#//it's him. it's the avner

[vague-humanoid]

also it was Israel who chose Hamas

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”)“The Israeli government gave me a budget,” the retired brigadier general confessed, “and the military government gives to the mosques.”“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009. Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen even wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide-and-rule in the Occupied Territories, by backing Palestinian Islamists against Palestinian secularists. “I … suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” he wrote.They didn’t listen to him. And Hamas, as I explain in the fifth installment of my short film series for The Intercept on blowback, was the result. To be clear: First, the Israelis helped build up a militant strain of Palestinian political Islam, in the form of Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood precursors; then, the Israelis switched tack and tried to bomb, besiege, and blockade it out of existence.In the past decade alone, Israel has gone to war with Hamas three times — in 2009, 2012, and 2014 — killing around 2,500 Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the process. Meanwhile, Hamas has killed far more Israeli civilians than any secular Palestinian militant group. This is the human cost of blowback.“When I look back at the chain of events, I think we made a mistake,” David Hacham, a former Arab affairs expert in the Israeli military who was based in Gaza in the 1980s, later remarked. “But at the time, nobody thought about the possible results.”They never do, do they?

[possibly-in-wonderland]

i had a poem i wrote a long time ago about stalking cat (aka dennis avner)

i ended up learning about him because im really interested in body mods and things like therianthropy.

basically, he wanted his outside to match his inside and he got all these body mods to make him look more tigerish (INCLUDING IMPLANTS THAT HE COULD ATTACH FAKE WHISKERS TO)

rip stalking cat. maybe in the next life you lived (which i hope you're still living it) you became the tiger you wanted to be.

HOLY FUCK I JUST REALIZED ITS THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH-

well, in that case, i will watch a video on tigers in his honor.

[yvesdot]

yves.'s 2023 PRIDESTRAVAGANZA!

Friday, June 30th, 2023 @ 10:00 AM PST on Twitch

Please join me for a homotranssexual (+Constantine) battle royale, sponsored by OHHOW's monthly theme of Interactive Fiction and (consequently) everyone's favorite Hunger Games simulator. Root for your favorites! Boo the losers! We're having the top LGBT yves. characters fight for our amusement, because why pit two queens against each other when you could pit twenty-three? (+Constantine.) No prior yves. reading experience required.

RECORDING AVAILABLE NOW

Support the author: all posted writing | book | ko-fi | Patreon

Further info & stream spoilers below cut:

Final character list used for the stream:

Kay and Atlas (KAY RAINIER) Constantine (KAY RAINIER) and Bren (Sometimes it Happens) Ephraim and Elle (Sometimes it Happens) Eliza and Red (Forest Castles) Avner and Ahava (Forest Castles) Dana and Flor (Tell Me About the Nonbeliever) Mel and Jenny (Something's Not Right) The Father and The Daughter (Exhaustively) Vidalia and Brayden (Tragic Accident) Charlie and Scarlett (World Got Smaller) Rebecca (Something Weird I Heard About Rebecca) & Traveler Wife (The Traveler Wife) Beck & Annalise (Long Line) (NSFW)

________________________________

All the unused characters I considered using:

KAY RAINIER: Constantine's fruity brother Ariel, mysterygf, Leah, Bode, Elizabeth

Sometimes it Happens: Lilith Giselle, Michael, Alyosha

Dressage protagonist, Tragic Accident protagonist, Thomasina and Katie from The Summer of Katie, Percique and Annet from A Fruit Platter of Unintended Consequences, Violet from codename: violet, Ocean, Mr. Tanner, and Tim from Practical Applications, Will from HOMECOMING, Starling and Westenra from IF YOU ARE MADE OF LIGHT., the women of Galactic April, đào and titania from as you were, Home Wife from The Traveler Wife, The Groom from Bride & Groom, Graecen and Rosauro from The Hands and the Mouth, the protagonist and Gale from Six Reasons I Have To Do This, Nishie and Juliana from the magic number.

(If I missed anyone, you should tell me!)

_______________________________

RECAP

Round 1: Bloodbath

Ephraim Sokolov and Dana Singh fight for a bag. Dana Singh strangles Ephraim Sokolov with the straps and runs. Bren stabs Annalise in the back with a trident. Brayden shoots a poisonous blow dart into Jenny's neck, slowly killing her. Red kills Vidalia with her own weapon.

