#I’ve seen the pipeline in action okay | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

caspercryptid · 3 years ago

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The Gioparafication of Jayce Talis

So this is going to be long but i’ve seen a lot of discourse about how Jayce Talis and Jayce Giopara aren’t remotely the same character and, the ret-con of his appearance aside, I’d like to address my theories to the contrary. Warning! this is going to get A Little Fucking Long. (And if you want to see my theory in action, read the superhero fic I write with @the-neon-pineapple, HAMMER TO FALL) (no but really)

This is, throughout, going to draw off a couple things that are from my personal theories as I build. Other people before me in the league community have posited that Jayce Giopara has ADHD, and I agree, I think the symptoms of that are clear with Talis too. My additional thing at play here is that I think Jayce very well could have suffered from brain damage in the explosion at his apartment. It took out about half the building and he was standing right next to it. Certain degrees of brain damage can cause issues that can exacerbate ADHD, so like. Brainfog, memory problems, impulsivity, headaches. Impulsivity is the big one. Brainfog can make decision paralysis worse! so all the stuff already noted as Jayce’s character flaws.

The main thing I think about with all of that is the fact that Jayce was seriously hurt and instead of getting medical attention he was interrogated and arrested, and shortly after that he loses everything and tries to jump off a building. It's an interesting additional element to add in to, at that moment when Jayce is already losing everything else, losing an additional bit of control over his own mind and body. Jayce feels like the kind of person to go "i'm not disabled, i'm fine!" since he (for the most part) still has his mind and his intelligence, it's just his ability to access that intelligence that's affected at times. He can still Pass and even though it's limiting he can just work harder and jump it.

You don’t have to think he has ADHD or Brain damage for those to factor in though- it is 100% canonical that Jayce Talis has PTSD. He had his first near-death experience as a child in an event that he’s fixated on his entire life since. That man is Not Okay well before he walks out onto a bridge and sees large-scale death and loses his lunch. Moving along, though.

Talis is characterized by this complete inability to do anything smart under pressure. He just fucks up repeatedly forever and I think that's a perfect representation of trying So Hard to just Be Fine when in fact he's acting while Limited. I think it's an excellent parallel to Viktor to have the visible/invisible disabilities divide where Viktor is very good at what he does in part because he knows his limitations, and Jayce is inhibited too but absolutely does not know where those limitations are.

The key to the pipeline between Talis and Giopara is the fact that Talis fucks up so bad. Because really, to end up as jaded and miserable as Giopara is, you need to have really believed at one point. It's like activist's fatigue. Talis cares too much for it to even be remotely sustainable. He's heading towards a burnout with the force of a goddamn comet, even before it's all ended Very Finally at the end of the series. A lot of people give him shit for the scene where he says he's got a lot on his plate to Viktor while Viktor is...actively dying, but he does. He's taken the whole weight of the world onto his shoulders and tasked himself with fixing literally every problem in Piltover, picked up records, tried to listen to absolutely everyone's input, which has obviously not worked in the slightest. but he can't see where he's going wrong. And because he can't see where he's going wrong, he's Doomed. So he's going to end up considering the entire venture hopeless because nothing he does makes any difference and sitting down and going "fuck it".

"Okay, we can't help Zaun, we need to give them independence" was already basically a manifestation of that. It was "this is beyond me" and now that solution has failed to pan out, and he's going to be forced into an action he doesn't believe in because you literally can't let an act of aggression like that go unanswered as a politician. So he will have absolutely no choice but to sit in this position he's stuck in and play his part and he hates it-- already hates it-- says as much to Mel, none of this is what he wants to do.

And that is how you make an idealistic sweet man into an asshole.

#jayce talis #jayce giopara #arcane meta #netflix arcane #disability info #I am disabled by the way literally with a long term chronic illness when I say jayce had a lot on his plate I mean it

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gumnut-logic · 4 years ago

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Callisto (Voyage - Bit 2)

Prologue Incident - Bit 1 | Bit 2 Fallout - Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 Voyage - Bit 1 | Bit 2

As I continue to write the Prologue, have a little Lee Taylor and Jeff with some Johnny and Scott on the side.

As always, many, many thanks to @tsarinatorment @scribbles97 and @janetm74 for the ongoing support, as well as my technical advisor @onereyofstarlight for the geek out fest on the weekend ::hugs you all::

I hope you enjoy this. I’m certainly enjoying the challenge :D

-o-o-o-

Jeff stared after his son for a long moment. Emotion swirled in his head and tangled with his stomach. That lightspeed jump did mess with his innards more than he would admit.

But Virgil’s words messed him up even more.

What weren’t they telling him? What had happened to Scott while he was gone?

He had read a good percentage of the mission reports and backtracked through Tracy Industries’ history over that eight years. Scott’s conduct was exemplary. He couldn’t be prouder. Both organisations had flourished under his sons’ management, Scott being the major driving force, but his younger sons stepping in where needed.

Hell, even Gordon had dabbled in aquaculture and Tracy Industries was now a major player on that front.

Something soured in his gut that had nothing to do with lightspeed travel. Perhaps he needed to be a little more honest with himself. Maybe things had gone so well, that in truth, his return wasn’t really needed.

Scott was brilliant, his brothers…hell, Jeff was ever so proud. His sons were everything. They had accomplished so much.

But what did that leave for Jeff?

He cursed under his breath, disgusted with himself. His natural competitive tendencies did not need to be deployed against his own children.

But that vacant feeling of loss and lack of purpose swelled. He hadn’t even thought about not going on this mission. He had grabbed it like a lifeline and now, somehow, he had managed to alienate those brilliant young sons and caused pain and worry where he had no intention.

“Jeff? Where the hell are you?”

Lee.

Despite himself, Jeff smiled.

Pushing off from the bed, he floated through the door and into the corridor. Lee was expertly manoeuvring down one wall, his experience showing in every movement. “I have to say that this baby of yours definitely hits the spot. I’ll have two for the Mars colony, please.”

Jeff snorted. “Get in line. The GDF are already on my back.”

Lee pulled up alongside. “You gonna give them one?”

“I doubt it.” He sighed. “Val is ready to vouch, but from what I’ve read from the last eight years…I don’t think they can be trusted.”

“Then what are you going to do?” They drifted down the corridor towards the mess. “This technology is a great step forward.”

“Yeah. So much power, Lee. I’ve worried about the Thunderbirds getting into the wrong hands. This….hell…Brains and Michael make a formidable team.”

“Your boys make a formidable team, Jeff. You should be proud.”

“I am.”

Lee pulled him to a halt with a hand. “Then what the hell are you doing out here, Jeff? Gerry had me on the pipeline frantic.”

Jeff blinked. “Gerry?”

“The swimming one.”

“Oh, Gordon?”

Lee waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, whatever. But he was upset. Said you were trying to kill yourself.”

“What?!”

“Said your health wasn’t up to a long space flight. I know you know better than that, Colonel.” Blue eyes pinned him.

Oh, for the love of-

“I’m fine, Lee.”

“Bullshit. You may not be using that cane of yours, but I saw your medical charts when you got back. You fried your bones good, and your circulation has seen better days. Don’t think I’m an idiot. Gerry may be the excitable one, but he’s not dumb. Hell, even I can see Vinnie and Steve ain’t happy either.”

Jeff stared at him, caught between outrage that his best friend still couldn’t remember his sons’ names and the thought that Lee was also ganging up on him along with those sons.

“I am perfectly capable of handling this voyage. It is short. It is safe.”

Lee snorted with derision. “I know you know that there is nothing ‘safe’ about any space voyage, Jeff. Hell, you’re the one who taught me that. What are you playing at?”

That got his back up. “What am I playing at? Berry and Ju are missing, Lee.”

“Don’t you trust your boys?”

“I trust them!”

“Then let them do their jobs. You’ve done enough.”

Jeff glared at him. “I don’t see you retiring your space legs.”

“I didn’t go missing for eight years and fry my bones. You don’t have to do this. Your boys will find Berry and Ju. I’ve seen them in action. You should trust them.”

Jeff’s shoulders dropped. “I do.” It was an exhale. But... “Lee, I have to. I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore.”

Blue eyes stared at him, appraising. They weren’t unlike his eldest son’s eyes and probably shared the gene through Lucille.

The thought of his wife clenched his heart like it always did. Lee didn’t look much like his sister, but there were traces.

“Well, you’ve argued your ass out here. Looks like you’ve pissed half your family off in the process. I’d tread carefully. That eldest of yours looks ready to chew iron.”

Jeff grunted.

Lee reached out and grabbed an arm. “They’re good boys.” A swallow. “Lucy would be very, very proud.”

It was targeted and it hit perfectly. His throat tightened just a little. “I know.”

No more than breath. “I know.”

-o-o-o-

“I want to know why.”

John looked up from his tablet to see Scott floating in the doorway.

The astronaut knew this was coming. Hence his retreat to Thunderbird Five for a ‘systems check’.

“Because Dad needs this.” He turned back to his tablet, poked the device and shut down the scan he was running.

Scott pushed off the door frame and pivoted to a vertical stance - as a commanding posture as he could get in zero-g.

John raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment, forcing himself to relax in his partially seated position. He knew his brother was unhappy with him and he understood why. So, the question was a pertinent one.

“Dad does not need more illness and that is exactly where this is leading.”

“We won’t be out here that long.”

“How do you know? We don’t know what has happened? We won’t know fully until we are on site.”

John let his brother’s ire wash over him. “Scott, what are you going to do the day they say you can no longer fly?”

Blue eyes stared at him a moment. “What has that got to do with anything?”

John’s lips thinned. “Deny it all you want, but you know exactly what I mean.” He held his brother’s glare. “Dad has been grounded for nearly two years. Put yourself in his place. How do you think you would feel?”

He could see the inner turmoil on his big brother’s face. He hated going against Scott. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen and each time it hurt because it felt so wrong. Someone had to stand up for Dad in this and John feared the day he would be in his father’s place. To not be able to go into space. To never be able to see the stars unfettered by atmosphere again…he dreaded it. Just like he knew Scott dreaded losing his wings.

It was inevitable and they would both fight it as long as they could.

Just like their father.

But understanding didn’t make it any easier from a son’s perspective either. John knew in intimate detail exactly what his father’s health issues were. He empathised with him in ways that perhaps only Alan amongst his brothers could possibly understand. If he wasn’t careful, this was his future, too. Perhaps not as severe, perhaps not quite the same, but the risks were there.

His father’s cane reminded him every time he saw it.

Scott had already changed his rota on Five, Alan standing in more often, John on solid ground enough for cursed gravity to keep his systems running as they should.

Virgil had become hypervigilant as well, medical checks increased. He had once caught Dad’s chart up on display right next to his own, Virgil’s eyes comparing symptoms, obviously worried towards preventing issues before they happened in his little brother.

It had been a taxing couple of years.

“Okay, you’ve made your point.” It was grudging. “But it doesn’t remove the fact that his health is at risk. After all he’s been through…he’s been hurt enough.”

“Him or us?”

“Excuse me?”

“We have all been through hell and back. This isn’t just about Dad, Scott. I know. I’m just as scared as you.” He was, but he was shunting it away. He couldn’t afford it. “But this is who he is. You know that. He’s not going to wrap himself in a blanket, sit in a chair and rock his life away. If he did, he wouldn’t be Dad.” He blinked. “How do you see your twilight years? Are you going to slow down any time soon?”

“John-“

“He’s got all of us. He’s not alone out here. We’ll keep him safe.”

Blue eyes continued to stare at him, but there were no more words for a long time.

John simply stared back, calm and waiting.

“I am so angry at you.” The words slipped from his brother’s lips in frustration.

“I know.” John tilted his head just slightly. “Because you know I’m right.”

Scott got angry a lot, but he was rarely blinded by it. He couldn’t afford to be. And while Virgil tackled their big brother in his own way, John, in the few times Scott turned to him in this kind of situation, found that waiting him out with calm words usually worked. Not always, sometimes his brother just exploded more. But this time, this time John knew he was right and that Scott would understand, if he would listen.

His brother’s lips thinned, obviously with reluctance. “I want a medical monitor on him at all times. I want Five trained on him at all times.”

John arched an eyebrow, reached over and thumbed a switch. Their father’s vitals flickered into all their holographic glory. “Virgil already beat you to it. Wouldn’t let him on board without it.”

Those eyes tracked the readouts but Scott didn’t comment. “Keep an eye on him.”

John sighed and picked up his tablet again. As if he would do anything else. “Just like I do with all of you. They don’t call me the ‘Eye in the Sky’ for nothing.”

A grunt and Scott moved back towards the door. John poked at his tablet and resumed the scan he had been running. It wasn’t often humans were in this chunk of space and he planned to record everything he could.

If he was non-verbally dismissing his brother, it was on purpose. Scott needed to process and John was not needed for that.

And John had work to do before they jumped again.

