#This pacing is deliberate: Your failure to recognize that when everyone else has is not a failure of the writers

[fae-morrigan]

Here's a comment: This is all the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life.

But since you wanna do this... Sure! Lets do this.

First of all, I genuinely have no idea where in gods name you got the idea that Jon's trauma has just gone unaddressed for the last five years. Have you, like, been in a coma?

Come on. What, do you need it spelled out for you? Do you need Jon to turn, look at the camera and go, "I'm traumatized and coping with it weirdly!" Please. Comics are still stories that deserve the respect of being read with your brain on. Show them that respect. We've BEEN getting the "hints."

And speaking as someone who DOES have c-ptsd... Its an entirely accurate depiction. Frankly, way more accurate to that kind of long-term trauma than him... laser beaming the ceiling????

On that point, second of all: Yes, it would've killed Bendis to immediately delve into Jon's trauma the second he got home. You yourself bring up the idea of Jon putting on the mask of being a happy teenager in order to make the people around him happy. Hate to break it to you, you didn't come up with that. That's canon.

Whole arc in Action Comics about it, too. I'll say it till i'm blue, PUT SOME RESPECT ON PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSONS NAME!

Also, do you know what pacing is? Or like, how a narrative functions?

I've made the point before that simply going right into the Trauma stuff after it all went down would've ruined Jon's chance at ever being anything more than a trauma prop for Clark & Lois. And I have since been consistently validated in that, considering Jon's story is now about him and who HE is, instead of him being damselled whenever Clark needs a man-pain moment or whenever Lois needs to be a momma bear, the way people seem to desperately miss for reasons that are BEYOND me.

Jon's got an extended cast beyond Damian and Clois, now. He's allowed to be the center of his own narrative, not simply just a prop for other people. We see how he changes and learns and asserts himself, and come to understand why. If they had gone directly into the Ultraman stuff after it happened, that wouldn't have been possible, because we wouldn't have first established who Jon Kent is outside of his pain.

Jon's not a side character anymore. He's a protagonist. And that comes with certain things you HAVE to do as a writer AND a reader before you can get to the good stuff.

Third of all: Your idea is frankly way worse than what we got, and I HATED Legion 2019. Playing further into Imra's mischaracterization at the hands of Bendis so you can uplift a male character that DOES NOT NEED the uplifting you're doing is pretty damn misogynistic. It also doesn't even make sense for what Bendis DID tell you about her, that' she's just a) misguided and b) passionate. Women are more than your props for a man's pain. But also, in what universe would Clark & Lois agree to that?! Look, I'm one to critique Clark's parenting, but that's just CARTOONISHLY out of character.

Fourth of all: It has been thirty years and they've still not addressed the fact that Kon is a victim of CSA and grooming. Jon is actually making great time on 'dealing with trauma'. You don't get to complain that they 'dont deal with it' and then ALSO complain when they FINALLY do it in a way you actually pick up on (when everyone else was WAYYYY ahead of you).

If you're going to condescend to those of us who can read and analyze, you should at least have the decency of your idea being a good one based in any of the established themes that have spanned Jon's whole history. If you can't manage that... don't quit your day job.

Please apologize to What0Smart for leaving this inanity on his post. And apologize to the rest of us for making us read it!

Absolute Power:Superson Previews!!!

Looks like this comic is gonna be all over the place as Jon goes through his memories but I’m excited for it, I can’t get over Damian’s outfit, based one what we’ve heard it sounds like he’ll make some more appearances throughout.

Also I wonder if Nia is actually dead, I don’t think she is but maybe she’s stuck in Jon’s head for the time being.

Jon being glued to his phone texting Jay is so cute I can’t wait to see them reunite. “They’re telling me to rest” implying he would have gone to pick up Jay if he could lol

Here’s some previews that came from the Nicole and Sina’s social medias!

It looks very silly in the initial previews but based on the descriptions we’ve gotten so far it’s sounds like it’s gonna get serious and dive into Jon’s trauma.

I’ll keep you all updated when it releases on September 18th!!!

