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prettyoddfever · 4 years ago

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comments about Pretty. Odd. in 2008 that I liked

some others will be in magazine scans. I just wanted to share a few random ones:

Rock Sound: “It is a record of outward joy born from inward pain. It is the kind of record that will never make sense on the first listen. It is probably mad. But it is possibly brilliant.”

Pete Wentz: “If Willy Wonka made a record, it would sound like this.”

Blender: “Some kids discover the Beatles through their parents’ vinyl; some get wise during freshman year. Panic at the Disco’s indoctrination seems to have started with the Oasis discography and culminated in row AA at Cirque de Soleil’s LOVE revue. Well, what’s wrong with that? Panic’s cherry-picking yields several good songs, and a few that brush up against greatness… The band began at a stratospheric level of pretension. Here, they’ve relaxed, shed their grandiosity and learned how to goof around.”

Ryan Ross to NME: “This is the start of something special for us, we’re in control of our band now, we’re doing what we want to do.”

Spin Magazine: “Pretty. Odd. lives up to its title because it dares to be optimistically beautiful at a time when sadness and ugliness might have won them easier credibility.”

From the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Advance Titan: “Pretty. Odd. is a prime display of a futile rebellion into an uncertain and shabbily-constructed identity. Regardless of quality, cohesiveness or originality, this album will sell a lot of copies, a filler song will be dressed to look the part of another radio hit and loyal fans intentionally alienated will be urged to adjust – and thus, will. A star for trying something new, but it’s best to simply recognize the young band has already painted itself into a corner in which it should just sit. In short, Pretty. Odd. is Pretty. Dull.”

Kerrang: “this is an album that is too restlessly creative to be confined to one thing… Pretty. Odd. is outlandish and accomplished: fearless, even.”

NME: “Chances are you’ll read some poisonous reviews of Pretty. Odd., but while it’s no masterpiece, it’s far from a disaster… it takes balls – proper Tony Montana-sized ones – to do what Panic at the Disco have done and, for that, they deserve credit. They’ve wrestled control of their band away from what their fans, their critics and – despite their protestations to the contrary – their record company want them to be and, for better or worse, are ploughing their own furrow.”

A review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine on BMG: … PATD shows far more humor than MCR or the Killers. That humor -- and it's possible to laugh at and laugh along with the band in equal measure here -- makes "Pretty. Odd" a giddy absurdity, as Panic at the Disco is determined to have it both ways: to make grand, pompous music while retaining their identity as pranksters. The album is so out of control, it's hard to tell whether the group planned "Pretty. Odd" to be a kaleidoscopic mess, or if occurred by happenstance, but that raggedness will appeal to the teens who loved "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out", but this bafflingly blurred Brit-pop could hook in older listeners, too, either through its genuine tunefulness or through pop junkies who will marvel at how "Folkin' Around" comes startlingly close to re-creating the sound of the Byrds circa "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", or how "Do You Know What I'm Seeing" is equal parts Morrissey parody and homage. It all adds up to a pretty and odd record and it erases no suspicions that the band aren't quite sure of what they're doing, but the glorious thing about "Pretty. Odd" is that the album works in spite of this...or perhaps because of it. Either way, this is a deliriously jumbled, left-field delight.

Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars and said “Even when it's over the top, which is basically always, Pretty. Odd. sounds cheerful, with a broad sense of humor that does honor to the noble legacy of ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne. These guyliner fart-knockers may have ditched their exclamation point, but they haven't lost their fundamental ridiculousness.”

Cleveland.com: “Half the fun of listening to "Pretty. Odd." is spotting the Fab Four influences. "Pas De Chavel" gallops a la "Get Back." The neo-psychedelic "The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know" echoes the Mellotron strains of "Strawberry Fields Forever." And "From a Mountain in the Middle of the Cabins," an exercise in oom-pah-pah noir, begs to be subtitled "Son of Maxwell's Silver Hammer." PATD works everything from strings to horns to bells into a retro chamber-pop potpourri, the perfect accompaniment for all those trippy lyrics, penned by Ross... This isn't the most original album you'll hear this year, but don't panic. At least PATD had the good sense to steal from the best.”

This paragraph sums things up nicely: PATD has earned a veritable ream of critical acclaim for "Pretty. Odd." Spin awarded the set four stars, noting that PATD "have stepped up their songwriting skills" to create a "dazzling" album that is both "blindingly bright" and "optimistically beautiful." "A brave change," affirmed the New York Times' Jon Pareles, "the magnum opus of a talented band." Entertainment Weekly praised "Pretty. Odd." as "a dense... enjoyable layer cake of ideas and instrumentation," while USA Today declared it to be "unrelentingly upbeat, melodic, and punchy." Rolling Stone commended the album for its "often beautiful" songs and "broad sense of humor.

#2review

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begoodstewards · 5 years ago

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everybody. It’s the 50th anniversary, which seems a bit absurd considering Earth was here long before bipedal creatures started walking around naming things. It is flabbergasting to think that in 1970 our relationship with our home planet was so toxic that officially getting a single day to focus on repairing it seemed like a massive victory.

In the 200 years since the First Industrial Revolution we were already doing irreparable damage. Forests were clear cut at alarming rates, mountains were toppled and stripped of their substance, waterways were fished bare or polluted until they were uninhabitable, and the air was choked with smog and fumes. The Industrial Revolution brought more people out of poverty than any other movement in history, but it did so at the expense of our relationship with the earth.

In the last 50 years we have made great strides in mitigating the damage we inflict on the natural world. It’s a constant struggle, the balance between progress and conservation, but the 50-year trend shows we are heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, I cannot help but feel that we are addressing the symptoms and not the underlying root of the problem. The environmental movement is almost entirely about what we as humans do to the earth, and how to protect the planet from the human species. This good vs. evil paradigm leads to the politicization of any issue that hints at environmentalism.

The earth does not need our protection. It was here long before we were, and it will be here long after we are gone. We, as humans, need the earth. Using our ingenuity, we have invented ways to grow our population beyond that which our ecosystem could previously support. We have focused our efforts on technologies that allow us to get more from less so we can continue to become more prosperous. We have also created a bubble of consumption, but at some point, that bubble will collapse. Whether resource shortages, natural disasters, disease, or any of the other myriad disasters nature has up it’s sleeve our way of life is fragile and beginning to crack.

I have spent a lot of time, as I’m sure most of you have, over the last couple of months reflecting on my way of life. I think a lot about my grandparents, part of the Greatest Generation, that grew up in the Great Depression, fought the forces of evil during World War II, saw the moon landing and the development of penicillin, and witnessed the greatest advancement of technology and prosperity in the history of the world. They taught me a lot about life and were massive influences on my worldview.

The stories that keep coming to mind for me right now are the ones from their childhood. They milked cows, worked the cotton fields, sewed their own cloths, cooked their own meals, played in the creek, and took long walks through the forest. These stories wrapped me in a fantasy world, a place similar to the world in which I lived as a child but quainter and in sepia tones. In middle school we were learning about the Great Depression when it dawned on me that they spent their formative years under the cloud of an historic economic downturn. I thought their experiences must be agonizing, like my grandfather’s memories of The War, which is why they hid them from me. When I asked them outright about their experiences during the Great Depression, I found that my assumptions could not be farther from the truth. All the stories about milking cows and jumping in the creeks were from the Depression era. They grew and raised their own food, built their own homes, made their own cloths. They were self-sufficient, and because of this they really had no idea that the Great Depression was even happening.

My grandparents found careers, my grandfather a carpenter and my grandmother a healthcare worker, and they moved to town. They built a modest ranch home in a nice neighborhood and made a decent living and their children grew up never wanting for much. Still, my grandparents tilled up a quarter acre in the back yard and planted a spring and fall garden every year. The flower beds surrounding the house would explode with color every spring, and the sweet gum and poplar trees would provide a glorious shade to cool off in the depths of August in the deep south. My grandmother would wash the disposable plates and put them back in the cabinet, and we ate cereal from re-used cool whip containers. This all seemed ridiculous at the time, and the grandkids would all giggle and poke fun. But, my grandparents knew what it was like to have to make the most of what they had, and the lessons from their childhood were not forgotten well into their nineties.

It’s amazing how a global pandemic can take the most complex aspects of our society and make them seem trivial, while simultaneously making the most basic aspects of human existence seem revolutionary. I think deep down that most of us realize how close we came, and still are, to total collapse. A lot of us are getting more exercise, planting gardens, and seriously reevaluating how we are using our resources. We are strengthening our relationship with the earth.

I started the Good Stewards of the Earth organization to help regular people get involved in outdoor recreation. I hoped maybe to one day lead hikes, give clinics, and possibly have a scout program. With all the goings on in my everyday life I haven’t had the time to make it much more than a title under which I collect pictures of me and the family out in the wild. I have also struggled to find a career that makes me feel that I am having a positive impact on society and nature. I work in the outdoor industry and I love my job, it has honestly gotten me closer to reaching that goal than any of my other careers. Still, I want to do more.

I believe right now is the time to grow the Good Stewards into an organization that truly benefits mankind, and to use my skill and passion to have a positive impact on the world. I want our focus to expand beyond outdoor recreation and to help people foster a relationship with the earth. I want to help people be more self-sufficient using skills I learned from my grandparents. I want to influence lawmakers and businesses to conserve our resources and make decisions that will make us less vulnerable to existential threats. I want to see a society where we benefit from our outstanding technological advances without losing sight of what makes us human.

Over the next few weeks, we will launch our new website, BeGoodStewards.org, and will begin drafting our mission statement and plan of action. We will begin a series of educational videos and blog posts too. We will start our search for a board of directors while filing with our Secretary of State’s office and petitioning the IRS for 501c3 status. We will also begin raising money to fund these endeavors. I’m also going to begin asking for help. If you can make a financial contribution it will be much appreciated, and if you have advice or encouragement that is even better. You can reach me at [email protected]. If you have ideas or constructive criticism, please reach out. If you are inspired by our mission, please follow us on all forms of media and share our posts with your friends and family. Most importantly, join me in trying to be good stewards of the earth.

