#crime rates portrayal

[in-sightjournal]

Ask A Genius 995: A Sense of False Balance

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is there in the sense of false balance in the United States? Rosner: We just had a discussion where you said I went on a rant, which I believe to be accurate, about it being a Republican strategy to appeal to less informed voters because they are a capturable demographic. The GOP has been trying to capture them and has been largely successful since the 1970s. Where we…

[shamelesstragedyenjoyer]

Let's delve into the intricacies of an Omegaverse society, drawing insights from both biology and evolution. As a social science student myself with a background in anthropology, I aim to explore various aspects of this complex world, including its prison system, bathroom arrangements, treatment of the transgender community, societal norms, stigmas, reproduction dynamics, birth rates, and even the portrayal of sexuality through pornography.

Collaborating with my best friend, a medical student well-versed in anatomy, we've pooled our knowledge to shed light on how such a society might function, drawing parallels and extrapolating from existing data in our world.

So. Within the Omegaverse, there exist two overarching categories, male and female, each subdivided into three distinct statuses: Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Over time, the majority of individuals have transitioned beyond the Alpha and Omega distinctions, akin to how the human female body evolved past its reproductive heat cycles during the paleolithic period, marking a pivotal moment in human evolution.

In the distant past, during the age, Alpha males and Alpha females coexisted alongside their counterparts, Omega males and Omega females. The differences between Alpha males and females were minimal, much like the similarities between the two Omega sexes. However, there still were differences in genitalia where only Alpha females and Omega males displayed intersex characteristics. The enlarged clitoris of an Alpha female, resembling but distinct from a penis, possessed a knot—a feature absent in Alpha males— because of it's inability to produce sperm which necessitated an evolutionary adaptation towards a larger knot, in order to increase the chances of pregnancy.

Like stated before, the transition into a largely Beta population occurred even before the neolithic era, resulting into a similar contemporary societal structure as we know today. However, there being secondary genders didn't stop the historical oppression of all women. Only now it extended to impact Omega males, though they can pass as Betas if their genitalia remains private. Contrary to popular beliefs, there is no discernible scent associated with Omegas in heat; instead, it is their aura and demeanor that undergo noticeable changes. A "sex appeal", if you will, that affects everyone except Beta women for a vast number of reasons i'll touch upon later.

Legal frameworks exists to address non-consensual interactions with Omegas in heat, and sometimes even with Alphas in ruts. Statistical data still reflects a disproportionate involvement of Alpha and Beta males in such crimes.

In cases of rape involving an Omega in heat, the perpetrator might exploit societal biases to justify their actions or even escape punishment altogether. They might argue that the Omega's biological state somehow diminished the severity of the crime.

Similarly, in cases of rape involving an Alpha in rut, the legal system might downplay the seriousness of the offense due to the perceived status and power of the victim over the perpetrator.

In such a society, power dynamics based on genetic status and gender could heavily influence the legal process as well. Despite the vulnerability of Omegas in heat and the potential vulnerability of Alphas in rut, the legal system might consider it an extenuating circumstance for the aggressor.

In the Alpha Beta Omega prison system, inmates are segregated based on their genetic status and gender to ensure safety and maintain social order. Alpha males and Alpha females, Beta males and Beta females & Omega males and Omega females are all housed in separate facilities due to the perceived risks associated with mixing different genetic statuses and genders.

This segregation is justified by concerns for safety, as it is believed that males, regardless of their secondary gender, have the potential to overpower females. By separating inmates in this manner, authorities aim to mitigate the risks of violence and maintain control within the prison environment.

Alphas and Omegas are not exceedingly rare, but they remain somewhat uncommon, often noted and remembered as peculiarities. Their presence evokes a similar level of curiosity as encountering a left-handed person or a natural redhead—an intriguing aspect of diversity that captures attention but is ultimately regarded with a level of casual interest.

Second out of three parts coming right up, Tumblr won't let me post more images !

Also stay tuned, next part is gonna include a list of the Batfam members who I think are Omegas

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

Why hello there.

Listen,I don’t have much to say about the newest LO episode so here’s an ares ranking to go along with the other ones.

Spoilers.

Percy Jackson:

6/10

Look,Ares is a really weird figure when it comes to how the media presents him.

Almost always they present him as this sexist frat boy when in mythology he is:

A reported protector of mistreated woman.

The patron god of the amazons and was worshipped to the point that their leader had 2 babies with him.

Scored the GODDESS PF LOVE AND BEAUTY and there is no way you cannot convince me she doesn’t have some pretty high standards(even though apparently you can convince most of the writers on this list)

And as much as I love Percy Jackson,it is not devoid of crimes.

In the first book,he helps Luke/Kronos steal Zeus’ master bolt and Hades’ helm of invisibility as to start a civil war within the gods.id say this is a pretty good portrayal overall.

…until we get to the second book.

This myth will be very important so long story short:a daughter of ares got r*** by a son of Poseidon so Ares,like any reasonable and bloodthirsty god of war,fucking killed him.

After this,he got put on trial for murder as if he wasn’t the literal god of bloody war,and all the ladies vouched for him so he got set free.

Let’s just say,Rick Riordan didn’t know of this myth.

In the second book,there’s a scene where Clarisse La Rue,a DAUGHTER of ares talks to him through a magic mirror.

There,he threatens her and says he should have sent one of his sons on the quest.and keep in mind she is his FAVORITE DAUGHTER.

So yeah.

I don’t really like this portrayal but he gets points for bringing Clarisse and (technically)Frank into this world since I like them both.also the fact that Percy could tell he had beef with him even without having any other memory.

Lore Olympus:

1/10

FUCK THIS GUY

Remember when I said that modern Ares was more often than not a sexist frat boy?we’ll add “predator” and “Reddit nice guy” to that list because RS can’t write.

If in Percy Jackson Aphrodite had terrible standards here said standards are so much worse.

He spends MONTHS trying to seduce a 19-YEAR-OLD and then tries to marry her without her consent.

Also,sir,YOU HAVE THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND BEAUTY FULLY AT YOUR DISPOSAL AND YOURE PICKING A GURL WHO DOESNT EVEN KNOW HIW TO USE A COMPUTER????

Great.this guy is a predator,Reddit nice guy,AND stupid.

I remember saying that the only character who could get a lowers rating than LO Persephone being LO hades and then I remembered this fuck existed.

Fuck him.

Hades:

10/10

Your know when you see something and then immediately want to wash your eyes with soap?this is my soap.

He is my third favorite Olympian in the game,coming third to Hermes and Artemis.

So here’s a few reasons why I like him:

Doom anything with impending doom and the increasing doom damage boon does absurd amounts of damage.

Curse of nausea is one of the best duos in the game.

He respects woman.(oh look they finally Aphrodite standards)

His quest is stupidly easy and he was the first Olympian who’s bond I maxed out.

I know this joke has been made so many times but.he really is a Chthonic simp.

He doesn’t get too pissed if you don’t pick him is trial of gods.hes just here for the bloodshed.

It may be just the fact that almost every other interpretation of ares is bad,but I really like him.

Also Aphrodite wearing his face paint in hades 2-

OSP:

7/10

He’s cool.

I really don’t have much else to add except the helmet stays on during sex.

Gods school:

5/10

Welp Back to the incels-

Him straight up telling Aphrodite that he can do whatever he wants because she won’t leave is just.why.

I don’t get why people go to this myth,turn it around,and act as if they’ve done a service by making Ares miserable when in the myths it was already a good ending.

What is with the obsession with making ares a toxic ex boyfriend when in the myths him and ‘dite were literally love and war.

Another issue I have with gods school is the fact they made Aphrodite a Karen Smith when in the myths shes a Regina George but that’s a problem for the Aphrodite ranking.

Also I just realized the Aphrodite Hephaestus ares myth is the og “I fell in love with a bad boy story”-

Epic:the musical:

8/10

I don’t have a physical picture of him but I already like him.

The only time he he appears is during a bit of an unfinished song but he does bring up some pretty good points,like the Scylla thing.

Also the fact Athena didn’t directly refute any of his points but instead persuaded him with the fact that the moment Ody gets home the suitors are going to be fucked is surprisingly great.

Also can I just say how absolutely hyped I am for god games?Aphrodite’s part fucking rocks and I’m excited for Apollo and Hephaestus.

