#and yeah that pretty much sums up america imo

[captainfairygodmother]

I guess you could say that Joe Biden's stepping down, he's not running for president...

[ashleylikeshorror]

3 from Hell | Review

“Hello, America. Did you miss me?”

When I first heard that Rob Zombie was getting the gang back together for a third chapter in the Firefly family’s journey, some pretty bittersweet emotions were experienced. It wasn’t just myself that felt a confusing mixture of “but, why?” and “FUCK YES.” It seemed as though a lot of Firefly following online didn’t think this needed to happen, but welcomed it anyway with an anticipation so unsure you could feel the tension a mile away. 

The day of its release, 3 from Hell answered all of our questions we didn’t have about Otis, Baby, and Spaulding until its conception. Was the answer we needed satisfying? Was the film as good as we were hoping to be? Were the Firefly family truly back again to cause just as much havoc as we’ve seen them cause before? 

This review could potentially be my shortest yet, as one could easily sum this movie up with two words: “womp womp.” How unfortunate 3 from Hell didn’t live up to expectations; especially when the expectations across the net weren’t that high to begin with. I’ll go ahead and get my few compliments for it out of the way, and then we’ll sit here and drown in the negativity, because I’m dead serious when I say this one was a stinker. 

1.) Otis is more palatable, less over-the-top. (This could also be a negative)  2.) Richard Brake knocked it out of the park as Wolfman. Literally the only saving grace of the movie.  3.) Stellar soundtrack typical of Zombie’s films  

There. Now that those two bits are out of the way, let’s dig in. 

If you look at the description above that I screenshot from just a simple “3 from Hell” Google search, you can see that the description states “Crazed killers Baby Firefly, Captain Spaulding and Otis Driftwood unleash blood mayhem after escaping from prison.”  That’s two-thirds of the way correct. Due to his health, it was understandable that Sid Haig couldn’t be a big part of the Firefly reunion. In the film, Captain Spaulding is understandably sentenced to death, and while we thought he was killed in the car scene from Rejects, this was an OK way for him to go as well, imo. So, no, Google, Spaulding doesn’t escape from prison. 

One of the immediate questions that sparked for everyone as soon as 3 from Hell was announced was: “they’re not dead?” The last time we saw the three, they were headed full speed ahead into a hail of bullets, not backing down from a fight, and as a result - being pumped full of lead. Shockingly, they survived. I have so many unorganized thoughts on this alone that when I go to speak on it, all that comes out is a deep, clearly audible sigh. Before 3 From Hell, the Fireflys had the death they deserved, and one that fans were happy with even. Now they’re suddenly alive? It doesn’t make sense, but there wouldn’t be a 3 from Hell if it didn’t happen that way, I guess. 

We don’t see too much of Otis in prison, but we do see quite a bit of Baby in prison, and she isn’t doing so good. She’s got a number of violations, not applicable for parole, and what’s left of her sanity is swirling down the drain as we see her firsthand experiencing hallucinations while in segregation. Moon’s acting is what you’d expect, but this time around it doesn’t feel like Baby is... Baby. Yeah, we’re obviously looking right at Baby Firefly on screen, but something is off. It’s not because she’s behind bars, but it’s because her character’s portrayal is so forced to the point I just don’t care anymore. I get it, you’re mentally unstable, but unfortunately now, you’re just not interesting or half as compelling as you were once before.  

Otis on the other hand, a character that shouldn’t under any circumstances be allowed to see the light of day, nor have his cunning taken for granted, has (you guessed it!) his cunning taken for granted (SHOCKER) as he’s given a chance to see the light of day and uses this to his advantage to escape - all of which is caught on camera. Predictable, right? Why would any prison think that a murderer and psychopath to the extent of which Otis Driftwood is, is safe to be taken out from behind prison walls? Fuck whatever good behavior he might, or might not have displayed while inside the prison. Why would ANYONE with at least one functioning brain cell think that taking this man out of the prison anywhere is a good idea? Rant aside, this scene gives us a brief shot of Danny Trejo before he takes a laughably shoddy, beyond rotten CGI effect of a bullet to the head. With the help of his half-brother (portrayed by Richard Brake) we’ve never heard of til now, Otis makes his escape. Where does he go? Straight to the Warden’s house to work on getting Baby freed. 