#earthday #begoodstewards #environmentalism #conservation #nature #self sufficiency #activism

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benisasoftboi · 6 years ago

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So on Friday night I made this post:

Which I expected that maybe ten, twenty people would see? I didn’t think anyone would really care about a joke about something so old and obscure, and it would just get lost in all the Detective Pikachu stuff. Instead, within five hours, it had become my most popular post.

I know it’s still not a huge number, but it’s still way more attention than I’ve ever received for anything... ever, so I’ve been thinking about Pokemon Live a lot since. Which has been bad, because this morning I had to take a very important political economy exam, and instead of thinking about Bretton Woods or Marx, I was thinking about Pokemon. I nearly referred to my country’s former Prime Minister as ‘David Camerupt’. It wasn’t good.

I need to expunge my thoughts. Specifically, my thoughts on one topic in particular - the way this show treats, or rather mistreats, the character of James. Because I truly, truly love Pokemon Live. I do. It’s one of the most glorious dumpster fires I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching a poor quality recording of. But this is the one thing I definitely don’t love.

I don’t expect anyone to read this. I mean, I said that last time, but this time I really don’t. It’s a long essay on a niche topic, and it isn’t even funny. But on the off chance it’ll get you to stick with me, I promise that there will be pictures of Andrew Rannells cuddling puppies at the end.

So,

How Pokemon Live Mistreats James, and Why It Matters:

The Mandatory Mentioning of The Actor

I’m guessing anyone who knows anything about Pokemon Live also knows that now highly successful, Tony-nominated Broadway and television actor Andrew Rannells was in it playing James. And if you didn’t, now you know why I’ve mentioned him twice now. I’m a big fan of this guy.

He hated this role. Absolutely despised it. Apparently the show was a miserable environment to work in for everyone. The costumes were uncomfortable. The audiences were unbearable. There’s a making of for this show, which can be viewed on YouTube in its entirety - I’ve watched the whole thing more than once and you can see in every cast member’s eyes - there’s no light there. They’re all dead inside. It’s almost heartbreaking.

To be clear - he’s the only one of these people I, or anyone else I’ve seen, ever makes fun of for this show. And that’s because he’s fine. He’s fine! He’s done very well for himself and talking about it won’t hurt his career, and there’s just always something really hilarious about seeing very successful people in terrible things, isn’t there? Chris Hemsworth in Saddle Club, Zach Braff in Babysitter’s Club, literally everyone in Foodfight. It’s not malicious or in any way intended to be punching down - just poking fun at a really good actor’s really bad early work. It’s not even really making fun of him, more that he was in this.

But there is one reason he hated the role that I don’t find so funny, and that’s that he felt the people that wrote the thing had made James a grossly over-the-top, borderline-to-over-the-line (depending on your tolerance) homophobic stereotype. And... yeah. They undeniably did that.

Rannells understandably dislikes the character, and to be honest - that makes me a little sad. Knowing that musical!James is probably the only version of the character he (and likely a lot of parents who saw the show, and other cast members) ever really encountered, that’s a huge shame. Because if we go back to the anime the musical’s based on, the one I, and many others, grew up on, James is quite different. In fact, I personally consider anime!James to be the best character in the entire Pokemon franchise.

Why We Love Team Rocket

Just want to quickly note that I can only discuss the anime up to about halfway through the Sinnoh seasons - I’ve seen basically nothing after that. My childhood was some original series, a lot of Hoenn, and a fair bit of early Sinnoh (somehow skipped over Johto almost entirely, don’t really know how that happened). If any of this is now not accurate, well - it’s not really relevant for this discussion anyway, but I still apologise.

The Team Rocket trio, James especially, is, pretty queer-coded. This is not unusual for villainous characters in children’s media before the 2010s, so much so that I would guess that a lot of the time it wasn’t even being done deliberately - it was just that common a trope that it was all but expected your show would have at least one flamboyantly effeminate, villainous bloke. And James - especially early James - has no qualms about showing his feminine side:

Notice that Jessie adopts masculine attire to match - she doesn’t always do this, but I like that they have her at least do it sometimes.

Team Rocket’s disguises became less and less likely to involve cross dressing as the show went on, but it’s one of the things best remembered about them. James also has a strong association with roses, and possesses several other feminine mannerisms. Arguably he’s far more downplayed than most other villains of the type (even more so than others present in Pokemon - Harley’s a great example, who was also, coincidentally, played by Andrew Rannells), but it’s present. And while yes, obviously in real life none of those things should be taken as definitive indication of a person’s orientation, and straight men are perfectly capable of twirling around in pretty dresses - in fact, I fully endorse it - this is fiction. Specifically fiction from the early 2000s. And in fiction, certain things are intended as visual cues and shorthand.

So I really, really doubt we were supposed to think James is entirely straight (I personally have always thought that he’s actually bi, but I’m not opposed to alternatives). You could make the case, but like. Come on.

But how is this different from musical!James? And how is this different than any other villain like him? Very simple. Anime!James has depth.

Not a tremendous amount. It’s a children’s cartoon made to cash in on a popular video game. But he, and Jessie and Meowth, are among the most well-rounded characters in the show’s cast, in a way that’s actually very relatable. It helps that they aren’t actually very villainous people most of the time. I know so many people who grew up with the show that loved, rooted for, and identified with them over the actual protagonists, by a mile. Myself included - I can remember two separate James-centered episodes that made me cry as a kid.

And these three are particularly beloved by young LGBT adults. We know from their backstories that they all came from rough circumstances - Jessie desperately poor and struggling to get anywhere or be recognised, Meowth having changed a fundamental part of himself in attempt to gain love and instead being ostracised for it, and James running away from an abusive household. They’re three people (/Pokemon) who felt alone in the world, that have now found each other. And whether you view Jessie and James’s relationship as romantic, friendship, or found family, it’s far more compelling than any other relationship in the show, at least to me. They may be criminals, but it’s not hard to see why some kids - especially the kids who might already feel like they’re just a bit different - would latch on to them.

Even if you didn’t know James’s backstory, he still has a character. He’s frequently shown to be the most moral of the trio, he has a stronger bond with Pokemon than honestly even Ash - even more of a running gag than his flamboyance is the fact that his pets love him so much that they just wanna hug him all the time, with inevitable slapstick consequences - he has dorky hobbies like bottle cap collecting, and he’s even occasionally shown to be a bit of an environmentalist. Yes he is in many ways a stereotypical camp villain - but he’s also more. And that’s why we love him.

And I’d bet anything there probably were some little boys who watched the show and saw James and thought ‘that guy’s like me!’. And yeah, that guy is a villain, because god forbid a maybe-gay character also be a good guy. But more than any other character like him that I’ve seen, he’s also always been a person. And considering how most of the other options kids like that had at the time were either one-note villains or nothing (and even now it’s sparse pickings) - that’s valuable.

And then there’s Pokemon Live.

*long, long sigh*

Oh, Pokemon Live. You beautiful disaster.

What did you do to my boy?

Is there nothing that better encapsulates it than the bit where James asks Giovanni where Mecha MewTwo (...I know) “stands on campaign finance reform, social security and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”?

First off, I like that James is politically engaged! Good for him! Completely out of character, but still!

And I do find this line incredibly funny, but I want to be very clear about why I find it funny. The line is funny because referencing a real world American discriminatory military policy in a Pokemon musical is just... so completely absurd. It’s super jarring and when I first watched it, I had to pause it so I could stop laughing about the possible implications of Pokemon Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Is there a Pokemon American military then? Pokemon Democrats and Pokemon Republicans? Pokemon Bill Clinton? POKEMONICA LEWINSKY???

It just raises so many questions.

Also Rannells’s delivery is incredible.

But the thing is, that’s not the joke here, is it? The actual ‘joke’ is ‘HA HA HE’S GAY! HE SAID THAT BECAUSE HE’S GAY!’. Which gets even worse when you think about it and realise that this situation is really just a gay man (I don’t think there’s any doubt about it in this particular incarnation, is there) asking his boss whether or not he thinks people like him should be discriminated against. How is that a joke? (The answer is that it isn’t.)

Which makes it that much more inappropriate for a children’s Pokemon musical, which is sort of, in a dark way, almost funnier. It’s that juxtaposition of something kiddy and cute with something that definitely isn’t.

But hilarious as I find it, given the chance to I would go back and get rid of that line. I dislike what it implies - that being a gay man is nothing more than a punchline - more than I like the absurdist humour.

And that’s the whole problem with how they chose to write James for this whole thing. They took a really good example of how you can have this type of villain while also making him a good character, and they turned him into nothing more than a stereotype.

You could say ‘but it’s a much shorter story than a TV show! They wouldn’t have time to make him nuanced!’, to which I would say 1. He doesn’t have to be nuanced, he just has to be slightly more than I’M GAY and 2. There have been 21 Pokemon movies at time of writing, two of which came out before Pokemon Live did. None of them, at least of the ones I’ve seen, committed any character assassinations like this. The first one even had another baffling reference to real world America:

That’s so out of nowhere and silly that I laugh every time I think about it (the Minnesota Vikings are an American football team, if you didn’t know). See, Pokemon Live! It’s possible to do jokes like that which aren’t at the expense of a minority group! Wow!

The anime even has examples of how you can do the gay jokes and make them funny. They are very rare in the show (beyond the humour of James’s personality), but remember the whole Flaming Moltres joke? It’s actually great. It’s a couple of good puns, it’s possibly Rachael Lillis’s best delivery in the whole show, and, just for confirmation, I’ve shown the clip to a few actual gay men in my life, who all said that they think that it’s very funny, and totally non-offensive. The joke is still ‘lol he gay’, but it’s also a neat play on words, it feels very in character for both of them, and it doesn’t have the same malicious, taunt-y feel of the Pokemon Live ‘joke’.

Look, the Pokemon anime is far from perfect. There are lots of moments where you have to grit your teeth and remember when it came out. But it still gave us a really, really wonderful character, and he absolutely deserved better than this.

Do I Still Love Pokemon Live?

Yes.

