#budget switzerland

[indogusto]

Explore the breathtaking beauty of Switzerland without breaking the bank! IndoGusto offers budget-friendly Switzerland tour packages tailored for unforgettable experiences. Discover scenic landscapes, charming cities, and iconic landmarks—all at affordable prices. Book your Switzerland budget tour with IndoGusto today!

[stellaluna33]

On the topic of "favorite kitchen utensils," (I may be getting older, but the truth is that I've always been this way. 😂) here's one of mine:

My Forschner Victorinox chef's knife with rosewood handle. 🥺 I put it on my wedding registry 16 years ago after doing research on knives on the nexus between affordability and quality, and I have been congratulating myself on that decision ever since. 😆 Nothing makes you appreciate a Good Knife more than using a Bad Knife, and let me tell you, I have used some Bad Knives at other people's houses! And then whenever I use THIS beauty again, I'm like, "Oh, my baby! I'm SO glad I get to come home to you!" 🥰

[retireyoungtravelsmart]

Our Retirement Year of Trading Houses and Repositioning Cruises

Retirement’s been a blast, and the year of home exchanges was no exception! We swapped our Mazatlan condo for houses across Europe, staying in homes from Norway to Italy and everywhere in between. We took a couple of repositioning cruises to make the most of our travel budget. We got to Europe in April and returned to the Americas in November without having to fly. Come along as we share the…

[gnometrotting]

How to enjoy Interlaken on a budget

Switzerland can be expensive but it's possible to visit Interlaken on a budget. Here are some tips.

If you’re a budget-conscious traveler, visiting Interlaken – and Switzerland as a whole – can be a tough pill to swallow. With inflated prices on everything from food to transportation, it’s important to adequately plan financially for such a trip. But it’s not impossible to enjoy Interlaken on a budget. Stay in Interlaken Accommodations in Interlaken can be pricey but staying at least one…

[immersetravel]

Hiking over Baden, Switzerland

After my first few days exploring Zurich, my friends and I stayed in Baden, the town where my host friend stayed and worked. She stayed in an apartment that had been held by Canadian interns in the same program for many years, so there was some interesting Canadian/touristy items left behind by past interns. The best feature was the raclette grill which gave us the opportunity to enjoy another…

[nyancrimew]

with the end of the month slowly coming up again i am once again unfortunately already broke again and still somewhat in debt, really hoping to get out of that and get a stable enough income to allow me to stay out of debt for the future (i currently make about 1k a month which is very very little for trying to survive in switzerland esp as i currently support myself and a roommate pretty much alone (and currently leaves me somewhat financially dependent on my parents as well which im not gonna be able to be forever), goal for the end of this year is a stable 2k) anything really helps, but the subscription option helps me the most with stability and ability to budget (also i'll hopefully soon manage to give my subscribers actual special benefits).

i hate asking for money so often especially as i haven't put out a new article in quite a while now, but that will change again soon (i have various things in my pipeline and also non text content coming up soon!), and it is the supporters on ko-fi that let me do all the work i do <3

[newtsgirl122]

Um? - January 19th, 2025

So as of now, TikTok was restored in the U.S. - we all got a little message from the app praising Donald Scumbag Trump. Which is 100% propaganda and political theatre.

I still plan on leaving the app as well as anything Meta and X related come tomorrow when that POS takes office.

One thing I do want to acknowledge is what was said about Americans after the TikTok shut down - many of us are a victim of circumstance. This is where we just so happened to be born. Do you really think we enjoy being the laughingstock of the world? This country is 100% an oligarchy! Half of us are educated and DID NOT vote to reelect him! I didn't! I never voted for him and never will!

I am a historian, I study History - specifically WWII and the Holocaust as well as anything pertaining to genocide, fascism, and the like. Ever since 2016, I have been screaming from the rooftops that this is the path we are on. I am going on 22 years old this year and I knew way back then that this place is a huge mess, and I don't want to live in it! I want to live where I am not going to fear for my life going to school or a grocery store! I want to be able to afford groceries and healthcare and I want my kids to have a good quality education! I am not rich! Being able to eat tomorrow is hardly in my budget let alone being able to leave. I have a list of places I'd love to be a citizen of instead of the U.S. but now I see just how much my fear of being welcomed is validated.

It reminds me of the Handmaid's Tale, when the Canadians started attacking American refugees who escaped Gilead. My ancestry originated from mainly Ireland, Switzerland, and Scottland. I still have close relatives that live in Switzerland. You all see what Trump says he wants to do - if I would leave for the fear of my safety as a bisexual, non-Christian, single woman with a baby on the way, would I be understood and welcomed? Or would I receive hate and backlash for being an invader? All because I'm sick of living in constant fear?

This country is not what we are indoctrinated from the age of 5 to believe it is. It is full of suffering, struggle, and oppression on levels many of you don't see. My parents were drug addicts. I was raised by my grandmother who gets no aid or support from anyone and now works part time. The "American Dream" is just that, a dream.

Americans may very well need help in the not-so-distant future, who will be there to help us? Or will we all be condemned?

Xenophobia isn't exclusively American...

[alexaqueendom]

Luzern is a great starting point if you want to visit Switzerland. Not only is a beautiful town but also has great connections to other towns. I also feel like you can find accommodation for any budget without compromising comfort.

[csuitebitches]

Skiing - a beginner’s guide

I first went skiing in Switzerland with my friends nearly 10 years ago and I loved it. The feeling of the wind on my face, the speed, the adrenaline- it was exhilarating.

I’ve compiled a basic list of ski events, a semi-scandalous article and some of the best destinations in the world as well as some budget friendly ones.

Socialite ski events:

Snowboxx:

Since it launched in 2013, winter festival Snowboxx has been growing in popularity - and it involves flying out to the Alps for a week-long ski party.  It takes place in Avoriaz ski resort, Morzine, France each March, and this year saw a superstar lineup of artists performing in the mountains, including ex-Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, Becky Hill, Jax Jones, Sonny Fodera and Andy C. 

The combination of partying to some of the world's best DJs, with the unusual day-activites of skiing and snowboarding, are making many turn away from the summer festival circuit in favour of the winter one. 

Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel , Austria:

The Hahenekamm ski race weekend in Kitzbühel is arguably the biggest alpine ski event in the world. The world’s best take on the iconic Streif downhill track, which is historically the toughest ski race track on the World Cup circuit. A lot of the speed skiers consider winning races here as a bigger honour than the Olympics. As a spectator, the atmosphere is electric with fans around the world admiring some breathtaking ski racing.

X Games, Aspen, USA:

The world’s best freestyle skiers and snowboarders compete annually in Aspen. The event is a prestigious honour to win amongst action sports athletes and has propelled careers. Spectating the event is excellent because you can see most of the action from the viewing areas. The halfpipe events in particular are excellent to watch for this reason.

European Snow Pride, Tignes, France:

Tignes is home to Europe’s biggest gay ski week, with the European Snow Pride. Each day has a theme with nights of brit-pop to superhero days. Many international DJs are invited to play each evening party in the resort’s local clubs and bars.

