#I started thinking about this because of an Alien Theory video by the way

[thespookybean14]

I think about Alien a lot, especially recently. This evening I’m specifically thinking about how in the Alien Isolation novel (and maybe other Alien novels) it mentions how Ripley would send video messages to Amanda before the freighter ship would lose contact, and how one of those times a message was from Dallas.

It made me think about the crew a lot. Like, did Amanda ever ask about them? Did any of them sometimes stop by while Ripley was talking to Amanda on the video message just to check in and say hi as another parental/family friend figure? Did Ripley ever tell the crew about her daughter? Did any of the other Nostromo Crew have kids?

Would Amanda have met the other crew member’s kids at some point in her childhood or teenage years and have no clue they were related to people who her mom worked with? If she did know them, would they have become a close friend group just trying to figure out what happened to their parents? Did the others try to stay optimistic that maybe their parents were okay? Did they give up on them after a few years?

I don’t know, but I think it’s interesting to ponder.

[mecub-writes]

A while ago I had an idea for a fanfic for @somerandomdudelmao’s Marble Sky, and I finally wrote it! This is probably all gonna be proven wrong at some point, but whatever! It was fun to write!

Ward is five when he decides he’s going to be an astronaut. His teacher shows the class a video of space– stars and galaxies and planets and rockets– and his eyes light up and he thinks, I’m gonna do that. He announces it to his teacher after class, and she smiles and tells him he’ll have to get really good at math and science if he wants to go to space, and he nods. He can do that. 

That Halloween, Ward makes an astronaut costume out of paper mache and an old painter's suit. It’s messy, but he wins the class costume competition, and he gets a ton of candy from trick-or-treating because everyone thinks he’s adorable.

That night, he stands on his bed in his costume holding a roll of tape and his award from the costume competition: a little box of glow in the dark stars and rockets. It’s a long way up to the ceiling, but if he climbs the headboard just right he can get onto his shelves, and from there it’s just a balancing act. Usually it’s scary getting up there, but now he’s an astronaut. He can do anything!

He scampers up the shelves and holds on with one hand as he tapes a star to the ceiling above his bed. Then another star, and then a rocket, and then a galaxy (A spiral nebula! He knows this one!) for good measure. He’s struggling to tear off another piece of tape for a shooting star when his mom clears her throat from the doorway and he nearly falls off the shelf.

When he gets his balance and turns towards her, she’s watching him with her usual smile: small, tired around the eyes, but affectionate.

Ward waves. Technically, he’s not supposed to be up there, but it’s Halloween and he won these stars fair and square.

“It’s past your bedtime, kiddo,” his mom says.

“But mom, look!” He holds up a big green star. “I have to put these up.”

“Hmmm,” she says, but she’s smiling in a way that Ward knows means she’s gonna let him stay up. “Okay. Just be careful, and make sure your lights are out soon.”

“Yes!”

His mom says, “G’night,” and turns to go. Her voice sounds kinda flat but kinda wobbly, which is how it gets when she’s really tired and needs a hug.

“Wait!” Ward calls after her. She turns. “Can you sit with me while I put up the rest of these? You could even help!”

She stares for a moment, then shakes her head. “I’m too tired tonight, kid. Can I help you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Of course, mom,” Ward says, even though he knows she has work tomorrow and he’s going to put all of the stars up tonight. But she smiles again, bigger this time, so it’s worth it. They have to take care of each other, and this is him taking care of her. She’s not happy all the time, but she’s smiling now, so Ward knows he’s doing something right.

He makes sure to be quiet putting the rest of the stars up. His mom needs to sleep.

—

Ward joins science club in sixth grade. It meets every Tuesday after school, and they spend the hour doing experiments or talking about new advancements in different fields. Students can sign up to present, so he signs up and gives a presentation on the mirrors on space telescopes. The teacher who runs the club, Ms. P, tells him afterwards that it’s one of the best researched presentations she’s ever seen. Ward beams.

After his presentation, someone starts a conversation about the possibility of alien life, and the club spends the rest of the hour arguing. Sources are pulled. Theories are made. Two of the seventh graders nearly get into a fistfight over whether or not there was ever liquid water on Mars. It’s the most fun Ward’s had in a long time, and he leaves in the middle of a group of friends all teasing each other and laughing.

It’s raining when they get outside. Ward sighs and sits down under the awning in front of the school, waving goodbye to friends who run off laughing and shrieking through the rain to their parents' cars. 

His mom is picking him up. She told him she’d be a bit late, but she promised to be there.

Ward waits. He does some of his history homework. He walks in tiny circles. He thinks about his telescope presentation. The rain drums on the ground and on the awning, steadily getting heavier. 

Ms. P leaves the school building, shouting a  goodbye over the downpour. Ward waves back, a sinking feeling in his gut. It’s been half an hour since school ended, and there’s no sign of his mom.

He does some of his math homework. It’s interesting enough.

The rain doesn’t let up.

Finally, after an hour has gone by, Ward gives up on waiting. No one is coming for him, and if he sits out here in the cold he’ll just get sick. He pulls up his hood, tucks his backpack under his jacket, and heads out into the rain with his head down. 

It’s a mile and a half to his house. Usually it takes forty five minutes, but in the rain without an umbrella it’s longer. Ward loses track of the time around the same time he starts shivering, and by the time he reaches the front door he’s just glad to be home.

He changes into dry clothes and makes himself tea and soup. He can feel himself getting sick, but he doesn’t call his mom. It’s fine. He knows that even if he did, her job wouldn’t let her off.

No one is coming for him. 

—

In his junior year of high school, Ward takes AP physics, AP calculus BC, and AP biology. Everyone, including his counselor, tells him he’s crazy, (although the counselor phrases it as “doing something highly inadvisable”) but he doesn’t care. He does his homework under the glow in the dark stars he put up when he was a kid, and he dreams of space. His dreams are different from when he was five, more I’m-gonna-discover-an-exoplanet and less I’m-gonna-discover-intelligent-alien-life, but the goal is still there. He’s going to go to space, no matter what. That’s what he reminds himself of when physics and bio have a test on the same day, or when his calc teacher announces that missed tests cannot be made up.

It’s what he reminds himself of on the days he comes home exhausted from school and finds that his mom hasn’t gotten out of bed all day. It’s what he reminds himself of the day he has to check her pulse to see if she’s alive or just sleeping. (She’s still breathing, but Ward has to spend the day checking up on her and making sure it stays that way. He emails his teachers. The biology and physics teachers understand. The calc one does not.) He’s bone-tired, but it’s going to be worth it some day. 

Ward gets through that year, and the next, and he graduates. He gets into every college he applied to. His mom hugs him tight, looking more alive than she has in months.

The night before Ward leaves for college, he stares up at the stars he put up years ago. They’ve been with him every night since he was five, and now he won’t have them. 

The idea is suddenly unbearable. Before Ward can think, he flips on the lights and climbs up on his bed and peels off the glow in the dark stars. He can reach the ceiling without climbing the shelves now. The stars go back in their original box, preserved on the top shelf for years, and he tucks them into a box along with his bedding.

A knock sounds on the door of his room. He opens it and sees his mom standing there, giving him the watery smile she’s been giving him for years.

“It’s past your bedtime, kiddo,” she says.

Ward tucks her into a hug, and they stay like that for a long time.

—

Ward smiles at the cockpit of his plane. It’s perfect, but it’s missing one thing.

He tapes a little glow in the dark star to the dashboard. There.

[milk-ducts]

[Brief] Thoughts on Film Theory's Analysis

I was gonna post this on my priv twt.. but moots convinced me to post it here so here we are.. beware of spoilers, gore, bla bla bla ..

FIRST OFF I'm gonna start by saying, I AM ESL. I may or may not have misinterpreted some of his words, but this is mainly how I thought of his analysis. This is not meant to be ill-guided or rude ! so sorry if it comes off as this way. I will be very repetitive.

Another thing, most if not all of the information matpat gave out i alr discussed with a few mutuals on discord about a few months back so this is not new territory to me 😭😭 I thought most folks would already knew the concept of how the brain deteriorates overtime But honestly, that indisposition shouldn’t even apply to omni man??? matpat tried to compare an immortal Viltrumite's psychology to that of an aging human's, which can be misguided.

Let's start by how he compares Nolan's brain to the average aging human's brain so the audience could understand his psyche more and how empathy declines overtime. First and foremost, Nolan is not a human, second; Nolan wasn't raised with empathy or around an empathetic environment - it was an alien concept to his race. Something frowned upon. He was raised from birth to conquer and destroy without remorse. His brain never developed those neural pathways for empathy in the first place. It's not that they deteriorated over time, they were never even formed.

By the time he came to Earth, all this familial stuff was new to him. Sure, he knew he was gonna outlive them, but He didn't think he'd get attached. HE didn't process that he'd grieve over them when the time came.

Interacting with humanity for the first time ignited unfamiliar emotions in Nolan that he didn’t know how to process.

His time living amongst humans caused conflicting feelings he’d never experienced in his centuries of systematic slaughter. Loving Debbie and Mark went against everything he was taught, but he couldn't help it. For once, the lives he was manipulating to further Viltrum’s goals meant something to him. He developed a [what he presumed, NOT what he felt about them in reality, his love for them is far more profound than he assumed it to be which we later on see in the last ep of s1 and the second season] petty facsimile of love for his ersatz family.

So no, his capacity for empathy didn't decline with age as MatPat claims. His empathy was stunted from the start. An underdeveloped skill, not a deteriorated one. We had characters like Debbie to help him understand those notions, help him grow it. With Mark in the mix? it only amplified that development.