I hated the scenes at the Warden’s house. Despite the fantastic performance of everyone involved, these scenes just felt empty. The terror was visible as those held hostage are being hurt with no remorse by one of America’s most wanted, but other than the purpose of getting Baby back into the world, these scenes seemingly had no point. We already know what Otis is capable of, and Wolfman being a relative of Otis and Baby, we get that he’s liable to be one bad mother fucker himself. That being said, why did these scenes have to drag on so fucking long? It would have been much more appropriate, and less of a bore, to show Otis going in the home, and coming out with a body trail behind him. Our imagination alone of what could’ve happened would have been more entertaining than what was shown. 

With Baby now out of prison, Otis makes the comment to his brother that prison did a lot of damage to Baby as what was left of her sanity is beyond fucked now. Baby, not too long after Otis’ sentiment being expressed, suggests going to Mexico as there’s no one looking for them there. The one individual who’s probably the most not sound of mind, that they didn’t even want to let go to the soda machine alone, comes up with the idea that can potentially secure their freedom. Seems a little out of place, but whatever. 

Once in Mexico, surprise, surprise, trouble follows. A place they’d stated no one was looking for them had people that were - you guessed it - looking for them.  Remember when Trejo was killed? His son, the leader of The Black Satans, wants vengeance for Otis having killed his father. Aquarius is tipped off where the three are staying and sends The Black Satans over to handle the job. This would have more than likely ended how Aquarius was hoping if Baby’s plot armor didn’t kick in by noticing the Satans pointing at her window, giving her a chance to notify her brothers resulting in a head start at surviving the situation. 

The Black Satans come in and kill pretty much anyone that stands between them and who they’re after. After a bunch of innocents die, Baby and Coltrane (Wolfman) are taken hostage themselves while Aquarius offers Otis a chance at saving them via a one on one machete fight, not with Aquarius, but Creep, a very large member of The Black Satans. Otis abides and while we’re sitting here wondering what the fuck is going on, why the Firefly group is fucking going up against a gang, a cartel, whatever the fucking Satans are, plot armor kicks in again to save the day as a friend Baby has made cuts her and her half-brother free. Shit goes down and the movie ends not too long after with the three of them free to do as they please.  

Even Richard Brake’s stellar performance wasn’t enough to save this Zombie film, just as it wasn’t enough to save 31, leaving him as one of the few highlights of the film. I’m not sure if I had more questions before seeing it or afterwards. They get out of prison that easily? Why are we just now hearing about Coltrane even though he’s apparently a notorious murder himself? How is Baby going to be batshit insane behind bars noticeable enough to where her brother - the nut job he is - makes a comment about it, then the second and third act come and she’s seemingly sound of mind? Why the fuck are we expected to believe that three killers, one of which is completely mentally insane to the point of creating her own reality behind bars, is able to defeat an entire fucking gang in what seems to be less than an hour? This film went off the rails in a way it truly didn’t have to. It is understood the Firefly family can get up to some crazy shit. It’s well known they’re dangerous individuals that you do not under any circumstances want to fuck with. It’s like Rob Zombie decided to construct a cash grab with some of his well known characters, yet had nowhere to go with it, so he decided to write the script as a failed ode to badassery.  

All in all, this film had all the elements you’d expect from a Firefly movie and followed the same formula (if you will) as its two predecessors before it. There was blood (oh, lord, was there blood), plenty of violence, shitty acting on Moon’s part, tension, and plenty of memorable lines. We’re introduced to the gang again, shown how vicious they are, how insane they are, how ruthless, smart, and evil they are. We got what we knew we were going to get, but this time around it fell flat. Why? Because it was unneeded. The Firefly gang should have been left for dead at the end of Rejects. That Freebird backed ending was was the ending they needed. That was the ending the viewers needed. Instead, what we got was them miraculously surviving a hail of gunfire only to escape from prison and have loads of plot armor they didn’t really need. 