He didn’t notice his brother leave.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Jeff Tracy #Lee Taylor #John Tracy #Scott Tracy #callisto

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versegm · 5 years ago

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Holy Grail War where Guda is their summoner's weird back-alley encounter one night, then ghosts them for two days straight without an explanation and then seamlessly sets themselves up in the next-door apartment. They never explain what a holy grail is, and they're human-passing if they take sufficient precautions, and five months in it's just them and one enemy servant left. Guda goes drinking with them every Tuesday.

The first time you meet your new neighbor, you almost have a heart attack.

“Ma’am! Do you need any help with that?”

Face mask, sunglasses, leather gloves. They stand hover above you, and it dawns on you that you’re about to get mugged.

“No, no, it’s fine.” You steel your spine and straighten your back- and immediately wince. Old age has not been kind to you. “I’m fine. Really.”

The youth chuckles- they sound genuinely amused. Since you can barely see their face at all, you can’t read any of their emotions. It’s unnerving. “Don’t be silly, ma’am.” They take hold of the heaviest of your grocery bags. “Where do you live? I’ll walk you there.”

And you can’t really do anything but agree, can you? Ah, it has been a good life, at least. You suppose there are worse ways to go than...

... actually guided home by a yakuza? Who bids you goodbye and just leaves?

... Wait, they were being honest with the offer to help?

The youth, you learn quickly (for there is no better intel than old lady gossip) goes by Ritsuka Fujimaru, is probably not part of any yakuza group, and works part-time at the okonomiyaki place down the street.

Their apartment is also two rooms away from yours, which is why you keep running into them.

“Ma’am!” They wave at you excitedly. Their face is still covered. Apparently, they’re just that allergic to showing any important patch of skin. “You shouldn’t stay around these parts, ma’am. Haven’t you heard? A pipeline exploded yesterday.”

Huh, really? There has been a lot of these kind of accidents lately. You didn’t know another one exploded in the area.

This city really needs to get it together. You remember another serie of accidents like this when you were a kid. You’d think in sixty years infrastructure would get better.

“Ma’am! Ah, it’s good to see you sticking to safe paths.”

“Ma’am! Ah, you really ought to check the news! The next street is closed up! It shouldn’t last long, but better safe than sorry, right?”

“Ma’am! Let’s walk home together! I just finished my shift. Are you coming back from the market?”

“Ma’am! This looks heavy, do you need help? Oh, this is new! How do you cook that?”

One day, you go out, and you don’t see them. You don’t bat an eye.

The next day, they’re still not here. It’s not the first time that happens.

The next day, still no Fujimaru. Now this is a little weird.

The next day, they’re still absent. You’re getting worried.

“They’re on sick leave.” The okonomiyaki place tells you. “They should be back by tomorrow.”

Sick?

You frown. They’re a weird folk, but you’ve grown to like the youngster. Do they even know how to take care of themself? You remember when you were just getting started into adulthood and boy that wasn’t pretty.

So, you walk determinedly to the youth’s apartment, and knock.

At first there is silence. Then a ruffled sound. Then, a voice. “One moment!”

So you wait.

... quite some time.

After what seems like an eternity, but most likely was only a minute, the door opens up. “Hi ma’am! What brings you here?” And you can’t help but flinch.

They look the same as usual. Sunglasses, face mask, and gloves. The same, no sicker, no healthier.

Three scars like slashes come across their right eye.

They have a sheepish laugh. “Ah, sorry. I didn’t have time to put on my make-up.”

Make-up? To cover the scars?

You look them over. Sunglasses, face mask, gloves. At first you’d assumed they were some kind of delinquent. At first you’d assumed they didn’t want to be recognized.

Ah, sorry. I didn’t have time to put on my make-up.

Ah.

You think you understand now.

“... Would you like to have dinner with me?” Originally, you wanted to bring them some chicken soup and be done with it, but what little of their apartment you can see behind them seems... unfit to host people. You wonder how they manage to live in it. It’s just... so full. Toys and tools and papers as if they could barely focus on one task at once. Where did they even fit their bed?

“Ah.” They click their tongue. “That’s very nice, ma’am, but I don’t think-”

“I’ll look the other way while you eat.” You say. “If you really don’t want me to see your face.”

They stay silent. For a few seconds, you can’t even hear them breathe.

“...Okay.”

It starts with chicken soup on a sick day. Then it turns into a small chat every two week. Then a meal every week.

After two months, you’ve gotten into the habit of hosting Fujimaru over twice a week.

They’re comfortable enough to remove their sunglasses when you’re the only one here, now. One of their eye is blank. The other one rarely ever focuses on you when you speak to them.

Weirdly enough, their eye is about the least interesting thing about Fujimaru.

"And there! That’s how you make mocassins.” They’re beaming. You can’t see their mouth, but you’re sure they’re smiling. “Friend of mine taught me how to make these.”

“You seem to have a lot of odd friends.”

“Oh, definitely. But that’s just how life is, y’know?”

Somehow, you get the feeling that their life isn’t exactly what you’d call “average.”

It takes another month for them to take off the face mask.

... Huh.

“Hyperdontia.” That’s the only explanation they give you. You don’t press them. Not about their teeth, not about their eye, not about their soot-like skin under their gloves. From what you’ve seen, it’s a miracle that Fujimaru ended up somewhat functional despite whatever stacked that many scars on them.

“Say, ma’am,” they ask between two bites of food, “if you could have any wish fulfilled, what would you want?”

“A wish?” You raise an eyebrow. “I’m a little old to believe in genies, don’t you think?”

“Humor me.” They set their chin on their palm. “Any wish at all. What would you wish for?”

Any wish...

A few months back, you’d probably have answered ‘a friend,’ or something cheesy like that. Life can be... lonely, when one is as old as you, with no kid or nephew to speak of.

But now, well...

“... no, I can’t think of anything. I’m good.”

They blink. Evidently, they were not expecting that answer.

“... You’re a good person, you know that?”

Their teeth are long and sharp. Somehow, it doesn’t stop their smile from being incredibly sweet.

Fujimaru has a friend.

Well, multiple, obviously. Fujimaru looks kind of scary at first, but give them the occasion to chat you up, and they will not let you leave unfriended. But what you mean by that is that Fujimaru has a friend.

“I saw Caster the other day!” They always look giddy talking about Caster. You’re hesitant to call it puppy love, but evidently, this person means a lot to them.

Here’s what you know about Caster:

- They act like an old man

- They look young enough that Fujimaru has to be the one to buy alcohol when they hang out

- They’ve got Opinion on writing

“So, you write too, Fujimaru?” You ask, after the third time they retell you about some writing discourse or another.

“Mh? Oh, yeah. sometimes.” They rub the back of their neck. “Well, not really. There’s just this one thing I’ve been writing over and over again, so.”

(They do that a lot. Repetitive things, you mean. Sometimes, they repeat something they’ve just told you. Sometimes, they do the same action twice, thrice in a row, as if they’d forgotten they’d already done it.)

(The scars on their face looks deep. You think they might have some mild brain damage, but again, this isn’t your place to ask.)

“What is it about?” You ask, because you’re genuinely interested.

They look down, and seem suddenly very interested in scratching the underneath of their nails.

“... It’s a little silly.” They finally say. “I had this friend, you see.”

You nod. Do go on. For all the time you’ve spent with Fujimaru, you know surprisingly little about their past.

“He was great. Incredible! He knew so much. And he was kind! And resourceful. He could always get someone out of a bind even when himself had next to nothing to work with. I owe him a lot.”

“He sounds pretty great.”

They nod excitedly. “That’s who I’m writing about. My friend.” They pause, for a second, as if unsure if they should continue. When they speak again, their voice is a little lower, as if telling a secret.

“There is power in stories, you know? If it’s written down, then it’s real. In a way. Not real real. But real in a way that matters. Once a story is weaved, you can’t unmake it. Even if no one knows of it. Even if it gets burned down afterwards. There is power in stories.”

It’s a good thing that they don’t ask you if you’ve understood, because you certainly hadn’t. But they go on.

“That’s what I’m writing about. My friend. I’m writing a story about him. Some meaningless slice of life thing. A regular day at work. Getting coffee in the morning. Saying hi to his daughter. Feeling the wind on his face. That’s what I’m writing. Normal life stuff.”

They tilt their head back, look at your roof.

“... It’s the least I can give to him. It’s the only thing I can give to him. A story in which he lives.”

It’s been six months since you’ve met Fujimaru, when they ask you with the utmost seriousness: “Do you believe in lucky charms?”

“As much as the next person.” You shrug. It’s very much a maybe maybe not to you. You don’t care all that much.

“Okay. That’s good.” Fujimaru smiles. It’s weird, how used you’ve become to these teeth. How comforting the sight of scars can become. “See, there’s this one lucky charm I wanted to give you. Something of a spell if you ever need me and I’m not here.”

? Well, why not. It wouldn’t be the strangest of Fujimaru’s quirks.

“Okay, listen up. Don’t repeat what I’m going to say. You can only say it one day where you really mean it, okay?” They lean towards you and cup their hands around your ear. Their breath is almost anormaly warm. “It goes something like this. By the power of my Command Spell, I ask of you...”

#fate #fate grand order #fgo #ritsuka fujimaru #guda #my writing #WELL.#THAT WENT WILDLY OUT OF HANDS.#MY BAD.#Anonymous

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litheammunition · 3 years ago

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The same old misconceptions about climate change are never far away. That fire in the Gulf of Mexico saw the same memes coming out. ‘Oh, I guess I forgot to turn off the AC’, or ‘it’s a good thing we got rid of all those plastic straws’. People love the deny that individuals can have any impact, or that we should feel the need to change our behaviours in any way, because all the blame can be safely parked at the doors of Big Companies instead.

The suggestion is that we shouldn’t have bothered cutting down on single use plastics, or shouldn’t worry about wasting electricity, because our actions are a drop in the ocean, whereas the Big Companies are literally out there setting fire to the ocean for profit.

But why is the ocean on fire? Well, it was an issue with a gas pipeline. Why are they piping gas across the world? Well, other Companies use it. Sure, but what do they use it to make? Uh... well, they use it in the production of plastic and the generation of electricity. Why do they do that? Because it makes them money. How does that make them money? Because, uh, there’s a demand for it. From people like you and me.

The Big Companies are not out here extracting or transporting or burning fossil fuels for fun. They do it because it is immensely profitable for them. Why? Well, setting fire to oil doesn’t transform it into dollars. They aren’t paid by the devil. They’re paid by people who use fossil fuels to meet their energy or plastic needs. Most of those are other Companies, but their demand is fuelled by other Companies, and if you follow that chain to the end you end up with consumers.

If you cut down on unnecessary plastic, you might save a few drops of oil at the end of the chain. But on the way you also cut into the profit of the company using it, and the company they bought it from, and the company that made it. If thousands of us did that, and moved our business to companies using sustainable packaging or paper straws or whatever, the companies would notice. The ones being sustainable would thrive, and others would switch to copy them. The ones using plastic would suffer, and be pressured to change their ways or lose their market share.

Yes, they are Companies. But that doesn’t mean our actions don’t make a difference. Sure, one individual doesn’t. If you vote for the Greens as a third party, that’s not going to stop the Republican or Democrat winning the presidency. But if enough of the population thought the same as you, it would. How many people only don’t vote Green because they know they won’t win? What would happen if they all stuck to their convictions? They might still not win, but they would show others that there is a serious chance of them winning in the future, and embolden even more to vote for them. They would also push the Overton Window and pressure other parties to pick up their policies, just as we have seen from right wing parties in the wrong direction.

If you sit around thinking your voice has no power, it won’t. If everyone thinks that, it won’t. If everyone believes it does have power, it will.

Do you know who those 100 companies are? Mostly gas, oil, coal etc. companies. You can track most greenhouse emissions back to them because they are the ones extracting and burning the fossil fuels. But they aren’t just doing that because they feel like it! They do that because the rest of our society is built on a demand for energy and plastic and other products of those fuels. They are just one end of a long chain. You could also look at the other end of the chain, and say that consumers are responsible for 100% of emissions. That tells you equally little.

It’s also worth pointing out that China is responsible for about 29% of emissions on its own, so simplifying climate change as something to be blamed on capitalism is also incorrect. People have a demand for energy, plastic, fuel. A state-run economy will satisfy that demand in the cheapest way in order to maintain economic growth and compete with other nations. It will act in the self-interested way a Big Company will. But under democracy we have a voice to say we have other interests, and under capitalism we have a voice to say the same. Your wallet is your vote.

Take another chain as an example. Let’s say we need to cut down on beef consumption, what with the land and water usage, and then somebody says okay let’s all cut down in our diets. You then say wait, why should I stop eating my beef three meals a day? I’ve had a look at the figures, and actually all of the beef consumption is by Big Companies! What we need is to wait for the end of capitalism, and only then will these companies stop producing loads of beef for no reason at all. Do you want another mince sandwich?

