#and some of the reviews complained about the realism of the final fight

[kingsonne-zedecks]

Plus the secret fourth and fifth dimensions!

I didn't perceive the meaning <--> I Got It

It wasn't for me <--> I was the intended audience

people have got to learn the difference between I didnt like it and It was bad

[thereaderstea]

G´day tor-mon, how are you<3? Recommend me your favourite bts!jungkook x reader fics! so I guess its not an au?(no smut✋🚫)

Merry meet, nonnie! I am well, busy and a little stressed because I had a power outage yesterday, but well nonetheless ☺️ I hope you are merry in the holidays (if you celebrate) and are happy and healthy 😄🖤💜

asdfghjkl, my favorite JJK x Reader fics? I have to choose? 😰 *has an existential crisis*

Alright, after some deep reflection, an existential crisis, and fighting the urge to devour these fics again (you have a mission, tor-mon!), I present to you my current favorite JJK fics (this list is only bound to grow). These fics have made me feel so intensely and I think about these fics a lot (an unhealthy amount, probably). I sorted them by genre: fluff to angst to yandere.

tor-mon’s Favorite JJK x Reader Fics

Sugar and Coffee by @jimlingss​  ➵Fluff, Angst, Slice of Life | slice of life au |  pâtisserie school au | enemies to friends to lovers au | Slice of Life series | 23 ch series | 100.5k ➵You are quite the pâtisserie chef, or at least on your way to becoming one, but there’s that one person who always has to complain, Jeon Jungkook.  ➵A masterpiece, honestly. I remember cracking up so hard over their competitions, the banter, and dynamics, but nothing beats that one day after the dream... I don’t want to spoil! but I do want to warn that there is a wet dream (not too graphic and it’s not a lot, I promise) somewhere in there, but honestly, it’s so hilarious.

Chess of Ice by Jimlingss​ | The Reader’s Tea Reviews 1 | 2 | 3 ➵Fluff, a lil bit of Angst | sports au | curling au | trilogy | 42.8k ➵Jeon Jungkook is a rising star, that is, until he falls. Now he’s picking up another sport, curling. ➵I love a good team dynamic and the characters in this are everything 🙌🏻

Date in a Box by Jimlingss​  ➵Fluff | Service Series | oneshot | 9.7k (Jimlingss’s summary: ) ➵If you’re in a hurry then we’re here to help you! Everything you need in a box. Delivery less than five minutes. Upgrade and we can personalize your date even more! Guaranteed 100%! Don’t fret, we’re here.  ➵I love the entire Service Series because the concepts are so much fun and they’re hilarious and I love the service descriptions, aka the commercials XD

I Will Not Lose! by Jimlingss​ ➵Fluff | magic au | oneshot | 6.2k (Jimlingss’s summary: ) ➵A single bet - use every means to make Jeon Jungkook fall in love with you. ➵It’s fluffy and cute, and it’s got that hint of enemies to lovers, especially with how competitive the mc gets over this bet. And the ending! asdfghjkl ^.^ 

midas by @gukyi​  ➵Fluff, (light) Angst, Comedy | enemies to lovers au | ceo au| magical realism au | oneshot | 32k (gukyi’s summary: ) ➵jeon jungkook was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and the power to turn whatever he wants into pure gold. you were born with healing and invisibility powers but without a cent to your name. so when you’re plucked off of the streets for pickpocketing and assigned to be his minder as punishment, you realize you’re going to have to overcome a lot more than class differences if either of you are going to get what you want. (or,) ➵you become Jungkook’s magical babysitter ➵I really love this concept! This fic is what got me looking into magical realism as an entire genre. But also, who doesn’t love a good enemies to lovers? and from the master of enemies to lovers 🙌🏻

ice prince by gukyi | The Reader’s Tea Review   ➵Fluff, (very light) Angst | figure skating au | enemies to lovers au | oneshot | 22k ➵Your ice skating partner just had to break his leg right before a big competition and “of all people on this godforsaken Earth, you’ve been re-paired up with Jeon Jungkook, Ice Prince.” ➵an axel-lent enemies to lovers :D I love it so much! And I really love Tae and mc’s friendship and all those icebreaker questions ☺️

if i told you by gukyi​  ➵Fluff, (light) Angst, Comedy | friends to lovers au | college au | oneshot | 22k ➵Jeon Jungkook is a broke college student, so to pay off his debt, he sells himself as the perfect boyfriend. If only you weren’t a broke college student either, then maybe you could buy yourself a date with Jungkook. ➵The mc is so not what I expected, (no spoilers!) all I will say is that I really love how supportive she is. I also love how close they are and this Jungkook is too fluffy and cute! ^.^

a moonlight melody by gukyi​ | The Reader’s Tea Reviews 1 | 2 ➵Fluff, Soft Angst | fake dating au | orchestra au | vacation au | duology | 50k ➵Your best friend has pranked you too many times and you’ve done nothing about it, because you, quite frankly, suck at pranking. As such, Jungkook ➵This is so soft and magical and sweet and soft ☺️ and did I mention soft? but also all those memes! There is so much good and wholesome and hilarious dynamics in here! This is the kind of fic that makes me wish I had a big friend group to do crazy stuff like this (but I hear you have to leave your house and, like, socialize??)

Down With The Ship by @tatastaetae | The Reader’s Tea Reviews 1 | 2 | 3 ➵Fluff, Angst | pirate au | trilogy | 25.4k ➵ You board a ship to escape forced love; but you join a pirate crew to fall into the arms of your only true and constant love: the sea. (or, tatastaetae’s summary: ) ➵Captain Jeon Jungkook; a beautiful mess of blood and gold. His greatest treasure, may also be his greatest downfall. ➵Very very fluffy! I love the adventure and the antics and I still want to know what’s in that soup, Jin! But that ending, holy heck, I didn’t see it coming and I just malfunctioned and stared at my wall in shock for who knows how long, and I just love tatastaetae’s fluffy writing which always somehow wrecks my soul! ^.^

His Name by @jimlingss ➵Angst | multiple personality au | 8 part series | 52.4k ➵Jeon Jungkook has multiple personalities and gaps in his memory. It’s your job to treat him and perhaps help him remember his past... ➵This is the first bts fic I ever read (a special thanks to Nani for reccing it ☺️) and so it holds a special place in my black heart, especially because I sobbed so hard at 3 in the morning and my mind was stuck on this for days

Gravity by @donewithjeon | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵Angst, Fluff | ‘90s au | oneshot | 29k ➵Time can bring you together, but Time can also push you apart; will you and Jungkook be able to fight the distance and Time to stay together, or were you always meant to only share this descent to earth for just a moment, always meant to eventually drift apart? ➵I am a wimp when it comes to Time, but does that stop me from reading fics that exploit that weakness? nope! That last train scene destroyed my heart and that entire ending, the acceptance, stabbed me in the heart, for good measure.

written on the sky by @inktae​ | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵Angst, Fluff | apocalyptic au? | end of the world au | ‘seeking a friend at the end of the world’ au | oneshot | 22k ➵The 60-mile-wide asteroid was supposed to slip by Earth, but it’s a little late to change its course or do anything about it except to prepare for the end. So while you’re waiting for the end, find a friend, someone to hold a hand with at the end of the world. ➵I was sobbing before the fic even finished. The odd thing is that you know the end, but knowing doesn’t prepare you for the feels. 

below thunder showers by inktae | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵ Angst, lil bits of Fluff | sci-fi au | oneshot | 30k ➵ Yoongi leads Earth, while you lead a withered space station. You go to Earth to settle the tensions that have been brewing between Earth and the space station, and Jeon Jungkook, a broken soldier who holds a deep love for the rain, is there to deliver you. ➵we stan a fellow pluviophile ✊🏻 I am so conflicted over this Min Yoongi >.< but Jungkook is so soft and he really didn’t deserve to live this way :(

first light by inktae | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵Angst, Fluff | hotarubi no mori e au | 24.8k (inktae’s synopsis: ) ➵“Have you ever felt like the world is too loud sometimes?” “No. For me it’s always quiet.” ➵This fic wrecked me and made me so conflicted >.< I can never forget this fluffy, masked boy who lives in the woods and silence...

the swirling way of stars by inktae | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵Angst, Fluff | fantasy au | oneshot | 19k ➵You’re tasked with showing Jeon Jungkook what it’s like to live a completely normal life. ➵It’s just falling in love with life itself, the simple things, and it’s written so magically...how can you not fall in love?

the train of lost souls by inktae | The Reader’s Tea Review ➵Angst, lil bits of Fluff | fantasy au | oneshot | 13.6k ➵You have two options when you step on the train: you can live but forget your life, and everyone in your life will forget you, or you can move on and keep your memories for the rest of time. But, how can you choose when part of your soul rests on this train, and the other part longs for someone just out of reach... ➵Once again, I’m a wimp with Time, and the choices really get me thinking...

Pen Pal by @chinkbihh​  ➵Part 1 | Part 1.5 | Part 2 | Final 1/2 | Final 2/2 ➵Angst, Horror? | yandere au | murder and crime au | pen pal au | trilogy | 127.3k ➵Warnings: mental disorders (agoraphobia?), yandere, murder (stabbing)  ➵You sign up to receive a pen pal and are paired up with an inmate, jungkook. You just wanted to talk to someone who could understand what it’s like to be removed from society, but you just may be getting more than you asked for... ➵I love a good yandere fic, there’s something about a yandere’s demented psychology that calls to me, and it’s always so interesting to see how one yandere differs from another, especially in different scenarios. But please please please read and be mindful of the warnings in case it just doesn’t vibe with you.

Quarter Quell by chinkbihh ➵Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | +more  ➵Angst, Horror? | yandere au | hunger games au | ongoing ➵You have resigned to your fate as a tribute in the next hunger games when someone from District Two takes an interest in you...a bit too much of an interest, you’d say. ➵I am a little hesitant to rec this because it isn’t finished, but the premise is exciting and I am really amped for the next chapter in this fic, heck yeah! I mean, heck, a yandere hunger games au? let’s go! But please please please read the warnings in case it just doesn’t vibe with you

~*~

Bonus rec!

I haven’t read this fic, but my friend, Nani, rec’d it to me the other day, and it sounds so exciting :D so I’ll let her tell you about it:

Fan Identity by @tteokggukk​  ➵Fluff, Crack, Angst | enemies to lovers au | social media au | 37 ch series   ➵Influencer!JK is whipped for influencer!reader. Both don’t know they’re interacting with each other on their secret fan accounts. You’re rooting for the two long before they properly meet. But the best part? You’re rooting for their pseudos, Blair Witch and Seagull, as well. ➵I laugh, I pause, I gasp. The conflict between the two mc’s hurt. Honestly, it made the story worth the read.

~*~

Can I also...🥺...may I suggest:

10 Series by @deepdarkdelights | The Reader’s Tea Reviews 1 | 2 | 3 | The Reader’s Tea Analysis ➵10 Seconds | 10 Days | 10 Years ➵Horror? | yandere au | Bouquet Series | 10 Series | trilogy | 29.2k ➵You’re just a college student returning home from a late night out trying to finish up your ungodly college work...but “All it took was ten seconds” and well, now, you’re his. ➵How can I not include my favorite yandere writer, the master of yandere, herself? 🥺 I’m only hesitant because you requested no smut and I respect that, but if you are alright with a small smut scene (I promise there’s not too much) or even just skimming/skipping over it, I would highly recommend this series 🙌🏻 The smut scene is in the final installment (10 Years). It’s an all-time favorite from an all-time favorite writer. But please please please read the warnings in case it just doesn’t vibe with you.

~*~

Happy reading, carissima! I hope at least one of these fics will become your favorite, too ☺️ Let me know what you think as well after you’ve given the authors some love ☺️

Well met!

your fellow reading monster,

tor-mon 🖤

[drivingsideways]

in search of a better dream

This is about three pieces of South Korean media that crossed my path recently: the dramas Search WWW and Flower of Evil, and the novel Kim Ji Young, Born 1982.

Disclaimer and context : I'm not Korean, I don't speak the language, and I've watched a very limited set of kdramas. The criticisms I make in this piece are not to single out kdramas, or kdrama fandom,  as what I've described exists in Western and other Asian media and fandoms as well.

 Under the cut for length:

There's a scene in the first episode of the hit 2020 k-drama "Flower of Evil" that made me want to quit watching the show within the first ten minutes. The scene goes like this: our protagonists, Cha Ji Won and Baek Hee Seung meet Baek Hee Seung's parents along with their four year old daughter. The occasion is Baek Hee Seung's birthday, and loving wife Cha Ji Won has set up a special birthday dinner for them. On the way to the restaurant, the daughter has already complained about how she's scared of her grandparents, and they don't like her. When we meet the grandparents, we see the truth of this- they are as cold as the Arctic to all three, but especially to their daughter-in-law and granddaughter. In a bid to smooth out the social awkwardness, Cha Ji Won instructs her daughter to greet her grandparents the way they had "practiced" earlier- a cutesy little greeting where the adorable Eun-ha makes a heart over her head and chirps "I love you grandma and grandpa". When this fails to soften them, Eun-ha retreats, looking scared and disappointed. Not to worry, Cha Ji Won has this completely figured out: if you try harder, she tells her four year old daughter, they'll eventually love you.

Reader, I was, as they say, mad.

We find out soon enough that this stellar bit of parenting follows from an abiding principle in Cha Ji Won's life. Her romance with Baek Hee Seung starts when a handsome oppa walks into the family store, and is a saga of her stalking and pursuing a man who repeatedly tells her he's not interested, until he finally gives in. The power of her persistence pays off when the emotionally distant and abrasive man, in a classic beauty-and-the-beast transition, becomes a loving boyfriend, and then later, husband and father. It's a fantasy- some might even say feminist fantasy come true- he's handsome, supportive, reliable, artistic,  the primary housekeeper and caretaker of their daughter while she pursues her demanding "dream" job as a police officer, and they have enough money to live in a charming and lovingly set up two-storeyed house in ruinously expensive Seoul. This is heterosexual female wish fulfilment at its peak, and it is all made possible because she persevered.

It all threatens to come apart with the discovery of the perfect man's dark past- for a brief period, she's forced to contemplate the idea that he's actually a serial killer who's conned her for the entirety of their relationship of fourteen years; that the perfect life was, in fact, a lie.  

However, since this is written and billed as romance melodrama, this horror is short-lived. As the story progresses through increasingly improbable, violent and sometimes downright hilarious twists and turns, we grow closer to the (inevitable) happy ending. Baek Hee Seung/ Do Hyun Soo is no killer, just a traumatized child with a horrific past. The lies are the result of psychological damage inflicted by a society that unfairly deemed him a monster; the cage of repressed emotions that he'd locked himself in needed only the unshakeable conviction of Cha Ji Won's love to be broken open. "I wish you could see yourself as I see you" she tells him, in one of the show's endless supply of tearfully emotional moments, "I wish you could understand yourself the way I understand you."

This framework continues right to the end, when a bout of short term amnesia (!!) has Do Hyun Soo questioning himself and her: do you know, he asks her, when I'm lying to you, and when I'm not, because I don't.  The show answers that almost immediately- it doesn't matter, because it's her vision of him that he wants to be; in other words, he chooses the version of himself that she wants. The horror of the lie was a red herring, Cha Ji Won was right from the start about her husband- all it took was the power of her love and her perseverance to overcome the lie at the heart of her marriage,  to restore it to its previous shape- quite literally. The dream house they built together, which was destroyed by the villain, is shown in the last shots as unchanged from how it was in the beginning. One of the last shots we have of the couple is of them kissing in the artisan husband's workshop, an almost perfect recreation of the first time we see them. Paradise Regained, and all of us- and Cha Ji Won- can breathe a sigh of relief. You, the twenty-first century woman, are the architect of your own fantasy and can have it all. What could be more powerful than that?

 In Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 , a novel published in 2016, and often credited with kickstarting a new conversation about feminism in South Korea, the eponymous protagonist's story is also one of perseverance. It's a starkly written tale, an everywoman tale, a dryly narrated fact finding mission report complete with citations and references, about a woman born in the late twentieth century into a rigidly patriarchal culture, whose very existence is an aberration- her parents didn’t opt for a sex-selective abortion unlike many of their contemporaries when they found that their second child would also be a girl. Kim Ji Young, like the rest of us, grows up immersed in a misogynist culture. Even before she understands it, she learns to work around it and through it, rationalizing the micro-aggressions, burying the anger at the casual and institutional sexism that permeates her life, compromising and coping with it all, and achieving some semblance of having it all: a job, a decent, loving husband, a child. However, it's when motherhood arrives that it all falls apart- Kim Ji Young, faced with the exhausting carework of having a baby at home and another regular, full time job, does what so many women in her position do- quits her "outside" job for her parenting one. Fighting exhaustion and depression, a casually cruel and misogynist remark from a stranger in a park proves to be the proverbial final straw; Kim Ji Young suffers a mental breakdown, dissociating herself completely from her own life, and "seamlessly, flawlessly" taking on the personalities of other women she's known- her mother, her friend, her colleague. The novel ends with a narrative twist that's both horrifying and appropriate:  we learn that our narrator is actually her male psychiatrist. Kim Ji Young doesn't even get to be the voice of her own story; instead, it is told by a man cocooned in his own privilege, who displays the same paternalistic and misogynist behaviour that he correctly identified as the cause of her breakdown.

There is no escape here for Kim Ji Young save that of a complete break from reality. In the light of the narrative that leads her to that point, it feels both inevitable and even more horrifically, a blessing. This is a horror story told as it is shorn of any hope; the ending is death or insanity.

Reading Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 was to confront the familiar and heart-breaking and horrific neatly distilled into 200 odd pages; it's "fiction", but not really. My only surprise was how similar the culture described there was to my own in specifics; how incidents in Kim Ji Young's life were things I had actually experienced myself or seen other women experience, in a country several thousand miles away.

I read this novel just after watching the 2019's Search WWW, a show with a bit of a cult following, I think. Before I started watching it, one friend assured me that I would love it, that it was made for me; another said that  she dropped it because it "rang false" to her at the time. I've seen the show described several times as a feminist power fantasy, sometimes, if the reviewer wanted to demean it, with the qualifier, unrealistic.

This seemed an odd sort of criticism to me- after all, who turns to k-drama romances or really, any romance, for realism? Female wish fulfilment, which is the cornerstone of romance as a genre, whether in books or film, is still written and recognized as fantasy. So what was particularly unreal about Search WWW?

Well, simply put, it is written like the patriarchy doesn't matter, and has never existed.

The three female protagonists are all in their thirties, in powerful positions in their careers. As such, they are constantly walking into meetings where women speak more than 33% of the time. There are men in the room, but they never outnumber the women, and they don't silence the women.

The interests and decisions and choices  of women in the show- even the lead antagonist, who is an older woman whom we often see casually making beefy young men pose nude for her paintings- matter, not just to domestic and private realms, but to society at large; the antagonist is a power broker whose reach goes right up to the highest echelons of the country's politics; the younger women's ethical choices directly affect the republic's functioning as a democracy.