Also here’s my ranking for epic Hermes since I wasn’t part of the fandom back then:

10/10

*insert dolphin laugh here*

[deathonthe]

mona lisa's smile | 1418

pairing: fernando/lance

rating: teen and up

word count: ~7000

tags: pre-relationship, 2021 season, non-driver lance au

summary:

Two-time world champion. Robbed from his third. A villain’s making—a slow descent from glory, trajectory fixed on an unfulfilling end. Back from his sabbatical. Fernando Alonso.

director's cut:

don't let my ramblings influence ur interpretation of the fic!

these are my notes/reflection on the fic. they don't have to be urs. different minds can come to different conclusions that are equally fantastic!

mona lisa's smile is supposed to disappear when u view her directly, but out of ur peripheral, she is always smiling mysteriously (eerily). i thought it was fitting given the characterisation of lance and the facade he kinda keeps up in the fic

my obvious issue is that since it is an incomplete fic, the focus on lance and esteban's friendship overshadowed his developing one with fernando

i thought the risotto scene was corny, i'm glad people liked it

yes, it's written so that u can't really tell if someone's talking about something or somehow implying it or thinking it

i'm impartial to when people portray lance as having daddy issues and lawrence being a bad father. obviously i don't know jackshit about lance's relationship with his dad, but i wanted to depict it in a positive light this time around

whether or not scotty was going behind chloe's back with daniel is up to u. i couldn't decide whether he would or wouldn't so i left it vague

i don't know shit about ice hockey. i had to google who the canadiens were. they're not mentioned more because i couldn't be stuffed doing more research

i back read way too many articles about lawrence buying racing point, because i thought the dts portrayal was a bit inaccurate

lance and esteban do speak french when they're together so i'm glad i at least got that part of their characterisation correct

i actually started taking duolingo lessons for french because of this fic

the style is choppy on purpose because i hate grammar and tense

the line of 'offers security physically in the only way he knows how' is not implying that lance fucks este. i think lance often grabbing parts of himself to kinda subconsciously reassure himself, i tried to transfer that vibe into his friendship with esteban

to be clear, fernando does not give a shit about lance really until he meets him again when lance is like 20/21

the part that goes 'lance had watched from the grandstands that day. the crowd roared. he hadn't thought much of it' was actually regarding fernando's abu dhabi retirement donuts, and not him winning in spain in 2013

if misappropriating classical writing in my trashy fics was a crime, i would be on death row

at this point, it is not clear whether fernando is approaching lance as part of his El Plan or if he's genuinely interested in him

re: esteban and pierre possibly both being in renault. hindsight is a beautiful thing

fernando's "we are like lions. podiums soon" is another reference to the iliad. i wasn't sure if the implication was strong enough

i was originally going to scrap the 'must've misheard italian for indian' line because i wasn't sure if it would offend people

in the risotto scene, sebastian is actually oblivious as to what's happening. he's not pretending to be. he is fully unaware

my most despised line in this fic is: a son of a billionaire he may be, but a waster of food he is not. i think it's too cheesy and doesn't fit with the style of the fic. looking back now, i'm not sure why i kept it

i think the 'lance's lack of passion' character choice stems a lot from how f1 fans think lance is somehow detached from the sport and doesn't really care for it as much as, let's say, fernando or max, who are always very clearly enthusiastic about racing. it's probably also got something to do with lance's 'monotonous voice' that people like to complain about. it's ok, though, because lance is plenty expressive in his face and body language

fernando's post-race interview after his bahrain dnf is an amalgamation of some of the actual post-race interviews he's given

my favourite line in this fic is: Un jour, vous en ferez l'expérience. Cela fait battre votre cœur pour la première fois et votre cœur ne cessera de battre après. too bad it had to be in french

the ass-tap was inspired by the video of fernando congratulating lance after lance got p3 in the wet qualifying for brazil 2023 (i believe, need to double check on that)

the aston engineer is 100% suspicious about lance and fernando

thanks for putting urself through all of that!

[cometomecosette]

Les Misérables" musical character interpretations: Madame Thénardier

Here are the four main musical characterizations I've seen of a nasty woman we all love to hate.

Whenever I want to shorten her name, I've used "Thénardiess," Charles Wilbour's translation of Hugo's "la Thénardier" ("the Thénardier woman").

The Giantess

            This boisterous, imposing Mme. Thénardier embodies Hugo’s description of the character as a “mastodon,” who “swore splendidly” and could crack nuts with her fist. She’s typically a very large, masculine-looking woman, with a gruff, booming voice, but regardless of what she looks or sounds like, her personality is larger-than-life. She’s loud, coarse, money-grubbing, hard-drinking, and fun-loving, yet with a monstrous temper. Her abuse of Cosette is ferocious: while her bellowing might get laughs just for being so over-the-top, they won’t laugh at the way she grabs, shoves, and threatens to beat the little girl. But apart from this, she tends to be the more comical Thénardier spouse compared to her slimier, more sinister husband, and she gleefully hams up all her comic business: faking sobs at the news of Fantine’s death and over her fake baby in “The Robbery,” slapstick at the wedding, etc. Yet broadly funny though she is, she isn’t stupid. It varies whether she comes across as her husband’s equal partner in crime or a the real “brains of the outfit,” but either way, her brutish exterior hides a scheming mind, and though she bickers nonstop with Thénardier, he couldn’t get by without her. At any rate, he won’t dominate her; this Thénardiess is indominable.

The Witch

         This Mme. Thénardier is less physically imposing than the Giantess, but she’s arguably more sinister. She tends to be thin, angular, and bony, and she likely has big teeth with a gap or two in them. Physically, she’s all sharp edges, more like a stereotypical witch (hence her name) than like Hugo’s “ogress.” Those sharp edges extend into her personality too. Where the Giantess tends to be the more comical of the Thénardiers while her husband has a darker edge, the Witch is the more serious and blatantly ruthless of the two: the embodiment of the villainy her husband hides behind his amiable façade. Her humor is sarcastic and bitter, and while her abuse of Cosette is probably less loud than other Mme. Thénardiers’, it’s more venomous, without playing any lines for laughs. Whether she comes across as her husband’s equal partner in crime or as the one in charge will depend on the portrayal of her husband, but either way, she’s at least just as cunning as he is and likely more so. It’s also likely that within her sharp, sinister demeanor, there’s a hint of mental instability. If the novel’s version of Éponine were to live to middle age, marry a man she didn’t love, and become much less sympathetic, she would probably resemble this version of her mother.

The Oppressed Oppressor

            While still a comic character and still a villain, this Mme. Thénardier is more sympathetic than others. While the Giantess best captures the grotesque and brutal qualities of Hugo’s character, this one captures her pathetic aspects. Like Hugo’s Thénardiess, this one is dominated by her more cunning husband, and he treats her shabbily. Throughout “Master of the House,” he’ll be shown treating her more like a servant than a wife, and when Valjean arrives, Thénardier will direct her every move: when to feign tears, when to stop, when to fish for more money, when to stop so as not to seem greedy, etc. It’s clear that she’s both bitter and utterly exhausted by this life. Yet at the same time, she might convey unrequited love for her husband. (Foreshadowing her daughter’s plight?) During “Master of the House” she might genuinely try to attract him, only for him to repulse her and flirt with younger women. Thus, her string of insults toward him stems from weariness and hurt, and she makes it comical as a coping mechanism. Of course, none of this can excuse her treatment of Cosette (who clearly serves as an outlet for her general frustration), or her willing role in all her husband’s schemes. But whether we like her or not, we understand where she’s coming from.

The Fallen Beauty

            This Mme. Thénardier is very, very different from Hugo’s character, but within the musical, she can be effective. This Thénardiess is neither a brute nor a frump, but a sensual and reasonably attractive woman. Yes, she’s aging, blowsy, and mean, with a gaudy fashion sense, but she was clearly a beauty in her youth, still has charms, and knows it. She specializes in flirting and seducing men to pick their pockets or manipulate her way out of trouble. We’ll see her do this successfully with at least one inn customer during “Master of the House” and later attempt it, not so successfully, with Valjean and Javert too. And the same erotic hold she has over the drunks at the inn she also has over her husband, enhanced by the fact that she’s smarter than he is. While in front of others she lets him talk more and pretend to be in charge, she’s unquestionably the true “master of the house.” Both she and Thénardier enjoy this arrangement. The insults she aims at him are playful: though his blundering exasperates her, she really is happily married. As for the rest of her demeanor, she sometimes shows a temper, but in general she’s an understated schemer, with a distinctly dry, deadpan sense of humor. Hugo’s Thénardiess she’s not, but she’s an interesting comic character in her own right.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

I don’t think I’ve ever felt like the universe actively conspired against something until I witnessed the production of The Flash.

Since 1991 there have been quite a few proposals for Flash movies, but they never really got off the ground for whatever reason. Following Barry’s debut in Justice League, a movie finally was announced before multiple delays due to rewrites, in particular to cut Ray Fisher’s Cyborg from the story after he went public about the awful shit he had to deal with under Joss Whedon. Things seemed hopeless until It director Andy Muschietti came onboard, at which point production on the film finally started to go smoothly. Sure, there were rumblings about Ezra Miller having episodes on set, but that’s just typical actor nonsense, right? Surely it couldn’t get any worse!