Round 2: Day

Constantine Rainier severely slices Avner Ivory with a sword. Beck silently snaps The Girl's neck. Red taints Scarlett's food, killing them. Ahava severely injures Atlas and leaves him to die.

Round 3: Night

Constantine Rainier falls into a frozen lake and drowns. Traveler Wife kills Flor while he is sleeping. Mel bashes Red's head in with a mace.

Round 4: Day

Mel poisons Brayden's drink. he drinks it and dies. Kay Rainier dies trying to escape the arena.

Round 5: Night

Ahava accidentally steps on a landmine.

Round 6: Day

Rebecca taints Mel's food, killing him. Traveler Wife forces The Golem to kill Beck or Bren. he decides to kill Bren.

Round 7: Night

The Golem severely injures Charlie, but puts Charlie out of Charlie’s misery. Rebecca overpowers Elle Valentin, killing them.

Round 8: Feast

No-one died

Round 9: Day

Rebecca kills Dana Singh with a sickle.

Round 10: Night

No-one died

Round 11: Day

Beck stabs Rebecca with a tree branch. Eliza Feldman begs for Traveler Wife to kill her. she reluctantly obliges, killing Eliza Feldman.

Round 12: Night

No-one died

Round 13: Day

The Golem attempts to climb a tree, but falls on Traveler Wife, killing them both.

WINNER: Beck

MOST KILLS: Rebecca (3)

[theculturedmarxist]

What do you know about Hamas?

That it’s sworn to destroy Israel? That it’s a terrorist group, proscribed both by the United States and the European Union? That it rules Gaza with an iron fist? That it’s killed hundreds of innocent Israelis with rocket, mortar, and suicide attacks?

But did you also know that Hamas — which is an Arabic acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement” — would probably not exist today were it not for the Jewish state? That the Israelis helped turn a bunch of fringe Palestinian Islamists in the late 1970s into one of the world’s most notorious militant groups? That Hamas is blowback?

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”)

“The Israeli government gave me a budget,” the retired brigadier general confessed, “and the military government gives to the mosques.”

“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009. Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen even wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide-and-rule in the Occupied Territories, by backing Palestinian Islamists against Palestinian secularists. “I … suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” he wrote.

They didn’t listen to him. And Hamas, as I explain in the fifth installment of my short film series for The Intercept on blowback, was the result. To be clear: First, the Israelis helped build up a militant strain of Palestinian political Islam, in the form of Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood precursors; then, the Israelis switched tack and tried to bomb, besiege, and blockade it out of existence.

In the past decade alone, Israel has gone to war with Hamas three times — in 2009, 2012, and 2014 — killing around 2,500 Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the process. Meanwhile, Hamas has killed far more Israeli civilians than any secular Palestinian militant group. This is the human cost of blowback.

“When I look back at the chain of events, I think we made a mistake,” David Hacham, a former Arab affairs expert in the Israeli military who was based in Gaza in the 1980s, later remarked. “But at the time, nobody thought about the possible results.”

They never do, do they?

[qaraxuanzenith]

Chidon 2024

Now that tumblr is my only social media site that I use regularly, I need to belatedly "live"blog the 2024 International Chidon and my impressions of it here.

I still miss Avshalom Kur. It is NOT the same without him. We need him back.

Glad I listened to the PM's speech for the requisite Avner mention

Gotta love how they thanked the English translator after the first American answered... entirely in Hebrew

Cool that they have a Rabbanit on the judges this year, but... significantly less cool that she gives the vibe of not knowing her stuff when she prematurely announces "10 points" for an incorrect answer. Ouch.

I very much like the theme but I very much do not like how many of these questions are worded such that it's not clear what information they're actually looking for. I especially don't like that they prompted some contestants to supply additional information that was not specifically asked for in the actual question.

I cannot BELIEVE that Panama got a Nechemia question AGAIN.

Yay, Canada's in the top 8!

(Sad that MY Canadian / my students' brother / my school's alumnus was not in the top 8 but he did excellently in the top 16, so yay!)

Since when do they do only a top FOUR for those who made it through the computer round? where are the top FIVE? (yes i know top five wouldn't help Canada make it through this time, I'm grumpy anyway)

okay is... anyone going to talk about the extra question that flashed on the screen for a second after they gave the answers to the PM round?

I guess they haven't had the Diaspora Contest yet to give prizes to the Diaspora winner? Are they even HAVING a Diaspora Contest this year? I can't find any info on it.

