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Video Game Villain: Zoran Lazarevic

"Compassion is the enemy. Mercy defeats us."

Zoran Lazarevic is on the hunt for Shambhala, a legendary hidden paradise said to exist in Asia. I know what you're thinking, what does a villainous character want with a paradise? Would he find it, feel greatness, then reside there in zenful content amongst ruins and trees? Well...no. Within Shambhala resides the key to immortality. As is necessary, Zoran has a troupe of people willing to help him find Shambhala. However, our main character, Nate, wants to stop him. Legends, invincibility... it's all very bizarre and hard to accept, but the mere possibility of cruel-and-unmerciful Zoran becoming immortal is too horrible a thought. He's determined to stop Zoran. But Zoran is willing to do things that most are not, and this gives him the upper hand.

If you're into video games, you should just play Uncharted 2 and see Zoran there, but if you just want to see Zoran, there's a compilation of all Zoran-related cutscenes here! Heh, I doubt I would've liked him as much had I just seen this and not been engaged in the video game. But when you want malice, here's malice.

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Vice Profiles hits 2,000 views! :D

The blogspot half of this blog hit 2,000 views today!

As life has been happening, my activity here has been inconsistent, but am glad to say that I'm still with it and that there's much more to come.

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Ohhhhh shit, Horns got a (limited) theater release!!!

The books has an EXCELLENT antagonist (Lee Tourneau) and I am hopeful about the actor, Max Minghella, that plays him.

You can read an introductory profile of Lee Tourneau here. :]

Read Horns!

(Vice Profiles is here to help fellow villain-obsessed folk discover more amazing villains. :b

Blogspot is where I will be posting spoiler-free profiles of villains. Tumblr is where I will post comments and villain-related babbling. May be not-so-spoiler-free.)

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"Though I cannot be positive that I’m not hallucinating, there seem to be midgets dressed in green and red elf suits and felt hats walking around with trays of appetizers. I pretend not to have noticed and head straight for the bar where I gulp down a glass of not-bad champagne then move over to Donald Petersen, and as with most of the men here, someone has tied paper antlers to his head…After finishing a second glass of champagne I move to martinis—Absolut doubles—and after I’ve calmed down sufficiently I take a closer look around the room, but the midgets are still there."

-Patrick Bateman

Reading American Psycho. This part makes me chuckle.

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Yummy villain: Levi Thou from The Son (Jo Nesbo)

Oh, is he a pleasure! In the novel The Son, Levi's a crime overlord, a brutish, power-through-fear kind of fellow. He’s dominating and well composed and self-preserving, all the good stuff, as well as physically huge and unnaturally strong. Which is unfortunate, really, because now he’s just this ungodly man who was, apparently, born for power, and who can argue that? Sadly, he only has a handful of appearances that occur mostly towards the end, but he's an important figure throughout the course of the book.

Lookie:

"The man seemed to fill up the entire room. Simon didn’t know if this was simply due to his physical size and obvious presence or the trappings of power and wealth, of this man’s ability to control so many destinies. Or whether all the legends that surrounded his persona made him even bigger, the baggage of death, meaningless cruelty and destruction." (The Son, Jo Nesbo)

"Levi" also happens to be an anagram for 'evil'. Whether that was intentional, I do not know.

The lowdown:

After Sonny's father (a police officer) committed suicide and revealed in a letter that he was a corrupt officer, Sonny becomes a junkie and a professional scapegoat. That is, he takes the fall for persons guilty of crimes and serves time in jail so they don't have to. (This is but one of many Christian-inspired themes in the book.) After being in jail for 12 years, he gets a visitor who confesses that his father was actually murdered. This triggers the onslaught that follows. Sonny escapes prison and seeks to punish those responsible for his father's death in a game of cat-and-mouse between Sonny, the police force, and the gangsters who have, up until now, been keeping him in jail.

The book is dark and smart, both sentimental and morbidly satisfying. Jo Nesbo really knows how to write violence, and he’s written some very creative bits here. There’s an intelligent and very well portrayed female police character that I was impressed with, and this deepens my respect for Jo Nesbo.

Character featured on the “more villains" page of my blog.

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Villain Profile #5: Jerry Dandridge

The dangerous and dashing Jerry from Fright Night, as played by Colin Farrell.

Jerry Dandridge is a vampire. A vampire named Jerry. Jerry the vampire. Man, his name really is not nearly as cool as he is.