Look, I’m here to review a movie so I’ll keep this brief: Miller committed crimes. Lots of crimes. So many, in fact, you’d think they were method acting for the role of Reverse-Flash. The thing is, despite all of this, Miller was basically given a slap on the wrist by the studio, being forbidden from doing promos and press tours (oh no! The horror!). And as if the situation wasn’t already a fucking mess, while Miller’s crime spree was ongoing WB canned the nearly-complete Batgirl movie that featured Michael Keaton and Academy Award-winning actor Brendan Fraser while simultaneously inflating The Flash’s budget to nearly $300 million with reshoots. It seems baffling to cancel a movie that was nearly done and that people were marginally interested in for the sake of a movie that people were losing interest in quickly due to its star’s erratic behavior, but remember: Leslie Grace isn’t white, while Ezra Miller is. WB is never beating those racism allegations at this rate.

With a normal movie, this is where the nonsense ends. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

This film was meant to smooth out the clusterfuck continuity of the “Snyderverse” with a soft reboot, with Henry Cavill filming a end-of-movie cameo alongside Miller, Gal Gadot, Keaton, and Supergirl’s actress Sasha Calle to establish the new direction of DC going forward. Unfortunately, the hierarchy of power at DC changed, and Gunn shot that down. While this meant the ending would probably not get people confused with regards to upcoming projects, it also meant the movie wasn’t going to really have any closure for the old universe. Affleck, Cavill, and who knows who else are just gone, and the future is just a big old question mark. At least Aquaman is safe, maybe?

Literally none of this news was very reassuring to fans. Nothing above is any good for a film’s perception to audiences under normal circumstances, but here we have all this news coming to a fanbase that genuinely did not want this fucking movie. The DCEU was already divisive when the film was announced, and Miller’s portrayal of Barry doubly so; the fact it was adapting Flashpoint was seen as lazy and uninspired, not to mention its not really a story that lets Flash stand on his own merits, making it seem more like this movie was just an excuse to reboot; it was a multiverse story in a day and age with an abundance of such stories, and it was releasing around the same time as Across the Spider-Verse to boot; and Gunn’s reboot plans meant this story was likely a narrative dead end. This movie had an uphill battle the likes of which haven’t been seen since Sisyphus.

But much like that mythological figure, the boulder came crashing right back down when the numbers came in. The movie would likely need to gross $500 million at minimum to break even after factoring in the reshoots and advertising, and it only managed half of that with a pitiful opening weekend followed by a massive 73% drop. It now sits alongside films like The Lone Ranger and Mortal Engines as one of the most expensive bombs in history, to the point where WB would have saved more money by cancelling it like they did with Batgirl. And despite glowing praise from the likes of Tom Cruise and Stephen King, it received middling reviews from mainstream critics.

Audiences haven’t been any less mixed, but considering most people weren’t particularly excited or invested in this film’s existence this is basically a miracle. Sure, there’s plenty of people out there saying this is the “worst comic book movie ever” like they do every time a new superhero movie drops, but even more people are saying they enjoyed the film… although even they tend to have some severe criticisms.

Even though I knew most of what was going to happen in the movie going in, I wasn’t really sure what to expect given everything surrounding the movie. But you know me, I’m willing to give almost any movie a chance, and bombs this big don’t happen every day, so even before it was voted on I was trying to make time to check it out. So sit down, microwave yourself a snack—

—and watch as I try and determine if The Flash is really that bad.

THE GOOD

The biggest shock of this film is that Ezra Miller is actually really good here.

Their Barry is still a bit of a goofball, but he’s clearly matured as a character since his precious appearances. They managed to make him much more charming and likable than he ever was, and this gets compounded when he interacts with the younger Barry and gets confronted with how annoying he was before. I think young Barry could have come off as really insufferable, but the fact he annoys everyone around him and also ends up maturing makes him a lot more endearing.

Miller really kills it with the emotional moments, particularly the ending encounter with Barry’s mom and the scene where old Barry snaps at young Barry. The film is really carried by the dramatic, emotional moments far more than any of the superheroics, and Miller manages to sell a lot of it very well. It was to the point where I started thinking, “I really wouldn’t mind if they stick around.” Then a scene where Barry says the Justice League has no real psychiatric help or where his younger self ends up repeatedly exposing himself in public by accident happens, and then I remembered, “Oh yeah, aren’t they a mentally unwell criminal?”

Unsurprisingly, Michael Keaton absolutely kills it in his role as Batman, but much more shockingly is that Ben Affleck's brief return as Bruce is pretty great as well. I always thought Affleck, much like Henry Cavill, was desperately trying to give a great performance while weighed down by bad writing; here, he gets an actual poignant scene where he talks to Barry about how dwelling on tragedies isn't the way to do things, and you should try and move forward instead. It shows he really could have been great if given better material to work with.

Okay, enough being nice to Affleck, I wanna talk about Keaton again. As much as the marketing hyped him up and as much as he is obviously the most blatant fanservice possible, it's still so cool to see him in the suit again. I am not immune to nostalgia pandering, and as corny as it could have been from anyone else, the zoom into his face when he says The Line really is a highlight of the movie. Keaton has a great deal of charisma, and while there are issues with Batman they aren't his fault at all. Most impressively, he doesn't steal the show away from Miller like I thought he would; he enhances the scenes he's in without stealing the spotlight completely from their performance. I feel like this is a problem in a lot of movies like this, where the lead gets overshadowed by a hyped up character, but somehow The Flash of all things managed to avoid this.

And as bad as the cameos could get, this movie gave two of the greatest cameos ever put to film with the return of the GOAT George Clooney Batman and, best of all, Nicolas Cage Superman from the unmade Superman Lives, fighting a giant spider to the death just as God intended. I am not immune to the charms of Nicolas Cage.

Overall, this movie presents us with a solid story, plenty of fun moments, great character dynamics, and more... for the first two acts, anyway.

THE BAD

Once this movie hits the third act, it basically just loses any and all focus and becomes a big dumb video game-esque battle against Zod and his forces in a bland desert landscape. While both Barrys admittedly get some pretty cool moments sprinkled in and Keaton’s Batman’s second death is actually a well done emotional moment, Supergirl ends up being completely wasted, with her sole role being to angrily scream and then die repeatedly.

This actually highlights the problem with Kara in this movie: She’s basically nothing but a plot device and has zero personality, and a good 80% of her dialogue is just angry screaming. As hot as Sasha Calle is and how much she obviously wants to make Kara compelling, she is given so little to work with that her efforts end up being fruitless. She does nothing of consequence after helping Barry get his powers back, and could be replaced or written out of the story and it would still make perfect sense.

Zod’s inclusion is pretty baffling as well, especially since they chose to water down one of the only good things from Man of Steel into a boring, generic doomsday villain. You can really feel that poor Michael Shannon would rather be doing anything else, and his bored performance just highlights how poorly implemented Zod is in the plot. Like, the Fladh has some of the best and most colorful DC villains in his rogues gallery, one’s that are often overlooked because Batman’s villains sell more toys. Why not highlight some of them instead of taking a Superman villain and stripping him of all personality to the point the actor clearly has no passion for the role? Cutting Zod would make cutting Supergirl even easier, and then two of the biggest problems with the movie are gone!

The third act does manage to mostly rerail itself once it goes back to Barry trying to unfuck the timeline, with only a disgustingly egregious bit of fanservice that I’ll discuss in the next section hampering it. But at the end, despite the incredibly based George Clooney cameo, there’s just so many unresolved and unanswered questions, with the biggest one being who killed Barry’s mom? Considering her death is what kickstarted the whole plot, you’d think this might come up, but it never does. A lot of other things come up and get dropped too, like whatever was going on with Batman in the opening, but maybe I’m just crazy for wanting elements introduced in a plot to have significance beyond just being there to be cool.

Even beyond that, there’s the fact that Supergirl and Keaton!Batman’s final fates are never really resolved, something that apparently wasn’t a problem in early versions of the film since they showed up alive in the final scene. As much as I loved seeing Clooney, I think trading him for getting some closure for Keaton and Calle would have been more satisfying.

Everyone harps on how bad the CGI is—and it absolutely is, don’t get me wrong—but for the most part I found it endearingly bad. Like the opening with the CGI babies? That’s too goofy for me to hate. But once the movie revolves into bland grey and black CGI bad guys and creepy deepfake celebrity cameos, I stop being quite so forgiving.