The most effective way to discourage the Big Companies from clearing more rainforest to increase beef production would be to reduce beef consumption. If we all cut beef from our diet, they would stop expanding, and companies would invest in beef alternatives to compensate, and supermarkets and restaurants in the middle would do the same when they noticed people were no longer buying beef much, and the links would all reinforce each other to help the consumption drop. That’s patently obvious.

But when climate change experts tell us the most effective thing we can do to combat climate change is to cut down on our beef consumption, or try to take public transport or ride share or not drive unless necessary, or to cut down on wasteful single use plastics, why not do them? If we all did, it would impact the shops and the restaurants and the car manufacturers and pressure them into becoming more green to adapt, which is what’s happening with paper straws and artificial meat and electric cars, which is helping. We need more of that pressure, not less, not for everyone to give up and binge on fossil fuel hedonism whilst smugly saying the blame is with the Companies they buy from instead.

It’s basically a chicken-egg situation. Yes, it’s one end of the chain, but it’s also the other. We only use X because they make it, they only make X because they use it. It’s a cycle which will go on forever until one side breaks it. They’re not going to blink first. The Big Companies are not going to willingly sacrifice profits unless consumer behaviour changes, and you know what? Even if they did, that would just create an opportunity for other companies to take their place.

Countries, communist or socialist or not, are similarly not going to sacrifice their short term economic progress for the same reason, unless voter/popular demand changes. If people want cheap fuel, a ruling party is not going to take it away unless they are extremely secure as well as enlightened enough to want that for other reasons, which is not a common mix. The change has to come from our side: voters and consumers. If we sit waiting for them to change instead, nothing is ever going to happen. We have to make the first step. We have to believe that our step will make a difference, and encourage others to make it with us, and hold firm. It’s nothing guaranteed, but it’s the best chance we have.

#climate

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mariaiscrafting · 4 years ago

Note

Schlatt gets a pass because he’s funny /hj

No but in all seriousness I’m not totally sure why people cancel him or whatever, and from what I’ve seen he seems like a genuinely good guy behind the persona? The streams where he’s not doing a bit or he’s just hanging out on other people’s streams make him seem like a good guy, and idk what the deal is.

Hmmm, okay. I have very, very mixed feelings about Schlatt.

Schlatt to me is not the same as a case like Andi or Eret. I truly think that the things Andi and Eret have said and done in the past came from non-hateful places of light ignorance that were blown entirely out of proportion. At their core, I think they’re genuinely progressive people who care deeply about social issues and accepting all people. That being said, could I say the same for Schlatt? That is a great question I don’t fully have the answer to.

The issue with Schlatt is twofold, from my very limited perspective. I’m gonna preface this by saying that I only recently got very into his content. While I was lightly interested in SMP Live when it existed, and I did watch a couple videos with Schlatt in them around 2019-early 2020, I was dissuaded from really diving into his content because of some compilation I watched of him “being a Republican” (just a compilation of bits and non-satire that seemed kinda conservative). I only got into his stuff a couple months ago specifically as a backlash against mcyttwt and its cancel culture because I figured that anyone mcyttwt condemns is someone who hasn’t done anything wrong, they’re just blowing it out of proportion.

So the first side of the Schlatt controversy is his offensive persona. He had this sorta persona in the past that he still lightly puts on now that is meant to be a satirical representation of what you’d expect from a guy who fits his demographics - a libertarian, cishet white guy who’s, like, lightly racist and homophobic, anti-feminist, anti-socialist, etc., etc. Now personally, I have no problem with this persona. As a poli sci nerd who almost fell down the anti-feminist, alt-right pipeline myself, I can appreciate a good satirical impression of the Ben Shapiro-worshipping, Stephen Crowder-watching crowd lmfao. His shit about global warming, the gays, socialism, owning property - these are all just bits that are meant to make fun of people who truly embody those beliefs. People took some of this shit seriously because a) so much of mcyttwt doesn’t understand that satire and black comedy are supposed to be subversive and basically make fun of oppressors/oppressive systems, not the oppressed, and b) Schlatt has, like, the same damn intonnation when he’s being sarcastic and when he’s being genuine.

The second side kinda still irks me, and I don’t think it’ll ever stop irking me. It’s the side of Schlatt that makes me actually empathize with mcyttwt nubs who can’t view him in a positive light. You know the likes of Fitz and that whole gamer crew? That’s the kinda humor Schlatt used to employ a lot, on Twitter, Twitch, and Youtube. The kind that uses the r* slur without remorse. He’s used the n* word and defended its use with the age-old argument of it not being used in a hateful or derogatory way. He’s used the f* slur. That kinda humor that surpasses simple edginess, that blurs into the territory of, “did you really mean to use that word subversively, to make fun of people who use it, or is there some part of you that actually means all the oomf behind that word?,” yk? I have no idea if he ever apologized for using slurs, and honestly, I don’t particularly care if he did. Some people won’t ever accept an apology. It would be nice to hear an apology, but frankly, actions speak louder than words for me. To me, he seems like he has passed that point in that life, that he truly respects gay, black, and ND people, in the way he talks, the way he now interacts with fellow CCs and his fans. So personally, that past might bother me and always keep me from actually fully liking the guy in the way I do Techno or Wilbur or Ranboo, but it won’t stop me from laughing at his content now.

#ugh this was so long #long post #discourse #/neg #schlatt #asks #Anonymous

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jadedragoness · 4 years ago

Text

Review: Peace Talks

First Read Through Reaction

Now staring off, knowing that the book was essentially part one of two did mean that I went in expecting that there would be plot lines that wouldn’t be resolved. I did NOT expect that nearly zero of the plot lines would be resolved, at all. Yikes. Now, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it. I did. But it felt like there were 50 to 60 pages missing that should have been in the story to at least wrap up minor plot lines before heading into ‘Battle Ground’.

Warning: Full of Spoilers

Such the arrival of the Outsiders those Cornerhounds. Um… Outsiders and at no point that Harry wonder why in the hell they were called to Chicago? Or why they were targeting him and Ebenezer. Seriously, unless the author totally forgot we know that Outsiders can only be called by mortals. So human wizards brought them. So was it someone in the ‘Black Council’ or was it the Formor, since we know from previous stories that they grab humans and mind-whammy them and also modify them. And we know that they’ve been pretty focused on grabbing minor practioners for a couple of years now.

Hell, even just knowing why Thomas attacked the svartalf King would have been good to know in the book even if we don’t find out who it was yet.

That being said lets start of with things I didn’t like.

Thing Which I Wasn’t All that Pleased About:

1. Butters in that threesome relationship.

Now, let me explain, it’s not because its a poly relationship. I don’t even twitch over how Justine and Thomas include others in the sexual part of their relationship. It’s because I kept wondering if Marci was even into dudes. As far as I knew she was only into girls. And now she’s suddenly bi?

What the hell?

I think my reaction has a lot to do with how skewed the sexual orientation gradient in shown among Named characters. You have straight men. Straight women. Bi women who are shown to be blatantly into men and women…and that’s it, now.

No lesbian women with zero interest in men. No bi men. No gay men. No asexual characters. No trans characters. No gender fluid people.

I know that this due to the author’s eye and while it hasn’t irritated me much in the past as we keep getting more and more books with more newly introduced characters the lack is becoming more and more glaring to me. Especially, as I have drifted into reading other series that manage to be way more inclusive about this sort of thing in great and amazing ways *sighs happily over Rivers of London series*. And I don’t just mean in passing with random nameless scenery people that never talk which have popped up in the Dresden Files but with actual characters that have names, dialogue and contribute to the series.

So it really, really annoys me that Marci went from being the only lesbian who is a named character to joining the horde of bi women in the DF verse.

Okay, so its not really a Butters issue to much as a grumble about the spectrum of gender and sexually needing better representation.

*grumbles* Step up your game, Butcher.

I will add that I’m head-canoning that actually the relationship here is Butters with Andi, Andi with Butter and Marci, and Marci with Andi. That pretty much with Butters running around being the new Knight Andi didn’t like how her boyfriend wasn’t paying attention and gave Butters the ultimatum of letting Marci in as Andi’s girlfriend or they broke up.

… yeah, I’m totally liking that spin way, way better.

2. That Marcone took forever to show up! ARGH! I love him ok.

Considering how early he was name dropped in the story the amount of time it took him to show up… Jim Butcher is a damn Marcone-tease. *glares hotly in author’s direction*

3. I don’t like it that Murphy is so hurt. I don’t hate it. I think I’m just uneasy about the future implications.

Having reread the entire series before reading ‘Peace Talks’ I fully expected some lingering injury but not to that level. I’m actually worried about her chances of surviving any upcoming battle, and not just in Battle Ground. There’s even more danger coming down the pipeline in future books and she won’t let herself stay ‘safe’ when she could be watching Harry’s back… so its a worrying problem.

Now if she died I have no doubt that her being recruited to be a Valkerie is an option. But then I remembered how those warrior women go out into the world with ‘clients’ and of the two we’ve seen they’ve been attached to ‘monsters’ aka Lara and Marcone.

Unless, the payment isn’t cash and she can be attached to Harry. *hums in thought*

But then I have to wonder how much Murphy would accept that role. She’s also a pretty devout Catholic as this book reminded us so that is also something that would make her say no to the offer.

4. That the younger Wardens who had so looked up to Harry being so damned suspicious… ow. That hurt. I may have teared up and sniffled into a tissue thinking about it. And then sobbed because so much of it came from Carlos… Carlos! The man went into the Deeps with Harry! Ouch.

5. Rudolph… that roach.

Ugh, I’ve had the disturbing thought that now that magic and the supernatural on the path to being exposed to all of humanity, scared humanity too, that will end up with a resurgence of a new Inquisition and the killing of anything eldritch. And you know that Rudolph would definitely be in it. *shudders in disgust* Creep.

BTW I totally don’t believe that Rudolph answers to Marcone. It doesn’t make sense as to why he was so pushy go get Harry during ‘Changes’. I had thought he was answering to the Red Court but with them being taken out of the picture… now I wonder if he isn’t answerable to the Black Council.

Things I Did Not Expect:

1. Damn… when Ebenezer sent that spell through Harry and ‘killing’ I was so shocked even though I was pretty sure there was a twist coming. Mostly because of what it says about Ebenezer.

Ebenezer actions killed Harry.

Sure it was a fake body that brought no harm to the real Harry. But if Harry hadn’t thought ahead? If he hadn’t used his brain to ask Molly to create a fake? Eb would have killed his own grandson.

Sure it was an accident but it could so easy have resulted in a dead Harry. I was crying so hard I wondered if my eyeballs were loosening in their sockets. Argh.

2. Bonea…. Harry your naming skills are simply weird. I’m so glad that Susan named Maggie.

Although Bonnie is a pretty great nickname.

Thinks I Found Utterly Hilarious

1. The line about the best offense being a T-Rex? Gold. Pure gold.

2. When Harry figured out there are angels in the hilt of the Swords of the Cross and Butter’s immediate reaction of horror because he’d accidentally laundered the hilt, giving it a ride in a washing machine.

OMG! I had the instant image of a miniature angel screaming and growing dizzy when going through the spin cycle.

I know that makes no sense but that’s where my mind went, okay.

3. The conjuritis. Omg, it’s so gross with all the ectoplasm leaking from Harry’s nose but it’s sooooo funny. Also the way he kept getting the ‘aren’t you too old for this’ from Ebenezer and then Lara made me giggle even harder.

Then I thought: dude, it’s like chicken pox, something you got as a kid but if you never had it you get it when exposed later in life. So one of his kids has it. Probably Maggie too.

4. When Sanya pretended to have his hand lopped off. I straightened up and was so worried Sanya had lost a hand. Then when I realized he was pretending to freak out Butters and Harry I admit to laughing way too hard. Got me too.’

Also there’s no way that Sanya was actually defeated there. He’s younger and better trained then Butters, I don’t care how light (Heh) the new sword is. He definitely threw that fight to test his hunch.

5. Murphy’s inability to handle being flirted on with a red-headed warrior woman. Sooooo funny. I mean, Murphy could have said a number of things such as ‘I’m exclusive.’ or ‘I’m not interested in women.’ But she just floundered. Heh heh.

6. I continue to find it completely hilarious that Lara, a couple of centuries old vampire, seems to keep learning a lot of power moves from Marcone.

Such as: having trained fighters that are NOT food, well… mostly. Having those mines installed in the walls. And now hiring a Valkerie of her very own.

I keep thinking, yeah, there’s no way she’d win in a fight against Marcone because there’ s no way that Marcone has let slip all of his tricks.

Things I Really, Really Liked:

1. Marcone. Everything Marcone. *heart-eyes*

And then he proves why he’s so damned scary by standing up to the Titan. Then to the ghouls. Then after proving his bad-ass quotient if off the charts he gets everyone organized to fight.