Slightly scandalous tales: Things I Never Knew About Skiing Until I Was a Private Instructor in Aspen

Really interesting read. I was thoroughly entertained.

Popular ski destinations:

1. Whistler Blackcomb, Canada

Whistler makes it onto pretty much every ‘World Top 10’ list when it comes to ski resorts

2. Niseko, Japan

Located on the northern island of Hokkaido, this Japanese skiing destination is a snow-covered paradise. With a huge 15 metres of average snowfall, it’s no wonder that Niseko is the country’s premier ski resort.

3. Zermatt, Switzerland

As the highest resort in the Alps, it’s got the views. The incredible peak of the Matterhorn can be seen from just about anywhere on the slopes! It also boasts the greatest vertical drop in Switzerland, and there’s all year round skiing at the Matterhorn Glacier.

4. Courchevel, France

The resort is a part of the world’s largest alpine ski area, offering more than 600 kilometres of terrain and interconnected ski runs across 10 summits. The snow here is well-groomed, and there’s a legendary black run that’s considered to be one of the trickiest in the world.

5. Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy

Known only to the most dedicated, well-travelled skiers prior to the 1956 Winter Olympics, Cortina is a hidden gem in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains.

6. Baqueira-Beret, Spain

It may be a surprising destination for skiing, but Baqueira-Beret in Spain is one of the best places in Europe where you’ll find value for money for a ski holiday. You’ll be able to find affordable accommodation as well as some of the finest tapas restaurants in the country.

7. Ylläs, Finland

The arctic landscapes of Lapland are perfect for skiing. If you dream of snow-dusted trees, the magic of the Northern Lights, or the glow of the midnight sun, Ylläs is a unique winter resort that you won’t want to miss. As Finland’s largest ski resort, it’s got everything you need.

Budget friendly destinations

1. Vogel, Slovenia

An ideal spot for couples or families, this Slovenian spot is a truly beautiful and peaceful ski area. Overlooking Lake Bohinj, Vogel is part of the Triglav national park.

2. Livigno, Italy

Duty-free zone Livigno offers excellent slopes for intermediate skiers. But advanced skiers and snowboarders will be kept busy too – especially if they’re keen to explore off piste.

3. Poiana-Brasov, Romania

Poiana Brasov is Romania’s biggest mountain resort and certainly one of the nicest. The fairytale slopes, flanked by pine trees, are the perfect place to take your skis. With more than 24km of ski runs, there’s plenty to explore.

4. South Korea -Muju Deogyusan Resort

Muju Deogyusan Resort in Jeolla province is only 3 hours away from Seoul. So, if you want to spend your holiday skiing and still enjoy the city of Seoul, this is the place to go.

5. Niseko Ski Resort

Located in Hokkaido, Japan, Niseko Ski Resort boasts a total of four different resorts but with linked ski area. A single pass would give you access to all four resorts. One of the resorts, Mt. Resort Grand Hirafu has been officially named as Japan’s number one snow resort due to the wide array of activities offered.

6. India - Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a rare gem in the Himalayans that will undoubtedly take your breath away with its picturesque beauty. However, skiing in Gulmarg, Kashmir is not for the weak-hearted as the terrains are not suitable for beginners - to add to that, the ski lifts carry you to the highest point in the Himalaya at 13, 780 feet!

7. China - Nanshan Ski Resort

80km away from Beijing, Nanshan Ski Resort is perfect for skiing and snowboarding as the snow are neither too hard nor too soft.

[dcdreamblog]

A few decades ago while I was visiting Coast City, I found an interesting partial poster in a head shop. It was advertising an archery exhibition by "the Green Arrows of the World" in Star City at the Civic Auditorium.

The painted illustration has a fellow in what looks to be the pre-beard Green Arrow costume, and several men in "ethnic" variations of that costume in various bow-drawing poses.

The bottom of the poster where presumably the date and time of this event would have been printed was missing. I purchased the poster at a very reasonable price, the owner of the shop disclaiming any knowledge of how he'd acquired it, though he was quite voluble on the Rolling Stones concert one I also picked up.

I've often wondered since if there was ever a Green Arrows of the World event since I've never heard of non-USAn GAs otherwise, or if it was someone's fun fantasy project they got printed. Any thoughts or insights?

THIS poster? (Side note, this poster was done by truly legendary pop artist Jack Kirby who was probably most famous for his work at Marvel Comics but he also did a ton of miscellaneous work related to real life superheroes too) This exhibition was done during the early days of GA's career as you can see by the age of Speedy (Now Arsenal/Red Arrow) in the artwork. In short it IS the genuine article and the Green Arrows of the World was not only real but is STILL an extant organization. It consists of...well what it says on the tin. Green Arrow-esque heroes from around the world. There's been a lot of ink used about the prominence of archery in the heroic tradition (The book "Brave and the Bowmen" by Andy Diggle comes most easily to mind) with GA being its most obvious standard bearer in the modern day. Its membership has been fairly steady since inception including: Green Arrow and Speedy, naturally (USA)

Ace Archer (Japan)

Phantom (France)

Bush Bowman (Kenya)

Arabian Archer (Saudi Arabia)

Britannia Bowman (UK)

Troubadour (Spain)

Shark Sharpshooter (Samoa) Verde Flecha (Mexico) Archer of the Alps (Switzerland)

Emerald Bowman (India)

and Alba Archer (Scotland)

Now even those of you reasonably familiar are scratching your heads at most of these names but I promise this comes directly from the minutes of their only recorded meeting stored at the Moira Queen Memorial Library at Star City U. It's just that most of these heroes were fairly low key. Archer heroes and the urban vigilante type that they're usually part of tend toward low prominence and quiet careers because they're usually limited to action in singular cities or even neighborhoods. Most of them either did their time as small time protectors and then retired or are still fighting the good fight on a smaller scale. The Green Arrows of the World is a collective resource and support organization, sort of like Batman Inc in miniature. No one is quite sure who runs the organization's modest budget but lines have been drawn between it and Star City billionaire Oliver Queen whose philanthropy and focus on community organization projects is well known. They check up on one another, support one another where they can. There's only ever been one in person meeting of the organization, which this poster is from the public facing portion of, a charity drive run through the Queen Foundation for support of the then recent Boxing Day Tsunami. They're not open to public donation and are a rather private organization but spreading the word like this is part of my job. If the poster you have is different I highly, HIGHLY encourage you to turn it in at the museum of your choice. You may be holding an artifact of a much forgotten organization of heroes who really deserve the spotlight.