I don't remember seeing as many wrong answers in the Rosh b'Rosh before...

Two chatanim! Love wins!

[halt-arrtay]

Chapter 1 Part 1

The iron sizzled and radiated heat as Zach drew the soon to be sword from the forge. Setting the metal on the large anvil, he picked his cross pein hammer up in a strong grip and struck the cooling weapon repeatedly. The sound of ringing metal reverberated up Zach’s arms and through his body, sending chills down his back. With every strike Zach could see in his mind’s eye the metal resonating with energy. He knew that with every strike, that energy would fold and align to make the metal even stronger.

“More heat?” Avery asked.

“Use ten second bursts” Zach said, nodding in assent. The strong wind gusts that Avery poured into the forge caused the flames to surge and change color from the normal red and yellow to a hotter blue and white hew. Zach slid the iron back into the flames and looked at Avery.

Avery’s frail body often left him subject to jokes but his expert control over the winds left most people quite literally eating his dust.

“How did the testing go?” Zach asked.

“It went well, Turned out I’m a second generation spark, Ciroono and Tinrith.” Avery said with pride.

“That’s good to hear. What did the instructor say about your ability?” Zach asked. Following with a strike on the metal.

“He said that my power was well developed considering my age and that I have potential to be a very powerful Caster in the future.” Avery responded.

“When do you leave?” Zach asked Avery.

“A week from tomorrow,” Avery said with a tinge of sadness in his voice. Zach pulled the metal out of the heat and worked on it, folding it and drawing out the metal.

“That’s good, did he say anything about the academy? Where you’ll be staying or what classes you will have?” Zach asked.

“No, not really. He only said that I will need a weapon of choice and a change of clothes,” Avery said.

“Oh, well I'm sure they will provide the rest of the necessary materials you will need for your education.” Zach said.

“I’m hoping so, I don’t want to dip into any of my savings for books,” Avery said.

“You know I'm going to miss you being my apprentice, right?” Zach said. He slid the metal back in the flames and he gave a pat on Avery’s shoulder.

“I know, but my ability could be used more effectively in Guard than in a blacksmith.”Avery said, he increased the pressure behind his wind and looked at Zach, “what you have taught me here, i will never forget. I am glad, thank you Zach.”

Before Zach could respond there was a tap at the front table. Both of them looked to the front table and saw Lieutenant Avner Seax standing there. His Graying hair was cut short and he had on his Guard’s man uniform on.

“Zach, I have a request for you.” Avner said.

“What kind of request?” Zach asked.

“A classified one,” Avern said.

“Avery, why don’t you go to the market and buy some ingredients for supper?” Zach prompted.

Once Avery had left the shop, Zach motioned Avner to enter.

”This envelope should have all the information you would need to complete my request.” Avner said, handing him a slip of paper.

Zach looked at the envelope and started in surprise. It had the seal of the royal family on it. Zach broke the seal and opened the envelope, he read it aloud.

Zach Carter-

I sir Halvin, have a request that I wish you to fulfill. I require a short sword for a young knight. I believe people call it a special project. I will provide all the materials you require and a large payment in return. I trust you to complete this request with as much speed you can muster.

-Robert Halvin

“So? Will you accept the request?” Avner said.

[hyperpotamianarch]

Yo'av ben Tzəruya

This post, while in some ways it's a continuation of my post on Sha'ul (I'm still studying the book of Shəmu'el, and it's about a character from there), is very different from it in many other ways. Firstly, Yo'av wasn't king; he was merely the head of the army. This position serving as some sort of power behind the throne can also be seen with Avner ben Ner, but in his case - he didn't seem to be all that powerful during Sha'ul's rule. Avner only came to be in a serious position of power during the days of Ish Boshet. Yo'av and his brother Avishay, though... they were significant characters in the story all along.

Like Avner, Yo'av is a relative of the king he serves - though Avner was Sha'ul's cousin, while Yo'av is David's nephew. Not that you'd know that without reading Divrey HaYamim. But anyway, this shows more or less how this kind of office was treated: you gave it to trusted relatives. Yo'av, however, kind of skirts to the edges of "trusted".