Even with all of this, it’s still an absolute masterpiece of unintentional hilarity. In some ways, this makes it funnier. Of course, of course, it couldn’t just have terrible costumes and a nonsense plot and really, really bad rapping - of course it’s also kind of offensive. Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be.

And I would love to talk about all the things I genuinely love about it, and maybe I will one day.

But the thing is, it’s also representative of everything that was wrong with gay-coded characters at the time, something that the show it’s based on came way closer to handling well than most other stuff of its time, no less. And that, as a whole, isn’t funny at all.

So I want to be clear. I love laughing at this show because it’s a weirdly earnest cash-in musical for something that definitely shouldn’t be a musical, with endless bizarre, quotable moments - not because the way it warped this character is actually funny. I love laughing at the character’s lines because they’re absurd choices for a Pokemon musical - not because they’re in any way funny on their own. And I love laughing at the fact that Andrew Rannells was in it because he is so much better than this - not because this is what I think he should be reduced to.

And speaking of, here’s those pictures I promised:

I love one man.

#pokemon #pokemon live #andrew rannells #james pokemon #team rocket #musicals #long post #i cant believe how long i spent on this #ive written academic essays shorter #i think this is probably longer than all my exam answers from this morning combined #long essays about niche topics

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juniper-and-lamplight · 6 years ago

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Recent Reads -- May 12, 2019

It turns out that I start to feel itchy if I don’t do a round-up of my various one-off recs every few months or so? Though there are some new recs on this list too (helloooo, Lix Storm). As usual, it’s a multifandom mix--DGHDA, Harry Potter, The Hour, and just a bit of Sherlock and The History Boys. Recs under the cut, so you don’t have to scroll unless you want to :) Enjoy!

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency I'm So Queer I Can't Even Think Straight (But To Be Fair, You're Not Helping) - @dont-offend-the-bees - 2.2k, T, Dirk/Todd "'His mind was buzzing, his heart pounding, his lips tingling, even now five, ten, however many minutes later. But if nothing else, he’d got past the phase of the whole holy shit Dirk just kissed me thing going round and round in his head, stuck in there like a bad song. But holy shit Dirk just kissed him.' In which Todd shows his hand, and Dirk takes a leap." So funny and charming that I’m almost mad about it? The Comic happened, we all lost our minds, and Bees was there with fic on the SAME DAY.

A Thousand Butterflies Can't Be Wrong, (But I Think I Might Be.) - electricteatime | @kieren-fucking-walker - 6.2k, G, Dirk/Todd "It’s a lot, he knows it’s a lot, and he almost wishes he’d stopped to think about his answer before just blurting his feelings all over the place. But then he supposes he’s always been a little like that, and it hardly makes sense to change that now. If Todd feels the same he already knows what he’s signing up for. If. For two small letters, it really is a big word." OF COURSE post-s2 Dirk thinks that Todd and Farah will be together and leave him, because historically, that's how things go for him...bless his heart and his inability to cope with Todd's eyebrows.

Leave What's Heavy Behind - electricteatime - 5k, G, Dirk/Todd "A semi-poetic semi-character study of one Todd Brotzman, the lies he tells himself, and the truths Dirk Gently knows." So beautifully, painfully REAL?!? I may never stop having feelings about this fic.

song for the heartsick (better days are near) - embraidery - WIP, T, Bart & Suzie Boreton "Suzie Boreton, rescued from death at the hands of the Mage's goons by the dirtiest woman she's ever seen in her life, faces a question: would she like to go on a road trip with her savior? No, Suzie thinks, but when she opens her mouth, Yes comes out. And so begins the weirdest road trip ever." This is such a fascinating premise, I can't wait to see where it goes.

To sleep, perchance to dream - @flightinflame - 2.4k, G, Mona & friends "Mona is sick, and loses control of her abilities. She tries to hide it, but it becomes too much to ignore." This is? So soft?! And also quirky, and playful, and just plain heartwarming.

the intricacies of triangulation - reptilianraven | @actualbird - WIP, T, Farah/Dirk/Todd "'Todd. Us. Us and Todd. We need a plan for this,' Farah says. Or the one where Dirk and Farah get together (they’re surprised about it as well) and try their best to get Todd to date the both of them in the most roundabout ways possible." In just one chapter this fic had me HOWLING with laughter.

or make a home - reptilianraven - 6.6k, T, Dirk/Todd "Or Todd’s adventures in dating Dirk Gently, the mundanities of which unsurprisingly turning out to not be very mundane at all (featuring, among other things: intergalactic wormholes, regular periods of lying down on the floor, and several annoying habits that concern toothpaste and toothbrushes.)" With a combination of absurd humor and honest emotion, this fic absolutely nails the joys (and annoyances) of loving/supporting/living with another person.

put that baby back where it came from, or so help me - reptilianraven - 7.6k, T, Dirk/Todd "A case drops a telekinetic baby into the agency’s care and Dirk feels...overwhelmed whenever he sees Todd competently, wonderfully, lovingly taking care of a child." Tropey and ridiculous, but in the BEST WAY. My favorite line in this fic is ALL of them.

Though Your Breath Racks Your Ribs and You Throb with Pain; There's a Juice on My Lips for Each Purple Stain - @sexycoinkidicks - 7.4k, E, Dirk/Todd "In which Dirk shows Todd where it hurts. Angsty emotional smut, based loosely on a scene from the play Kiss of the Spider Woman (VERY loosely- no prior knowledge needed!)" Claustrophobic sadness and Extreme Emotional Intensity, with a slight edge of hope.

An Interlude; or, Compulsory Heterosexuality Made Me Do It - @teacupsandcyanide & @gallantrejoinder, - 1.6k, G, Farah & Todd "Farah and Todd did, in fact, make out while on the run. They also both realised some very important things about themselves. But not the things you might expect." Todd and Farah are glorious disasters, and I love them <3 This fic made me giggle from start to finish.

The Situation - teacupsandcyanide - 8.5k, M, Dirk/Todd "Todd raises his eyebrows at him. 'You gotta admit. We would get into this … situation.' 'What, the situation where we flee from the weekly hired goons into a badly aging knock-off of the Ritz, get shut in an empty room with no escape, and find ourselves compelled to make loud, gratuitous sex noises in order to put the aforementioned lackeys off the scent?'" In which Dirk and Todd have wildly different interpretations of Dirk's "coming out," and the only thing preventing them from getting together was their inability to have an honest damn conversation. Sensual and full of Big Emotions, as is only fitting for these two.

The Butterfly Effect (Love Is Love Is Love Is Love) - teacupsandcyanide - 7.2k, T, Dirk/Todd "Dirk kisses his best friend on their balcony in front of the Pride Parade. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Things escalate wildly into identity issues, old hang-ups, anguished declarations of love, and inopportune sabotage of the situation by their tiny bastard cat." This fic left me an incoherent, keysmashing mess. I might have actually clutched at my own heart after reading it.

Harry Potter Midday, Midnight - @aryastark-valarmorghulis - 8.5k, T, Remus/Sirius "During the summer of 1976, between fifth and sixth year at Hogwarts (and after The Prank), Remus goes outside the Lupin's cottage and he finds a big, black dog in his garden..." The character voice in this fic is so authentically teenager-y; Remus is so deep in his own head. I also enjoyed all of the sensory details, which create such a vivid image of the Lupin home, and the feel of a summer's day (and night).

Aural Gratification - birdsofshore - 10.9k, E, Harry/Draco "Harry's not gay – he just likes listening to exciting stories about Aurors. It's not his fault that the narrator's voice is so smooth, so expressive... and really rather hot." I know I’m waaaaay late to the party on this one (as I often am with Drarry fics), but worth it. As a person who listens to audiobooks for both fun and profit, I could not resist it :)

Letting Go - LuminousGloom - 6.1k, E, Remus/Sirius, Remus/Kingsley, Remus/OMC "A number of lusty, intimate encounters. Although for Remus, it's really only ever been about one person. And it's never quite right, until it's right." I love that each of Remus’ encounters is not only distinct and sexy, but also that each highlights different facets of him: forthright, secretive, curious, ashamed, conflicted, joyful, soft, rough, broken, and (eventually) unbroken.

like tea and knitwear - @songofwizardry - 2.4k, G, Remus/Sirius "There are probably easier and faster ways of showing one's affection than learning how to knit so one can make the object of said affections a jumper. Fortunately, Sirius has never been fond of picking the easy route." As soft and warm as a hand-knit jumper, but with just enough snarky humor that it still feels Marauders-y.

Sky Full of Song - @writcraft, read by semperfiona - 2k, 13min, T, Harry/Draco "Draco turns up at Harry's birthday party unexpectedly and Harry takes a leap of faith." A wonderful blend of angst and humor and realistically messy emotions.

The History Boys Don't you know you're life itself? - Philipa_Moss - 5.5k, M, Scripps/Posner “Dakin thinks you’ll get bored of me,” Posner says, out of the blue, and Scripps says, automatic and habitual, “He doesn’t.” This fic feels so perfectly lived-in--all of the relationships (partnerships, friendships, whatever) are well-worn, complex, and shaped by choices in a way that rings true to life, and to the characters.

The Hour (Guess who watched all of The Hour this winter and was left wishing that there was another series entirely about Lix Storm?)

The Small Hours - deathorthetoypiano - 1k, T, Lix/Bel "Lix stayed at Freddie's funeral, despite her instincts - and old habits - telling her to leave. She stayed for Bel, because she might need rescuing or a shoulder to cry on, someone to make sure she was alright, or at least as alright as she could be, given the situation." A quiet, bittersweet coda.

My thought is not changeable - @lbmisscharlie - 1.5k, E, Lix/Bel "Freddie will return – sometime – he must – and Bel is never aimless when Freddie’s around, not like she is now, eyes intent on Lix’s mouth and one stockinged foot rubbing uncertainly against her calf and their smallest fingers just touching where their palms are braced on the floor." Sharp poignancy and tons of sensory--a perfect stolen moment.