Viltrumites are societally and culturally predisposed to violence and domination. Nolan was never accustomed to forming emotional connections or grieving loss. Those were entirely new experiences for him after arriving on Earth. He was not jaded. he was grown into jamais vu in viltrum.

This is why the whole conflict in s1 happened, he was treading between double lives he wasn't sure of. He was conflicted because his past values were refuting with his new experiences. He found love on Earth, he found himself unable to accept how he'd lose Debbie. Of How jaded Mark might become. Everything he said to Mark till that point was his own self-projections, his own fears, doubts.

While the video did provide some interesting facts about neuroscience and aging, the application of those facts to Nolan's character was inaccurate. IT is educational for those who don't know, but it isn't recent news that the brain begins to deteriorate overtime so this video wasn't that informative which kinda disappointed me. Their analysis lacked alot of information about the Viltrumite race and Nolan's character. Comparing him to humans with normal life experiences just doesn't work. His immortal nature combined with a lack of empathy from birth created a psychology unlike anything seen on Earth.

SORRY FOR RANTING ALOT AND OR IF IT SEEMS LIKE I'M GIVING MATPAT SHIT ... i really liked their analysis on immortal so i'll give them that. Immortal, unlike Nolan, was born human. He has lived among humanity for over 3000 years, inhabiting different identities of public and devoted historians. Because of this, his psyche developed quite differently. Immortal knows how to form connections, experience loss, and adapt to social changes. His perpetual existence didn't harden his heart like Viltrum's brutal culture did to Nolan. Instead, Immortal's immortality allowed his empathy and compassion to blossom.

Humans are social creatures. Our brains have evolved to seek out interpersonal relationships, crave affection, and find meaning in community. For an immortal like Immortal, social interaction is vital to staving off boredom, depression and detachment from humanity.

By inhabiting mortal lives, he stays tethered to the human experience. He continues learning, growing, and developing empathy.

This is why he's devastated when the guardians die.

This is also why he goes fucking mental and tries to kill Omni-man.

If Immortal had lived in isolation all this time, unable to connect with people, his psyche would likely resemble Nolan's more closely. Without social interaction, Immortal's brain would atrophy in ways that preclude complex emotions and moral reasoning. His sense of purpose would fade, achievements would lose meaning, and life itself might feel pointless. By engaging with humanity, Immortal gives his endless existence purpose and direction. He finds value in each temporary life, so loss still impacts him deeply. Socializing keeps his emotions and cognition flexible, which prevents the apathy and hardness of heart seen in Nolan. Nolan never had these opportunities in his early years, this is why it's more difficult for him to stray away from his indoctrination. It's that he's unused to it, underdeveloped.

60 years to Nolan would've been a year and a half, so what's 20 measly years on Earth for him? Yes, he found profound connections in that little speck of time, but Immortal's emotional capacity is far more extensive.

In summary, Comparing Nolan to a human, whether mortal or immortal, is kinda inaccurate. His Viltrumite psyche rules out him from possessing JADED human qualities. You could say he's desensitized to violence sure, but no.. unfortunately.. he does not have [boomer] brain. He has [indoctrinated alien-fascist brain]

Leave your own thoughts down below or through reblogs, I'm really interested on what others may think of this! (URGHHHNN... my hcs r slipping away from my fingers cuz now people r gonna accept what matpat says as truth.. someone gun me down from the hills..)

[mundaneblue]

Alien Stage Theory time!!

With Round 7 just around the corner, I felt it fitting to look back on my theories I've gathered so far and very heavily believe in. But my most CRUCIAL one that I always feel like talking about is:

Ivan meant for both him and Till to die in Round 6.

So I am of the opinion that Ivan did NOT plan to do the whole sacrifice at all.

It was spontaneous.

And I have several reasons to back this theory up.

So we all know that ever since Ivan and Till were kids, Ivan had been obsessed with the idea of them escaping together.

He knew Till valued “freedom” and because he did, Ivan started to value it too. But never alone. Only with Till.

Since Ivan went back to Anakt instead of escaping after Till did the same because of the fear of leaving Mizi.

Even in the scene where Ivan finds Till passed out in around 6, he looks helpless, and cradles his face in a “Dont worry, it’ll all end soon” kind of way.

So when Till stops singing and Ivan approaches him to kiss, the kiss was NOT planned.

Now this was the factor that surprised everyone. Even Unsha. It was so unexpected that he wished he knew what Ivan was thinking, but that’s the thing.

Ivan WASNT thinking.

Even Ivan himself was shocked at what he was doing since he had no control over his actions at that moment at all.

And this correlates to ivan's eccentric behaviour. As we know that ever since he was a child, he never really felt like he fit in with his fellow peers. This is very interesting to me as in Black Sorrow we are shown this picture of Ivan being very uninterested in spending time with the kids in his class. He has this mundane look of unamusement.

But as we look at more alien stage content, we see that Ivan was actually one of the most social in his class. Everyone admired him.

This shows that the rounds/videos don't necessarily mean what was infact happening but what the characters themselves felt.

This is also why I believe Ivan and Till were way more closer than what Ivan painted in his rounds. He just never felt the same love from Till, hence his constant inner mantra of wanting Till to look at him.

Now we've gotten that clear!

The main thing I want to deliver is that Ivan is an unreliable narrator. And he doesn't know how to handle his feelings in a methodical way. He has this distortive, almost possessive view when it comes to love and honestly that, to me, is what makes Ivan Ivan.

Ivan doesn't know how to properly think when he's faced with his emotions. He's used to tuning out his emotions to do things. So when his emotions get involved? It's like an electric shock and he relies on the thing closest to him to hold on to.

And that thing is Till.

Ivan was obsessed with Till. I'm sure we all know that but people really undermine his determination when it comes to Till.

I really do believe that Ivan planned for both him and Till to die in R6 as an ode to their longing for freedom.

Because all Ivan ever wanted was to be free with Till.

The counter statements that suggest he wasn't choking Till and merely had his hands on him simply doesn't sit with me as the animation clearly showed Ivan's hands clenching hard as he progressed to choke him.

Look at the dent formed by Ivan's fingers on his neck, right at the crucial point of air supply.

And Till is shocked but as he's gradually losing air, his eyes start to get heavy and he gets ready to accept the darkness that follow

And while Ivan is getting shot, he chokes him even harder.

Because that IS his goal.

For Till and him to die so they'd be together in whatever life that follows hereafter.

I disagree when I hear that Ivan meant to sacrifice himself for Till. Yes that did happen at the end but it was never what he initially intended. His initial intent was far more dark and possessive. Which is very on brand for a Vivinos character.

However, now we're getting to the sacrifice part and I believe this is where Ivan had a turning point.

As he gets his final shot and basically sees he's about to die, he looks at Till in surprise.

Because no matter how much he wished for them both to be together, he can't kill his God. He can't kill his Universe. Ivan is possessive but Ivan is also weak when it comes to him.

This smile of his shows that sentiment. "Ah I really can't go through with it afterall"

Ivan always believed he and Sua were similar but he resented her for sacrificing herself for Mizi. He believed he was better than that. He won't ever do that. Wherever Till goes, he goes. Yet, when he was actually faced with the task of doing it, he finally realised what Sua felt. Because Sua, just like Ivan, was also quite possessive of Mizi.

He couldn't do it, and at that moment he knew that he and Sua really weren't so different. Only difference was that while Sua was loved, felt love. Ivan never felt it.

Ivan did everything for Till. He stayed at Anakt for Till. He pursued alien stage for Till.

And his last act was also for Till. He wanted his last action to be for himself, to finally grant his long due wish of being with Till but he couldn't do it. And while the sacrifice was spontaneous, it was just so...easy to do. Because again, Ivan thought Till never cared as much about him as he did (abandonment issues at their finest) so him dying wouldn't really affect him as much.

This makes Ivan so much more tragic for me. And this heavily fits him as a complex character.

"Thank you for being the victim of my shallow emotions."

When were you or your feelings ever shallow, Ivan...

[creature-wizard]

So, a pretty damn concerning thing is going on with starseeds, and I think we need to all be aware of this - not just as a problem with starseeds, but as a thing that can potentially happen in any context, and without critical thinking and discernment, lead to some... pretty worrying outcomes, let's put it that way.

There's a number of people who basically start learning about starseeds from stuff like YouTube videos. They start feeling resonance with the concept (which of course they do; the concept of starseeds is built to prey on certain vulnerabilities); and then a short while later, they start having everything from dreams to visions as they spontaneously "remember" their past life on another planet.

Now just in case anyone reading this isn't aware, the thing about starseeds is, this is a concept that developed over the 19th and 20th centuries, and is fundamentally rooted in colonialism, eugenics, pseudohistory, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories that are often as not just thinly-veiled antisemitism. It rides on fabricated and distorted evidence that there was no possible way ancient people (mostly POC) could have constructed sophisticated architecture, and claims that they were constructed by aliens. They have no evidence of these alien visitors, mind. What they try to pass off as "evidence" is largely cherry picked and misrepresented mythology, sacred texts, etc. Occasionally these texts are modern forgeries or channeled literature, such as The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean - not to be confused with The Emerald Tablet. Oh, and one piece of influential literature in the starseed movement - Other Tongues, Other Flesh - claims that the swastika is a holy symbol among the "good" aliens. Meanwhile, the "bad" aliens are pretty obviously antisemitic stereotypes in space. The book's author, George Hunt Williamson, used to be buddies with an actual fascist/Nazi sympathizer, William Dudley Pelley.