[sgiandubh]

Saw your comment: "We're not all thirsty mommies, nor 12, nor bitter bitches. I'd love to see and hear more about what is beneath that mask, not beneath that shirt." Sam has done that before. He wrote an entire book about his journey but the book is called bullshit and he a liar. He's written well-thought out articles and forewords to books. He speaks intelligently and passionately and knowledgably about his liquors and the process of getting to market, and is called a shill. His work with Prickly Thistle is expensive and taking peoples' money, even when it helped this woman-owned mill immensely. It goes on and on. Today he's been accused of hypocrisy for a plastic cup, thirst trapping to change a conversation and using his social media as a PR tool to fool gullible women. Some may want to see beneath the mask but when he's shown what he is willing to you get the above.

Dear Hypocrisy Anon,

Thank you for your thoughts. I have read your long comment very carefully and let's say I agree with about 85% of it. The itching point is, of course, the book: Waypoints is a good ghostwritten memoir I have commented at length, with a more benevolent view than most of those who found it took some substantial liberty with what they (and I, for that matter) think it's the current state of play in SC Land. Note I am not saying the truth: that's only for Them to know, not for us. So dismissing it and calling everything a lie is a bit of a stretch. It's just a memoir, to be followed by other projects, other books. And who knows, another memoir, later on, where he could correct the course again at his convenience. He's only 43. Give the man some credit.

Trouble is, the world is a vast and diverse place. It's not just this fractured fandom. If he wants to remain relevant beyond OL, he needs, in my humble opinion, two things: a) to score a big role in a big budget production, which would improve his notoriety and help him reach a different public and b) curate his personal image a bit more and get out of this midlife crisis fake character he's peddling around. The only people who find it interesting are the thirsty mommies in *urv's crowd and that's, uhm... a bit irrelevant, in the big scheme of things.

So, no more political blunders, please and thank you. Shut the hell up and play Switzerland on complicated and divisive society issues which can get one in boiled water for a comma. Carefully picked and curated CSR projects, he'd ideally be more actively involved in. And yes, maybe a bit more transparency on the so many great things he does, like that partnership with the Edinburgh's Youth Theatre he didn't even mention himself or include in his stories (no doubt, out of a very British and endearing sense of modesty). And always remember: when faced with something beautiful and fragile, like that story, people will try their best to smear it and break it. I am not bitter, just realistic.

Same goes for your conclusion: I am sure many would like to see more of what is beneath that mask. It's too bad that a bunch of bitter, nasty, clueless, but also very noisy women occupy a bigger part of the stage than they should.

But have faith, Anon. For the moment, all of this is nothing what a good PR, not the clowns he obviously hired, can't fix with relative ease. Trust me. I've seen way worse. And remember, always remember what dear Wilde (God, I love that soul!) said: 'every saint has a past and every sinner has a future'.

You just gave me an idea for a future post and for this, I thank you, Anon. But for now, I have to catch up on a thing or two, rather than determine the morality of a plastic glass. I hope this long answer helps somewhat. Thank you for dropping by: it was a pleasure reading your musings.

[bikefuckersoftheworldunite]

Wayne Rainey’s interview with Cycle News, 1997

When I'm watching a race, or when I'm watching qualifying, and I'll see a look on a rider's face, I'm analyzing a situation to what I think it is. I'll watch a corner and I'll say, "That guy's off-line there. Did you see that?" I'll see that stuff. It's all so clear to me how it needs to be done. But most of the people that I have to be around don't see what I see. So sometimes it's frustrating to me that I can't be out there doing it and sometimes I'm pulling that in because, it's just like if you just did it like this the people, riders can't comprehend or understand that. There's a lot to this analyzing that would take all day. It's just that I'm different, I guess.

This is the truth.

This is Wayne Rainey's life the past few years in his own words, what he's been through, how he's coping. Being in a wheelchair hasn't slowed him down as much as it should have. He still puts in 17-hour days and most of those hours are devoted to racing. Making his team better, making his riders better, making himself better. It isn't easy being Wayne Rainey, it never was, it never will be. He possesses that defect in his personality known as perfectionism. It must be viewed as a defect only because he lives in an imper- fect world that he can no longer control as he did when he was winning three 500cc World Championships in a row, and nearly four. "Riding for me is both a blessing and curse," he believes, and he means it. He asks of others what he asked of himself and cannot understand why you would want to give less. "He's the most amazing person I've ever met," says his team manager and good friend Tim O'Sullivan, whose previous vocation involved dealing on a regular basis with brain surgeons. No one ever beat Wayne Rainey by outworking him and they never will.

Every year brings a new challenge. First it was winning championships as a rider. Next it was winning championships as a team owner. He started slowly, but soon found himself in a very high-stakes rivalry with Kenny Roberts, a friend he considers a brother. Now that Roberts has moved on to his own project, Rainey is the standard- bearer for Yamaha and his job is to restore the factory to the glory that he afforded it as a rider. It won't be easy. But for Wayne Rainey, it never is.

Let's start with Marlboro. What happened to the sponsorship?

There's a few different stories I've heard from each different guy, three different Marlboro guys. But the one I think I have to rely on is that there was a budget cut, because that was the most senior guy that told me that. That came on the 20th of January. The 20th was a Mon- day. They said there was a budget cut on Friday.

And they called you up and said...

No, I was just making my weekly call. I usually make one on Monday, one on Wednesday, and one on Friday. And that was my Monday call. And it was like 6 o'clock their time in the evening. I guess they weren't even going to tell me that day either.

When they called, did they tell you at the time that it was a budget thing?

The guy who told me didn't know why. He was just told that there's nothing there for you. And so I called the higherups and asked what happened. They said, "Well, we had a budget cut." "You guys just recently had one?" "Yeah, we're sorry." So I didn't have much time to think about it. I had a team to put together so I was on an airplane the next day to Japan.

What did Yamaha say?

They, officially, I don't think have ever been told by Marlboro that there's been a separation. They were pretty upset about it because I had told them all along that Norick (Abe) looks good and there was never any question about that. That budget for Norick always came from (Phillip Morris) Lausanne (Switzerland). Because that was my (Tetsuya) Harada budget that was there the year before and that budget didn't change, the numbers on that. The only thing that we were trying to put togeth- er was the second rider. And I believe that what Marlboro was trying to do was get the second-rider program sorted out. Kenny (Roberts) and I just didn't know all the way through if we were going to have sponsorship. We were talking weekly too. So they started throwing (Jean-Michel) Bayle's name around with me and a proposal with Bayle at the beginning of January. I didn't like that so much because I thought that was Kenny's only leverage he had to keep his sponsorship. So I refused to speak to Bayle about it. When they made the decision, Kenny didn't know either if he was going to have it or not. I think Yamaha coming on board just shows that they're serious about Grand Prix racing. It was a big push on their part to keep the team going and just get on with it.

Was there any chance that they could have just said, 'No, we can't afford it."

They could have very easily, I think, if they would have had some more teams to choose from. We had never ever geared up for NO from Marlboro. We just kept planning like the Marlboro thing was going to happen. And when it didn't happen they were pretty much in a corner. It was either do it or we have to stay home. Within 15 minutes of me being there they did it.

When did you decide on the second rider?