Let's start this with this statement: the two first things that we hear of Yo'av doing do not paint too positive a character. I mean, it's unclear what happened in Gibe‘on and why - when Avner and Yo'av agreed for the boys to "play" before them, was it supposed to be a bloodbath? Or was that an unexpected result? But the really important point is how Yo'av kills Avner when the latter came in peace. As action which David treats, in part, similarly to how he treated the killing of Sha'ul, with the slight difference he doesn't kill Yo'av. When eulogizing Avner, David says that "these people, the sons of Tzəruya, are too savage for me" (translation partly mine, partly Sefaria). For some reason, David doesn't think he has the power to kill Yo'av and Avishay. Though that's not really the most interesting thing here.

You see, Yo'av is loyal to David to the death. That is not something I think can be called into question. It's true he's not obediant to David, but he also doesn't actually defy him. He killed Avner against David's will. Later, he did the same to ‘Amasa ben Yeter and to Avshalom. But in all of those cases - and I do mean all - he had a reason that came out of loyalty to David. He didn't trust Avner and thought he was going to betray David; Avshalom has literally led a rebellion against David; and ‘Amasa was slow to fulfill the king's order, bordering in risking escalation of a different rebellion. Yo'av also obeys David when he tells him to get Uriah HaḤitti killed, and is the one to sense the king's longing to his son and push him to send for him to come back.

Yo'av and Avishay could easily be seen as a representation of David HaMelech's deeper desires. Which wouldn't be an accurate way to depict them, since they're living, breathing people. But it does show something: they're less restrained than David when it comes to certain topics. And they're loyal to the death to David, or what they think is best for him.

Yo'av isn't a very sympathetic character, in my opinion. He's a friend that David might need sometimes, but very often he does what he thinks is best without accounting for David's will. He supports Adoniah over Shəlomo in the end, and is killed when Shəlomo becomes king. He was ever faithful to David, in his own way, which includes way less listening to him than you might think.

[avners-corner]

tomato the SHIT out of him i dare you

It’s less satisfying doing it when he’s out cold, but hehehe- it’s still funny.

(Avner will now wake up covered in tomato.)

[kathleenkatmary]

Musings on Munich as a Spielberg Film, in Contrast to Other Spielberg Films

Munich remains an incredibly powerful movie about the way that violence begets violence and the way that never ending cycle destroys souls. It's sadly even more relevant today than it was in the post-9/11 world Spielberg made it in.

I've thought a lot about some of Spielberg's other history-based films like Amistad and Schindler's List, and the way that those movies, as bleak as they are and as much as they are about horrible things, are, in the end, rather hopeful because of the way they look at people who did what they could, and even though what they could do would ultimately be a drop in the bucket when you consider the scope of the horrors and atrocities, they still allow for that hope and comfort because there really is something to be said about the idea that as long as there are people who are doing what they can, there is still hope.

Munich is like... so exactly the opposite of that. I feel like there's not an ounce of hope in this one. Avner and his team aren't framed as the heroes who did what little they could to limit the horror. They're framed as only just contributing to the horror, having been sold an impossible fantasy about what their actions could do and mean by a government that, like so many governments, has decided that brute force is the only path forward. The more the movie goes on the more clear it is that what they're doing isn't saving lives, that it's just contributing to a never ending cycle that can only breed more and worse violence, and that results in them either dying or irreparably damaging their souls.

At the end of Schindler's List there's that scene where the people Schindler saved gather to thank him, Schindler breaks down saying he could have done more, and Itzhak Stern says "you did so much". That scene is very much about praising the idea of doing what you can, that even if it is a drop in the bucket, those are actual lives saved, actual people whose lives were changed for the better because of what he did. It stands in such stark contrast to a scene in Munich where Avner returns to Israel and he's greeted by two soldiers who thank him for what he's done. The framing here is so completely different. Avner has been broken by the job he was tasked with, and he's started to doubt not just whether the violent response was the right thing, but even whether or not the men he killed even deserved it, questioning the government's claims of having evidence of their involvement. Receiving praise for what he did does not feel like a moment of hope. It's a painful moment, watching him being praised for something her clearly regrets, and for something that clearly has not made things any better.