In short, it's not just bullshit; it's incredibly obvious bullshit if you actually take the time to look into it properly. And we have a bunch of people who are spontaneously "remembering" past lives that fit into this bullshit narrative. Based on their own reports, these people aren't even being hypnotized or anything; they'll just spontaneously have "memories" come to them in the middle of the day or something.

So yeah, it's very important for people in witchy and occult communities, or any kind of fringe interest communities whatsoever, to understand that these kinds of experiences can happen, and that they don't necessarily have any bearing on reality whatsoever. Because we can see right here that acceptance of these experiences as absolutely valid is leading people down dangerous roads - including the New Age to Alt Right pipeline.

[batsplat]

Former MotoGP winner Marco Melandri has had a pop at reigning world champion Valentino Rossi via his Italian online blog marcomelandri.it. Melandri believes Rossi was fed bespoke tyres by Michelin before the French company were ousted from the MotoGP series after Bridgestone tyres won the sole supplier contract. Moreover, Melandri believes this is the reason Rossi's domination of the series is slowly diminishing: 'This is down to the fact that they don't make tyres anymore just for him,' wrote Melandri. 'This statement is meant to say that maybe Michelin, in 2004, had more than a small hand in the results. More like an arm.' There's more: Melandri goes on to say he believes Lorenzo's 'armchair' celebrations at this year's MotoGP from Le Mans had a more sinister message: 'Taking a closer look at it, you start to see more: the chair was yellow... like Valentino's yellow... which would say: "I, Lorenzo, am taking your place on your yellow chair".' When questioned about the stunt at yesterday's MotoGP press conference, Lorenzo looked puzzled, replying: "But the chair was green."

x

more of the blog entry under the cut

"Lorenzo's celebration was serious stuff, with a subtle yet biting message that only some will pick up on. Did you get it? Let's take a look at it together," Melandri wrote on his official website marcomelandri.it, with his words subsequently translated into English by Italian website GPone.com.

"When I rode by on the cool down lap, I saw Lorenzo sitting in front of the video screen and my first thought was: 'He is enjoying the sight of his own victory.' But noooooo!!!

"Taking a closer look at it, you start to see more: the chair was yellow... like Valentino's yellow... which would say: "I, Lorenzo, am taking your place on your yellow chair."

"Am I sitting down with the popcorn to enjoy my spectacular victory??? No, I am sitting here watching you cross the finish line, because I already passed it..."

Melandri also blasted Rossi for his response to the celebration and comment about the one-tyre rule.

"Valentino's statement: "I did it ten years ago"... Weak... followed by: "Now, with spec tyres, the rider can't make such a difference." This is down to the fact that they don't make tyres anymore just for him," wrote Melandri.

"This statement is meant to say that maybe Michelin, in 2004, had more than a small hand in the results. More like an arm.

"I don't want to say that anyone is right or wrong, but only put forth my theory that aliens don't exist," added the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider, referring to the label applied to MotoGP's present big four of Rossi, Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

And Melandri wasn't finished yet. He also gave his opinion on Rossi's 2011 plans and thinks it is simply too dangerous for Rossi to leave Yamaha if Lorenzo stays.

"I really want to see Valentino on the Ducati next year, but I think it is more likely he would go to Formula 1!" he wrote. "Not because the red bikes aren't competitive; I actually think they are much more competitive than you think. It is just hard for him to leave Lorenzo alone on the Yamaha, now that the bike has an incredible balance. It is too, too, too large a risk."

The Italian Grand Prix, the home event for both 2005 title runner-up Melandri and reigning seven time MotoGP champion, starts on Friday.

"In Italy they have a unique way of presenting bike racing to the general public: when Valentino wins and stages a celebration, it is an incredible show. But when others do it, they downplay the whole thing... hmmm!!!" said Melandri.

[picklerocket]

Happy 3rd Anniversary Little Nightmares 2!!

I have not finished my pointillism piece for the celebration, so it will have to be belated. Instead, I will share a disjointed rant about how I think Thin Man and the Signal Tower function!

In my mind, the Signal Tower from Little Nightmares 2 (pictured on the right) is a Lovecraftian Shoggoth (pictured on the left), and it crashed to the earth thousands- perhaps even millions of years before we see the game take place. This is a theory I have personally had since the game came out, but I know there is a theory video floating around somewhere about this same theory, and a few of my fellow fans also share it.

(If you have not played/watched LN played or listened to the podcast, and do not want it spoiled, be warned! Spoilers ahoy!)

I will attempt to explain how I see Thin Man and the Signal Tower having a sort of symbiotic relationship, and what exactly Thin Man is and where Mono comes from.

In "The Sound of Nightmares", we learn that children almost always get to the Nowhere in their sleep, with a few possibly having been born there (i.e. the Pretender). However, Mono seems different, and not just from Six. His abilities of walking through tv screens, and whatever other powers he possesses as he grows into Thin Man, seem to be completely natural to him- to the point that he must cover his face with a bag to keep them at bay.

I am going to take this a step further and say that Mono was not only born in the Little Nightmares universe, but he wasn't even born on their version of the earth!

This is where my theories begin to seem a bit far-fetched, so stay with me.

I have decided to call what Mono/Thin Man is, a "Broadcaster" (a name which was assigned to Thin Man by fans when he first appeared in the secret ending of the Residence DLC), and has been a populr name for him in fanfiction, as well as fanart and comics as well.

Well, now I want to take a closer look at Thin Man's powers- and how they are comprised of electromagnetic fields and frequencies of light. So why can Thin Man manipulate these things in his environment to the point where he can pretty much control reality?

Because he is part of a species- a "Broadcaster". An alien. He has these superhuman abilities because he isn't a human at all!

You may have noticed that I said "a" Broadcaster. Implying there are more- which I believe there are, somewhere, out in the universe. I personally think that they are ageless beings similar in life cycle to the fabled pheonix; Growing old and being reborn again new each time.

But where do these Broadcasters come from?

The way I think, the only way any being could manipulate the laws of matter and light could be to have it composing their bodies as well. Yes, I am indeed implying that Thin Man is a solid projection of light (yes, like a gem from Steven Universe lol). All this to say, I believe they are born amongst stars forming in nebulas. They are made of/powered by stars! Made of light!

I mean, think about it! Whenever he's seen in-game, he looks black and white and staticy just like he's on tv! Like he's made of fizzling and flickering light. But what about Mono? Mono is solid, and he can even die!

Well, we can explain Mono being more physical and vulnerable as him being a tiny baby of course! I don't think he's just trapped in a time loop by the Signal Tower- I believe the Broadcaster life cycle for Thin Man starts over when we see Mono wake up in front of the TV in the forest at the beginning of the game.

"But why is Mono 'born' as a 10/11 year old?"

That, my friend, is because the Shoggoth that composes this particular Signal Tower is garbage at approximating human anatomy! It's never seen a human baby, and therefore can only replicate what it has seen- children.

"But Pickle, what do you mean the Tower made him look human?? What???"

Well, if you were a giant behemoth that consumes entire populations, you'd need something to lure them in. Like an anglerfish! And what did I pose is made of light? Broadcasters. That's what I think so far. The Shoggoth rips through nebulas searching for a Broadcaster, and once it traps one it its body, it takes it to a planet and uses the Broadcaster's abilities to consume the populace. Make him look like them and plaster him all over their communications and entertainment.

So there you have it! My current Thin Man/Mono theories and headcanons. I may elaborate on this further, and draw up some broadcaster life cycle examples. Let me know what you think! 👁️✨

Again, Happy Anniversary Little Nightmares 2!! 🎉🎊🎁

[fandom-scatteredthoughtsonpaper]

Announcing a fandom community server!

Hi, guys! This is sorta directed at my followers but also Obey Me fans (and other fandom people).

I mentioned, like, a looong time ago I wanted to do a community server, but I didn't really understand how to use Discord, but since then I've been in a zine, a few collabs, and hosted my own collabs (currently running one for Lucifer 👀). So, I have the experience and knowledge of running a server now!

My urge to create a fandom-centric server has really bloomed and after sitting on the it for a year, I feel confident enough yet still anxious to release a link of an invitation to it (found at the bottom)! It's still fresh, and bots haven't been implemented yet, but I really want to push this out.

I myself am in a lot of different fandoms, obviously Obey Me, but also Baldur's Gate, Stardew Valley, Kingdom Hearts, Persona games, What in Hell is Bad, a few obscure fandoms (like Alien Stage and Touchstarved) and older ones (Homestuck), so I have all the intentions to have this server be inclusive to webcomics, anime and manga and adjacent media, games from standard video games to phone games, graphic novels, books, otome and romance stuff, indie media like web series, cartoons, and games, and more as it grows.

I also want this server to be a hub for writers and artists to share their stuff they're too awkward or anxious to post and receive feedback, and as a place to get to know fellow-minded people in shared fandoms. AUs, theories, headcanons, crossovers, self-inserts, your MCs/OCs - all allowed!

A few things to note:

This is a fandom community server, but it might start out as Obey Me heavy because I'm trying to direct attention to that fandom since that's the one I am mostly in and participated in most things as a fan.

Adults and minors (16+) are allowed, but there are rules implemented that divide channels into SFW and NSFW categories and channels.

Writers, artists, content creators, cosplayers, fans that dabble, etc. are enthusiastically welcomed

The server can also function with channels regarding roleplays and self-publishing (commissions, Etsy shops, etc.)