About half an hour after that meeting. I had told them, being so late, we need a second rider. And they weren't really gung-ho on a second rider. And then I told them the problem that I've been having for the last couple of years is having one rider and not having a back- up for the riders to have some kind of rivalry in the team to push each other. And I said the only guy I'd really want to put in there would be Sete (Gibernau) because of the job he did for us on the 250, and he's a good-size kid and he speaks very good English and we'll bring him on to test. They agreed with that philosophy and so far it works well.

Did your money last year come from Marlboro Italy?

Loris's (Capirossi) money did, not Harada's. Harada's came from Lausanne, which was (Norick) Abe's budget.

What do you think the team has to offer to Marlboro?

The Yamaha factory effort. Abe, myself. It's a good image.

What is it they get by sponsoring you? Do they want to win races or do they want to sell cigarettes?

I don't know. I think when I raced for them they wanted to be on TV. Okay, after my accident they haven't been on TV much and I think that's the philoso- phy behind Phillip Morris, they want to be racing for the top three and that's what we were hoping to do with Abe this year is to get him up on the podium because this is his third year. Abe's a young kid, he's flashy, he's fun to watch, he's exciting. If you look at Mick Doohan, he's not real exciting, but he wins. But you can pretty much write down what he's going to say each time and with these young guys coming up it's exciting and it's a good image for Marlboro to get in behind. You've got the factory effort and you've got my experience and you have these young guys. I think there was quite a lot to offer. I don't know what else you can offer.

Maybe someone who speaks English?

(Abe) does speak English. In Malaysia we did a Marlboro press conference and he spoke English there. I told him if you're going to do this thing, if you want to have a better chance for your career, you have to speak English. He did it. He was nervous. When I asked him, his first comments were in Japanese, then he changed them to English. He's making an effort at it.

There was also a story that Marlboro came back to you at some point.

Well, it wasn't Lausanne, it wasn't Switzerland that came back. They've always been in charge of sponsorship, they've always been the center of the world. It's getting a bit tougher for the Europeans now. The Asian people came back, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan. They still wanted to keep the relationship with Yamaha and myself and Norick. So we did a deal with them.

But it wasn't for full sponsorship for this year. Lausanne didn't want to sponsor the whole team for this year and next?

I don't know where Lausanne stood on the whole thing. All I know is that I said no to them because they came to us two weeks before the first race. They made a decision January 20th and I haven't looked back. I've gotten trucks painted, everything's done.

What did they offer you two weeks before the first race?

It was the Asian group that came to us. And they said, 'Hey, we want you.' You guys were involved in the decision.

They were?

That's what I thought. They didn't know about it. Not at all. They still want to keep that going. They're enthusiastic, they want me to work on their Indone- sian program. Right now they like what they're hearing and they like what we're doing.

So that's why they're sponsoring you in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Right.

Any reason why they're not here (at Suzuka)?

Japan is its own market. There's a European branch that does worldwide sponsorship. And so then Malaysia and Indonesia are out of Hong Kong and they wanted that relationship. They didn't say no, they wanted it. And Japan is its own market. It's not part of anything else. It's like a third party.

Let's go back to last year. When the year started it was full of promise. You spent the winter with Loris Capirossi. It didn't work out as well as everyone had hoped. What went wrong?

I think there was a variety of things. One, Loris, he was World Champion in his first two years. He went from being a working man every day to being World Champion status and he missed a few years of labor, what the real world's really like, and the team catered to him before and pretty much took care of everything. Coming to my team, being with me, I was used to doing my own program. I trained my way, I developed a certain way, and it made me really strong. And when he came to my team it all worked really good, he understood the whole thing. But then he had a few accidents. I think he fell off nine times and some weren't his fault, some were. I think when he went home the star status wasn't as strong as it used to be and he started lashing out. I wasn't used to that. I was used to bearing down and reaching inside myself to find a little extra to pull out, but one thing that I've learned since my accident is that I did it my way and nobody else does and I see why I was successful. Most of these young guys come up, they get paid a lot of money and they don't want to work at it. And he had to reach inside to go find out what was wrong, and that's something I'm not going to push. I want a guy that's going to come to the team and wants to work at it. And that's what I've got with my two riders now - I feel that they're working hard. I think Loris just...he was worried about his career. Second or third year not thinking that he was going to be as sought out after as he was before. The beginning of the year was great, everything was on a roll. We had some good results. But in the end you could just see the fire going down. I wasn't used to that. I didn't really know how to respond to that because me being a racer was always wide open or nothing. It was completely different for me to do this.

He wasn't happy with the way the team was run?

I don't know if it was so much the way it was run as what he felt he needed out of the team as far as bike setup. He didn't really lash out at me so much. Every time I was hearing rumors about him being unhappy, he'd say, 'No Wayne, everything is fine.' But he was afraid to confront me, I guess. And then we'd read in the press, especially after he left, that the team didn't do what he wanted. It's hard to get the team to do what you want if you don't tell the guy who can make the changes. So, he wasn't honest with me at all.

What did he want? Anything specific?

All I know is that he wasn't happy with his mechanics. I went over each guy and he said, 'No problem, no problem.' I didn't know at that time that he'd already made a decision to leave. This was a couple of races towards the end of the year. I'd seen that there was a change and I was trying to get out of him what he needed. He had a deal with Aprilia that was a certain amount of money for three years and he wanted to go back to doing it his way, I guess.

Would you do anything differently?

No.

How about with Tetsuya Harada?

With Harada I could sense the frustration in him because of the tire problem. Yamaha didn't push that 250 thing real hard and I saw that. I could understand that, but I didn't understand some of the things he was doing on the race track by just riding around. I've been in those situations and I pushed hard, no matter how bad it was. And there were times that I rode my stuff that it was just impossible. But that's me. I can't expect that out of everybody. Especially the results that I had, from the outside they probably look like Wayne's thing was pretty good most of the time. But a lot of the times on Sunday morning, man, I had to suck it up and go after it.

Do you think that since Harada wasn't in the championship he wasn't willing to try as hard?

I was explaining to Harada, we could have a tire advantage and we could really make Max (Biaggi) upset if we keep pushing that advantage. I said, 'Hey, we're on a tire nobody else has.' But, again, I was thinking that was an ideal situation. I was trying to sell it to him and it worked, it worked for a while. In Indonesia, we won. He just flat out out- rode them. Here (at Suzuka), the Michelin should have been terrible here. He was pole position and he was a second behind and in three corners he caught right up, but Max sucked him in there and he fell off. And as soon as he fell off and he hurt himself a little bit, he was just like, some of the stuff that he was telling me is that "Wayne, I've already been World Champion. I don't need to go out there and prove myself anymore." And I said: "Yeah, you do, you do. When you're World Champion you've got to keep proving to everybody that you're World Champion no matter what situation you're in. If it's bad, you've got to do the best you can. But if you're going to ride around in 18th, I'm not used to that." I said, "All you're doing is hurting your career riding around in 18th."