I think one of the most important ideas in Schindler's List is that lives matter. That even though the amount of people he saved is an incredibly small percentage among the millions that were killed and the horrific atrocities committed, what he did still matters because those lives matter. Every life matters, and the people who recognize that and act accordingly can have a tremendous, profound impact, regardless of how big or small what they're able to accomplish may seem. Munich looks at things from the other side. With Munich we're in a world of government entities, of states, of organizations that are willing to put so many innocent lives at risk, that are willing to allow so many innocent people to die, that are willing to contribute to making the world more and more violent and unsafe, condemning the generations of their children, and their children's children, and so on, to lives steeped in increasing, never ending violence and chaos, all in order to continue their campaigns of hatred and attempts at dominance. All while insisting that it's just about survival, that it's just about doing what was done to them, that they have to do it because of what their enemies have done to them. They blur the innocent people who are killed or whose lives are destroyed together as necessary collateral damage, even those who come from their country, who they insist they're doing it all for. On this side of things, every life doesn't matter. Because violence doesn't just beget violence, it also seeps into the bones of these governments and organizations, and the people with power within them. Just as we see the way the violence of the job is destroying Avner throughout the movie, we also see the way it's destroyed the soul of the country and those in charge of it, as their responses to the increasing violence in the world, the increasing amounts of innocent people killed, that they've contributed to and helped to foster, is little more than a shrug and a continued insistence that it's worth it because of the perceived importance of their goal.

Now, to be clear, I am not criticizing Spielberg's more hope-based historical films. Something like Schindler's List and Amistad are about very different things, and in my opinion the ideas in which hope is placed in those movies is very much where the hope should be placed. Because in times of horror and violence, it often isn't going to be the governments or the people with global power who help the people who need it in meaningful, tangible ways. It's going to be the people willing to do what they can, however little that might be. But Munich is about something different. It's about the inherent flaws of using violence as diplomacy, the way that using violence against people teaches them to be violent, the way normal people who want to do good, who want to do what they can, can be manipulated by people and organizations with power that they trust, and about how that violence they're made to do can destroy and disillusion them.

I think the tragedy that Munich focuses on is that, for the most part, Avner and his team are the normal people who want to do good by doing what they can. Avner isn't some master spy assassin. Their bombmaker isn't a bombmaker by trade, he's a toymaker who was trained in disassembling bombs. In a different situation, these people could have been the heroes who inspired hope by doing what they could. But in their grief, their trust in their government, and perhaps their naivete, their desire to help, to do good, to save the lives of their people were taken by their government and pointed in the wrong direction, in a direction that only contributed to the further worsening of the violence in the world, and that really ultimately only ended in their own destruction.

But I don't think that Munich is like, a wildly different entity than something like Schindler's List. Rather, I think they're more two sides of the same coin. They tell stories of similar worlds, similar horrors, but different aspects of those horrors. Or rather, they tell stories of the same world, just a few decades apart, and in a way we're almost seeing the cause in one and the effect in the other. And really, I think one of the points Munich makes becomes even clearer when you take it alongside Schindlers List: that any kind of finger pointing arguments about which side started the violence are ultimately pretty pointless, because the violence has almost always been here. It doesn't just pop up fully formed out of nowhere. In our world, on this planet, acts of violence, particularly those committed by states, are usually just further links in a long, long, long chain of cause and effect that's unlikely to ever end as long as the human race exists. And if anything, that's what makes movies like Schindler's List and the subjects they're about so important.

[moviereviews101web]

Eichmann (2007) Movie Rob's Review

ABC Film Challenge – Set in the UK – E – Eichmann – Movie Rob‘s Review “[after Eichmann’s interrogation and trial] We showed him more justice than he ever showed us.” – Avner Less Number of Times Seen – 1 (4 Aug 2024) Brief Synopsis – Following his capture by Israeli agents, Adolf Eichmann tries to profess his innocence under interrogation by an expert detective who seems to also have a…

[merlinjor01]

APPLY: “In the Future” module 3

[Research human experimentation & body modifications]

Since I plan for my character to be some sort of modified human, I will be looking more into human experimentation and self-inflicted body modification. This gives me a better idea of how this character came to be and how they may look.