[tirtalks]

A Glance of: Ego is The Enemy

The book Ego is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday is filled with cautionary tales of those who experienced ego at each of their stages in life: Aspiration, Success, and Failure.

This is not about ego in the Freudian sense, but the ego we most commonly see that goes by a more casual definition: an unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition. It’s the sense of superiority and certainty that exceeds the bounds of confidence and talent. The need to be better than, more than, recognized for –that’s ego.

Ego is the enemy that separates us from every direct and honest connection to the world around us. That’s why this book comes to help us to be humble in our aspirations, gracious in our success, and resilient in our failures.

To whatever you aspire, ego is your enemy

Don’t Talk, Talk, Talk –Act!

The more difficult the task, the more uncertain the outcome, the more costly talk will be and the farther we run from actual accountability.

So what is scarce and rare? Silence. The ability to deliberately keep ourselves out of the conversation and exist without any need to be validated. The only relationship between work and chatter is the latter kills the other –particularly early on in any journey.

To Be or To Do?

If your purpose is something larger than you –to accomplish something, to prove something to yourself- then suddenly everything becomes both easier and more difficult.

Easier in the sense that you know now what it is you need to do and what is important to you. The other choices washed away, as they aren’t really choices at all. It’s about the doing, not the recognition. It gets harder because each opportunity –no matter how gratifying or rewarding– must be evaluated along strict guidelines. Does this help me to do what I have set out to do? Does this allow me to do what I need to do? Am I being selfish or selfless?

To be or to do –life is a constant roll call.

Become A Student

The art of taking feedback is such a crucial skill in life, particularly on harsh and critical feedback. The ego avoids such feedback at all costs, whatever, ego is the voice that tells us we’re better than we really are. Ego dislikes reality and prefers its own assessment.

To become what we ultimately hope to become often takes long period of obscurity. Humility is what keeps us there, concerned that we don’t know enough and that we must continue to study. Become a student to place the ego and ambition in someone else’s hands.

Don’t Be Passionate

It’s all about passion. Find your passion. Live passionately. Inspire the world with your passion. Because we only seem to hear about the passion of successful people, we forget that failures shared the same trait.

Passion typically covered a weakness. Its breathlessness, impetuousness and franticness are poor substitutes for discipline, for mastery, for purpose and strength and perseverance. You need to be able to spot this in others and in yourself. While the origins of passion may be earnest and good, the effects are comical and then monstrous.

The critical work that you want to do will require consideration to pursue the purpose. Not passion. Not naivety.

Follow the Canvas Strategy

The Canvas Strategy is about helping yourself by helping others. Making a concerted effort to trade your short-term gratification for a longer term pay-off. Whereas everyone else wants to get credit and be “respected”, you can forget credit. You can forget it so hard that you’re glad when others get it instead of you –that was your aim, after all. Let the others take their credit on credit, while you defer and earn interest on the principal.

Once we fight this emotional and egoistical impulse, the canvas strategy is easy and the iterations are endless.

Restrain Yourself

Our own path, whatever we aspire to, will in some ways be defined by the amount of nonsense we are willing to deal with.

Up ahead there will be: Slights. Dismissals. One-sided compromises. You’ll get yelled. You’ll have to work behind the scenes to salvage what should have been easy. All this will make you angry and want to fight back. But don’t! Take it. Endure it. Quietly brush it off and work harder. Restraint is a difficult skill but a critical one.You will often be tempted. No one is perfect with it, but we must try.

Honestly, many paths would tolerate only restraint and had no forgiveness for ego.

Get Out of Your Own Head

Our imagination is dangerous when it runs wild. We have to rein our perceptions in. Otherwise, lost in the excitement, how can we accurately predict the future or interpret events? How can we stay hungry and aware? How can we appreciate the present moment?

Living clearly and immediately taking courage. Don’t live in the haze of abstract, live with the tangible and real circumstances, even if it’s uncomfortable. Be part of what’s going on around you. Feast on it, adjust for it.

There’s no one to perform for. There is just work to be done and lessons to be learned, in all that is around us.