Light gathered in you - lbmisscharlie - 1.4k, E, Lix/Bel "Bel looks at her, sidelong. Her lashes are long, mascaraed dark, and her mouth coral pink. “I did wonder,” she says. “If you were – a Sapphist.” She says the archaic word so delicately that Lix has to laugh, which makes Bel pink up and drop her gaze. “I’m – not fussy,” Lix says. She shifts her weight just so, her forearm brushing Bel’s elbow. Bel doesn’t look up, but takes a breath, lifts her glass to her mouth, and swallows her wine down." Everything about this--tone, dialogue, dynamics--feels spot-on.

The Most Marvellous Place to Get Lost - peninsulam - 8.5k, E, Lix/Bel "It is late spring in Tangier, and Bel feels as far from home as she has been in her life." Gorgeous, poignant, evocative. You know, just generally breathtaking.

Immoral Support - @thisbluespirit - 420 words, T, Lix/Bel "Bel winds up where she always does after a bad day; in the safest place she knows..." This is lovely, and manages to nail their dynamic in fewer than 500 words.

I'd like to explore you - rainbowsuomi - 604 words, unrated, Lix & Bel "Lix’s mind is already somewhere else when Bel tells her to think about it and exits the office, picturing herself in front of the camera, describing bars where girls had their hair cropped and styled with grease, smoking cigars and slipping their hands, elegant, long and white, under flowing, frilly skirts, caressing stockings and corrupting young ladies." A beautifully characterized slice of life (and Lix’s history).

Sherlock Roads, Not Shrouds - verdant_fire | @viridiandecisions - 3.4k, T, John/Sherlock "He's perfectly happy to live out the rest of his life in monastic devotion, feeding John and loving John and provoking John just enough to distract him from what Sherlock did to their kitchen table." Lovely and lyrical and heartfelt (without getting treacly).

Further fic recs | Fic bookmarks

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magali-writes · 2 years ago

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Then why did you do it?

Fate heaved a sigh. I liked his hair.

Oh for stars’ sake. You do remember how it went the last time you picked a Chosen One because they had nice hair, right?

It wasn’t nice hair!

Unimpressed, Life waited.

It was her arms, Fate admitted. You can’t tell me she didn’t have lovely arms.

That, said Life, as though they wished they had teeth to grind for emphasis, is not the point. She might have had nice arms, but she spent seven YEARS hunting those murderous lackwits!

Maybe if you didn’t put murderous lackwits on the human plane in the first place—

It doesn’t work like that, and you know it. Stop pretending to be obtuse.

Fate sighed again. Or, more accurately, made an undulating not-motion that approximated the emotions conveyed by a sigh, since at this moment, neither Fate nor Life was anywhere near corporeal, and as such neither occupied a physical form, nor breathed. Fine, then, if you’re so clever, you can pick the next Chosen One.

Life’s incorporeal presence rippled. Do you mean that? You haven’t let anyone else choose since—

Chaos, one hundred and seventeen Chosen Ones ago, and that was an unmitigated disaster.

I’m cleverer than Chaos.

Fate allowed that that was, generally speaking, true. Still— I’m not sure that you… understand about my Chosen. There are very specific selection criteria—

Must they all have glorious hair? Or do you perhaps allow for a soul pure of heart but laboring under the unspeakable trauma of being brunette?

If you’d let me finish? Thank you. My criteria are very specific, and I confess, I favor the pretty ones, but it’s not as that’s the only reason. Do you know how many beautiful imbeciles you put on that plane? No, of course you don’t, because you never actually visit.

With an irritated thrum of tension, Life dismissed this concern. No. Let me choose. I’ll show you a bald Chosen One.

[seventy-one years later, as measured by mortal calendars]

The Three-in-One This is absurd! Fate, why on earth would you give that mortal your grace? He’s worse than the one the Sky-Father asked you to destroy!

I didn’t, said Fate, with, it must be said, a degree of smugness unseemly for an ageless manifestation of one of the primal forces of the universe. Life wanted to pick.

If the Three-in-One had a head, or hands, they would have dropped the former into the latter. As it was, their exasperation and rage blasted all the assembled Forces with a wash of power that threatened to dissolve their temporarily consolidated presences. I thought we forbade you to delegate after that incident—

Don’t look at me, said Chaos. You all should have known better.

They’re right. We really should have, admitted Time.

Fate—no more delegating. And Life, I’ll deal with you later. The Three-in-One gathered herself into an ever-denser point of primal energy, until the Forces’ presences withdrew from them in fear, and the planes bent towards one another as the Three-in-One bored their way into the world of the corporeal. Right now I need to go settle this before the mortals Destroy one another.

“You chose him?”

“Yeah…”

“You saw the pompous asshole-y one and thought, ‘Ah, yes. Perfect.’?”

“Look, I’m not proud of it, ok?”

#written #short story #comedy #kind of #magali wrote #my writing #do not repost #ok to reblog #original writing #prompt #dialogue prompt

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italicwatches · 6 years ago

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Animal Sentai Zyuohger vs Ninninger - Part 2

Okay, let’s finish this beast and get it behind me. It’s People In Animal Masks vs Some Ninjas Who Are Bad At Their Job, part 2! Here we GO!

-So right when we last left off, everyone’s dead! Oh no! Twice in a row we’ve started with everyone dead, that’s not a good pattern for the Super Sentai. And Yoshiharu is in despair.

-While Runrun is having a pretty great time now that his job is…done…?

-Those were ALL training dummies, as the shinobi reappear with the crew in tow! A mass illusion and hiding, to trick Runrun into revealing his true nature! But how? Well, it helps that Yakumo and Kasumi suspected something wasn’t entirely adding up with Runrun from the start, so they’d been watching him.

-And back when they were interrogating Misao, he managed to charades his way into showing them that the mask was a trick…So as soon as they got it off and he told them how it had been talking on top of him, they left an illusion behind and went to meet with the Zyuohgers…Who had totally already taken a hostage.

-But they were willing to talk, to form a plan…A plan to catch Runrun out! And now with his trickery revealed, they can stand together! Also Takaharu thinks his comrades are cool as hell, while Yamato is just frustrated that his crew didn’t tell him a single thing. So Runrun is mad.

-And off comes the Teletubby-ass facade, to reveal that Runrun really looks like…

-Well mostly like Swampfire from Ben 10 with some extra flare.

-Also his real name is Girumaada. So the shinobi swiftly pull a smoke-bomb escape, and the team is able to stand together on the roof!

-To nobody’s surprise, out come phantoms of foes the Sentai teams have faced before. Some Ninninger guys, and Bunglay and the first-episode shitty general for Zyuohger.

-But fine. Instincts Awakened! THE CHANGE! NIN NIN NIN! NIN NI NIN NIN! Shuriekn Change! RED! BLUE! YELLOW! WHITE! PINK! STAR! NINJAS! WOW! And also animal sounds.

-Champion of the soaring skies! ZYUOH EAGLE! Champion of the surging waves! ZYUOH SHARK! Champion of the savannah! ZYUOH LION! Champion of the forest! ZYUOH ELEPHANT! Champion of the snowy drifts! ZYUOH TIGER! Champion of the world! ZYUOH THE WORLD! Animal Sentai, ZYUOHGER!

-A splendid rampage! AKA NINJA! The roaring clouds! AO NINJA! The shimmering calm! KI NINJA! A petal blowing in the wind! SHIRO NINJA! The wavering mist! MOMO NINJA! The colorful star! STAR NINJA! We may be shinobi, but we do not hide! We may be shinobi, but we party all night! Shuriken Sentai, NINNINGER!

-Instead of hiding, we awaken our instincts!

-And so it’s a big movie fight, with the matching pairs fighting these villain costumes gotten back out of storage! Of course, they’re tough…But the first one falls to Ao’s magic and Elephant’s raw strength! As Lion and Ki double-team their foe, Lion’s ferocious fighting spirit pushing him on as Ki brings out tricks from shinobi of old!

-And the girls all team up to take on this phantom of Bunglay, who gets run the fuck over with mechanical transformations, and eats a whole set of finishers! Even as a phantom, he’s tough.

-The World and Star have their hands pretty full, but still find time to take a selfie. The World made a new friend! Good for him. Now duck! ALL BEASTS UNLEASHED! The World kicks through their foe’s armor, and then flips him into the air, where Star’s got some Lightning Rock Star waiting to zap him! Now that’s a party.

-Oh and Aka and Eagle got firebombed. So they’re not having a great time. But Yoshiharu leaps in with his ninpou, trying to rescue them…He’s not letting his father fall, not here! And that’s when they’re joined, by…A sealing shuriken? It slashes against their greatest foe a few times, giving Eagle room to pull out a Gorilla’s strength, before the little shuriken falls into Yoshiharu’s hands…

-Forming into a new Aka Ninja Shuriken! The strength of his legacy…! You changed the script, kiddo! The power of the Super Sentai, and of shinobi, holds strong! This is what you’ve earned, come to aid you!

-And that’s when Aka’s father arrives, because the sealing shuriken leapt out from inside the house and he chased it all the way here and yeah that’s Kibaoni, their greatest foe, being fought by a gorilla. And this is your grandson from the future. He’s taking this surprisingly well. But, one stand together?

-One stand together! Three generations! AKA NINJA SHURIKEN! THE CHANGE! NIN NIN NIN! NIN NI NI NIN! Shuriken Change! RED! NINJAS!

-The slashing whirlwind! A splendid rampage! Fair weather today! AKA NINJAS! Past, present and future, forged into a crimson force! This is their fight now, Zyuohger! Get Girumaada! And as Gorilla bails out, they unleash wind, fire and lightning upon this phantom, and a triplet slash that cuts deep into his armor…

-Now, the triple finish! RED! RED! RED! NINJA! And the fight is won.

-While Gorilla corners Girumaada! When Naria arrived with Azald and Kubar to help…And Bard finds them.

-But SEIZA CHANGE! He’s met…By another red. A very lucky man. The luckiest man in the galaxy, Lucky! Also known as, Super Star! SHISHIRED!