But the tire choice was a bit controversial. You tested at Shah Alam, back to back, the Dunlops and the Michelins. They tested Dunlop in November and in December they tested Michelin. I wasn't there for that test. He was sold on it. Isn't that a track that favors Michelins over Dunlops, generally?

Probably. It's temperature. But 250s aren't hard on tires. It's more of a profile thing. Dunlop has always been quicker than Michelin in the 250 class, even in Malaysia. So, after the Malaysian test he liked the way the bike turned and he thought that there was a lot of promise there.

And he made the choice?

He didn't have the choice. Yamaha was pushing hard for Michelin. And Marlboro and Yamaha were tired of hearing about tire problems. Put the same tire on as everybody else, and to make everything smooth we went with the 250 tire. But Harada wasn't happy with it, honestly wasn't happy with it. But again, he could have been. The philosophy was working for a while until it threw him off. Then he wasn't willing to work anymore.

What was the final straw that caused him to leave the team?

He never said, "I'm leaving." I said: "Hey, Tetsuya you're riding around. I bring all these guys here and we need you to put the effort in." And he just couldn't do it. And I just said, "Hey, it's okay. Why don't you just stay home and I'll put somebody else on the bike. I know you're not going to push." I said "You've worked hard to get where you're at and we'll put somebody else on it." I think he was quite happy with that.

You knew at Barcelona that he wouldn't be back.

We had Sete (Gibernau) testing at Czecho. His (Harada's) last race was Imola. With Tetsuya there was no effort left. I had to fulfill the contract, but I didn't want a guy out there riding around. Especially when we had done some tests and I was talking to him and I could see that he just gave up and it just wasn't worth it to me to watch all that. I needed to give somebody a chance that was willing to ride it and do the best they could and Sete was the guy.

So the season ends, and you start thinking about this year. When did you make your rider choices?

Abe was always there. Everybody knew that, Marlboro, Yamaha, myself, Kenny knew that, that Abe was coming two, three races from the end of the year. We won the last race, but I knew something was up because Loris was just so distant there. He tested the '97 bike on Monday and I could just tell he maybe needed a break. He just wasn't the same kid; he was real distant. Then I got a fax saying he left the team. That kind of surprised me because Loris and I were pretty good friends and we'd worked good together. He and I never had a problem, but then he left. I had Abe and we were just wondering who the second rider was.

Who else did you talk to?

At that stage, the first people Marlboro had me talking to was Max (Biaggi). But I kind of got in the same position with Marlboro with Max as I did with Mick (Doohan) and Marlboro. With Mick, Kenny had a contract (with Marlboro in 1995). So I was talking to Mick, and Marlboro said we need a letter of intent so I got that. I was talking to Mick in '95 and Kenny had a contract with Marl- boro in '96 already done. It was already done. That's why I chased Mick because I wasn't taking nothing away from Kenny. And Marlboro said you need a letter of intent from Mick because he's done this a lot to us before. I'm thinking, well, that's news to me. So I got a letter of intent signed, everything was done. I did everything that Marlboro had asked.

Then Marlboro went to Kenny at the very next race and said, "You need Mick Doohan." After they had already seen everything that I had done. They knew that I had him. So that's when they were going to give me Loris. And Mick stayed at Honda because it got real cloudy after that and I just said, "Hey I don't want no part of that." It was kind of like what happened with Max. They said talk to Max. And Max was going: "You know Wayne, I hear you talking to me and stuff and Marlboro, they're also telling me to go race a 250. I'd like to ride a 500 but they want to keep me in 250." They had talked for a month. I felt like they were doing the same thing to me with Max. They'd say, talk to Max. As soon as you hang up the phone, they'd say, "No, no, you're going to ride a 250." So I said, "Well, what do you want me to talk to Max for?" That was the thing that was going on that just didn't make sense. And they said Max is not an option, talk to Luca (Cadalora). So at the end of November, beginning of December I was talking to Luca. Through this, Marlboro comes up and Luca wanted a lot of money to ride for Marlboro. He figured that there was a lot of money there for him, but there wasn't. I tried to tell him that.

You were always critical of Luca, both as a teammate and afterward. How could you hire him?

Well, I was talking to him and I was telling him why I was critical, which was pulling in when things weren't right. Or Luca, "What's it going to take for you to beat Mick Doohan?" With Luca, I don't hide that fact at all. I wasn't real high on Luca. I was really excited about Abe. But if it helped to sell sponsorship maybe I could work with Luca. This was all going to be up front with Luca and the stuff I was talking to him about, he knew I was critical of that stuff. I'm not afraid to tell people. The thing is, that I'm a racer still, I can't race no more. When I go to a race track I'm there to race. And I let everybody around me know that we're not here to make money and say hi to the crowd, we're here to win and everyone's got to do their job. And maybe that's where I'm different than other people. Maybe I push hard and stuff, but I don't think I push that hard. But looking back on what I did and how I pushed and how I got the team to do it a certain way, maybe it's a little bit hard on these guys. I don't know.

So how do you change that?

By example I guess. When I fell off at Donington, I had a concussion. I figured out a way to race the race and make something happen. But most people aren't like that. Most people are going to go out there and race and go, "Well, if I get a good start maybe somebody will make a mistake and I'll take advantage of it." That's just the way I thought about racing. It consumed me and there was never any compromise.

But you can't teach that, can you?

No you can't, you can't. It's hard. It's different now. I was never satisfied. I see a lot of young guys coming up and their salaries have to be there. For me to get motivated by money, I don't need it. I enjoy coming to the race track and I enjoy trying to help the riders and com- ing up with possible scenarios that could happen in the race and seeing it pan out. I was just talking to Ralf Waldmann yesterday and he was talking about his hand and stuff. I said, "Hey, Max can make a mistake this year," and he made one the very next day. That's the way you've got to think. With some people you get done talking to them and they say, "What's that Rainey talking about?" I don't know. I just look at it a lot different than everybody, I guess. I've had to tone down some things, and some things I'm not willing to.

Like what?

When I'm watching a race, or when I'm watching qualifying, and I'll see a look on a rider's face, I'm analyzing a situation to what I think it is. I'll watch a corner and I'll say, "That guy's off-line there. Did you see that?" I'll see that stuff. It's all so clear to me how it needs to be done. But most of the people that I have to be around don't see what I see. So sometimes it's frustrating to me that I can't be out there doing it and sometimes I'm pulling that in because, it's just like if you just did it like this the people, riders can't comprehend or understand that. There's a lot to this analyzing that would take all day. It's just that I'm different, I guess.

Can you accept what you have to accept? And for how long?

Yes and no. I accept the way I am now as far as what my life is because this is the way it is and I can accept that. But there are some things that happened in my life that I'll never accept. Some of it's personal and some of it is right here in front of me. Some of it's complicated, some of it's black and white. Sometimes I got to the race track... For instance I was in Phillip Island this year and I got very emotional because I just miss being out there on a motorcycle. I didn't miss the pressure of racing for a championship, that I'm over. But I do miss the physical thrill of riding a 500. I was watching Mick (Doohan) and I thought, "I know exactly what he's doing out there." It was nice to be able to watch Mick and relive that moment again. It was tough to sit in a wheelchair and watch it for sure.