Oh, and on the subject of cameos, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one as pointless and unfunny as Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman showing up out of nowhere (complete with theme music) to make Bruce and Barry look like dumb assholes. Imagine thinking this was a good idea.

THE UGLY

The biggest point of contention surrounding this movie is the CGI necromancy used in the aforementioned cameo clusterfuck from the climax, which gives us George Reeve, Christopher Reeves, and Adam West posthumously reprising their DC roles in non-speaking appearances (there’s archived audio from West, but his cameo isn't really focused on to the point you can barely tell it's him) where they just stand there before the camera swoops around like in that Saul Goodman gif.

I think this is one of the very few times where I actually think the outrage is mostly justified. To be clear, I’m not getting mad on behalf of dead celebrities I never knew, and as long as the filmmakers went through the proper channels and the estates of these stars were properly compensated, I don’t have any legal objections. All of my distaste is coming from a subjective, moral standpoint.

I have never liked this CGI necromancy ever since Rogue One popularized it. I find it really gross and distasteful, and in most cases I think finding a lookalike actor would be preferable than playing Weekend at Bernie’s with a computer generated facsimile of a dead person. In The Flash, I understand having lookalikes would diminish the wow factor of the crossover, but there was an extremely easy workaround to this: Have cameos from all the living DC stars.

Was Brandon Routh not available to put on the Superman tights? Would it have been so bad to let Grant Gustin pop in for a cameo? They acknowledge Helen Slater, so why not Melissa Benoist? Hell, if you want to reference bad, campy movies, have Shaq show up as Steel or Josh Brolin pop in as Jonah Hex! Or even Ryan Reynolds, I’d bet he’d be down to return if you gave him a real suit this time!

Like there’s just no excuse for ghoulishly parading around dead guys when there’s so many alive guys you could use instead. People can complain all they want about the fanservice and cameos in the past few Spider-Man films, but at least they only had returning characters played by living actors. And when this movie already has the niche, out-there Nic Cage Superman cameo, proving they were down to do things as out there and inoffensively creative as reference unmade movies, it’s really just inexcusable. It doesn’t ruin the movie for me, but it makes me lose a bit of respect for the people who okayed this over less offensive cameo ideas.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

To my surprise, this film actually turned out to be pretty good. Not “great,” not “the best superhero movie ever,” but genuinely mostly good and enjoyable.

My opinion is that the movie is good in spite of itself. The third act is truly a hot mess, the stupid desert battle against Zod is awful and boring, Supergirl is depressingly pointless, so many plot points are just dropped or otherwise forgotten, and the CGI necromancy is nothing short of ghoulish. But the rest of the movie is truly a lot of fun. Barry and his younger self have a fun dynamic, Keaton really manages to take what little he’s given and show that he’s still got it as Batman, the Clooney and Cage cameos were delightful, and most importantly the emotional moments are actually effective.

I think with a bit more polish this film could have actually lived up to the hype around it. There is a great movie in here being suffocated by fanservice and CGI but still managing to get a few gasps of air regardless. I think if they’d kept the conflict more grounded or made Reverse-Flash the primary antagonist, things might have turned out better.

I think its score is pretty fair. My friend @huyh172 described this as “the worst good DC movie,” and it’s an assessment I fully agree with. It’s not as good as Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Suicide Squad, the Snyder Cut, or Shazam!, and it’s definitely not as bad as stuff like Wonder Woman 1984 or Josstice League. It’s also a bit too enjoyable to be mid. It’s just a really solid movie held back from true greatness by some damning flaws… and really, that makes it the perfect capstone to the "Snyderverse," a cinematic universe that had some solid movies but was held back from greatness by incredibly bad ones.

[gaysails]

The Wire is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by American author and former police reporter David Simon . . . Set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland, The Wire introduces a different institution of the city and its relationship to law enforcement in each season while retaining characters and advancing storylines from previous seasons. The five subjects are, in chronological order; the illegal drug trade, the port system, the city government and bureaucracy, education and schools, and the print news medium. . .

Simon has said that despite its framing as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed."[5]

The Wire is lauded for its literary themes, its uncommonly accurate exploration of society and politics, and its realistic portrayal of urban life. During its original run, the series received only average ratings and never won any major television awards, but it is now often cited as one of the greatest shows in the history of television.[6]

. . .

Salon has described the show as novelistic in structure, with a greater depth of writing and plotting than other crime shows.[27]

Each season of The Wire consists of 10 to 13 episodes that form several multi-layered narratives. Simon chose this structure with an eye towards long story arcs that draw in viewers, resulting in a more satisfying payoff. He uses the metaphor of a visual novel in several interviews,[7][48] describing each episode as a chapter, and has also commented that this allows a fuller exploration of the show's themes in time not spent on plot development.[5]

. . .

"We are not selling hope, or audience gratification, or cheap victories with this show. The Wire is making an argument about what institutions—bureaucracies, criminal enterprises, the cultures of addiction, raw capitalism even—do to individuals. It is not designed purely as an entertainment. It is, I'm afraid, a somewhat angry show.[52]"

[scotianostra]

Happy 76th Birthday the excellent Scottish actor David Hayman.

Hayman, one of Scotland’s most acclaimed actors of stage and screen was born in Bridgeton, Glasgow on February 9th 1948.

David Hayman grew up as one of three children in a working class family in Drumchapel, Glasgow. Leaving school without any academic qualifications he started work as a would-be engineer at 16. One day, wearing his grease stained boiler suit, he marched into the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and announced his intention to become an actor. He still has no idea where this came from, he is basically a shy person and there was no family history of acting. He took advice and joined an amateur dramatics group and a year later was accepted to study drama and has never been out of work since.

His film and television credits are, frankly, much too numerous to list but include his superb portrayal of hard man Jimmy Boyle in “Sense of Freedom” and, of course, he is recognisable everywhere as Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Walker in Linda La Plante’s long running Trial and Retribution series.He has also starred in the hit Scottish cop drama Shetland as well as Scottish comedy shows Scotch & Wry, Rab C Nesbitt and Still Game.

Hayman has also directed numerous films and TV shows as well as regularly treading the boards in the Theatres.

Away from acting, David established his Glasgow-based charity Spirit Aid in 2001. It has gone on to become one of Scotland’s most successful small scale humanitarian organisations. He started Spirit Aid because he wanted to do a Scottish Live Aid at Hampden, but his rock stars let him down. “They were all, ‘Oh, man, I’m burned out,’ and I was thinking, ‘You’re sitting on your fat arse on your sofa with £40 million in the bank. Go and sit in a refugee camp in Afghanistan and tell me you’re burned out’. But I thought, I believe in this, I’ve got to keep going.”

He spends several months every year visiting his charity’s relief projects where he employs indigenous workers wherever possible. His fundraising operations include Operation Loo Roll, a project selling toilet paper that raised £100,000 in 2007. The charity undertakes humanitarian relief projects from Kosovo to Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malawi and South Africa.

Hayman is a big campaigner for a Scottish film studio, which is looking like happening soon, he says “It takes the Americans to come in and build a shed where they shoot Outlander and that’s the nearest thing we have to a film studio, think of all the movies that we’ve lost, all the money that we’ve lost all the way back to Braveheart.”

David was recently in the fab comedy from Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones, Our Ladies, “set mainly in Edinburgh a group of Catholic school girls get an opportunity to go to the capital for a choir competition, but they’re more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up than winning the competition” it is an adaptation of Scottish author, Alan Warner, of Morvern Callar fame’s third novel Sopranos, I read the book in the late 90’s it is a laugh out loud book, and the film is also very good.

Hayman was in an interesting film, My Neighbor Adolf, last year, which I haven’t got round to watching yet, set in 1960;s Brazil he plays a “lonely and grumpy” Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbour is none other than Adolf Hitler. We also saw him in the sequel Fisherman's Friends: One and All, both films get ratings of 6.2, and 6.4 on IMDB . I have just started a binge watch of Chemistry of Death, a Brit crime thriller series which is on Paramount plus. Last year David played a Chieftain in the Disney Star Wars prequal series Andor.

David won a top theatre award for his portrayal of northern Irishman, Eric, in the acclaimed play Cyprus Avenue last year, he has a couple of projects lined up, Jailbroken, an action crime thriller described as "the day before a violent criminal is due to be released from prison he receives a threatening call. Armed only with a mobile phone he must somehow save his family - and himself."And at the other end of the spectrumis a fantasy called Assassins Guild, "After the Mermaid Wars, Iliad's city is attacked by dark forces. With the city full of rancor and corruption, Death herself forms an alliance and offers Atticus, an elite fighter, the chance to return to life. This gift comes at a price."