Yeeessss… It proves to me that when it comes to protecting Chicago he is actually the best person after Harry. Hell, in some ways he’s better than Harry. Now, I’m not saying he’s a white knight or anything like that. Just that he has the intelligence, the ruthlessness, the will, the power and the men to provide the most protection to the city’s mortal denizens. At least when there’s a war raging with multiple enemies who will be attacking at various points.

And oh, I can’t wait to see how he’s going to get revenge for the death of his people. Omg, he’s going to kill the Formor so hard. *goes starry eyed thinking about more Marcone*

But why did he have to appear so late in the book?! *wails in a heart-rending fashion*

There better be a ton more Marcone in the next book! *makes desperate gimme gimme hands*

No, I don’t have a Marcone addiction… I can stop anytime I want to. *sneaks off to mainline some “Even Hand” straight into the brain*

2. The return of Goodman Grey! Oh, I hope he’s around a lot! I’ve really grown to like him.

<b>Things Which Blew My Mind or Were Just Freaking Awesome: </b>

1. Dad!Harry is actually the most amazing Harry. Forget the magic flinging and the fire storms… this is the best Harry.

Just the way he takes care of his kids…. *turns to mush like ectoplasm*

2. Murphy and Harry are finally together! Yay! Yay! Hip hip hooray!

Now, I’m a rather shameless Marcone/Dresden fic writer, but as I never ever expect this to be canon I’m content to write it as fanfic for my own sense of delight. However when it comes to canon I’m full on board with the Karrin and Harry relationship. Be it friendship or romantic, I think its great.

3. Marcone… that is all.

Random Speculation

1. I find myself wondering about Ebenezer’s rage against vampires. And my brain muttered this theory: Maybe Harry’s grandmother was killed by White Court vampires.

Whoa.

It would explain the vitrolic rage.

And if Lara was involved it would also explain her flash of shame.

We don’t know anything about Harry’s grandmother, not even her name. So… that’s a thought.

2. River Shoulders teaching Harry.

Oh man, oh man, I hope Harry learns shape-shifting.

And thinking about it I had to wonder if the animal-shifting had anything to do with knowing the animal in question which of course made me think…

Harry should learn to shape-shift into a T-Rex.

He already knows how one is put together and the mind of one. And he knows that it’s possible to add extra mass to a shift from the Nevernever in the form of ectoplasm… so

Harrysarous Rex, baby…. I may have to write a fic with this premise.

3. Oh, if it’s possible to make a ectoplasmic body can Harry learn to make one for Bonea? After all Maggie would probably really enjoy getting to play with her little sister that way. Even if Harry can’t do it all the time and it wouldn’t last longer than a day. That would be delightful.

4. Okay, not this is more head-canon than speculation but… considering how hard Harry has been made to be analogous to Merlin I can’t help but wonder if Marcone is suppose to be Arthur’s analogue. So wielding Amorrachius *coughs*Excalibur*coughs* would make sense.

…it’s not just my Marcone-love talking dammit.

Speaking of Merlin, I’m convinced that he’s behind this whole ‘starborn’ thing. Seriously, otherwise its way too convenient that a wizard with that power is born every 666 years. It smacks of a spell.

And if that’s the case it also feeds into my pet theory that the whole reason we have Outsides at the Gates is because Merlin was the schmuck who drew them to our reality in the first place. And everything surrounding the war with the Outsiders are his attempts to try to fix what he broke.

*lost in pondering thoughts*

Things I Have Questions About

1. Did Harry forget he has The Ways Map from his mother? I would have thought he would have figured out a way (heh) to get to the island somehow. He was on it for so long I thought for sure he’d spend time exploring it. Also we knew from ‘Skin Game’ that even tiny factors can change where the Way goes in the Nevernever. I doubt the ENTIRE island has Ways that lead to a bad place. Especially for Harry now that he’s the Warden.

2. Also why didn’t Harry get Lea to help him? After all unless she’s moved it since ‘Changes’ her garden is still on the other side of the sub-basement.

3. What did Lara use that first favor from Mab on? *eyes her suspiciously*

4. Where are the Za Lord’s Guard? *wondering about what been happening with Lacuna and Toot-toot*

5. If Harry gets kicked out of the White Council (good riddance, since they haven’t exactly been all that helpful lately) can he get enough signatures to be added as a member of the Accords in his own right? After all being Warden of Demonreach has got to mean a lot to the older members.

Then he wouldn’t be reliant on Mab’s protection.

I can’t help but hope this proves to be the case, especially if in ‘Battle Ground’ Harry ends up taking down that Titan. Because he needs as much protection and influence he can gather if he’s no longer White Council to protect himself, his people and his kids. Especially if he eventually gets rid of that Winter Knight mantle like I hope he does.

6. How in the hell (pardon the pun) did evil demon Sasquatch survive being turned to mush by Hade’s Ice Gate? Or the shades that were part of the security system that almost got Harry?

*frowns* The only reason I can think of would be the coin of Ursiel being the factor. I doubt a Fallen Angel is allowed to stick around in the Greek realm of the afterlife.

7. WHERE IS BOB?! Seriously, if Butters doesn’t give him back...

#peace talk spoilers #the dresden files #john marcone #full of speculation #can't wait for more #harry blackstone copperfield dresden #karrin murphy #spoilers #the dresden files spoilers

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quartings · 4 years ago

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2021 Blog Update!

Happy new year folks! Hope all of you are doing okay! Here’s an update on my various series and artworks!

RNBW is set to return for its final few episode summaries when RWBY comes off hiatus, but- It’s been a very busy holiday season for me, so apologies if I fall a bit behind. I’m really looking forward to finally finishing this series, and I really hope at least some of you enjoyed it. I’ve got a few drawings and bios queued in the event that my episode summaries aren’t finished so I hope those suffice!

Similarly, College Adventures has a few more issues in the pipeline, so the S2 masterpost and S3 won’t be available for a few more days, sorry!

I have an OC animatic and other small animations I made for my class that I hope you all will like! I plan to improve even more as an animator this year, and it would make my year, heck it would make my life if my OC stuff actually got some fans as much as my fandom stuff has!

If you haven’t seen it before, I strongly recommend checking out my JoJoMon miniseries if you’re a fan of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure or Pokemon Adventures! I’ve mentioned before, but I certainly don’t mind remaking it when the Stone Ocean anime, Sinnoh remakes, and more SwSh+Jojolion chapters come out!

On a similar note, I have a BIG Pokemon Adventures animatic currently in the works that I think you all will like, so stay tuned for that! I hope to have it finished sometime before... April? Let’s play it safe and say that.

Also-! Cartoon, Anime, Book, and Manga recommendations:

Underrated cartoon of 2020: Ducktales! I’ve never seen a series so dedicated to honoring its source material while still being so funny and heartfelt! I keep hearing that this or that series is the “new Gravity Falls” but Ducktales really is the only cartoon I’ve seen since then that matches Gravity Falls in comedy style and depth!

Underrated anime of 2020: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle! Weirdly enough, this series was able to capture the nostalgia I was having for Adventure Time S2-S6 I had in my heart, with its crazy and adorable monster concepts. You start of watching the series thinking “Oh, it’s about sleeping? How long can they carry on that concept for?” and by Episode 4 or 5 you realize “Wow! How is this series this funny and wholesome while still being about the sleeping premise they promised??” An adorable and lovable series that even non-anime fans can get into!

Underrated book of 2020: Avatar- The Rise/Shadow of Kyoshi! With Avatar making a comeback last year, I’d strongly recommend the Kyoshi novels to anyone who wants more of it! They showcase tons of amazing worldbuilding, character growth, LGBT characters, and creative bending action! And they aren’t too wordy to tackle, they’re quite an easy reading experience for anyone with a bookmark!

Underrated Manga of 2020: Tricks dedicated to Witches! In an industry saturated with isekais making flimsy game references, boring MCs, and cookie cutter waifus, this series stands out in a league of its own! There’s pretty much no magic- we follow a stage magician transported to dark ages Germany in his quest to save innocent women marked as witches by the church! And every time he does so, there’s an awesome and detailed showcase of the stage magic he uses to save them and terrify the church! For a series pretty much set in the real world, it’s engaging, funny, and really really REALLY creative! Credit goes to Black Cat scanlations and my talented gf @mistas-t for translating this series into English for free!

#q speaks #rnbw #jojomon #lay man #my art #update #/avatar #/pokespe #/ducktales

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arcticdementor · 4 years ago

Link

I linked this at instapundit some time ago. But from the fact that a friend sent me this link today, I presume it’s not widely known. The link I put at instapundit was from American Thinker. And for once their title was the most accurate thing ever: Executive Order Canceling the Constitution.

If you’re wondering how that is possible, wonder no more. You know how our government freezes assets of enemy governments? Like Iran’s assets that the FICUS is dying to unfreeze ASAP?

Well, the veneer-thin coat of legality on this bullshit relates to that. At the same time that Dementia Joe and The Commie Ho are giving money and actual nuclear tech to declared enemies of the US, they are declaring US citizens who so much as dare talk against them as enemy collaborators and traitors. And because they’re owned by China (though anyone who thinks that stopping fracking and the keystone pipeline is not a big sloppy kiss to Putin needs their heads examined. It’s in fact the kiss of life, since the only thing Russians have worth anything is oil and they were in deep trouble before China stooges stole our elections) they are of course doing it by screaming Russia, Russia Russia!

…

All they have to do is make a list of those they consider to be Russian agents. The executive order itself says you can’t dispute your inclusion in this list.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Oh, yeah, all your property will be impounded, and everyone is forbidden from doing business with you. On the say-so of corrupt agencies and people who have been lying to us for years.

And there’s nothing you can do, and anyone who helps you faces a similar fate.

…

This was signed on the 15th of April. Do you think there aren’t already things going on to make this work? Do you think that we’re not all already on that list?

Do you think it’s a coincidence you’ve not seen this bullshit anywhere? (And btw the link on top is to the government itself.)

Now, if they were sending goons to collect you, those of you who haven’t lost all your guns in a tragic boating accident would shoot, and it would be on like Donkey Kong.

But that’s not what will happen, and that’s why I’m writing this and asking everyone of you who has a blog and who knows they’re probably already on the list to share it. Or of course if you’re brave enough not to mind if you’re on the list. Note the “your spouse and adult children” too, which is intended to stop you doing anything, for the love of your kids.

I’ve seen this before. Very few people know that the “revolutionary” governments in Portugal froze bank accounts and assets of anyone who spoke out against them. One day you’d go to your bank to remove money, and you couldn’t. Your bank account was frozen as an enemy of the state.

Oh, you have a mortgage? Kids in school? Bills to pay? How terrible and sad it is that you are now functionally a pauper.

As for suddenly finding no one would give you a job, I never even figured out how word went out on that, and I don’t if anyone ever did.

Now, the times we’re living in? Will anyone notice a large number of people becoming suddenly unemployed, and/or having their house foreclosed upon? Help? Well, all they have to do is send a few people who look like government agents to your neighborhood and ask your neighbors (and friends, and associates) questions while strongly implied you’re a traitor working for a foreign power.

Your weapons? Well, then. Surely, you’ll sell them long before it comes time to …. well…. to starve I suppose.

Oh, but surely states will oppose this?

If it’s done the way it was in Portugal, most people won’t even be aware it is going on. Whatever the mechanisms are for flagging foreign enemies in the US — and they are there, and have been, from when our agencies were slightly less corrupt than they are now — will just be deployed, as they have always been, but against anyone who publicly and loudly disapproves of the Junta.

…

And the thing is it will be done behind the scenes, quietly. Through extorsion, and cancelling and whisper campaigns, to discredit and destroy their enemies, and taint them with the label of foreign agents, all without a legal process or any sort of ability to confront their accusers.

At some point, they’ll “notice” the ten million or so new homeless, (hell, the opening of the borders might disguise this, rather neatly, too) and out of their “humane concern,” they’ll create places you can go and be housed and fed.

Do I need to tell you it’s a trap?

This is just a way to round up desperate people. It might also in the end be a way to get rid of the homeless, which rest assured they intend to, once they’re done using it to drive the country’s cities to shit.

Paranoid? Did you read that Executive Order? If not, go do it, I’ll wait.

Now will this be applied ruthlessly and efficiently? Guys, this lot couldn’t shoot a lame fish in a barrel. No, but it will be applied irregularly, annoyingly, and deployed as an instrument of terror to make a large number of people shut up and go along, for fear for their livelihood, their kids, their friends.

It will be, as what they’re already doing to the military and police, a shit show designed to cow people into silence and into fear of losing everything.

Will it work? Oh, for a while at least. I mean, it is working on our military and police.

In my case it puts me in a bit of a pickle, as I don’t like camping, and I’m not young enough to survive long out there. But that’s okay. Personal survival is desirable but not important.

…

So, I know in the long run they can’t win. In fact, the harder they push, the faster they fall.

BUT–

If this goes into action, as stupid and imperfectly as it will be implemented, it will hurt and perhaps kill a lot of people.