I first looked into the experimentations that had taken place in WW2 within Japan, referred to as ‘Unit 731’ The origin of Unit 731 was mainly for Japan's biological warfare advantages, which they would use within battle. These ‘advantages’ included plague-filled insects that were then unleashed into Chinese cities, which caused a large epidemic and affected wells, houses and food. Not only were the insects plague-ridden, but they carried cholera and typhoid, these were specially bred within Unit 731 to kill thousands. Many horrible things took place within Unit 231, but the main subject I will be looking into is the human experimentation that took place there. The six main experiments labelled ‘most horrifying war crimes ever committed’ include frostbite testing, Vivisection, weapon tests, syphilis experiments, forced pregnancy and Germ warfare. The reasons for committing these experiments were to gain biological advantages in the war and for blatant curiosity. How this relates to my character concept is that they would be a human experiment too, this would be for the doctor's gain in finding the hybrid children. How he would create my character to be this hybrid-like creature is by attaching wolf parts to them and changing the way their brain works and thinks, to have wolf-like instincts. Although the concept isn't as morbid as the experiments that had taken place in Unit 731, the experiments give me ideas into the biological side of the character, and what had to be done to get them to look the way they are. 

This moves us onto my second piece of research, looking into body modifications, specific ones where people had made themselves look like animals. There have been a few documented sounds of people undergoing extreme amounts of surgery to modify the way they look in bizarre ways, such as making themself look more animalistic.

Dennis Avner is a man who underwent various surgeries to get himself to look like a tiger. These surgeries went from changing his nose, eyes, mouth, teeth and more and even tattooing tiger stripes all over his body, actually hitting the world record for most body modifications. In the early 1980’s, he began his modifications stating that he chose to modify his physical appearance under the ancient Wyandot tradition, where people would alter their bodies to resemble their totems. He had also met up with an American Chief who had then encouraged him to follow the ways of his totem which happened to be a female tiger. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2012, taking his own life at the age of 54. How this relates to my character concept is that their body would have been modified in bizarre ways to resemble a wolf, just like how Dennis did, but not to the extent of my character, having a full wolf muzzle reattached to their face, along with the wolf ears as well. His features give me ideas of how I may present this design such as the tattoos and piercings.

[avner-shamtoub-af-american-112b]

Blog Post #5

Avner Shamtoub

On September 7, 1984, a film by the name of The Brother from Another Planet was released in the United States. This film was ahead of its time in regards to the aspects of Afrofuturism and futurism in it. The film begins with a spaceship landing in New York. An alien, that cannot speak, resembles an African American male, other than his feet that are three-toed. The “alien” at this point tries to find ways to fit into society. He meets all kinds of people throughout the film, and since he can not speak, he has the opportunity to listen to people and their stories. In the concept of Afrofuturism. This film has many themes that were ahead of its time, while also creating a sci-fi film on a low budget with an African American lead, something that was rare in the 1980s. 

The film speaks on so many themes. The first few themes I noticed are that of acceptance and realization. The alien represents African American people, which makes it fitting that the alien was played by an African American. At first, the alien, also known as the “brother,” just wants to fit in. He can not speak, already putting him at a disadvantage, but is determined to figure out this new world that he has came to. The response by the people he meets is very warming in this film. Everyone speaks to him, and accept him quick. The alien has healing powers, and even when people see that, it does not faze them, and he is able to help them when he can. This shows that people can be accepting, which makes us look at our own society and wonder why many are not accepting. As for realization, the alien first believes that he is different because he is an alien. Slowly, however, he realizes that it is not because of that, but rather it is because he is perceived by everyone as African American. 

Another theme that was in this film is the theme of freedom. In one scene in the film, the brother sees a dog on a leash. Without even hesitating, the brother sets the dog free. It is amazing that the film makers did this. They chose that a human, who is capable of critical thinking, keeps a dog on a leash, while an alien, foreign to our society, sees the cruelty right away and does something about it. 

Overall, this was a great film, and had themes that are beyond-surface level. 

[halt-arrtay]

Chapter 1 Part 2

“I’m not sure yet, each one of my special projects are made to fit a particular person.” Zach responded. He paced through the small shop deep in thought.

“I know on the paper it asks you, but it is a royal request. You can’t say no to this, the last person who denied a royal request was sent to the stocks.” Avner said.

“Alright fine, but this project will take almost a month to fulfill. Luckily enough, I have already started on a short sword that was meant for my main stock.” Zach said.

“What should I tell them?” Avner asked.

“Tell them I will accept the request,” Zach said absentmindedly jotting down a list of materials he will need. Once Zach had finished, he bid the old guardsman a farewell.

The next day Zach left the Blacksmith under the care of Avery so that he could go to the capital to gather the materials required to make the weapon. He put on his sword scabbard and mounted his horse Gilder and started his day’s journey to the capital.

