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travllingbunny · 5 years ago

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The 100 6x04 The Face Behind the Glass

It’s an understatement to say that I’m late with this review, simply for having had no time to write it before, but here am I, trying to post it at the last moment, before the next episode airs tonight (or is it already airing in US? I will only be able to watch it tomorrow). In the meantime, the fandom has discussed a bunch of different theories, made all sorts of speculations, and I’ve participated in that, a lot.

I didn’t expect this episode to have quite this effect on me and many other fans who have guessed the big twist of this episode way ahead. But while it didn’t come as a surprise, it still hit hard, because the episode was, for the most part, well done, with important character moments for our protagonists, combined with further world-building and fleshing out of the new characters and communities..

And even though I always expected the „peaceful“ society from Sanctum to villains, but this show has achieved something I never expected: introducing villains who match or are, arguably, be even more evil than the leadership of Mount Weather.

I won’t discuss various theories, but I will mention what my favorite theories are, and touch on what I think may happen and what storylines I think could come out of this.

While it is perfectly understandable that the characters still haven’t realized it – because they don’t have the information we have as viewers, and don’t think of everything in terms of storytelling – as a viewer, it wasn’t difficult to guess from the start that something was very wrong with this „peaceful“ society, especially since everything was just too happy, shiny and too good to be true. This episode played on that in particular: there was a ceremony where Russell said all the right things about making peace with your loved ones, and making amends for the wrongs you’ve done – apparently, a traditional custom in Sanctum. (The level of hypocrisy is really high.) Russell himself apologize to Kaylee for closing the Sanctum door on her and her family when they found themselves on the outside and he had to protect the entire community. (This story must have resonated with some people in the audience, Bellamy in particular. Maybe it would have with Raven, too, but she wasn’t there.) The people in Sanctum were all happy and smiling. Each one of our adult protagonists who does not already have a romantic partner either met a potential love interest, or had fun with a sex interest, or both. There was a party in a club, with music and dancing. And most alarmingly, delicious cookies were served – which brings back memories of the chocolate cake in Mount Weather.

Now, to make it clear, the Sanctum people are not a rehash of Mount Weather. They are very different from the Mountain Men, and in fact, they also have some of the worst characteristics of the Grounder culture – very hierarchical structure and religious worship of people with „special“ (black) blood who have computer chips with stored minds in their heads - only in a much more disturbing way. Whatever one may think of the Flame, it works very differently from these mind drives, and was created for a very different reason: the host retains agency, personality and full control over their body, and the dead people’s „spirits“ are there to help and guide the host with their knowledge and experience. (At least that’s the idea – how helpful it seems to have been to Grounders, is debatable.) These mind drives, however, were apparently modified so that they can store an entire consciousness, which then overtakes the hosts’ body completely. Essentially, it’s body-snatching – it helps the Primes extend their natural lifespans indefinitely, at the expense of the „disposable“ people – and in their minds, everyone is disposable, except them.

And this is what the Primes have in common with the Mountain Men. Mountain Men were horribly evil. They thought they were superior and entitled to live at the expense of everyone else, to put people in cages, drain/drill, kill them horrifically, throw them away like garbage, turn them into slave monsters they’ll use against their people It was an incredibly evil society. And yet the Primes manage are arguably even more selfish and awful. At least the Mountain Men were doing it for their community, and had the excuse that they had all grown up and been raised to be like that, learning it from their parents,

The Primes, on the other hand, are those same people who started it all, 236 years ago. They’re the ones who have been stealing other people’s bodies to make themselves and their family members live forever, and who have brainwashed their entire community to worship them as gods and be OK with it.They have been stealing bodies to make themselves live forever. And they’ve brainwashed their entire community to be OK with it, worship them as deities and give them people willingly as sacrifice. While most of the Mount Weather community was complicit, actively or passively, in the crimes because it benefited them, the Sanctum community has been brainwashed to support and be complicit in the crimes that benefit no one other than the Primes. If they were to rise against the Primes, the Primes would have no chance. They don’t have the enormous technologically advanced weaponry of Mount Weather, they don’t even have too many guards to keep order – they instead function as a cult and keep everybody down through religion and belief.

In the end, maybe they are similarly horrible, but different types of evil. The allusions to Nazism were pretty obvious in season 2, from the way the Mountain Men would drain or drill people and then throw their bodies like garbage, to the guards going through people’s living quarters and murdering all the „traitors“ who were hiding the Delinquents to save their lives (though, to be fair to the Mountain Men, at least they had a legitimate motivation – needing to survive – while the actual Nazis were just a bunch of racist, ableist idiots). On the other hand, season 6 has had many more religious references. Gods, devils, Lucifer („light-bringer“ – Lightbourne), Gabriel, Gospel of Josephine (the name of the next episode), The magical number 12 (plus the rogue/special 13) appears again. We had the ill-fated 13th station, Sky people/Arkers as the 13th Clan, and now Dr Gabriel Santiago aka „the Old Man“ (he hasn’t explicitly been identified, but does anyone doubt it is him?) as the 13th Prime. In the eyes of the people in Sanctum, Russell and the other Primes are 12 gods, and Gabriel is a demon – like Lucifer, the fallen angel who was banished from the paradise. To us, however, it is the Primes who seem like the devils.

It’s as if we are going back in time to meet the same people who were a part of the elite that destroyed the world 229 years before. These people did not participate directly in the destruction of the Earth, but were closely connected to those who did. These guys aren’t the descendants, but the same people we saw in the flashback at the start of 6x02 Red Sun Rising. But the things that didn’t seem as sinister then seem so much more disturbing when you pay attention and look back on it with what we know now. At first, I didn’t even notice that Josephine was a sociopath - but what else would you call someone who test possibly poisonous plants on children and then laughs about it. Russell is a megalomaniac, as his wife noted. The eclipse psychosis brings out, in the most disturbing and exaggerated manner, what is already there inside the person, and for Russell, it was megalomania and desire to be in control: „Sanctum is mine!“ is what he was shouting as he went and killed almost everyone in the mission.

From the info we have gotten so far, the Primes that Sanctum worships are the 12 out of 13 people who were members of the original Eligius 3 colonizing mission, most of whom ended up killed by Russell. Apart from Gabriel, there were four families: Russell, Simone and Josephine Lightbourne (Russell was the astronomer and team leader, Josephine a taxonomist); Priya and her teenage son Ryker; Kaylee’s family – which consisted of mom, dad, and two children - son and daughter; and Miranda’s family – presumably Miranda, her husband and daughter. Out of these, we have seen 10, and 3 got killed by Diyoza and Madi while hijacking the ship, so 7 are still alive in host bodies. Russell said that Josephine was 3rd on the waiting list for a new host – the first two must be Miranda’s daughter (who was supposed to be put in Rose’s body) and husband. She is not going to be happy if/when she finds out Russell and Simone broke their rules and skipped the line for their daughter. There will probably be conflict within the Primes themselves.

But even though these characters and their histories are interesting, out actual protagonists interest me much more.

Unlike the Primes, the Children of Gabriel are actually morally grey. Compared to the Primes, they are definitely the good guys, and their goal to bring them down is definitely good – but they have a bit of ’end justifies the means“ going on, and the execution leaves a lot to be desires. (More on that later.) If they believe that the hosts are really dead once the Prime bodysnatches them, their willingness to kill hosts before they are bodysnatched is more understandable. Or maybe they are just prioritizing the death of the Primes over saving individual hosts. But the majority of their guerrilla fighters in the woods are a bit too into killing – in particular, the woman that got killed by Octavia seemed to love killing as much as Octavia does. The exception is Xavier, who seems to be a major new character this season, who is trying to hold on to a moral code of avoiding murder. He even deliberately let Octavia „get away“ so his people wouldn’t murder her, even though she killed several of the CoG (although I’m not sure that, if you want to minimize murder, letting Octavia in her current psychological be free is a good idea). She doesn’t seem to have understood that, since she is currently swearing to kill Xavier. Gratitude problem, indeed. If that’s really what she wants to do.

I’m curious to find out more about the role of the bodyguard (?) and the future hosts. Who were Rose’s parents? Why was Jade the only one who seemed to take care of her? Did she care for her as Rose, or as a future host for a Prime?

Octavia has been getting moments this season that parallel her brother’s in season 1 – first she stowed away on the dropship, and now she bonded with and tried to protect a child, showing her more humane side that’s still there, hidden beneath all the violence, and giving her the same „fear is a demon“ advice that she and Bellamy both heard from their mother. And she lost Rose, just like Bellamy lost Charlotte.

It will be interesting to see the team-up of two two „snakes“, „devils“ from season 5, as they are both good at fighting and killing, but are such a contrast to each other – Octavia, impulsive, broken, and emotional disturbed, and Diyoza, rational, good at strategy, cool and snarky, and heavily pregnant. As Diyoza said, snarkily quoting Casablanca: „This is a start of a beautiful friendship“

Ironically, Diyoza thinks they can become heroes of the new planet by killing the Children of Gabriel – not realizing yet who the real villains are. But they should eventually learn the truth. For that to happen, however, Octavia first has to learn not to attack first. If she achieves something good and important by listening to people and saving people instead of going for the kill, that will show a real character development and positive change.

A character who fleshed out a lot this episode is Jordan. His romance with Delilah was fast and simple, but still cute – he is emotionally a teenager, living his first love, and she had the chance to live her last one, before handing over her life to someone else. But is also was a chance to see Jordan opening up to someone about what his life had been like on the ship. Before this, Jordan only seemed like a sweet and optimistic, smiling guy, but now we’ve seen his sadness and longing and his feelings of guilt, too. His description of his life on the ship was the best piece of dialogue in the episode. Monty and Harper may have gotten their happy ending, but they also sacrificed a lot – by removing themselves from the lives of their friends, and by putting their adult son back in cryo – and Monty eventually had to live all alone for quite some time, after Harper’s death. But they also put their son in a difficult position – of growing up with no one except his parents, without any people his age, or any other people in general – only seeing them as „faces behind the glass“, friends he could never have, a life that he couldn’t lead. Of course he wanted to be cryo frozen so he could once have that life, and of course his parents let him – because it would have been monstruous if they had been selfish and decided to prioritize their needs to have their son in their lives over his chance at life. And it’s sad that Jordan feels guilty for going into cryo-sleep, leaving his parents and becoming a „face behind the glass“ for them – someone they could only long for and never have again. But it shows his empathy and compassionate nature that his parents’ feelings are still so much on his mind and that he feels guilty for making them prioritize their child’s needs over theirs, even though that’s a normal thing for a parent to do.

Clarke spent a lot of the episode trying to apologize and make amends to her friends– and those interactions had to happen at this point, before Clarke gets bodysnatched. Each of her last (as in, latest) interactions with her loved ones – her words to Madi, where she accepted her role as a Commander but also told her she may remove the Flame and be a regular kid if she decides to; her apology to Raven, which Raven did not accept, but instead was very harsh with her, and the message Clarke gave her from Shaw, that she deserves to be happy; and her tender moment with Bellamy, where she apologized and told him how much he means to her, and her apology was fully accepted – is going to get so much more weight in these people’s minds after they find out what happened to her.