-SEIZA CHANGE! Four more join him!Another Sentai team, huh—

-SEIZA CHANGE! They’re not five strong…They’re nine strong! Azald is confused, and Naria brings on the mooks. As you can imagine, it’s a big display of the next Super Sentai team and their grand skills. As you can also imagine, seeing how little I know of them, describing it in any detail is a bit difficult, especially with a nine man team. And honestly, all you need to know is they kill mooks real good and beat up the named villains because they’re the New Hotness.

-Oh and their finisher involves a star formation! GALAXY! They all bring their power into the center, and then blast it forward, as Azald eats it full force! Because you can kill a man who can reform. They are, the ultimate saviors! UCHUU SENTAI! KYUURANGER! Naria is mad, but has to call for a retreat…And hey, kids, remember to watch them when their season starts!

-And Bard implies that this team was actively manifested by the changing of history, born out of a twisting of time.

-But back to the actual movie, as everyone brings up overlapping finishers to destroy the phantoms! I, am not, trying to unpack all those narrator cries. And Gorilla is fighting Girumaada all on his own…But he is never truly alone. For he has his friends and loved ones at his back, the hopes of a future burning in his soul!

-And also?

-He’s got a fucking Whale.

-With arm cannon and blade both blazing with power, Whale delivers shots and slashes to Girumaada, before slamming that cannon into his gut and racking up a ZYUOH FINAL shot, up close and personal!

-Holy crap this guy’s still standing.

-…Fine. The others arrive, and everyone back him up! Full flow! ZYUOH NINNIN FINAL BAKURETSUHOU! FIRE! Can I just say how much it frustrates me that TV-Nihon still doesn’t translate attack names?

-Anyways Girumaada gets blown up and gobbles up some Continues that Naria gave him just in case and now he’s big. Are you surprised? Don’t be surprised.

-So what do you do with a giant villain? What do you do with a giant villain? Make a big mech and punch him down, early in the morning! Complete Animal Combination! King Shuriken Combination! WILD TOUSAI DODEKA KING! KING SHURIKENJIN!

-The problem is he’s really big even compared to them. So this is not an ideal situation to be in. Bug they’ll just have to go all in! KING HATENKOU GIRI! ZYUOH DODEKA SHOT! The finishers go out…Aaaand accomplish nothing. Because of course.

-So how’re they going to get out of this one, as Girumaada’s vines ensnare them and start banging them together like a rowdy child’s action figures? Their mechs shatter, all twelve are sent to the ground, full of despair…Oh no! What can be done?!

-And that’s when Yoshiharu’s shrunken dives in, and with 40 years of legacy, the shuriken forms a shield…And for a split moment? A vision.

-The teams are met…By the 38 Reds who have stood at the precipice of disaster before them. You are not alone, heroes. You have never been alone. The Earth and all its smiles are not in your hands alone to protect…You ave guided by a legacy, by the past to protect the future! Take their strength, their honor, and fight for the justice they forged!

-The vision is done, as Girumaada’s attack is repelled…And now? To bring it all together! And forge Wild Tousai SHURIKEN KING! Twelve strong! It might be small, but with the power of ninpou fueling it, this mech can punch and take punches well above its weight class! But they can’t hold this for long…They’ve got to finish it fast! Drive the spear home, and…!

-As one, as a singular force! With the strength of all their predecessors at their back, and all of their descendants waiting for them still! They are joined by the strength of countless mechs, as it all comes out in a single glorious beam to cut Girumaada down! It is DONE!

-And then, as soon as it came, that power is gone…To await the next time they are needed, when one or even two teams aren’t enough…

-In the aftermath, Yoshiharu has to return to his own time, to see the man his father becomes with time to live…And after a big farewell, he’s gone in a flash of ninpou, to return to his own time.

-Which is when Tusk realizes…How could Yoshiharu exist if Takaharu’s supposed to have been dead by now?

-…So…Here’s the thing…

-You WHAT?! And not even his own family knew! His sister and his father didn’t get to be at the wedding?! Yamato, after being stepped on, quietly despairs at the absurd handful that is this pack of shinobi. His own crew is so much easier to deal with than this. Also it seems Misao and Kinji are gonna start hanging out more off-camera, which is really, really good. I’m super happy for him, legitimately.

-And Takaharu immediately latches onto the idea of hanging out and going camping again because that stops the argument and Yamato just has to run after this gaggle of heroes before they get into even more trouble.

-Credits!

Well, it had its problems, but that managed to be a good bit more fun than I was expecting. Really, the only problem with it is how shoe-horned in the legacy stuff was, especially for the higher budget and runtime that a movie should get. They kind of did the legacy stuff better in the 2000th episode special, and those were just, like, TV episodes.

Also I can already tell the Kyuurangers are gonna frustrate me real bad if/when I do that season. They were a little much in the two minutes we got with them here.

But hey, movie’s done, so we can get back to the story arc next time, in episode THIRTY NINE of Animal Sentai Zyuohger! Wait for it!

#where I watch #recap #tokusatsu #super sentai #animal sentai zyuohger

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pallideinanis · 7 years ago

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DISHONORED: DEATH OF THE OUTSIDER NOMINATED FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VIDEO GAME WRITING.

Really?

(rant ahead, feel free to ignore this)

Don’t get me wrong -- I love Death of the Outsider and the world that it gave us but.. Compared to the last two titles and the two DLCs, I easily find this game to be weak in terms of its writing. It completely undermines the character development and growth that occurred in a past titles and in my opinion, really compromises the integrity of some of the series’ key characters. The entire plot was “just because”, and while I’m hoping Dishonored’s team is scrambling working to correct that in the upcoming Return of Daud book, I don’t foresee this character development massacre to be remedied.

I understand that there are certain guidelines that restrict the past titles from being nominated this year, but if it up to me, I would seriously give it to one of the other games. The writing is so much more cohesive in the other Dishonored games than the disaster that is DoTO, in my opinion.

Dishonored 1 hugely capitalized on a theme of revenge and introducing the series gimmick: agency. The player can run around in the destitute world of Dunwall, making whatever violent or passive decisions they see fit while ultimately learning that even someone who has been stripped of everything can still play an integral part in what’s to come... And that sometimes, the easy answer isn’t always the best answer.

The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches come in with HUGE character development for series antagonist-turned-anti-hero, Daud. Further solidifying the idea that your choices matter, these DLCS drive two new themes of regret and redemption as we watch Daud, who was wallowing in regret for what he has done, come to peace with his evil actions and dark past, willing to accept the price for the choices he has made.

Then comes Dishonored 2, a game that surrounds an over-protective and loving father and his daughter, a daydreaming, but well-meaning empress. This game really shows off the dynamic between these two characters and their symbiotic relationship. One can’t and doesn’t want to exist without the other; they’ve been through too much shit together and have come to rely upon the other’s presence for emotional support. Further, the Heart of a Living Thing plays a key role in hidden themes of mourning loss and moving on with the reintroduction of Jessamine’s spirit, as well as her final release, fading into the great unknown.

This is the part where Death of the Outsider comes stumbling in all sloppy and drunk and disoriented and this is where I get angry. Dishonored 2 left us with an interesting cliffhanger. We see Meagan Foster staring at the antiquated, iconic Whaler mask, as well as the Assassins Blade, which certainly must feel comfortable and familiar in Meagan Foster’s hand. All while The Outsider watches from an open door, a mysterious blue glow shining in from behind him. We learn that Meagan Foster has faded from the shadows, and from them, Billie Lurk has risen. The events of Dishonored 2 have brought back haunting memories of the bad things that have happened to her and the bad things that she has done to others, and it has displaced Billie Lurk. That body has seen many identities and many lives and she just doesn’t know who she is anymore and she seeks guidance. Familiarity. Family. The ending of Dishonored 2 leaves us to believe that she is remorseful and has been seeking Daud through this whole adventure. Daud was like her father and she believes he can help her find herself.

Cue up to E3 2017, the familiar, haunting Whaler shanty of Daniel Licht’s (rest his soul) echoes in and we’re met with a familiar face. Billie Lurk. We witness Billie kick the asses of several very large sailors by herself and it’s absolutely glorious. We’re getting the resolution to Dishonored 2′s ending--she’s finally found that old fart Daud and this was going to be a grand new adventure of finding oneself and accepting her past and--

What’s that, Daud? One last job?

Wh-- ...weren’t you going to fade into obscurity? Isn’t that what you promised to Corvo when he confronted you and nearly took your life in Dishonored 1? And Billie, weren’t you lamenting all through Dishonored 2 about all of your regrets and mistakes? If these were weighing so heavily upon your shoulders, why are you so willing to just accept Daud’s offer? In the game itself Billie expresses initial shock towards Daud’s idiot idea, but she doesn’t display any unwillingness to listen to The Knife. I mean, I guess I can understand this considering how much trust she puts into this man because of how high she places him on that pedestal, but... the moment Daud is introduced, he just seems to shove Billie’s problems and identity crisis on the back burner, so Daud and his massacre of character development can take center-stage. Why? We’ve heard from Daud, we know he’s sorry for his past and we know he’s finally accepted what he’s done. So what’s Daud’s angle, why does he feel the need to make another stupid decision?

Because everything he discovered about himself and The Outsider in the two DLCS that starred him is absolutely moot. Inching closer and closer to the edge of his final chapter, apparently Daud no longer feels content with his decisions and chooses to throw blame onto a third party whom he knows remains neutral...or usually does.

The Outsider is a deity who sees all things. He has a habit of giving power to those who have been scorned and likes to watch them rise from the ashes and regain the control that was taken from them. Corvo, Daud and Emily are great examples of this. However, Daud and The Outsider seem to have an interesting relationship. The fandom likes to make jokes about how The Outsider plays favorites and prefers Corvo over Daud, but truthfully the Outsider, at least in the past DLCs, displays a strange attachment to Daud. Going out of his way to guide Daud towards redemption -- something he has said is very rarely seen from his four-thousand years of issuing marks.

So why murder your guiding light?

There isn’t really much of an answer outside of Daud sort of randomly believing that everything will magically be right with the world once The Outsider is eradicated. This notion seems incredibly ignorant, especially from Daud. It’s no secret that the Outsider finds entertainment in chaos, but the player is quick to learn from waaaaaay back in the first game that it isn’t The Outsider that causes chaos...it’s the player. So why should Daud, knowing what he knows and after experiencing everything he has, demonize The Outsider?