If you’re at risk:

1- Have an alternate identity if you can. I don’t even know how to go about that, except perhaps a ring around the rosy of dbas, trusts and corps. Remember, they’re not nearly as efficient or good at tracing things as they think they are. Our secret services were redesigned by a man who can’t figure out how to go through a gate with an umbrella. And he hired people who think he’s smart.

2- Be ready to decamp at the drop of a hat, if it becomes obvious your financial life is frozen, and there’s nothing you can do for money. Decamp where? Well, not abroad. As I pointed out above, if the wheels come off here, they’ll come off and explode abroad. If you can own something outright through a trust or a corp or something, this might be a place to go. If you can’t…. have you considered winter camping gear?

3- Don’t leave yourself defenseless. Don’t sell weapons. Don’t consign yourself to the tender mercies of the government.

Oh, yeah, and keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

4- Other than that? Find a way to keep being heard. If all you can do is paint the words in blood on phone poles do so. But again, they’re not nearly as smart as they think they are. Find new identities and new ways back on line.

All you have to do is survive this for a year, maybe a little more. And the way to survive it is not to act the way the left would, which is the way they expect everyone to act.

Don’t surrender. Don’t give up. Don’t ask for help.

And keep coming back when they least expect it.

If that EO doesn’t show you they’re not Americans, they’re insane, and they mean to be dictators, I don’t know what will. Make sure people know the powers the Junta is arrogating to itself. Make sure they can’t do this quietly.

And may G-d have mercy on America.

#sarah a hoyt

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crossdressingdeath · 4 years ago

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People are like in other Cdramas/particular period of Chinese history/Game of Thrones(I’ve seen it for real, I’m not joking), having a blood feud against the whole Wen clan and killing them until the last one would be totally normal, so JC did nothing wrong. Like, I’m not watching another Cdrama/history documentary/GoT, but I’m watching this particular show, and I’m interested in what the author of this particular story set in the 100% fantasy setting she crafted has to say. We can know that1/4

by looking at what the characters in-universe think is acceptable or not, and at no point, any character thinks that a wholesale, indistinct slaughter is totally okay. They discuss who is responsible and to what degree among the Wens, how it could be a political move to prevent revolt, JC refuses to help people who helped him because it’s politically delicate, and then there is WWX who people seem often to forget is also a person raised with the ideas and values of the ahistorical China2/4

they all inhabit, so his will to save the Wen refugees is not some externally imposed reading or projection of modern morality. And that’s the actual point, no one is obligated to save the Wens or must kill them all, but all characters take different positions depending on their morality and priorities in life that show who they are as people. (Tbh I vaguely remember that the Jin clan might have claimed a blood feud either in the book or one of the other adaptations 3/4

but everyone looked askance at them because they were the least involved and damaged by all the fighting during the war.) But again, the blood feud was one of the possibilities among many others, and again, WWX was very directly impacted by the Lotus Pier massacre, so clearly there are no direct attack on clan to kill them all pipeline, only personal choices. 4/4

I can’t believe I need to say this about a show with flying swords, but CQL is not a period drama, nor is it tied to any particular period of Chinese history. It also is most certainly not GoT. Wrong country aside it is nowhere near that grimdark, thank you. As I recall the Jins had to be super lowkey about the labour camps to the point that no one knew about them until WQ told WWX (that’s important; no one knew what the Jins were doing, that’s why WWX’s actions were seen as entirely unreasonable, for all the sects knew he’d freed a bunch of Wens from house arrest or something) because that sort of thing would not be seen as acceptable. We know for a fact that the mass slaughter of an entire sect based on the actions of part of it is considered morally abhorrent! We know because outside of the Wen remnants it happens twice (Changs and Jiangs; three times if you count the Lans) and each time the sects are disgusted and horrified by it to the point that they’re ready to go to war over the matter. In the show the Wen remnants are executed for WWX killing JZX, thereby neatly avoiding the whole “Do we murder these innocent civilians based on their family” question by deciding they’re guilty despite not having actually done anything. In the novel the people who knew they were fighting civilians had to dispose of the bodies before their allies could see them and realise they were killing civilians based on their family and them being under WWX’s protection. There’s nothing to suggest the mass slaughter of the Wen remnants was inevitable or that JC had no choice but to let them die. He chose not to argue in their favour. Worse than that, he chose to keep the fact that they were civilians a secret in favour of denouncing WWX as a traitor to the sects. Let’s not go the “Oh but actually him choosing to murder civilians instead of trying to help them because they were Wens was totally fine because of the morality of the time they lived in!” without any evidence that the morality of the setting does support mass slaughter route, yeah?

#mdzs #cql #grapehate #anon #asks

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mittensmorgul · 5 years ago

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15.01 Back And To The Future rewatch notes

Note to anyone reading: I’ve already written a mishmosh of other posts addressing stuff in this episode, so this post is not a comprehensive list of every important or interesting thing in 15.01. This post is “things I haven’t otherwise talked about elsewhere yet” or “things I’ve been meaning to talk about in more detail but haven’t yet,” or “things I’d otherwise be compelled to write into the transcript doc in the other tab and really really shouldn’t.” Because that’s actually the purpose of this particular rewatch-- writing up the transcript. Which is happening in the other tab. :P

(i’m gonna go post the transcript now, so it should be up as soon as I get all the html un-screw-ified... >.>)

That said, let’s gooooo!

well, under a cut because long-ish >.>

I already talked about the song choice, and the fact it was the opening montage music in 9.10 (rip Lamp-- yes, this song has forever been the imaginary background music to Lamp/Other Lamp, sorry, the brain wants what the brain wants). It also reminded me of 11.04, the Night Moves scene, combined with Dean’s joke about how Piper brushed Sam off without giving him her number, and Dean replied “We got tonight, who needs tomorrow,” where Sam asks Dean if everything is a Bob Seger song to him. Because, heh, here have another Bob Seger song summing up the end of the road here.

But I love how the lyrics MATCH UP with the action in this opening scene.

♪It's been a long time since you smiled♪ [zombies circle around TFW cutting off their chance of escape] Chuck: Story's over. Welcome to the End. [Cas kneels over Jack's body] ♪Seems like oh, so long ago♪ --NOW-- [in the graveyard, the scene picks up where 14.20 left off, and the music continues uninterrupted from the Road So Far montage. TFW battle a zombie horde, as we zoom out from Jack's burned out eyes and the fighting rages on] ♪And now the stage has all been set♪ ♪And the nights are growing cold♪ ♪Soon the winter will be here♪ ♪And there's no one warm to hold♪ ♪Now the lines have all been read♪ Cas: Sam! Dean! ♪And you knew them all by heart♪ ♪Now you move toward the door♪ [Cas picks up Jack's body and runs, leading the way out of the zombie fight. Sam and Dean follow, dodging monsters and graves] ♪Here it comes the hardest part♪ ♪Try the handle of the road♪ Sam [spotting potential refuge]: Dean, this way! ♪Feeling different, feeling strange♪ ♪This can never be arranged♪ ♪From the famous final scene♪

Then there’s the DRAMATIC ZOOM in on Dean that literally cuts Cas out of the shot as Dean reacts to his line that “Well, I wouldn’t starve.” Like that was the moment Dean began to literally shut Cas out, because he feels that line was Cas shutting HIM out. So instead of trying to deal with any of that because ZOMBIES TRYING TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR is a more immediate concern, he turns his back and goes on his little tirade about Chuck. Like he was reliving that moment he got to smash Chuck’s guitar and wishes he could do it again.

And then we meet Belphegor, who already has a rather hopping tag on my blog, so I’m gonna… just move on a bit from here…

I am in pain over this callback to Bloody Mary, with the teenage girls who seem far younger than the girls from the original. These girls are far more innocent. They didn’t call up bloody Mary, they have no guilt of having killed anyone on their souls. Bloody Mary just… showed up. And tortured and killed them.

But this parallel was twisted. In the original, the girls’ father apparently gave their mother an overdose of sleeping pills that led to her death. in the new version, one of the girls’ parents just got divorced and was compensating by going on a shopping spree and buying everything her daughter wanted. These girls were laughing, loving what that divorce brought them.

It’s sort of a more cheerful parallel to Dean and Cas’s fracturing relationship over their dead son’s body…Well, more cheerful until Bloody Mary kills them, anyway.

Sam learns there’s no sudden worldwide zombie outbreak, so the incident seems localized to that one graveyard.

And at this point I started a THIRD thing I’m working on at the same time, because two was apparently not enough. I think I’m gonna copy/paste that stuff here, instead. It’s about the Three Ghosts of this episode-- each parallelled directly to one of TFW. Bloody Mary was one, and in this episode she was Cas’s parallel. It’s her victims Cas will find-- two little girls who never deserved the fate Bloody Mary dished out to them. But Mary Worthington had been murdered herself, and her killer never caught. So she originally killed people who kept secrets about others’ deaths as a form of revenge against her own killer. In trying to protect others, she became a killer herself. And heck if that’s not painfully Cas… or something he feels he’s painfully failed to do, to protect the Winchesters from having to do horrific things. And he DID sell his own potential future happiness in exchange for Jack’s life, only to have just watched Jack die horrifically. His sacrifice, again, has amounted to nothing.

In this episode, she follows Cas from the house, through mirrors, and reappears in a dark pond to grab at the mother and child Sam had already saved from John Wayne Gacy (yeah, I’ll type that one up next, but let’s finish this first...). So there’s a being now watching Cas from the depths of a dark pool, waiting to reach up and grab him when he finally feels safe. Sounds like… the Shadow.

So on to Sam vs Clowns. Sam’s direct parallel is the ghost of John Wayne Gacy, in clown costume, that he formerly burned in 14.13. In an episode where he was about to come face to face with his own past in the form of John Winchester suddenly appearing in the bunker, torn from the past. It’s an episode where Sam and Dean find peace with who they’ve become, and lay a ghost of their past to rest.

With the Equalizer wound humming along, affecting Sam in mysterious ways we’ve only begun to glimpse, and Sam’s brief flash of himself with black eyes apparently hurting Dean, it’s hard NOT to think of the parallel that Clowns have always held for Sam-- Lucifer. Heck I’ve written about that recently, or at least it feels like I have… but at the end of this episode, Sam stops and looks Gacy in the face and tells him to shut up. Which is something Sam has ALSO said to Lucifer (or at least a hallucination of Lucifer). The infamous “HE SAID SHUT UP TO ME!” of Hallucifer in 7.15, which ended Sam’s ability to shut out the hallucination by squeezing the cut on his hand.

Now on to Dean’s parallel ghost: Constance Welch, aka the Woman in White from 1.01. A woman who was the first ghost of the entire series, who Sam literally drove into her house to “take her home,” where she had to face what she’d done to her own children. She’d killed her own children in a moment of grief after her husband cheated on her, and then killed herself.

Dean had been moments from killing Jack in 14.20, in a moment of grief, but didn’t. Yet he’s now having some serious issues with Cas throughout this episode and by the end, they’re “frosty.”

Belphegor, with Dean, looks for a human heart to use in their spell, and stumble across one of Constance’s victims. Belphegor rips out his heart and holds it up to Dean, when Constance appears. She recognizes Dean from 1.01, who made her go home, and attacks him. Then tries to attack Belphegor, and actually injures his hand.

But this is the ghost Dean is paired with. He drives her off, and Belphegor does the spell to contain the ghosts by putting the heart in a pile of salt.

Okay, now where was I in these notes… right… Town, where Sam and Dean play FBI, trying to stop a benzene pipeline leak. And wow, what a weird story, right? Sheriff was confused, but helped evacuate the townspeople to safety.

I think it’s interesting that this was intended to be another stopgap measure, like putting Jack in the box in 14.19, because they know this spell won’t hold forever, and they know they have no other reasonable way to fix the problem. But they can try to buy some time, and hope they’ll come up with a better solution before things go sideways.

Dean asks Cas to help Belphegor do the spell thing, but Cas refuses, and goes to work with Sam instead, leaving Dean to deal with the demon possessing Jack. Which leads to all sorts of interesting conversations between them… I think I’ve written and/or reblogged enough posts on the queer subtext… er… text even… of these scenes to just point out here that it exists, and is heavy.

Meanwhile Cas and Sam go house to house looking for people they need to evacuate, and encounter the above ^^ ghosts.

So Dean’s stuck with the demon fanboy who admires what Dean did in Hell, and Dean seems pretty uncomfortable about this, but it’s not like he has a choice, you know? Who else is gonna do this? Cas couldn’t, Sam’s already on the other gig, and that leaves Dean. So… instead of denying what he’d done, he brushed it off as “a long time ago.” And then actually asked what the situation in Hell was like. The answer Belphegor gave is… interesting.

Belphegor: You ever seen an ant hill when it's, like, set on fire? [lol no, according to Dean’s wtf face] Okay, well, there we were, minding our own business, you know, flaying people for eternity, like you do, right? And then every door in Hell just sprang open all at once. You know? Souls got out. Sky cracked. And, uh, boom, ta-da, you know?