The scene between Clarke and Raven was a bit frustrating. I’m sure that the reason why we’ve had so many scenes of various people bashing Clarke is exactly because of what happens at the end of this episode. And don’t get me wrong: Raven and others (Murphy, Emori…) have very good reasons to feel angry over Clarke’s betrayal in S5, which happened so recently from their POV. It makes sense that they’re angry over that, and they are not obliged to forgive Clarke immediately. I was all for them hashing things out. However, the way they’ve done it and the things they’ve said is… weird. Because both Murphy and Raven keep talking as if Clarke has been doing awful things to them and betraying them for years, and that’s definitely not the case, quite the opposite – she was a hero and did things to save them a lot of times, and while she had to go to lengths to do it and kill people to save those she cares about, they’ve also done the same and participated in some of those same things, if they were not those that needed to be saved. The last time they saw Clarke before they went to space, she made it possible for them to go to space in the first place, and was left behind to be all alone for 6 years, except for a child. It’s like the two of them have retconed the events of seasons 1-4 in some weird way. When Raven says that Clarke says sorry and then does HORRIBLE things AGAIN, I’m like… what horrible things? Clarke deciding to go save Raven instead of staying in the bunker, and ending up almost dying and all alone f(except for a child) for 6 years on a deserted planet? Clarke trying everything to save everyone from Praimfaya, including volunteering to be tested in the radiation chamber, risking a horrible painful death? Clarke making the list of 100 people to survive, after Raven told her she had to do it, bashing her at the same time (“I’m in charge of rationing, but deciding who lives or dies is your specialty”? ) Clarke going to the City of Light to save everyone? Clarke doing everything to save Raven from ALIE? Clarke saving Raven’s and everyone else is life from being horribly murdered by the Mountain Men? Clarke mercy killing Finn to spare him the torture - and do what is best for everyone? Yes, indeed Clarke had "impossible choices". Which Raven never took responsibility for - she always expected Clarke to make them. Even demanded. She asked for the list to be made and ordered Clarke to do it, but Clarke got blamed for it. Not to mention all the times that Raven participated in the same things Clarke did to defend themselves or saved their people- like torturing Lincoln, blowing up the bridge in S1, facilitating the Ring of Fire etc. She was bashing Clarke for not telling the full truth to the people in Arkadia about their low chances of survival in season 4 - when she could have told them the truth herself and didn’t. Raven stood and gave moralistic criticisms about the plan to test someone in the radiation chamber, but Clarke was the one who injected herself with Nightblood and volunteered to get tested. Not to mention all the times when Raven did have to make terrible and impossible choices, but she seems to forget about it. Like leaving Clarke behind to die. She was also ready to leave Bellamy, Monty, Murphy and Emori to die in the season 5 finale, and was hurrying Clarke to pull a lever and leave them. And then there are times when she did or try to do awful things just to protect someone she loved. Remember when she wanted to give Murphy to the Grounders to be tortured and horrifically murdered for something he didn’t do? Murphy did murder others and cripple her, but Finn was guilty of that crime - which was a murder of a bunch of civilians for no reason. But Raven never blamed Finn. Then she wanted Clarke to kill the Grounder Commander and start a war, and probably get killed, just to save Finn, a murderer. And punched Clarke and called her names when she didn’t do it.

And Raven’s comment that the only difference between Clarke and Octavia is that Octavia „doesn’t pretend to feel bad about it“ shows how little she understands both of them: Clarke is feeling deeply guilty and has even tried suicide during her eclipse psychosis. And the difference between Clarke and Octavia is not that Octavia is not pretending to feel bad about it, the difference is Octavia is pretending to not feel bad about it. She feels awful inside, because she wanted to die, but instead of saying sorry and trying to do better, like Clarke, Octavia can’t bring herself to admit mistakes but instead antagonizes everyone, tries to make people kill her, or kills people for little reason – because she doesn’t know how to deal with her gult and self-loathing in another way. It’s the worst possible way to deal with guilt.

My rewatch of the show has reminded me that this is not the first time Raven has been judgmental, self-righteous and hypocritical to Clarke, but the reason why it didn’t stick out so much before is because she had other interesting storylines. Could the writers give her something else to do? Being mean to Clarke for several episodes in a row and doing little else – except have a brief romance – is getting old.

Raven did get to meet a new character – Ryker, who seems on the surface to be another in the series of apparently perfect love interests for her. Now, I’m usually not the one to jump to conclusions that every single new character is someone’s love interest, but they seem to be setting Ryker up that way – especially with the fact that Clarke told Raven Shaw’s message that she deserves to be happy, in the same episode where she meets this new guy. It seems a bit early to give another romance for Raven so soon after Shaw’s death. However, I don’t think Raven/Ryker is going to work – because, likable as he may seem, he is a 250 year old Prime, who may have been a teenager when it all started, but now he’s lived several lives taking other people’s bodies. And I think he’ll have to die at the end of the season. But this is why I think Ryker being some kind of a love interest for Raven may actually give her a really good storyline. (See further below under Predictions/Speculation.)

Ryker doesn’t seem to be all that into the whole Prime thing – he was late to the ceremony even though it was his own mother, Priya, who was coming back in poor Delilah’s body. Jordan, Clarke and the others used to think the „Naming“ was just some ceremonial thing with giving people names after celebrated ancestors – but they are going to start realizing something is up now, after Jordan experienced his first romantic heartbreak, by seeing Delilah come back as a literally different person, with a much colder demeanor, someone who doesn’t even recognize him – but who went straight up to Ryker and hugged him as her son, even though he is in a body that’s older than hers. „My beautiful baby boy“. That was one weird AF mother-son reunion.

BTW, fandom conversations about race regarding the new Sanctum characters are going to be so confusing because of the bodysnatching. Some of the Primes (Russell, Josephine) are in bodies of hosts who are the same race as their originally were, but others are not (Simone, Priya/Delilah, Ryker, Kaylee…).

Clarke continued her apology tour with the most important conversation – with Bellamy. Leaving him in Polis for his sister to throw him into the fighting pit, is what Clarke personally regrets the most and considers her biggest sin, because of what he means to her. Even though he has been very supportive of her, unlike the others from the Spacekru, she still seemed afraid of how he is going to react and if he was going to accept her apology and her assurances that he is a part of her ’family“ still and incredibly important to her. This warm and vulnerable moment – including another obligatory Bellarke hug, intense and intimate as their hugs and touches always are- between the two of them needed to happen before they are separated again – and before someone else tries to take Clarke’s place and impersonate her. So far, they have been having important conversations and moments, rebuilding their relationship after the awful conflict and misunderstandings from season 5: they have addressed Clarke leaving Bellamy, they have addressed her radio calls, they have not directly addressed Bellamy’s betrayal – from Clarke’s POV – but she showed trust in him to take care of Madi in 6x03 and repaid it. But I’m sure that this is not the last time they talk about either of these things (and not just because we know from the trailer that there’s at least one other conversation coming up in S6 about the radio calls and leaving Bellamy in Polis). These things are ongoing plot points that are given a lot of weight – and the issues have not been fully cleared. Clarke still hasn’t addressed the fact that she didn’t just forget that Bellamy was also her „family“, she was angry and heartbroken when she felt that Bellamy betrayed her, and when she thought he had told her she wasn’t a part of his „family“ anymore. And Bellamy hasn’t told her that one of the main reasons he did it, and the main or most immediate reason that pushed him to poison Octavia, was to protect Clarke („another traitor you love“). But once they are able to talk about all of it, I’m sure this will lead to other admissions they are not ready for right now. In 6x01, Clarke was scared of talking about the radio calls and her feelings, and now it was Bellamy trying to avoid the conversation. At this point, Clarke seems to have made peace with the fact that she can’t hope for anything else from Bellamy but rebuilding of the relationship they used to have, because he’s with someone else and doesn’t feel that way about her (or so she thinks), while Bellamy seems unsure about many things and trying to figure them out, but is unable to face those issues right now.

We also got the confirmation that Bellamy finds it easier to forgive Clarke because he understood and related to her protectiveness of Madi, as he used to be the same with Octavia, his sister/pseudo-child. But his line „I know what it’s like to risk everything for one person“ may also be foreshadowing. And so is Clarke’s assurance that she will never forget that Bellamy is a part of her family.

After unburdening herself emotionally like that, Clarke tried to do something she very rarely does: relax and have a good time, including dressing up, dancing and flirting in the club with the random good-looking person (specifically, tall, dark dude with facial hair) she had known for very little time, and have a hot one-night stand, after spending 6 years in forced celibacy. (Which is, BTW, only the 5th time she’s had sex in her life, as far as we are aware.) I like the fact that the show doesn’t subscribe to the idea that sex must always mean love – sometimes it has insta-romances, but this is one of those times when it’s really not about love or special bond, just having fun and taking your mind off the misery that’s the rest of your life.

Now, while I liked the fact that Clarke got to just have a one-night stand that didn’t mean anything but a bit of fun, which wasn’t presented as her doing something bad, hat I like a lot less is what happened right after – when the one-night stand led to Clarke being paralyzed, kidnapped and bodysnatched. This feels too much like the trope of punishing people (women especially) for sex, even if that was not th idea.

The doc was a Child of Gabriel, so one of the good guys, so to speak – but oh boy, did he screw things up. Why wouldn’t he have told her the truth (do CoG not understand that normal people are not like the brainwashed Sanctum residents and would freak out and turn against the Primes if they knew they were going to be bodysnatched?), instead of deceiving her, and then trying to explain when it was too late, then paralyzing her and trying to kill her so she wouldn’t be used as host, then committing suicide? Congratulations, dumbass, you just got the exact opposite result of what you planned and were supposed to do!

While Clarke was dancing with the doc, the camera made sure to show that Bellamy was watching them, and the song had very fitting lyrics:

Seaside

I’m running around looking for peace of mind

So come out and change me

You were always around to make me smile

Stuck underwater

I’m stuck underwater

I just need some space

My friend

It’s not what you wanted

But I just need a change

Again

And then when the camera panned to Bellamy:

Help me out before I die

Save me now before I give up

Help me out before I drown

There has been some debate over whether Bellamy looked jealous (enough) – and while his expression wasn’t the obvious heartbreak on Clarke’s face when she was watching him kiss Echo in S5, he looked sad, wistful and lost in thoughts. Maybe some people expected a stronger, angrier reaction – but I always hated that idea: it would be OOC, he was never possessive of Clarke that way, and it would make him a jerk if he acted that way while he is in a serious relationship with someone else.

Then Echo arrived – which was a bit odd: unlike Jordan and Delilah, who came as a couple, Bellamy and Echo didn’t dress up or come together. Bellamy was still distracted, looking back to the dance floor, when she asked him if he was fine, and he claimed to be upset because he remembered Octavia’s arrest at the party on the Ark (which he described as the last party he was to before one – even though that’s not true. The last party he was at was in Arkadia in S4, a few days before Praimfaya, when he drank with Jasper and others and probably had a one-night stand with Bree, and then later left when he learned about the bunker, while the others from that party, minus Harper and Niylah, decided to stay and commit suicide.) Bellamy indeed looked very sad in this episode – in contrast to his livelier and more hopeful demeanor in the previous episodes – presumably because of what a huge moment and huge loss it was for him to decide to leave Octavia behind and definitely cut her off from his life. But when he immediately started to criticize Echo for not being emotionally open enough, (like Clarke?) it felt like this either came out of the blue, or was very much connected to the fact that Bellamy had that emotionally intimate moment with Clarke, and was just watching Clarke acting fin and sensual with someone else. I’m usually not too impressed with Tasya Teles’ acting, but Echo’s silent hurt in this scene is one of her best acting moments so far.