I really want this server to kinda be a central spot for small fandoms or dying fandoms (like Obey Me) or old fandoms or growing fandoms and ones in-between basically non-existent and probably way too big. I want the server to be a community of different fandoms and the people that incorporate them, and I want it to be a fun place to just either relax with other fans and share works you like or works you've made or as a place to just dip in a silently lurk to look at what people are talking about or look at what is shared or as a place to lose your fucking minds when updates happen or something wild or devastating in the media occurs.

I want this to be a respectful but enjoyable place to come to and join and feel like you can invite friends or maybe even make friends!

Hard rules:

Before entering though, the server has a soft screening process for people to join.

Verifications will be done by me to make sure no one with ill intentions has a chance to cause harassment or harm to members. Fandoms can be toxic and mean in public places like here and Twitter, but this server will be, to the best of my ability, a space away from that.

Absolutely no pedophilic content is allowed. Like, none. It'll be one of the fastest things to get you kicked and banned and blacklisted.

There are rules and specific channels for certain ships and certain explicit content that can be talked about in the server if there are any questions.

This server is for fandom communities and politics and religious hot takes are not applicable here. This is a designated relief zone and none of that is really welcome.

I think that mostly covers the sales pitch and important stuff, lol.

So with all that out of the way--

Link to join: https://discord.com/invite/g8VeSe4t

[limecaine]

House of Leaves: The Perception Theory

People apparently liked my last post, so this is another House of Leaves Theory I posted on reddit

Do you know when you first enter a new place, like maybe a new video game or a town you’ve never been to before, and you are in awe of the sheer massiveness of the place. And then over time, as you become more familiar with it, it shrinks down to a manageable size? All of that happened just within your head.

Hi everyone. Some in my last post suggested I write about some of the explanations I have for the “docility problem,” or “why does the house start out dormant and become more aggressive over time?” This is something that I’ve been brewing in my head for a while: The Perception Theory.

The Perception Theory states that the house is a sort of distorted mirror. Anything the inhabitants believe about the house is reflected and becomes true. This is not only about conscious perception but memory as well. Like I pointed out in the opening, new places feel larger. To the Navidsons, the house was a place to be conquered and controlled even before the supernatural events begin. They believed the house was larger, so it became larger - the first hallway. When first moving into a new house, it’s normal to discover new areas and rooms that you didn’t find or forgot about until after a while of living there. The family wasn’t consciously aware of every facet of the house - and were away during this time - and this created a “hole” that the house filled with a pitch black hallway.

It is to be noted that this “perception” element only affects humans. Hillary and Malory (if you forgot, I don’t blame you, but they were the family cat and dog) were completely unaffected by the house, and the motion activated cameras were not triggered by the first Hallway appearing. It’s something innate within us that causes this effect. Curiosity, imagination, higher order thinking, possibly.

This becomes the basis for a snowball effect. Now that the Navidsons’ perceptions of the house were skewed by this new discovery, the whole house grew by 5/16”, then there was the bookcase event, and then the echo chapters. As humans, we can use echo as a way to gauge how large a space is. When the Navidsons first hear an echo within their house, again, the perception is altered. Larger and larger the home grows… that’s until the second Hallway manifests. Again, it is a freezing cold area with absolutely no discernible features. An uncanny mix of a familiar hallway with something extremely alien and empty.

It reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Some have pointed out that the rooms at the end of the film that Dave resides in are as if an alien with a superficial knowledge of humans tried to build a “zoo” for them. It’s familiar, it’s human, but everything is in the wrong place. The lights are on the floor and all the furniture placement seems off. Rooms are mirrored and even time is warped. In House of Leaves, the labyrinth is like an entity tried to extrude a house without knowing what makes a house… a house. The inhabitants’ perceptions made it larger, but because they didn’t know what they would find so it manifests as nothing, void, the bare minimum.

It should be noted that there are two kinds of “furniture” within the house, doors and banisters. That significance is unknown to me.

The Perception Theory also explains why the exploration team’s supply cashes are destroyed. Halloway brings a gun, anticipating a monster or some kind of enemy within the halls. This causes scratch marks to appear on the neon signs and caches. They were destroyed because the team expected to find them destroyed. The buttons on their shirts disappear not because they were arbitrarily consumed, but because they were not being kept track of. u/kingshaux pointed out something else that was interesting:

Notice how the House only really starts acting like Holloway’s enemy as soon as he starts seeing/treating it like one, almost as if it’s offended/defensive, like a person.

The house reflected Holloway’s hostility onto himself, becoming aggressive towards him but also (attempting to) protect Wax and Jed in the door shutting scene. Holloway expected to be attacked and killed by a monster, but the real monster was him, being reflected back by the house. The teamed exploration occurred at the same time the place outside the hallways started to be referred to with terms aligning with a war. Bases, fronts, attacks, SOS, outposts… the inhabitants’ intentions went from exploration to war. After they find Holloway’s suicide tape, the house tries to consume everyone like it did Holloway. It’s now an enemy in their minds.

The spiral staircase scenes are a major point of the Perception Theory. First of all, it appears that they go down forever, so they go down for a very very long distance. It takes the team days to reach the bottom. But now they they’ve confirmed that there is, in fact, a bottom to it, it takes Navidson 5 minutes to walk down it. Because the perception that it was bottomless changed, the distance changed as well.

So why does the distance stretch so far when Navy tries to leave? Not only does it stretch to an absurdly large size, it’s also a metaphorical distance, as he becomes more and more distant from Karen and his family. Because his connection to the outside is waning. He is mentally consumed by the house at this point, ignoring his wife’s wishes to enter inside (even though it was to save the team, Navidson wanted to go back anyway) the Hallways. But Navidson’s determination wins, as he climbs to bridge that distance even if it might be in vain. He makes it back to Tom. He makes it back to Karen.

This leaves some questions. If Karen’s perception of the house was so fearful, how does she save Navidson in the end? If we assume the colonials weren’t expecting to find anything in the area, why did they find stairs? How did it consume Karen’s Feng Shui and/or did she forget about it? Where does the cat go? Why can the house only manifest doors and hallways?

I get that that’s kind of a lot of loose ends but I didn’t want to make this post too long. Thanks for reading and tell me your ideas.

[rou-luxe]

THEORIES

babe wake up tragic yaoi dropped *THIS ACCOUNT DOES NOT USUALLY POST ALNST FANTHEORIES. IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. theories / commentary / spoilers under the cut

I don't know 100% ALNST lore... most of this is speculation I think some people have commented on this already but apparently the one in the couple who wears white dies (Sua, Ivan) Following this pattern, Hyuna x Luka's relationship is complicated but if we go by that Luka is dying next round... But the next round is Till vs Luka, which would be different from the pattern (Sua vs Mizi, Ivan vs Till)... so maybe to complete the pattern Hyuna puts herself in instead of Till. mom pick me up I'm scared On top of that, Ivan wore black before, but switched to white. Does this have to do with something... (Was Till supposed to die instead...) Luka and Hyuna evidently have VERY different singing styles though so that would be interesting def Also the characters look older (not only the haircut man... they're taller) so I wonder... how much time has passed in ALNST??? and is it proportional to irl time (probably not) Not sure about the other videos I need to check but this time there are human spectators amongst the aliens in the crowd for the first time??? is alnst so powerful that they want to watch the showdown too??? Till sounds like he's about to break poor bb Till's lyrics in the beginning start off hopeless, asking someone to hurt him. To dissolve and drown in someone, to become one with them. Definitely Mizi. When Till's master shoves his face towards the newspaper, he's probably telling him to snap out of it, sing properly and let go of Mizi??? Then Till gets his ahh beat and he reaches for Mizi, his one hope in the darkness "Icy lips" - he already thinks Mizi is dead??? Ivan's eyes look empty. interruption from mizisua sponsor /j Even though the MIZISUA video is more of a backstory video, it also suits Round 1. I think it might suit Ivantill as well hold on When Mizi and Sua found each other (refer to MIZISUA video), Sua has lost hope already, but Mizi's love gives her some hope in the dark. Then they are torn apart, but still want to be together. The one who lives (Mizi) is in grief. Ivan's empty eyes look like he has lost hope, just like Sua. Till gave him a reason to keep going (see: Black Sorrow, their relationship shown in Cure <- this video)

Back to the video Till laying there by himself, Ivan moves the (muzzle?) restriction, maybe to help him breathe Ivan's verse reflects Till's but it's different in multiple ways "Cold words" - Referring to Till? (well... till has always been naturally sassy...) Similar to Till's statement in the first part, Ivan is saying that Till can break him apart and build him back again (mend) I guess they fought and became friends 💀 "I'll drown in you" as well. Till would sacrifice himself for Mizi, Ivan would sacrifice himself for Till (CRIES) Ivan feels "seen" by Till, Till wants to dissolve in Mizi's gaze Why does he reach for the back of Till's neck? Till unawares (sleeping)? Are the two somewhat related? Ivan reaches for Till (love) but Till unaware (once again 💀) Consume me + licking the blood from Till's wound. they really want to become one person don't they 2:46 Ivan turns away from the camera is he giving Till a kiss on the cheek or is he whispering something to Till in his sleep we'll never know