But there are other times when you don't want to be out there.

Yeah, I have to be very, very patient right now, much more than I ever was when I rode because live got to realize that I raced for 28 years, or whatever it was, and how I did it, I was successful doing it all the way until the very end. I've got young guys now that if I tell them to change their line two inches, they're going, "How do you change two inches, Wayne?" I think, yeah, well, that's true. They wouldn't understand two inches because they're riding within 12 inches. I was so precise in what I needed that sometimes I showed up at a race track and I couldn't use the line I wanted until Sunday morning because the track wasn't clean enough yet. And that line I wanted to get to wasn't there until I kept chipping away at it for two days. Most people don't understand that, but that's how I thought about it.

And you haven't been able to find anybody that will go about it the same way?

I thought with Loris I got a guy that's wanting to do it and I was showing him some training stuff and I thought, "Wow, this is great." But, then reality set in and it really came time and he had to dig in on his own without me, it just wasn't there for him. That hurt me a bit because I was kind of trying to live through Loris a bit, and I did for a while. But when it stopped happening it was a real reality check for me that I have to be more patient. It wasn't like I was out there screaming and yelling. I was just like, "You should try that, you should try this." When it came down to it he just didn't understand and most people don't.

There are times that you're not even 100 percent sure that the way you did it was the right way. You didn't know when to back off.

That's true. You can get riders and most guys to a certain level pretty quick. You can show them the basics and they'll excel. But to really go past what I can feel or say they have to be willing to go out and search for it themselves. That's something you can't teach and that's desire. And that was my strong point. Not having it good all the time and trying to make something happen. But when I lined up to go out to race or out to qualifying I knew that I was going to be trying. I just feel that I was at a certain level in my life that consumed me that I can't get right now and it is frustrating, it really is. And I think the only way that I can get that is by riding again. And sometimes I just have to watch and stay back and let it happen and sometimes it's no fun at all.

Is there anyone out there who you see who's as committed as you are?

Mick's (Doohan) the only guy. The only guy I see that I can see is doing it right is Mick. And, I think he's doing a great job staying motivated and having fun and he's the only you can say, "You're doing it right." Because the other guys are just waiting for Mick to make a mistake instead of trying to push him into a mistake.

Do you ever point that out to your riders? Do they know?

I think the general thought when it comes to Mick is that we're racing for second. That includes (Alex) Criville. They're not racing Mick, they're racing everybody else. (My riders) see Mick doing it. He's flicking it a certain way and he's keeping it on line. And my guys say, "Well, I can't keep it on line." I say, "Mick does it right there." They say: "Yeah, but Mick's stronger. He's physically tuned his brain and muscles just to ride that 500." Well, you're not going to get there. You're not strong enough and it's going to take you a few years to get strong enough. They want the result now, they don't look it as a race by race thing. It's like if they don't have it today then we've got to change something else. I don't know what you're going to change.

What about after Mick? When he retires, what happens then?

I think it becomes exciting again. I think with Mick out of there I'd get new life. There's a lot of guys who are a couple of levels away from Mick. Everybody I think just races for second, but with Mick out of there it's exciting for them to talk on TV again and for us to go, "Hey, maybe we've got a chance this weekend." Mick's talking about racing another year. I said, "Why don't you race the 250 class or something?"

That's another change this year. How much different is it being able to concentrate on just one class this year?

It's wonderful. I can sleep in a little more because I don't have to get up. My day starts at 6 and ends at 11 every day. And most of that is just getting prepared to get up and getting prepared to go to bed. That 250 thing was a completely different set of circumstances, problems. The team was completely separate from the 500 team, the engineers, their particular problems, completely different than the 500s. There was no camaraderie between the two teams. And so I'd put on my red hat over here and mess with the 250 team and then I'd go out in the garage and come back in and change teams and go work with the other team. It was a lot of work on my end. You're trying to keep everybody motivated, because that's what it was - it was work. Keeping everybody motivated. And when I rode it wasn't work, it was just, this is the way it is. And, again, it's me understanding how everybody does it.

You've said that Tetsuya and Loris were completely different to deal with. Tetsuya could motivate himself more, at least in the beginning.

Tetsuya is really, really strong mentally when things are right. But when it's not right he's three-quarters throttle. I believe you have to be even more full throttle is when things are off a bit because the rider is going to have make up 70 percent of the deficit that we have. And Loris, he rides all on lap time. If the lap time's good, he's happy. But if it's not, it's like, fix it. I can't do it. If I could fix it, I'd be in my leathers.

Was that 250 Yamaha as bad as it was made out to be?

Yeah. It was electrical failures and seizing up on the warmup lap. I think at the end there Yamaha just gave up on the 250 thing and when they saw the effort Harada was giving they just went: "Hey, he's not trying, we're not going to try." Let's work more on this 500 thing. Kenny beating up on Yamaha in the press was hurting me and my sponsorship thing with Yamaha and Marlboro. I'm trying to do a good job in the 250 class and trying to protect the interest in the 500 class and I think both of my efforts suffered because of the effort Yamaha was giving.

But Kenny's always beat up on Yamaha.

Kenny's always beat up on Yamaha, but we were winning. Kenny said, "You know Wayne, we keep winning on that thing we're not going to get a better bike," and he was right. But I'm the one riding it and I didn't have a choice. And we would get in some huge arguments over there's no way that we can win on this thing and then we'd go out on Sunday and win. Kenny would go, "Wayne, how are we going to get a better bike?" But I didn't have a choice. But, now, the situation that he was in, and I was in, is that we could beat up on Yamaha all we wanted, we weren't going to win. I think Kenny convinced some people that that was the case and I knew all along that we needed the riders, the riders had to suck it up. Because. the Yamaha got so much better because they weren't winning the last couple of years. You can ask Mike Sinclair on Kenny's team about the Yamahas, a good rider could win the World Championship on it. Kenny's own guy would say that.

How's Yamaha's position changed from last year to this as far as development?

The problem we were having with Kenny last year, Yamaha and myself, was Yamaha wanted Kenny to stop all of his development. And there was some friction with Yamaha and Kenny. So then Yamaha was in a delicate position because they had Rainey Marlboro and Roberts Marlboro and if they showed more favoritism to me, they'd say Kenny's got this big team and you need to support him so Yamaha had to hold back. Whatever they give me they didn't want Kenny to have because I think they believed Kenny was doing something else. So, my effort suffered from Yamaha because they were trying to protect their sponsorship with me. It was really difficult with what Kenny was saying with Yamaha and the way things really were.

How does that translate to development?

For instance we showed up at a test and as soon as we started the bike Kenny's guys come over and said: "What's this? Oh, you guys got differ- ent cylinders on it, where's ours?" Kenny'd make a phone call to Marlboro and Marlboro would say: "Hey, what are you guys doing? You're helping Wayne, you're not helping Kenny." That's what I mean. We could develop, but with Kenny in there we couldn't do it.