What’s the point of undermining the very core of your game’s primary mechanic, Arkane?

The Knife’s absurd and uncharacteristic change of heart, alongside Billie being shoved into the dark, (as well as how the end-game saw The Outsider’s character being reduced to but a weak princess needing saving, and how Billie is apparently stuck in some fucking timewarp--but those are other rants for another time,) are some of the biggest issues I take with Death of the Outsider’s writing. That is why I find it undeserving of this nomination. These are all my opinions and you’re welcome to disagree.

Thanks for sticking around so long, if ya did.

#Out of the Void || OUT OF CHARACTER #RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT #doto spoilers #SPOILERS EVERYWHERE #i take writing very seriously #ooops

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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Kobe Bryant and learning to live without fear of death

Kobe Bryant showed us that the only way to live is to strive for immortality.

When Kobe Braynt died, as with any iconic person’s death, people said the tragedy should be a reminder of life’s fragility. That it should be a memento mori, a sign we could be gone at any second. A warning to push us to cherish the important things in life — our family, friends, passions, and beauty of the world — and not to waste energy on inconsequential things. The constant knowledge of how sudden life can end is a tool to energize us into living a better and more clear life.

This reminder is effective because it comes in flashes, often when public icons die. It’s only in those flashes we can truly wrangle with death. We periodically look up at the sword of Damocles to remind us that it’s there, but we can’t live while staring and thinking of it falling. It’s not that we forget our mortality, but that keeping it present in our minds is an impossible task while living.

In the movie Troy, Brad Pitt’s Achilles says, “The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”

The idea that the doomed state of life makes the beauty of it more profound is a beautiful statement, but if the gods envy us for our mortality, I think we also envy them for their immortality. If not for ourselves, then at least for the ones we love.

In The Iliad, it wasn’t Achilles who knew the burden of his own mortality, but his mother Thetis, a goddess of the sea. She was immortal and he wasn’t. She knew from a prophecy that when he chose to go to war, his life would be brief. She spends her time trying to please and soothe her son, making each moment as sweet as possible before his doom, but also trying, as she did when she first dipped him in the river Styx, to save him.

When he begged her to plead with Zeus on his behalf to cause misery to the Trojans after Agamemnon dishonored him, she accepted his request after saying:

“My child, why did I rear you, cursed in my child-bearing? Would that it had been your lot to remain by your ships without tears and without grief, since your span of life is brief and endures no long time; but now you are doomed to a speedy death and are laden with sorrow above all men; therefore to an evil fate I bore you in our halls.”

Thetis is anguished by Achilles’ mortality more than Achilles could ever be. Their moments together are sweet because she loves him, but she is also bitter from the knowledge that there won’t be many more.

Of course Achilles had to know he would eventually die. He was human and a warrior, he had killed people. He had seen and caused death. But he is most human in that he is only aware of death in the abstract.

Unless it has a set time and place, death is impossible to grasp. It is both near and far. It could come at anytime, and we know that, but the potential suddenness and finality of it is against life, which is full of second chances and change. Random, sudden death is so antithetical to the way humans see their lives, with death as the closing of the book, that the thought “I could die in the next minute” is repulsive.

The potential of sudden death can be considered only for a brief moment, before being pushed away. Otherwise, the terror of the thought would be paralyzing. Achilles could go out and fight, pout and rejoice, love and live, cherish and waste moments, because he saw himself alive in that immediate moment and the next. He eventually does die, but when Odysseus praises him in the underworld, Achilles doesn’t opine on the beauty of his doomed time in the world. He rebukes his friend:

“Glorious Odysseus: don’t try to reconcile me to my dying. I’d rather serve as another man’s labourer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead.”

We wake up everyday and make plans for the future, and not just for what is immediate and urgent — plans that are often inconsequential, as if our lives are not doomed. We continuously project ourselves into the future, as Achilles must have. Helene Cixious writes in Stigmata that we feign immortality, and we have to:

“Outside, I know, but fundamentally I don’t believe, everything we think we don’t think, that’s because we’re alive, we inhabit the country of the living; that which is beyond, outside—we don’t have the heart to believe. We can’t believe in death in advance, it remains inadmissible. Our immortality is: not-believing-in-death.”

This disbelief makes itself apparent when someone who we care about does suddenly die. We think there must be a mistake, that it’s a hoax. It’s all a bad dream, and when we wake up, things will return to what they should be. A person we love couldn’t possibly be gone, it must be another. We keep hoping that by denying the event, we can make it unreal. It takes a long time for reality to settle in.

When I first read the news of Bryant’s death, I looked at the headlines reading “Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash” and thought that it was an absurd statement. The more I read it, the more nonsensical it seemed. It was a thing that was possible, but didn’t feel tangible.

When we accept the truth, we go on to celebrate everything our loved one did in their short time. And there is an intensity to their time that get colored in postmortem because of how short it was, but I think that’s how we have to reconcile with death, as Odysseus tried to do. Beauty is not a quality that potential disaster adds to life; it’s what we’re left with when the physical presence of the person who we miss is gone. If Bryant had lived to be 100 and continued to try to do well, his life would have been even more beautiful. If he had been immortal, even more so. At least for us. The way it would have been for Thetis with her son.

Bryant’s stature added another layer of disbelief to his death. Bryant is someone who is seen as an icon to millions. Though we can never be immortal, we do create gods all the time. We turn people like Bryant into superheroes, into beings who are transcendent of humanity. Great athletes like him are rarely ever just athletes, they become symbols, ideas, myths. They’re as immortal as we could possibly be. For these people, a sudden death seems beneath them. Bryant, who was larger than life, dying from a negligible accident. It is incomprehensible. If he, of all people, is vulnerable to that possibility, then the rest of us are even more so.

Yet Bryant’s death doesn’t really bring the concept of sudden death any closer. It is still only possibly, but not entirely, real. Bryant died in a helicopter crash. Not many of us will ever find ourselves in that situation. We may walk outside, get in cars, cross the street during traffic, and toy with our mortality in more familiar ways than getting into a helicopter, but while we know the potential of sudden death, it’s hardly ever in the forefront of our minds.

Willful ignorance of fatal danger is the only way we can go through each day and imagine ourselves in the next one. And when we do lose people we care about suddenly, the celebration of their lives is followed immediately by the greater grief of their extinguished presence. Celebration is only a small comfort. What we are often left with is a deep helplessness and sadness.

What then? What can save us from this omnipresent and terrifying possibility of death? I’m not sure there is an answer, but I like the idea of feigning immortality. Not living with the constant knowledge that any moment could be our last, but that death, until it comes, doesn’t matter at all — it has nothing to do with life.

I think of how Bryant trained and played, how he wasn’t afraid of the big moments or failure. And how that attitude came from a defiance of finality rather than an acceptance of it.

My colleague, Tom Ziller, wrote that Bryant played as if there was no tomorrow, but I think he has it backwards. Bryant behaved as if there were infinite tomorrows. While he played basketball, he did so obsessively, but then he moved on to other pursuits, and imagined himself doing even more in the future. When asked why he wasn’t afraid of taking the last shot, he said: “There’s an infinite groove. Whether you make the shot or miss it is inconsequential.”

It’s not the potential of an end that creates beauty or urgency, it’s the possibility of a future. Life is all about tomorrows, about growth, continuance, and change, about dreams. Death is repulsive because it is not life. It can never get closer than its abstract form, and it shouldn’t. It is true we are powerless before it, but until the event of death, it is also powerless before us.

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remainseatedatalltimes · 5 years ago

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And the decade ends with a...

So concludes another year, and with it, another decade as well. Now, I wish I could sit here and reflect on what a game-changing, exhilarating and revolutionary year 2019 was in the world of cinema. But I can’t. In fact, in my 8 years of writing this one time annual blog, there has never been a year that was as insipid as this past year was. So much so, that unlike in previous years where I have always started this blog highlighting some of the greats of the year that was, this year I’ve decided to start with the bottom of the barrel. But don’t fret, there are a few glasses of the good stuff left. Not many, but a few.

To set the scene, my least favourite film of 2019 is a movie (and no, it’s not the one you’re thinking of), that will likely go on to be nominated for several Academy Awards in just a few short weeks’ time. And it should be nominated. There is plenty to praise about this film. But incredible performances, stylish directing and a story centered around one of the most fascinating events in modern history does not always a good film make. Not when it’s told in such an obnoxious, pretentious and self-indulgent way. So, to kick things off, I present to you, my least favourite film of 2019 – Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

I should say straight off the bat that I am only a moderate fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work. I love his film knowledge and his passion for making unique, and also highly nostalgic films. But I’m also a firm believer that storytelling is at the heart of great cinema, and I often feel Tarantino sacrifices storytelling for brilliant, but often bloated camerawork and cinematography.

I had high hopes for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood however. This was Tarantino working with an incredible cast, telling an original story set within one of Hollywood’s most infamous eras – and when the wonderfully retro and charming trailer dropped, I couldn’t have been more excited. This should have been the perfect canvas for Tarantino to shine.

But instead, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a frustratingly tedious, hedonistic film that almost feels like it’s mocking its audience with its in-jokes and smarmy blurring of lines between real events and fiction. In just shy of 3 hours, Tarantino essentially conveys 3 things: actors are self-doubting creatures that need constant re-assurance (no surprise); Hollywood is a game of relationships where not rocking the boat is paramount (again, no surprise – most industries are the same); and that shocking audiences is apparently very easy when you take a non-fiction story and completely change the ending (1 plus 1 equals 7). I know what you’re thinking. How can that possibly make for a near 3 hour film? Well, I refer you back to Paragraph 2 of the Remain Seated At All Times Tumblr blog post titled “And the decade ends with a....”, where I stated that this film is “obnoxious, pretentious and self-indulgent”. Just like that entire last sentence is superfluous…well…you get the point.

So to prove that moving on once you’ve made a point IS achievable, let me then proceed to the other atrocity of 2019: Roadkill. Sorry. I mean, Cats.