The Danger of Early Pride

Actually, pride –even in real accomplishments– is a distractions and a deluder. Pride blunts the very instrument we need to own in order to succeed: our mind. Our ability to learn, to adapt, to be flexible, to build relationships, all of this is dulled by pride. Most dangerously, this tends to happen either early in life or in the process –when we’re flushed with beginner’s conceit. Pride takes a minor accomplishment and makes it feel like a major one.

Receive feedback, maintain hunger, and chart a proper course in life. We are still striving, and it is the strivers that should be our peers –not the proud and the accomplished ones.

At the end, this isn’t about deferring pride because you don’t deserve it yet. It isn’t “Don’t boast about what hasn’t happened yet.” It is more directly “Don’t boast.” There’s nothing in it for you. 

Work, Work, Work

Fac, si facis. Do it if you’re going to do it.

Work is finding yourself alone at the track when the weather kept everyone else indoors. Work is pushing through the pain and crappy first draft and prototypes. It is ignoring whatever praise others are getting, and more importantly, ignoring whatever praise you may be getting. Because there is work to be done.

 To whatever success you have achieved, ego is your enemy

Always Stay a Student

As we first succeed, we will find ourselves in new situations, facing new problems. But, with accomplishment comes a growing pressure to pretend that we know more than we do. To pretend we already know everything.

No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. To be the humble version of you who don’t assume, “I know the way”. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.

Don’t Tell Yourself a Story

Whatever we do, instead of pretending that we are living some great story, we must remain focused on the execution –and on executing with excellence. We must shun the false crown and continue working on what got us here.

Because that’s the only thing that will keep us here.

What’s Important to You?

This is how ego works: we’re never happy with what we have, we want what other people have too. We want to have more than anyone else. Ego sways and can ruins us. We started out knowing what’s important to us, but once we’ve achieved it, we lose sight of our priorities.

On an individual level, however, it’s absolutely critical that you know who you’re competing with and why, that you have a clear sense of the space you’re in. The more you have and do, the harder the maintaining fidelity to your purpose will be, but the more critically you will need to.

Find out why you’re after what you’re after. Ignore those who mess with your pace. Let them covet what you have, not the other way around. Because that’s independence.

Entitlement, Control, and Paranoia

The problem lies in the path that got us to success in the first place. What we’ve accomplished often required feats of raw power and force of will. Achieving success involved ignoring the doubts and reservations of the people around us. There are legitimate stresses and anguish that come with the responsibilities of our new life. But, ego will always be the worst enemy. Ego sways and can ruins every single pieces of our life.

We don’t have any entitlement to overstate our abilities. In other way, we need to control ourselves to don’t ever force anything to be done our way –even little things, even inconsequential things. Learn to trust people so paranoia won’t get us down.

Once our path lead us to success, we have to regularly remind ourselves of the limits of our power and reach: entitlement, control, and paranoia.

Managing Yourself

As you become successful in your own field, your responsibilities may begin to change. Days become less and less about doing and more and more about making decisions. Responsibilities requires a readjustment and then increased clarity and purpose.

It is not enough to have great qualities and abilities to do everything in our own field, we should also have the management of them.

Beware The Disease of Me

The Disease of Me begins once we think that we’re better, that we’re special, that our problems and experiences are so incredibly different from everyone else’s that no one could possibly understand. It’s an attitude that has sunk far better people, teams, and causes than ours.

Let’s make one thing clear: we never earn the right to be greedy or to pursue our interests at the expense of everyone else. To think otherwise is not only egoistical, it’s counterproductive.

Meditate on The Immensity

At least once in a lifetime, we would experience what the Stoics would call sympatheia –a connectedness with the cosmos. A sense of belonging to something larger, of realizing that “human things are an infinitesimal point in the immensity.”

When we lack a connection to anything larger or bigger than us, it’s like a piece of our soul is gone. No wonder we find success empty when we’re exhausted. In that moment, ego stands in the way. By removing the ego –even temporarily– we can access what’s left standing in relief. By widening our perspective, more comes into view.