Now having seen it, my only course of action for this movie is to just pretend it doesn’t exist. Rob, I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. Really, really disappointed. 

3 out of 10. 

[thatxvguy]

Aight, so here it is, KOD.

It’s my first J. Cole album I enjoy by far tbh, because I don’t seem to get his appeal (even tho I like lyrical Hip-Hop too) at the first listen, maybe it’s because I understand what’s the subject matter here, so yea let’s get into it.

Released in 4/20 to NOT glorify about drug use & addiction. Wow.

Shout-out my homie @ywrbgs for the review request. (Go follow his IG, he makes dope-ass beats)

01. Intro - Jazzy. Great intro for the album, the narration pretty much sums up the synopsis for this album. At first I was judging the rest of the songs to sound like the intro, Jazzy, Boom-bap-ish & conscious bUT HEY LOOK WHO’S SURPRISED—

02. KOD - JESUS, I DIDN’T KNEW HE COULD GO THIS HARD. BRO. THIS HARD. HE PRODUCED HIS OWN ALBUMS RIGHT?? THIS SHIT- FIRE YO. I like how he acknowledged the current state of Hip-Hop & drug glorifying in Hip-Hop, and him to do it in such a modern way (Trap beats, etc) makes this even more enjoyable, a definite favorite.

“Bitches been askin’, "What have you done lately?” I stacked a few M’s like my last name was Shady"

You know how I be when I hear Eminem references.

I go brazy.

Ballistic.

03. Photograph - Y'know I gotta put it in the personal favorites when it’s about love. It pretty much talks about Cole being in love with a random girl he met on IG (I suppose? It could be Twitter/Tinder/any other social medias) & how easy it is for people to fell in love with someone by just seeing a photograph of them. Me personally I relate to the song A-FUCKING-LOT (Yes I’m apparently a hopeless romantic who falls in love easily, thankfully I have someone to fight for now lmao). The hook pretty much hit me in the heart like “fUCK”, definitely a big recommend for someone who wants to start listening to J. Cole the easy way. And yeah the beat? The beat slap mad hard yo whatthefu-

04. The Cut Off (feat. kiLL edward) - Well here’s another feature from none other his alter ego he created to promote this album, it came back to that Boom-Bap and boy I enjoy this a lot. Lyrically he’s talking about people who cut him off for money/fame/clout/you name it, as much as he wants to take revenge for how people treated him badly, he knows that revenge is God’s work so he lets them off. Overall the song is a great song to vibe to, to understand to & all that. But I think it lacks something else, I just don’t know how to describe it, maybe it lacks an impactful moment? Still a great song overall

05. ATM - You ain’t a rapper if you don’t have a song to flex about in one of your albums. This song’s all about Cole flexing about his money but yet ironically he depicts about how people will do anything for money & how people’s lives are chained just because of money, hence the title of the song. (Addicted to Money)

Everything here slaps, the beat, the rap, the hook & how sarcastically Cole talks about his wealth in here, everything’s great. I wonder how people would think about this song without knowing how Cole is lol.

06. Motiv8 - Yea boy another song about getting money, seems like Cole is pretty frustrated about how these people get money nowadays. But ay, it is pretty pathetic to see it tbh, a promising talent on the come up, 3 years later people don’t even know them no more or even worse. (RIP XXX & Peep)

What’s ironic to me is that the song is lit, like I can’t lie man the song is lit. But what he raps about makes me think twice about how fucked up is the rap game. I feel like this song & ATM definitely takes inspirations from SoundCLoud rappers as heard as how the beats are & how Cole flows on the beats.

07. Kevin’s Heart - AYY BOY ANOTHER PERSONAL FAVORITE. ENOUGH SAID. How Cole talks about cheating to their certain other. That shit broke my heart.

As someone who understands about these things but yet to actually never been through these things just makes me even more confused, like do you ever understand something that you never been through? That’s how I am in my love life.

Sorry for being oot but I’ve been single for like what now? 3 years? And shit bro as much as I want to experience these kinda things again I couuldn’t because I haven’t found someone who wants me yet. Yet I understand how heartbreaks are & how people deal with it, but at the same time I feel ironic to empathize these kinda feelings, I feel fake, just like how Cole said it in the bridge.