So this year how's it different?

I tell you, it's been a joy. The way Team Rainey is now with Yamaha is a lot better for me because I don't have any controversy with taking something away from Kenny or Marlboro jumping in with, "How come the bikes are no good?" Now Yamaha has been able to develop stuff on Sete's bike, which is why he came, to develop. And it's really good, really good. Yamaha's putting a lot of money into it so we've got make sure it's right when they build it. We don't want to go off in some direction that's wrong. Right now we've got some new stuff that going to be really good when we get to Jerez.

[immersetravel]

Cheese-tasting in Zurich, Switzerland

I was able to visit Switzerland for a relatively low-budget trip to a notouriously expensive country because I was visiting a friend who was working an intership out of Baden, around a half hour outside of Zurich. Switzerland is definitely a more expensive country to visit, so if you’re sticking to a budget, try staying in a hostel or Airbnb where you can cook and eat some of your meals. Eating…

[skaruresonic]

Yeah I couldn’t actually digest that 3rd film either. Sorry to prompt discussion of it since I’m aware you were avoiding it knowing you’ll dislike it, but the discord discussion you guys had gave me catharsis since it aligned with my impression of the movie.

Apparently people are having discourse on Sonic’s “vengeance” thing being terribly ooc, but I just gave up giving a shit abt Sonic’s character integrity in the films a long time ago. Meanwhile, the portrayals of Shadow, Maria and Gerald pissed me off so much that I had to circle back into shitposting to disassociate from what I saw. My critical literary analysis heart would stop beating if it had to personally pull back the layers of how awful everything was. I feel like the people (and TV tropes) gassing this movie up aren’t real. Maria was done so dirty (beyond being fridge girl): girl didn’t even resemble the Maria that I was endeared to from the games. Shadow was a straight up spineless lapdog with the emotional range of a turnip. And the Jimbotniks were probably the worst Jim Carrey bits I’ve seen to date. So much runtime gone to Jimbotnik, instead of maybe… developing Maria and Shadow beyond Lilo & Stitch Lite(TM). If anything this movie has won the award of creating the best bastardisation of Gerald, no notes!! “A misogynist! Why didn’t I think of that?” Says the people that write Gerald off as an evil guy.

Truly, I’m not surprised with how far this Sonic movie circlejerk has come. I feel partially bad cuz the Sonic in my head tells me “Don’t dwell on it!” but it’s not easy, and we’re still going through the movie hype period. I’m a generally private person even online, so thanks for sharing your thoughts on the bits you did see.

Meanwhile, the portrayals of Shadow, Maria and Gerald pissed me off so much that I had to circle back into shitposting to disassociate from what I saw.

From the clips I watched, it genuinely seemed like a Scary Movie parody. I could not imagine spending $40 to see this in theaters, with a very palpable risk of having the crowd erupt into cheers when Maria died.

To get the mandatory elephant in the room out of the way: yeah, I am Le SA2 fan(tm), and that is going to color my perceptions. Even after accounting for personal bias, however... it's just a bad movie, Scoob.

Like, I'm sorry, but idk how else to describe it. The source material might have its fair share of rough edges and plot holes, but the changes actively make the preexisting narrative worse.

In fact, my buddy @woodchipp did a comprehensive write-up describing how the film's changes weaken SA2's narrative in exhaustive detail. I strongly advise you to go check it out:

...Besides, I don't think it's unfair to point out how a lack of faithfulness impacts the narrative, especially since they didn't have to borrow any SA2 elements at all.

Not to mention the filmmakers straight-up admitted in an interview that they relied on their memory of the game instead of using a single cent of their $122 million budget to buy the game on Steam.

Why borrow concepts if you're going to change them so radically to the point where they're in-name-only, or even inverted? Why not just make an original plot at that stage?

Admittedly, this is a situation I can't fully remain Switzerland on because SA2 is my all-time favorite game, period, let alone favorite Sonic game. It was the game that shaped me during my formative years.

Film or no film, I've always had issues with adaptations hollowing out the bones of the original game and replacing the marrow with their own pale substitutes. The fact that most adaptations refuse to be faithful sends the message that SA2 is worthless save for its Vibes, and I think the game deserves better than that.

Outside of that... it boggles my mind just how poorly-constructed the film seems to be, even just judging from a few clips? Putting aside its butchering of the source material, it's a poor narrative on its own merits. The previous two movies bored me, and kinda cheesed me off at certain points, but this one offended me on a spiritual level. And not just because it murdered my boy, but because it's bad. I wouldn't say that if I felt otherwise.

We had an incredibly long discussion about the film on Discord precisely because it is another onion of suckage; once you start peeling back the layers, they never stop.

I feel like the people (and TV tropes) gassing this movie up aren’t real.

Actually, TV Tropes can't seem to make up its mind on whether the researchers tortured Shadow. There are some entries that are straight-up fanfic. (ex. "the scientists feared him until Maria showed him compassion" - okay but Shadow told Maria he thought the scientists feared him during the starry night scene, which takes place presumably years after he befriended her. not that you'd know since nothing in the film tells us time is passing lmao And aside from Shadow mentioning it once in passing, this was never shown; in fact, everything we see of his treatment in the film implies the opposite. Plus there's the fact that he could have just left if he thought being there was so terrible, since nothing was particularly keeping him there; removing Maria's illness as a load-bearing pillar of the narrative really makes the rest suffer). In fact, during our discussions, I coined the term "Schroedinger's torture" to refer to fanon's perception of Shadow's backstory. Whether the researchers tormented Shadow depends on how much Emoshun you want the audience to feel at any given time.

...Anyway. That's just one (1) issue among many.

Putting the rest under a cut for length.

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Gerald

The film pretty much took away OG!Gerald's dignity in order to portray him as ~quirky.~ Except when it needed to portray him as A Worse Villain Than Eggman, because of course it did.

Wood pointed out that, unlike Shadow, Gerald does not receive any sympathy from the camera, despite the two sharing similar grief and goals. He's portrayed as dismissible due to being an Irredeemable Piece of Shit(tm), whose death warrants nothing more than a shrug.

In a film that purports to teach kids about muh grieving process, this is actually a pretty inadvertently odious message to send.

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Maria

Everything I want to say about Maria's portrayal has already been presented in the screenshots I posted.

The movie character, although nice, doesn't particularly read as Maria to me. She reads like an ordinary teenage girl.

And part of me feels like folks' general belief that Movie!Maria is more fleshed-out than Games!Maria is due to their belief that Maria was a boring, generic character to begin with. Because if you take a step back, you'd realize Movie!Maria fulfills the same function as her games counterpart. She also lacks the same amount of depth and agency. The only difference is she's able to do more typical kid stuff due to not being terminally ill.