What about the men? It's not that they've been ignored; it's just that their place in the narrative has been decentered. Do with that what you will, the writer seems to say, as she writes in speaking roles for women wherever possible—every second side character is a woman— I have no time or inclination to justify that choice.

As for romance- it's not just that two of the three romances fall into the "noona romance" category, which is subversive in itself. It's that the power of decision making in these relationships clearly rests with the women.

In the "main" romance track, in a reversal of the usual trope, the woman is the one who is emotionally unavailable, and whom the man has to convince to take a chance on their relationship. What was hugely refreshing was that the reason for her emotional unavailability isn't trauma, that the man has to help her heal from, unlike the gender reversed versions we often see, eg in Flower of Evil. Instead, it's a difference in perspective that has its roots in the years of experience she has compared to him; it's the difference in life perspective of a twenty something man, and an almost-40 woman. She considers the implications and possibilities of entering into a relationship with a man who wants marriage and kids, while she doesn't want either and is unlikely to want them in the future. She thinks through it, and sees the pitfalls of it, perhaps all too clearly. In the end, when she makes a decision to commit, it's with the understanding that she's choosing to live in the moment, that he makes her happy; that they make each other happy and it is worth something, even if it doesn't last.  But both of them understand that her happiness is not centered in him or their relationship being successful. The other two romances end on a similarly open note- the possibility of love with the man you just divorced, but there's no hurry to get there; and a long distance relationship that may or may not last the two years of military conscription the man has to undergo.

The happily ever after in this series is not the perfect heterosexual family unit; it was always going to be the complicated, thorny and intense queerplatonic relationship between the three women, who, in the end, literally drive off along an endless open road under a blue, blue sky, to "a place with no red lights", as one of them describes it.

For a week after watching Search WWW, I wandered around in a daze. How did this show get written, I kept asking myself? How did it get produced? Aired??? What magic was worked to put it in my eyeballs, and how can it keep happening?

That feeling intensified when I read Kim Ji Young, Born 1982. But the book also provided the answer, at least to the first question. Because it is Kim Ji Young's voice in Search WWW. This is the fantasy that Kim Ji Young would have wanted to live in; a society and a life where she's seen as a person, entire, and it's not something she has to fight every day for. The gigantic leap of imagination that the writer of Search WWW took was only because that fantasy has been yearned for, in a way only a person growing up in Kim Ji Young's world- our world- could.

"Flower of Evil"- and other dramas like it— are also, undeniably, products of this world. It's unsurprising to me that in many ways, Cha Ji Won's little fantasy domestic world in Flower of Evil, on the surface, looks exactly like a post-feminist world. If the real revolution is men doing housework and childcare, then that fantasy has already been achieved on the individual level for Cha Ji Won. Sure, she's the only female member on her squad, and maybe the entire police force, for all you see women in her workplace. Sure, the other female characters with speaking roles exist mostly to be tortured for manpain by the narrative or literally by men as part of the plot. She seems to have no friends outside of work, which means that all her friends are men. As for relationships with other women, except her mother, who exists mostly to share the burden of childcare, and her mom-in- law who turns out to be an evil sort herself, there are none. When she meets her sister-in-law, the entire scene gives off a strange catfight vibe- her sister in law is the only other woman who can legitimately be said to have a claim on knowing the real Do Hyun Soo, and Cha Ji Won's reaction is to deny that claim and tell her to buzz off, basically. "I'm his family now" she tells her sister in law, "He has a wife"; firmly establishing the primacy of a heterosexual romantic relationship over all others.

Her "dream" job means nothing much despite the work she has put in to get it; for most part of the narrative she ends up betraying every professional ethic and her squad- her only friends. Of course, she is easily forgiven for it, without doing any of the work to earn that forgiveness, but that's really because who has the narrative time to develop those relationships which do not matter, like her work, which is shown up for the narrative prop it is, just like her daughter?  Even her sociopath (but not really, poor baby) husband ends the series with a tentative sort of friendship with a person he's not married to, but not Cha Ji Won, whose entire world by the end of the series has narrowed down to the four walls of her perfect little house and her perfectly-rescued husband. "I can't be happy if he's not happy," she tells her mother, who suggests that maybe it's time she let go of her not-so-perfect husband. "So please accept him."

In the end, the fantasy is based on this : self-improvement as the winning strategy, not structural change. Try hard enough and you'll get what you want. In the fine print, easily ignored: as long as what you want falls within the bounds of heteronormative patriarchal standards. It's an attitude that is passed down to the next generation; Cha Ji Won's early conversation with her daughter is an example.

The writer's vision is clear- what could have been an interesting and intimate look at our deepest fears in a relationship- that the other person will see us for who we are and horror-struck, leave; or even a deconstruction of the heterosexual woman's fantasy of The Perfect Man, is instead a tired repetition of the Beauty-and-the-Beast trope. You can dress it up and put a gun-toting, career woman wig on it, but that disguise falls apart pretty quickly. Cha Ji Won openly states not once, but several times, that she would rather live the comfortable lie; it's only when even that isn't an option- and not because of her choice or agency, but circumstances and the man coming to a decision, that she begins to let go. But only for a little while- barely ten minutes in show time- because ultimately, this is a female wish fulfilment fantasy, isn't it? Her longsuffering perseverance is rewarded when he decides to mould himself to her fantasy version of him, and the past is erased, and time reset, complete with soft lighting and soaring soundtrack.

Some love stories are horror stories, but others are horror stories masquerading as love stories. Why are we so often sold the latter, and so accepting of the narrative gaslighting? When I look at the popularity of Search WWW vs Flower of Evil, I feel bitter despair and quite a lot of anger. Why do so many women- and it is women, who are producing this work, for women, primarily (I mean, romance, as a genre)- settle for so little? It's the twenty first century, I think, why are we still here, I rage, gnashing my teeth, and indulging in the vicious satisfaction of giving Flower of Evil a single star rating that will make not a dent in its popularity. If we can't demand and aspire to a better class of fantasy, what hope do we have? As you dream, so you will do.

I often think that these days feminism is made toothless because we're shaping it into something that will validate every little feeling of ours;  we don't want to be made uncomfortable by it. But feminism is not meant to make anyone comfortable; interrogating your own desires and pleasures is as much a part of smashing the patriarchy as fighting for fundamental human rights like bodily autonomy.

I guess, in the end, what I want to say is this: for the love of sanity, dream better.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" from Marvel Studios' What If...

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Back when Marvel Studios announced the new lineup of films and shows, I was admittingly underwhelmed. Nothing we've seen so far has been poorly written, far from it, but during the announcement, nothing really popped out at me as worth getting excited for. That is, except for one series: Marvel Studios' What If... An animated series that changes the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all through the simple question. The question being, "What if this happened instead of that."

From the get-go, I was sold on this idea. I'm a sucker for hypothetical scenarios, thinking up all the ways of how some of my favorite stories in fiction could be drastically different thanks to one tiny change. Some might call that "Fanfiction the Series," and while you're not wrong, I fail to see how that's a criticism. Because fanfiction can be fun...just as long as you ignore the sick freaks, sure, but it still can be fun! So whether Marvel Studio's What If... is fanfiction or not, it still didn't change how excited I was to watch it. Was it all worth the hype? Well, to answer that question requires spoilers, so keep that in mind as we dive deep into Marvel's most ambitious project yet.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

The Watcher: Gonna get the generals out of the way before I talk about what I specifically like about this episode. Ok? Ok.

Now, using the Watcher as the narrator for this series is just perfect. What If... already has a similar energy to The Twilight Zone: An anthology series that takes viewers to new and mysterious realities all through the guidance of an omniscient narrator. And using the Watcher as that type of narrator might just be the second-best choice...number one would be Stan Lee, obviously, but...he's dead now. May he rest in peace.

I haven't read that many comics, so there's not much that I know about the Watcher's character aside from a ten-second Google search. But something tells me that a character described as a celestial being that observes and records the events surrounding the galaxy sounds like the exact type of omniscience to guide us through the unknown. All added with Jeffrey Wright's performance, who really does convey a character that sounds like he's as old as time and wise beyond his years. Plus, it's pretty cool that such a seemingly odd character now technically plays a major role in the MCU canon. Comics are weird, and if the Watcher proves anything, it's better to embrace that weirdness than deny it.

The Animation: Looks like someone watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

That really is the feeling I got when watching this. What If... doesn't look as good as Spiderverse (Nothing can be as good as Spiderverse), but the idea is still there as it combines primarily CGI animation with a few hand-drawn elements. It makes certain scenes just pop and, at times, even makes specific shots look like they're straight from panels in a comic book. Besides, while Spiderverse still looks better, that doesn't mean the animation isn't phenomenal in What If... The scenery looks gorgeous, the CGI models moderately match their live-action counterparts, the expressions are fantastic, and movements are as smooth as butter. There was definitely some money that went into this series to make it look as good as it did, and my eyeballs were more than grateful because of it. Especially when it comes to--

The Action: Holy s**t, was it a good thing that this series was animated!

The MCU has had its fair share of great fight scenes in the past, but it always felt restricted to what the big superhero fights could be due to everything needing to look "realistic." That all changes in What If... Because now that this series is animated, we can finally chuck realism out the window and allow these characters to be as epic as they were in the comics. The movements are swift, the blows look like they hurt, and best of all, you actually get to see characters fighting each other! There are no random cuts to hide the stunt doubles or weird camera angles to avoid audiences seeing how ugly the CGIed replacements are. We get to see all of the action with zero restraint, thanks to the fact that animation is limitless and allows writers to get away with literally anything. And shows like this make me wonder, "Why the hell isn't the MCU animated?"

Peggy as Captain Carter: It's here that we get into the specifics, and by golly, do I love me some Peggy Carter making a return. And what a return she made!

Seeing Peggy kick Nazi ass as Captain Carter is as awesome as it sounds as she gives a new definition of a "Strong, independent woman." She took s**t from no one and was more than willing to destroy anybody who said differently. It's a ton of fun for fans (the ones who aren't sexist, at least) and even fun for Peggy as well now that she gets a chance to wreck shop. However, that in itself could cause problems. If you watched Agent Carter (a great show, by the way), then you'll know that Peggy doesn't act as...somewhat meatheaded as she does here. As she said it herself, she's "usually more covert than this." And she is, as she was pretty much the first superspy in the MCU, who's impressive through how she effortlessly infiltrates her way to winning the day with diminutive requirements for fighting. So stripping that away gets rid of a core part of what makes her character so interesting. Although, in fairness, you could blame the fact that the reason she's acting like this is that the super-soldier serum is messing with her brain a bit. We've seen through U.S. Agent the reciprocations of the wrong person taking the serum, and while Peggy is far from the worst pick, there are hints of why Steve Rodgers was the best choice. Still, even though it's not the same Peggy Carter, that doesn't mean Captain Carter is a poor addition to the hero roster in the MCU. She's cool in all the right ways, even though they're drastically different from what made her compelling, to begin with.

Howard Stark: Another character I'm more than happy to see again!

Howard didn't leave that much of a grand of an impression in Captain America: The First Avenger, but in Agent Carter (Seriously, great show), he was a blast. You can just tell he was Tony Stark's father through all the ways he fast-talks in and out of problems and brilliantly comes up with solutions thanks to being tech-savvy. The main difference between Howard and Tony, however, is that Howard prefers to stay on the sidelines, where Tony learned to be more proactive. You get a sense of that in this episode. Because even though he goes to save the day, you can tell that he would rather be anywhere else. And, as a bonus, Howard's just funny. Probably not up there as one of the funniest characters in the franchise (Paul Rudd's Ant-Man reigns supreme), but he still cracks me up more times than not. Howard may be nothing more than a side character, but he'll always win me over no matter how small of a role he has.

Steve Rodgers in the Hydra Stomper: Don't mind me. Just admiring the fact that despite being crippled and skinny, Steve Rodgers still finds a way to fight the good fight, which is who Steve is to me. One of the best things about The First Avenger is that it fully understands the hero that is Captain America. Serum or not, he will do all he can to do the right thing and won't give up despite how many times others tell him he should. So if Steve's going to fly around in a suped-up Iron Man suit that's appropriately named "The Hydra Stomper," then Steve'll f**king soar. Because he is a gosh dang superhero, no matter what name he takes at the end of the day.

Fast-Forwarding Through Events: Some fans might take issues with this. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all the little changes that Captain Carter makes to the story, but realistically that's not the best choice to make. Let's be honest, there's not that much to show other than what this episode did, and doing a full-on rewrite of Captain America: The First Avenger would have rubbed some fans the wrong way. Besides, from what I can tell, most of the What If... comics are one-shots that very rarely branch out into longer arcs. The primary goal is less to write this large-scale story and more of this self-contained narrative that does what it precisely delivers: Show fans a glimpse of what would happen if this happened instead of that. That's what we were given, and I can't really complain that much. I would have loved to have seen more, but I can learn to be happy with what I got.

Colonel Flynn Taking Credit: This guy is sexist and an idiot, and that's why I hate him...but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least chuckle when he said everything was his idea. It's such a scumbag move that I couldn't help but find the humor in it.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING !)nd Steve falling in love inThe First Avenger, which certainly wasn't helped by how they had these dumbass misunderstandings of each thinking the other was dating someone else. Here, they at least get to interact, confiding in one another about their insecurities and offer support when needed. And while it may be a little rushed, I'm more willing to believe their romance in under thirty minutes than I did in over two hours. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING AT THE TIME!)

“I won’t tell you anything.”/”He told me everything.”: That's the Peggy Carter I know and love! Added with a solid joke, too.

Steve’s Pratfall: It's nice to know that no matter what universe we see, Marvel is still funny.

Peggy’s Sacrifice: Much like Peggy and Steve's romance, I buy Peggy's sacrifice way more than Steve's. Several fans already pointed out how it makes no sense for Steve to crash the plane into the icy waters when it seemed like he had enough control to land it or could have easily jumped out after aiming for the crash landing. Here, there's a more legitimate reason why Peggy sacrifices herself. The monster was undefeatable, and the only way to stop it was to push it back through the portal. Peggy, being the only one strong enough to do so at the moment, was the only option, and there was no way where she didn't end up going through with the monster. Even her return makes more sense, as I think her being lost to time and space sounds more believable than Steve surviving being frozen in ice. Something no mortal man should live through. Peggy's sacrifice proves that while the MCU can't change its cannon past, the writers learn from their mistakes and make something better.

WHAT I DISLIKED

The Reasoning Behind Peggy Becoming Captain Carter: So, the idea that one small change can greatly alter the story we knew is a great one, and it's one of the main reasons why I was excited about this series...but how does Peggy staying in the room cause the Hydra agent to detonate the bomb early? I understand the ripples that come from the Butterfly Effect, but I feel like that's too big of a leap to reason how Peggy ends up taking the serum instead.

Colonel Flynn: How is it possible that this guy is somehow even more of a pain in the ass than the general he replaced? At least Chester Phillips had the decency to respect Agent Carter!

Red Skull is Still on the Dull Side: Red Skull isn't an awful villain, but he wasn't really a great one. It's the same here, as he's just as forgettable and wooden an episode of television as he was in a full-length movie. But at least he had a cooler death this time.

Sebastian Stan is Not a Great Voice Actor: He's not awful, but his talent really doesn't shine in this regard. Some people think that being an actor and a voice actor is the same thing, but it's not always the case. Through live-action, actors are given a chance to express emotion through their expressions, movement, and voice. With voice acting, actors still have to convey emotions, but strictly through their voice. Meaning that actors like Sebastian Stan are limited to what they're used to and can stumble a bit when trying to perform in a field of acting they're unfamiliar with. You can tell he was trying his best, but this type of thing can take far more practice for others to perfect.

“Whew. Thanks. You almost ripped my arm off.”: ...hhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHA! HA HA! Ah...oh man...I, uh...I felt the internal bleeding with that one. Wow. Just...wow.

Bucky Leaving After Steve “Died”: Ok, now that's the biggest bout of bulls**t I've ever heard. BUCKY WOULD BE WITH STEVE 'TILL THE END OF THE LINE AND WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT THAT QUICKLY!

...This episode did Bucky dirty, didn't it?

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" is an A-. It's still a solid start of what I can already tell will be a great series, but some elements could have used some polishing out. I loved it, but it wasn't as bloody brilliant as it could have been.

(And I meant it: WATCH AGENT CARTER! It's pleasantly surprising!)

[resonanteye]

via https://resonanteye.net/horror-movie-reviews-day-one-the-horror-of-everyday-life/

horror movie reviews: day one, the horror of everyday life

a series of reviews, two each day, of horror movies.

day one, movie one: # alive.

1: half the people are crazed and trying to kill the other half of the people, panic and mass casualties, violent infection, etc – yes, it’s 2020-2021 thank you, continue

2: infected people trying to get in and infect people who are quarantined, aggressive mental illness -yes, yes

3: your neighbors are all worse than you ever knew -yes. yes

4: cops eating each other -please do go on

5: oh no several days how will you ever survive with only ramen

two whole days of lockdown

6: so you’re warned to have plenty of food and water, yet you don’t immediately fill up the bathtub at least, or the sinks. and you don’t go into the zombie neighbor’s abandoned apartment to see if there’s food

7: too much tech, not enough walkie talkies. I doubt.

8: I get it, people expect the end of the world to be like, a switch flipped, but no. this shit draaaags forever

9: the golf club is reminiscent of funny games. maybe an intentional nod to his change in mental state

10: slapstick!

11: finally, foraging.

12: the Mormons are at the door

13: we have skipped two weeks, without water or food?

14: and finally the lights out- wouldn’t that go before the running water?

15: oh the melodrama. don’t be a moron, but this magical dude has been alive a month without water

16: Kim Yu-bin is keeping track of her shit. I bet he gets her killed. nice waterworld callback with watering the plant.

17: of course he’s that stupid, he’s the protagonist and you’re a competent woman in a movie. how else would it justify you endangering yourself for him?

18: oh, wait. he HAS water? from where?

19: finally the tech is worth a damn. and she’s feeding him, which is ok because yes helping each other matters but

20: ok yes the tech is nice, good point, this is a scene from hackers vs zombies. slapstick is fine. zombie big mad. give me back my hand you bastards

21: Jun-u. I had been ignoring his name the entire movie. This is a bad habit of mine with zombie stuff.

22: finally some decent fuckin plot movement. there’s kids, in a good movie he’d have to kill one. instead, a treasure trove of all the survival gear. it’s handy when someone else did the preparation FOR you. I mean damn

23: oooh she’s only alive to help HIM. what a fucking surprise

24: reminds me of the pandemic “share a window” website crossed with a gentle, normal mukbang (not a weird fetish feeder one)

25: the zombies are going hooome. the zombies are going hooooooome

26: ok yes sounds scary, looked scary but it seems like there’s only five of them at her door

27: she’s skilled. of course. melee fighter. I like that this isn’t the dumb-ass slow zombies, nor the superhuman ones. just regular people.

28: another pile up!