Bellamy then realized he had just acted like a jerk and took out his issues on her, so he and Echo had an emotional conversation, where Echo ended up telling him the story about losing her parents, when Queen Nia’s army took their land. But this scene was weird in some ways. Bellamy said that Echo told him before that she didn’t remember her parents. This is the first time she has told him the true story. Which is quite surprising - since they spent 6 years is close proximity, probably without much else to do but talk, and (while we don’t know how long they’ve been dating), have been at least friends for 3 years out of that time (since it took him 3 years to forgive her). This may be a sign that she never really opened up and that they never really got that close as you’d expect. The conversation did start with Bellamy criticising Echo for not being emotionally open as he would like – but he said that the Echo he knew on the ring was more open. However, the dialogue went on to prove him wrong - since it turned out she hadn’t ble to talk about her parents for 6 years, and had lied about it to avoid conversation, and he never noticed.

So, this is either bad writing - or it is good writing that is intentionally meant to convey the lack of real intimacy in their relationship on the ring, and that Bellamy simply didn’t notice it because..? Maybe he didn’t want to? Or he didn’t have anything to compare it with, as his relationships with Raven, Murphy, Monty, Harper and Emori were not more emotionally intimate? It’s difficult to judge what “the time on the ring” was like, when we never saw any flashbacks, and the little info we got is contradictory. We hear that Echo proved herself there, or showed feelings when loved ones were in danger, but other times they talk about it as if nothing was happening and they were just bored and worried about not being able to get to Earth?

It’s also a little odd that Echo says that her emotional repression is because she was fighting for survival all her life - when that is also true of Bellamy. He had a huge secret to hide since he was 6, so you would expect him to be completely closed-off, and he is certainly not. A much better explanation would be Echo’s specific spy training, which we got a glimpse of in her hallucination in 6x02. That was IMO a much stronger character scene for Echo (and that episode was full of great character moments for everyone). If this scene in 6x04 is meant to be a full explanation of her personality, it’s not satisfactory. If it is meant as one of the setups for her to start struggling with her identity and get development in future episodes, I will like it better.

And finally, that ending. Even though the twist had been foreshadowed a lot and was expected by quite a few fans, me included, at least since 6x03 or not before, the scene where Russell and Simone decided to wipe Clarke’s mind and put their daughter’s into her body, was incredibly creepy and chilling, especially since we were practically in the POV of the paralyzed Clarke, who saw and heard everything but couldn’t move or do a thing. The dark room, the skeletons of previous hosts, all the way back to the original bodies of the Primes, all contributed to how disturbing it all felt – and so did the fact that Russell and Simone came off very human while incredibly monstrous at the same time. Russell is sad about doing evil, but then he does evil anyway and continues doing so, and he had some very hypocritical lines where he told Clarke she was giving them a „gift“ and that she can now „be at peace“. That’s not what she meant, Russell! Russell and Simone are convinced that they are killing Clarke – and the released script itself and Jason Rothenberg in the Inside the episode video confirmed that Clarke Griffin is indeed dead and gone…

Yeah, it’s pretty funny that they’re trying to sell this even for a moment. Of course, if it were true, it would be one of the stupidest, most pointless and offensive ways to kil off your protagonist, but we all know that’s not the case. The question is just, what exactly will be the condition of Clarke’s mind during the time Josephine is in control of her body, and how and when she will be brought back/freed. And most importantly, this plotline should give both Clarke and her loved ones a lot of great character moments and an exploration of their feelings. It should also propel the entire season’s plot, because our protagonists now have a personal stake in dismantling this awful society and putting the stop to the horrible practice that has been going on for 236 years.

Predictions/speculation

Out of the theories circling around, the one I like the minds of the hosts are not really erased; they are just dormant because the Prime mind is written on top of them and dominant. After all, why would we assume that Russell and the other Primes know the truth about how the process works? They. wouldn’t really know, or care, if the hosts’ minds are gone or just trapped and unable to do anything as the Primes’ minds are in control – which, in many ways, is even more disturbing than a simple death of the host would be. But the hosts before Clarke have been willing (as far as we know), and might not have had anyone determined to bring them back (the Children of Gabriel are content to just kill the hosts if that’s the only way to stop the process). The Flame will no doubt come into play, but not the way some people think. As confirmed by Jason Rothenberg in his recent Twitter Q&A, the „mind drives“ are a version of Becca’s original technology, modified in order to store an entire consciousness. The Flame is a more developed version of Becca’s original design, and might help someone – probably Raven - figure out how to erase the process in the mind drives. The fact that Madi has Becca’s „spirit“ in her head could also play a role. I’m sure it won’t be easy, though, and a lot of other things will probably also be needed, including input from Gabriel himself.

What would be really interesting is to see what this does for Clarke’s character arc. We will see Josephine pretending to be Clarke, but I wonder if we will also see Clarke pretending to be Josephine pretending to be Clarke, Josephine fighting with Clarke, Clarke trapped inside her own brain and fighting with her demons…

It will also be interesting to see how the loss of Clarke affects her friends and family. They have never before dealt with a situation Clarke is the one who needs saving for any longer period of time, and where everyone has to work together to save her. This should help show everyone’s real feelings for her. After all the bitterness and anger that some of them have shown (Raven in particular), her disappearance/“death“ will probably make them remember all the times that she did heroic things and saved them and others, and a comparison with a selfish, spoiled sociopath like Josephine should make them see what a real „bad guy“ in Clarke’s body would be like.

Will they also be able to save Delilah and the other hosts? Some people think that would be too „fairy-tale“ like, aka too good to be true – but, whatever Delilah meant by it, I think that her line “Don’t let me be a face behind the glass” (which compares the hosts to people in cryo-sleep) either hints at or foreshadows that the hosts can be saved. And I also think that the stakes will be higher if the hosts can be saved (or at least some of them – since some of the Primes may get killed in their hosts’ bodies before the end of this season), which would mean that the storyline must end with the final deaths of all the Primes – the destruction of their mind drives. If the hosts were really gone (and for some reason, only Clarke could be brought back), it would feel wrong to kill the Primes once they stop posing direct danger, and if there is another way to make sure they stop stealing other people’s bodies, especially if some of them end up helping put an end to the Prime rule and the bodysnatching practice.

But if the hosts can be saved, and given a chance at a real life that was taken from them at the age of 21, and if they can only be saved by destroying the Primes, who have already lived over 250 years at the expense of others… then this is a choice that will have to be made: the right choice, but maybe not an easy one. Especially if Ryker really ends up being Raven’s new love interest, and if ends up really not being fully bad and helping our heroes, we may end up being season 6 Maya, and at the same time, it could put Raven, for once, to be the one who makes the decisions who lives and who dies and has to stand by it, and – what would be even more interesting – to be the one who „kills“ her love interest for the greater good and what is right, this time, essentially going through Clarke’s season 2 role. Ryker’s line about about raven as an omen of death sounds like foreshadowing.

Rating: 8/10

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fireeaglespirit · 6 years ago

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beyond-far-horizons

This is awesome and because *hangs head in shame* I dont play the games (i'm a noob with no money and my parents never let me have video games so I just like the story okay?) I have never seen this bit.

I ADORE multiverse/underworld stuff as you know or perhaps you don't as I don't know how far I got explaining Aeq and Midnight Palace but it is FULL of that stuff. I love the symbolism and it is very Jungian (I am the Priest of Jung okay, welcome to the New Testament of Jess!) But I need to sleep rn so we can get to it later.

Thank you for showing me because then I can reference it if I have time but I have so many other things going on right now and dunno I love fanfic and these stories but then I get down because I get virtually no response and I need that interaction to continue. It is my luck to always like dead fandoms with minor prequel characters I guess...still I do feel the fanfic has improved my writing and vice versa

I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way

the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.

It's also why I have a headcanon Sparda a)is fascinated by humans - they have the same struggles as him and b)he has a huge library on religions of the world, history, philosophy and science because he is still trying to discover the nature of reality just like Eva and this is what really brings them together. I wrote this line last night when Eva looks at all the books 'So you devour our souls metaphorically instead of physically now?'

I debated on making Sparda saintly, like he has already has his struggle and is now secure in himself but that isn't interesting to me plus you know our shared love of fighting with the feral nature to ultimately make the person better. Plus I kinda like the romantic angst that way like with MadaMito hehe

Okay I need to go to bed now.

Ok, prepare for huge contrived reply incoming...

First of all. What??

I hate when parents do this. I’m so sorry, I never knew about it... I really hate this.

Video games are just another media, I never understood why people would pick on that and forbid their child from having some fun. FFS.

If you want to play something some day I’ll always be there to help you installing, finding them, etc.. whatever you might need. Or even just finding anything related to games, etc.. I don’t play much these days as you know the multiple reasons but it was such an important part of my life I can barely imagine being cut out from this, even thought we always had old consoles this was very important.

About Sparda and the fic. I need to be sincere and say I’m taking so long to reply for two reasons. First because I LOVE the way you wrote Sparda but I was afraid of being too simplistic with my reply so I delved a lot on things...

But... tah-dah : I lost the huge reply I had wrote before. My note has 0 battery so its glued to the wall and it just turns off sometimes suddenly and I’m dumb and don’t save things so yeah. I kinda lost myself and got angry about that.

Anyway, I understand what you said here, especially your feelings about the fic, in many ways I can see how my fandom views reflect in the original world I’m making, and the inverse is contrary. There are many parallels. It really helps and fandom work is as worthy as original, imo, I’ve been thinking about this. Our obsession with prequels and obscure characters has a reason and that is exactly because we want to explore what is hidden behind the veil... exploring the possibilities.

Sometimes it comes to shipping speculation, and this too has a reason.

Thinking about your views on Sparda and Eva, I thought a lot on what it truly means to write or develop an obscure ship and why we are so interested in that (think about that, many of our common favorite characters from prequels, etc..)

I came to the conclusion that in Eva/Sparda just like in many of our other ships, has the common theme of the heroin facing her ‘dark reflection’, her ‘animus’ as Jung would say (OH BOY I’m entering that with you), and she, at first rejects it like she reflects her own darker aspects, her unconscious… its abhorrent for her so she seeks to destroy it as rapidly as possible as seen by Eva’s renewed determination after learning Sparda’s true nature in chapter 1. The animus represents her doubts and unconscious... However what we see in your story is much more interesting.

Most stories of this kind focus solely in the female aspect changing from her interactions with the male, who is already developed, but here we have Eva being able to re-awaken some viciousness in Sparda when it seems he has been quite restrained from quite some time (centuries) but also, something that is much more interesting.. it calls to his own determination and his own personal story and sacrifice, for some reason his ‘lust’ and brush with the dark side makes it all more important and more powerful than if he simply had been saintly at that point, like you said. It makes he revisit it all and ponder.

I love how you added lines of ‘temptation’ from Mundus, part of Sparda seeks to surrender to his ‘nature’ as its just so easy, like slip in a pair of old shoes... while the priestess memory, albeit silently, fights it and reminds him of his struggle and his ideals and ultimately her sacrifice which was also his own sacrifice (of his old ways). I think his darker side has been neglected and I think you will use this to develop Sparda into greater heights. Its great we get to see this in the actual story and he is not perfect, but he certainly is incredible.

Also, just as a side-note I loved how you described his hunger as mostly non-carnal as he glimpses her spirit and its light... when we see Sparda’s POV we get reminded every time of his non-human nature and his non-human perception of things which is clearly different. A demon’s prey is not flesh but spirit and this makes a lot of sense and a lot of potential.

To sum it up, you snatched the best of both worlds and is about to develop both characters under a relationship, as they have a lot to learn and gain from each other. I think this is the way your narrative is going, more or less.

These developments are unique aspects which I find extremely interesting and you are doing this in such a genial way and I can see already by the end of the latest chapter the strings of the themes I mentioned are pulled and ready to be followed.