Wow. This shit really wrecked me. 10/1 best outta best.

Where did my heart went now??

08. BRACKETS - Now this here, is some shit I gotta listen to a couple of times to actually get the gist of. Because I don’t really understand about how taxes in America works, I’ll just comment on what I got from thing song aight, so it’s basically Cole talking about how taxes are charged in America & where do the money go, does it go to fund the development of the States? Or does it go to some “money-hungry company” as Cole stated in the song. This that retrospective shit you gotta binge listen to actually understand fully what the song’s all about.

09. Once an Addict (Interlude) - Picturing about how his mom’s an alcoholic, I’ve been listening to these typa songs since I first found Eminem back in 2011 & now I’m back listening to someone who depicts almost the same topic in 2018, I feel great to actually listen someone who still holds story-telling in their raps, Cole is definitely one of the greatest in today’s era, proven by how he raps here. And tbh this is my very first time to listen to an interlude longer than 2 minutes, as if this interlude could actually be a song itself if you ask me.

10. FRIENDS (feat. kiLL edward) - At first I thought this song was about how addiction could start with a bad enviroment (You smoking as a minor with your friends, you get me?) but instead this songs about Cole’s message to his friends who is battling with addiction.

In here he wants people to know that drug abuse isn’t the way to escape the problems that they’re facing, but having a positive mindset will help them through. Imo I couldn’t agree more, but some people do really need the drugs to help, but I’m not promoting in drug usage in any sort of ways, I’m just saying if it helps better then do it, just don’t overdo it.

11. Window Pain (Outro) - This fucking outro man, I don’t fucking know how the fuck did Cole managed to put such a message in this outro but goddamn.

This is beautiful.

It’s all about Cole being introspective about what he wants in his life & how he is grateful for everything that happened in his life.

One interesting point about this outro is about the narrative of a girl telling about how her cousin got shot badly in her house. Her cousin was about to pick up the girl until some goons shot her cousin in the face and neck.

Surprisingly he’s still alive & the girl telling the story told that it was “God’s grace” for him to be spared alive. Unto been asked why do bad things happen & why won’t just good things happen to the world, the little girl replied:

“Because God is tryna, um Warn-warn us or teach us a lesson that we need to learn Or He’s tryna warn us of He’s comin’ back to, um, see us and take us home and redo the world He’s comin’ back to, um, have us be His children and for us to see Him for the first time so we can rejoice with Him and have our time And after we do that, He’s gonna restart the world”

Referring to Christians believing that God is going to be back to restart the world back to the pure, good world it was.

I’m surprised that Cole isn’t afraid to talk about these things, as the world is pretty much atheistic by now & I gotta respect him for being able to talk so.

12. 1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”) - Presumably going to be the intro for his next album, Cole raps about the state of today’s Hip-Hop & easy is for a young rapper to rise & fall easily in this age of time.

People are saying that Cole is taking shots at various young reckless rappers i.e. Lil Pump/Smokepurrp/You name it, but I think that he’s actually trying to warn about how their actions could lead to their own downfall, seeing that Cole isn’t that type to be offended about today’s state of Hip-Hop (Proven by how he used trap beats & generic trap flows in this album) I don’t really think he’s “dissing” anyone here.

Welp, there it is, KOD. I like how J. Cole kept the album short & simple by just 12 tracks yet each songs has it own depths to understand about.

One thing I gotta take a not of is that… The overall album content’s pretty ironic tbh. Lit trap beats opposed to conscious rap, got me feeling some typa way.

DON’T EVEN ASK ME ABOUT HOW I FEEL ON KEVIN’S HEART, THAT SHIT LITERALLY BROKE MY HEART & MOOD, I GOTTA TAKE A BREAK FROM WRITING THIS FOR AROUND AN HOUR OR SO, JUST BECAUSE HOW I COULD RELATE TO IT. Jfc.