29: don’t drink koolaid from strangers, but spam? NO NOT THAT EITHER. of course there will be cannibals in this that aren’t sick, that’s another nice callback (the road) (dead alive). I’m still holding out hope a kid zombie gets killed, although it’s unlikely at this point.

30: holy fuckin generational-divide-monologue for the ages

31: oh damn a gunshot in South Korea.

32: look, Kim, I wasn’t given any backstory for you, but I really want you to outlive “regular dumb guy”. the suicide subplot is going nowhere and we both know it

33: it’s never a good look to be fighting zombie hordes on the stairs. I don’t know why, it just isn’t good. just stay in the damn apartment. please.

34: regular Joe, you are doing the right thing by staying behind, keep that up.

35: FUCK THIS SHITTY APARTMENT

36: finally, machine guns. sorry, I’m American. I’ve been waiting for an hour and a half for logic to set in

37: where are they even going? she’s cooler than him, why isn’t she getting messages? so I guess his Instagram saved her? is that a subversiveon of what I’ve been complaining about? I think it is.

7/10 excellent slapstick, callbacks, just enough humor without ruining the narrative. subversive ending in that he’s only in the movie for the sake of saving her life, and neither died. points deducted for lack of depth to the woman in the film, too much depth for the guy, and for showing us a lack of water then changing that enough to keep someone alive for 20 days. (also, he didn’t even fill up the sink, the hell)

number two, day one: condemned

this movie is about squatting, a lifestyle I’m too familiar with. let’s see how close to the mark it gets. oh, and zombie infection stuff. that too.

1: the supe is always the strangest thing in any building in NYC. always. this isn’t a narrator. this is realism.

2: when will rich kids learn that poverty isn’t an aesthetic? when will something that poor people authentically live through, be safe from commodification and the thievery of the privileged? where does class/cultural appropriation end? why are people using their yacht money on a tiny fuckin house? find out on the next episode of generation x, when we discuss the occup- wait no- this is just a zombie flick. sorry about that

3: I know she’s saying other shit on the phone but all I hear is “the rain was such a blessing”

4: montage is always good with good music over it. going anywhere in the city is basically a montage in reality

5: cigarettes cost 14 bucks in New York holy fuckin shit I’m old

6: ominous: “what could be worse than where you are now”, teens having sex, neon lighting, drainpipe footage, “what difference is a day gonna make”, “I won’t make the same mistake like I did in Vladivostok”

7: this bondage shit on the third floor is giving me a real, serious flashback to a job I did briefly which paid incredibly well. every time these characters show up I have a flashback, every time I watch this.

8: every character in this movie is someone I’ve met. every fuckin one. even cookie. I hate that and love it at the same time. I don’t know if you’ve ever lived in bad beat city but this is accuracy.

9: the glitch hallucination is wonderful. don’t show me people’s bad dreams, though. it’s a waste of film. especially someone’s dream who doesn’t know that squats don’t get the garbage picked up. at least he was gentle about her tourist status. (yes, that was fucking gentle. she’s visiting, but they LIVE there. he���ll show you the life of the mind)

10: the colors in this movie reminds me of Mermaid in a Manhole, an amazing movie itself- this is a compliment

11: yes punk means you puke and say “did you SEE that” yes it does

12: the way sickness spreads in close, unmaintained quarters is accurate too. these old buildings were originally tenements and were notorious for being built in a way that contributed to outbreaks of diseases. ny poverty history

13: the glitch used as stand-in for visual mirage is again amazing and continues to be throughout

14: that walk up all the stairs after a day at work to complain about the horror of everyday life, with a back crack and sore feet.

15: the cops are also accurate

16: the plot takes a nice strong left turn here, and it’s perfection. since the development of the plot cookie was leading us to doesn’t matter to the people in this building, it’s better to truncate it. and then we can get to business.

17: yes. if you die in a squat, you’re getting rolled in a carpet and left blocks away. you’ve got to. nobody’s gonna kill you but nobody’s going to be on the street over your ass either.

18: guitar axe skyline lightning. that may be a summary of the whole movie.

19: absolutely pitch perfect “you ruined new york city” rant for the ages

I used to live there

20: if the building wasn’t shit, this would be a nice Shining callback

21: FAWKKING

22: this movie just will not let you have any expected outcome. it’s brilliant.

23: I’ve lived in a brownstone that had a cellar which connected to every building on the block and beyond. that was in Philly, but the construction of this landscape is perfect.

full disclosure- I own this DVD and have watched it a lot. it’s one of my favorite movies, structurally and visually, and I think it’s one of the best horror movies made this decade.

[spookyblackwidow]

Fanfic request: Natasha's having nightmares and is getting super sleep deprived and it's kind of making her sick, and Clint notices and confronts her about it?

Author’s note: Nightmares are literally one of my favorite things to write about?? BLESS YOU. This is way longer than anticipated, but I hope you enjoy!

Weakness

2552 words

Natasha jolted awake, sweat beading on her forehead, a gun clutched in her hand, trained on an imaginary threat. The fear faded, slowly, as she became aware of her familiar surroundings, the antique furniture of the bedroom in her primary safe house just outside New York City. She shook off the dream and forced her ragged breathing to slow, an attempt to counteract her racing heart. It was just past 2 a.m., and, although she hadn’t been asleep long, she had enough experience to know she’d be awake for quite a while.

The glow of streetlights seeped through the blinds, softly illuminating strips of laminate beneath her feet. She made her way to the kitchen, resisting the innate urge to flip on lights and ensure her safety, certain enough of her movements and the reality that the danger she’d just emerged from would remain firmly in her mind, unable to creep out into existence. Realism and denial were programmed into her, a staunch refusal to take things at face value ingrained over years of reprogramming, the aliases and brainwashing that never seemed to end, no light at the end of a labyrinth. Tunnels were too linear, too neat, too easy to navigate. Her life had been a messy nightmare she couldn’t quite shake, no matter how much time had passed since she’d defected, since she’d last been unmade.

The kettle whistled, an agonizingly sharp whine burrowing its way into her exhausted brain. She swore under her breath and turned off the burner, annoyed she’d gotten so wrapped up inside her thoughts she’d lost awareness of her surroundings. Something wound through her legs, further startling her, the black shadow begging for attention, acknowledgement, anything.

“Fucking hell, Liho,” Natasha grumbled into her steaming mug of tea, her perpetually icy fingers clutching the ceramic, greedily absorbing its warmth. Carefully stepping around the way-too-fucking-alert cat, she settled into an oversized chair and clicked on a lamp, the pale light fighting against the encroaching darkness an all too familiar sight.

She picked up a book, its spine cracked, the edges worn and faded, a relic from a previous life, from back when she could dissociate enough to get lost in a story. It was one of the few things she’d carried with her into the Red Room, always safely stashed away under a mattress, stuffed in a threadbare pillowcase, buried within a carefully carved hole in the wall. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d managed to hold onto it through all the identities she’d been given, and whatever original meaning it had held was gone, but she liked the idea of having a tangible reminder of the innocent girl she’d once been. She’d tried night after night for years, but she couldn’t bring herself to read it, opting instead to study the dog-eared corners, the inked drawings scattered throughout, mostly doodles scribbled by unknown hands, each an everlasting mark of the book’s history.

Natasha paged through it, seeing but not comprehending the Cyrillic characters of her native tongue. This had become her nightly ritual, a way to detach from whatever horrible vision had awoken her, actions that would hopefully calm her enough to be able to sleep again, although it was never for long. How many years had she been sleeping so fitfully? Her whole life? Or maybe just the last several identities? She’d lost too much time, too much trust in reality to ever be sure. She closed her eyes, but she knew there’d be no more rest before sunrise.

Morning crept in, sunlight inching its way in through the windows, a warm hue that she might’ve derived pleasure from if this hadn’t been the eighteenth morning in a row she’d sat in the same chair, agonizingly awake, witnessing the same dreadful reminder that she’d soon be expected to do things. As it was nearing six, she figured she had just enough time to shower, get dressed, and wash her mug before the first message from Nick would arrive; after so many years working together, he was aware that she was typically an early riser, a fact he took full advantage of. Sure enough, she was placing the mug back in the cupboard when she got the call to come in.

She considered making breakfast, but her stomach turned, the mere idea of eating seemed revolting. The dull ache behind her eyes reminded her that skipping another meal was definitely not what she should be doing, but the food aversion won out, a side effect she’d mentally catalogued and shoved aside long ago.

Her debriefing was short—a routine tracking job, a potential hit, more busy work than anything. Nick handed her a new identity to become familiar with in the event she was cornered, along with one for Clint; it was officially a Strike Team: Delta mission, not that she needed the help, although she would be grateful for the company. As always, they’d improvise, no overly complex maneuvers, no extraction plan. All she needed now was her dumbass best friend to show up on time.

Nick left her to wait in his office, which, under normal circumstances wouldn’t bother her, but the leather chair and wide windows felt too much like home in the most literal sense, and she was getting restless. She stood—too quickly, she soon realized—and paced, her empty stomach complaining, small bursts of light dancing in her peripherals. She blinked away the spots, certain they’d been gold, although they’d simply been white earlier, as they should be. No, they shouldn’t be there at all.

Clint entered as she returned to her seat, physically drained, her head fuzzy and aching. His smile was exuberant, but his eyes flickered with concern, a quick once-over confirming that something was very much not okay with Nat. He shot her a knowing look before pasting the smile back on for Nick’s benefit; Clint acted like an idiot most of the time, but he knew better than to let anyone else worry about his best friend.

Natasha let her eyes track the birds flitting past the windows, slightly iridescent rock pigeons swooping about, bouncing across various ledges and sills, their feathers ruffling in the breeze. She was only faintly aware of Nick droning on in the background, her mind miles away, drifting somewhere among the birds. Clouds of smoke billowed up outside, the thick grey choking out parts of the city, flooding her vision until she could see nothing else. Her muscles tensed, heart rate steadily increasing, the flood of cortisol effectively convincing her this was how it all ended. She closed her eyes, anticipating a flash of heat, pain, and then nothing.

“Nat?” Clint placed a hand on hers, the rough pad of his thumb gently rubbing circles across her white knuckles, a familiar and instinctive action they rarely let others witness. She could hear the strain in his voice, thinly disguised as annoyance, nearly every part of their lives some sort of act, a far cry from who they were together, who they wanted to be. Having felt no other change, her body still intact, she slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the previous fogginess, restoring her sight to normal.

“Sorry, I got a little lost in thought there.” She smiled weakly, just enough to shake off concern, but not too much to raise suspicion. “Where were we?”

“Reviewing your identities. I shouldn’t have to remind you that being well-versed in your backstory could make the difference between life and death,” Nick said.

She struggled to focus through the rest of the meeting, her mind straying to the horrors that had been keeping her up at night, the visions that she knew would never truly leave her, rather mutating into increasingly unsettling versions of themselves, morphing with other memories and fears. The red in her ledge had merged with her vivid imagination, creating monstrosities she didn’t care to reveal to anyone, as letting them out of her mind, giving voice to the atrocities, would only spread the nightmare, infecting her most trusted friends with the concepts, irreparably contaminating their thoughts and dreams. She knew he would ask, as he always had in times like these, but she wouldn’t share, couldn’t willingly harm him. The secrecy would hurt him enough, he didn’t need to allow her worst fears to become his own.

He waited for the elevator doors to close before confronting her, one hand wrapped firmly around her bicep, the other pivoting her shoulder so she’d face him. Normally she’d fight back, at the very least pry his fingers off her arm, but fighting this seemed pointless. Instead, she fought the resurfacing image from the night before, the pain of Clint following through on Loki’s promise. They stood in silence a few moments as he studied her.

“You’re not sleeping, are you.��� It was not a question but a final conclusion, spot-on, as always.

“Not for lack of trying.” She shrugged as much as she was able to in his grasp, which had let up only slightly.

“Nightmares again?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really. My bad dreams aren’t really your concern.”

“Of course they are! Do you think I like seeing you like this? My best friend, sick, practically a zombie!” He finally released her arm to run his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

“For fuck’s sake, I’m not a zombie, I’m just tired,” she scowled.

“Jesus Christ, Nat.” He watched her thin fingers tap restlessly against her thigh, a telling tic she was too weak to suppress. “Have you even eaten today?”

“Not hungry.”

“Bullshit. We’re getting food in you.” Clint pushed the button for the main floor, and they descended in tense silence. She closed her eyes again, ignoring the spots in her vision, focusing solely on keeping her breathing steady as another nightmare returned to rear its head. Memories of who she used to be, the torment she suffered at the hands of her superiors, the unspeakable crimes she’d committed. Mangled screams, her hands red and bloodied, endless lists of her victims, the names half-remembered at best.

He shoved her through the lobby, down the street, and in the closest door advertising food. It was a cheap pizza joint, one he frequented after missions, usually while intoxicated, but it was the quickest option at the moment. She opened her mouth to protest, to argue that her standard of living was above eating at dollar by-the-slice pizza places that were a far cry from anything resembling a restaurant, but was immediately met with a stern glare.

“Eat.” Clint shoved a paper plate into her hands, a greasy slice of pizza covering most of it. She grimaced and took a small bite, fully aware he wouldn’t let her leave until he’d decided she’d eaten enough. It had been a few months since they’d last gone through this routine, but his food choices had not improved.

“You couldn’t have taken me some place a little nicer? I though you knew how to show a girl a good time.”

“I’ll buy you a proper meal when you learn how to feed yourself. You know, most people gorge on junk food when they’re sleep deprived.”

“I’m much more familiar with fasting.” She set her crust down on the plate, unable to force herself to finish it. “Besides, caffeine is a wonderful appetite suppressant.”

“It’s also a stimulant that can prevent you from sleeping.”

“That’s not about the caffeine, and you know it,” she snapped.

“Then tell me about it! And don’t give me some bullshit about protecting me, I’m not falling for it. You need to work through what’s keeping you awake before it kills you.”

“What part of my hellish life isn’t coming back to haunt me?” she scoffed. “My past, present, potential future. It’s all fucked, Clint, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You wanna bet?” He smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Clinton Francis Barton, what the hell are you planning now?”

…

Later that night, Natasha sat staring at her book, gently stroking a very happy Liho who was curled up in her lap, anxiously waiting for Clint to arrive. He’d refused to tell her anything—claimed it was better if she didn’t know—and now he was late, despite the fact that he had set the time. The clock in her kitchen seemed louder than usual, the incessant ticking of the second hand stabbing at her aching head. She was moments away from breaking it when the doorbell rang. Clint was smiling, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

“What’s in the bag?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Clint.”

“My stuff. I’m spending the night.”

“Like hell you are!” She started to close the door, but he braced himself against the doorframe and caught the edge.

“Hear me out, Nat. Please. You owe it to yourself to try.”

“Why on earth would you think this is a good idea?” Natasha crossed her arms, but she stepped back, allowing him into her safe house.

“You trust me—don’t even try to argue with me on that. Your unconscious mind is playing off your deepest fears, and you have no method of self-assurance that you’re not who you used to be. But if we trust each other enough to be openly vulnerable, how could you still be that girl? There’s also the added bonus of having an actual Avenger to protect you.”

“I hate you,” she laughed softly and smacked his arm, “but you have a point. One night, that’s it. And you’re sleeping on the floor.”

…

“Nat, please, I know you’re in there somewhere.” Clint was lying at her feet, bloodied, bruised, a blade pressed to the soft flesh beneath his jaw, the knife clutched in her hand. She scanned the room, taking in the lifeless forms of Steve, Sam, Nick. This was her body, but it was full of someone else’s idea of who she should be, the brainwashed identity pulled from the depths of her mind.

“Fallaces sunt rerum species,” she hissed. With an expert flick of her wrist, she severed his jugular and watched him bleed out.

“Nat? Nat!”

She woke in a cold sweat to find Clint, alive and well, shaking her shoulders. It was dark, but the panic was clear in the shadowed lines of his face, and, after a moment, she realized she’d been crying.

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s over.” He laid down next to her and gently wiped her tears, his voice low and soothing.

“I—I killed you,” she whispered.

“Then I guess I’m the zombie now.” He grinned and instinctively flinched, expecting her to hit him.

“You’re an idiot.” Despite her best efforts, she smiled back and hoped he wouldn’t see. She cared far too much for this particular idiot, but letting that show was dangerous, a weakness she’d been trained not to let slip. But moments like these, when they were alone, allowed to be themselves, were treasured memories, the things she longed to dream about instead.

Natasha would never admit it, but Clint’s presence was comforting, so she let him stay in her bed. Curled up in his arms, her head resting on his chest, she let the steady rhythm of his heart lull her into the best sleep she’d had in weeks.

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 4 - The Intervention of Fate (Ch 15-18) + Overall Review

Seeing the destruction of Sector 7 alongside the sunset was really beautifully saddening. It’s devastating for Tifa and Barret to have to look over it all knowing that their actions caused this. Even if Shinra framed them for it, even if Shinra were the bad guys who killed all these people and everyone’s homes, there’s no doubt that what Tifa and Barret did ended up pushing them into doing this, and it’s hard to have to carry such a burden. On another note, I never thought I would complain about this because I loved the shipping fanservice in the beginning, but can we please calm down with the amount of times Cloud has to hold and save Tifa in some way?! Yes, I like Tifa too, but I’m not sure if there was a battle or scene where Cloud did not save Tifa/Aerith or hold their hand or something. Like yes it’s nice to see, but it’s honestly too much, I’m dying. I feel like a lot of the time it’s pushing the romance more than anything and it kills me because the original prioritised telling the story. And honestly, if you think about it, it’s kinda weird, they make it seem like Tifa and Cloud are really close friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time, but in reality they’re practically strangers in a sense because when they were children, Tifa never really thought much of him, the only time something about Cloud resonated with her was when he told her he was leaving to go become a SOLDIER and probably when he came to her rescue (fulfilling their promise) when Sephiroth slashed her. And it was only after she received letters from Cloud after he joined Shinra that she began to notice him more, so honestly, if we’re to be picky, this was supposed to be a more awkward period between Cloud and Tifa because Tifa liked and cared about him, but she didn’t know how to show it properly since Cloud always liked her but she never really cared. Whereas for Cloud, his memories are jumbled, so he’s awkward with her for a different reason lol. Anyway, I think I would have just liked more tension between their relationship? Because right now, it just feels like everyone loves Cloud because he’s cold but soft on the inside, so he’s a great cinnamon roll or whatever, but it really doesn’t show the depth to their characters and their relationships. I’m starting to think this remake is really just fanservice for old FFVII fans rather than a proper retelling. I mean, I’ll still like it, but it’s just a bit sad.