So yeah, they’re in for a journey of development together. Neither of them starts the story as a ‘perfect’ entity either way... This was shown in a very nice way as you pointed out misconceptions regarding both sides involving the duo of protagonists.

“I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.”

I abstained a bit from the conversation earlier as I feared my careless/godless (lmao) perception was too disturbing for you or anyone but I also pondered on concepts such as heaven and hell, salvation, damnation, etc.. when considering Sparda’s tale. I know DMC isn't Christianity but its imagery is somewhat based on Abrahamic religion/mythos so I’m bound to take in consideration some of my ideas regarding biblical mythology, as in...

When I started reading the bible so long ago it always puzzled me to imagine what exactly were angels/demons. I mean, are they even able to think in the same way as us?? Or are them more like ‘robots’, AI following orders (especially angels sometimes strikes me as that) and perhaps demons are those ‘robots’ that rebelled against their determined function, idk.

Something I wondered more than a decade ago was if demons in the bible are truly lost in every way so I started thinking within the dmc setting. I’m interested in that all and those things I mentioned. The interesting part is that I once asked that to my catechist if demons could be redeemed (lmao I was crazy, I know, but bored above all). She was at first very mad with me (she was always) but she reluctantly told me that demons had known god up close and felt his power so their sin in not following him is much bigger than a human’s, something of the sorts. So it sounded like they are also able to choose their way and I sort of apply this to dmc, lol. I’m weird, I know...

Are they capable or ‘worthy’ of forgiveness, because demons in dmc clearly have free will and thought like us, or at least similar to us. Some of them, like Sparda have clearly a lot of intellect, but like you said... others are very ‘primal’. Perhaps this is the key. The ‘evolved’ demon develops intellect and power... perhaps you are in the right track and it goes hand in hand? Does this make any sense?? The more powerful and developed they are, the more they develop ‘higher brain functions’ and star resembling a human more, idk because the lower demons in dmc are clearly more animal-like and primal while Sparda has a human-like shape and intellect.

I think I know where we are going and this looks like both angels and demons are actually a ‘reflection’ of human psyche. So, demons are the primal ancient aspects of the brain are somehow walking around hell just like that, while heaven and its inhabitants are mysterious. I really like the way you described hell and its inhabitants, it makes a lot of sense to imagine it as a part of human psyche embodied, in a way. I imagine Heaven as the exact inverse of Hell so it has its own creatures and they’re born from ‘order’ instead of chaos as stated above.

We have Bayonetta as a source of inspiration and I think its very valid to use that in order to understand Sparda. Heaven isn’t exactly good there, is it? In fact it appears like a very controlling environment.

Hell: Primal, violent, survival of the fittest anyone? Hell inhabitants embodied the most basic aspects of the brain, as you said.

Heaven: It might stem from higher planes of thinking and represent the more ‘sublime’ or ‘newer’ aspects of the evolving mammal brain.

It might make an easy choice for heaven but also such tight atmosphere is bound to become stagnant, it is no longer permitting flaws and strong emotions (thus angels look apathetic af in Bayonetta).

It might seem at first glance that heaven is good, hell is bad, however I think, if you delve into heaven you might realize the beings born there might be too ‘disembodied’ as they represent exactly those parts of human psyche which are the most sublime. Let me explain, I always felt like too much spirituality tends to make people leave behind the reality of things, it might make them lack empathy for living beings who have to commit difficult decisions on a living basis, basic survival, starvation, the struggle for life, etc..

Think about enlightenment and Bodhisattva, also the rituals of mortification which are legit scary and reminds me of this concept as only those who leave behind all that is ‘mortal’ and are detached to an extreme, can reach Nirvana. I know this has not much to do with Christianity but even in this religion we find analogous associations regarding detachment as divine and saintly. Its also harmful in a way, or am I reaching? While too much focus on the primal/carnal leads to obvious horrible things: vice and chaos; too much detachment leads to apathy.

I do think some level of detachment is necessary to reach happiness but too much of it makes people forget the reality of life and makes them not able to relate anymore to the ones around them, as the focus becomes solely spiritual it kind of deafens them to the ‘real world’ and ignore it.

This is all about reaching a balance as its is our favorite theme, too much light is bad, too much darkness is bad, etc.. or else the story would fall into itself as the reality of the three settings (heaven, hell, earth) would be rigid.

So here we have a darker aspect of heaven, imo, to balance things out.

Heaven is clearly ‘order’ and hell is ‘chaos’ so we might as well find a balance... our favorite theme as always. The fact that one being like Sparda, born amidst ultimate chaos would gaze upward in delight and desire something else doesn't surprise me. The fact is he could be bitter about it, you even gave away the line on your fic where Sparda mentions he has been denied ‘light’. I wonder what exactly that means and this is one of my favorite aspects of your Sparda is that he is aware of his condition and even thought he worked against it its still lingering to him.. like his own flickering appearance.

But he hasn’t made his way up to heaven, huh?

So its not a far reach to believe in it (that he desired ‘light’, whatever it is) but my personal belief is that too much ‘light’ is not good either and Sparda realized the beauty in flawed humanity, which sits right in the middle of light and darkness, order and chaos... that’s why he became enamored by the concept of humanity and all the struggle our own condition imposes upon us.

For me this is an archetypal theme.

Just food for thought.

The matter is... how? What exactly awakened him to justice?

This makes stuff much more interesting. This was a huge ramble, I know but I needed to develop this and see if it works,

So yeah, about a) I’m totally with you and I can see why Sparda would empathize with humans, as I talked earlier and I think my explanation on why Sparda would be fascinated by humans instead of ‘angels’ is made up above and I hope this doesn't sound too weird, just my line of thought.

As a demon, he’s born from a very ‘imperfect’ reality. He knows how shitty things can be... Now I really wonder how his life was before he ‘awakened to justice’ he must have witnessed some remarkably horrible things in his life..

Under the setting I mentioned, it would be I think its kinda easier for a demon to do this since angels would be too stuck up in their haven, idk so this is how Sparda, the unlikely hero is the first of these beings to take arms and defend humanity. Sparda is so special as he was the one to side with humans by his own decision and free will. What a guy!

I’m glad you didn't! This is probably a gradual process even thought they say he ‘awakened to justice’ which makes it seem like he suddenly just did so I believe he had brewing feelings from his life as a demon in hell...

He must have been such an unique individual to perceive truths his peers where not ready to learn and truly, an act of rebellion against the system itself coming from someone who is ‘supposed’ to do only harm is really something we want to see on screen and I’m so glad you didn't simplify it as being a single event in his life.

I’m really in love with this theme because it shows these beings are able to change their own destinies, even someone with such dark origins.

#beyond-far-horizons #dmc #sparda #eva

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fragments-of-a-hologram-dystopia · 7 years ago

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Review: Contact

Genre: sci-fi

Year: 1997

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Angela Bassett

Notes: based on Carl Sagan’s book with the same title.

Ellie Arroway has always been obsessed with finding life on other planets. She grows up to be a SETI scientist, and she spends her time listening to the stars and hoping to record something – a transmission, a sound, anything. Despite the struggles for funding and the fact that no one takes her idea seriously, she keeps listening. Until she records something with her team. It is, no doubt, a message. A message that travelled for 26 years from Vega to reach Earth. Ellie struggles to keep control of her team and operations, when the very same people who make fun of her aspiration now do their best to snatch everything away from her and to look good at the White House. The message is decoded, and the construction of something great begins.

An interesting take on the first contact theme, Contact employs some intriguing ideas, like the nature of the message they receive from the aliens, and the subplot about the eccentric billionaire Hadden, who finances Ellie when she needs funding the most and manages to be an interesting yet controversial figure. Ellie is an interesting character to follow and she made me think of Arrival’s main character. The problem with Ellie is that she doesn’t have a fatal flaw or something personal that prevents her from achieving her goal, all her problems are external and due to causes like lack of funding, asshole colleagues, manipulative people, etc. The romantic subplot felt weird and unnecessary, if not outright creepy: in a realistic situation she would have told the guy to fuck off, since he keeps interfering with what matters most to her because he is, in the end, an egoistic asshole who thinks he know better. This brings us to the movie’s weirdest part: religion and faith in God plays a huge role in the story, it’s not just a couple of weirdos who form new religions when proof of alien life is found ( understandable) no: this proof is treated as a threat to those who believe in God and many argue humans shouldn’t meddle with things from other planets. Faith seems to play a huge part in politics as well. I’m not american, but it’s pretty much the first time I see something like this in a movie set in the USA. I live in a country where religion plays a HUGE part (Italy) and can’t seem to stay out of politics and yet it still felt excessive to me. The whole movie feels more like a philosophical debate ( science vs faith and so on) than like a proper story, even if it obviously has a story. This is why some of the characters and the dynamics between them doesn’t feel as deep: they behave like cardboard cutouts representing a certain stance on faith, science and so on. Despite that, it’s still a nicely entertaining movie that I recommend. It’s definitely different from many other “classic” first contact stories.

#contact #carl sagan #science fiction #sci-fi #movies #movie reviews

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savingpeopleslayingthings · 7 years ago

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Defy The Worlds (ARC) Review!

It’s Tuesday so let’s review a great book I just read. If you wish to skip to certain parts of the review covering specific topics, look for the bold words! Also, there are NO SPOILERS AHEAD

I received an ARC of Defy The Worlds at NY Comic Con just a few days ago, and I am so grateful I was able to get my hands on it.

To see my review on goodreads, click here!

Overall: 5/5 Stars Characters: 5/5 Setting: 5/5 Writing: 4.5/5 (ARCs usually have mistakes though, so that’s normal) Plot and Themes: 5/5 Awesomeness Factor: 5/5

If you don't feel like reading this long review, here is my opinion in a nutshell: Defy the Worlds is a fantastic sequel to an equally fantastic book. It's action packed, adorably romantic, and full of fun (and slightly terrifying) science and technology. This book is absolutely brilliant and if you need to pick it up now.

I read Defy the Stars immediately after it came out and fell in love with the universe, the characters, and the writing. The second I finished it I desperately wanted the sequel, and now that I've finished the sequel I hate how long I'm going to have to wait for the next book. The Constellation Series takes place an a universe filled with Earthen colonies, and Genesis, the one planet fighting back to protect itself. This breathtaking universe is brought back in Defy the Worlds, with even more to discover. The setting remains as one of the aspects of this book that really sets it apart. Each planet is so different and described so vividly, you will be imaging you are there with the characters. Defy The Worlds manages to include familiar settings from the first book, while also introducing brand new locations for you to explore with Noemi and Abel. I can't go into too much detail (no spoilers here!) but I can say its really fun seeing these new places along with the old. By far, my favorite part of this series is the characters. Defy The Worlds brings back all of our favorite characters (some when you least expect it), while also introducing a few newbies into this world. My favorite character will always be Abel, and in this novel you see him continue to develop and grow more in-tune with himself and become more human, similarly to as he did in book one, but even further. In my opinion, Noemi's development wasn't as pronounced in this book as it was in the first, but it was definitely still there and I can see this book setting her up to change even more as a character in the next installment. Once again, we also see Burton Mansfield up to his usual shenanigans (you know, wanting to kill Abel so he can live forever, that fun stuff). This time though, he is less of a direct player and more of just the motivation for who I feel is the larger threat in this book, his daughter, Gillian Shearer. I wont go into details on this, because spoilers, but trust me when I say she brings some very interesting things into this book. Finally, some old friends from Defy The Stars are brought back into the spotlight, and all I will say was that I loved seeing them again. Another interesting aspect of Defy The Worlds was the overall themes. In comparison to the first book, religion didn't play as big of a role, but it was definitely still discussed and mentioned often. One of the recurring questions in this book is "What are you fighting? And what are you fighting for?" For Noemi especially, this question is harder to answer than it seems. Also in this book, the theme of humanity vs. machine, and what the difference is, is continued to be explored and debated by various characters throughout the story. I personally love reading about this, but I could be biased considering I'm a computer engineering major who wouldn't be opposed to creating an AI even if it could take over the world (I mean- that would just be so fascinating!) (yeah I'd definitely be the mad scientist villain in a YA book. Maybe Mansfield is hiring). My overall thoughts on this book was that it was absolutely amazing. Claudia Gray has created a universe so bright and intriguing while also being frightening in its flaws and dark side. I cannot wait for the next book!! Oh god, its only October, I'm going to have to wait awhile aren't I? Claudia why do you always do this to me😭?????