So all the gates are open, including the Cage, but Michael’s apparently still just sitting there. Which is worrisome. But my question is, if all the gates are open, yet the entire planet isn’t flooding with demons and souls, ONLY through the direct portal into that graveyard, how can what Belphegor said be true? At least, theoretically… But that’s a question for another day, when we have more canon to understand.

So… Dean has to face Constance, who flings him into a dumpster. Which makes me lol think about 1.01 and Dean flinging himself off a bridge to get away from her, and ended up covered in mud.

Cas’s “It’s one ghost,” *two more ghosts appear* “It’s three.” reminded me of “I got this,” “I don’t got this.”

Sam accidentally shooting Cas because the ghost got between the two of them horrifyingly reminds me of 12.17 and Eileen accidentally shooting Mr. Top of his Class at Kendricks when Dagon deliberately came between the two of them. At least Cas is salt-proof, you know?

Belphegor calling out Bad Ghost! kinda reminds me of Dean’s “Here ghostie ghostie ghostie” from 4.13. But REALLY. A demon, who tortures souls for fun and profit, yet can’t do anything more than weakly scold a ghost like a misbehaving puppy? INTERESTING. Because it’s Dean that has to whack her with a metal rod, while Belphegor ends up with deep gouges in his hand that are clearly causing him pain.

Dean hurls the name Casper at Constance before he whacks her, which is also a callback to 1.01. It was Sam who called him out for shooting at her with regular bullets: “What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?” Lol that he remembered that.

Sam pulled a “I’ll hold them off, I’ll hold them all off” hopeless move when he sent Cas away, like Cas once did in 4.22 when he sent Dean away to stop Sam… but Sam actually got out in one piece, even though his gun was empty.

Sam picks up the little girl and runs as fast as he can and only looks back once he’s outside and safe. Like “take your brother outside as fast as you can and don’t look back”

I already wrote about the callback of Dean distracting Sam from tending to his wound with the cut-off joke, reminding me of the scene in 4.09 of Sam doing something similar while fixing Dean’s dislocated shoulder.

And then we have the realization that they’ve never really had free will, just limited choices because of the circumstances Chuck put them in. Sam is unrealistically optimistic that it means that Chuck’s actually gone, now. But that’s the hope he’s holding on to in order to get through this horror.

So this… is what they’re setting up as the guidemap to the series finale. Specifically, Sam and Dean must finally earn their way free. The ghostpocalypse is just step one, and not the true end. There’s still Heaven and Hell to deal with (though Heaven is mostly empty of angels and Hell seems to be actively crumbling now). And Michael, whenever he gets around to walking out of the cage. I’m sure that will go great! Unhinged archangel on the loose! But those are all minor distractions compared with Chuck, because he hasn’t really gone anywhere.

And we still don’t know what Actual Jack, Billie, and the Shadow are up to in the Empty, in their secret meeting in a realm that Chuck has no power. And what about Amara? How does she feel about this now that she’s grown fond of creation? I think there’s a much bigger game afoot than just a ghostpocalypse.

Meanwhile, Sam’s quote here is still setting up the final scene of the series: When we win this, God's gone. Hm. There's no one to screw with us. There's no more maze. It's just us. And we're free.

That’s the goal.

#spn s15 spoilers #spn 15.01

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i-am-the-entertainer · 6 years ago

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RevieWBY: Volume 6, Chapter 10, “Stealing from the Elderly”

Yeah, yeah, I’m late. Sue me.

So, this last run of episodes is essentially what’s shaping up to be the official finale arc, so I’m not sure how well I can really judge these on their own. And mind you, I’m writing this after I’ve seen Chapters 11 and 12, so I know how they fit within a larger context, but the purpose of these is to give individual chapters a particular focus. And that’s kind of hard, because these episodes are almost laughably short: it feels as though the finale arc is being stretched across episodes, much like in Volume 5.

But then I remember...the Volume 5′s finale arc was coming off the heels of a lackluster season, the chapters were longer and thus more time was being wasted, the fights that were going on were downright boring and full of problems, too many resources had been pooled into the character shorts so there wasn’t enough time to give the finale the proper attention, etc. etc. With Volume 6 the renewed production pipeline has given us a volume that’s surprisingly kept up its momentum, plus pretty much every fight has been sufficiently exciting. Couple that with some fight scenes that are cool to watch, and a lot of exciting things happening within the 13 minutes and 52 seconds (which includes titles, credits, and the gen:LOCK trailer) of this episode, I think it’s safe to say this finale battle is going to leave me feeling a hell of a lot more satisfied than the Battle of Haven.

So, let’s break down this episode.

Time For A Battle (Did We Ever Doubt It?)

A lot of the more event-based stuff for this part of the chapter is based around setting up for the upcoming battle, with the plan going awry and the reveal of Cordovin’s mech (geez RT, it’s not like you’re doing a mech show already). Let’s be honest: there was never any doubt things were gonna go wrong. They’re leaving for Atlas a couple episodes before the finale, they were not gonna squeeze in another conflict without resolving the Cordovin one.

I mentioned a couple episodes back putting Atlesian personnel in a direct antagonist position to Team QRWBYJNROM was an interesting turn, since the only Atlas rep we really got before Volume 6 were Ironwood and Winter, who were basically the good guys and in direct counterpoint to the negative image Atlas supposedly have. To have Cordovin so unhinged in her belief in the military’s might that she would use a machine designed to attack Grimm on children and an old lady drives home this idea that team RWBY (I’m not gonna bother with that long acronym) may not have friends in Atlas once they get there.

Look, I’m trying to be one of the more positive RWBY critics, but I think it’s fair to say Qrow’s moment in this episode felt a little undeserved. There needed to be an extra scene of Qrow expressing his frustrations about what was going on, it should not have happened right at the start of what’s going to be a major arc for this volume: it feels like they were trying to tidy up his arc before focusing on that. Really, it feels like Qrow’s arc this season is the one where it feels like they set it up for something bigger but didn’t give it enough focus beyond some really good moments, like they fast-forwarded it when they realized they were nearing the end of the volume and needed it cleared out of the way. It would’ve made Ruby’s heroic speeches in this chapter and the last seem more deserved.

I’ve implied this before, but I say clearly: RWBY’s writing isn’t eh because it’s lazy. It’s just rushed. They are attempting to tell a story on a grander scale than what their production time allows. This large cast is better suited for a show that has at least 20 minutes every episode, so every storyline can get enough focus. Instead, and this has happened with pretty much every volume, they realize halfway through that they don’t have enough time to cover every major thread they’ve sewn, and they skip important steps just so they can finish the volume at the point they want it to. I honestly would prefer having longer hiatuses between seasons if it meant everything they try to introduce could get properly addressed.

As for the rest of this section, the humor’s still working well. It’s nice to know they’ve kept up with the consistent balance of humor and drama this volume when it seemed almost sporadic for the last two years. My personal favorite moment was Adrian fake crying. That baby’s got a career in theater in his future.

Cat vs. Bull

Oh, there’s Adam.

My prediction that Adam wasn’t gonna play a major role until these last couple of chapters came true! I’m a genius!

Okay, I’m not. But I will say with regards to Adam: there could’ve been a better buildup to his appearance. This sequence basically confirms that what Blake saw in Chapter 1 was probably not a hallucination and really him, following her and waiting for her to be alone. If that’s what things were building up to, I would’ve included lingering shots or references implying he was following her: like, I dunno, a shot of him hiding among the crowd on the train, Blake sensing him while walking around Argus, Cinder mentioning to Neo that she couldn’t find Adam anywhere...it would’ve built up tension towards Blake v. Adam Round 3.

As for the animation, well, good as always (...nope, couldn’t say that last part with a straight face). Seriously though: this fight with Blake and Adam is really well done. The PvP fights we’ve been getting this volume have so far been really good, and having one with Adam equals a lot of spectacle. It’s clear the animators have a lot of fun animating his fights, as there are some really creative things going on.

Conclusions

I’m sorry to say this again, because this volume has impressed me otherwise, but it feels a lot like we’re gonna get another finale arc that didn’t get the proper buildup. I keep saying this, but they seriously need to consider delaying releasing the volume until after they’ve finished everything. It’s the model that gen:LOCK’s gonna be following, the last thing we need right now is more rushed storytelling. But they have improved on the other things to the point that from a technical standpoint I’d be daring enough to put this volume on the level of Volume 2 (with better animation).

As for this chapter...well, it’s a set-up chapter. I was tempted to wait to watch all four chapters in the finale arc and then put them together, but that wouldn’t be consistent with what I’ve been doing. From a writing standpoint, this had a good mix of humor and drama, but in the context of the entire volume certain arcs felt like they were rushed. I don’t like the return of the cliffhangers that plagued the last couple of chapters of Volume 5, but it’s worth noting that those cliffhangers came at the end of disappointing deliveries of action-–they were short so animators would have time to work on them, but it wasn’t enough time for those episodes to be anywhere near as epic as they needed to be––all the work seemed to be focused around the Maiden battle, and that’s not even in the final episode. At least with this set of episodes it seems there’s enough action going on and they had enough time to work on them that they feel satisfying. That holiday break probably did wonders for these chapters.

So yeah. I think I’ll focus my energy on reviewing these as a whole when I do a full-volume review.

By the way...if you’ve been following my thoughts all season, how would you feel if I made my full-volume RevieWBY an actual video?

#reviewby #rwby6 #rwby #crtq

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jaywrites101 · 6 years ago

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JayReviews: Shazam!

What makes a person pure of heart? Today at JayWrites101 we're looking into the recent "controversy" surrounding Captain Marvel and her DC competitor Shazam!. Some are saying this movie is everything Captian Marvel should have been, others are saying this movie is the hack. Which is true? Let's find out together.

The purpose of this review is to break down The Good, The Bad, and The Strange to find out what makes these stories so unique.

Spoilers ahead.

Medium: Movie. Genre: Superhero, Comedy Premise: A young boy is given the ultimate power of Shazam, and must use this power to recapture the Seven Deadly Sins. Plot: A young boy named Thaddeus is teleported to a magic temple and given a test to see if his heart is pure enough to wield the power of Shazam. He fails the test and spends the rest of his life devoted to finding his way back to that temple.

Enter Billy Batson, a young delinquent living in Philadelphia who lost his mother when he was a very young child. Billy regularly runs away from his foster homes and pulls pranks on cops so he can track down every Batson in Philadelphia. Finally, at the last woman on the list, Billy is crushed to discover that she wasn't his mother either, and he's left without any option but to return to foster care.

Thaddeus, now an older man, finally cracks the code to magic and breaks into the temple. Shazam, being near the end of his power and life tries to stop him, but Thaddeus steals the Eye of Sin, which does exactly what it says on the tin and becomes his eye.

Also, it frees the Seven Deadly Sins from their captivity. Thaddeus can sort of control them, but in reality, they're just using him, and since he's already doing what they want... it works.

Anywho, Shazam, now left dying is forced to give his powers to Billy and pray that the kid won't abuse them as previous heroes did in the past. Smaaaaaaart.

The rest of the story is Billy trying to figure out the limits of his powers with his best friend and foster brother Freddy. Being Shazam makes him grow into an adult. Wacky hijinks ensue!

Billy eventually attracts the attention of Thaddeus who forces Billy to fight by kidnapping his family, and Billy discovers a way to allow them to become superheroes like himself. Together they beat Thaddeus, return the Eye of Sin to its cage, and bind the Sins back into their original prisons.

The Good: This movie is hilarious! This is one of the best modern examples of physical comedy I've seen in years! Between Shazam! and Into the Spiderverse, I'm hopeful that this style of comedy will make a full recovery.

Aside from the laughs -- which were plentiful -- I have to say the acting was on point for everyone involved. The kids were excellent, the adults were excellent, line readings, facial expressions, all of it was top notch here.

But we're going to give this Good with an asterisk. You see, this film is a comedy, it's fun and light-hearted. This lends itself well to more expressive emotions and any slip-ups made only serve to add to its charm. It's still a really big Good. But it a bar that's a lot easier to clear in a comedy with serious moments than in a serious movie with comedic moments.

The next Good I want to point out is the cinematography. The camera guy had fun with this. And by fun I probably mean hell. The long takes, the swivels, the crane shots! There was action with this camera, and you could feel that each take was shot with dedication and care. It's refreshing to see in a movie like this especially when so many films of late show flat, static shots with the occasional shot-reverse shot thrown in.

The last point I want to bring up is the dramatic stakes.

People died in this movie.

Yeah, okay. I can hear you already tying away like "no duh," but usually in these superheroic, high-action flicks people are getting offed by stray bullets or "Raaar! Monster smashes building!" And you never really see the death toll. Like, you're sure someone died, but you're not really sure who, why, or how. Unless they're a mentor character. But those folks come with an expiration date to begin with, soooooo...