"We shall dance", with "our story". TOGETHER. THEY WANT TO BE TOGET- *gets shot* PLEASE LET THEM BE YAOI AGGHGH everlasting memory this moment will last forever THE KISS SCENE I WAS SO HAPPY AT FIRST AND THEN WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED I rewatched this video too many times the animation just too pretty man 😭 Till pushes him away I noticed this in a lot of promo arts and stuff because yk Mizi

okay back to the video Ivan's expression when he chokes Till kind of looks like him looking down at the camera like he did at the end of Black Sorrow am I reading too into this Till gives up. He doesn't even fight the choking. Normally this would be uncharacteristic but yk Mizi 😭😭 I'm confused how Ivan gets hit??? I think it's bullets but who knows maybe the rain is possessed or maybe Ivan did it himself Like in Till's song (it's been confirmed by the creators that Till killed his enemy to win apparently), if the enemy is killed then you win. Ivan sacrificed himself so Till could win, so Till could live There was also a theory I read that Luka was pissing off Mizi so she would fight back, so she would continue living BUT LUKA IS A WHOLE OTHER STORY THIS ISN'T ABOUT LUKA WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IVANTILL At the end of MIZISUA video, Mizi wakes up crying in the rain. Till stands in the rain staring at Ivan's corpse (but we don't see the body) The light is focused on Ivan, not Till. The light of Ivan's life has been snuffed out, but it also leaves Till in darkness I was expecting Till to make some sort of movement once the lights turned off but nope omg Luka vs Till... Till is gonna kill his ahh for disrespecting Mizi 💀 THE OTHER YAOI DUO!! WHAT HAPPENED TO HYUNA BRO IS MAMA GONNA DIE WHO INTRUDED imagine if the intruder was luka that would be so funny also there is a heavy heartbeat motif in the kick drums for the song omg there is no heartbeat during the music when - Kid Ivan stares deadly at the camera (it stops there) - Ivan enters stage - They build the heartbeat motif again slowly during the backstory part - back to life. Starts with a single kick then double - Ivan is falling insert ivantill my god my universe memes again, Till is literally Ivan's reason for living

thank you for reading my nonsense ramblings it's 3:30 am Ivantill is worth staying up any day THIS IS NOT PROOFREAD I am CRYING 🔥🔥 WE COPE GOOD NIGHT might draw ivantill fanart... doubt I have time though

[huecycles]

deleted the post because honestly, doing callouts was never something i'd envision myself doing, even if i was (am) very upset about the situation.

i also don't want the whole thing to spiral out of control, and i really didnt wanna make a public post in the first place. i was just at the end of my rope and have been for past few months. this literally all started due to me getting attacked all day long yesterday for posting trans utdr art to my youtube community tab, so yeah you can guess what happened. lots of blatant transphobia to deal with, and AGAIN the usual: people arguing with me on kris' pronouns, say i'm "disrespectful" and "shoving headcanons down people's throats" and "alienating" people or whatever bullshit, to like 41% jokes. i was understandably stressed out. so when i was informed about the post they made, i simply lost it. the coincidences were just too damn strong to ignore.

i still saw no reason to attack determinators for my own bad day and was willing to hear them out and hoping to god it was all a stupid misunderstanding. if they're telling the truth about the "dess theory stealing" not being about me, i understand the fact they didnt take any screenshots because of course why would they have. and i completely understand and relate to their paranoia regarding the 4chan incident, i really do. what happened to them was absolutely disgusting and inexcusable.

i am however done with this situation because i have way too much going on in my life right now (i will discuss these things more calmly probably through art or a video because.. i kinda want/need to and have been bottling it up for a while) and i honestly don't care anymore about whether or not the post was referring to me. it doesn't matter anymore, this isn't great for my mental health and making a callout post only complicates things as i'm not really on board with this stuff myself. so i deleted it which i think was the right thing to do, and want to leave this behind. that's all i have to say on this tbh

[respectthepetty]

@angelsindeepconversation asked what is my deal with JittiRain in the comments (very kindly, super nicely, no hostility, just a question), but as many of you know, this is a floodgate.

First, let me state I cannot write a story to save my life. If an extraterrestrial being came down to Earth and told ME to write a satisfying story or else its alien race would destroy the planet, I'm sorry fam, but we'd all be goners, so I respect what JittiRain does.

BUT

For me, ME, and possibly only me, JR's stories constantly leave me asking "¿pero porque?" ("but why?"). Others can and should provide their reasons, but, FOR ME, the plot would be quickly wrapped up if the answers to that question were simple, but for some reason, JR never makes it simple. The plots always have to be outrageous and convoluted.

*spoilers*

I'll start with JR's latest offering, Vice Versa. If you watched the Our Skyy 2 special, you'll remember that Puen is worried he and Talay are falling out of love due to them not making time for each other. It was a cute installment UNTIL one of their friends came up with the idea of dropping off his toddler nephew in the middle of a rainy night on their doorstep in order for the two men to bond over taking care of a kid.

¿pero porque? - but why not a dog or something? Why an actual tiny human being who is being manipulated into this?

Puen figured out what was happening, yet went along with it.

¿pero porque? - but why not tell Talay who was stressing out? Why lie to the man you are actively trying to make a long-term relationship work with?

But then again, in the original series, Talay and Puen were together for over two years without Puen sharing his real name with Talay.

¿pero porque? - but why not tell Talay SINCE YOU LOVE AND TRUST HIM? and that's possibly the reason y'all can't return to your original universe for TWO YEARS!

But that's just my thinking, you know? And I'm also bias because I'm always asking these types of questions with JR's shows.

Theory of Love - Khai thinks Third loves him, so he decides to TEST Third. Third shows no signs of loving Khai, but Khai finds a video of Third crying as he confesses to liking Khai but being too afraid to lose their friendship to do anything, so Khai decides to HURT Third in the worst ways, so Third won't be in love with him and they can be just friends including kissing Third, calling him a girl's name, and lying to him about being drunk while he did it. ¿pero porque? ¿PERO PORQUE?"

2gether - Why not have Sarawat admit to Tine that he liked him for OVER A YEAR? Why all this strange stand-offish energy? (This was also an issue with Star in My Mind which wasn't a JR series, so understand it's just not JR). ¿pero porque?

Still 2gether - Tine and Sarawat have to be apart for a few weeks for *reasons* which makes Tine very sad because Sarawat never calls, but it's all good because Sarawat actually was at Tine's very first event since he has been in love with him forever which means that basic ass lie from the first season STILL POPS UP IN SEASON TWO! ¿pero porque?

Fish Upon the Sky - Mork likes Pi and has been Pi's ONLY friend for a while, but Mork's identity is a secret. When they meet in real life, Pi has no idea Mork is his online buddy and rejects Mork several times. Instead of Mork telling Pi "hey, I'm your online buddy," Mork just . . . doesn't instead opting to continue lying to Pi until he wins him over. ¿pero porque? Oh, and Pi's brother pretends to be a dentist to get his guy, and the lie runs so deep that he goes to a village to perform dental exams even though he doesn't know a damn thing.

So do you see a pattern here?

Instead of Puen telling Talay about the kid or his name, he lies.

Instead of Khai telling Third he knows he likes him, he lies.

Instead of Sarawat telling Tine he has always been there for him and always will be, he lies.

Instead of Mork telling Pi he is his online buddy, he lies.

¿PERO PORQUE?

The lies are so tiny, it makes me think why would someone lie about that, and strangely, JR never gives us a real reason. We can assume, but the narrative doesn't state that Puen was worried that Talay would not truly love him if he found out Puen was a big time actor (even after two years of Talay proving he would love him regardless). Khai realizes his error, but instead of telling Third, he runs away for WEEKS while his friends think he DIED, then comes back and gets upset at Third for moving on like he didn't do it to himself.

All BLs have issues, but JR makes the issue the entire plot, and it goes in a circle until I'm screaming "JUST FUCKING TELL HIM ALREADY!"

So to answer your question - Be My Favorite has no obvious lies right now. Pear knows Kawi is her buddy. Kawi knows Pisaeng is his buddy. Pisaeng kissed Kawi in the future so it's obvious he likes Kawi. Pisaeng knows Kawi likes Pear. Everyone knows everything . . .

except what we don't know, and that is what will kill us all.

Unless there is no lie.

(And this is why I am scared)

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 041 - Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 2 Episode 16 - Future Tense

In this episode the episode picked up a derelict pod and... while episode takes a while to get round to figuring out what this is, and it makes for a fun mystery, I'm just gonna say it here: It's a TARDIS! Bigger on the inside, Time Travel, slightly alive, the art designs on the ships interior walls look kinda Gallifreyan. It's a TARDIS. I don't care what the episode calls it, it's a TARDIS

At first they think it's some kind of weird escape pod or shuttle, but that theory doesn't add up, and they slowly piece together what this thing is over the course of the episode.

Trip and Malcom are left to study the TARDIS while Archer and T'Pol take the dead pilot to Phlox to try and get an identity out of it. The corpse is mostly human, with other bits of Alien DNA added in and notably, wearing a similar kind of uniform that Crewman Daniels was wearing in Shockwave, a nice hint at where the pilot really came from.

The TARDIS however, is lot more interesting. Firstly, they notice it has no propulsion system. Big mystery is: How did it get into space then? Next, they discover organic circuitry and then... well:

It's a delight getting Bigger on the Inside moments from the Enterprise Crew! I don't know if Dominic Keating grew up on Doctor Who, but Malcolm's reaction was Spot On.

They don't get much of a chance to explore, because the Suliban showed up and attacked in an attempt to take it, which definitely ties this into the whole Temporal Cold War thing, shadowy villain guy isn't seen, but it's 100% him who's after it. The Suliban incursion into Enterprise's launch bay was a fun action scene.

After the information about the ship and pilot are given to Archer, he decides it's important to check the database in Daniels' quarters, and they do find it's schematic. The episode calls it's engine "Temporal displacement drive".