#defy the worlds #defy the stars #defy the worlds arc #claudia gray #defy the stars 2 #constellation series #constellation 2 #noemi vidal #abel mansfield #book review #books #book #review #text

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damoselcastel · 7 years ago

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Dame’s thoughts on FE15 - the good

So I’m going to split my Shadow of Valentia review into two parts: the good and the bad. It’s all just my opinion, but unlike the liveblogging I’ll put more effort into the “whys” behind ‘em. These I’ll also be fine to discuss/debate, so feel free to reblog.

Now let’s get in on the good. I generally concur with Harblkun’s thoughts, SoV has that old-Fire-Emblem feel and with conflict bonded to the narrative rather than solely focused upon one character. The change in lead artist felt refreshing and fun. I really appreciated no desaturated hair colors or skin tones and no battle panties. The direct with character models and battle animation were really appreciated too, we’ll never get away from mountain-goat horse leaps but I’ll take what I can get. Similarly the narrative and character dialogue are usually quality (exceptions will be covered in “the bad” half), with the implementation of explorable villages with NPCs FE15 was really able to step up the worldbuilding delivered. Despite the very narrow support options, the cast held vibrant enough personalities to make an impression that lasted and those characters who reappeared really got built up for it. As a remake it was very faithful to FE2, from mechanics to map design and while it’s not the most innovative I’m glad to have genuinely experienced Valentia like the vets.

As for what I specifically liked, detailed spoilers for the game, below the cut.

Lords with converging goals - My first FE game was Blazing Sword and a large part of what charmed me was the interaction of the three main characters, FE10 was impressive on how it tried to cover multiple sides in one war. In SoV, I found myself appreciating how both lords with their separate armies were able to bring about impressions over a wider range than if they’d stuck together. While their progress through the acts were also remarked upon by NPCs and army members alike, it helped you feel the narrative progress rather than wonder if nobody’d noticed that miniboss you took about a while back. Also female protagonists, need more of this, IS.

Writing and Voice Acting - While SoV’s script hasn’t been scrutinized to death like Fates, even just the prologue establishes a style of diction that is more in touch with the faux medieval setting than the previous 3DS games have been. The characters themselves also have noticeable verbal tics and habits, Alm’s observations on surroundings differed from Celica’s. Also a lot of what sold me on characters was the voice acting, for Berkut in particular. It wasn’t just passable, it was GOOD. And while I’d rather have meaty supports rather that short, VA’d ones, SoV did a stellar job covering almost all of it.

Living Religion - Out of all the FE worlds, Valentia’s religion comes closest to actually feeling like a part of character’s lives. The incorporation of invocations and blessings as a part of everyone’s speech, open discussion between characters about the gods, the division of the kingdoms based in their patron deity, and the environmental conflict of the land itself suffering without divine intervention all help build this up. While it’s still shallow and fantastical, characters like Silque charmed me with their brand of faith. (this praise doesn’t extend to Rigel’s depiction, unfortunately)

Diversity in backgrounds - Classicism and elitism were some of Alm’s overarching conflicts, but both armies has characters from both Zofia and Rigel along with them coming from multiple social strata. The fact that characters addressed this, and were aware of that gap helped not only the narrative but the world- made things like Celica keeping her identity a secret make sense. Alm’s reveal wouldn’t be dramatic in the least if being a prince in the first place felt equal to everyone else’s role in the army.

Valentia’s magic - Multiple spells were great in being able to choose just what I needed when, without worrying about the juggling tomes that’d eventually break. Healers with Nosferatu and summoning might be the best thing ever, and I will miss them.

Valentia’s promotion and class mechanics - Quirky, but honestly really fun. I came to appreciate archers than could not only punch back but also fire waaay out there. Because there’s no point in waiting until level 20, the grinding was painless, and every unit was worth touting along.

Representation - SoV can boast a potentially asexual character (Conrad), aromantic character (python), homosexual character (Leon), with A LOT of homoerotic subtext in dialogue and epilogues, and possibly sociopath character (Lukas). Whether it was the blank canvas of most NES character personalities, or the lack of marriage system, SoV came out with quite a bit of diversity...on the men’s side.

This is the point where I think I’ll jump off and write my review of The Bad.

#Dame plays Valentia #FE15 spoilers #fire emblem echoes #shadows of valentia #just my personal opinion feel free to disagree #if you have questions feel free to leave an ask

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brigdh · 7 years ago

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A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. A YA novel starring Monty, eldest son of an Earl in mid-1700s England, his childhood neighbor/best friend Percy, and his sister Felicity. The three of them are just about to begin a Grand Tour of Europe, their last summer of freedom and fun before Monty has to buckle down and behave like a noble heir, Percy starts law school, and Felicity is shipped off to a finishing school. Unfortunately none of them are particularly looking forward to their futures. Monty is very cheerfully bisexual, and has engaged in romps, gambling, drinking, and drugs to the point of being kicked out of Eton. Percy is mixed-race (the son of a plantation owner, though raised by his aunt and uncle, minor gentry) and though he's tolerated, his existence isn't always well-regarded in their circles. Felicity is pissed off about being doomed to learn embroidery and manners instead of going to medical school to become a doctor. Oh, and Monty is desperately in love with Percy, but is afraid to tell him and lose his friendship. This is just the beginning – as the book gets going, there are also revelations about epilepsy, child abuse, insane asylums, and more. It's not all serious, though. In fact, most of the book is light-hearted fun: there are encounters with highwaymen, battles with pirates, parties at Versailles, Carnevale in Venice, villas on Greek islands, operas, fortune tellers, hostage exchanges, escaping thieves, and basically every adventure one could imagine in 18th century Europe. There's even a plot about alchemists and an elixir of immortality which, to tell the truth, felt a bit out of place in the otherwise historically-based book. And, of course, there is lots and lots of pining as Monty and Percy engage in the most excellent sort of romantic-comedy suspense, yearning and avoiding telling the truth about their feelings. A++, that bit. My main complaint with the book is that Lee tries very earnestly to handle appropriately the issues of social justice she includes (racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia), but every one of the ensuing conversations feels very 2017-approved, with every term the correct vocabulary, every checkbox checked, every privilege painstakingly unpacked. Not that such views couldn't – didn't! – exist in the past, but the way Lee portrays them doesn't seem to relate to the characters or setting at all. They don't arise out of the environment of the book, but are dropped in wholesale from an outside perspective that wants to be sure we know the right way to think. And then there's the moment where one character tells another about how the Japanese mend broken pottery with gold seams, see, so that the broken places end up more beautiful than the whole, and it's meant to be a profound moment but it's just so embarrassingly like this person in the 1700s is reading off a tumblr post. But nonetheless it's a funny, sweet book, if not quite as good as I expected when I heard "Gay Roadtrip through 18th Century Europe". What it reminds me most of all is reading an AU from a fandom you don't know. Maybe the characterization and setting isn't always that great but you don't care because it's not your fandom. It has the tropes you love and you can't wait to see the couple get together at the end, so you stay up late reading it on your phone. A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is that experience in original fiction. Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer. The sequel to Too Like the Lightning which I absolutely LOVED. However I really should not have waited seven months to read this one, because I'd forgotten some of the characters and plots and this is a series jam-packed with multitudes of characters and plots, and you better have every miniscule bit of such details ready at your fingertips to have a chance of following the action. To briefly summarize the plot (a task that's probably impossible, but I'll try to hit the main points) in the 25th century the world has more or less become a Utopia. Nations have been abolished, religion banished to the private sphere, and gendered distinctions made it illegal; to all outward appearances, it is a world with no reason to go to war. Unfortunately it turns out that all of this has been made possible through carefully targeted assassinations, picking off key individuals to guide the world away from war, riots, major economic downturns, etc. Not many – about nine a year, on average, for the last two hundred years. This information sets off a flurry of activity as the characters take sides, variously trying to figure out the conspiracy behind it, hide the perpetrators, uncover proof, keep the public from finding out, and broadcast the secret to as many people as possible. When several world leaders turn out to be involved, chaos breaks out worldwide. It's not just drama, though; behind the action scenes is the frequently repeated question of if it was such a bad plan after all. Is it worth losing a few lives to prevent the millions of deaths that would happen in war? Seven Surrenders is all about the philosophical dilemma. In addition to the one above, we get multiple debates over the riddle, 'would you destroy this world to save a better one?', and 'If God has revealed proof of His existence, why did He chose you above every human who's ever prayed to believe? And, more importantly, why now?' There is speculation about the power of gender, of sexual attraction, of the effect of raising children as experiments, of the role of Providence in life, of what it would mean for two Gods to meet, of how one conducts a war when there are no living veterans to teach the next generation. But there's plenty of action too – the book includes revelations of secret parentage, long-lost loves, a revenge story worthy of the Count of Monte Cristo, bombs, murders, resurrections, suicide attempts, cute kids, so many disguises, sword fights, gun battles, horse chases, and more. Ultimately I didn't like it as much as Too Like the Lightning. It just didn't feel as deep or as grand, possibly because so much stuff was happening that none of it got enough exploration. One of the most best character arcs (Bridger's) happened mostly offstage, and many of the other characters were too busy reacting to the constantly changing political winds to have a real arc. I still recommend it, because it's just so different from everything else and I have to support an author who mashes up transportation science with Diderot's philosophy. But if you read it, definitely don't wait months between books. The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry. A murder mystery, the first in a series set in Victorian London. Charlotte is the middle daughter of a middle-class family, believed by all to be firmly unmarriageable but happy enough with her staid life. The book opens with the murder of a young well-off woman, then Charlotte's maid is also murdered, as are several others. There is no apparent connection between the victims except that they're all young woman, all live nearby, and all were strangled. Inspector Thomas Pitt is assigned the case, and he begins to spend a great deal of time talking to Charlotte – first just to interview her regarding the murders, but then for her own sake. But will Charlotte's family allow her to marry a... policeman??? There are several interesting things about the book. Set very specifically in 1881 (which is to say, before Jack the Ripper) the very idea of a serial killer – as opposed to a thief who murders for money – is new and shocking to most of the characters. So is the concept that such a criminal could appear "normal", that rather than being a dirty, lower-class raving lunatic, it could be a respected neighbor or even a member of their own family. These are such self-evident ideas to modern people (and most characters in mystery books) that seeing Charlotte and the others wrestle with them, discuss their ramifications, and feel guilty for suspecting their husbands and fathers was pretty fascinating. I also liked that the family was so solidly middle-class. Historical fiction has a habit of gravitating toward extremes: everyone is either upper aristocracy or enduring the most grueling poverty. A family of boring bank clerks actually made for a refreshing change. Unfortunately those are the only good things I have to say about the book. The middle 2/3rds of the story drags along interminably, as nothing happens except for characters having the same few discussions over and over again. Charlotte suspects her father! First she must have a conversation about it with her mother. Then her younger sister. Then her older sister. Then her mother and the older sister talk. Then the older sister talks about it to her husband. Then... Well, you get the idea. And it's not as though each new character was bringing a fresh perspective and insight to the issue! No, we just get the same few protests and agreements recycled over and over in slightly different wordings. It's such an awful slog that I nearly abandoned the book. However, I stuck it out to the end, only to be rewarded with the reveal of the killer (warning for spoilers, I guess): a lesbian who has been driven mad by repressing her sexuality! You know, I don't think I've ever actually encountered this awful cliche in the wild before. It would almost be exciting, if it wasn't so offensive. Though there's not a lot of time to be offended, because the reveal, motivation, attack on Charlotte, rescue, and arrest all happen in the last two pages (literally) so none of it is exactly dwelt on. It's probably all for the best that I disliked this book. It's the first in a 32-book series, and now I don't feel any desire to read the rest.