The road was well traveled, he passed a few wagons coming from the capital. The Capital Guard protected each wagon, which was usually filled with resources needed for the villages. When he arrived at the Capital, the massive wooden gates filled his vision. The Merchants that came through were like a busy ant colony. Zach slipped into the crowd and passed through the gates, the inside of the Capital was full of color and aromas that made his mouth water.

“Halt! You there, on the horse.” someone said to Zach’s left. He turned in his saddle and saw a Guardsman weaving his way through the crowd to Zach.

“Me?” Zach asked, pointing to himself.

“Yes, You on the horse” The Guard said. That made Zach stop. He let the Guard take the lead of the horse's rains and the Guard led him to a stable right next to the Guardpost.

“Is there a problem?” Zach asked politely, dismounting.

“Are you aware that there is a new policy where all civilians must surrender their weapons when entering the Capital?” The Guard said.

“Uhh, No I was not aware of this. When was this established, Sergeant Bennet?” Zach asked, looking at Bennet’s name tape.

“Three weeks ago, also I’m afraid that we will have to search you for any hidden weapons. Part of the policy.” Bennet said.

“I have a dagger and a Tinrith Bo Staff on my person, that’s all.” Zach said, handing them over.

“I’m terribly sorry but we have to frisk you. Captain’s orders.” Bennet said.

Zach let out a breath of irritation, but he had no other choice. Bennet frisked Zach and found the envelope in Zach’s right breast pocket.

“What might this be?” Bennet asked.

“It is a letter from the royal family. I’m a blacksmith and they requested my service. I’m here at the capital to gather materials for that request.” Zach said.

“We will have to run this by the sender of this letter.” Bennet said.

“Fine. Can you make it quick, I have a blacksmith to get back to.” Zach said.

“You can go ahead and enter the Capital, just don’t leave before we can talk to you about this letter.” Bennet said.

Zach remounted Gilder and made his way to the merchant’s side of the Capital. The merchant stalls were lined up row after row. It was quite impressive. Zach’s first item that he needed to get was silver ore. After bartering the price from three gold pieces down to two he went to search for the next item on his list. A block of Luxin Draparin and a block of Luxin Tinrith, both costing ten silver pieces. The next item was one ounce of liquid iron. Liquid iron was imperative to forging with Luxin. If too much or too little Liquid iron the Luxin would destabilize in the forging process. Which meant it could explode at any time, the forge could be destroyed, or worse while the weapon was being wielded by the young knight.

Zach was in the process of haggling for some Red Oak wood when Sergeant Bennet and a pair of Guards showed up.

“Zach Carter, you are being arrested and detained for the possession of a letter with a forged Havlin royal seal.” Bennet said as one of the Guards put Zach in thumb cuffs. The other Guardsman took hold of Gilder and they escorted Zach to the local prison.

[smile-files]

i hope all of you have been having a swell day today!! tonight’s the first night of chanukkah and i’m super excited :DDD

if any of you also celebrate, then chag sameach! and if not, then you’re missing out!!1! >:D just kidding, have a lovely night anyway <33

also here’s a dumb doodle of a dreidel, enjoy B)

[yvesdot]

I’m so excited to share this commission @cersell did for me of the Forest Castles gang! I specifically asked for them taking a happy walk together, because things just seem to keep happening to prevent that in canon, and I am so, so incredibly happy with the result. Slightly larger image here.

[miochimochi]

"Hamas has murdered innocent civilians" isn't specific to which civilians for a reason. Israelis and Palestinians are victims of statist violence perpetuated by the powers that be. And "the war" didn't start on October 7th. This has been going on for decades. I even recently came across an article about holocaust survivors condemning the actions of Israel against Palestine, yes even calling it genocide, from 2014. You can find even older than this as well. Even before Israel helped create their enemy Hamas (funded them to be an opposition to other Palestinian political parties like Fatah and the PLO, something that was admitted to by Israeli officials Yitzhak Segev and Avner Cohen). Both Israel and Hamas have been unwilling to accept ceasefire deals from each other, Netanyahu even having many quotes from before and after October 7th pointing to him being a war hawk seeking dominance over Palestine. In 2001, Netanyahu would be secretly recorded as he said, "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]... I said I would, but [that] I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders. How did we do it? Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue." This conflict didn't start October 7th and it isn't going to stop so long as the statist elements persist in the region.

Remember folks, holding Israel accountable for the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians is antisemitism and terrorism!