[startrekmemequeen]

4, 6, and 10 for the ask game :3

4. Least favourite character

It's hard to choose cause there are so many characters in star trek 😅

From the top of my head, Gul Dukat. I hate him with passion.

Also Kivas Fajo cause he hurt Data and it's just a crime against humanity.

5. Favourite alien race?

I really like klingons, they have one of the most well-written cultures in star trek. Also i don't remember star trek enterprise well cause i watched it in 2017 but Xindi are so cool as a concept. 5 (if i'm not mistaken) intelligent species evolving on one planet. Aquatic Xindi having spaceships filled with water. It would be cool if it happened to our planet too.

10. Do you read fanfiction? If so, what are your faves?

I read it a while ago but i liked it. Summary: A slanging match turns into a competition as two men of science and engineering pit their creations in a head-to-head race. For a young android just emerging into sentience, will the pressure prove to be too much? Or will it change the way it views humanity, and itself?

It has Noon ^^ (honestly i don't remember how well he was portrayed there but at least the portrayal wasn't bad you know what i mean). But the desription of the race is breathtaking. This fic made me feel feelings.

Summary: It's Cadet La Forge's first year at the Academy and his only goal is to be the best engineer that Starfleet has ever seen. On his first day, he meets the most unusual student that's ever attended the Academy - a highly advanced android named Data. As the two grow closer, however, it becomes apparent that certain cadets don't want Data to succeed ... and will go to catastrophic lengths to stop him.

A daforge fic with very interesting plot (no smut, rated M for the angst and injuries and stuff like that). Amazing slow burn.

Summary: "You know, Data, I've been thinking about some of the times we've had. Like that time we went sailing on Devala Lake. You remember that?"

"I have a complete memory record of that day."

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Summary: Noonien Soong is an undergrad at the Daystrom Academy with a desire to accomplish great things. Maybe too great for his capacity.

The high expectations himself and others put on him always gave him the need to be the best at what he does, but the recent doubts that his promises might not be fulfilled has taken a toll in his self confidence.

Academy Noon! This fic has my whole heart. Wonderful characterization.

[chillibeanos]

WELCOME TO THE APOCALOVERSE

"WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE AND OTHERWORLDLY POWERS COME INTO PLAY, THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IS TO EMBRACE THE WEIRD!"

hi there!!! the name's Chilli!

You may know me from other platforms, in-game tags or in real life! Well, whatever the case may be, I'm excited to have your attention! :3

More about me:

I go by Chilli or Max! Whatever you prefer

I like various franchises and hobbies but my main interest is my own ocs! I hope you love them as much as i do!

I have a huge passion for art and film! I'm hoping to one day become an animator, screenwriter or storyboard artist.

My best buddies are @local-soda-can, @pastriibunz, @your-favourite-goat and @eretsimons12!!!

WHAT IS THE APOCALOVERSE?!?

The Apocaloverse is a collection of stories derived from various sci-fi, supernatural, horror, comedy, old-timey and fantasy elements.

With 4 stories in total, each tells the tale of a protagonist in their daily life within the town of Auburn, USA.

Although, not all is as it seems...

Every story has angsty moments and elements that can tug at even the strongest of heart strings. Every character is also crafted to have a sense of immorality and moral greyness. No characters are going to be completely goody-two shoes in this franchise, sorry.

Below are the individual stories and their basic premises:

THE MISADVENTURES OF BEAN SPROUT

Classification Rating: MA 15+

<MA 15+ rated material contains strong content and is legally restricted to people over the age of 15. It contains elements such as sex scenes and drug use that could have a strong impact on the viewer.>

Following the life of the titular Bean Sprout, a galactic rabbit hybrid outlaw, as they go through the trials and tribulations of their daily life.

After being separated from their mother at a newborn age and being experimented on, they've lost all hope for life and resort to violence and hostility due to those experiences. They are noisy and chaotic and cause all sorts of shenanigans whether it's dropping anvils on passerbys, having affairs with random people, being a terrible mayor to Auburn or just being just a huge dick in general, they always know how to be a menace to society.

This all changed after a while though. After a heist gone wrong, they began getting hunted by the Nebula Enforcement Bureau, an intergalactic and interdimensional organization bent on exterminating any major threats to the universe. Bean happened to get on this list and is now hunted everywhere and everyday of their life.

Will Bean be able to defeat the 10 NEB segments and move on with their daily life of crime or will the universe come apart trying to escape the never-ending cycle?

THE TIME CAVALCADE CARNIVAL

Classification Rating: M

<Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact. M-rated films and computer games are not recommended for children under the age of 15. They include portrayals of elements such as violence and themes that require a mature outlook>

When Noah Rosebud is taken by his sister to the exciting amusement park in Auburn known as Paradox Paradise, he expects what any 19 year old would: a relaxing yet fun laidback vacation to forget all the stress in life from being an adult now...

Also to celebrate his sister's birthday. That too.

When riding on one of the many roller coasters, disaster decided to strike. The track of the back roller coaster car derails, killing his sister by throwing her onto the steel beams. When he tries to save himself from impending doom, he stands up to try and grab onto the beams, hoping to latch on and be safe when the coaster eventually crashes. He then accidentally collides head first into one of the beams and...lives?

Noah finds himself in a confusing position. He's seemed to have found a weak point in reality itself, transporting him to a position between time and space. He is now traveling between different dimensions, looking for answers on what could have caused this...

With the help of interdimensional creatures, strange contraptions and celestial beings, he finds himself in a never ending struggle to make it back to his correct position in time, seeming to never come close to his goal.

Although, with all this fabric of time and space being messed with, a certain organization is not going to take these actions lightly...

MONSTERS AFTER DARK

Classification Rating: M

<Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact. M-rated films and computer games are not recommended for children under the age of 15. They include portrayals of elements such as violence and themes that require a mature outlook>

After a seeming jump in time, Alicia Rosebud is a freshman in college, looking for a degree in computer science! She has been very successful in life from having good grades to being responsible so there's nothing she can't do.

She is still sad that her brother left town without a given reason though. That's gonna be a huge weight on her shoulders for a long time....

When exploring the basement for old computer parts for a project, she uncovers very cryptic lyrical notes, ethereal objects and dusty old books. Given the context clues, she thinks these must be from an old witch society. It's not until she uncovers a ruined carpet with a gateway to the underworld that the reality sets in.

Alicia goes on various capers with lost souls, overlords, creepy monsters and even one of the NEB segments!

Although...the horrors of the underworld and its existence bring a bit of thrill to the place...

LIMELIGHT

Classification Rating: R 18+

<R 18+ material is restricted to adults as it contains content that is considered high in impact for viewers. This includes content that may be offensive to sections of the adult community>

Reese Verlice is a starring comedian and songwriter with a sharp wit and hilarious sense of humor. There is never going to be a moment where he's not cracking a joke!

One day at his office in downtown Auburn, he meets Elijah Rodriguez, his new advisor/manager.

At first, he didn't think much of him, but that slowly developed overtime. They started talking and both of them were head over heels in love with each other.

With time, they came to marry, having the best time of their lives together as a gay couple. They would shower each other with love and affection on a daily basis while Reese still got to balance his celebrity job...

But as he got more famous, an opportunity came up.

A man by the name of Clastott Chamberlain offered Reese a substantial deal one day while he was in his office. With a lack of creativeness at the current moment, Reese accepted, not knowing his fate was sealed the moment he did so.

Reese started...changing. He was no longer as social as he used to be, his style of comedy and songwriting was vastly different and he also started to go down a spiral of alcoholism...

He was no longer at his best and struggles to keep up with the public demands everyday. His new fragile masculinity and violent tendencies are again tearing him and his family apart from one another...

It's like he's being...puppeteer'd in a sense...for the masses and their messed up form of entertainment.

Important Stuff

The Apocaloverse Discord Server:

Creator Tiktok:

---

Credit for borders:

@saradika @saradika-graphics @benkeibear @enchanthings @urdadsfavegirlblogger

[haggishlyhagging]

Ideologically, our world is in the throes of a major regression to the woman-hating dogmas of both Christian and Islamic fundamentalism. There is in literature and film an unprecedented barrage of violence against women, of graphic portrayals of woman-murder and rape compared to which the earlier literary violence (of a Taming of the Shrew or a Don Juan) pales to insignificance. Also unprecedented is the current proliferation of hard-core pornography that, through a multi-billion-dollar industry, blares out into the home from books, magazines, comic strips, movies, and even cable television the message that sexual pleasure lies in violence, in the brutalization, enslavement, torture, mutilation, degradation, and humiliation of the female sex.