(DW link for easier commenting)(Also goddamn, I am so far behind on putting up my book reviews, you guys. So prepare for a lot of that.)

#book reviews #anne perry #ada palmer #mackenzie lee #books

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geetaarora-blog1 · 6 years ago

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Want to learn more? Follow These YouTube Channels now

Do you love watching YouTube videos? Some will say it’s just for entertainment or wasting your valuable time. But it’s not like that. More than 4 Billion videos are regularly watched on YouTube; with time, it has become one of the most popular video platforms. From debugging an issue to know your cake recipes, YouTube has everything to offer. Take a sneak peek into some of our favorite YouTube channels that you can follow to keep learning about new things every now and then.

The Joe Rogan Experience Rogan is a UFC commentator as well as a professional comedian. You may have seen him hosting the popular American show Fear Factor. Currently, his podcast with musicians, comedians, intellectuals, public speakers, and fighters are famous. His fascinating conversational interviews may help you know about different interesting factors, you may not have heard before. And this list includes many of the channel hosts who have been interviewed by Rogan. Read on to dig a little more!

Wisecrack If web series are you thing, then ‘Thug Notes’ must have been one of your favorites. Wisecrack came into the light with this controversial web series. Jared Baue, the creator of Wisecrack, has made it a great channel in order to find various philosophical musings on pop culture. Some of our favorite videos like the ‘Philosophy of Rick and Morty’ can be your favorite too if you are a Wisecrack fan! For more, you may watch out their videos on games like Fallout, different shows, movies. We loved every bit of it and now it’s your turn. Let us know if you loved it!

Vsauce One of the most captivating YouTube channels, Vsauce has come a long way with millions of followers after its debut in 2010. The creator and host Michael Stevens brings up some rhetorical questions and answer them following some thought-provoking detail. His videos get packed with various enthralling stories and facts, that will keep you engaged. We really liked his way of explaining the scientific reasons in a humorist fashion. It may not be a new concept but pretty much distinctive and refreshing.

CinemaSins Are you Jeremy Scott and Chris Atkinson, created CinemaSins which is another name to remember if movie theme is in your mind. This YouTube channel keeps evaluating the mistakes in movies, right from the poor scripts to discontinuities. These videos are so entertaining and funny that you can hardly stop laughing and loving them.

Kurz Gesagt – In a nutshell Are you looking for the easiest answers to the most complicated matters? With more than 45M video views, ‘In a nutshell’ offers you an explanation of complex things right from history to current affairs in the easiest way. Kurz Gesagt keeps uploading one animation each month. Stay tuned to ‘In a nutshell’!

Jordan Peterson Being a renegade psychology professor from the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson, runs a channel which is gaining a lot of traction. He broadcasts the class lectures following his contradictory struggle against the employer. Peterson, known as a former Harvard professor, is very good at information. So, the very first lecture you will must watch is Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief. Watch it or you will miss it!

Waking Up with Sam Harris The popular and extremely talented neuroscientist as well as philosopher, has his many books on religion. He is also famous for his unconventional views. His podcast ‘Waking up with Sam Harris’ offers you fascinating debate on various topics. He will keep you engaged with his voice of reason and true rationality regarding pressing topics almost effortlessly. He has been interviewed by Joe Rogan as well.

The Film Theorists Are you a movie buff or a gamer? The Film Theorists was created by MatPat after they got great success for one of the smartest show ‘Game Theory’, which was his first channel too. Being a likeable and popular personality on YouTube, MatPat brings engaging videos on film theories and games. All his videos are unique and fascinating which he claims to have a hard science behind it. Just pick your favorite movie or game, and look up for his reviews. It’s worth watching to explore some new thoughts you have hardly imagined.

CrashCourse If you had a complain that you could not receive proper high school education, CrashCourse is here for you. A whole world of entire high school education is awaiting. Ranging from the fascinating world history, philosophy, physics, chemistry, economics, and biology, CrashCourse can help you get to know it all. Choose the subject that makes you feel refreshed and John and Hank Green, the two brothers as well as inventors of CrashCourse, will unleash a new world of knowledge for you. With them, the process of learning is endless and way more effective. Learning is real fun when you are with CrashCourse. Try something new everyday because life is too short to do the same things everyday!

As human beings, it is one of our common traits to witness the unseen and know the unknown. Wilder things attract us more. Therefore the process of learning or getting to know new things is endless. It only takes your enthusiasm and energy to discover more! It’s not that bad to spend some more time on YouTube if you want to learn. It can be a way to gain self-knowledge.

#YoutubeChannels #Favorite #Learning

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witchofleviathan-blog · 6 years ago

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Religion and Debate Servers Master List Pt.1

Islamic Thought https://discordapp.com/invite/9dtFXY8 HOLY The HOLY server, is an international discord community dedicated to debates on politics, philosophy, religion, current events; and everything in between. We promote a friendly approach to debating and discussion. We accept everyone. You will find lively VC and text debates, as well as a variety of roles and ranks for political, philosophical, ethical, and religious positions. - Good mods that maintain civility and respect of TOS - Debate Nights, AMAs and other such events coming soon PLEASE JOIN US THROUGH THIS LINK: https://discordapp.com/invite/kh2fmtE 24/7 Christian Talk 24/7 Christian Chat! https://discordapp.com/invite/B3PwcR5 Al Nazrani A server for religious discussion, specifically made for Christians or those, who are interested in the faith. Religious discussion is always welcome so no matter what your religion is, you can share your thoughts. https://discordapp.com/invite/AMRdG2M philosophy religion talk Looking for a place and people to talk religion with? Look no further than "philosophy religion talk"! Here you will find a diverse group of people will different beliefs who enjoy discussing such controversial matters! - Roles to describe your religious ideology! - Lots of different people from different cultures to converse with! - Daily debates! - Lots of interesting personalities! o_o If you're looking for a place for dialogue and different opinions, be sure to check us out! Thanks for reading! https://discordapp.com/invite/8DwfXma Religion And Philosophy Religion and Philosophy brings people from all different nationalities and religions together where we can discuss political and religious alongside philosophical differences. These people that may have a hatred towards a specific religion can speak with the specialists and this is all under control with our highly trained staff team. https://discordapp.com/invite/xRhQazn The Politics | The Politics is a server for both intellectual and casual discourse from a range of topics. It's home to the number #1 politics community on Discord and always seeks to improve itself for the users. | Rank systems and ideological roles of all types! | Sound and active community each day! | Events weekly! | Fair moderation and rules to keep a healthy community! | Guest speakers and verified users! ️ | Server communities for specific discourse! Join and apply for membership today! https://discordapp.com/invite/jgdSMFb Debate Central We are a very active, family-friendly community debate server for Discord, unlike any other. We offer: ~Political debate ~Philosophical debate ~General debates (featuring anything and almost everything) ~A family-friendly, clean community ~And much, much more! Freedom of speech is one of our greatest priorities. We highly encourage our members to bring up and partake in discussions meaningful to them. https://discordapp.com/invite/r6dNKK3 Prayer Fort Prayer Fort is a dedicated Christian prayer group with emphasis on deliverance and gifts of the Holy Spirit. We want to see a mighty move of God, we do group fasting and frequent group prayer sometimes set to music, or check out the religious debate channel and get in on the discussion! https://discordapp.com/invite/uFxzQzr I Can't Believe It's Not Politics This is Discord's newest debate server! We feature active chats, fair and unbiased staff, and lots of fun bots. We are here to have fun, but also have a place for you to have mature debate as well. We welcome everyone and we hope you come join us too! (MrBATMAN is in here too) Also our reviews are being trolled by children who raided our server, so please give us a chance before putting it aside because of that.. https://discordapp.com/invite/3PyJPEg

Islamic Discussion Ask questions about Islam, discuss, debate, learn, or have your doubts answered. https://discordapp.com/invite/V2wTMTw The Right Lounge We are a right-wing community dedicated to discussing and debating world issues! We hold daily polls, and have dozens of self-assignable roles to choose from! Currently at 265+ members! https://discordapp.com/invite/PShqXNa The Sacred Grove A chill server dedicated to respectful interfaith discussion! https://discordapp.com/invite/SXDyyBd Gnostcord This brand new server is dedicated to discussing and promoting Gnostic theology in all of its forms. Gnosticism is an ancient religious movement that overlaps with several mainstream religions. There are Christian Gnostics, Manicheans, ancient Jewish Gnostics, even modern Pagans who consider themselves Gnostics. If you're familiar with Dharmic religion you may find many familiar concepts within Gnosticism, and if you're a follower of a religion that emphasizes the Divine Feminine you may also hear things that are familiar to you. Whatever our differences, we come together on the basis that spiritual growth comes from inner contemplation and knowledge of God through direct experience (Gnosis), and that the end goal is Theosis (unity with God, or the realization of our own divine nature). Esotericism is welcome but the theology and texts of Gnosticism are the main focus. We are open to all, even non-Gnostics, as long as your mind is open and you don't troll. https://discordapp.com/invite/s4p3utP Free Christians This is a server for Christians and non-Christians to gather and discuss their faiths in peace. The aim of this server is to provide a safe space for all people, whether you be a Christian, Muslim, Satanist, or atheist, gay, bisexual, or transgender, all are welcome here. https://discordapp.com/invite/gb82TDk Eyxucism This server is religion based, we worship the entity known as Eyxu, along with other Prime Entities. Once you join you will be a part of Eyxucism. We hope you enjoy your time on the server. https://discordapp.com/invite/3t6fz8K Political Discourse Welcome to Political Discourse. We are an extremely open minded political discord community that allows for the discussion of all political, economic, religious, and other idealogical belief structures. https://discordapp.com/invite/CuarNMw Hellenismos A small server for people who worship the Greek Gods! https://discordapp.com/invite/tnMZ5fA Politics, Religion, and History I see I've already got your attention! 3/5 won't join this server-are you just another statistic? Of course, you're not! Come join this engaging community of people from all ideologies, religions, and nationalities. https://discordapp.com/invite/SbxPvFc Res Publica Salvete, amici! We are a brand new political server that aims to be an inclusive, open forum for debate and discussion, but also for casual socialization, with many different channels for different topics. -Discuss matters of politics, philosophy, religion, and science, talk about current events, and listen to other people's perspectives in a civil environment. -Get to know people, geek out, and make some friends; maybe even play a game or two! -Choose from a veritable treasure trove of different roles to outline your personal beliefs, free to be modified as they shift. -Democratic moderation system, where you, the users, get to vote on new staff members and changes to the server! Anyone of any political affiliation and background is welcome! https://discordapp.com/invite/dwQCusA The Civil Scholar Hello! This is a brand new server so there really aren't many members but we are hoping to have growth. We accept all view points and encourage each other to listen with an open mind to each member. There are sensitive and mature topics being discussed so please, ages 16+ only. We are looking for a large range of religious and political views so any and all are welcome! We are friendly to all as long as they respect each other's opinions and try not to push themselves or their beliefs. This server is run by a debate loving Satanist, so there already is some diversity in opinion. Don't be afraid to drop in, say hi, and possibly stay a while. Once there are enough members I will begin to announce debate topics and questions for civil discussion. You, as a member, also have the ability to make topic suggestions and ask any questions you'd like. As well as debate, we also have analysis and discussion of new articles, proposed laws, trends, social media posts, etc. Again, not very many members now but stick around for the growth! Thank you! https://discordapp.com/invite/KvpkhQY Philopolitics New politics and philosophy server! Any ideology with anyone allowed! - All ideologies allowed - Nitro giveaways - Events - Everyone welcome https://discordapp.com/invite/jwgtq75 Hope And Faith Christian Server Friendly Christian Server For people TO Chat Mingle and Get Support (biblical Or Not) https://discordapp.com/invite/bUkYDvJ /ecclesia catholica/ Catholicism oriented server for everyone https://discordapp.com/invite/9rGBHqQ Leitourgia An Orthodox Christian based server that discusses theology and life in general. All are welcomed to join and take part. https://discordapp.com/invite/7AQGwZe International Politics Talk about religion, philosophy or politics and meet people with the same or different point of view as you! https://discordapp.com/invite/2Qr9Uzr Theo Lounge A place for people of all religions to hang out together and have a nice time making friends with each other and talking about anything. (NSFW allowed) https://discordapp.com/invite/VJCCgaE Ahmadiyya True Islam - NOT - OFFICIAL In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful WELCOME TO AHMADIYYAT, THE TRUE ISLAM Love for all, Hatred for None https://discordapp.com/invite/cQPan3G

