even a Mortal Kombat or the outrage of a fatality in a videogame.

More than that, you were probably not even alive or were in diapers when Mortal Kombat was originally popular.

Jason even had a videogame that was terrible, but still gave my generation, including me, nightmares.

I remember, to get nostalgic again, the first time I saw it. It was at my weird next door neighbors.

The dad had an artificial leg and beat his kids and made them go to bed before dark.

But for some reason he was nice to any kid not his. Even weirder he had an NES that seemed to be more his than his kids.

He showed me, and another neighbor kid (not his), the Friday the 13th NES game, and seeing a hockey mask wearing purple-boogeyman stalk victims in 8-bit had me eyeing the door to escape not just the creepy one-legged neighbor but this pixelated killer.

Cheers to Jason's return to videogames and to the collective conscious of dumb, videogame playing youth everywhere.

Even if they don't appreciate it.*

2 1/2 stars

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"Tattoo Assassins" (Data East) 1995 *This "game" strived for infamy, and fell into obscurity, never being released. Out of shame, I'm sure. Surprisingly, Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale came up with some ideas for it. It almost shows in a tongue in cheek way. It all seems like a big joke parodying the 90's over the top media in the same way almost that Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers did. Except this is more Looney Tunes than anything with racial stereotypes and absurdity out the wazoo. With characters based off the likes of tabloid trash like Tonya Harding and boasting to have thousands of supermoves like turning an opponent into a famous painting, farting random objects from one's anus, and comic nudity. There's also some nonsense about magical tattoos that thought tattoos wouldn't be tacky enough so they're the cause of the supermoves and are animated like they were created using Microsoft paint by a special needs person. Also, the game's mascot is a sad-faced eastern looking religious figure in an adult diaper.* 1 star (so bad it's almost good)

=== Wrestling Society X (MTV)

*For a brief moment, in the 90s, pro-wrestling was "edgy."

As absurd as that sounds. "The Rock" & "Stone Cold" were household names, much to the disappontment of concerned parents groups and tabloid hysteria news.

Pro-wrestling's punk rock moment all seems ridiculous now in retrospect.

The WWE went back to a family friendly product in order to sell t-shirts and toys.

So, who was to satisfy the wrestling dreams of backyard idiots who were jumping off of grandma's house onto a pillow filled with rocks?

MTV stepped in with its timeless formula of stupidity for the youth.

They aired, again briefly, an "underground" wrestling tv show filled with constant explosions, constant loud music, and constant shouting....

Goth kids, pregnant teens, musclehead niteclub douches, rednecks amped up on Mountain Dew, and wiggers across America, in the mid-2000s, rejoiced...

well, maybe not rejoiced.

More like they barely took notice with all their attention disorders, or skateboard trick injury videos taking place, and myspace photo sessions in the bathroom mirror.*

zero stars

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"Bad Street Brawler" -NES- (Mattel Inc. & Beam Software) --1989-- *"Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you!" Trouble, I guess, means a metrosexual "badass" with a yellow flat-top hairdo, black sunglasses with the yellow city lights  reflecting in them, a yellow tanktop, wearing only yellow underwear (no pants), and cute knee high yellow boots. Hello Yellow! Most of his attacks look like danceclub moves and he spends a lot of time fondling enemies and dogs.* either 1 star or close to 2 1/2 stars

"Dead Man Calling" --Junji Ito-- (Manga) *The ghoulish projection of a death row inmate haunts the family of his victims. Seeking forgiveness. A nightmarish meditation on grief and revenge.* close to 3 stars

Forensic Files: The Blood Trail *A failing farmer, in the quiet English countryside, stages a bizarre seies of crimes, around his property, including blowing up his wife in a homemade carbombing, putting a severed sheep's head and threatening note on his own fence, and poorly attempting to make it look like his "deranged" neighbor visited one evening and tried to kill him with a boxcutter, forcing him to shoot the neighbor in "self defense" with a shotgun.* 2 1/2 stars

Freddy's Nightmare: Freddy Something ----------------

*A jobless yuppie, with an extreme fear of the dark, goes nuts working in the sewers for the eccentric old guy from Gremlins.* 2 1/2 stars

*A lowlife owner, of a 1980s videostore, gets "Scrooged" by a self-help Billy Ocean wannabe that the lowlife ripped off in his typical jerk fashion.* 2 1/2 stars

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Forever Knight: Dance by the Light of the Moon *A black-hearted seductress tries to manipulate our reformed from evil detective, much like she does with every other poor male.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

----- Croooow Plays: Way of the Warrior (3DO)

*Video-blogs used to play videogames for a blogger's web audience are called "Let's plays."

Let's get that out of the way.

I personally prefer video reviewers like SpoonyExperiment, AngryVideoGameNerd, ObscurasLupa, and so on.

The reviewers take the time to find something' interesting about the game or movie to actually critique and even write jokes, scenarios, pick out certain clips from what they're reviewing, and put it all into a usually enjoyable package.

"Let's play" bloggers seem to have a level of vanity where they think they can just sit down and roll the camera and do it "on the fly."

It hardly ever works, and is often annoying, frustrating, and dull.

They struggle to play the game and find something interesting to talk about it, other than their ineptitude or frustration, and their random attempts at humor are painfully bad.

One "let's play" celebrity named PewdiePie has hit stardom with his awful brand of yelling unfunny nonsense while playing a game live, unedited garbage and SouthPark took notice satirizing it and him.

It's almost as bad as when during the 90s hack videogame programmers took the cheap digitized graphics craze to its overkill by hiring their handful of what I'm guessing were party friends or the local community theater rejects to be physical "actors" as horribly over the top generic stereotype characters in shitty disc format vidja lames.

Our let's player, Croooow, struggles to "let's play" and also entertain in his "let's play" video.*

zero stars for the game

and 1/2 a star for Croooow

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Forensic Files: Charred Remains *A male stripper cremates a former playboy playmate over a cocaine sharing night gone wrong.* 2 stars (zero for the exploitation of the cremated remains)

American Horror Story - Coven: Protect the Coven *Fried green blood fetishes.* 3 stars minus 1 star for the Twilight romance feel good ending