You can read my entry about him here. This movie fills me with glee.

More villains:

Greg Stillson (The Dead Zone)

Lee Tourneau (Horns)

Milton Dammers (The Frighteners)

"Narcy" Narcissus (They Made Me a Fugitive)

(Vice Profiles is here to help fellow villain-obsessed folk discover more amazing villains. :b

Blogspot is where I will be posting spoiler-free profiles of villains. Tumblr is where I will post comments and villain-related babbling. May be not-so-spoiler-free.)

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I was really impressed with Days of Future Past. I had mediocre expectations going in, and was pleasantly surprised when the movie was actually substantial. Fassbender did a lovely job, as usual. Erik is such a fantastic character & villain, I sure hope we get a much more significant, much more dangerous picture of him in the next movie.

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"There's an element of delight and joy at being bad...He feels possessed of a confidence that there is no other Loki in the entire universe. He's the only Loki there is, and he loves that."

Very worth while interview!

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"I can feel the righteousness surging. Hey, want to have a rousing discussion about truth? Honor? Patriotism?"

OH. OH. OH YOU GUYS. OH MY GOD.

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Antihero-esque character: Darren from Disco Pigs (starring Elaine Cassidy and Cillian Murphy)

Disco Pigs is a disturbing love story about obsession. Sinead and Darren have been in love since they were children. Their worlds consist of each other and they're without any interest in changing that. Darren is a loose cannon, and after some prompting from school officials, the parents decide to separate the two teenagers. When, one day, Sinead is gone without warning, Darren loses his shit and takes off to find the girl. Disco Pigs is an Irish film starring Cillian Murphy as Darren. Not a villain per se, but a possessive, angry and violent character.

Character featured on the "more villains" page of my blog.

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Villain Profile #4: Lee Tourneau

The deceitful, vulgar and self-involved Lee Tourneau from Horns, written by Joe Hill. Lee could care less about what other people think or feel, but he pretends to care and he does a damn good job of it. He has such a low opinion of people and it's really fascinating seeing the thought process of someone who can not experience compassion.

I wrote up an intro to the character and the novel here. :]

Horns has been made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as the lead, and Max Minghella as Lee Tourneau. It's an independent film, and we've yet to see if it will be released in theatres.

(Vice Profiles is here to help fellow villain-obsessed folk discover more amazing villains. :b

Blogspot is where I will be posting spoiler-free profiles of villains. Tumblr is where I will post comments and villain-related babbling. May be not-so-spoiler-free.)

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This is gonna be. Fucking awesome.

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The Dark Knight (Reflections, Violence)

I absolutely must acknowledge the anniversary of the day that the Joker became (arguably) the best villain to be seen on the big screen. So,

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, THE DARK KNIGHT!!!

While on the subject,

Very unfortunately, some people have developed a negative association with the Joker and The Dark Knight due to the massacre that occurred at the midnight premiere of the final installment of the trilogy; and America's realization of the reality of violence. Many are becoming wary of the exploitation of violence in the media, and are taking it very seriously now. Some people think that Heath Ledger lost himself to the character - was somehow disturbed by the darkness he was exposed to - and that this led to his untimely death.

In reaction to this, I harbor very pained but unfazed amusement. In it's relation to The Dark Knight, I put it to the fact that, yes, Heath Ledger did do a hauntingly amazing job at this character. It was beautiful and amazing. So well done that it actually scares people.

I will never forget when I went to the midnight premiere for TDK, and the Joker's debut shocked audiences with his now-famous disappearing pencil trick. The theatre I was in was silently stunned for but seconds before applause started, and built very quickly; an ovation to the respected actor that is still greatly missed.

It was a beautiful moment; the united recognition of loss, and the appreciation for the shocking but morbid humor. I don't know that this would ever happen again. People seem somewhat paranoid about supporting fictional violence now. But somehow, it feels more wrong to me to be afraid of it.

Movie Bob has pretty well summed up my opinion on it:

On The Subject of Violence

So, all of that aside, let us be celebratory of this day that brought us the Joker.

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This AMAZING picture surfaced of Heath in his Joker makeup.

"The Joker is so far definitely the most fun I've ever had with any character. He's just out of control. He has no empathy. He's a sociopath, psychotic, mass-murdering clown, and I'm just thoroughly, thoroughly enjoying it. It's exceeded any expectations I've had in terms of what the experience would be like. It'll be interesting." - Heath Ledger

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Dexter Season 8 Epiphany!