#religion #debate #christian #islam

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therachelperspective · 4 years ago

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FILM | The Family (2013, dir. Luc Besson) Welcome to a mafia movie if it were rooted more on comedy than drama. And for the most part, it actually does work. But I won’t lie to you, it still just feels like another mob movie. It almost got me there, because it’s from a different perspective and a slightly different tale... before falling short during some crucial scenes.

Brace yourselves, this is a long one with lots of spoilers.

Giovanni Manzoni (Robert DeNiro) is a mafia boss that *gasp* snitched – but in his defense, there were attempted his on his and his family’s lives; it’s what any patriarch would do. For the obvious reasons, he and his family are put under Witness Protection and are relocated. And when we catch up with the Mazoni’s, we don’t have a clue how many times they’ve been relocated, but it’s obvious this isn’t their first rodeo. They are on first name terms with the Fed in charge of their seemingly constant relocations (Tommy Lee Jones as Robert Stansfield), as well as the two other agents set up in the safe house across the street from their new home.

This was a moderately fun movie; acceptable for DeNiro fans, good for a few good chuckles, and for those of us Italian-Americans, at least one moment where you could definitely relate. But I thought it felt underdeveloped in some spots. Or, overdeveloped in the wrong places. Regardless, it left me wanting more; eventually I just got bored and wanted it to be over, keeping my fingers crossed for something, anything, to give it a redemptive twist. Sadly, it’s just another mob film that revolves around that typical “taking people out who have wronged me” violence we always see in these tales.

Robert DeNiro is a great actor, but Gio was a little boring to me. Gio writing his memoirs – revealing all that he’s experienced as a boss – was intriguing and an obvious opportunity to provide backstory, but It would have been MORE interesting if something had actually become of his manuscript. Furthermore, I found his “why is the water from my faucet brown?” arc bland. Was that really the best writers of this movie could do? Gio going around shaking people down for answers in typical mob guy fashion? I suppose he was to be laying low, mostly sequestered to this little old French house with not much to offer, and it was a way to give Gio a more personal touch, a sense of activism to help himself and ultimately the community, but I have to believe there was something better that could have given him to occupy his time. At least he ended up in a decent scene: a film debate/discussion amongst the locals where, in a turn of events, he found himself talking about topics related to Goodfellas (pssst, for those that don’t know, DeNiro also starred in Goodfellas). But mostly, I just think The Family is just an aging DeNiro starring in the same stuff he’s always done. It makes sense when you see Martin Scorcese’s name as a producer.

I had a little more interest in Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), but only a smidgen more and really because of her culinary related scenes. The first, when she brings a snack to the FBI agents in the safe house – roasted peppers doused in olive oil and garlic. I literally said out loud how delicious that sounds (yes, my Italian is showing). And while I don’t necessarily agree with what she says in denouncing the French use of butter and cream in the majority of their dishes, her description of the effects of olive oil versus butter in the body was a fantastic scene. Other than that, her only major arc was related to going to church and attempted redemption through religion, which is all too typical Italian-American fare in film. Again, like DeNiro, her character was just so typical of a mafioso’s wife.

The way The Family differs from other mob films I’ve seen is that viewers get a bigger glimpse into the kid’s point of view. Which might be why I feel the arcs of Belle and Warren overpower that of their parents. They had so much more memorable aspects that I just didn’t have with Gio or Maggie.

With Belle (Dianna Agron), we have the “girl next door” with an attitude and edginess thanks to her place in this hardened family. Honestly, I think they did her dirty with her arc and character. Belle becomes infatuated with a college-aged substitute teacher that we ultimately see in an overly dramaticized look at teenage love. How could a girl that beat the crap out of a boy her own age earlier in the film (for good reason, more on this later), who was also savvy enough to seduce the aforementioned teacher in the first place, be the same girl that wanted to commit suicide because of unrequited feelings? I call lazy writing (**SPOILERS** it is on that rooftop where she contemplates death that she sees incoming trouble for her family). Even later, during the final fight scene, we see Belle quite literally prancing away and crying while trying to escape the bad guys, despite having just shot them up in a pretty badass way mere minutes before. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, PLEASE?!?! I found my feelings about her character bounce back and forth with each scene. Girls next door can still be feminine and hold their own in the face of danger. Psh.

And while Warren (John D’Leo)’s narrative isn’t as dramatic as his sister’s, his role in the overall story was just silly to me. First of all, this kid is mastermind enough to collect information about his fellow classmates at his new school in record time, and create a resulting “mini mafia” system to not only take down the school bully but also make profit from his fellow students. Like, this boy has got skills for sure. But Warren is also sloppy. He has the abilities to create such an amazing thing for himself... yet apparently wasn’t capable of keeping all his goings-on underwraps and was confronted by school faculty. Again, I say lazy writing, as his role was the same as Belle’s in ushering the final conflict of the film (like legit, it his slip up that makes the whole ending happen). But at least I’ll say it is more realistic in the repercussions of his actions; we see schoolyard violence often enough in film, but not always the punishment for doing so.

This is very obviously not a perfect film in my eyes. Especially considering they neglect how the Witness Protection Program actually works – YOU DO NOT JUST CHANGE YOUR LAST NAME, GUYS. Only Gio changes his entire name to his new identity, “Frank Blake.” The rest of his family maintains their same first names. This and other details throughout the film honestly just bother me to no end.

Buuuut.... I love that we see each family member handle things on their own against those that wrong them throughout the film, while simultaneously doing their part to defend their family. Of course we expect acts of brutishness from Gio, that’s just what he does and how he rolls. Then, however, we see Maggie, at the grocery store asking for the overtly American specialty of peanut butter, and the townspeople begin badmouthing Americans because of it. So what does she do? Sets off a little explosion in the back of the store that starts the place on fire as she walks away. And Belle has the previously mentioned tussle with a group of male classmates, when one is being a gross greasy boy wanting to take advantage of her at a park when she merely just needed a ride home. Not only does she hit him with a vicious right hook, but she also finds a tennis racket in the trunk of the car and continues to pummel his disgusting ass while simultaneously giving a stern lecture on how to treat women and how important women are to the men’s futures (again, how does this badassery get so warped later on for her?) Similarly, young Warren’s run-in with the school bully allows us to see how masterful his skills are for utilizing his knack for collecting information and creating a well-crafted pull with the other students as a result (class nerds and rugby players alike) to give that bully exactly what he deserves. Not surprised at all that each and every one of the Manzoni’s/Blake’s would handle matters with violence, as all good mafia families do. And it’s equally not shocking at all when **SPOILERS** we see them drive off into the distance to start anew again at the end of the film. I was, however, constantly waiting for this wonderful moment at the end of the film where I believed the entire family was going to fight together, literally side by side. And it never happened. Honestly, the big gunfight between the Manzoni’s and the Don(s) he betrayed felt so anticlimactic I think because of this fact. We know they’re all capable of holding their own separately as they’ve already demonstrated, and they did it separately again here at the end, though at least in the same vicinity. But just think how beautiful it would have been to actually do it all as a true family unit, as was seemingly impressed upon us throughout the film.

I know The Family is not supposed to be some award-winning dramatic piece of cinema. In fact, some if not most reviewers call it a satire of the mafia trope or dark comedy. But I think Ben Nicholson of CineVue (found via Rotten Tomatoes) says my general assessment quite well: it is “acting Goliath [DeNiro] as a now all-too-familiar caricature of the parts that made his name.”

Frankly (ha! see what I did there?), I would say it’s a film I might put on as background noise as I often do with the television when I stay up late these days, but only if I’m truly desperate; I would not actively pursue watching this one again.

OH! I do like fun facts though: like that this is the first time we see legends Tommy Lee Jones and Robert DeNiro together in a film. Only took forever, right? And apparently there’s another with these two coming out later this year, a remake of The Comeback Trail. Equally so, The Family was actually based on a book called Malavita by Tonino Benacquista. How much you wanna bet the book is better?

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newagesispage · 5 years ago

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JULY 2019

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If you care what people think, you’re their prisoner. – Heidi Fleiss

*****

The Stones are back and opened in Chicago on June21. The reviews were great, they mostly stuck to the hits and Mick was in top notch form. Monkey Man and Sweet Virginia are back!!! Woo Hoo!!

*****

Satellite images show the complete deployment of 4 Russian made S-300 missile defense systems.

*****

Comedians in cars getting coffee will start season 11 on July 19. This season will bring us Eddie Murphy, Barry Marder, Bridget Everett, Melissa Villsenor, Sebastian Maniscalco, Seth Rogan, Ricky Gervais, Matthew Broderick, Jamie Foxx, Mario Joyner and Martin Short.

*****

Law and Order: Hate Crimes is coming.

*****

NRATV is no more. Hooray!! The NRA’s second in command Chris Cox has resigned after he was implicated in a plot to oust Wayne La Pierre. Cox calls the charges, “offensive and patently false.” There are also multiple lawsuits from ad firm Ackerman McQueen that claim the NRA is in violation of contracts.

*****

Republican representative Duncan Hunter is headed to court in September for charges that he and his wife illegally spent more than $250,000 in political donations. Prosecutors want to list details of his many affairs.

*****

NBC is bringing back Who Do You Think You Are?

*****

Police in Hong Kong are beating protesters.

*****

Sexual harassment news of the month: George Nader, part of Trump’s transition team, was arrested in New York on child porn charges.**Cuba Gooding Jr. was charged in NY with forcible touching. His lawyer says that the incident is on tape and will prove he is innocent.** Trump has been accused by the 22nd woman, this time of rape, but most of the media seemed to be playing it down. The victim, writer E. Jean Carroll says she will cooperate 100%.