Now before anybody jumps up and down and complains that a movie that is – in fact – so much worse than Once Upon A Time In Hollywood isn’t my worst film of 2019, I offer you this one short piece of commentary. Cats is the kind of epic, unequivocal, indescribable disaster that actually transcends awful into a place of almost fascination and reverence. You know what I mean. Like watching a YouTube video of someone mixing paint. You know it’s ridiculous to sit there and watch it – but you can’t look away. You’re transfixed. And I will take that over boring arrogance any day.

Cats is NOT boring. It’s far from it. Much like the musical that inspired it – which so happens to also be one of the worst musicals ever created – Cats is a bold, daring attempt to deliver something no one ever wanted to see. Humans behaving like cats singing boring ballads. Add to it an insipid score that needs serious remastering, awful special effects, and an enhanced story-line that makes zero sense (yes, I know, they’re dancing humans dressed as cats – why am I surprised by a ridiculous story-line?), and you have 90 minutes of sheer bewilderment. The only saving grace: Hopefully the movie has sufficiently taken the last of nine lives from this atrocious musical so that we never have to endure another performance – either in film, OR on stage.

So now that we’ve taken out the kitty litter, let’s look at some of the brighter sparks of 2019. Because, whilst there were actually NO films last year that I reviewed higher than 4-stars, there were still a few gems that warrant some attention. These include last year’s Best Picture winner, Green Book; the dark and twisted take on one of DC’s greatest villains, Joker; the hilarious and earnest original whodunit, Knives Out; and the epic end to the greatest movie franchise in history, Avenger’s Endgame.

But taking the spot of my 3rd best film of the year was the latest film in the franchise that constantly delivers the impossible – a better film with each and every sequel. In its simplest form, Toy Story 4 is a beautiful romantic comedy featuring two stand-out lead characters. But whilst the lovely romance of Woody and Bo Peep take centre stage, it’s the gobsmackingly clever new characters including the show boater with no self-confidence – Duke Caboom– and my absolute favourite new character of 2019 (and spirit utensil) – Forky – that ultimately steal the show. Pixar never ceases to amaze, and Toy Story 4 is no exception. The idea of creating a kids movie positioned around a romantic comedy, where a core character is made of trash, thinks of himself as nothing more, and needs to learn self-worth from scratch, is something truly extraordinary. So thank you Pixar for giving me Forky. A character that taught me so much, even at my age!

Speaking of education, slipping into 2nd place is Olivia Wildes glorious directorial debut – Booksmart. This joyous, hilarious and utterly original coming of age story is spearheaded by stellar performances by its two leads. But it’s the way the film manages to use its often absurd humour to elevate its very sincere reflection of growing up in today’s day and age that really set this film apart. Booksmart continues the trend of unique, smart coming of age stories where young love is not the focus. Instead, it simply heroes its two smart and strong female leads and showcases that there’s no one more important than your best friend.

And so we come to my favourite film of the year – although, favourite is probably not the best word to use given how uncomfortable I found this film to watch. But it’s precisely that discomfort that elevates this harrowing and heartbreaking film to my number one spot. That film: Hotel Mumbai.

I understand that putting a dramatized version of a horrifying real-life event at the top of my list may seem odd – and for many reviewers, this movie felt exploitative. But I couldn’t disagree more. For me, Hotel Mumbai deftly balances the fears and bravery of its protagonists with a dismaying reflection of the motivations (or often lack there of) of the terrorists. Add to that some social commentary on the political failures that made the tragedy far worse, and you have an uncomfortable to watch, but ultimately poignant reflection of just one of recent history’s most horrifying incidents, and my number 1 film of 2019.

Now, to avoid ending this recap of 2019 on such a dire note, I should point out that there are a large number of additional films I feel should be included in this list including Roma and The Irishman. However – given I don’t review movies I see outside of cinemas (how can I honestly review a film I watch on a plane the same way I do on a giant immersive screen), I’ve intentionally left these off the list. Likewise, there’s a number of films I missed this year – including the well-reviewed Parasite, and the latest from the genius that is Taikia Waititi – Jojo Rabbit – that I feel would likely have been quite high up in my rankings had I seen them in cinemas earlier in the year. Although, given Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was my least favourite film – and yet it just walked away with a Best Picture award at the Golden Globes – then perhaps not. Which is probably why I shouldn’t give up my day job. Call me old fashioned, but I like my movies to have a plot. And a point.

But for now, that’s a wrap on 2019. Lets home this new decade brings with it more reasons to return to a cinema near you. See you next year!

#movies #movie review #movie list #best movies #best films #Film Review #film #best of 2019 #year in review #theyearthatwas #hotel mumbai #cats #once upon a time in hollywood #toy story 4 #booksmart #cinema

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borisbubbles · 8 years ago

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Eurovision 2017: Pre-Show

18. Croatia: Dr. Jacques & Mr. Houdek - “My friend” Semifinal 2 - #12

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I was dreading this entry to be honest. Jacques Houdek has a... “Reputation”. Basically,

When the title of the Croatian entry was revealed as “My Friend”, I started palpitating, terrified of another Mother-esque trauma. It easily COULD have been. Jacques has the same plump, portly build (slap a fauxhawk and a beard onto Axel and they look very much alike), the song was spoiled to be classic, plus the title... yeah, it was a disaster meant to happen and not a fun one. However, then the song was unveiled by the Croatian broadcaster and I almost died laughing. Even now, I don’t know what to make of this entry? It’s TOO RIDICULOUS for words. The two voices concept, which involves Jacques duetting with himself in two completely different voices and languages is too much for me. I CAN’T deal with it without laughing. Who on earth is responsible for this? There’s no way that won’t be hilarious in eurovision, underminding any credibility and sincerity this song had going for it. What makes it even better is that “My Friend” DOES take itself seriously. It’s sooooo pompous and conceited. The spoken word at the start alone <3 I recon Jacques legit believes his song is a masterpiece (lol x a fucking trillion), which is ironic because “My Friend” is “Let It Go” on crack, basically. I cannot deal with so much irony. Serious songs you can’t take seriously <3

The more I’m thinking about it, the more I’m convinced this is an elaborate practical joke set to allow “Homophobe Of The Century” Jacques Houdek to clown himself in front of millions of people. There’s no way Jacques enters that stage without making a complete and utter fool of himself. Fortunately, that also means there’s no way I won’t enjoy this entry in all it’s glorious absurdity. :)

PREVIOUS APPEARANCES:

Jacques was the runner-up in the 2011 selection :o. Yes. This man lost to DARIA KINZER. Here’s his version of the song we know as “Celebrate” btw:

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BREAK A LEG GOOD LUCK WITH EVERY STEP YOU TAKE (ed.: dead.) PACK A BAG FULL OF LOVING SACK FULL OF HOPING AIN’T NOTHING THAT CAN’T BE DONE.

Will the humiliation ever end???? :’( QUALIFICATION ODDS: doomed

A: no. The humiliation will never end because Jacques isn’t going to reach the final, silly. As I said, I do not believe it’s Croatia’s intention to advance, just to have Jacques make a fool of himself on the Eurovision stage.

However, I hear tell there has been talk to drop the two voice concept and make “My friend” earnest. O__O I hope that’s a joke because this song/act/concept is NOTHING without the Jeckyll & Hyde-like vocals. That said, if Croatia, somehow, pull off staging which puts all of Europe in stiches (there’s no way you can make this sound polished and sophisticated, so don’t even *try* that angle!!), there’s a small chance they’ll get a few televotes? Even then though, “Let Is Go on crack”, so yeah, it’s dead, lol. Oh well, at least it will be funny, RIGHT???

Projected Placement: 30th-40th

#Eurovision #Eurovision Song Contest #Preshow #Ranking #Croatia

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politicalfilth-blog · 8 years ago

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Billionaire Commodity Guru Predicts ‘Worst Economic Problems’ of a Lifetime on The Horizon

We Are Change

Jim Rogers: “We’re About To Have The Worst Economic Problems Of A Lifetime, A Lot Of People Will Disappear”

Article via ZeroHedge:

Submitted by Patrick Ceresna, Macrovoices.com

“Get prepared,” warns billionaire commodity guru Jim Rogers, “because we’re going to have the worst economic problems in your lifetime and a lot of people are going to disappear.” In this wide-ranging interview with MacroVoices’ Erik Townsend, the investing legend discusses everything from whether Russia is being scapegoated (“yes, ask Victoria Nuland”), the war against cash (“governments love it… they want to control everything”), to his views on gold and the demise of freedom.

Full podcast below:

Key Excerpts…

Are Russians the bad guys?

Well I do know that during the last administration, Mr. Obama’s administration as you probably remember we started, we tried to pull of an illegal coup in Ukraine, we got caught at it, what’s her name, Victoria Nuland, whatever the woman’ name the State Department they have there several pieces of evidence where we know she tried to instigate an illegal coup then of course the Russians outsmarted us and so the State Department started blaming it on the Russians and the hype against the Russians has gotten bigger and bigger ever since after we started– or tried to start, tried to instigate the illegal coup Crimea and Ukraine.

So yes we are certainly at fault to some extent and obviously you then, when you’re caught you’ve got to keep the rhetoric up and keep throwing more and more accusations and so the State Department has done that.

I know that before the illegal coup Obama, Bush everybody was trying to be friends with the Russians rightly so, cold war had ended long ago, the Russians wanted to be friends with America. We didn’t need NATO anymore. Who needed the Cold War etc. all the money we were spending on some of these arms manufactures and soldiers so until the illegal coup took place we were all trying to be great friends you remember George Bush said I looked him in the eye and he’s a man I can admire and work with etc.

So now of course the Democrats especially since they lost the election are trying to blame it on the Russians. It’s unfathomable to me how the Russians could have determined the outcome of the elections. Maybe they planted a story a two but so what? It’s inconceivable to me that the Russians could influence much less determine the election.

I think if we start having investigations of the illegal voting I’m afraid we’re going to find more for the Democrats than for the Republicans places big cities in America won’t name names but so far the few investigations that have taken place we find that the voting irregularities are in big cities which are Democratic strongholds.