The first episode is very telling.

I'm pretty sure I got the lowdown on Dr. Evelyn Vogel.

Following my train of thought from my previous post, here.

After the premiere episode of season 8, I was left with this question:

Why would Harrison draw morbid pictures of Dexter's murder when he said that he couldn't find Dexter...?

And I realized that: the drawings are not Harrison's. They are Dexter's. And Dr. Evelyn Vogel is a former therapist of Dexter's. As a kid, Dexter was brought to her by Harry, and Harry gave her the drawings to evidence his concern.

 Bizarre Predictions?

Evelyn's the only surviving key to Dexter's past. With her knowledge of his deeply rooted issues, she's his only chance to change his ways and give us a "happily ever after" finale to Dexter. This can give us a happy ending for Harrison, Dexter and Deb. :]

Harry started Dexter out with therapy before developing the code. When he and Dr. Vogel realized that Dexter wasn't making progress, Evelyn (who took pity on Dexter) came up with the idea of the code. This way we can see (hopefully via flashback) when, where and why Harry decided to give his son his blessing, and give him the code. (Dex got the code when he was a teenager. He'd remember his therapist if he had one then. Dr. Vogel knows about the code because it was her idea.)

I just have a hard time believing that Harry would tell anyone, period. And this explains why Evelyn is not being particularly hostile towards Dexter.

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Dexter: A Beautiful Day Analysis (S8 E1)

Thoughts & predictions following the season premiere of the series finale of Dexter.

First things first:

WHY DOES DEXTER HAVE TO EEENNNDDD!?!?!?

On the topic of Dr. Evelyn Vogel: From the beginning of our exposure to Evelyn, there was very little subtlety about her innocence towards Dexter's secret identity. Their constant hinting made me ask myself, "how and why would she know more about Dexter than she should?" By the end of the episode, it's confirmed that she knows too much when she says to Dexter, "you can't kill me. I'm not sure I fit Harry's code."

Is she out for Dexter?: No. I am convinced that she cannot be an enemy of Dexter's.

Reasoning: If she's aware of "Harry's Code", this could only feasibly be because Harry himself told her about it. And Harry would ONLY ever tell ANYONE about it if he KNEW that it would NEVER lead to Dexter being caught. Otherwise, there would BE no code. It would be the grandest paradox and the greatest way someone could invalidate their own purpose.

AND PLEASE EXCUSE MY CAPS LOCK I AM VERY HEATED ABOUT THIS. I'm intrigued with Evelyn, but I'm afraid that the writers are thinking "let's go for something that people thought was untouchable" and then, without good reason, make it touchable.

Further possible implications?: Evelyn has conveniently shown up at Miami Metro now because she somehow caught wind of Dexter's toils in Season 7? Evelyn is here to help Dexter? (If she wanted Dexter put away, she could've had him turned in by now. Unless she is trying to control Dexter.)

Other Notes and Thoughts

They're gonna try to make us forget about Hannah, and then surprise us with her reappearance later. GOD Hannah.

(Also, they hint that Dexter still has feelings for her, by sentimentally reflecting on her dying flower. Ugh.)

Harrison could be in some serious danger this season. He's increasingly conscious, and is spending more time with Dex.

Angel may learn too much about Dexter, by way of digging through LaGuerta's things.

There's a new crime scene investigation of Dexter's murder. Yet another trail with the potential for Dexter's destruction.

He may be being closed in upon by Debra's lack of protection. Evelyn's abundance of knowledge doesn't help his secrecy. Angel's potential to stumble upon secrets...(What if Jamie learns something suspicious, and connects with Quinn about it, reviving Quinn's knowledge of Dexter's murder of Stan Liddy? I doubt it, but that would explain the purpose of Jamie + Quinn.)

Will Astor & Cody still exist?

Jamie is no longer the nanny, and is now the nudity?

Sean Patrick Flanery! (I did a profile on his villain-character from The Dead Zone. See here.)

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An incredibly insightful study of Loki by thorkipalace! Learning about Loki is kind of this continuous route of understanding. These are some things I haven't gotten to thinking about, but it makes immediate sense when read.

#if you look closely you can pinpoint the exact moment he goes over the edge