Quirks =/= fleshing out a character. She still lacks ambitions and goals as her own person. She still only exists to fuel Gerald and Shadow's pain. In fact, they removed what little she already had by robbing her of last words - she instead ends her life with a scream. If this was supposed to be an improvement on her original portrayal, they didn't actually improve much, suffice to say.

As I've mentioned, Maria's illness is a load-bearing pillar. It's arguably the one element that ties everything together: Shadow's existence, Gerald's research, the GUN raid. By removing it, the whole story becomes a lot more scattered and disparate.

Why does GUN allow Gerald to keep his grandchild in a top-secret research facility where she regularly escapes with the highly-coveted test subject? Why isn't she going to school? What is keeping her here? What is there to keep Shadow here, aside from Maria's friendship, if he isn't to be her cure? The film doesn't even establish that he's immortal.

Even her memory doesn't garner any respect from the bereaved, since Gerald claims what Maria might have wanted doesn't matter and Shadow destroys her belongings in his mindless, pain-fuelled rage.

---

Shadow

...by removing the element of Gerald's brainwashing, the film portrays Shadow as a worse person than he is in the game, because now every destructive thing he does is the result of an active choice he makes. He knows for a stone-cold fact that Maria would not have wanted him to destroy the world, but he doesn't care because his pain is just that all-consuming. Who cares what the dead would have wanted, right?

Except, you know, Shadow didn't have to go to the lengths of global genocide to achieve "justice" for Maria. He could have done the same thing by simply killing all the GUN personnel and offing himself.

Movie!Shadow also consistently betrays an uncharacteristic selfishness, in that he appears to consider his pain the most important thing, to the point where he literally defines himself by it. I am not kidding when I say you could make a drinking game out of the number of times he uses the word.

Although his pain troubled him, Games!Shadow is, at his core, selfless. He is willing to set aside his trauma sometimes for the sake of others.

Even if we were to confine ourselves to the bounds of SA2, there's still the scene where he rescued Rouge from exploding on Prison Island.

Which, btw, is the polar opposite of what he did in the film, leaving Sonic to burn up in the atmosphere despite Sonic helping him see the light error of his ways.

Much respect, many atonement, wow.

Besides all this, there's also the strong implication that Movie!Shadow bends whichever way the wind blows him. He may not actually be capable of independent reasoning and agency. His behavior read as nearly toddler-like to us, in that he whined about desiring revenge like one and seemed easily influenced by whoever talked to him most recently.

DESPITE NOT BEING BRAINWASHED, he doesn't protest "wtf are you talking about, 'Maria's wishes don't matter'?" when Gerald insists giving humanity "what it deserves" matters more than honoring the dead's wishes. He just goes "ok, sounds good" and rolls with it.

The only way I can interpret his behavior is selfishness. People would chalk that up to Gerald being some master manipulator, but honestly, what Gerald said was so basic-bitch strawman nihilist that it hardly counts as manipulation.

Also, let's think about this for a second. What kind of message does that send about grief and trauma? Experience enough of either and you'll become a mindless creature, lashing out in pain for lack of any other coping method?

Note how Sonic never actually tells Shadow that the pain goes away, or at least lessens with time. You had one job.

Speaking of which!

---

Sonic

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GUN and US Military (Beyond Good and Evil voice) Prrrropaganda

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Writing.png

---

The film's... Problematic(tm) aspects in general

[leibal]

Kikö House is a minimal residence located in Riehen, Switzerland, designed by Wallimann Reichen. Recently acquired by a young family of four, the home is undergoing a transformation, embracing a new identity while working within a constrained budget. The redesign primarily tackles the layout challenges posed by the original structure.

[girlactionfigure]

🟪 Thursday - events from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( We occasionally get bitten by autocorrect, yesterday Nes Harim was changed to New Harim. )

▪️MK THREATENS A TERRORIST.. MK Zvi Sukkot accidentally discovered during a visit to the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem that the terrorist who carried out the attack in Givat Assaf in which a soldier was murdered was there for treatment.  He arrived at the terrorist's room and yelled at him: "We will make sure that the State of Israel kills you. We will pass a law that will execute you.”

▪️CALL FOR FUNERAL ATTENDEES.. “*I wanted to tell you about Geri Gideon Henghal*  A heroic soldier who worked very hard to get where he was. Struggled a lot to be a warrior. He had a lot of difficulty with the Hebrew language but he didn't give up. And succeeded! Yesterday he fell at the Givat Assaf intersection. Israeli citizens,  I urge you to come and pay your last respects to him. He deserves it.  The funeral will take place today at 15:00 at Mount Herzl.

▪️IRAN BELIEVES.. An Iranian source: The Iranian missile attack in April was not really intercepted as described in the media.  Most of the missiles that were launched simply fell on the way and did not even reach the territory of Israel.  A month ago, several test launches of surface-to-surface missiles were carried out after undergoing upgrades/repairs.

▪️US FORCES WITHDRAWING.. US Secretary of Defense ordered the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier battle group to leave the area. The destroyer USS Russell will also leave the area.

▪️NATIONAL BUDGET (1).. the Minister of Finance will propose to close five unnecessary government offices and propose that each of the coalition parties choose one of its ministries to close.

▪️NATIONAL BUDGET (2).. Finance Minister Smotrich presented the state budget for 2025. The budget will include NIS 160 billion for the war's security expenses, NIS 44 billion for civilian needs, and NIS 20 billion for reconstruction. In order to finance the budget, the Minister of Finance announced a series of measures, including cuts in government offices budgets, freezing Bituach Leumi benefits (pension, disability and poor) and raising the income tax.

▪️REAL OR FEAR MONGERING?  An official in southern Syria warns: "The Houthis are on their way to the Golan border, there are terror tunnels from Jordan."

▪️SWITZERLAND & UNRWA.. Swiss Parliament decided to stop funding UNRWA.

♦️TARGETED ELIMINATION - LEBANON.. 2 eliminated on a motorcycle in south Lebanon.

♦️TARGETED ELIMINATION - SAMARIA.. 3 eliminated in a strike overnight in Tulkarm on a car.  3 terrorists, at least some of whom are classified as senior, were successfully eliminated.

♦️SYRIA - COMMANDO RAID?  (Enemy reports - reliability is questionable but via multiple channels) during the unusual attack in the area of ​​Sayaf (מציאף, Masyaf), commando forces landed from helicopters and operated in the area. The forces operated in the area at the same time as heavy attacks that prevented access to the area.  Syria TV: Israeli helicopters landed forces in the area of ​​Mezaif with heavy air cover and captured 2 Iranians. 

( This is very far north in Syria, it would be surprising for Israel helicopters to operate that far into Syria. )

❗️INFILTRATION ALERT last night - Avnei Hefetz.. (Israeli town across the Green Line, near Tulkarm) infiltration alert, residents instructed to lock themselves indoors after a breach discovered in the fence.  Alert squad activated.

⭕ HEZBOLLAH ROCKET BARRAGE yesterday, over 100 rockets fired at northern towns yesterday.