It's usually easy to ignore the damage done in films like this.

Thaddeus locks about twenty people in a skyscraper room, throws his older brother out the window, and proceeds to murder the remainder of the people saving his father for last.

That's frekin hard to ignore!!

Likewise, the scene where Bily reunites with his birth mother just to find out she left him there with the police intentionally... I... I just can't... I can't even...

The Bad: I don't believe in perfection. I believe everything can be improved. The prime example here would be how exaggerated everything it.

Don't get me wrong. In comedy, exaggeration is played off for laughs and it's beautiful, buuuuut. When you use exaggeration in your drama... It comes off as forced.

To the film's credit, the exaggeration mostly comes from the fact that they're all kids. But it's still grating to older audiences at times.

I was left in eternal confusion about how old Billy was before he gained an adult super-form. This is one area where even the internet failed me. Canonically, Billy is 12... Considering he has a crush on his foster sister who is about to leave for college... <.< I'm going to say he's supposed to be older in this film.

I mean... They try to imply he's still in grade school, but he looks like he's already in high school. He also acts like he's already in high school.

Aside from that, most of everything else I have to go here are nitpicks. Things like "how do no one notice the lightning bolts being blasted into the rooftops?" You know. Nitpicks. They're there in every film, series or story. Nitpicks can add up and snowball fast, but in this film, they're barely noticeable.

The Strange: This section of the review is devoted to the things that probably wasn't thought out as well as you might have expected.

The other foster kids.

Out of the six kids we have: Billy the protagonist, Freddy the cripple, a little black girl, the college girl/ love interest, the fat kid, and the Asian stereotype.

There is nothing done in the movie to address these characters except that in the end, they all do actually get superpowers.

To be clear: I'm not complaining about the diversity. I'm complaining that these characters are little more than their stereotypes, and the film indirectly implies that these kids are living half a life unless they're flawless, swole, and sexy.

I know, I'm a white boy who's never lived in a foster home before. I don't think I have any kind of right to be offended... But I think there's someone out there who should be.

There are plans for a sequel in the pipelines. I hope they address this. Because half-assed inclusion can be more damaging than outright bad inclusion.

I still think this was a good step in the right direction. But they still need to take a few more.

Strongest Scene: The villain in the office scene. To me, that was the most gut-punching part of the movie. They said, "Hey, I'm going to have this bad guy do bad things in what would otherwise be a kids movie," and somehow the studio was like, "eh, whatever we don't care."

And we received gold.

The suspension was locked on high, the terror was real, and I actually believed Thaddeus was a wicked monster. Not to mention this was our first glimpse of the Sins outside of the statues. There was so much intensity packed into one small scene that I'm absolutely sure better reviewers than I will continue to pick over it for years to come. So it absolutely receives my subjective vote.

Weakest Scene: This one always pains me to write. I'm going to have to give it to Billy meeting his birth mother. Now, this scene did have some powerful moments in it, like Billy giving back the compass and the mother just looking at it blankly like she couldn't see the implications of it. Powerful stuff.

But the execution of it was... off. For one thing, this was a tight scene and it didn't have a lot of time to build up to the big moments. So some things felt rushed.

For another, Billy's mother seemed almost irritated that Billy had found her after all these years. Like, she glossed right over surprised, ignored curiosity altogether, and went straight on into "yeah, kid what do you want?" and that was... maybe intentional? I don't know.

It's hard to express exactly what I disliked about this, but this woman didn't feel like a mom and... I think that was supposed to be the point, but it really undercuts the emotion this scene should've had. And the only thing that connects to the rest of the movie is that Billy has to accept that his foster family is his real family now.

This is still an excellent scene, in any other movie it would've been fine. But Shazam! hit a high bar and this is easily the one scene that doesn't hold up.

Conclusion: This film was genuinely amazing! If you haven't watched it, you probably should. There's a lot to take out of it, and it stands alone on its own two feet so you don't have to worry if you've literally never watched any other DC movie.

How does Captain Marvel and Shazam! compare to each other?

Check back here tomorrow for my detailed thoughts on this and a few other "controversies" floating around on the internet.

#shazam!#movie #new #dc comics #superhero

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hypeathon · 6 years ago

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RWBY - Volume 6, Chapter 5 Production Analysis

Vol 6, Ch 1 Production Analysis

Vol 6, Ch 2 Production Analysis

Vol 6, Ch 3 Production Analysis

Vol 6, Ch 4 Production Analysis

It can be a bit scary when I’m right on the money about something. The previous production analysis for volume 6 ended on a note pointing out how there were less names in the animation department section of of ending credits of chapter 4 compared to prior episodes. This led me to wonder if either the animators more heavily involved with RWBY would either be working on Gen:Lock at around this point in the volume 6′s production or their time and attention would be spent on a later episode. I am happy to find that it was the latter but also admittedly shocked to find that the “later episode” would be this one.

Before diving into the bit everyone has been losing their minds about, let’s briefly talk about the storyboards and camera layout in the opening scene. Despite having spent time extensively dissecting how Rachel Doda does storyboards and camera layouts in the scenes she’s assigned in the the production analysis for chapter 2, I try to be mindful not to let confirmation bias get the better of me as I’m trying to learn more about the other storyboard and camera layout artists within the show. That being said though, it wouldn’t hurt to least make a conscious presumption that the first sequence had her involvement given the cues and techniques mentioned before. A similarly-presented panning shot and blocking between characters to highlight the reveal of one of them, among other things are signs that Rachel Doda either did the boards or the camera layout for the setup of the scene and probably even the fight itself.

Okay, now to finally address the elephant in the room. Neo is back and in a redone character model no less! Of all the characters to have had a recurring appearance into the show, she has by far been given the most unconventional approach. Many fans by now are aware of the gist as to how she came to be, but for those not in the know, Neo was a character that was conceived a mere 10 days prior to the release of volume 2′s fourth episode. Her design was partially inspired by a genderbent cosplay from Sonja Carter, otherwise known as Soulfire Photography. Her semblance was the result of from is the result of Monty Oum needing an easier way to animate her and Torchwick making a quick escape according to the volume 2 blu-ray directors and animators commentary tracks respectively:

“I needed an uh, it's so backwards how like, I needed them to exit the scene like, Neo was like Torchwick's escape plan. And I was like, "oh yeah, they could get in the ship and then get away." I was like, "That's hard to animate.” Let's just have them shatter into glass, that's simple!"

“And then we have Neo come in and do... something weird. I guess, I tried to think of it as an illusionary technique. It’s like her version of ninja smoke bomb where it’s like she gets away because she causes some sort of distraction because the umbrella is relatively fast, the ship was probably waiting.”

Her entire character was born from the kind of creative process Monty had in general. It’s something he was a bit outspoken about where he compared his own process to that of most film or animation productions, referring to the latter’s structured, step-by-step process as “baking”, while he referred to his own personal, improvisational process as “stir-frying.” Both approaches have their merits and faults, but whether or not one is seen as more favorable over the other in animation production is not the point to get across. Rather, it’s to point out how a character like Neo can come to be in the first place:

“ When I’m working on my own, I tend to run editorial and animation concurrently. I’m averse to storyboards and over-planning. I like to talk about traditional 3D pipelines as being akin to baking: everything is very deliberate and methodical. My version of 3D animation is more like stir-frying. It’s very live and in the moment. If I need a model, I make a model. If a shot or sequence isn’t working, I’ll cut it, move it, or use it later - sometimes several years later.”

-Monty Oum, interview at Creativebloq (yes, they spelled “RWBY” wrong)

So with the story of how Neo came to be out of the way, let’s talk about her in action sequences since a lot has happened in RWBY’s production between last appearance and her grand return. Up until now, only 3 people have ever had a chance to animate Neo fighting. Monty Oum during chapters 4 & 7 of volume 2 and Joel Mann and Andrea Caprotti in chapter 11 of volume 3, the latter two also animated Cinder, Emerald, & Mercury vs Amber in chapter 7 of the same volume. Without going too much into detail, my stance on Monty and how he created fight scenes have always been more conflicted compared to the general consensus. A lot of that has to do with two of the several hats he wore up until his passing, his role as the show’s initial director and as lead animator. As the director, it always felt unclear as to how much thought was considered behind the character motivations within a fight or the consequences that would logically follow after one. Something just feels off in hindsight when say, a criminal wreaks havoc on a highway by knocking away multiple cars, using a mech that’s stolen, top-secret military property and we don’t ever get a scene showing the military general’s reaction to the incident, whether or not he ultimately does anything about it. As much as I appreciate good choreography and rhythm when I see it, having the story being weaved within and around a given fight in works of fiction is what can make them engaging in the first place.

That being said, Monty’s skills as an animator were definitely made clear in the fight scenes he assigned himself to within the show. Animation in general is not an easy medium to tackle, regardless of what kind of gestures or expressions one wants to sell and creating action sequences require both the 12 principles of animation and a few other guidelines in editing and cinematography to make them engaging. In the case of the character Neo, Monty made it very evident what kind of character he wanted to portray through her body language, facial expressions and poses. She fights in a classy way, but unlike Weiss Schnee who is shown as being more consciously routine and disciplined, Neo is comparatively more sassy and provoking. She likes to push her opponent’s buttons with the way she dodges, defends and attacks. Jumping into volume 3, Joel Mann and Andrea Caprotti picked up the pieces from where Monty left off up until his passing and captured much of the same personality to how she fights. Finally, three volumes later, we have her fight with Cinder in this chapter. Not only were just about all of the same traits with Neo’s character left intact, but the list of animators involved this time around were a pleasant surprise. Matt Drury, Megan Pellino, and Joe Vick were confirmed to have animated the fight with current assistant lead animator, Melanie Stern providing some assistance by animating a couple of shots herself. I’ve gone on record in previous posts on how between volume 5 having on of the biggest waves of new recruits, the overall restructuring of animation teams between RWBY’s sixth volume and Gen:Lock on the horizon, and the staff list on the Adam Character short, it’s now more important than ever to remain aware of who will be animating any fight scene or non-fight scene. “Keep moving forward” is a golden phrase within the fan base originally uttered by one of Monty’s tweets and this mantra can be applied to acknowledging new names involved in the production rather than staying stagnant. This episode is a good example of why that’s vital.

This fight sequence was not only an opportunity to show off the return of a fan-favorite character, but it also needed to formally establish the narrative reason as to why Neo is here now. Keyword being “formally”. Yes, fans have spent weeks speculating the possibility of her character through the opening theme and the second chapter. But that doesn’t change the fact that the CRWBY have been spent several months on the production of this part of the volume and still need to make it clear what this character’s motives are for appearing again after a few years without the scene coming off as pointless fanservice. That can be especially challenging for a mute character, but Melanie, Matt, Megan & Joe made that all clear through the choreography and more importantly, the emotional action and reaction. Despite the supposed intentions to why she’s combating against Cinder, Neo is all about taunting her opponent. So it’s only natural that she would ride the line between fighting aggressively and playfully, going as far as momentarily taking out her blade via a split-second smear, all while displaying an appropriate grin on her face. This constant assault in turn escalates the intensity from Cinder’s perspective by shifting her emotions from confusion to frustration. She drops being defensive and starts swinging fists and kicks so aggressively, that her actions come off a little animalistic and she eventually gets more acrobatic and starts breaking furniture.

Though none of Cinder’s actions and reactions are displayed senselessly, despite her facial expressions and vocal cries on Jessica Nigri’s part suggesting otherwise. In the fifth episode of season 2 of CRWBY: Behind the Episode. In it, Matt Drury. who seems to have animated the bit with Neo and Cinder going at it on the bar stand, talked about applying the notion of “see, think, do”, in which a character stays keen on his/her opponent’s movements based on what the latter is going to strike with and then responds accordingly. It’s essentially something learned in Martial arts in general, even competitive fighting games apply this concept. The same use of “see, think, do” can also be seen in Matt’s previous animated sequences in the Adam Character Short. Despite wearing a mask, there are various alternative ways he goes about handling each opponent such as the gunshots in the forest sequence and the framing of shots in the Schnee Dust Company facility to help see what Adam sees and thinks.

I could go on about how great the physical aspects of the fight turned out adding the great use of staging in certain shots and even the brief instance of Neo attacking with her hidden blade through the different colored smears and sound effects that would’ve been easy to miss otherwise. But there’s still a bit more to talk about Neo and Cinder’s conflict outside of the fighting animation. Being a mute character, facial expressions are important to get right in both fighting and dialogue scenes and when Neo’s worn-&-torn character model is shown, heartache, surprise, fear and reluctance are all emotions made very clear. Finally, there’s some 2-D visual effects, likely from Myke Chapman again, this time in the form of wind. I can only imagine the overall design of the wind column surrounding Cinder is fairly elaborate to animate, despite it being looped. But it’s pulled off really well. The wind seems to be divided in three layers: there’s the swirling wind in front of Cinder, the wind swirling behind her and the base on the bottom which seems to be animated on 2s while the former two are animated on 1s. There’s also the additional wind bursting out at the bottom when Cinder levitates up or back down to the ground. Even though I have praised the 2-D effects in chapter 3, a bit of concern was felt as to whether the timing would be played around enough by utilizing what is called “frame modulation”. To put simply, the phrase has to do with an animator fluctuating between animating a sequence on 1s, 2s and 3s, depending on what exactly is meant to be conveyed. This was what I was slightly worried about with the 2-D effects going forward, but thankfully, this one effect soundly put the concern itself to rest.