As Theodore Roszak noted, the resistance to the nineteenth-century feminist movement was marked by an increase in what crime records term aggravated assault, severe, bone-breaking domestic beatings, the setting of a wife on fire, the putting out of her eyes. Because throughout recorded history violence against women has been the androcratic system's response to any threat of fundamental change, in the wake of the twentieth-century women's liberation movement has come a substantial rise in violence against women. Examples are Indian bride burnings, Iranian public executions, Latin American imprisonments and tortures, worldwide wife batterings, and the global terrorism of rapes—which scholars estimate now occur in the United States at the rate of one every thirteen seconds.

Viewed from the perspective of Cultural Transformation theory, the systems function of the massive and brutal violence against women today is not hard to see. If androcracy is to be maintained, women must be suppressed at all cost. And if this violence—and the incitements to violence through the revival of religious calumnies against women and the equation of sexual pleasure with the killing, raping, and torturing of women—is mounting all over our globe, it is because never before has male dominance been as vigorously challenged through a global, mutually reinforcing, synergistic women's movement for human liberation.

Never before has the world seen such a mushrooming of governmental and nongovernmental organizations with memberships in the millions—groups ranging from the official All China Women's Federation to the National Women's Studies Association, the National Organization for Women, and the Older Women's League in the United States—all dedicated to improving the status of women. Never before has there been a United Nations Decade for Women. Never before have there been global conferences attracting thousands of women from every corner of the world to address the problems stemming from male supremacy. Never before in all of recorded history have women from every nation on this earth come together to work for a future of sexual equality, development, and peace—the three goals of the First United Nations Decade for Women.

The growing recognition by women—and men—that these three goals are related stems from the intuitive perception of the dynamics we have been examining. For once the function of male violence against women is perceived, it is not hard to see how men who are taught they must dominate the half of humanity that is not as physically strong as they are will also think it their "manly" duty to conquer weaker men and nations.

Be it in the name of national defense, as in the USA and USSR, or in the holy name of God, as in the Muslim world, war or the preparation for war serve not only to reinforce male dominance and male violence but, as illustrated by both Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, also to reinforce androcracy's third major systems component, authoritarianism. Times of war provide justification for "strongman" leadership. They also justify the suspension of civil liberties and rights—as illustrated by the news blackout during the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 and the chronic martial law in embattled nation after nation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

In the past, the pendulum has always swung back from peace to war. Whenever more "feminine" values have risen for a time, threatening to transform the system, an aroused and fearful androcracy has thrust us back. But must the current swing backward inevitably bring on more and more domestic and international violence and, with it, more and more suppression of civil liberties and rights?

Is there really no way out of another—now, nuclear—war? Is this to be the end for the cultural evolution that began with such hope in the age of the Goddess, when the power of the life-giving Chalice was still supreme? Or are we now close enough to gaining our freedom to avert that end?

-Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

[bijouxcarys]

My Top 5 Dustin Hoffman Movies

(In no particular order)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Set in New York, a country boy moves to the city in pursuit of success. Upon learning it’s much harder than it looks, he realises he must sell his body to support himself and his new “handicapped,” TB-ridden friend.

Midnight Cowboy is a touching one. It received an X rating upon its release due to the “connotations of homosexual behaviour” between the two main characters. The beautiful thing about this movie is the ambiguity of that very thing. It is a love story. Platonic and romantic. It’s the audience’s perception.

Dustin was nominated for best actor at the 1970 Oscars, but lost it to John Wayne for True Grit. Snubbed.

Rain Man (1988)

Upon learning his recently deceased father had left $3 million to a mysterious beneficiary, Charlie Babbitt pays the beneficiary a visit, only to find that it’s his long lost older brother, the autistic Raymond.

I know this is considered a bad representation of autism, but as an autistic person, I have no problem with this movie. It’s a representation of autism in one individual, whether you like it or not. Considering its release year, it’s a large step. And Dustin nailed it.

Unlike many, I don’t see this movie as using the autistic character to make the neurotypical look better, or “improve” as a person. To me, this is a heartwarming story of a man bonding with his brother, who he hasn’t seen since the age of 4. Does he grow as a person? Possibly. But does it also shed a light on the existence of neurodivergence in someone other than a child? Absolutely.

Dustin won best actor at the 1989 Oscars for this performance, and rightly so.

Kramer vs Kramer (1979)

When his wife leaves him out of the blue to raise their 5-year-old son alone, Ted Kramer learns to balance his career with being a single parent. Until his ex comes back and files for custody.

This is a truly beautiful movie, despite the female lead being one of my least favourite actresses of all time. I adore the nuanced portrayal of single parenthood and the hardships single fathers of the 70s faced when raising their children. The development of the relationship between Ted and his son is very intricately documented through immersive performances from both parties.

Dustin had practice runs with over 70 kids to find the right fit; he worked on realism and wanted the bond to be as strong as possible.

My favourite quote from this movie is when Ted is on the stand: “Where in the law does it state that a woman is a better parent by virtue of her sex?”

Dustin won best actor in 1980 for this role.

Straight Time (1978)

When Max is released from prison after 5 years, he has to learn to adapt to the real world under the supervision of a corrupt parole officer and the knowledge that crime is what he does best.

This is a more obscure Hoffman movie that deserves a lot more credit. It’s a great deep dive into the life of ex-cons and the struggle of reintegration into society. It’s a very real depiction of the human condition, and the repercussions of being pushed over the edge.

It’s a tense movie, immersive, and offers a lot of opportunities for introspection in an otherwise distant context.

The Graduate (1967)

Benjamin, a naive college graduate, enters a scandalous affair with his parents’ married friend, Mrs. Robinson. Along the way, he finds feelings for her daughter, Elaine.

A subject of a ton of references and spoofs. I adore this movie for more than its iconic moments. It’s a masterpiece of an era laden with disillusionment, uncertainty about governing bodies and the rebellion sparking in the youth movement.

Ben and Elaine represent the generation that seek for a revolution, a new way of life. To break free from the cookie-cutter mentality of American domestic life. A complete rejection of the nuclear family ideals. The confusion that leads to ill decision-making and heartbreak.

The ending scene is ominous, open, and has no real finalisation. The perfect depiction of the unsure direction in which life as they know it will take.

This was Dustin’s breakthrough role, at the age of 30, after being in the New York theatre scene for a decade.

[popcornpicks]

BLOG ENTRY N0.3

The Unsettling Allure of "Sinister"

"Sinister," directed by Scott Derrickson and released in 2012, is a chilling entry in the horror genre that delves deep into the realms of fear and suspense. With its haunting atmosphere, gripping narrative, and spine-tingling scares, "Sinister" stands out as a modern horror classic. The film's ability to unsettle and disturb viewers makes it a must-watch for horror aficionados and a compelling study in the mechanics of terror.

Plot Overview

The story follows true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), who moves into a new home with his family to work on his next book. Unbeknownst to his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and their children, the house has a dark history: it was the scene of a gruesome family murder. Ellison discovers a box of home movies in the attic, which contain footage of multiple families being murdered in various brutal ways.

As Ellison delves deeper into these disturbing films, he uncovers a connection between the murders and a pagan deity named Bughuul, also known as the "Eater of Children." The more Ellison investigates, the more he realizes that his own family is in grave danger, ensnared in the sinister legacy of the house.

Characters and Performances

Ethan Hawke delivers a compelling performance as Ellison Oswalt, capturing the character’s descent from ambitious writer to paranoid, desperate father. Hawke’s portrayal is both nuanced and intense, grounding the supernatural elements in a very human fear. Juliet Rylance’s portrayal of Tracy provides a counterbalance, embodying the emotional and rational side of the family dynamic.

The supporting cast, including James Ransone as the helpful but skeptical Deputy So-and-So, adds depth and authenticity to the film. The child actors, especially those portraying the ghostly victims, deliver chilling performances that enhance the eerie atmosphere.

Visuals and Special Effects

"Sinister" excels in creating a visually disturbing experience. The use of Super 8 footage to depict the murders is particularly effective, lending a grainy, realistic quality that amplifies the horror. The juxtaposition of these home movies with the present-day narrative creates a sense of timeless dread, as if the evil in the house transcends eras.

The film’s lighting and cinematography contribute to its unsettling ambiance. Shadows and dimly lit spaces dominate the visual palette, creating a sense of claustrophobia and unease. The practical effects and minimal use of CGI ensure that the horror feels tangible and immediate.

Themes and Impact

At its core, "Sinister" explores themes of obsession, the consequences of unearthing dark secrets, and the corrupting influence of evil. Ellison's relentless pursuit of a story blinds him to the dangers he is exposing his family to, making a poignant statement about the cost of ambition and the lure of forbidden knowledge.