Personal favorites: KOD, Photograph (I fucking lOVE THIS SHIT), DAVID’S HEART YEA I SAID IT FUCK YOU, Window Pain (Outro)

My fucking goodness this album actually wrecked me wtf.

[thedeadflag]

Hey, as an ace-hetero person; fuck you. You have no right, no damn right to tell me where I belong. I don't think you understand how isolating it feels to be ace-hetero, and that's not to discount the struggles of those on the LGBTQ spectrum because there's no denying they deal with a hell of a lot, but that does not mean we don't deal with shit too. Being ace-hetero, I've always felt indescribably different from everyone I know.

My hetero friends wouldn't understand and my LGBTQ friends don't want me. It's like being inches away from two sides of a cliff but you can't reach either. And to have people like you, arrogant assholes who overestimate the extent of their knowledge, constantly discredit who I am hurts more than you could imagine.

The LGBTQA+ community isn't for you to decide who belongs and no, accepting ace people wouldn't take away from other issues, because being ace is not an issue and, although i can only speak from my own experience, most ace people just want to be accepted, and when people like you decide we can't be, it fucking sucks.

I’m gonna be nice and not air out your username, since your first message was on anon and the rest weren’t, and you might have genuinely misunderstood my stance on this. I’m also sorry you haven’t had good experiences in getting support.

I’m not sure how you got that I don’t accept or support ace folks, though. I absolutely do, I just use an understanding of power to establish my priorities when it comes to LGBT+ spaces, who is welcomed into them, whose voices should matter, who resources should be directed towards and made more accessible, etc. and that necessarily excludes cishet aro/ace folks because when I have to choose between their inclusion and the more marginalized people their inclusion would exclude, I’m going to stand with the latter. I’m going to support people who need those spaces and resources because they literally do not have anywhere else, whereas people with more power can find some semblance of what they seek elsewhere.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve said in the past

I’m saying that aro/ace folks are, and have always been, part of the community. Anyone who is out of their teens and has been active in meatspace LGBT+ spaces will be able to tell you that.

But my stance is that certain groups of people within the community who wield violent, oppressive power, regardless of their membership, should be removed from spaces and resources whenever possible.

This includes TERFs, white supremacists, cishet folks, among others, but the aforementioned three are pretty easy examples of groups that historically wield violent oppressive power to and within our community.

It’s not that they aren’t LGBT+, necessarily, it’s that they cannot be trusted as a group to not reproduce violence against the most marginalized of us, and we cannot weigh ideals and utopian goals of what we’d wish the community to be like, over the material realities of what the community currently is.

That, IMO, would be like SWERFs who want to abolish sex work and don’t care about the material impact their policies have on real living sex workers right now. Maybe in a fantasy world, a world without sex work could be better, but right now, there are people who need our help, and harm prevention needs to be the top priority. Allowing harmful groups to remain in our spaces, and in control of our resources, will only end up excluding those community members who need support, spaces, and resources the most. Like, any space that is welcoming to TERFs is automatically trans-exclusive, for example. That’s just a fact. Any space with white supremacist leadership would be poc-exclusive. Just a fact.Due to violent groups’ presence and power in the community, they wouldn’t be safe in those spaces and in accessing those resources and for many of them, there is literally nowhere else. Not potentially some places where they can manage to cobble some degree support or resources, even if it’s sometimes not ideal or sometimes isn’t quite enough, like cishet folks can, but literally none.

So, for your example, cishet aro/ace folks are indeed inherently LGBT+. But as a category, they wield too much violent power and oppression to outweigh any gains that could be made of allowing them to remain active in those spaces. Education is not a viable strategy to fixing that(it hasn’t worked for PoC, it hasn’t worked for disabled members, it hasn’t worked for trans members, it hasn’t worked for intersex members, etc.), but working to help develop resources outside of the community that might serve them better is viable and has been effective.