Phlox with T'Pol had a delightful conversation about the nature of Time Travel and The Vulcan Science Directorate's rigid stance on the topic. Trip and Malcolm's conversation about knowing the future through time travel was also excellent.

Trip and Malcolm start attempting to reverse engineer the TARDIS, but kinda get stuck in a loop every time they start taking it apart. Kinda like that bit in City of Death where the Doctor and Romana stumble across a groove in time. I would share video of the scene, but I already used my one video for this post. Oh well.

I had a lot of fun with this episode. It had a good bit of philosophy and it raises a lot questions about the various factions in the Temporal Cold War, especially when we have the limit perspective of our Crew, I really want to know who the Thollians are working for. The actions scenes were excellent too! The three way space battle at the end was spectacular!

Also now that I know the future has proper actual TARDISes, I want to see crewman Daniels Photoshopped into Time Lord Robes. Stupid Collar and all.

[anyataylorjoys]

Okay I know you said not to get you started but I would like to hear about the aliens theory

Oh boy... Well watch Ancient Aliens on history channel if you live in the US but I'm sure it's streaming somewhere or look up videos on youtube. Read Chariots of the Gods. There is so much compiled evidence to draw solid conclusions to what our ancient ancestors saw such as analyzation of glyphs carved into walls depicting modern day technology, what they referred to as "The Gods", and what we know of stories pertaining to Greek mythology. It all makes so much more sense than the things we were taught growing up of these elaborate method theories on how humans could've built the pyramids by hand with absolute mathematical precision (which is impossible) and constructed architecture that humans today with modern technology still couldn't build. The reason as to why these structures were built is still unclear, although they were thought to be used as a power device combined with their technology source. It is believed that there are multiple species of Aliens, including what we call "the greys" who people claim to be abducted by alongside the Reptilians. Over many millennia they been here and at some point the different species clashed and battled over their agendas with the human race. Our planet is unique (this we already know) and likely has resources they need. Our species is unique and I believe they are intrigued by us. I think there are species who have an insidious agenda, or are using us to further their agenda in some way, or a species who are monitoring the human race out of fascination. and others who only care to protect this planet because it is their home too which is why every time we fuck with nukes, ufos show up to the site and deactivate them, this is not classified! People always say they're from space, but I believe some of them could be inter-dimensional and maybe have crossed over to ours by accident.

I think we haven't found "the missing link" because that link belongs to a species of Ancient Alien deities called the Anunnaki and they are long gone but I believe they spliced their DNA with the ape-like creatures that were here on this planet thousands of years ago- stories told that sound similar to the creation of humans in the Bible. There's evidence that suggests Homo sapiens (modern humans) lived alongside Neanderthals (the first human/apelike creatures). Had we evolved from them, this would not have been possible. It also doesn't make sense for us to have evolved from apes because why have they all remained so unchanged? Also if you've ever heard of "Nephilim" they're known as the offspring of "The Gods" and humans. These were the creatures in mythology who are referred to as the giants which lived before the flood but I'm not gonna get into that.

These are my beliefs based on a lot of evidence and readings from vast cultural references but also from watching Ancient Aliens they go into great detail about all this stuff. This is kinda like a religion for me except there is no worship involved, I just strongly believe in it. TL;DR: The "Gods" were not Gods at all, they were aliens with technology too advanced for people to understand or explain and we are the product of ape-like beings and a species of Alien that existed here thousands of years ago. There are people who have dedicated their lives to studying Ancient Alien theory across the globe who will tell these stories. A lot of people don't wanna buy into any of this kinda stuff cause it interferes with their belief system. Even if you think it's insane, it's worth looking into because it's quite fascinating and fact has proven historically to be stranger than fiction.

[nesisamess]

i am GUESSING that one of the points of the drdt mv was to overload us with so much information that it is hard to pick out what is important and what is inconsequential… that being said, here are a few things i noticed/am hypothesizing (also this will contain spoilers for the mv AND for chapter 2, plus fair warning that most of this may be nonsensical if you haven’t watched the video <3)

first off: the wingding translations at 0:36

so i translated it and… it’s just a rickroll. that’s it. huge L moment for me when i realized

next: the girl at 1:05

her hair is too different to be Mai and she doesn’t look like any of the female students, so I ruled that out. My first thought was that she was David’s sister, Diana, but i’m a little unsure of this theory because I’m not even sure Diana is real (this relates to note #11, since the amount of spaces match up with Diana’s name, but i’m not sure since i couldn’t find the 11 in the mv itself)

the crossword puzzle at 1:22 aka #1 in the description notes.

(note: sorry for my very crappy drawing lmao)

you can see that if you adhere to the note in the description and use their proper first names, it fills in perfectly. However, instead of having David’s name anywhere in the crossword, instead we have Mai. The description says to “exclude our protagonist” (in this case that would be David) so this makes sense.

I honestly know next to nothing about Mai (i’m unsure if information about her is out there and if so where to find it), so the importance of her being included might be lost on me.

Also: Each of the characters has a roman numeral attached to them so this might relate the roman numerals that pop up throughout the video? Idk, just something to think about.

at 2:02 it shows the same sort of voting thing that we saw at the end of chapter 2, however this time all 16 votes are voted towards one person. we know this couldn’t be possible for any future case as too many people are dead, so I wonder if this is just representative and doesn’t actually reference any real game event? this also relates to #12 in the description. it was at this point when i realized they were out of order, since I saw 15 and 17 beforehand

at 2:23 Xander shows up, along with the lyrics “if something is important, then it’ll break and disappear” which makes me heavily question how David actually feels about him. Beforehand, I figured that David was lying about looking up to Xander and was just saying that as a part of his whole fake persona, but I’m starting to question if he was telling the truth even maybe a little bit. this could be talking about something else, though, like Xander’s importance to figuring out the mastermind or something like that.

at 2:40 it shows this string of letters and numbers along with ‘correct’ at the top and ‘incorrect’ at the bottom. the note it relates to, 13, has a character that also means correct/positive

Throughout, there are many references to literature and the such, but one of the few that I recognized which was mentioned a few times: No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (Speaking of, it’s an intensely interesting novel and I highly recommend checking it out and also researching some of the history behind the author)

Now, in the novel, the main character seems handsome and charismatic to others, but both he and the narrator of the beginning and end book describe him as inhuman, troubled, and disturbed. He is able to keep a facade when underneath, he feels intensely alienated from society and others. It does, honestly, remind me of David in some ways—people want to follow him because of his charisma, but in reality he is not who they think he is. I should probably leave this part short, since I could most likely write a whole thesis about No Longer Human, but there are a ton of parallels between Ōba Yōzō and David if you want to do more research into No Longer Human.

A few miscellaneous thoughts:

I have absolutely no clue what the various items at 2:56 relate to. My first idea was that certain items related to certain characters (Ex: the broken clock is eden’s, the hair clips, megaphone, and fan letters are David’s, and the portraits for the corresponding people) but I also think these items could all just relate to David in some way (If so, I find the materials for a noose and the serpent incredibly interesting)

It’s weird that Hu was included in the credits along with the other characters we might expect. I didn’t think David held much stock in their ‘friendship’ at all, but maybe it was more important than I originally thought?

I decided to not try and dissect the lyrics as I believe that would be better done by someone who has a better understanding of Japanese than I do

In total, I could find the pieces that relate to 1, 2, 7, 9, 12, and 15-21. I considered that the roman numerals could be the numbers in the description also, especially since note 10 mentions roman numerals, but I doubt it since there are numbers which double up as both normal and as roman numerals.

and last but not least, the morse code at the very end. It translates to:

“You still believed in me despite everything I’ve done. But that’s just fantasy, isn’t it? I simply chose to believe that you did. After all, I’m incapable of being someone without you.”

this took an hour to translate only for me to scroll down the comment section and see someone already had translated it :,)

ANYways this is really really interesting, even though it is very ambiguous. Is the speaker David? If so, who is he speaking to? If it is David, this leads me to believe that his “breakdown” might also be an act, and he might still truly care what other people think of him. It also brings up a lot of questions, like who is he speaking to??? fr i want to know. I just know this boy has Trauma and I want to Know It.

if you saw anything I missed or I made a mistake somewhere please tell me!! I wrote this from 1 to 4 am because Hyperfocus and i watched the video probably 5x over on .25 speed (not including repeating certain sections). I know there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t include, I probably didn’t because I wasn’t sure of the importance or I didn’t want to make this too long (failed on that goal but oh well), but if you have another perspective please share!

[mattnben-bennmatt]

As half of the world's most dazzling celebrity couple, Ben Affleck's life outshone his career. So now that the Ben and J.Lo show is over, what comes next?

A HOLLYWOOD ENDING

Rolling Stone (1 April 2004)

by Janice Dunn

What was your tipping point when it came to Ben Affleck, the moment you threw your hands up and said, "Enough"? Was it when he and Jennifer Lopez canceled their wedding? When he bought her a Bentley? When she fried up chicken cutlets for him on TV? When his career became secondary to their celebrity? Maybe it was the precise moment that he put his hand on her bikini-ed butt in the "Jenny from the Block" video. Until that point, the nation feasted on the details - his strip-club visit, the six-carat rock that he gave her. The Latina bombshell - with her fur coats and high heels, her ex-husbands and her appetites - and the handsome square-jawed movie star! She's Bronx, he's Boston! Then indigestion set in. "Our relationship was written about so much that it just alienated people," says Affleck, who claims that he is as sick of the spectacle as you are. "I feel like a guy who is almost at the finish line. Then I'll sort of disappear for a good long time, and not be... this person."