The film also delves into the idea of legacy and the cyclical nature of violence. The presence of Bughuul as an ancient entity manipulating modern families adds a layer of mythic horror, suggesting that some evils are eternal and inescapable.

"Sinister" has had a significant impact on the horror genre, praised for its innovative approach to found footage and its ability to evoke genuine fear. It has inspired discussions about the nature of horror and the psychological effects of true crime on those who immerse themselves in it.

Overall Ratings

Plot/Storyline: 9/10

Script/Writing: 8/10

Cinematography: 9/10

Acting: 9/10

Attraction value/Rewatchability: 10/10

why do i recommend this movie?

"Sinister" is a must watch horror film. This movie is the only horror film that I can never forget, and it became my favorite after I watched it in elementary school. The story and plot truly shocked me, which is why I still can't get over this movie.

Whether you’re a seasoned horror fan or new to the genre, this film promises a haunting experience that lingers long after the screen goes dark. So, turn off the lights, brace yourself, and dive into the unsettling world of "Sinister." The terror awaits!

[darkangel1791]

This might be a controversial opinion piece on the movie, "The Apprentice."

I don't feel as if any insult to Sebastian as a person, or an actor is intended in this piece. There is a mention of seeing Sebastian in the make-up as something that would "ruin your day", but I believe this comment would be made by this author about any actor made-up to look like Donald Trump. There is criticism of his decision to play Donald Trump, and for the movie to be made, and a mention of John Mulaney, so continue at your own risk.

It was authored in December 2023 someone named Sarah. And published on a site called Lainey Gossip.

Do Literally Anything Else

Please leave no insulting or political criticism on my post. It does no good there. Leave it at the source, thank you.

Block or unfollow me if you are offended by my posting this.

Read below if you don't want to click on the link.

Do literally anything else

DECEMBER 5, 2023 17:16:12 BY SARAH

I ignored it as long as I could but now there are photos and there is no denying it any longer—Sebastian Stan is playing Donald Trump in an upcoming movie, and this is a mistake. 

The film is called The Apprentice, but despite the millennial title, it’s about a younger Donald in the 1970s and 1980s, when he took over the family real estate business and turned himself into “what a hobo imagines a rich man to be” (when John Mulaney nails it, John Mulaney nails it). Per Deadline, Stan is joined by Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and the film is being directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, who won an Un Certain Regard award at Cannes for his 2018 film, Border, and competed for the Palme d’Or with his last film, 2022’s Holy Spider. There are now photos of Sebastian Stan done up as The Donald which you can see here, if you want to ruin your day.

These are VERY talented people, but this is a mistake. Making a movie about Donald Trump, no matter the intent or how vicious the portrayal may be, is a mistake. It is giving that guy exactly what he wants—validation by people who hate him. We would be SO much better off if Hollywood ignored him. He probably never would have become president if the media treated him like what he was in 2015: a joke, an unserious person running an unserious campaign. But the ratings were too good, they couldn’t ignore him because cable news—a dying industry—boomed during the Trump years, so they kept feeding the beast and now there’s a chance he will actually get to be president AGAIN and no Hollywood movie is going to stop it. 

I’m not saying we ignore Donald Trump entirely. At this point, we can’t. But he belongs to the realm of serious, investigative journalism, hopefully revealing and elucidating more (alleged) crimes that might halt his path back to the White House. Turning Trump, even a younger Trump, into entertainment is a mistake, just as it was a mistake with Vice and W. regarding Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, respectively. Some people don’t get the biopic treatment. Some people shouldn’t be converted to popcorn entertainment. 

But I get the appeal of this project on paper. Sebastian Stan has a knack for portraying rich assholes in a most unflattering way—his brief appearance as Robin Hood co-founder Vladimir Tenev in Dumb Money was a masterclass in turning a certain type of Silicon Valley bro into a walking punchline—but not even he will be able to overcome the simple fact that Donald Trump loves any and all attention and he especially loves living in people’s heads rent free. Don’t give it to him!

The other casting is equally good. Jeremy Strong excels at playing complicated, conflicted losers, and Roy Cohn was certainly that, and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump is a stroke of genius. And Ali Abbasi probably has a lot to say about this man, but again, it won’t matter, the people who need to hear the message don’t even live in the same world as the messengers, and it will only give Donald Trump tingles that Hollywood can’t quit him. There is literally nothing to be gained here. 

But art! No. We’re too close to the morass of the Trump years—too threateningly close to more Trump years—to see it clearly, to have the perspective needed to create even halfway decent art about it. But people will insist, like I said, I see the appeal on paper, and no one has been able to resist the lure of ratings and attention that comes with anything connected to Trump. People will be curious about this movie which will undoubtedly be on the long list of Oscar contenders next year. I super look forward to giving Donald Trump extra attention during a contentious election year in the US. Or, you know, everyone could decide to do literally anything else rather than give Donald Trump what he wants, which is attention, any and all attention, and the knowledge that people who hate him can’t stop thinking about him. I am begging Hollywood to stop thinking about him.

[gren-arlio]

Well. Welcome to Episode 5 of (Waku) Puyo Extras.

...Lemme explain.

So. Thing is, I'm still translating Arle's route, don't worry. It's just with school going on and the sort, I...don't have enough to show for the route right now, so instead of sending the little bit I have, I'll use the filler episode to show off some OTHER findings I have...and my rambles about random Puyo things.

Yeah believe it or not there's always something to learn about Puyo/Madou, and since I'm someone who knows a good bit, I may as well tell some. With that, the usual shall begin.

Ahem.

Welcome to the Witch Specialized (Waku) Puyo Extras.

(The Puyo Manga is literally my best friend at this rate)

Heya everyone, happy super early Halloween because that's this lady's birthday, but since I feel like it, we're posting it now.

Welcome or welcome back to Waku Puyo Extras, the filler series where I translate much, much smaller videos than the things I usually do, while also talking about the wonderful world of Madou and Puyo, giving little facts and knowledge I have of these games.

This episode is about...well. Witch. You may be wondering "Why her?" And to that I say:

Girl has caused me now 4 sleepless nights. I'm sharing this knowledge with you all.

Oh, and I'm impatient for Halloween. That too. But that's besides the point, I felt like making an episode just about her because, well, she's my 3rd favorite character besides Lagnus and Lemres. Plus, while learning about the lore and the games, I've stumbled upon a lot of info about characters, some good and some...well, it's not awful but slightly questionable. This time, this stuff will be centered around all Madou games as a whole, as Puyo is another breed of things.

This'll cover these few things:

Very short video about a refight in Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon.

Her character portrayal in specific games (Saturn, Tower of the Magician, etc.) I won't be speaking about Puyo games this time around besides maybe for a joke or two. Won't be in chronological order.

...Let's just say crimes against Schezo and occasionally Arle. Consider this an add on to 2. Who knows? Maybe this'll change your opinion on her.

And err...consider this compensation for not bring done with episode 1 of Arle's route. I'm getting it done, don't worry. I just don't have enough to share RN.

HOWEVER. With the help of @kirstenonic05 (Good friend of mines who gave me this recommendation,) they were kind enough to give me a small video to translate.

Refight dialogue. Yes, there's that, and I'm gonna show it off.

What they're doing is saving me so much time and effort and I cannot thank them enough. It's only 46 seconds so no timestamps this time. (It's really like 25 seconds.)

Oh, and I'll mention it here, I edited some parts of Witch's wiki on the Puyo Nexus, adding stuff about Madou Saturn and obviously WWPPD.

With that out of the way, hope you enjoy this.

---

Witch Refight:

Witch:

I let you get away earlier...

This time, I'll for sure get your black clothes! (...YOU BEAT THE MAN AND DIDN'T TAKE THEM? That's on you)

Schezo:

You're still saying that...

I'm not going to let you take my clothes in a place like this! (Because that's public indecency.)

----

Ah. 4 lines. My beloved.

So with that outta the way, let's speak about her several incarnations throughout the series.

Where do I even BEGIN?

I guess we'll start with what I believe to be a good starting point: Madou Monogatari; Tower of the Magician.

(Image shown was made for an official calander in Disc Station 17. Here it shows Wish, Witch's Grandmother.)

In this game, you play as Schezo trying to go through a tower for power, which is basically the quickest way to describe the game. However, Witch's trial to get an actual name starts at the same time, but she runs into Schezo and Incubus, and they kinda fight.

Throughout the game, she's a roaming sidekick, usually there to help with puzzles and banter with Schezo. Here...Schezo kinda dotes on Witch like an older brother would, while providing banter and the sort. He'll he even gives answers to Witch's trials just to get further into the tower.

However, near the end, Witch begins to get concerned for her grandmother, and Schezo says she'll be alright.