On the Greater Depression…

…get prepared because we’re going to have the worst economic problems we’ve had in your lifetime or my lifetime and when that happens a lot of people are going to disappear.

In 2008 Bear Stearns disappeared, Bear Stearns had been around over 90 years. Lehman Brothers disappeared. Lehman Brothers had been around over 150 years. A long, long time, a long glorious history they’ve been through wars, depression, civil war they’ve been through everything and yet they disappear.

So the next time around it’s going to be worse than anything we’ve seen and a lot of institutions, people, companies even countries, certainly governments and maybe even countries are going to disappear. I hope you get very worried.

when you start having bear markets as you I’m sure well know one bad thing happens and another bad thing happens and these things snowball just like in bull markets good news comes out then more good news comes out the next thing you know you’re five or six or seven years into a bull market.

Well bear markets do the same thing and so we have a lot of bad news on the horizon. I haven’t even gotten to war. I haven’t even gotten to trade war or anything like that but you know things do go wrong.

On Trump and the possibility of trade wars…and real wars

Mr. Trump has also said he’s going to have trade war with China, Mexico, Japan, Korea a few other people that he has named. He swore that on his first day in office he would impose 45% tariffs against China. He’s been there three weeks, two or three weeks and he hasn’t done it yet but he still got it in his head I’m sure or maybe he’s just another politician like all the rest of them. He says one thing and he doesn’t mean it at all but he does have at least three people in high levels in his group who are very, very keen to have trade wars with China and other people.

If he does that Eric, it’s all over. I mean history is very clear that trade wars always lead to problems, often to disaster, sometimes even to real war, a shooting war. So I don’t know, I’m not sure Mr. Trump knows. He said so many things and many of the things are contradictory. Now if he’s not going to have trade wars with various people then chances are for a while happy days are here…

[The dollar is] going to go too high, may turn into a bubble, at which point I hope I’m smart enough to sell it because at some point the market forces are going to cause the dollar to come back down because people are going to realize, oh my gosh, this is causing a lot of turmoil, economic problems in the world and it’s damaging the American economy. At that point the smart guys will get out. I hope I’m one of them.

On governments continued war against cash…

Governments are always looking out for themselves first and it’s the same old thing you know Eric this has been going on for hundreds of years. The Indians recently did the same thing they withdrew 86% percent of the currency in circulation and they have now made it illegal to spend more than, I think it’s about $4000 in any cash transaction. In France you cannot use more than, I think it’s a €1000.

Many countries are already doing this. Some states in the U.S. you cannot make cash transactions above a certain amount. Governments love it. Then they can control you. If you want to go and buy a cup of coffee they know how many you drink, where you buy them etc. if they can all put it into electronic formats and they will the world is all going electronic. My children will probably never go to a bank when they’re adults, maybe never go to a post office maybe even never to a doctor or rarely to a doctor when they’re adults.

So the Internet and the computers changing everything that we know, money can certainly be easily converted to computers not today because there are still, some people who don’t have computers and the system is not ready it but it can be done and when it’s done the governments are going to be very, very happy they going to say they’re doing it for our own good Eric, this is not them, this is for our good. That they’re doing this, but it’s coming and it’s going to be a whole different world in which we live. Probably we are not going to have as many freedoms as we have now even though we are already losing our freedoms at a significant pace.

On the demise of freedom…

…history shows that people always would like a little more safety and a willing to “give up some things for more safety and security.” Benjamin Franklin said well anybody who would give up some freedoms for security is going to wind up with neither security nor freedom and they deserve to lose both and of course that’s the way it is.

I’m not the first to realize that people who are rising to become dictators start taking away freedoms first in Germany they took away the guns, they wouldn’t let people have guns in Germany and lots of places have done that or things like that.

In America now you and I probably remember when we were kids, you had to have a search warrant, now they can just break your door down if they have what they consider enough good reasons, they don’t even have to go to the court and get a search warrant anymore.

So it’s already happening and if you said to somebody that you know they could break your door down they say they’re not going to break my door down I’m not a terrorist or a drug dealer, well that’s how it all starts people say it’s OK but then the next thing you know they’re breaking your door down too.

So it’s already happening do I like it? No I don’t like it but I’m not the first– what was his name Goebbels the German who said if you say something to people enough times they believe it no matter how absurd it is and you and I have certainly seen it in the news in America you say something enough times people believe it and it becomes politically correct and then you can’t even say something that’s not politically correct in America any more.

Full Transcript available here.

This article first appeared on ZeroHedge.com and was authored by Tyler Durden.

The post Billionaire Commodity Guru Predicts ‘Worst Economic Problems’ of a Lifetime on The Horizon appeared first on We Are Change.

from We Are Change https://wearechange.org/billionaire-commodity-guru-predicts-worst-economic-problems/

#We are Change #We Are Change

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alia15 · 8 years ago

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Friday 5ive - 2.3.17

At what age do you stop getting excited for Fridays? Because I really don’t envision ever ceasing my ‘countdown to Friday’ clock that I begin as soon as I open my dang eyes on Monday morning. There’s just that sense of relief -- we made it! We survived another work week and now we can enjoy our two short days of glorious freedom!

This week was alright; I’m finally feeling better/like myself after the swine flu got its claws on me and I got back into a busy work groove. Oh, and I was also on the radio in Melbourne, Australia on Monday. So, that’s a thing that happened.

Anyway, without further ado... here are 5 things I’m loving this week!

1. This Screwed Up Blog Post. When I was little, I had a babysitter named Stephanie that I ahhhh-dored. She was so pretty, so smart, so funny, and like most little girls who are around older, cooler girls: I wanted to be her. Stephanie and I lost touch for years (even though our parents -- dads, especially -- were close) but thanks to good ol’ Facebook, we were able to reconnect years ago. And guess what? This lovely ex-babysitter of mine has a blog, too... a damn good/funny one at that. You *have* to check out her post about one of her SIX children (nope, not a typo) swallowing, well...you’ll see.

2. These two memes that made me audibly LOL:

OK LADIES NOW LET’S GET IN FORMATION: IT’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIME

like i get it you need privacy but i need to know things too, sooo....

3. How to Murder Your Life. I used to love to read. Love! I did it obsessively and SUPER frequently as a kid, but as I’ve gotten older my spare/free time is spent more on my writing/blog stuff than it is reading books. Boo, I know. One of my goals this year, however, is to get back to reading a bit more. You know those nights where you’re channel-surfing to find something on TV or perusing Netflix for the eleventy billionth time to find yet ANOTHER murder documentary and you’re just not having any luck? Well, I do that a lot. So in those scenarios, my ass is gonna start READING. Well, not my ass -- I guess my eyes and brain will. Anyway, I started this hot mess disaster of a memoir Wednesday night and I’m HOOKED:

Description pulled from Amazon: “From Cat Marnell, “New York’s enfant terrible” (The Telegraph), a candid and darkly humorous memoir of prescription drug addiction and self-sabotage, set in the glamorous world of fashion magazines and downtown nightclubs.“

4. Band Aids Don’t Fix Bullet Holes. How are we all feeling about Taylor Swift these days? I wasn’t a fan, then I was, then I wasn’t, then I wasn’t but still liked her music, then I was again, then I thought she was a cornball, and then I thought she was kind of a snake. I’m all over the damn place. But this VERY, VERY, VERY thoroughly researched and well-written Buzzfeed (yeah, Buzzfeed, who knew?) piece on her this week is pretty friggin good. It shows the great lengths Miss Swift has gone to play the role of victim in order to skyrocket to fame. Check it out here - How Taylor Swift Played The Victim For A Decade And Made Her Entire Career.

Damn Tay, I knew you were trouble when you walked in.

5. Bey-Twice- é. Okay, fine, I stole that joke. One baby = Beyoncé and two babies = Beytwice-é ? I don’t know. All I know is my best friend Beyoncé had a RIDICULOUSLY ABSURD birth announcement/photoshoot that you’d expect more from Honey Boo Boo’s family (I love you Bey, but let’s keep it 100) and the world. went. NUTS. Oh, myself included. I needed this news. The country needed this news. WE ALL NEEDED THIS NEWS:

"you’re such a creep!” - my brother

I think it’s hilarious that this woman can’t sneeze in public without a million stans falling all over themselves (AGAIN, MYSELF INCLUDED) but if you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing her live in concert as I have, you know she is a Goddess who walks among us and therefore should be praised, treated and fawned over as one. So, congrats, BFF! Can’t wait for the baby shower.

Oh! And before I go, as an added bonus (and because Queen Bey is referenced in this post) - sometimes, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, social media is actually used for good and it introduces me to amazingly funny and talented writers who I instantaneously want to be friends with. One of said writers? Sherita from the blog Vodka + Cupcakes who wrote this blog post about adopting a cat that made me pee my pants laughing: Throwback Tales: 24hr Confession Of A Crazy Cat Lady

Go read it & say hi to Sherita on Twitter!

Aiight, kiddies, that’s all I’ve got for you today. Enjoy your precious little foosball game this weekend and I’ll catch you next week!

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politicalfilth-blog · 8 years ago

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Billionaire Commodity Guru Predicts ‘Worst Economic Problems’ of a Lifetime on The Horizon

We Are Change

Jim Rogers: “We’re About To Have The Worst Economic Problems Of A Lifetime, A Lot Of People Will Disappear”

Article via ZeroHedge:

Submitted by Patrick Ceresna, Macrovoices.com

Full podcast below:

Key Excerpts…

Are Russians the bad guys?

On the Greater Depression…

…get prepared because we’re going to have the worst economic problems we’ve had in your lifetime or my lifetime and when that happens a lot of people are going to disappear.

On Trump and the possibility of trade wars…and real wars

On governments continued war against cash…

On the demise of freedom…

Full Transcript available here.

This article first appeared on ZeroHedge.com and was authored by Tyler Durden.

The post Billionaire Commodity Guru Predicts ‘Worst Economic Problems’ of a Lifetime on The Horizon appeared first on We Are Change.

from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/billionaire-commodity-guru-predicts-worst-economic-problems/

#We are Change #We Are Change

0 notes