Despite the harsh criticisms being common knowledge at this point (some of which are certainly valid), I have contrarily been willing to defend the general presentation of fights in volumes 4 & 5 for at least tapping into the idea of more consciously displaying the motivation and consequences between characters engaged in conflict. That being said, both the emotional narrative and physical choreography can both coexist and this Neo vs Cinder conflict served as a great, concise example of just that. I would not necessarily call the scene a “return to form” like many fans have been quick to state. But that should not take away from the level of effort being paid off in the first half of this episode serves as a effective reminder of moving forward to acknowledge both new and recurring talent. With that said, the topic of Cinder vs Neo has been greatly exhausted so let’s move on to a different change of pace in the latter half of the episode. It’s almost night and day in terms of what to break down with the Brunswick Farms scenes. Though there is just as much to talk about, just for mostly different reasons. The latter half of the episode has more emphasis on character acting through a mixture between motion capture and hand-keyed animations, timing of staging of moments through camera layout and editing, 3-D effects for the snow, and even the sound effects taking the spotlight to capture the eerie feeling of the setting.

Speaking of sound effects, let’s talk about that. Despite, talking this series of posts being about breaking down and speculating the production of RWBY, I’ve admittedly been very negligent on the audio and mixing up until now. But the audio department’s effort definitely deserve their due this episode with Chris Kokkinos taking the helm as lead of said-department since volume... Immediately, the sounds of the winds picking up in the storm are the first things made clear to the viewer. Even though there are dissolve transitions to shots of just the snowy setting for a few seconds, with the visibility being deliberately kept at a minimum, one can’t help but be drawn to the audio of the harsh winds. Once they barge inside, the music actually drops entirely for a moment and the sounds within the household immediately come to play. The creaking and footsteps of the wooden floors increase the tense feeling that something is amiss and though the music starts again once Ruby spots the family portraits, it doesn’t fight against the sound effects for attention. Next is Kara Eberle’s well-done screaming and panicky breathing as Weiss which is probably the only moment where the vocal delivery plays a punchy part of the uncomfortable setting. That, combined with the zoom-out from Ruby and Blake entering the room to seeing the rotted, sleeping corpses serves a great reminder of why I don’t care for horror movies in general, regardless of how laughably bad they can be. Congratulations CRWBY.

Next is the scene with the gang at the living room, starting with a shot of the fireplace. It’s more 2-D effects work on the fire which is simple and serviceable, though I’m not the most fond of the... “rendering” of the soot, for lack of a better way to explain it? It’s slightly jarring to look at in that it’s made too obvious that the elements of 2-D and 3-D don’t mesh as well as they could. But it’s really just a nitpick when all is said and done. The fluctuating shadow or lack thereof is interesting however since this extends to the characters. As much as the Pencil plug-in in 3DS Max has served as beneficial to the overall shading effect in RWBY’s character models for the past few volumes, making shadow flicker in front of a stable fire does not seem to be that doable. Whether this is due to lack of a simulation feature or it being possible to do manually but too time consuming, what very likely the lighting or compositing department have done before and did again in this chapter is use a subtle flickering effect that doesn’t change the shading on the characters so much as it slightly dims the light source, being the fireplace. It’s an interesting trick and it works fine, though I’m curious whether there is at all a way to manipulate the shading itself or rim lighting if added via the Pencil plug-in. Though the rim lighting is definitely seen a bit later in a couple of shots with Weiss.

Moving on, the living room scene itself seems to have been at least partially animated by Asha Bishi since much of her tells in character acting are there. Very expressive gestures and a combination of Blake’s cat ear shifts and eyes widening with the pupils being a tad more dilated, the last of which is something that been made more obvious after the last CRWBY episode. With that said, it’s a little hard to pin down when her sequence of cuts end. Next is the cut with Blake and Yang traversing in the snow which is actually the first shot and only shot newcomer, Nyle Pierson has animated in the show as of this episode. It’s a small bit but it totally nails how Blake and Yang would go about dealing with harsh snowy winds differently with one covering herself while the other tries to tough it out. Plus the follow-through on their clothing and hair are very well handled by avoiding feeling too similar, almost distinguishing which character’s clothes are sturdier. Now would also be a good time to briefly talk about the snow effects in this chapter and in this volume in general thus far. It’s all possibly a simulation done via Adobe After Effects from the compositing team since it doesn’t really interact with the main cast themselves. One exception though may be the moment Qrow stepped inside to dry off, though it’s honestly hard to say. The snow being brushed off seem to be done by the visual effects artists, but the wet spots formed on the floor may have been composited since they fade into the ground.

Moving into the shed scene, the quiet atmosphere is consistently well-set where only the sound effects and voice acting are heard. The choice of boards and camera layout also help ease into the sense of intimacy being brought between Blake and Yang’s conversation, going from wider and more distant shots that show the entire interior to having more medium and close-up shots and then back to a wider shot to take things back to square one. The last shot of this scene especially couldn’t be any more obvious as the visual equivalent of being given the cold shoulder. The animations through the facial expressions and gestures also serve to compliment the intention of the scene. I want to say Hannah Novotny animated this, but It’s still a little tricky to say for certain since she and Asha have similar approaches to animating the same characters. Jumping into the last scene of the episode and we get a couple of neat lighting choices, particularly with the small flames from Weiss and the flashlight on Ruby’s scroll. The show is no stranger to artificial lighting via vehicles and objects, but there hasn’t exactly been a light source done as small and bright before. There’s also an interesting detail by having the shape of the light be a couple of rings. Aside from that, nothing else to add beyond the cute, comedic character acting between Ruby and Weiss at the end of the episode. Not sure who the animator was that worked on it, but it served as an appropriately small, light-heard break in an otherwise very atmospheric set of scenes.

With that, this marks the end of another production analysis for volume 6 thus far. Despite the length being only slightly longer than the previous episode, chapter 5 had more going on overall with a more varied change of pace between the two-halves of the episode. With the return of a character who has been overdue for another appearance and a setting that invites visual and audio techniques from the horror film genre, it’s a bit hard to imagine how much more absurd things will go. But based on tweets Miles Luna and Melanie Stern have been teasing, things are expected to get even more nuts. This has made me especially curious as to what the next chapter or so is going to offer. One more thing to add: I want to give a special thanks and shout-out to Changyuraptor from the RWBY sub-reddit and his Source McGourse document on practically every confirmed scene each animator has done over the course of RWBY’s production. As much as I do my best to keep track of who has done what, Changyuraptor is arguably more on top of things than I am when it comes to searching high and low for any up-to-date information of confirmed sequences in volume 6 and a couple of the animators I found out from him.

#rwby #rwby6 #rwby spoilers #rwby analysis #crwby #production analysis #production #analysis #matt drury #matt #drury #megan pellino #megan #pellino #joe vick #joe #vick

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howardschatzphotography · 6 years ago

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On Seeing, A Journal. #284 Above and Beyond: Marian Wright Edelman. December 18th, 2018

Few Americans deserve the term “public servant” more than Marian Wright Edelman, who, for most of her 79 years, has been a dedicated activist for the rights of children. Born in Bennettsville, S.C., Edelman has been recognized with awards too numerous to list fully here. They include: The Presidential Medal of Freedom, MacArthur Fellowship, and the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. She graduated from Spelman College as valedictorian, and earned her Juris Doctor degree at Yale Law School in 1963. Following that, she became the first African American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. In 1973, she founded the Children's Defense Fund as a voice for poor children, children of color, and children with disabilities.The organization has served as an advocacy and research center for children's issues, documenting the problems and possible solutions for children in need. As leader and principal spokesperson for the CDF, Edelman worked to persuade United States Congress to overhaul foster care, support adoption, improve child care and protect children who are disabled, homeless, abused or neglected. As she has said of her work, "If you don't like the way the world is, you have an obligation to change it. Do it one step at a time.” Edelman’s many books include:

HS: Your three sons, with an African American mother and a Jewish father are at the intersection of two terrible things, racism and anti-Semitism. What did you teach them about these things? MWE: We’d have dinner table conversations. We discussed the newspapers, we discussed killings, we discussed mistreatment. And we always read everything that went on in the civil rights movement, I never hid anything from them. And so they grew up very aware of the dangers. They were so clear about the outside world. And my grandchildren are, too. We lived in a privileged neighborhood. But race was always present. God did not make two classes of people, of children, and every human being is sacred, and nobody has the right to invade that set of basic principles. When I was a child, we knew about the outside world, but we also knew we were sacred and that we could make a difference. And every issue that the Children’s Defense Fund works on today comes out of an experience in my own childhood. I was a rebel from the time I was four or five. While the outside world was there telling us we were not equal and not worth anything, our parents, our community co-parents, our faith made it very clear that we were sacred. The public library was closed to us. However, my father and mother always had books in our home, books would come before a second pair of shoes.

I've had the most extraordinary role models from my community co-parents, my own parents, and then, my goodness, I met all these saints in Mississippi. Talk about courage. They wanted their children to have a better life and we would file segregation case for them. They knew that they would be kicked off their plantations, they knew they would be shot at. The people of faith that I have seen and the courage of those people keeps me going. We have been making a dent. There are major laws on the books that are feeding millions of people, that have changed and put early childhood system in place. We have civil rights laws that came out of the most ordinary people. But we need to affirm what is done. The Children’s Defense Fund is the child of the Legal Defense Fund. Every 50 years we have spurts of progress and then we have “birth defects" flare up, because we’re a very ahistorical people. But we’ve got to confront the truth. We’re in another one of those periods where you have progress and then regression.

HS: If you had every congressman as your sister or brother, what would they need to do to end that? MWE: We’ve got a legislative agenda that we put out every year. We’re trying to end child poverty and inequality among children. Our government has got to do more of what they did last year. We pay a lot of attention to budget processes: Whoever controls the money controls the policy. We report how much it costs to keep these kids in poverty. How you can alleviate that poverty. We say what the policies are. It’s complicated. There's no single bullet, but we lay it out, and we’ve made a huge amount of progress on early childhood. When we put out our End Child Poverty report and our Portrait of Inequality, and our State of American Children, we’re going to show what it costs, and what it saves. That money goes to making sure that we have a high quality, early childhood system for every child.

HS: What does that look like, specifically? MWE: Every child in America should have prenatal care. Every child should be immunized so that we keep children out of hospitals. And we try to say you can't afford not do it; here’s what it costs you to immunize a child, here’s what it costs to keep them in the hospital. HS: How do you get the government to spend less on a new jet plane and more on its teachers? MWE: We are always talking about redefining national investment theories. We say how we would pay for everything and we say what a bargain it is. How dumb it is to put children in the cradle-to-prison pipeline. States are spending, on average, three times more per prisoner than for the public-school pupil. That's about the dumbest thing in the world. And we also always say this is the right thing to do. It’s the decent thing to do, as well as the self-interested thing to do.

There's an awful lot of hopelessness around. I will never forget two experiences I had with children, one after the riots in Harlem. After Doctor King’s assassination, I went to public schools in inner-city Washington, and told these children not to riot and not to ruin their future. And a little boy, about ten, looked me in the eye and said: “Lady, what future? I haven't got no future. I haven’t got nothing to lose." Pretty sophisticated. After Katrina, and all these children from inner-city New Orleans were washed out. And they went over to Houston, and I went through the schools where these children were. And, again, I said, "If you have one thing that you wanted to have me say to the American people, what would it be?" And they said, "Tell them we need hope." We made a lot of progress, but we’re such a stupid country. I'm determined. I'm not going to have my grandchildren fight these same battles all over again. And Mr. Trump is not going to win. He’s the personification of every value you want your children not to have. He’s a reflection of the system that has locked in the greed of the few at the expense of the many. That's why we’re trying to say: Listen, our children are our future. And you may not like these poor black kids, okay, but they're going to determine how well we compete in the world. HS: Would you discuss the two sides of affirmative action? MWE: How do you level the playing field? I don't talk about affirmative action, I just say, "Invest in this child because it’s going to save you this amount of money." You've got to get a child ready for public school and you’ve got to reform public schools. We should want for other people’s children what we want for our own. HS: What’s next for you and who’s going to take over?

MWE: I'm absolutely going to be spending 100 percent of my time on movement. You've got to reform the basic institutions that form children. We know what works.

#advocacycivilrightsmarianwrightedelmaninterviewportraithowardschatzphotographychildrensrightsicon

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