Feel unprotected against the elements or forces or surroundings. Remind yourself how pointless it is to rage and fight and try to one-up those around you. Go and put yourself in touch with the infinite, and end your conscious separation from the world. Reconcile yourself a bit better with the realities of life. Realize how much events came before you, and how only wisps of it remain.

Let the feeling carry you as long as you can. Then when you start to feel better or bigger than usual, go and do it again.

Maintain Your Sobriety

In most cases, we think that people become successful through sheer energy and enthusiasm. We almost excuse ego because we think it’s a part and parcel of the personality required to “make it big.” Maybe a bit of that overpower is what got you where you are. But, we have to stay sober and control our ego.

Sobriety is the counterweight that must balance out the success. Especially if things keep getting better and better.

 To whatever failure and challenges you will face, ego is your enemy

Alive Time or Dead Time

According to Greene, there are two types of time in our lives: dead time, when people are passive and waiting, and alive time, when people are learning and acting and utilizing every second. Every moment of failure, every moment or situation that we did not deliberately choose or control, presents this choice: Alive time. Dead time. Which will it be?

Dead time is revived when we use it as an opportunity to do what we have always needed to do. Think of what you have been putting off. Issues you declined to deal with, systemic problems that felt too overwhelming to address.

In life, we all get stuck with dead time. Its occurrence isn’t in our control. Its use, on the other hand, is.

The Effort is Enough

In life, there will be times when we do everything right, perhaps even perfectly. Yet the results will somehow be negative: failure, disrespect, jealousy, or even a resounding yawn from the world.

Depending on what motivates us, the response can be crushing. If ego predominates, we’ll accept nothing less than a full appreciation. With the right motives we can still pursue our success. With ego, we’re not.

Do your work. Do it well. Then “let go and let God.” That’s all there needs to be. Recognition and rewards –those are just extra. Rejection, that’s on them, not on us. Doing the work is enough.

Fight Club Moments

We surround ourselves with distractions, with lies about what makes us happy and what’s important. We become people we shouldn’t become and engaged in destructive, awful behaviors. This unhealthy and ego-derived state hardens and becomes almost permanent. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

In fact, many significant life changes come from moments in which we are thoroughly demolished, in which everything we thought we knew about the world is rendered false. But change begins by hearing the criticism and the words of the people around you. Even if those words are mean spirited, angry, or hurtful. It means weighing them, discarding the ones that don’t matter, and reflecting on the ones that do.

Draw The Line

People make mistakes all the time. We take risks. We messed up. We fight desperately and only making it worse. Ego kills what we love. Sometime, it comes close to killing us too

Let’s say you’ve failed and let’s even say it was your fault. Things happened and trouble is in anywhere. But most of them is temporary, unless you make them not so. Recovery is not grand, it’s one step ahead of the other. The only real failure is abandoning your principles.

Maintain Your Own Scorecard

This is the characteristic of how great people think. They don’t really care much about what other people thin, they only care whether they meet their own standards. And these standards are much, much higher than everyone else’s. A person who judges himself based on his own standard doesn’t crave the spotlight the same way as someone who lets applause dictate success.

Reflecting on what went well or how amazing we are doesn’t get us anywhere, except maybe to where we are right now. But we want to go further, we want more, and we want to continue to improve.

Always Love

We all have stuff that pissed us off. The more successful or powerful we are, the more protection we will need in terms of our legacy, image, and influence. There is only one best response to an attack or a slight of something you don’t like: love. Because hate will get you every time.

In failure or adversity, it’s so easy to hate. Hate defers blame. It makes someone else responsible. It’s a distraction too. Does this get us any closer to where we want to be? No. It just keeps us where we are –or worse.

Meanwhile, love is right there. Egoless, open, positive, vulnerable, peaceful, and productive.

Epilogue

Every day for the rest of your life you will find yourself at one of those three phases: aspiration, success, failure. You will battle the ego in each of them. You will make mistakes in each of them. You must sweep the floor every minute of every day. And then sweep again.