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The Supreme Court ruled that the government can’t stop us from running a business with a scandalous name.

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Stop the cash bail system. It is costing us money every day.

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Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger have wed.

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Joe Sestak is running for President.

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I always think of Meghan McCain as the Rosie O’Donnell of the right. She seems to have a big heart and her childhood and parents seem to have made a huge influence. Somehow she always brings everything back to her and she freaks on certain talking points.

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Let’s keep an eye on U.S. transportation secretary Elaine Chao. The shipping dynasty of her family is benefitting from industrial policies in China.

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2 deputies were fired for inaction pertaining to the Parkland shooting.

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People were horrified at the image of Scary Clown with graves in the background on foreign soil as he talked of “Nervous Nancy” and called Mueller a fool. We were outraged when he told us that he would want to listen to dirt on others and wouldn’t see why he should tell the FBI before he walked it back. He does not fucking care. When will we all understand that?

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The President is being urged to cancel his speech at the Lincoln memorial. Many of his own people think it might appear to be a campaign stop paid for by the American people. He did that already when he made ads for himself while at his golf course in Scotland.** I suppose he will pretend to be all about America again when he gets back from smiling with North Korean and Russian dictators.

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New York has banned declawing. Meow!!

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It is looking like Sam Little, in prison in California, may turn out to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history.

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The Tony’s came and went. Big winners were Bryan Cranston, Elaine May and Bob Mackie. Ali Stoker was the first wheelchair bound winner and Hadestown won the most awards.

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Some schools are trying out yoga instead of detention. Teaching children how to control their feelings and help it to dissipate seems to be work.

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The Catholic Church has stomped on the rights of our Trans brothers and sisters. They decree that people should stay the way they are born.

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The movie,’ The Dead Don’t Die’ sounds great with Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Danny Glover, Tom Waits and Steve Buscemi.

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Trump and Pence seem pretty pleased with themselves for not allowing the rainbow flag to fly during pride month. They really hate progress, don’t they? Luckily, some brave souls are finding ways around it.

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Scary Clown has signed an executive order to increase transparency of hospital costs and info of medical professionals.

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On July 17 Bob Mueller will testify. **A comic book publisher is turning the report into a graphic novel.

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JB Pritzker has signed legal weed into Illinois and they will look at releasing low level drug offenders and putting money back into hard hit communities that were affected by the drug war.

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Maple Vale is suing because they say big chicken companies have colluded to hike prices.

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Absolut has been a proud supporter of the gay community since the 70’s.

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Jim Gaffigan is in the new film, ‘Being Frank.’

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders is out. Many reporters tell us that she and other WH staff can be very different behind the scenes. They have been known to be very helpful and personable at times. The bluster and the lies are mostly for show for the boss.** Acting US customs and border protection commissioner John Sanders is out.

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Scary Clown really put his foot in it with his Stephanopoulus interview. From little wise guy to taking help from foreign powers to the look on his face after ‘the cough’ it was quite the show.** Chuck Todd really soft balled his interview with our Pres. Shame on you.

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So, of course Manafort is going to a Federal location instead of Riker’s Island after AG Barr sent a letter to state prosecutors.

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One day it is announced that ICE is throwing millions out of the country. Another day they will round up 2,000 illegals that haven’t shown up for court etc. then that is on hold. Iran is going to be hit then it isn’t. It seems like real panic time in the WH. Justice Department attorney Sarah Fabian has explained in her double talk that kids without toothbrushes, soap and proper sleep is fine. Concrete floors in cages seem like a good idea to Trumps WH. Sarah Fabians phone number of 202-532-4824 was released to the public and she got an earful but I am sure she has changed that # by now.** ICE won’t even allow anyone to donate items to the kids in cages except for one in Deming, NM.

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Roy Moore is running for senate in 2020. These pompous, narcissistic pigs will not just fade away.

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I really hate this way the media lumps all the ‘rest’ of the Dem candidates as interchangeable. At least give everybody a chance to tell us who they are until the debates. All should have an equal chance because there are some good candidates there. Each one is unique and has at least one good idea. Would they all make a good President? Probably not but let’s hear them out!! People wonder why we never have enough choices and then they try to thin the field right away. Andrew Yang wasn’t even included in some of the advertising for the debates and he is polling 8th. ** Seth Macfarlane and Bill Maher suggest that we do away with the audience. Great idea!!

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The first night of debate went well. I went in loving Inslee and went out the same way. He didn’t get much chance to talk what with the moderators asking Elizabeth Warren questions about 4 to the others 1. When Jay did get to speak about climate change and calling out CEO’s, I thought he was dynamic. He really puts his money where his mouth is. I wish more people would research him. He had the best answer of what this country’s greatest threat is when he answered ,”Donald Trump.” Colbert made fun of Inslee for interrupting Warren about the rights of women. I must say that as a woman, that never even occurred to me because I was looking at her as a candidate. He has also been raked over for trying to interject with that finger in the air. Hmm.. so polite. DeBlasio got in a great line about not blaming immigrants for their problems but blaming the corporations, otherwise he seemed like a bully. Warren and Booker were competent. Klobachar, Gabbard and Ryan should call it quits. I like O’Rourke but he just seems too sweet. I loved his close because he referenced current events like the kids in cages and student protests which didn’t seem like running for student council Pres. I was impressed with John Delaney who I hadn’t known much about. But Julian Castro won the night. He still wouldn’t be my first choice but he did everything right. He was truly Presidential and seemed to resonate with everybody. He was forceful, down to earth and seemed to know what he was talking about.

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Night 2 of the debates was a bit more lively. Hickenlooper will probably impress a few conservatives with his insistence that the Dems shouldn’t identify so much with socialism. Gillibrand seemed like tonight’s bully and it is time for her to go along with Bennet, Swalwell and Williamson. Now, Marianne got a lot of shit but I agree with her on some basics. Preventative medicine and love being the answer is not stupid. These are things we don’t put enough stock in so why laugh it off? She is right about the chemicals and climate and why we are so sick in this world. She is right about state sponsored crimes and child abuse at the border. I thought Gillibrand repeated herself too much but she is right about putting too much money into private prisons. Buttigieg had a great point about the ‘free college for all’ thing by looking at the reality of those who don’t want college, a decent minimum wage and the rich paying for their own schooling. He is also quite perceptive about republicans using religion while separating families which gives them no right to use God’s name. He was a bit sweaty but poised and measured all the way through. I am a big Andrew Yang fan and his money to all every month is something I have thought a solid idea for years but he is not Presidential at this point. He should be in the cabinet because he is an idea person but he sort of nervously choked on his first question about his signature piece. I loved that he didn’t wear a tie and his closing statement was awesome. Bernie gave us no surprises but the red, white and blue reflected in his glasses was fascinating. I did love his line about a hemisphere problem that we have and called out the Yemen crisis. Like the night before, Biden seemed to get more time than the lesser knowns. He started out smooth and easy and ended serious and defensive because of the jabs he received. Kamala Harris stole the night with some of those. She jumped on Williamson’s mention of reparations to explain to Biden why his recent rhetoric of segregationists was so painful. This is why I love debates, it can change everything. I can’t really imagine anyone else taking on Trump at this point. She had some great lines like calming the boys down about no food fights but putting food on the table. Her close was a bit halting but she fired up the crowd as if she was already President.

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The after shows zeroed in on the flaws which will unfortunately define some of them. The way we loop ‘Bookers look’ or ‘Williamson’s love not fear for political purposes’ can belittle the progress we can make. I am right in there watching it but it gets old. Trevor Noah said that many try but it was the Right time for Harris to play the race card. Race is already playing a part as some birtherism is erupting eluding to her Indian mother and Jamaican father. Don Jr. got the wheels in motion by retweeting some garbage about Harris not being an “American black.”She raised about 2 mil after the debates.

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I will never understand why people always bring up this ‘elite’ business when talking about the Dems. Most of the people I have personally known who had a lot of money and looked down their nose at others have been republicans. Perhaps it is all about where one is from.

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Teens are evolving bone spurs on the back of their heads from looking down at their phones so much.

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Succession will be back on August 11.

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A little political hocus pocus seems to be ok with the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 ruling they have barred challenges to partisan gerrymandering.

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G20 countries make about 80% of global CO2 emissions. They had agreed to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels. Reports show that in the years since , they have nearly tripled subsidies to coal plants.

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Trump is schmoozing with Kim Jong UN saying, ”I would invite him tight now to the WH.”** There was a brawl with new unofficial WH press secretary Stephanie Grisham and Kim’s people.

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The Travers film fest will honor Lily Tomlin with a lifetime achievement award.

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The ex- governor of Michigan Rick Snyder, who is responsible for the Flint water crisis, will now have a fellowship at Harvard.

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“Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered.”- Jimmy Carter, former President and international expert on election fraud.

Toy Story 4 is big box office.

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Mythic Quest is the new series produced and written in part by Charlie Day and Rob Mcelhenney. The show will be about a video game development company and will star F. Murray Abraham and Danny Pudi.

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Melissa McCarthy may play Ursula in the live action The Little Mermaid.

A hacker stole the latest music from Radiohead and threatened to release it if they didn’t pony up $150,000 in ransom. The band released a statement declaring. ”We’ve been hacked” , released it themselves for 18 days and the money went to charity. Rock on!!

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In Cape Coral, Fla., a parent forced a kid to walk around with a sign of their wrong deeds. Oh bit.. this stuff is back again.

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ICS in Springfield, Illinois’ fired Joe Crane from his broadcast for his honesty. Corporate was insisting on using a ‘CODE RED’ alert for weather even when the weather wasn’t so bad to keep the paranoid watching. After numerous complaints and Crane apparently not able to talk corporate out of it, he went to the public and let them know how much he disagreed with the policy but his hands were tied. Of course, corporate let him go.

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The FCC is giving the phone company more power to fight robo calls.

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Archeologists found some weed in China inside some ceremonial cannabis bowls from 2500 years ago.

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Rapper Scarface is running for city council in Houston.

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20,000 Christians have petitioned Netflix to cancel Good Omens. I am sure the Amazon show is loving the publicity, they were probably looking for something just like this to happen. Oddly, just before I heard this story I saw the first couple of episodes and thought it was pretty good.

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Don’t judge someone because they sin differently than you.

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The fight to end robo calls has been named ‘Operation Call it Quits.’

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OJ Simpson opened a twitter account on the 25th anniversary of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

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The 71st Emmy’s will be held on Sept. 22 and may not have a host. This no host thing seems to be catching on since it saves money and controversy. The noms will be announced July 16.

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If you get the chance, read the Vanity Fair article about Col. Jennifer Pritzker. The cousin of Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker is the world’s only known trans billionaire.

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Refineries, Chemical plants and plastics are giving our fire fighters cancer and cities are often not compensating them.

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Jordan Klepper used his mug shot as the pic to headline his show. He was arrested with pastors for their rally n support of immigrant students.

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Do you wonder if the Trump kids and Melania have so much power and money that they don’t mind that Trump is a laughingstock?

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I saw that Seth Meyers used the term bummer camp to explain a kid who gets sent to camp because their parents need to work on their divorce. My friends and I always used that term when our summer camp music festival gets ruined by endless rain.

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R.I.P. Roky Erickson, Leon Redbone, Dr. John, Franco Zeffirelli, Leah Chase, Zarious Fair, Elliot Roberts, Alan Brinkley , Troy Chisum, Oscar and Valeria Ramirez, Edward Gallardo and Gloria Vanderbilt.

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