Well, Shinra Company is fancy. Tifa jumping on the lights to get the Shinra keycard was interesting but honestly tedious, I think I’ve had enough of these tbh lol. Anyway, I was going to run up the stairs in this remake, but then I realised the camera was making me feel sick so I just went back to what I did in the original; bust in the front door and go on the elevator lol. Although I have to say, I honestly enjoyed the original more where it had more of the feel where we’re busting in from the front door haha. That memorial museum was pretty, but honestly boring lol. Like, whyyyy is there so much maintenance going on?! I seriously thought they did a full on museum tour and I was like, that’s pretty cool, but no, I learnt basically nothing, sigh. Maybe that VR movie was cool to see, especially since it kinda explains that Ancients were the ones who discovered Mako energy and helped create materia, and I guess the graphics were pretty. But I think it felt like such a spoiler to show Sephiroth walking in the Shinra building, it just doesn’t really build any tension. I really only wanted to see the blood trail lol. Anyway, Hart is someone I don’t remember at all so I assume he’s a new character? Or is he that guy who you had to decipher those codes to or something? Haha. But anyway, I guess if he’s been changing the security camera feeds then does that mean Cloud and them won’t get locked up in a cell? Okay, the Shinra building was so… uneventful and boring lol. Like, I wasn’t exactly looking for a replica but I honestly thought it would be more…fun? It was legit so boring and so not memorable compared to the original. No code deciphering, no plate moving, no special treasure chests, no running past guards secretly, nothing! Literally just that Shinra training facility and other useless things like the museum and archives that don’t even have books to read! I think the most enjoyable thing was going around trashing the chairs everywhere because I didn’t even mean to move them, but Cloud running around just naturally destroys them lol. Yes, totally infiltrating “quietly”. But seriously, Shinra building is definitely a letdown right now. Scarlet’s ruthlessness was just...whatever too lol.

Sigh, I kinda really wanted to see the gym and the napping room lolll. I guess it was nice that we got to see them go through the air duct in the bathroom to spy on the President’s meeting, but stilllll. I mean, they didn’t even let me explore the women’s bathroom! C'mon! I don’t need this kind of realism in my game! I want to explore!! Maybe I’m just getting ahead of myself and it’ll be better.. Anyway, Hojo looks as creepy as the person that he is lmaoo, and being Reeve is suffering, considering he’s the only one that seems to care about the people. The idea of Hojo having all these monsters in his research lab is disturbing lol.  I found the explanation and existence of the Whisperers…unnecessary, they’re basically things that are there to stop the party from changing the predetermined fate of this world. Like, I kinda knew already with considering where they always appeared etc but ugh. Oh well, whatever. Red XIII is pretty hot. He looks older than I thought though, he looks more like what I would expect his father to look like tbh lol, I mean Bugenhagen always said Red XIII was practically a kid in terms of his species lifespan!! 

I’m sad that the Turks Theme doesn’t have that clicky sound to it that made it sound cool anymore, sigh. I’m also kindaaa disappointed that they seem to be pushing with the Turks the idea that they’re quite..nice? Like, maybe it’s just me, but despite how “cool and nice” the Turks were in the original, what I loved about them the most was their work ethic and how it’s a lot of dirty work, but it’s their job and they have a sense of pride to it.  Whereas sometimes in this remake, I kinda feel like, they question their job too much when they know what it entails? Like, I really wanted to see Rude catch us in the elevator LOL. Anyway, Sephiroth appearing near Jenova and slashing the bridge they were standing on in retaliation of Cloud attacking him was interesting…not too sure what to think about it right now because it felt rather random tbh lol. I guess we are definitely not getting the jail cell time, which is more disappointing than the boring Shinra building tbh. Not only did the cell time really give you time to bond with everyone in their cells, it also really highlighted how sudden and scary it was to see a trail of blood, and all these Shinra company men’s bodies as you slowly climb the stairs to realise what happened.

Btw, lmao at Red XIII pushing down handles, it looks so awkward because it seemed like he was struggling so bad hahahah. The Drum was an annoying place, I hated changing materia around between the two parties. Like whyyy can’t I just change the whole line of weapon and armour materia (like in the original) instead of slowly doing it one by one?! Aside from that, this was a boring place too lol. I guess the only nice thing was seeing Tifa and Aerith get along so well lol. Anyway, Jenova’s blood trail was much more pretty and fascinating than ominous tbh lol, it really gives a completely different feel to the actual blood trail in the original. It’s cool in its own regards though I guess. Okayyy, wow, I’m starting to think that this is becoming pretty ridiculous. Like it was obvious Barret won’t die because you know, these Whispers know that it’s not his fate to die here, so of course they’ll somehow save him, but now it’s just silly? Like, sure it’s not his fate to die here but was Barret such a crucial person to the “fate” that can’t be changed? Anyway, so basically everything that happened in the original is probably the “fate” that must be followed, but at the same time they’re just changing up things to make it as convenient as they want to for the story. Honestly, that segment with Barret and President Shinra was so cliche, I wanted to bang my head watching it because it was so unnecessary. I think he should have just died like in the original. Like all the mental agony of saving him or not, and then President Shinra showing how much of a crap he is was just so ugh, like was that really important? What did we expect him to be like? Did we really need to see this? Even seeing the sword pierce them was so whatever at that point because I’m starting to think the story is realllyyyyyy getting “basic”. Also, showing Wedge being here but not being able to change or do anything because “he’s not a part of fate” was just ridiculous. Like seriously, we get it, don’t these Whispers have anything better to do? I mean, I really wouldn’t say that the original timeline is the best timeline to follow for this world but okay, whatever they want.

Anyway, I’m sad that Rufus doesn’t have orange hair!! Hahaha, but that’s fine, since he still looks pretty hot. I love how he still has his dog!! Rufus was so annoying though, like seriously, I’ve had enough of bosses that just counterattack you, and you have to find the exact moment for an opening to deal damage zzzz. Otherwise, it was really cool to fight Rufus, this was starting to become the only thing I was looking forward to lol. Kinda sad you don’t actually fight Arsenal(?) that robot in the elevator anymore though. The fight took so long because I didn’t realise what I was supposed to be doing lolll. Cloud is taking lessons from Roche in getting crazy with the motorbike haha, seriously though, the motorbike and the blue car is so nostalgic. I did enjoy how alike the original, if you bothered looking (well it was more obvious in the remake) you actually see the motorbike and the car in the building haha. Not sure about Cloud throwing his sword scaring off the Shinra soldiers though, like dude, your sword could have fallen out of the building! Anyway, I knew it was coming, but I honestly hoped it didn’t, and that is…the second round of the motorbike game!!! Yes, the thing I sucked at the most in the original and in this remake as well, and what do you know, they just upped the difficulty with a boss! Not gonna lie, I legit died a few times because I had no idea how I was supposed to kill him, and when I realised how to do it, my skills were lacking, so yes, it took me a while. I was pretty frustrated lol, I mean, snowboarding is my worst enemy too but I never had to do it more than once! This game is just bullying people like me who suck at this mini game, sigh T_T It is pretty cool though. HOWEVER, it would have made life much easier if Red XIII threw a potion at me whenever I was dying and not just in between the battles, sighhh~

Anyway, this whole going into another dimension that Aerith says will change the course of events where we’ll now forge our own destiny or whatever by killing the Whispers who are trying to convene fate to be as it should flow like in the original story is…weird to say the least of it. Sephiroth wasn’t too difficult to beat, but I found the whole fight in this place weird and cliche, with all the “memories” of the original timeline coming to Cloud and them, and for them to destroy all that to change their fate. Okay, Zack is alive? Like, I was kinda thinking it would be interesting and funny if Zack were to survive but hmmm, not sure what to think of it. Well, the different dog probably indicates it’s a different timeline/world but that doesn’t really stop the writers from creating a story where he can jump to their world or whatever. Biggs is alive? Is everyone alive lol? Like, I guess Cloud and everyone are planning to alter fate so ensuring everyone survives is what they want, but at the same time, I’m just baffled at this ending. I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. It really doesn’t help that the dialogue is so… bland? Useless? It’s so flowery with no substance imo. Maybe in the next part we’ll get to see Zack’s new world line from his perspective and then their worlds can connect or something lol. Anyway! I’ll say, I don’t like or dislike the ending because honestly, with all the changes that happened with the Shinra company, I already lowered my expectations to the max lol, it also helped the ending was kinda spoiled to me before I even played the game, so I knew it wouldn’t be a faithful remake, but is instead more of a FFVII-2 kinda deal. But I still find the way things played out really disjointed and cliche. The whole chapter 18 suffered the most in dialogue and story tbh, because honestly, I’m not sure if people who haven’t played the original would really get it, and would they really get the importance of Zack lol. It’s just annoying that they decided to throw all this at the end when everything else was Shinra and Shinra. And yeah, I see why they made the Aerith and Cloud “romance” so subtle you couldn’t feel anything about it, it’s probably because they want to make it more of a Aerith and Zack thing for this remake, which is understandable, but kinda saddening because that changes a lot of things in terms of how you’ll feel about it all.

Overall Review Overall, let me attempt to put together how I feel about the whole thing. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about how to write down my feelings for days or weeks but I still don’t know what to say of this disappointment LOL. Tbh, I think the thing I would have appreciated the most would be Square Enix telling me that this wouldn’t be a faithful adaptation of the original with HD graphics and extended story/scenes. Because if I didn’t have that expectation, I wouldn’t have felt as mixed about the ending as I am now. People seem to hate on people for being disappointed at expecting that it would be a faithful adaptation, but really, what did you want a lot of the old fans to expect? The game itself is riding on a nostalgia train yet it’s our fault for thinking it would be faithful? Even the Japanese commercial rode on the nostalgia train with a guy happily talking about the iconic scenes in the original and being excited that he’ll be able to experience the remake with people who don’t know it. They clearly wanted old fans to join the hype and then sucker punched them to the gut with the ending. Thankfully, I knew what was coming so I survived but honestly, aside from hopefully still getting to see other iconic scenes, I’m not really interested in how the story will play out. I hate stories involving stuff like time travel and branching timelines etc most of the time, especially when time travel is not the main focus of the story. This isn’t something like Chrono Trigger. I think my biggest problem though was that considering how much of a slow burn 80% of the game was, the fact that once we got to the Shinra building, everything just lacked detail and felt so rushed into that...ending. My biggest problem isn’t the ending itself, but how everything led to that ending, because it was really dissatisfying to watch. Like, honestly, on paper, it’s not a bad idea, it would be interesting to see how things could play out with the unknown etc, but really, the way they did it with the obnoxious Whispers throughout the story, alongside the out of nowhere ending really killed the experience.

I’m probably being whiny at this point but really, the main gripe I have with the ending is that it makes me think that the writers thought it would be “boring” to just redo the original with extended stories because “everyone knows the story already” kinda thing, and it also kinda implies as if the original was “perfect as it is”, which I honestly have to disagree with. I love the original FFVII but honestly, a lot of things could have been told better without feeling as disjointed as some things were, like it was nice to uncover bits and pieces etc, but a lot of things also relied on you yourself to find it, so it’s easy to miss things. For example, without a walkthrough, I honestly didn’t realise there was that scene in the Shinra mansion where you could actually see Zack die. I also feel like integrating Yuffie and Vincent in the story more would have been something good to focus on in the original because Wutai is important, the Lucrecia, Hojo and Vincent story is important, but because they were optional, it wasn’t always something people found. I just feel like for the story FFVII is, it was really unnecessary to make it more convoluted than it is, because now it’s just detracting from what made this game good. Like, maybe it might be interesting with this time travel stuff, but at the same time, this isn’t really FFVII anymore, all it has is iconic scenes in HD as fanservice. Which kinda makes me mad, because they so blatantly shove in your face FFVII fanservice for like 90% of the game and then they just show this ending, like okay. I’m not even sure the Weapons are that important anymore because who needs them to come out to protect the planet if the Whispers (like really, are they even dead?) are around? It’s just the stakes for everything have become so high where it’s involving fate and time travel etc. what is the point of the stuff that are limited to being inside this planet that is being controlled by the Whispers of fate? Well, whatever, I could complain all day here and I would still feel dissatisfied.

Anyway, nevertheless, I still enjoyed most of the game. I had my gripes here and there with the changes, but most of it was done really well, and I still liked it a lot. I mean, Wall Market is so beautiful and went beyond my expectations! The detail they put into the graphics and stuff really blew me away and I couldn’t stop taking screenshots. I also liked how they made Avalanche a bit more personal to Cloud. Although I really enjoyed seeing Aerith, Tifa and Cloud fanservice though, sometimes I felt like the scenes were just that, like just fanservice and it kinda got tedious. The side quests throughout the game were also quite boring imo. Like, I don’t expect anything groundbreaking from them, but they were really boring story wise and gameplay wise. The “puzzles” such as climbing across on those hand bars were so tedious and slow, I was annoyed lol, it’s so clunky to do! I’ll take the stupid crane any day. And the battle AI kills me. I know you’re supposed to swap between characters to build up ATB but man would I appreciate if the ATB charged up faster or if the AI wasn’t so useless. Barret not doing his job shooting sentry turrets and Tifa guarding against enemies not attacking her from ten miles away made me want to strangle someone. Like, it’s not terrible, but it definitely wasn’t enjoyable enough for me to care about playing hard mode. Lol, I’m back to complaining, but honestly, if I played the remake without knowing the original, aside from the graphics, I’m not sure if I was really into the story at all. Not saying it’s bad, but Midgar was always kinda like the beginning of the beginning so it’s really not that interesting in itself, and the bland story telling didn’t help imo, I guess the good thing was that it solidified everyone’s relationships? Anyway, I’ll still play the other parts because it’s FFVII but I think if it becomes something like Lightning Returns etc, I really just might drop it. For now, I’ll just go along with the ride, right now, things are just a 7/10~

P.S I think what I’m most sad about right now is that I won’t have the same feelings I had when I bought the remake. Since I live in Australia, the copies were sold before April 10th, so really, I cancelled my pre-order and went to the store and bought it myself after work. I was really excited to have it and get to play it because even though a lot of the things weren’t the same, it felt really nice to relive that experience of joining Cloud and them on their journey again. I really liked it and thought the reinterpretation to fit the more serious mood and everything was nice, but I’m honestly disappointed that I won’t be as excited to continue the journey in the next part. It’s the first time in a long time since I felt so excited for a game to come out, so it’s saddening, but I guess this is what it is.

[toxikbubblegum]

May Reading Wrap Up

I'm actually really proud of myself. I finished 13 books last month. Spent a lot of extra time away from screens and focusing on my mental health so I burned through way more than I normally would. So anyways, here's my reviews. - Also please understand that these are just my opinions and if I shit on your favorite book I'm sorry that I didn't enjoy it as much as you. Also, also Im terrible with character names.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor ⭐⭐⭐

I actually started this book at the end of April but didn't finish it til May 1st so whatever, here it is. This books is a YA urban fantasy novel about a girl with a double life. She spends half her days studying art in Europe and the other half running errands for a tooth collecting wish monger. I don't want to say a whole lot more because I dont want to spoil anything important about the plot. So, I'll try to be vague. Let me start by saying this story is amazing. I loved the writing and the world. I rated it so low solely because I can't stand the two main characters and it really dragged down what would have otherwise been an amazing novel. So yeah, great book but its a preference thing. Also took points off for the insta-love but not really insta-love shit. Idk. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this read even a month later. Gonna read the second to see if maybe my hatred of the two mains was just a fluke.

3/5 Stars

Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins

⭐⭐⭐

This is the third book in the Hex Hall trilogy. Not much to say about it. It was a meh ending to an overall pretty good series. 3/5 stars. Moving on.

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

⭐⭐⭐

Realizing now how many of my reads this month were pretty middle of the world. Hopefully next month will be filled with 4 and 5 stars. Anyways, this book was honestly a struggle for me to finish and Im not sure why. It's a YA mystery magical realism story about a tiny coastal town that is cursed by the spirits of 3 sisters who were suspected of witchcraft and drowned 2 centuries prior. Because of this, every year the sisters return from the sea to take the lives of teenage boys by luring them to the sea. We follow the life of kind of meh and standard YA girl #1. She meets a strange non tourist boy and hires him to work in the lighthouse her family owns. Her dad randomly disappeared years ago and her mom is a loon. So yeah... I dont know. I kind of felt like this story was hot garbage in places. I usually dont have any trouble with the suspense of disbelief in magical realism stories but this one just had too many plot holes. Like, I get morbid stuff becomes tourist attractions but why wouldn't someone have stepped in and evacuated the town if at least 3 teenage boys die there EVERY SINGLE YEAR without fail? I honestly feel like the FBI or some other government agency would have cleared the place out after the first 20 or so deaths. There was also the whole MC can see the ghosts of the girls possessing people but chooses not to tell anyone? Like, I get it. You dont want people to label you a freak or think you're crazy but come the fuck on. You live in a tourist trap where people flock to watch local teenage males wash up on shore and you really think the authorities arent going to take you up on the help? It wasn't an awful book by any means. It was well written and extremely descriptive. Just had major beef with some of the details. Anyways, I wont say much more so I don't spoil the whole book.

3/5 Stars

An Enchantment of Ravens by Maragret Rogerson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Finally, I get to talk about one of my favorite reads of the month. I love anything to do with the Fae in my YAfiction and this was literally everything I wanted in a Fae novel. It takes place in a town called Whimsy, a humanish town in the world of Faerie. The fae cannot do any Craft, or what we would consider craftsmanship. Art and humans who can do it well are very precious in this world because the Fae can't ever do it themselves. We follow the adventures of a girl who has been commisioned to paint the portrait of the Autumn King and the chaos that ensues. Let me just start by saying this is one of those insta-love situations where I feel like it's genuinely ok. I might be making excuses because I loved the title so much but whatever. It's explained and I accept it. Also, I realize that Gadfly had a lovely description but my brain willl not let me picture him as anything but Mr.Waternoose from Monsters Inc.

5/5 Stars

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

⭐⭐⭐

This book started out so good and went downhill very quickly. It follows the story of these two magicians who were fated by their Master's to one day fight to the death. There were so many things I loved about this book only for the last 100 pages to just take a firey dump on my face. I loved the setting and the majority of the characters. The supporting characters were so deep and interesting that I almost cared more about them than I did Ceilia and Marko (Im proabably wrong and I dont feel like googling but I think that was his name) . I don't know. I don't want to complain about anymore meh books.

3/5 Stars

Matched by Allie Condie

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Went into this book expecting to hate it. I usually don't like contemporary love stories but this had major City of Ember meets The Giver vibes and it just appealed to that 14 year old girl in me again. That seems to happen with a lot of dystopian utopia stories. Anyways, story is about a girl who lives in this town where when you hit a certain age you are brought to a place and told who the government has chosen for you to marry. She is matched with her life long best friend and all is well. Except that her little Get To Know Your New Husband microship thing showed her two guys instead of just one. And lots of bullshit ensues. I honestly think I rated this so high because I enjoy the world and not so much whats actually happening to the kids. Like, I loved the idea that art is harmful so the government chose 100 acceptable pieces and thats all these people know. I loved the brutality of the government in general. I can't say much more without spoiling some of the twists but geez did it have me hooked. I'm going to be started the second one soonish, though my TBR for June has gotten intense so we will see.

4/5 stars

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is so fucking good! Not going to rant about it or anything because y'all just need to go read it immediately.

5/5 stars

Would give it every star in the sky if Im being completely honest.