[basketballandbs-blog]

The Finals: The Preview: Cleveland vs. Golden State: The Threetening

Okay y'all, we're FINALly (sorry about that I couldn't resist) here. After 2,460 regular season games and just about two and a half months of playoffs we now have our two combatants that will be battling it out for basketball supremacy. Annnnnnd it's the same two combatants that have battled the previous two championships. Don't worry, I'm not one of those silly blowhards that will try to convince you that having the same two teams meet for a third consecutive Finals is a bad thing although I will say that I find it ironic that the same folks that are pushing this line of thought grew up romanticizing the Celtics vs. Lakers rivalry of the 80s. Anyway, there I go again getting sidetracked. In all honesty, what more can you ask for? The best basketball player on the planet going against a team stacked with two former MVPs and one of the best defenders in the game. So please excuse me if I'm not willing to buy into the potentially boring Finals talk.

Cleveland and Golden State took almost identical paths to get here. Cleveland was a bad LeBron game from completely sweeping the East as they ran through Indiana and Toronto in the first two rounds unscathed before dropping game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals before closing Boston out. Golden State caught the break of a lifetime (ew, poor taste?) in San Antonio losing arguably their top two guys in Kawhi Leonard in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in addition to Tony Parker who had been out of the playoffs since Game 2 against Houston in the previous round. This made them a lock to dispatch the Spurs after first and second round sweeps of Portland and Utah respectively. There are some quality opponents here people. Here's the thing though, both the Cavs and Dubs are playing at the top of their games and so high above everyone else that it made their already inadequate opposition look downright incompetent. Folks, don't listen to the hype, this is gonna be a blast of a series.

Cavs will win if they……….

Can get LeBron to not only repeat his performance from last year’s Finals but surpass it. This is by no means downplaying his 30-11-9 line he put up in the series last year (especially those final three games) but facing a team hellbent on revenge armed with…….oh I guess you can say a little extra firepower he's going to have to in the words of a well known TV chef kick it up a notch. And it's not to say he can't, As I stated earlier he's torn through the East throughout the playoffs averaging 32-8-7 shooting 56% from the floor and 42% beyond the arc. If he can shoot like this and more or less control the pace of the game we may be in for one of if not the finest performance in Finals history. I know, blasphemy but as a huge MJ fan and a guy that romanticizes that era and particularly the era before his rise game just has to recognize game (sorry JB). His ability to read the floor and when to flip the dominate or facilitate switch will be the very thing that all of Cleveland's success will be built on. Hey, but we all know that you can't win a championship completely on the back of one person, right?

So this is where the play (most importantly the shot making ability) of the rest of the Cavs comes so heavily into play. After struggling with his efficiency in the first two rounds Kyrie Irving got back on track in the ECF reminding folks that he's a closer too he comes in averaging 24 points and 6 assists on 46% shooting and a decent 35% from deep. Kevin Love has quite possibly been the most consistent Cav next to Lebron putting up 17 and 10 per contest while nailing almost half of his threes. Tristan “TrashGawd” Thompson has been well…….effective averaging almost a double double and has improved his free throw shooting making him slightly less of a liability late in games when the Cavs will need someone in the middle.

After that, it's all about dudes hitting shots. Luckily, this has been far from a problem for them especially on the bench. J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver, Channing Frye and Deron Williams have all hit well above 40% of their triple during this offseason. However, this is the part where I have to mention that it'll be a bit harder to accomplish this go around. Also, the Finals has to be a time were you shore up any weaknesses you may have or at least try to gameplan around them. With that said it hard to believe Cleveland has a chance in this if they can't make a huge leap on defense. You know, because the team they're facing? Yeah, they can kinda shoot the rock too. This rarely has presented a true issue for them as they have been so damned good at simply outscoring their opponents up until now. Excuse me for stating the obvious but that ain't gonna work here. An emphasis must be placed on stopping Golden State here. Either by scheme (most likely) or by brute force (least likely) they have to get this done because a failure to do so not only jeopardizes their ability to repeat as champs it may result in this getting ugly.  

Warriors will win if they……….