The pair's year-and-a-half romance ebbed in January, and now Affleck is in the awkward position of having to talk about "Jersey Girl", a film that actually documents their falling in love. Affleck plays a music publicist whose wife, Lopez, dies in childbirth soon after the film begins.

"Jersey Girl" is no "Gigli" fiasco - it focuses much more on his relationship with his young daughter and his later love interest, played by Liv Tyler, than it does on Lopez, whose face has been banished from the ads and posters. "This is my favorite thing that I've done," says Affleck, lounging in his office at his LA production company, which is staffed with swinging young employees who sift through tapes for the Project Greenlight cable series that he co-produces for Bravo. Affleck recently asked JG director Kevin Smith, his longtime pal, if he was angry at him for suggesting that Smith cast Lopez as his wife. "It was more a way of saying, 'Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen.' I felt badly that the tabloid craziness would overshadow what is a really personal work."

Affleck, unlike most other actors, is tall in person (six feet three). He wears jeans, work boots and a gas-station jacket. Usually gregarious, he is incredibly closed off on this particular day. He won't make eye contact, and there are uncharacteristically long silences before he speaks.

"You caught me at the tail end of a life spent entertaining the press, and I'm a little bit weary of it, having been betrayed hundreds of times," he says. "But don't worry. I'll warm up." He looks at the floor.

OK then. Who gets the ring? "That's a ballsy way to start," Affleck says with a brittle laugh. "There was no ring. It was a fraud perpetrated on the American public." He won't reveal the reason why the two split. "I haven't had conversations with my close friends about this relationship."

Smith has his own theory on the breakup. "I totally blame the media," he says. "It's tough to live your life under a fucking microscope, and now turn that microscope into a high-powered, shooting-into-space telescope that's constantly focused on you like a laser. I thing that really played a big, big fucking part."

Affleck says he still talks to his ex and allows that the split was mutual. "I think any relationship that ends, by definition, ends mutually," he says. He clears this throat. "Sensible people are able to recognize that. I mean, relationships are mysterious and hard to fathom, but when it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and you just have to accept it gracefully."

He tosses a baseball in the air, faster and faster. "I'm not that interested in assigning blame, because I think it's illusory, anyway," he says, although he does agree with his ex-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow's recent comment that he makes life hard for himself. "She's probably right about that," he says. "I trust her opinion about most things. Not all, but most. I think I probably do get in my own way."

That said, he maintains that he is an easy person to live with. "I'm a very pleasant, low-maintenance guy," he says. "I'm not picky about things, like the house has to be this way or that way. I don't have some particular way I like to eat, or 'We have to go to this restaurant.'" He lights a cigarette and takes a vigorous drag. "But really living with somebody is about more than who does the dishes and if they pick up after themselves. And in some ways I'm probably not the easiest guy in the world." He is restless, for instance. "I have lots of interests, lots of energy, but there's definitely a negative side to that as well."

He and Lopez first lived together in Philadelphia during the filming of JG, then afterward in Los Angeles in Lopez's house. Now that he has moved out, he is staying with friends while he searches for a place to rent. He was interested in one house, but someone else had put an offer on it first. "It was Nelly," he says ruefully. "Me and Nelly, vying to rent a house. Nelly got it, by the way."

Affleck is self-effacing without actorish false humility, and will beat you to any punch line about himself, making jokes about his save-the-world film roles and calling "Gigli" a "bomberoonie, the 'Ishtar' of our time." The phone rings in his office.

"I can't pick up," he bellows at his assistant. "The light isn't flashing."

"It is, too," she hollers back.

"Quit talking about the light flashing," yells another employee.

"You see the respect I get around here?" he says, pushing phone buttons.

In person, Affleck is deeply likeable. Quick-witted, with a ribald sense of humour, he's an excellent mimic, endlessly entertaining with a stream of constant "bits." An equal-opportunity flirt who loves bantering back and forth, he's the sort of guy who leaves a party and everyone else trails out five minutes later.

"He's not completely obsessed with himself, like other people in his profession," says his pal Chris Moore. "He can talk about who should be the next president, or why he thinks it's OK that the Red Sox didn't get A-Rod. And he's just been a real loyal friend. He's always found time to be there when I needed to talk to him."

Affleck is fully aware of the schaedenfreude directed toward him and studiously avoids reading magazines or watching any TV shows in which he might be featured. "Otherwise I'll just get bent out of shape," he says. "I'm not even going to jump up and down and send letters to the lawyers anymore. I tried suing. It doesn't work."

Affleck is used to sniping - a mini-backlash occurred after "Good Will Hunting", with gay rumours and whispers that he and Matt Damon didn't write the script (in "Matt and Ben", an off-Broadway play about the pair, the script falls from the sky). Some fans have been upset with Affleck's subsequent roles in big-budget popcorn flicks such as "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor", preferring that he stay on the "Chasing Amy" path as a John Cusack for Generation Y - a smart, sensitive everyguy.

But it was his union with Lopez that really rankled, particularly when her glittery lifestyle drew him in, and he traded his scruffy jeans and Red Sox caps for slicked-back hair and velour tracksuits (although who among you has not had a wardrobe tweaked by a new love?).

Affleck says he doesn't know why their union caused such a hostile reaction. "Hopefully I can get far enough away from it in time to be able to get a better sense of it," he says, although he suspects the hostility "had something to do with race and class. That pushed a button. This is a country that flew into a gigantic uproar about Janet Jackson's breast. There's still a heavy-duty puritan influence going on, and we still hold ourselves to a pretty chaste ideal, which includes, buried within it, the tradition of people being with people like them. We were thought of as two different kinds of people, not just racially but culturally." Perhaps that's why the tabloids have gone easier on Lopez dating singer Marc Anthony. Affleck lights another of his menthol Marlboro Lights. "Basically, it just came down to, "Wow. I never thought those two would get together."

Affleck and Lopez met on the set of "Gigli" in December 2001, when she was still married to dancer Chris Judd, but it was during the filming of JG, the following summer, that they fell in love. As did the public: This reporter was present on the last night of filming on Park Avenue in New Work, when the frenzy was just cresting. On that day, the two were on the front page of both the Daily News and the New York Poster, and a hundred-strong mob of rambunctious paparazzi was gathered at the edge of the set, hoping for more shots.

Suddenly the two appeared - he in a sharp suit, she looking lusciously beautiful in a fur coat, towering high heels and bare, tanned legs. The crowd went berserk. They shot a scene, over and over, in which they chitchat for a moment and then he kisses her. Their make-outs continued after Smith yelled "cut," and were so intense that it felt invasive to watch.

The day before was even more frenetic, when Smith filmed in Central Park for a scene in a horse-drawn carriage. "It was bizarre," says Smith. "These were just guys in guerilla-warfare outfits, snapping photos like we were in the DMZ. As soon as we would yell cut, voom, they would just descent like a cloud of locusts. I was like, 'Jesus Christ, why? Like two famous people have never fucked before?'"

The film was shot mostly in Philadelphia, where the pair shared an apartment. Affleck recalls it as a "great, wonderful time."

"They'd come to the set together, they'd get made up together, they'd be in their trailer together," says Smith. "If you found one, you'd find the other. If we had any problem with the movie, it was that you'd want to go get them, but the trailer was rocking. So you'd just let them be."

The couple announced their engagement in November 2002, but signs of strain appeared by next summer. The tabloids reported that Affleck, in Vancouver to film "Paycheck", had frolicked with strippers at Brandi's Exotic Nightclub, although he dismisses reports of hanky-panky. "There have been plain, baldfaced lies people have told about me for money," he says.

Then "Gigli" was fricasseed, making just $3.8 million on its opening weekend. A few says before their scheduled September wedding in Santa Barbara, California, the pair issued a statement saying the nuptials were postponed due to media scrutiny. "That really was the truth," Affleck says. From there, the relationship seemed to limp along, finally ending in January.

"It was weird," says Smith. "In the course of time from JG's wrap up until now, it was watching the entire cycle of the public's fascination, then revulsion and the fallout."

Did the two fan the flames of interest? There's no need to read between the lines of Lopez's song "To Ben," for instance: "I think God made you for me/A mix of passionate fidelities/Baby, you're so complete/I write this song to let you know/That you will always be to me/My lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend and my king..."

Madonna, of all people, even weighed in. "To a certain extent, they courted the media attention," she said. "At the end of the day, there needs to be a part of the relationship that you keep private."

Affleck shakes his head. "You can probably file that quote in the dictionary of cliches under the heading of 'pot and kettle,'" he says, throwing his baseball. I mean, I didn't do a book with me naked."

He maintains that the two "lived regular lives" and that much of the overexposure happened without their participation. So why, for instance, did he phone Howard Stern last December when he knew full well Stern would ask about J.Lo's ass?

"I loved it," says Affleck. "With Howard, you know what you're getting. It's not CNN, where there's some snide prick named Anderson Cooper pretending to do real news, when there's nothing substantive about it at all."

While a dig a Cooper is always welcome, it doesn't answer the question. How about his comment, beamed all over the world, that sex with Lopez "lasts for ten minutes?" Why go there? "I'm doing foreign press for some movie," he says, "and this Australian lady says, 'How does it feel to have your sex life be so much an object of everyone's fascination?'" He sighs, exasperated. "And I said, 'What do you mean, they're fascinated? It's not like there are people outside my window, clocking it, going, "That was only ten minutes!"' It was a bit. Then it sort of turned around."