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh

⭐⭐

Got sucked into this book by the cover and honestly that was the best part of this book. Its about this world where necromancy is pretty highly regarded and used to resurrect the royals after they die. The only downside is that if a living person ever lays eyes on the resurrected person's skin then they turn into these horrible monsters. Maybe it's just me but like that absolutely does not seem worth the risk. Plus, in order to bring the person back, these reapers have to go into the death world and bring the spirit back. And it's HELLA DANGEROUS. So like, WHY? Anyways, there is this stupid underlying love story that I absolutely wasn't invested in. This just all around was not a good book.

2/5 stars

Monster High by Lisi Harrison

⭐⭐

Little known fact~ I'm obsessed with Monster High and Ever After High. So yeah, I realize this wasn't targeted to me as an adult but even going into it with an open mind I was disappointed. Granted I didn't read the description of the book prior. I just saw this franchise I love and grabbed it. First, if you are a fan of the mini series and the movies do not read this. It doesnt follow the cinematic canon and I think that was my biggest problem with it. Frankie's character was all wrong and I hated the whole"Normy" cast. Was really excited for these but I definitely won't be continuing the series. I don't even want to torture myself with seeing how they manage to ruin my sweet baby Draculara.

2/5 stars

Unhinged by AG Howard

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I can't say enough good things about this series. This is the second book in the trilogy and it was a fanatstic bridge book. It had me engrossed through the entire audiobook. Morpheus is still everything. If you loved Splintered I would highly reccomend continuing.

5/5 stars

Truthwitch

⭐⭐

Have had this on my TBR for a while because of how many Booktubers have hyped the series. Buy, was I disappointed. I was soooooooooo bored. Maybe it's because I don't really enjoy this type of fantasy or maybe it was just the slower paced story but I just slugged through this book. Both of the main female characters were bland to me and I didn't care about their friendship. The world was cool but not enough to keep me invested. Just wasn't my cup of tea.

2/5 stars

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

⭐⭐⭐

Picked this up because of how much I loved The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and it didn't meet my expectations. It follows this girl who works for a paranormal gorvenment group. She has a special ability that makes her really useful to them so they are trying to groom her basically. They capture this changeling and she befriends him and there is an overarching plot that I just didn't get invested in. The friendship between the two main characters was pretty much the only thing that I enjoyed in this title. The mother figure was insufferable and I just didn't really understand the whole org that they worked for in general. Not an awful book but not fantastic.

Solid 3/5 stars.

The Siren by Kiera Cass

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Going to preface this by saying I might be biased. I love Kiera Cass and have enjoyed almost everything she has written. That said, this wasn't nearly as good as The Selection series but it was a pretty good stand alone novel. It about a girl who becomes a siren on her deathbed and spends the next 100 years serving the sea by luring people to their deaths. After doing this for 70 years, she falls in love and pretty much ruins everything. Loved the characters, especially the male lead. The insta love was a little pet peeve of mine but the love interest was so sweet and genuine that I was willing to overlook it. Pretty good read if you dig supernatural romance.

4/5 stars

June holds the Ghibli-a-thon but also lots of holidays for my family so we will see how much I actually get read. So far my tentative TBR is 5 books but we will see where the days take me.

[firstpuffin]

Two-fer-one article on Devil May Cry 5; Merry Christmas?

Quick review of Devil May Cry 5 so that I can get into the good stuff:

That title may be a bit misleading as I did enjoy the game a lot, but I wanted to write a piece on Dante specifically yet kept getting distracted by how I felt about the game. I take that as a good thing as it means that I feel strongly enough about the game that self-control is difficult to come by.

 Anyway, DMC 5 is very different to the previous games and I would say that it doesn’t really feel the same. I’m the type of person who prefers stylised graphics over realism; heck, style over realism in any area of gaming, but while DMC 5 is visually stunning, it lacks a lot of what the previous entries had visually. I mean sure, some of that “style” was probably technological limitations, but other games didn’t look like DMC so… Anyway, the blood, the way the eyes moved and the cinematography were some of the things that I thought of as being quintessentially Devil May Cry, and are all gone. Yes, Dante looks handsome and there is some great character action, but it feels wrong.

  Speaking of cinematography, the opening cutscene has the typical Devil May Cry over-the-top action sequence that is always good fun to watch, but it feels awkward to me. Slow motion is something that works in (ironically) short bursts and the crazy fights from the previous games work well with only careful use of it. DMC 5 has the whole freakin’ fight in slo-mo and it’s annoying. It’s like someone realised that slo-mo is cool, so obviously more slo-mo means cooler. The music is a clearer example of how the game is different: even my friend who insists that the graphics are “just better” and doesn’t see my point about style agrees that the music is very different.

 I don’t personally see all that as complaining so much as pointing out the weak points in the game, and they’re only really weak points in a Devil May Cry game; but outside of that it stands strong. The gameplay mechanics are smooth and fun, learning from and expanding on the previous games, particularly Dante’s “styles” and Nero’s Devil Bringer. The new character “V” (bit on the nose there, guys) brings with him a pretty interesting way of playing that while tedious, could be refined later for a future game.

  The game is very, veerry pretty and when you learn to use these mechanics to their fullest you can have some amazing moments. There was one boss battle that was unfortunately easy, but so fun. With the music, graphics and gameplay it was- it was an experience, and that’s surprisingly rare.

 I don’t really know how much more I can say. The women played less of a role than I’d like, leaving the action to the menfolk; sure it is logically justified, but I feel that Lady at least is the type to make an attempt anyway. The story itself wasn’t amazing but I enjoyed how things turned out towards the end, even ignoring the obvious contrivances.

 Devil May Cry Dante’s troubled growth (as it happens, written before the above):

I’ve had this on my mind for a while ever since I (finally) got around to playing through Devil May Cry 5 and I wanted to share my thoughts; less because I think it’s important and more because then I will be able to stop thinking about it. I’ve already written a piece on the ladies of this series and it’s the boys’ turn now, specifically Dante.

 The hero of this series has had a troublesome development, even ignoring DMC.5 (that’s what I call the reboot, remember?). Originally he was Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil (who else thinks that Biohazard is a better name? The f*ck does “Resident Evil” even mean?) but the forth game in that series went in a different direction and this became a new series. Unfortunately, this change of plans made Dante a bit of a stale character. Sure, he was cool. He takes a sword to the torso and walks it off (quite literally), has a big red trench coat and, of course, he makes wisecracks.

  But it was a very surface-level cool and he had very little personality outside of that. Sure he had more than DMC 2 Dante, but that bar is so low that you’ll trip over it, like the series did. It was 3 that made Dante, Dante. He was cocky, reckless and witty, all the while hiding a vulnerability that comes out during the course of game. Dante gains confidence through purpose, even after being tricked, rejected and losing his brother who he clearly cared for.

 And then popped up DMC 4. It was a good game, if inferior to the third (boring female lead, boring villain, etc), but we saw a new Dante. He was self-confident in a less reckless sense than his previous incarnation, witty, cool and never over-emotional: they wanted a mentor character for Nero and they took Dante in that direction. Dante was well-dressed and handsome and it felt like 3 after the trials he has been through up until now.

  And then popped up DMC 5 and Dante is different. He isn’t suave anymore, he’s not as calm or sophisticated- I don’t think that this Dante is at all compatible with 4 and yet he also feels like a natural progression of 3. Still confident and matured by his experiences, still cool and still handsome (more-so than 4 I’d say), Dante has a wholly different type of charisma.

 That’s the thing that gets me about this: I can’t see these two versions of him as being the same person and yet I see them both as natural progressions of 3. I definitely prefer 5; he feels like a real person where 4 is a caricature. He’s too cool, too collected and suave, and too perfect. If Nero hadn’t been there then maybe Dante wouldn’t have been designed this way, but maybe he would have and it was only Nero who helped balance the game.

  I think that the best way to say this is that 4 is a paragon -he’s reached his peak- while 5 still has room to grow and change, which is far more engaging.

[jcmorgenstern]

3x12 “review” (aka whining)

Okay so 3x12! First the things I liked, so this doesn’t come off as a gigantic whining list of things I hated. (I feel kind of bad I didn’t do a 3x11 review because I actually really liked that one, but I guess I have more motivation to whine than anything else).

readmore for length and sanity.

So things I liked:

Luke and Jace interaction! Though the pacing was absolutely insane and I absolutely refuse to believe that the Clave has the infrastructure in place to take detailed barometric readings in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE SIBERIA, so detailed that Jace can easily pinpoint exactly where the apartment was. Like I wouldn’t believe they have that kind of detail in rural Iowa, let alone a place that’s colder than balls.

That last point was all whining.The Morgenstern sword!! Y’all have NO idea how long I spent being mad that Valentine didn’t have it in the first two seasons. It now seems a bit odd to introduce it now considering Valentine didn’t in fact ever have it, but whatever. Also Clary being like “fuck Morgenstern weapons” was kind of funny considering her kindjals are waiting at home.

Magnus’ storyline. Though it’s kind of weird and rushed and confused, I’m just glad my man is getting some real focus on him as a person rather than a love interest or idk some overblown “son of Edom” thing.

Cain was, I admit, a really cool and interesting concept, and I already really like Pasha!! I hope he’s continuing to get better after his surgery. Don’t love as much how they’re mainlining Lilith as the Biggest Bad Ever and a Whole Evil B*tch (more on that lovely term of endearment later).

Mirek was really cool, kind of had to laugh at the “demon middle class.” Can’t help but wonder if the “status quo” thing was a deliberate political joke or not. Either way, Jonathan has never met a structure he doesn’t want to overthrow. Does the Clave spark joy? Apparently not.

MELIORN IS BACK!!!!! And wants a threesome, apparently.

Jonathan peevishly being like “I forgive you for trying to kill me, btw” and Clary just rolling her eyes and ignoring him.

Jonathan’s fucking GAAAY. (Or bi. pan. whatever. You do you. All I’m saying is THIS BITCH RAINBOW). I do not care what the intention was, that’s what I’m choosing to get out of it.

Things I didn’t like:

the plot of this episode is pretty much enough material for an entire season. They compressed it so much people are calling it a filler episode. Jace and Luke figure out the secret of the apartment (which is untraceable), go to Siberia, figure out Jonathan is alive, find Clary and rescue her and that’s only about 15 minutes of footage overall. That could be spread out over 15 episodes.

On the Simon side: they find the first fucking vampire, become his new bestie, get the only thing in the world that could rid him of the mark without any sort of price or even really having to ask, they get back into Faerie without any problems, Meliorn takes them right to the Queen despite knowing Simon has a weapon of death on his face, she agrees without argument to unmark him not even knowing if he’ll explode or what, the mark is off in about 14 seconds, the FUCKING DRUG PLOTLINE IS BACK AG A. I N. And then rose petals. That could have been the entire SEASON.

No Maia. (I know she’s in the next ep I just want to complain).

It’s also weird because it seems like Malec is progressing on normal time and the other two story strands are progressing on some extreme kind of fast-forward. It gives you all kinds of whiplash. If there was any kind of thematic overlap or even an attempt to connect the strands thematically it might work to ground the other storylines but it. Does not.

I hate that the apartment is Lilith’s and not Valentine’s, and that apparently it can only go to a few select spots now. NOT. THE. POINT. Point = missed.

And onto the things that bothered me the most: the whole treatment of Jonathan and Clary, and the Sizzy. For which I need an entire section to bitch.

Jonathan and Clary: why god have you abandoned me

* Ok so honestly, I had to go and check to see who wrote 3x11 and 3x12, because  it had to be different people. 3x11 was by Todd and Darren, and 3x12 was by Alex Schemmer. Schemmer has only written one other episode in 3a (3x03), which explains to me why he seems to have missed a fair bit of lore. To me, the huge difference between 3x11 and 12, which basically deal with the same plot line (Clary kidnapped by Jonathan, wary of him, trying to escape) but in hugely different ways and different focus.

In 3x11, the focus is all on Clary. Her initial confusion, her fear, anger, the attempt to escape, the attempt to kill Jonathan. All shot from her point of view. She takes more action than he does—she runs away, she grabs the knife, she stabs him. He is mostly reacting to her, running after her, offering her soup and tea and trying to win her over. Even when he does talk, the scenes where he talks about himself are brief and she shares equal part in the conversation.

This makes sense, as she is the main character.

In 3x12, everything is about Jonathan. From the first shot everything is about him, the camera focusing on him even when Clary is the focus of the scene (i.e., when she’s finding new clothes—and was a shirtless scene necessary? Like we get it, you nearly killed poor Luke in a gym somewhere, thanks for the update). Every time he and Clary talk, it’s just him talking at her. “I forgive you for killing me.” Telling her she’s good at art. Telling her there’s an Institute nearby. Telling her he likes art. She can barely get a word in edgewise from the get-go, and it only gets worse on the hot chocolate “date.”

He says the whole point is to get to know each other better, but he LITERALLY talks about himself the whole time. Clary barely even reacts, just makes eyes at a phone. He doesn’t even seem to notice she’s not listening. Like guys, this is every bad tinder date ever. Then they go to to the antiques store, and even then she’s shuffled off—shoo! Get out of the scene!! Even the French guy interrupts her at every turn and she gets shuffled off like a sack of potatoes *again*.

Like don’t tell me Clary couldn’t kick his ass and then explain things to him when he’s pinned to the ground. It would be faster, safer, and if Jonathan shows up again she can be like “ohh he was threatening us!! Look, I beat him up to keep us safe!” and Jonathan would buy it hook, line, and sinker. Since killing people in broad daylight is ok, clearly the show isn’t worried about the realism of fighting in the streets.

And then she’s shuffled off AGAIN, and although the show clearly understands that being kidnapped and controlled by your dangerously unhappy brother who seriously has the creepy hots for you is a pretty freakin SCARY situation, it still shows all this from Jonathan’s point of view, teasing the “romance” of it all and giving us hehe teehee little slips of it (like the shirtless scene). And then when she finally is able to break free and actually do something, he yells “BITCH” at her and runs off, and she falls into Jace’s arms, completely forgetting to act like a real human being.

The reason why 3x11 works so much more for me is that Clary is at least an equal partner, and is given space to react and actually do things; in 3x12 they seem to take any excuse to bundle her off, keep her out of frame, mute her reactions. Jonathan and his feelings take center stage and suddenly Clary is a side character in her own story. 3x11 is more compelling because Jonathan is legitimately trying to win her over, trying to connect with her, personally. It’s obvious he cares about her opinions as a person and her as a person—you couldn’t replace her with a cardboard cutout and the scene would read the same. They actually interact. In 3x12 he’s just ranting at her about himself while she sits there. On no narrative level is there any sort of connection or interaction.

Like imagine the situation differently. They’re in art store, because lbr the real museums prolly wouldn’t let them shoot there, and Clary is talking to Jonathan about her favorite prints and artists. He’s listening, maybe a little too intently, maybe talks about a piece he likes and what it means to him. She looks unnerved. As they talk, the camera follows her gaze, and we realize she is trying to find someone’s phone to take it. She’s pretending, of course, but there is something charming about Paris. Jonathan keeps offering to buy her souvenirs, very awkwardly, trying to find something to please her. She picks something to make him happy. He returns from the register just before she can make a grab for someone’s phone and bolt for the door. He suggests they go to the cafe across the square. We cut to where they’re sitting down, she’s tearing into a croissant. Jonathan is wearing a “I <3 PARIS” cap, which is a bit jarring and distracting. Clary tells him it looks silly and he takes it off. He mentions in a forcedly offhand way that this is where he met Sebastian Verlac, and seeing her expression, quickly adds that he knows what he did is wrong. She says something along the lines of “do you, tho” and he launches into his monologue. She tells him that she liked Sebastian Verlac, even though she never met the real him. He looks happy at first, then seems to understand what she means, and his expression darkens. He tells her that that’s exactly what Valentine said she would say—that she likes Sebastian, not him. She looks disturbed at the mention of Valentine, and he takes the opportunity to tell her the whole thing about not wanting to hurt anyone and the whole thing being about killing Valentine.

And yada yada yada you get the idea.

Honestly the whole rescue felt very contrived—how convenient Clary has been posthumously pardoned one day before her rescue! And then Jonathan calling her a bitch—haha no thanks. The entitlement is uhh Not Great.

Anyway tldr @ Alex schemmer Clary is not a sofa pls give her some human emotion pls and thanks

Sizzy: why god have you abandoned me, the sequel

Honestly writing that entire wall of text wiped me out but ill try

The drug arc is the bane of my existence

Im so tired

I thought we’d be done in season 2 yet here we are at the end. Drug arc: 1. Actual character development: 0.

Why is this the ONLY plot line the show can remember or keep running for more than 2 episodes. WHY

Why does she even like Simon. They never interact. They don’t even know each other. Everything is just an excuse to get them together. it’s forced and leaden.

Playing her and Raph off as badwrong and her and Simon as rose petal romantic is weird af dude. Izzy has just been the tail end of male characters’ storylines for so long and I’m tired.

If they’d played it off as a sacrifice on her part I might be less mad, like paint her as a hero but it just felt like this was expected of her. It was romantic because there was nothing else to do and OF COURSE she couldn’t refuse!!! Please be realistic, she’s a woman. Think of herself even a little? Impossible!

Never mind she could have easily used her medical training to open a larger artery, pour the blood into his mouth, and iratze herself as soon as Simon was cogent enough to be out of danger. He was already woken up enough to drink the blood she poured from her hand. No biting/venom necessary. Lmao.

Stop treating Izzy like shit just to force a romantic storyline seriously lmao

Aaaaanyway lol that was like 20000000 words but those are my thoughts if you made it to the end you deserve a trophy or smth

[duxbelisarius]

Wonder Woman Review

I was questioning whether or not to do this, but on the advice of @byzantinefox and @bantarleton, I’ve decided to make a post addressing the events portrayed in the film. I’m not a film critic or scholar (my wondertrev buddy @twoquickdeaths could probably say more about those aspects of it than I could), but I am a history major with a great interest in the First World War. Hence, I will be addressing the events of the film, their historical context, and the way they are portrayed. WARNING: Spoilers below!

So to start, let me make this point ABSOLUTELY clear: I LOVED Wonder Woman. I mean, I was squirming in my seat at dinner prior to seeing it with my family, my little sister and I humming the theme! Patty Jenkins and her team made a phenomenal movie (AND Zack, can’t forget the conductor of the DCEU orechestra), Gal and Chris were amazing as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor (and I am now torn between Wonderbat and Wondertrev, which is saying a lot given that I grew up with the DCAU’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited). The action scenes were awesome (Antiope and co. PHYSICALLY REMOVING the Germans from Themyscira set the tone very well for the subsequent fights), and Diana’s character struck an excellent balance of traditionally feminine and masculine traits as Marston intended (Gal and Patty deserve high praise for this as well). IMO, the tone of the movie balanced positivity and hope with hopelessness and loss more explicitly, perhaps, than BvS, MoS and SS. All of the DCEU movies dealt with those themes (in b4 HURR DURR GRIMDARK 2EDGY4ME), though consolation and desolation aren’t always easy to convey (even if you’ve read St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises).