Will continue to play as confident, controlled and cohesive as they have most of the season and completely throughout the playoffs. Normally this would be where I state where (or should I say who) this would start and end with. But here's the thing about the Dubs, they have three guys who can take the reigns while you run yourself silly trying to stop the bleeding from all the daggers being hurled into your chest. So, let's play a game of Pick! Your! Poison! First up we have Stephen Curry, who you may recognize as a 2-time back to back MVP. During this postseason Mr. Curry is averaging 28 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists while currently being apart of the ever so coveted 50-40-90 club with his shooting splits of 50-43-90. Known to many as the baby faced assassin, when he gets rolling he can absolutely eff your night up! Second we have a NEW edition to the group but please don't mistake that for a lack of ability to obliterate you team at a moment's notice. Kevin Durant comes to the Bay Area after a very celebrated stint in Oklahoma City (sorry Celly) where he was the recipient of an MVP himself. He's checking into the Finals clocking a line of 25-8-4 while within sniffing distance of the club that Mr. Curry is currently apart of with splits of 55-42-87. Mr. Durant is arguably the most lethal all-around scorer in the league and with his long 6'9” frame he can make scoring on him equally as difficult as it is to stop him from scoring. Last but not least we have Draymond Green, who boasts the most impressive all-around game not only on this stacked squad arguably in the entire league. A defensive juggernaut with a sweet shot Mr. Green will go heads up with the Cavs averaging 14-9-7 with a pair of steals and blocks. And about that sweet shooting Mr. Green's shooting splits for the playoffs has been 50% from the floor and 47% from deep. So what's it gonna be? Door 1, 2 or 3? Either way thanks for playing Pick! Your! Poison! For you are fucked!

Yeah, pretty rough isn't it? Now look back on those numbers and factor in that two of these series were against teams that boasted top 5 defenses (okay, I know the Kawhi thing definitely slowed the Spurs down but their defense is still pretty gotdamn good). And we haven't even started to talk about the cadre of role guys that is one of the only groups in the league that can match up with Cleveland's second unit on both sides of the ball. I definitely hate to mention him here but Klay Thompson despite struggling mightily on the offensive side of the ball has been an ace defender throughout the playoffs for the Dubs. Andre Iguodala, while slowing a bit is still their best bench defender and is still effective on that end for extended minutes as he is playing 25 per night in the postseason. Also still providing quality minutes off the bench is David West averaging 4-3-3 and Shaun Livingston chipping in 4-3-2. But what's probably the biggest boon for them off the bench has been the production of the newer guys. Ian Clark has wowed not only me but many with his play of late. His 8 points per night and 40% from deep has provided a much needed spark while the Dubs spell their main guys. Patrick McCaw is not to be left out here either. The rookie has been great for them as he has been good for 5 points per night and nearly 40% from deep. However, the young McCaw has especially been recognized for his defensive prowess. And last but not least we have JaVale McGee. Despite still being pretty lunk headed and lost at times it would appear the his rehabilitation project has been quite the success. When Zaza Pachulia isn't lurching around and doing goon stuff McGee has provided a more mobile and better offensive option in the post as he's tallied 7 points per night on a whopping 74% from the floor.

So this is where we get real and talk about Golden State's need to nail all of the intangibles. That they can't afford to look aloof, stunned then overwhelmed which was the tenor of the final half of last year's series with Cleveland. And there is the high probability that chasing Cleveland off of the three point line and putting in so much work at the rim to defend them will surely tire the Dubs' main guys possibly making them a little less effective on the offensive end. They have the bodies for sure but they will need to be very deliberate in how and who they choose to defend James. And for heaven's sake try to find the perfect balance for Draymond Green to be the scenery chewing irritant that he's the best as opposed to the easily frustrated dude that catch an ejection or worse a suspension that may end up costing them the series. But it's not like anything like that has ever happened before. My point is, last year's result was almost as much mental as it was physical. And this is not to that Golden State is not a mentally tough team, all I'm saying is that if they can completely win it on the court they should.

H.B. says…………..Warriors in 6