Affleck grabs his keys. He wants to go on a field trip to show just how misinformation can mutate. "Let's take a drive," he says, heading to the parking lot where his black Beemer awaits. First, he busily discards the ten empty soda bottle piled in the front seat, then turns up a Johnny Cash CD and imitates Cash's cover of U2's "One." "One love," he sings in a deep drawl that sounds more like John Wayne than Cash. "One liiiife." He laughs. "On road trips, people say, 'Stop singing, please, you're ruining the music.'" It's a perfect California say, golden and crisp, and the air rushing by smells like gardenias. Affleck guns the engine, weaves in and out of traffic and grins. This is sort of fun, being in Lopez' stilettos for the day. Whoo!

"For fuck's sake!" Affleck says at a hesitant driver, before running a red light. "I learned to drive in Boston," he says, "and there's a certain kind of make-your-own-way thing that happens."

Affleck applied the same philosophy to his career. He grew up in Cambridgeport, an ethnically integrated part of Boston, with younger brother Casey, also an actor; mom Chris, a schoolteacher; and father Tim, variously a janitor, bartender, mechanic, and bookie. "He made some book, yeah," says Affleck. "When we got a new washing machine or a VCR, my father said 'You can thank Steve Grogan.' He was the quarterback for the Patriots, and everybody in New England bet on the Patriots, and Grogan was constantly fucking up, and he had bad knees."

Tim drifted from the family when Ben was eleven. "My mother did the lion's share of raising my brother and me, but she was a great mom," he says. "Unconditional love, that was her thing." He maintains close ties with Chris, who keeps her son down to earth, insisting that he stay over when he visits his childhood home. "My mother gets all made at me if I stay in a hotel," he carps. "I'm thirty-one years old, and I don't want to sleep on a sleeping bag down in the basement. It's humiliating, you know what I mean?"

Affleck didn't have much contact with his father during his teen years, but he later reconnected with him after his dad, an alcoholic, went through recovery. Tim now lives in Indio, CA. "I visited with him yesterday," says Affleck. "My dad's a good man. We have a good relationship."

Affleck himself got sober after a month-long stint in rehab in 2001. "It's not something I think about all that much anymore," he says. Although after the breakup, he did get a flood of calls. "They say, 'Hey, are you OK? You need to talk?' So that's kind of a constant reminder." He laughs. "Then I'm too irritated to have a drink."

Affleck's father was also an actor, which sparked his son's interest in a young age (although Affleck Sr. cautioned him by saying it was "the stupidest fucking job in the world"). He and his best friend Matt Damon, who lived two blocks away, would conduct "business meetings" about their acting careers in the high school cafeteria. "It was just us sitting there in a nerdy way and saying, 'We should go to New York for this long a time, and then probably move to LA,'" he says. "Meanwhile, we auditioned for all kinds of terrible things."

Young Ben would do anything; student films, corporate videos, a slew of commercials. "I did a Levi's 501s commercial when 501 Blues were the big thing," he says. He briefly attended the University of Vermont, then dropped out and moved to LA to live with a gang of young wanna-be actors. "I was turned down for everything," he says, waving to a carload of smiling teens who honk their horn. "'Dead Poets Society'. I lost 'License to Drive' to Corey Haim." At one point he nearly wavered from his goal when he was sent to see a friend of a friend who was an older struggling actor. "He had all these birds," he recalls. "He really wanted to get stoned, and I never liked dope all that much, and it was harsh and I was really paranoid. And he told me, 'I've been an actor for thirty years, and you know how much I've made? Eight thousand dollars.'" Affleck was ill for a week. "I don't know if it was the guy's weird marijuana or his bird-flu virus, but it was an all-around horrible experience."

Meanwhile, Damon was a student at Harvard who was also being cast in one disappointing role after another. Out of frustration, in 1993 the two started writing GWH, about a troubled math genius from the wrong side of town. "I've always been insecure because I only had a little bit of college and knew a lot of people from fancy schools," Affleck says. "All that sort of resentment in GWH about people who went to college came from me feeling on the fringe."

GWH earned nine Oscar nominations and made Affleck and Damon instant stars. "It was like being on a roller coaster," Affleck says. "You know, it's exciting, but what you're aware of mostly is just the sense of movement. It's hard to digest, even in retrospect."

As he coasts down Sunset Boulevard, Affleck reluctantly admits that he trusts his charm more than his talent. Even if he is able to command $15 million a picture, he knows the pitfalls of too many big-studio movies. "You do too many and people start to think of you as Action Guy," he says. "I always felt like Larry Bird, the guy who had to work harder than the next guy. I always felt like I had to compensate in so many different ways. I mean, I don't think anybody really believes they're the cure for cancer." He laughs. "And I have been told both. I am cancer, and I'm the cure."

"JG allowed me to try new things as an actor," says Affleck, but he's not sure he agrees with Smith's assertion that his smoldering feelings for Lopez amped his performance. "There's also the Frankenheimer school of thought," he says. He recalls being fulled aside by John Frankenheimer, who directed him in "Reindeer Games", the 2000 thriller in which he co-starred with Charlize Theron. "He said, 'I'm going to give you a speech I give every actor. Don't fuck the leading lady. Leave it on the screen.'"

Affleck smoothly pilots the car around a corner. "You never totally feel like you're from here," he says, gesturing. "L.A. feels temporary, like a hotel room. You can keep going back to it, but it never feels quite like home." He pulls into the parking lot of a favorite Mexican joint called Paquito Mas.

"Watch what happens," he says. Sure enough, just as we take our seat at an outdoor table, a photographer appears. "See the guy in the truck, in the pink shirt?" he says. "That took three seconds. That's good stuff. You'll be the 'unnamed female.'" Often, he says, the valets tip off the paparazzi to make some extra cash.

He tells me to hide my tape recorder and to act naturally. While the guy snaps away at a discreet distance, Affleck talks about his future plans. First, he is off to a poker tournament. He rebuffs all the "hysterical stories" about his gambling problem. "I don't even play blackjack anymore," he argues. "I play poker, where you are playing against other people. There's no edge, there's no house, so you're not destined to lose." He resents the theory that as an addictive personality, he has traded booze for Lopez and Lopez for gambling. "That's the most common thing said about people who have been in twelve-step programs," he says. "If you're associated with any one of those, you must have other problems, too." His stint in rehab, he says, should be seen positively. "Here's a sensible guy who wants his life to go in a certain direction, so he cuts the problem off at the pass so he can have a good life. He's someone who has a pretty good watch on himself. Instead it's seen as 'This guy's crazy.'"

Affleck's next movie is a comedy called "Surviving Christmas", and after that he hopes to phase out leading roles and focus instead on directing and writing (he's currently adapting a novel by Dennis Lehane, the author of Mystic River). "I'm not making any grand proclamations, but I would like to act in supporting roles, where it isn't incumbent on me to promote the movie and talk about my personal life," he says.

His friend Chris Moore says his relationship put a spin on his public image that "was unfair, but not hard to understand." When Affleck spoke recently at the Daytona 500, some of Moore's friends were there. "They said, 'I hated him when he was dating Jennifer, but I love that guy - he was funny as hell.' I mean, he has that charisma. He is that guy for real." He laughs. "But you can't go shake everybody's hand to get them to love you again."

While Affleck lays low, he wants to do a little traveling, perhaps visit Damon in India while he shoots a "Bourne Identity" sequel. "It's not like I'm getting all Alanis Morissette, like, 'Thank you, India, for my peace of mine," but I've worked really hard, and now I have the opportunity to do things like that," he says. Perhaps now he'll slow down a little. He is starting to feel his age for the first time.

"I play this basketball game once a week," he says, "and now I'm that guy who wakes up in the morning and says, 'Ooh, my back.' The guys I play with are the exact guys that when I was nineteen, I said, 'Look at these sad, sorry bastard. That will never be me. They sweat so bad that they would slime you if you touched them. They're real slow and all they did was foul you.' And now that's me."

The photographer outside the restaurant is losing interest and beginning to back away. "Let's hold hands as we leave," he says. Nah, too obvious. He puts his arm around me, and the guy moves in closer. "You're too stiff," he says in my ear. "Gotta loosen up." I assume a guilty expression as we run to his car. I'm J.Lo for the day! Damned if it isn't sort of exciting!

The photographer follows in a car. "I take great pains to avoid them knowing where I'm staying here," Affleck says, gunning the engine.

Despite the carnival that his life has become, he is upbeat. "I'm not saying, 'Woe is me,'" he says. "I have a good life, and I take responsibility for everything I've done." He is a little shellshocked, but he is not contrite. "I'm not one of those guys that got arrested," he says. "I didn't actually do anything wrong." He pauses. "Is there something I would do differently? Not really. I suppose the temptation is to say that I wouldn't have done any of the press we did for "Gigli", but you're paid really well to do these movies and the expectation is that you're going to support them."

He shrugs. "Being optimistic, I can say that I had the opportunity to experience something not many people get to experience," he says. "You can liken it to space travel. Although it's probably a lot less pleasant than being in space."

Affleck has finally given the photographer the slip, and now he has a meeting with Jay-Z, who wants to discuss a cross-branding opportunity. Affleck struts a little. "I have a lot of street cred, I don't know if you noticed," he jokes. Then he waves goodbye. "I hope to God they run the pictures," he calls as he lives.

There was a bidding war for the photos of the "unnamed woman," and the winning tabloid ran the story the following week. The Lord, it seems, was listening.