Having stated this, there were basic problems with it’s portrayal of history. I need to stress that I am well aware that this is fantasy/comic book hero stuff, realism isn’t necessarily possible in a world of super human beings, and I’m NOT going to complain about uniforms or epaulets being wrong (Sorry Ban; though there are British troops wearing French Adrian Helmets in the trench scene). I understand this was obviously not a documentary, and as far as modern historical films go there is far more attention to accuracy than in the past I’d say (see all those post-WWII Patton tanks that appeared as German tanks in Battle of the Bulge and Patton). My main issue is with problems of chronology and of important historical facts, especially those regarding how the war was fought and why (SPOILERS START HERE!).

From the start, Steve’s arrival on Themyscira and the subsequent beach battle with the German marines raise some problems. For one, even if Steve’s Fokker Eindecker E.III monoplane (obsolete in 1918!) could reach Themyscira (presumably near Greece) from Turkey, the idea that a German destroyer could search for him is questionable. Given that the High Seas Fleet was bottled up in the North Sea ports, it would have to be a German or Ottoman Turkish ship from Turkey, and then there’s still the problem of Allied naval dominance in the Mediterranean (The British, French, Italian and Greek navies MAY be a problem here!). These pose problems, but not insurmountable ones, for the plot; Steve might not reach Themyscira, but if he does, there’s probably no Germans following him and so Antiope lives and may well send Diana and potentially MORE Amazons to REMOVE THE HUN stop Ares.

So problems, but not big ones. It’s when they arrive in London that things get screwy. To start, the Armistice was not deliberated on months ahead of time in Parliament, and this completely ignores the unified command of the Allied Armies exercised by Marshal Ferdinand Foch (the French in general are completely ignored, though this is no different from Ridley Scott’s Dunkirk by the looks of it). The Imperial War Council, which was in charge of the British war effort (and was NOT the large parliamentary body it was portrayed as) comprised, at most, between 10 and 12 members representing Britain, India and the Dominions (Canada, New Foundland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), and it didn’t even hold a conference during the period of the film (roughly October-November 1918). Sir Patrick (played by David Thewlis AKA Remus Lupin) would not be proposing peace and an armistice as A) he would not partake in any Cabinet meeting, B) The Cabinet did not meet at this time, and most importantly, C) The war on the Western Front was all but won in 1918.

This last point is key, and I would never blame Patty for overlooking it when it’s a point that seemingly EVERYONE overlooks. The stereotypical British General portrayed by the ubiquitous James Cosmo (seriously, he’s been in Highlander, Trainspotting, Game of Thrones (as Jeor Mormont), Braveheart, Troy, the list goes on!) claims that he won’t “send troops into Belgium this close to the Armistice”, shooting down Steve Trevor’s plan. This blatantly ignores that British, French and Belgian troops WERE ALREADY IN BELGIUM.

This is relevant to the later quote made by Steve when Diana and her team reach “the front” (to quote In Bruges, “Turns out, it’s in Belgium”). “This Battalion has been here for a year, and they’ve barely made any progress,” a point that ignores the sweeping gains of the German Spring Offensives, and the equally large gains of the Hundred Days Offensives, technically the “122 days” when you consider that they started with the French victory on the Marne in June 1918. And this isn’t even taking into account rotation systems that, while often dysfunctional, did ensure that battalions on both sides received rest in the rear areas or reserve lines. While formal trench lines really ceased to exist from September 1918 onwards, the battle for Veld (the village Diana and co. liberate after taking the German trenches) does capture the conditions of fighting quite well: rushes across fields, canals and ditches, fighting in small towns, and all amidst the squalid autumn weather of North Western Europe. That “No-Man’s Land” means you can’t occupy/cross it as Steve claims, is demonstrably false; all due respect to the Eowyn, “I Am No Man” gifsets, but the men on both sides had been crossing and taking ground on a regular basis since March, 1918. 

That the Armistice was not proposed until late in the year, and negotiated even later, is again another point where the film diverges. Moreover, and here I’ll address Erich Ludendorff’s portrayal, the film missed an opportunity to show just how suicidal German leadership had become in 1918. The film reverses the Ludendorff-von Hindenburg (ship name: Hindendorff) relationship; Hindenburg, as exemplified by the iron nail statues built of him for German war bonds drives, was tall, solid, and stereotypically Prussian. It was a September 29th mental breakdown by Ludendorff, short, monacled, neurotic and nervous, that began the talks about a potential armistice. It was quite honestly shocking to see him portrayed, on screen, as shooting a captain with his pistol and having Dr. Poison gas Hindenburg and the commanders of the German Army with Poison’s hydrogen-based Mustard Gas. Historically, Ludendorff was the man who spent hours in September 1918 sitting by the open casket of his son-in-law, conversing with the corpse, after the latter had died in battle. Leaving aside Poison’s strength elixir, which Erich inhales to gain strength, he was far from the tough guy the movie makes him out to be. 

Moreover, as I mentioned in a post I reblogged before, there were GENUINE plans to prolong the war. The so-called Endkampf envisioned final bombing raids on London and Paris (not just London as in the film), and with actual incendiaries. These were intended to be one way trips, aimed at maximum civilian loss. Likewise, the High Seas Fleet attempted suicide-by-Entente and tried to sail out for one last clash with the British Grand Fleet. This actually led to mutinies which lead to Socialist revolutionaries (the Volksmarine) taking over Kiel, Bremen, and most of the North Seas ports. Far more sinister were the plans to forcibly conscript 600 to 800 000 German men and boys, from 16 to 60, to be armed and sent to the front, where they would partake in conventional rearguard and unconventional guerrilla actions against the superior armed, equipped and trained Allied armies. All the while, scorched earth policies were to be enacted, and were carried out at places like the Brie-Longwy ore mines, which provided most of France’s coal and iron ore. Almost half were flooded and sabotaged, taking the French years to recover economically. Destruction of food supplies would have left a dire situation for the Belgian Relief Organization, set up in 1915 by private American citizens and led by Herbert Hoover. Responsible for feeding almost all of Belgium (c. 4-5 million people) and close to 10 million French civilians, they would have been presented with a humanitarian crisis that would have compounded the starvation that Hoover had too meet in Eastern Europe and the former Russian Empire after 1919. Steve Trevor is right, millions would have died, but Dr. Poison’s notebook would not have been necessary. And we know that those plans were taken seriously; the Navy DID attempt a final sally, incendiaries WERE stockpiled, and ‘insurrectionary warfare’ was incorporated into postwar plans of the Reichswehr (the army of the Weimar Republic) by Staff Officer Joachim von Stulpnagel, and influenced Hitler’s Nero Order (which Albert Speer only ignored due to a lack of manpower to carry it out!).

My final point comes around to the film’s most powerful theme, that of human nature and the problem of evil. First off, the efforts of the Belgian Relief Organization alone speak to the nobility and goodness that humans can attain. But regarding this issue of free will, Diana hits right on the head in her final monologue, when it comes to motivations and reasons for fighting the film falls short at some points. Cosmo’s general is portrayed as the stereotypical Brass-hatted, red-tabbed ‘donkey general,’ dismissing Steve and Diana’s horror at the potential casualties from Poison’s concoction with the remark to the effect that “soldiers are supposed to die.” Again, ignoring the impending triumph of Allied arms on all Fronts (Bulgaria surrendered Sept. 29th, the Italians were nearing Trieste and the French and Serbs Belgrade, ANZAC, Indian and British cavalry were hauling ass for Damascus), it plays on the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ trope that charges both military incompetence AND moral cowardice against Allied (esp. British leadership). The success I mention indicates otherwise, but Diana’s claim that Amazon generals unlike Man’s Generals, fight and die with their men, runs a foul of history. 78 British, 47 French (61 including deaths from disease while at the front) and 86 German generals were killed in action between 1914 and 1918, and in all cases the number of dead increased by year. Graham Maddox and Frank Davies have even recorded all of the British casualties among General Officers, 232 in total versus an active roster of c. 1000 and total wartime number over 2000. Charges of incompetence in tactics and management are in no way inadmissible; but the conclusion that must be reached given the amount of casualties, of which 8 were wounded twice and 10 were victoria cross winners (3 during the war), is not that they lacked moral courage, but if anything, there was perhaps an excess.

The film ends with Ares death, and the German soldiers around appear to have been woken from a haze; Diana is seemingly right, kill Ares, you kill the war. She admits, again, that humans are capable of great acts of good and evil, but the film again seems to suggest that Ares was more to blame (again, the the airfield scene indicates anything). That over half of the British soldiers in WWI were volunteers or Professionals, and almost all of the Canadians, Australians and Indians (between them all over 2 million men) were the same, indicates far greater agency on their part. And I don’t think that any of these omissions, esp. for the Generals, are done consciously and out of spite. These tropes are so embedded as to be taken as a given, though I hope this will change at some point in the future. History, esp. that of WWI, is my passion and I hope that the film inspires greater interest in the conflict as other media, like Battlefield One, have already done. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!

[chew-ie-blog]

Reaction to Voltron Episode 1

Just my immediate reaction after watching the first episode of Voltron! I didn’t type this up for anyone to read (or for this to be a review), so there are a lot of opinions/points I bring up which I imagine people will disagree with. So if you’re cruising on the tag and happen to find this, don’t bother reading it if you’re looking for some insightful, well-developed review.

I just finished watching the first episode of Voltron, and wow, I didn’t know each episode was an hour long! I figured each was 20-minute episodes, and didn’t think much of it when people told me that the first season had 11 episodes. That’s 11 hours worth of material, wow!

Before diving into the show, I heard a lot of people complaining about how Lance and Keith don’t get a lot of character development, especially Keith (who’s described as the “least developed character”). I’m only one episode in so it’s a bit early to say this, but it seems like they get plenty of attention? Lance was the first Paladin to connect with his lion, and Keith found his lion in a dramatic fashion on the Galra ship (as opposed to Pidge who found it on a peaceful planet, guided by a friendly sloth); they got their limelight. If anything, I would say Hunk and his comedic relief got the least spotlight? Nothing wrong with that though, of course; I snickered at his dialogue, especially, “I’m a leg!”

I’ve also been seeing the fandom depicting Allura as this natural, mature leader, much above the rest of the Paladins like Shiro (as in, Shiro/Allura depicted as parents or the like). But Allura just screams teenager to me? Sure she looks a bit mature for her age, but I personally felt that she was a brave girl who wasn’t a natural leader but rather someone who had to step into those shoes due to her birthright and responsibility. Once again, I do know I’m only one episode in, but this is far from a complaint; I like this. It leaves a lot of room open for character development and bonding with the rest of the Paladins. I was afraid Allura would be this overarching figurehead that would only click with Shiro, but so far, it seems like she’s a young teenager like everyone else; I’d put her at the same age as Lance.

Speaking of Allura, I found it interesting how all the Paladins gave her respect (especially Shiro, who referred to her as the one familiar with the situation and fit to guide their decisions) pretty much immediately, aside from Keith. (Hunk also made a few quips, but that felt like it was more for comedic relief.) He didn’t say much, but whenever the camera panned out, I always noticed he was... glaring (?) at Allura. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed, the whole “I don’t trust you” body language. And I only saw that body language loosen up once, when Allura provided the description apt for the Red Paladin and he responded with a smirk at a pouting Lance.

But after Allura talked with her father and changed out of her dress and into proper fighting gear, with her hair pulled up in a bun, his expression changed. From surprise (as all the Paladins expressed, when she first stepped out) to acceptance. And I think this is speaks a lot about both of their characters. For Keith, it shows that he’s exactly like his lion; skeptical and temperamental, and unwilling to respect someone until they’ve proven their worth. For Allura, it shows that she doesn’t radiate some natural charisma; she has to put in the effort and show her conviction to truly get others to follow her. I read a couple of Voltron posts complaining about Kallura and heteronormativity, and I tried to refrain from forming my own opinion on the matter until I had seen the show. But I’m one episode in, and it seems like the developers of the show put in a lot of effort into character relationships, and I could see Kallura panning out. Of course, my opinion is subject to change as I go through the season (and eventually Season 2), but so far, I remain impressed.

There are a few things that didn’t resonate with me in the first episode, though. The first is Hunk. It’s nice that we have a character that shows less enthusiasm about being the universe’s hero; it’s a terrifying role to fit, especially with little guidance. And even though Allura and Coran are there, they don’t really provide step-by-step assistance; they’re too busy figuring things out too, after having been asleep for 10,000 years. He’s frightened from the get-go-- doesn’t want to sneak out with Lance and Pidge, doesn’t want to go rescue Shiro, doesn’t want to remain at the Altean planet and fight the Galra head-on-- and that’s understandable. What I don’t get, however, is his motivation. What is it, that despite his fear and reluctance, pushes him to go along with the form and become the Yellow Paladin? Is he a pushover that just accepts things? Is it out of genuine goodness? Is it because Lance is so eager about the role that his enthusiasm spurs Hunk to action as well? I’m hoping this is explored more thoroughly in future episodes, because it would add a lot of character insight. (There’s also little explanation behind Keith’s motivation as well, but he at the least shows some resolve, which makes me think there’s a reason behind his actions. I didn’t really feel that from Hunk, at least not from the first episode. Given such great praise for Voltron, I’m sure I’ll see it later on.)

The second is Pidge’s intellect. She’s a genius, yes, I understand. And even in our actual world, there are young people making groundbreaking discoveries, so by no means do I want to downplay their potential. But still, at her age, I find it a bit hard to believe that she could create machines that could look out that far into space. And I also found it a bit jarring when she easily reprogrammed the Galra droid; the show characterizes the Alteans/Galras for their advanced technology, yet Pidge was able to hack their system so skillfully and without detection. I’m probably nitpicking at this point, but... I don’t know. I don’t really like it when intelligent characters always have to show such out-of-the-world (literally) genius traits to... be proven (?) as intelligent. She could have been an inquisitive student with small yet impressive equipment (such as the goggles); I think her character would have stayed the same. The same goes for Hunk; I can buy that he can recognize a scientific pattern, but creating a machine for that pattern in such a short time? Like damn son, I’d bet scientists with significant monetary investment and high-tech equipment would find it difficult to do that!

But, but. This is just me being too nitpicky, and hey, it also makes little sense that Lance completely fails the simulation yet pilots the lion effectively enough that he can defeat Galra (albeit small) forces. And the first episode focused a lot on Paladins just being able to detect and connect with their lions, on an otherworldly basis, and that’s hardly realistic either. It’s a cartoon, and focusing too much on realism would actually detract from its appeal, so I can definitely see why the creators went with Pidge/Hunk being absolute geniuses and Lance somehow finding his inner talent to pilot his lion. There’s more important things to focus on, when the universe is at stake.

And a couple of other minor things as well, like the introduction scene in which I felt that the voice acting fell a bit flat, but they’re so slight that I’d just be complaining for complaining’s sake if I brought it all up. Overall, I really enjoyed the episode, and I’d actually be moving on and watching the second episode if it wasn’t for the fact that I had two finals this week and really couldn’t afford to fall into the spirals of binge watching.

Only thing I’m lowkey confused about is... wasn’t Shidge really huge in the fandom when the show first started? I remember being on a group chat, and the person watching Voltron was screeching all about their chemistry. I could see how the ship could work (although it seems more sibling-like to me), but it feels like the ship has dramatically plummeted in popularity? Because when I searched it up on Google, one of the first links was some fanfic in accordance to rare pair week. Also, I’m following a couple of Voltron fandom blogs (which are what pulled me to watch the show), and I’ve never seen Shidge on my blog.

Odd.

[thatcoolblacknerd-blog]

#SecretEmpire is Great Because It's Real

New Post has been published on http://thatcoolblacknerd.com/secretempire-is-great-because-its-real/

#SecretEmpire is Great Because It's Real

Issue No.: #1-10 Cover Price: $3.99 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Nick Spencer Artist: Various Artist Synopsis: After Kobik re-wrote history and made Captain America Steve Rogers a secret Hydra agent, Steve takes over Shield and attempts to remake the country in Hydra’s image.

*Spoilers* This review is going to be more of a commentary on the parallels between real life fascism with Trump and Steve Rogers fascism in Secret Wars. This book has had many hot takes surrounding it an most of them seem to either not had read the book or don’t understand the symbolism of Captain America specifically Sam Wilson being Captain America

How Did We Get Here

After Captain America had his super serum sucked out his body, he passed the mantle of Captain America to his long time friend and Partner Sam Wilson. Sam, who initially did not want to be Captain America, decided if he would take over that moniker that he would do it his way. Sam became the Captain America for the marginalized. Just like in real life, there were people who rejected him, who hated what he stood for and flat out thought he was disgracing Steve Rogers legacy by just being black. Sam and Steve had a couple clashes because Steve stayed out of “politics” while Sam felt a responsibility to stand up for what he thought was right.

During the events of Pleasant Hill Steve interacted with Kobik, a sentient manifestation of the cosmic cube that the Red Skull created and she not only made Steve young again but also changed reality so that Steve had always been a secret Hydra agent. After that Steve plotted to take over SHIELD, which he did and eventually took over the country.

Why Secret Empire is a Great Captain America Story

There is two reason why people don’t like Secret Empire. First you didn’t actually read the books. There was so much speculation and distain for this story even before it happened or ended. People hated what they did to Steve (but did not read the Captain America books), they thought Spencer made Magneto a Nazi (based on a variant cover) and they complained that none of this mattered, when in fact everything matters. The second reason people did like this is because it hit to close to home for a lot of people. Some people it hit close to home because of Trump and they hate what is happening in real life and don’t want to read about it comics, or, it hit to close to home because they saw some of the things they believe being portrayed in a negative light. This story was mapped out before the election, which is incredible foreshadowing by Spencer, but nonetheless was initially meant to be a contained Captain America story. This still ended up being a Captain America story, but engulfed the entire Marvel Universe and essentially wrote the story of America in a book.

Captain America Steve Rogers was the symbol of American grit, determination and patriotism, but at the same time he did not involve himself in issues like immigration, racism, and bigotry that is also a big party of American culture. Steve wanted to be a beacon of light for the country and its people while also ignoring the plight of many Americans. Meanwhile Sam who looked up to Steve, felt that he had an obligation to be a voice for the voiceless. When Sam took over the shield many Americans resented the fact that he brought these issues into the light. Similarly in real life we always here that talking about racism and bigotry is often viewed more negatively than the actual racism and bigotry. President Obama was viewed as “divisive” when it came to race even though he talked about race less than any President in recent history. However, when he spoke about race he spoke about it from the perspective of a Black person and in a way that made so many people in this country uncomfortable because of their own beliefs or those of loved ones. Similarly Obama tried to navigate these conversations in a way to not offend anyone or to be judgmental and even still people hated him for that. While Sam was Captain America he did the same thing, thinking that would help heel but it furthered the divide because people did not want to here that from Captain America.