She was not alright. She got possessed and Schezo fights the final boss. When Wish is brought back to her senses, Schezo says that it was Witch who saved the day, not him. (When it was him.)

Unfortunately, since Witch had outside help, she fails the trials. Sad day.

It's a nice dynamic they had. Plus they show that she cares a lot for her grandma, which I absolutely respect.

Keyword had.

Because besides this game, it kinda goes all over the place. Like Madou Saturn. However, I still like the dynamic later on, it's super funny.

In this game she plays a minor role, like everyone that's not the ARS/Satan/Lagnus. She's kidnapped along with Draco by Incubus, and if you choose to save Witch first, you go to a tourney to save Draco as well. After you beat Kikimora, who was infested with the smoke via the Yogs, Kiki tells you that she saw Schezo (didn't name him though, and he was possessed by Lagnus,) and Witch is IMMEDIATELY interested. Rulue says that he's a massive pervert and...yeah that don't work. She gets more interested.

They finally met Schezo and the first thing she says is that she wants to touch him.

AKA this. Translated it says "...So this is the mega-pervert! Lemme touch him!"

Which I mean, there's worse introductions. After you kick Schezo's ass, he leaves, and Witch is quite sad that he left.

After that, the Trio wins the tourney, which gets interrupted by Jann, and after some shenanigans, beat her and save Draco. After that, Witch leaves the party.

Alright, so a wacky impression in Madou, surely it can't get wackier...

Just like clockwork, Waku Puyo strikes y'all.

Ah, this game. My namesake, basically, the thing that got me to Tumblr and have me listening to the Apollo Justice OST for hours.

I'll say it here: Most of what I know of Witch comes from Schezo's Route. Just a heads up.

But what even goes on in there? Great question, I wished you never asked.

In Schezo's Route, you meet her at the Horror House and she's all vague with him, saying she wants "it" and begins to beg, leaving my poor man Schezo befuddled. Then she clarifies that she wants his clothes, and she'll rip it off if Schezo says no.

Then during the end of the game, Schezo can run into her again. And she's doing the usual, asking basically a cave dweller for his clothes, to which Schezo finally asks why.

Her answer? She wants them, and they're cool. She also throws the heart symbol a lot toward ONLY Schezo.

(Top one is her vaguely saying that Schezo's clothes are still cool, middle one is Schezo saying he's not going to strip, but she was gonna ask for the Meteor Spellbook he had, but the clothes would be nice also.)

Yes. This is how she acts to ONLY Schezo Wegey. I'm pulling out his full government name for that one.

So with that, that most that I know about her-

Nah I'm joking. We gotta talk about Rulue's Spring Break of Fists.

For those unaware, Rulue's Spring Break of Fists was a Disc System game released in 1997, which is more of a "Choose your adventure Visual Novel" sorta deal where Rulue is tasked with getting ingredients for...cooking, not fully sure myself.

What I AM sure of is that Witch is there. And oh boy, does shit get wacky. You enter her house, and Rulue asks for the ingredients she needs, and Witch isn't giving the responses Rulue wants, which she (understandably) gets annoyed at. However, Autism be damned, Witch can cook what Rulue is trying to make, and she'll give the ingredient to Rulue... if she answers her quiz. Yes. A quiz.

Alright, not too bad, right?

Wrong. First question she asks is "What is my bust size?

No. I'm not joking. And since I'm trying to save images, the answers you could've chosen are:

A. 79 • 60 • Unknown

B. 78 • 58 • 81

C. 90 • 61 • 87

(The answer...is B. Which is fucking hilarious because in Madou Saturn it's 81 • 58 • 81, and Saturn came out a year later.)

She then continues to tell us to remember it, and after the quiz... she does give the ingredient, thankfully.

Unfortunately I dunno what she does in Puyolympics or Serilly's Happy Birthday, but I'll learn someday.

With all of this, you may wonder "How is she getting away with asking all of this stuff?"

I'm glad you asked. This little lass has commented some crazy things.

Take, oh IDK, Drugging Arle in the Tottemo Puyo Puyo Manga to make her fall in love with her?

And that...didn't go well because Arle fell in love with almost everyone else but her. Which is IRONIC.

Then wanting to touch Schezo, cooking Incubus so bad with fire that he couldn't move for 3 days (both in Saturn), then...wanting to rob Schezo of his clothes and basically commit public indecency, and asks several times throughout Waku Puyo.

And then in more modern Puyo media, in 20th Anniversary she goes around basically harassing people to get ingredients but they're all subsituted for something else EXCEPT Schezo's hair, in the Puyo Puyo light novels she fake cries to Amitie and almost blows her up with nuisance puyos. And in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, when she gets possessed by Marle, asking Schezo to submit to her and that she know he wants to, and if he doesn't come to her, she'll come to him. And after she's cured, whatever she does with Marle and Draco, I'm ngl I forgot.

I joke about her being an actual pervert, but you know... maybe the joke isn't a joke anymore. And thus, I shall sentence her to...

30 minutes in time out. (Made by once again @kirstenonic05)

With my long talk, I think this marks the end of this episode. When all is said and done, Witch is still one of my favorite Puyo characters, and maybe with this new knowledge (even if some of, no, a lot of it was odd,) you'll like her more...or less. One of the two.

Hope you enjoyed the show.

[longing-for-rain]

I'm back. I love this topic. Regarding this:

" I actually once found it interesting that these kinds of stories were being written in m/m fiction…I think it’s often for fetishistic reasons, but it does provide an interesting perspective on misogyny by creating a world in which men (male omegas) can experience it. Why write it this way? Was it intentional? Did these authors find these issues less triggering to explore by depicting them happening to male characters? Did they feel that the themes would be taken more seriously if depicted happening to male characters? Who knows, but those questions are interesting."

Yes. I'm telling you this as a fan of omegaverse and a former writer. And this is my personal experience: Most omegaverse is written by other women who are looking for ways to explore those patriarchal expectations without having to face the harsh reality: women are the ones who have to deal with those expectations. By placing those expectations on men, they can talk about it and explore it in "safe spaces" without having to face the harsh reality of sex based oppression. It's a fantasy world so it's less triggering.

And some writers try to change those dynamics within their fanfics and stories bc it's the only way they can show discomfort with those tropes without alienating people and being called man hating crazy feminists 🙄. Tackling oppresion and forced birth when it happens to male omegas is more welcomed than having feminist views and critiquing the whole genre.

Many of those women are not ready/can't write compelling stories about female oppression bc its too much. It devastating. Its too real.

Hey anon thanks for the ask! I find this topic really interesting too.

We sound like we have very similar experiences here, I was never particularly interested in omegaverse itself, but I always found myself drawn to reading and writing “whump” type fanfic about men. I think it’s a very similar idea, where there are traumatic topics and experiences that primarily affect women that it feels more detached to explore through male characters. Whump fiction is the same pattern where it’s almost always written by women about male characters. I’ve also found that in fanfic, portrayals of issues like eating disorders, body insecurity, self harm, sexual abuse and violence, etc. are disproportionately shown happening to male characters rather than female characters when the opposite is true in real life. And before someone jumps in here to yell at me, I’m not saying it never happens to men in real life. I’m just saying not nearly at the same rates you see in fiction, and I think there’s a reason for that. It doesn’t feel as personal, as a woman, to read/write about certain things happening to a man. It can create a layer of separation that feels less triggering.

And lately I actually have been writing stories which portray female victims, because I kind of felt weird when I recognized the trend. Yes, I think there is value in exploring something painful in a detached way, but there was also something about removing women from discussions of our own trauma that felt uncomfortable. So lately I wrote some things (like Claws of Ice) that address the misogyny aspect more directly and it’s been emotional, but also cathartic. I remember 10 years ago people straight up would not take the rape of a female character seriously, and even now, I still see people treat the exact same happening to male characters (and real men tbh) as a far greater crime. But I’ve gotten a great response on that story. Women connect with it, empathize with the victim, so I feel a little better writing about those topics. I was scared off from it for a while because I was afraid it would just be sexualized and treated as a fetish the way female suffering often is, but I haven’t gotten that so far.

But to your last point, yes, unfortunately, the whole “man hater” accusation issue is very real and something I’ve experienced. You can’t talk about any feminist issue or even write about it in fanfics of all things without someone accusing you of being a man-hater, feminazi, TERF, bitch, cunt, ugly, fat, etc. etc. bullshit insult they come up with, because people always hate women who confront female oppression.

I’m still going to keep doing it though because idgaf, for every weirdo anon and low effort troll, there are many many women out there who can connect with what I write and I think there’s value in that. If even just one woman feels seen, heard, valued, and empathized with because of a story I wrote, it’s worth it to me.