For instance, a lot of sexual support services have gotten material from within the aro/ace community as well as from within the broader LGBT+ community to help expand their services like sex ed, their hotlines, etc. to cover a more diverse population. I fully 100% support this endeavour, and I’m happy to know that gains are being made on aro/ace information and outreach and support in that sector in north america. That way, cis het aro/ace folks could get support, spaces, and resources they need without exerting violent, oppressive power against anyone. It’s a win-win. Just like LGBT+ TERFs being able to contact The Trevor Project is a win-win because that allows them to receive aid without running the risk of encountering anyone they oppress or spreading their oppressive bullshit in our communities.

Worst case scenario when some individual cishet aro/ace folks absolutely, for whatever reason, literally cannot get any aid elsewhere…yeah, cut them some slack. But they should never occupy positions of power. They should not be able to vote on resource allocation. They should never lead educational workshops. I’ve seen too many people wielding violent, oppressive power sneak into those positions of power/authority, and use their influence to shift voting towards outcomes reflective of their oppressive views/perspectives, or disregard certain forms of harassment inside the community, or promote certain harmful views in community events, or facilitate the social ostracism of unwanted outspoken marginalized people who are rocking the boat too much (often trans folks, poc, disabled folks, etc.), so IMO, it’s too dangerous to let them take root like that. They have too much oppressive power to be trusted to take up permanent space. It really isn’t much to ask that they be aware of how dangerous and distressing their presence can be to more vulnerable folks.

I say this as someone who has spent over half my life in and around these spaces, and having overwhelmingly heard similar stories elsewhere. Power is real, it functions in predictable patterns, and it needs to be accounted for when discussing how to run and facilitate our spaces and resources. Spaces and resources where violently oppressive groups are allowed access and to set down roots? Those end up growing toxic and exclusive against those who need help the most. Maybe one day things will be different, but right now? We can’t afford to let violently oppressive people remain in our communities.

I love aro/ace folks. I do. But power is something that has to be acknowledged, especially when it is directly tied to violence against community members. And those who wield violent power and oppress should not be welcome, and should be exiled by any means necessary, regardless of their identity or position

Ultimately, what it comes down to is whether I choose other trans women, or cishet aro/ace folks, and I will always, always chose trans women. If that makes me a bad person in your eyes, so be it I don’t mind. I know I’m not a bad person, and I’m doing what’s right for people like me. I don’t have the luxury of not being realistic about the generally predictable power dynamics in the LGBT+ community. 

My activism is all about harm reduction. Reducing harm is pivotal, and that means finding ways to make communities safer and resources more accessible to everyone, and that includes helping folks understand where they can appropriately take up space.

My top priority when it comes to organizing, shaping, and navigating our communities is to make community more accessible for trans women of all stripes because we’re a demographic with appallingly low community support and accessibility to resources, and that has to change. Trans women need to feel safe.

When communities bring in people with more oppressive, harmful perspectives, it passively and/or actively pushes more marginalized members out. I cannot abide that, and while I will do what I can to help aro/ace folks of all stripes, I cannot pretend that the inclusion is cishet aro/ace folks is not a zero sum issue because it absolutely is, whether people want to accept that or not. It’s a silent choice people are faced with...you can hate me for answering vocally but that doesn’t change that I had to choose, and I choose my people.

I will not be ashamed or feel guilty about prioritizing trans women when no one other than trans women will. I’m not arrogant for doing so or pushing for certain people to not take up space in our communities as a means to keep those spaces safer and more accessible to those who need it more. Because frankly, the most marginalized in the communities do need those spaces the most, and need to be prioritized. Ideally, everyone would have their needs met and would be safe and supported, but that’s not reality. That’s not how it goes down, not locally, and not online, so I need to be realistic. I need to prioritize.

My prioritizes don’t include cishet aro/ace folks when it comes to maintaining and operating in LGBT+ spaces. I trust the aro/ace community and general sexual support services to understandably pick up that slack, which they generally do well with. I want everyone to get the support and resources they need, but when the inclusion of one group virtually always raises obstacles for members of my group to access those spaces, the support they need, and the resources they need, I need to have their backs in that. Maybe that’s ‘ruthless calculus’ as Garrus Vakarian would call it, but like I said, no one else is looking out for trans women except trans women, so I don’t have the luxury of caring about anyone else when my people are put at risk of complete isolation (which can often lead to death for us).