This story sowed how a blonde haired blue eyed white man could con his way to power and then abuse that power once he got there. Even though there were signs nobody wanted to see them because Steve Rogers was Captain America. Even during Civil War 2, when they had the vision of Miles Morales killing Steve, nobody thought that it may have been for good reason. Steve’s rise to power, although not the same as Trump’s had similar traits. So many POC and others told people how bad Trump was, what a Trump presidency would look like and the damage he could do to the most vulnerable in this country. But so many ignored it and we got that person elected. Not to go into the details of the Trump presidency or of Secret Wars, the most important part to come out of this is that in order to defeat Trump or in order to defeat evil Steve Rogers, we all need to be Captain America and also we need to do some self reflection. The ending of Secret Empire was Hydra Steve fighting good Steve. It was basically the good part of America fighting its demons that we tried to ignore throughout our history. It represented people with privilege not standing back and doing nothing but confronting your privilege and doing what it takes to dismantle the social constructs. Sam and the rest of the resistance fought tooth and nail to reshape America and during the process they had some losses, they had some setbacks, some rights were violated, lives were lost but throughout they kept fighting. The resistance was led by POC, young people and Women, similar to the resistance of the Trump administration and platform. Sam had almost given up on multiple times but Misty Knight (black women) and Patriot (young person) on multiple occasions brought him back to lead the fight. This book showed how important Captain America is to the survival of the Marvel Universe and how Captain America is in all of us. Although real life is different than a comic book, the parallels still stand. Captain America is in all of us and we all must do our part to make sure our country keeps progressing and does not regress or worse become a facist society.

I say all this to say, this story is essential reading if you think of yourself as a good person and someone who enjoys an unbelievable comic book story but also believes in true American ideals and values and wants to see an allegory of the good and bad of America. There are points in this book along with its crossover books that a chilling because of the realism. There are panels that will make you sad, make you smile, make you cry and make you laugh. Nick Spencer wrote the shit out of this story and I believe the Marvel Universe will forever be affected by what happened in Secret Empire.

Inhumans Vs. X-Men Final Take

What Was Good

What Was Bad

Establish New Inhumans

Shows how great a team the X-Men are

Plot was very basic and little character development

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[everettwilkinson]

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S WAR — SPOTTED at Sinclair HQ: Laura Ingraham — TRUMP aides plot immigration deal — HOW THE TRUMP SONS are running the family biz — MNUCHIN’s wife gets heat for Insta post — B'DAY: Rich Lowry

Good Tuesday morning. SIREN: INSIDE THE DEBT-CEILING DRAMA … THE NATION’S BORROWING LIMIT needs to be lifted in the next month or so, and House and Senate Republicans and the Trump administration have NO IDEA AND NO PLAN how it’s going to get done, according to sources in each corner of the fight. ELEMENTS IN THE WHITE HOUSE have signaled to Hill leaders they believe Congress will pass a clean increase — lifting the debt cap without other provisions. This will not fly with some conservative members, who want some sort of policy concessions. HOUSE and SENATE REPUBLICANS tell us they have not decided on a strategy as of yet. The prevailing theory among GOP aides continues to be that the Senate will pass a clean debt ceiling increase and jam the House with it. That seems risky, and aides are worried.

— MITCH MCCONNELL, yesterday in Kentucky: “There is zero chance — no chance — we will not raise the debt ceiling.”

Story Continued Below

— FROM A GOP HILL AIDE: “Leadership has no plan for debt ceiling. Zero specifics on tax reform. We are six weeks away for funding the government and no one has any idea what will happen. Leadership has nothing they’ve articulated.”

THE BOSTON GLOBE’S VICKY MCGRANE — “Businesses fret over Congress’ ability to avoid debt default” http://bit.ly/2vUBW8X

NANCY COOK on tax reform: “There is broad consensus, according to five sources familiar with the behind-the-scenes talks, on some of the best ways to pay for cutting both the individual and corporate tax rates. The options include capping the mortgage interest deduction for homeowners; scrapping people’s ability to deduct state and local taxes; and eliminating businesses’ ability to deduct interest, while also phasing in so-called full expensing for small businesses that allows them to immediately deduct investments like new equipment or facilities.” http://politi.co/2imiAoC

**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/2lQswbh

ABOUT LAST NIGHT … PRESIDENT TRUMP’S WAR ….

— NYT’s MARK LANDLER and MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Angry Trump Grilled His Generals About Troop Increase, Then Gave In”: “President Trump’s skepticism about America’s involvement in Afghanistan was no secret to his staff. But his top national security officials were still taken aback at a meeting in the Situation Room on July 19, when an angry Mr. Trump began ripping apart their latest proposal to send thousands of additional American troops to the country. ‘We’re losing,’ the president declared, according to a person who was in the room. The plan, he complained, was vague and open-ended, with no definition of victory. ‘What does success look like?’ he asked.

“The day before that meeting, Mr. Trump had invited four soldiers who had served in Afghanistan to the White House for lunch. His exchanges with these enlisted men, an official said, left him sober about the prospects for turning around a war that has dragged on for nearly 16 years. He showed up the next day determined to ask hard questions.” http://nyti.ms/2x8hUGr … Video of Trump’s speech http://bit.ly/2imLhS9

— ELIANA JOHNSON: “How Trump swallowed a bitter Afghanistan pill,”: “The plan – which will maintain an unspecified U.S. troop presence without withdrawal timetables and intensify pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terrorist safe havens – was the product of a months-long strategy review in which the president’s national security team talked him out of ending the costly 16-year war. ‘It wasn’t a debate,’ said a senior White House aide. ‘It was an attempt to convince the president.’ … If there was a worldview behind the remarks, it was what Trump called a ‘principled realism’ devoted to rooting out terrorists without building up the countries that host them – a balance between the president’s isolationist tendencies and the neoconservative ideology that animated the last Republican administration. ‘We are not nation-building again,’ Trump said. ‘We are killing terrorists.’” http://politi.co/2wsSVRg

— WAPO’S PHIL RUCKER and BOB COSTA: “Trump’s private deliberations — detailed in interviews with more than a dozen senior administration officials and outside allies — revealed a president un­attached to any particular foreign-policy doctrine, but willing to be persuaded as long as he could be seen as a strong and decisive leader. ‘This has been many months in the making,’ said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president. ‘The hallmark of leadership is a deliberative process, not an impulsive reaction, and that is precisely the protocol he followed here.’

“Part of that listening included hearing out the military about sharing the burden in the region and getting Pakistan more involved in managing the war. ‘When Secretary [Jim] Mattis said this would be a South Asia strategy, that tells you a lot,’ said John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, referring to recent remarks by the defense secretary. ‘The big issue wasn’t land-war tactics. The big issue is Pakistan.’ He called Trump’s Monday speech the ‘defining moment of the Trump policy seven months into the administration.’” http://wapo.st/2wz7HVS

— POLITICAL REALITY, via WaPo’s Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Anne Gearan: “Trump’s decision is a middle path that does not hew to either of the main foreign policy themes he articulated as a candidate: to stay out of expensive overseas quagmires, and to decisively win any conflict worth entering.” http://wapo.st/2v1XbGZ

BREITBART HEADLINES: “Trump Reverses Course, Will Send More Troops to Afghanistan” … “Defends Flip-Flop in Somber Speech” … “…TRUMP’S ‘AMERICA FIRST’ BASE UNHAPPY WITH FLIP-FLOP AFGHANISTAN SPEECH…” … “…HIS MCMASTER’S VOICE: IS TRUMP’S AFGHANISTAN POLICY THAT DIFFERENT FROM OBAMA’S?” http://bit.ly/1FMhXpk

— SUSAN GLASSER: “America Is Out of Ideas in Afghanistan”: “President Trump proved one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt in his Afghanistan strategy speech Monday night: After nearly 16 years of fighting America’s longest war, there are no new ideas. He called his plan ‘dramatically different.’ It wasn’t. The only thing that seemed a striking change from his two presidential predecessors’ approach to the war launched after the attacks of September 11, 2001, was Trump’s escalatory rhetoric. He repeatedly vowed to ‘win’ a conflict that his Defense Secretary James Mattis told Congress recently ‘we are not winning’ and sharply criticized Afghanistan’s neighbor Pakistan, a troublesome ally Trump excoriated for offering ‘safe haven’ to terrorists.” http://politi.co/2g0WUxg

— WHAT KABUL IS THINKING — AP: “Afghanistan’s government is applauding President Donald Trump’s speech for focusing on needs and conditions instead of timelines. Afghan Ambassador to the U.S. Hamdullah Mohib calls it a ‘10 out of 10.’ He tells The Associated Press by telephone from Kabul that Afghans heard ‘exactly what we needed to.’ Mohib says critiques of the speech for failing to disclose troop numbers are misguided. He says the focus on numbers detracts from the ‘real focus’ on conditions and support needed for Afghanistan to succeed and achieve peace.

“The ambassador is also praising Trump for ‘breaking the silence’ about Pakistan’s sheltering of what he calls terrorists. Trump emphasized the need for Pakistan to stop harboring the Taliban. Mohib says Afghanistan has made progress and is committed to pursuing reforms to show it merits continuing help from the U.S.” http://bit.ly/2wzxWvf

WHAT TRUMP IS WAKING UP TO — N.Y. POST: “THE TRUMP DOCTRINE: We stay in A’Stan, but ‘no nation building’” http://nyp.st/2algwpl … N.Y. DAILY NEWS: “MAKE WAR SURGE AGAIN: Trump touts new plan for Afghanistan but won’t give strategy” http://nydn.us/2vUhEMX … ANOTHER DAILY NEWS COVER: “NOT TOO BRIGHT!: Trump ignores fake news warning, stares at eclipse” … N.Y. TIMES: “IN SPEECH, TRUMP SETS U.S. STRATEGY FOR AFGHAN WAR … Generals’ Warnings Overrode Initial Skepticism … Expanding Role in a Conflict He Once Called Futile” http://nyti.ms/2wzQOKT …

… WAPO: “Troop increase planned in Afghan war … Behind the decision: Debate, infighting and stalemate, and finally a bow to the generals … NEW STRATEGY AFTER INTERNAL REVIEW: Trump previously called conflict a waste of time” … WSJ: “Trump Vows New Afghan Tack: President will boost pressure on Pakistan, avoid telegraphing U.S. military strategy”.

— ONE THOUGHT: Trump says he will not detail publicly how many more troops he’s sending to Afghanistan. We’ll see if that flies with lawmakers when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis heads to Capitol Hill to testify this fall.

****** A message from Chevron: When an endangered butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery, we protected the habitat and still plant the only thing they eat—buckwheat. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2ie5v0A ******

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Navy to Pause Operations, Review Collisions, With 10 Missing: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis responds as storm impedes search for sailors from USS John S. McCain,” by WSJ’s Nancy Youssef in Washington and Jake Maxwell Watts in Singapore: “The U.S. Navy announced a pause in its global operations and patrols and has begun a broad investigation after the destroyer USS John S. McCain on Monday collided with a merchant vessel, leaving 10 sailors missing, the second such incident in just over two months.

“The response by the U.S. military signals the Navy believes it needs to examine whether there may be institutional problems behind the deadly collisions, and that it may need to retrain some of its personnel in seamanship. Navy Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, announced ‘an operational pause be taken in all of our fleets around the world’ — a move that officials said was rare.” http://on.wsj.com/2g1ZEdN

TRUMP’S TUESDAY — TRUMP is going out west. He’ll head to Yuma, Arizona, at noon. He’ll go on a tour of “U.S. Customs and Border Protection equipment” and meet with Marines. He’ll then head to Phoenix for a campaign rally.

— WE HEAR the White House was working the Hill to drum up support for Trump’s trip to the border. The House Freedom Caucus is taking the lead in that effort.

VP MIKE PENCE is accompanying Trump to the rally in Phoenix. JUST A NOTE: Pence and Jeff Flake served together in the House and know each other well. If Trump attacks Flake, it will be interesting to see Pence’s reaction.

NEXT UP… “GOP on eggshells as Trump storms into Phoenix,” by Alex Isenstadt in Phoenix: “President Donald Trump faces a decision on Tuesday evening with profound implications for his already strained relationship with the GOP: Whether to attack a vulnerable Republican senator on his home turf. While White House officials won’t say exactly what’s on Trump’s agenda when he holds a campaign-style rally here, there is a widespread expectation that he will go after GOP Sen. Jeff Flake, a loud critic of the president who recently published an anti-Trump manifesto, ‘Conscience of a Conservative.’

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Majority Whip John Cornyn, and [NRSC] Chairman Cory Gardner all declared that Flake had their full support. On Tuesday morning, Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely aligned with McConnell, will amp the pressure. The group is set to release a blistering digital ad campaign that targets former Kelli Ward, a conservative former state senator and Flake primary opponent who Trump praised in a tweet last week.

“The ad paints Ward as an extreme figure with ‘crazy ideas’ who engages in ‘embarrassing behavior.’ People close to the group describe the offensive as part of a broader effort to show that any Trump-led push to undermine Flake, or any GOP incumbent for that matter, won’t go uncontested.” http://politi.co/2vkusZf … The ad http://bit.ly/2wzsVmq

— @KFILE: “.@kelliwardaz’s new ad ties Jeff Flake to Obama, but it looks like a photo from bill signing for judge killed in the Giffords attack.” http://bit.ly/2imtLO4

— SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-ARIZ.) to Kurtis Lee of the L.A. Times: “What did he think about Trump calling him toxic on Twitter, reporters asked Flake on Monday after speaking to a gathering of local business leaders? ‘I don’t worry about it at all,’ Flake said at an events center here in the suburbs east of Phoenix. Is Trump right in offering aid and comfort to his primary challenger, former state Sen. Kelli Ward? ‘That’s not my realm. That’s somebody else’s. I just — I’m running my own campaign. It’s going well. And what the president does, that’s his prerogative,’ Flake said.” http://lat.ms/2vUpgis

— “Arpaio keeping his calendar clear for possible Trump pardon,” by Ted Hesson: “Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Monday that he doesn’t know whether President Donald Trump will grant him a pardon this week — but he’s keeping his calendar open. When asked whether he would be available when Trump visits Phoenix on Tuesday, the 85-year-old former Arizona lawman told POLITICO that ‘of course’ he would be. … The former sheriff was convicted in late July of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case and faces a maximum of six months in jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5.” http://politi.co/2x7Z0j7

BEHIND THE SCENES — “Trump aides plot big immigration deal — that breaks a campaign promise,” by McClatchy’s Anita Kumar: “Donald Trump’s top aides are pushing him to protect young people brought into the country illegally as children — and then use the issue as a bargaining chip for a larger immigration deal — despite the president’s campaign vow to deport so-called Dreamers. The White House officials want Trump to strike an ambitious deal with Congress that offers Dreamers protection in exchange for legislation that pays for a border wall and more detention facilities, curbs legal immigration and implements E-verify, an online system that allows businesses to check immigration status, according to a half-dozen people familiar with situation, most involved with the negotiations.

“The group includes former and current White House chiefs of staff, Reince Priebus and John Kelly, the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who both serve as presidential advisers, they said. Others who have not been as vocal publicly about their stance but are thought to agree include Vice President Mike Pence, who as a congressman worked on a failed immigration deal that called for citizenship, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Gary Cohn, a Democrat who serves as director of the National Economic Council. …

“On the other side, a smaller group — including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his former aides, Stephen Miller, who serves as Trump’s senior policy adviser, and Rick Dearborn, White House deputy chief of staff — opposes citizenship, according to sources familiar with the discussions. … Miller was ordered not to brief the president on the issue in recent months, according to two of the people.” http://bit.ly/2vaiYIy

RYAN FACES LOCAL PEPPERING — FIRST TOWN HALL SINCE 2015 — “Ryan faces heat back home in Wisconsin,” by Rachael Bade in Racine, Wisconsin: “Paul Ryan was one of most popular Republicans in the country last fall, routing his Democratic challenger and beating back a Donald Trump-inspired primary challenger who trolled him at every turn. Yet there he was, taking flak from discontent constituents at a town hall in Racine on Monday night. …

“In this small southeast Wisconsin town on Lake Michigan, the speaker fares no better than any other congressional Republican facing unhappy crowds. And in some ways his powerful position in Washington makes it worse because he controls the 240-strong House Republican majority. While the CNN-hosted Ryan town hall was carefully choreographed, packed with about 300 well-behaved attendees, interviews with constituents who have voted for Ryan showed many were disquieted by the GOP’s failure to deliver on key campaign promises. …

“To be sure, Ryan is still extremely popular with Republicans here in the First District. All but one Republican interviewed for this story said he or she would vote for Ryan again, and many praised him as ‘honest,’ ‘tenacious’ and ‘hard-working.’ Some, like Franksville-native Bill Jaeck, even parroted Ryan’s talking points about House-passed bills stalled in the Senate — an echo worthy of Ryan’s Washington press conference.

“But there’s a sinking feeling among some Ryan supporters that the man they’ve known and voted in for years is not the superman they’d hoped. ‘Being speaker of the House has become a setback. … It’s basically ruined his career for a while, because he’s forced to do many unpopular things,’ said Marlene Lamberton of Caledonia, a longtime supporter.” http://politi.co/2in2zyq

INTERESTING BITES FROM RYAN… ON NEW AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY: “I’m pleased with the decision. I’m actually pleased with the way he went about making this decision. … So I also think what I heard tonight for the first time — this is what I wasn’t briefed on — is I think I heard a new Trump strategy, or a doctrine, so to speak. Principled realism I think is how he described it.”

— ON TRUMP’S HANDLING OF THE CHARLOTTESVILLE SITUATION: “[I] think it was in New York on an infrastructure press conference, in answer to a question, I think he made comments that were much more morally ambiguous, much more confusing. And I do think he could have done better. I think he needed to do better. I actually think what he did two days ago in commending the peaceful protests against the hate in Boston was a good start. And I think just what I heard, I don’t know, 25 minutes ago, was exactly what a president needs to say and what we needed to hear. So I do believe that he messed up in his comments on Tuesday, when it — it — it sounded like a moral equivocation, or at the very least moral ambiguity, when we need extreme moral clarity.”

— ON CENSURING TRUMP: “I will not support that. I think that would be — that would be so counterproductive. If we descend this issue into some partisan hack-fest, into some bickering against each other, and demean it down to some political food fight, what good does that do to unify this country?”

PER BEN WHITE’S MORNING MONEY – “MNUCHIN’S WIFE HITS TURBULENCE – Lot of buzz on Twitter last night over an Instagram post and reply from Louise Linton, the actress who recently wed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The initial post showed Linton and Mnuchin getting off an official plane from a trip to Kentucky. And Linton hashtagged just about everything including her high end ensemble featuring #tomford sunglasses, #roulandmouret pants and #hermesscarf. A commenter on the post said: ‘Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable.’ That apparently set Linton off. In a long response she said, among other things: ‘Have you given more to the economy than me or my husband. … I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did. … Thanks for your passive aggressive nasty comment.’ … Linton’s Insta account is now private. Needless to say, saying ‘my husband and I are richer than you’ is probably not a great move.” The deleted Instapic http://bit.ly/2wiD1IK

THE JUICE …

— SPOTTED AT THE SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP OFFICES: Laura Ingraham yesterday meeting with David Smith, the company’s executive chairman.

— AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK is doubling down on tax reform. The group is running ads in 34 congressional districts as part of a $1 million radio campaign running through the end of the month. Six of the districts will be up with a Spanish version. The ad http://bit.ly/2v1U6GX

MEDIAWATCH – “Ross Levinsohn named new publisher and CEO of Los Angeles Times as top editors ousted,” by LA Times’ Meg James: “In a dramatic shakeup at the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago-based parent company has installed new leadership and plans to invest more resources in the news organization to move it more quickly into the digital age. Ross Levinsohn, 54, a veteran media executive who worked at Fox and served as interim chief of Yahoo, was named publisher and chief executive of the 135-year-old news organization. …

“Jim Kirk, 52, a veteran Chicago news executive, who was publisher and editor of the Chicago Sun-Times until last week, was named interim editor of the storied newspaper. The two men replace Davan Maharaj, who has served as both editor and publisher since March 2016. Maharaj was terminated Monday morning, along with a handful of other senior editors, including Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, Deputy Managing Editor for Digital Megan Garvey and Assistant Managing Editor of Investigations Matt Doig.” http://lat.ms/2x8gSKU

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump looks up towards the partial solar eclipse while joined by First Lady Melania Trump on the Truman Balcony at the White House on August 21. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

TOP ECLIPSE TWEETS — @GeorgeHWBush: “Four generations of family taking in the partial eclipse today. Already looking forward to the next one in Texas in 2024!” http://bit.ly/2x8w36G … @JoePerticone: “Most adorable eclipse photo goes to… Jeff Sessions” http://bit.ly/2vkAPfe … @LaraLeaTrump: “When you don’t have #EclipseGlasses, you find the next best option in a builder’s office: #WeldingMask #eclipse2017” http://bit.ly/2wzuctW … @IvankaTrump: “Sharing the #Eclipse2017 experience with the President, First Lady & Cabinet Secretaries on the White House Truman Balcony. #STEM #NASA” http://bit.ly/2wiQ5xM … @ScottGustin: “International Space Station #Eclipse photobomb via @NASA” http://bit.ly/2g16gcB … @AP: “This multiple exposure photo shows the eclipse as it passed over the St. Louis Arch.” http://bit.ly/2xnSBQ4

— CLICKERS: CNN — 22 eclipse pix on one page http://cnn.it/2x8nhWl … NYT — 55 reader pix on one page http://nyti.ms/2g12Rdz

JUST POSTED – TRUMP. INC – “Here’s How the Trump Brothers Are Running the Family Business: Usually with other people’s money, sometimes with dubious partners. Inside the empire, under new management,” by Bloomberg Businessweek’s Peter Robison and Michael Smith: “Donald Jr., 39, and Eric, 33, … [have] repeatedly pursued licensing arrangements in which they attach the family name to projects, generating cash without bearing much risk. They have a seemingly ad hoc, opportunistic style that’s sometimes led to partnerships with questionable characters, including people barred for securities violations or sued for fraud. And they’ve walked away, leaving employees, customers, or business partners with the fallout.” https://bloom.bg/2in30cn

FIRST PERSON – “How I Became Fake News: I witnessed a terrorist attack in Charlottesville. Then the conspiracy theories began,” by Brennan Gilmore in POLITICO Magazine: “On Saturday morning I witnessed James Fields smash his car into a crowd of demonstrators, killing Heather Heyer and wounding 19 others. Although I immediately shared the footage with police on the scene, it took me a half hour to decide to post it publicly. … Desperate to lay blame on anyone besides the alt-right, [conspiracy theorists] seized on these facts to suggest a counter-narrative to the attack, claiming there was no way that someone with my background just happened to be right there to take the video. …

“They wrote that I was a CIA operative, funded by (choose your own adventure) George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the IMF/World Bank, and/or a global Jewish mafia to orchestrate the Charlottesville attack in order to turn the general public against the alt-right. I had staged the attack and then worked with MSNBC and other outlets controlled by the left to spread propaganda. They claimed my ultimate goal was to start a race war that would undermine and then overthrow Donald Trump on behalf of the ‘Deep State.’ (I’m generalizing here as the theories are widely variant, logically inconsistent and I’m only aware of the small percentage I could be bothered to read.)” http://politi.co/2v1zgHP

THE BENCH — “Dems’ first wave of recruits ‘outsiders’ in 2017 version of Tea Party,” by Heidi Przybyla in Murphysboro, Illinois: “Much like the Republican men and women who swept into Washington in the 2010 Tea Party wave, the majority of Democratic candidates are new to state-level or national politics. Unlike the Tea Party, many of these Democrats have a long record of public service. They are former public prosecutors, doctors, CIA operatives and veterans, and they are concentrated in ‘heartland’ states like Kansas, Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota.” https://usat.ly/2vZRU06

2020 WATCH … HAVE AT IT! — “This House Democrat Lost A Leadership Race To Nancy Pelosi. Now He May Run For President,” by BuzzFeed’s Alexis Levinson in Manchester, New Hampshire: “It’s still more than three years until the next presidential election, and yet here was Ray Buckley — the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party for the last decade — riding shotgun last Wednesday from Boston to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, with Rep. Tim Ryan, the 44-year old Democrat from Youngstown, Ohio. … last week’s New Hampshire visit was not just a reunion of old friends. In June, Ryan campaigned for a Democratic candidate in South Carolina. Next month, he’ll make his second trip of the year to Iowa.” http://bzfd.it/2vjYT1W

— “Dems prep for Trump primary challengers in 2020,” by Gabe Debenedetti: “The [DNC] is conducting full-scale opposition research on multiple Republicans it believes could challenge President Donald Trump for reelection — or are likely to run if he does not. The effort, which began in late spring, covers Vice President Mike Pence, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, among others.” http://politi.co/2wzoE2i

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about DOERS, butterflies, and buckwheat. In ’75, the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery. We protected the habitat and planted the only thing they eat—buckwheat. We’re still planting and keeping an eye on our littlest neighbor. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2ie5v0A ******

JON MEACHAM in the NYT, “Why Lee Should Go, and Washington Should Stay”: “‘I wonder,’ Mr. Trump said, ‘is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really have to ask yourself, where does it stop?’ “To me, the answer to Mr. Trump’s question begins with a straightforward test: Was the person to whom a monument is erected on public property devoted to the American experiment in liberty and self-government? Washington and Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were. Each owned slaves; each was largely a creature of his time and place on matters of race. Yet each also believed in the transcendent significance of the nation, and each was committed to the journey toward ‘a more perfect Union.

“By definition, the Confederate hierarchy fails that test. Those who took up arms against the Union were explicitly attempting to stop the American odyssey. While we should judge each individual on the totality of their lives (defenders of [Robert E.] Lee, for instance, point to his attempts to be a figure of reconciliation after the war), the forces of hate and of exclusion long ago made Confederate imagery their own. Monuments in public places of veneration to those who believed it their duty to fight the Union have no place in the Union of the 21st century — a view with which Lee himself might have agreed. ‘I think it wiser,’ he wrote in 1866, ‘not to keep open the sores of war.’” http://nyti.ms/2v9rtnh … Meacham’s latest for Time, “American Hate, a History” http://ti.me/2g1af8Z

TEVI TROY in POLITICO Magazine, “Why the White House Needs Another Bannon: Every GOP president needs an intellectual wrangler. Trump can’t succeed without one”: “For the past four decades, Republicans have viewed themselves as the party of ideas — and a crucial part of that self-perception has been having a person inside the White House to serve as a conduit to conservative thinkers. … Steve Bannon wasn’t a traditional liaison to that world, but there’s no question he served this function for the Trump administration … One major difference between Bannon and his predecessors, though, is that he did not appear to be able to get his boss interested in his reading. [Daniel Patrick] Moynihan often recommended books to Nixon, and [Karl] Rove even had a reading contest with Bush.” http://politi.co/2x8h8cK

ISAAC DOVERE talks with REV. AL SHARPTON and REP. JERRY NADLER (D-N.Y.) in the latest “Off Message” podcast. “We’re in a poisonous atmosphere that is being increased by the president of the United States. It’s like turning on the gas in a room,” Sharpton told Dovere. “Any match could lead to an explosion, and we’re getting that kind of atmosphere from this president.” Nadler, who wrote the censure resolution, told Dovere he thinks Trump should quit, and warned Republicans now not to count on House Democrats for the votes to pass a continuing resolution or raise the debt ceiling, unless both are clean—even if that leads to a shutdown or economic meltdown: “We can’t give in to that kind of blackmail.”

As for the Jewish aides who defend Trump, including his daughter and son-in-law Jared Kushner: “I don’t care what Jared Kushner said about the fact that Donald Trump loves, loves him and Ivanka and other people,” Nadler said. “He was willing to traffic in anti-Semitism. He was willing to use anti-Semitic imagery. And then, when caught up in it, refused to repudiate it, and denied that it was what it clearly was.” http://politi.co/2v1T6CM

FUTURE OF NEWS — “CNN Launches a Daily News Show for Snapchat,” by WSJ’s Alexandra Bruell: “CNN is launching a daily news show for Snapchat called ‘The Update,’ the latest reflection of how media companies are stepping up their interest in the mobile messaging platform. The show will include a news roundup that airs at 6 p.m., with updates from CNN’s anchors and reporters around the world, said Turner, the network’s parent company, in a statement. There will also be breaking news segments. If news breaks after the show, CNN might update the running list of news featured on its show and change the cover photo to reflect the update.” http://on.wsj.com/2wjcgUz

SPOTTED: Sean Spicer in his Navy uniform at the Pentagon Monday for reserve duty.

TRANSITIONS – Julie Morse starts next Monday as a producer at “CBS This Morning”. She has her last day as a producer for MSNBC Friday.

WEEKEND WEDDINGS — OBAMA ALUMNI — Melissa Nitti, public affairs manager at Google, and Mark Beatty, partner at 270 Strategies, got married on Sunday. Pool report: The couple “said their vows … in Hood River, [Oregon] against the majestic backdrop of Mt. Hood — the same mountain that welcomed Melissa’s great, great grandparents when they made their journey along the Oregon Trail. The bride and groom met on the 2012 Obama for America campaign where Melissa was a member of the media team and Mark served as deputy battleground states director. The happy couple was feted by friends and family — including proud parents Rick and Jan Nitti and Duane and Elaine Beatty — who came from around the country to join the celebration.” Pic http://politi.co/2v27BXn

SPOTTED: Jeremy Bird (who served as the wedding officiant), best man Stephen Brokaw, Mitch Stewart, Isaac Baker, Kristina Peterson, Betsy Hoover, Lauren Kidwell, Meg Ansara, Lynda Tran, Sara El-Amine, Jeff Gabriel, Greg Schultz, and Chris Wyant, Kelly Norton, Anne Sokolov, Kate Sokolov, and Stephanie Gent, Jessica Santillo, Keith Maley, Niraj Chokshi, Jamie Hill and Stephanie Gunter.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Erik Elam, LD for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Amy Elam, events principal at HIS/Markit, on Sunday welcomed their son Everett Brooks Elam into the world. He’s 6 lbs, 9 oz. Pic http://politi.co/2vl64a4

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: National Review editor Rich Lowry is 49. He tells us he’s “been reading almost exclusively about nationalism lately for a potential book project.” How he got his start in journalism: “I wrote for an alternative conservative publication at UVa called the Virginia Advocate. I still have boxes of old issues that are fun, if wince-inducing, to look back at. I always tell people that I was sophomoric as a first-year — I was precocious that way.

“My first real journalism job was as a research assistant with Charles Krauthammer. This was back before he was a TV star. Probably the most notable thing I did working for him was inadvertently insert a typo into his Washington Post column at the last minute. I mentioned this at a tribute dinner to Charles a couple of years ago, and merciful and gracious man that he is, he officially forgave me.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2vkL2bL

BIRTHDAYS: Luke Russert is ageless … Obama WH alum Jess Allen, a JD candidate at NYU Law, is 28 (hat tip: Rachel Racusen) … Paul Singer is 73 … Steve Kroft is 72 … Morton Dean is 81 … Jennifer Loven, managing director at Glover Park Group and an AP alum … Steve Brill, celebrating with a road trip up the coast of Maine (h/t wife Cynthia) … Tom Edsall is 76 … HPS alum Sabrina Siddiqui … Jen Nedeau, head of marketing and comms at Bully Pulpit Interactive … Robin Wright of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Wilson International Center … MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki is 38 … Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is 43 … Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is 53 … former Rep. Thad McCotter (R-Mich.) … Chris Smith … Grazia Salvemini … Ryan Patmintra … AP’s Nebi Qena is 4-0 … Ken Farnaso, digital comms at the House Small Business Cmte. and an NRCC alum (h/t Alex Stroman) … Carolyn Harrold, new AtlanticLIVE director of business development and former SXSW head of programming, celebrating her first birthday in DC since making the move from Austin (h/t Patrick Garrigan) …

… Bill Miller, SVP at the Business Roundtable … Bill Cortese … Jim Strader … Abby Denburg … Sward Tondoneh … Bill Turenne Jr. … Elizabeth Lubben … Eleanor Strom of Google … Natalie Apsell … Sinclair’s AnnaMaria Di Pietro … Selena Strandberg … Katie Gordon … Morgan Canup … Matthew Barnes … Claire Stein-Ross … Pema Levy of Mother Jones … Gigi Sukin, digital editor at Colorado Biz magazine (h/t Gordon Bronson) … Chad Connelly, RNC’s director of faith engagement … Tori Amos is 54 (h/t Tracy Sefl) … Nick Mildebrath … Alex Pellegrino … Adrian Slater … Katie Bloodgood … Nick Greene … Jordan Goldes … Rob Borden … Charlotte Day-Reiss … former Rep. Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) is 7-0 … Megan Paulsen … Chris Pumphrey … Essence Motley … Alyssa Palisi … Mac Flores … Brystol English … Julia Rothwax … Pat Eltman … Chris Lapetina … Hailey Arends … Phoebe Link (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about DOERS, butterflies, and buckwheat. In ’75, the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery. We protected the habitat and planted the only thing they eat—buckwheat. We’re still planting and keeping an eye on our littlest neighbor. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2ie5v0A ******

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Logan (2017)

Welcome back again to my blog on all things pop culture with my review of "Logan" I really enjoyed this movie overall and would like to advise if you haven't seen it already you are OK there won't be spoilers, I may hint at certain events and characters but, I won't spoil any major plot points. If you haven't seen the many trailers, each more moody and darker than the last then let me explain what "Logan" is roughly about. Logan is set in the not too distant future where we find "Wolverine" or "Logan" as he is going by now working as a limo driver on the US/Mexico border. "Professor Charles Xavier" is frail and suffering for numerous degenerative conditions and is being cared for by Logan as well as another mutant, "Caliban". The majority of mutants are dead but, when a mysterious little girl with similar gifts to "Logan" turns up looking for help from an evil band of enhanced mercenaries, "Logan" faces one of the hardest challenges to date. Firstly I would love to say that I've never been a massive fan of the "X-Men" franchise. I enjoyed the first two movies as well as the newer stories that featured the younger "Xavier" and "Magneto". The Wolverine centered films were largely a dissapointment; "Origins" just felt really disjointed and rushed with the obvious foul up of messing with "Deadpool" and "The Wolverine" was largely enjoyable apart from the 3rd act. I was a little apprehensive about the final appearance of Hugh Jackmans "Logan". I'm really glad that after 17 years and a whole heap of films "Wolverine" finally got a movie worthy of his angry, brutal character. The overall performance of Hugh Jackman was fantastic. He plays "Logan" as a man of few words and incredibley hostile, why wouldn't he be ? He just wants a quiet life, free from hassle or violently having to skewer people with his impervious, metal claws. As the film progresses you discover that "Logan" is haunted by his past life and actions, filled with regret and almost waiting for a death that might never come. Jackman plays "Logan" as a western style anti hero in the vein of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, shooting a glance or holding himself in a way that says everything that his words might have. I really feel that this is the performance that Jackman has always looked to have in this series. Patrick Stewart is brilliant as the increasingly frail "Charles Xavier", almost heart breaking in places to see how far the once strong leader has come. As with "Logan", "Xavier" is almost at peace with his own mortality; after all he is in his 90s at this point in the "X-Men" timeline. The only difference between "Xavier" and "Logan" is that he has hope for his mutant kind surviving in the mythical Eden. New comer Defne Keen is fantastic for an actor of her age as "Laura/X23", barely having more than a handful of dialogue until the back end of act 2. Like "Logan", "Laura" has been enhanced by an evil corporation but, is confused by her rage and abilities needing guidance and advice to harness her gifts. Like Jackman, Keen says more with a glance or mannerism than any line of dialogue. The supporting cast is sparce. Stephen Merchant is great but, under utilised as "Caliban". I appreciate that this film is really about the 3 central characters, however I would have liked to seen a little more explaination as to how "Caliban" came to be in the life of "Logan". Boyd Hillbrook is immensly unlikeable in a good way as "Donald Pierce", the mercenary of "Transigen". Like Merchant I would have liked to have seen a little more character development, maybe explaining how he became enhanced, why he needed enhanced ? Richard E.Grant was great but, also under utilised and understated as lead doctor of "Transigen". Very little in the way of characterisation which is a shame really. The reason he is pursuing the mutants is mostly just a throw away comment near the end of the film. The action sequences in "Logan" are incredible. Whilst a few may complain about the sheer visceral nature of the fight scenes I really thought it was necessary for a film of this type. "Logan" is far more grounded in realism, which sounds ridiculous considering that it's a film about mutants. Showing the blood shed and violence supports the narrative that "Logan" is filled with regret and shows that there is consequence and cost to his actions. As I mentioned previously "Logan" plays more like a western style film that just so happens to have mutants in it. It feels low budget and gritty, like "All Superheroes Must Die" with a budget. My one concern is that the action is so fast paced at some points that it's almost overwhelming considering that the action sequences are few and far between. My one gripe with the film is that the 3rd act is under played. I appreciate that this a big moment in both the history of the character and also the "X-Men" universe as a whole but, the final battle was a little bit of a damp squib. There was also the lack of certain plot points that I got a little confused about. It's maybe just the geek in me but, there was no mention of which timeline that this movie took place in, and more to the point where do "Apocalypse", "Days Of Future Past" etc fit into the overall narrative. As has become standard with the superhero genre now, the audience was looking for a mid credits or after credits scene and I for one am glad that "Logan" wasn't cheapened by a set up for another film. There is however a delightful teaser short for "Deadpool 2". Really worth seeing online and I will post a link at the bottom of this review. Overall I think "Logan" is one of, if not, the strongest entry into not only the "Wolverine" but, the "X-Men" series as a whole. Incredibly different from a standard superhero movie using a narrative style common with western films. I would urge you to see it on the big screen and prepare for a heart breaking, blood filled ending to Hugh Jackman as "Logan" Thanks for reading as always if you have anything to say please leave a comment below or by following me on social media.

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