#damm you must be commited

[conniejoworld]

LETTERS These are our thoughts Re: “Our classes are full of life, learning — not hate,” by Tyra Damm, May 6 column. Thank you, Tyra Damm, for speaking truth to power. How refreshing to read this column. She clearly and succinctly communicated the thoughts of many of us who have worked in public schools. “There is no time or proclivity for hate. There is no hidden agenda, woke or otherwise.” For obvious reasons of political expediency, our public schools have come under the Republican gun (purposeful choice of words). Public school employees who bravely persisted through a pandemic now suffer harmful rhetoric from Gov. Greg Abbott and also experience attacks from parents and legislators who display an obtunded and obstructive mindset. Yet, with little encouragement, praise or meaningful pay, and in spite of the negativity being levied toward them, those who have chosen to continue their valuable work meet our children and grandchildren with smiles and love, committed to teaching basics and useful, meaningful life lessons. I hope Abbott and his cohorts read her column and hang their heads in shame. That would be refreshing. And thank you, Dallas Morning News , for the incredibly incisive political cartoon on Wednesday (Uncle Sam taken down by a gun addiction). Well done. Theresa Riggs, Arlington More praise for cartoon Regarding Wednesday’s editorial cartoon, what a powerful and impactful graphic representation of national maladies! Bill Bramhall has married two American tragedies into one pictorial representation that grabs our hearts and highlights the tragic results of both evils. Here’s hoping that this gripping cartoon will affect continued progress in reigning in both gun violence and drug deaths. Dan Siculan, Royse City

Some ideas to consider After the Allen Premium Outlets shooting, those who believe a right to life supersedes a right for everyone to possess a firearm, regulations derived from the Second Amendment, the expression “well-regulated” must apply. First, a firearm owner must be licensed through an extensive background check which will include psychological testing to eliminate those suicidal or psychotic. Gov. Greg Abbott insists the problem is mental health, but he provides guns to crazy people. The licensee must have a picture I.D. and thumbprint, and be over 21. Those under 21 must have an adult with them to handle a firearm. Second, for a licensee to purchase a gun, a 10-day waiting period must be used to research behavior since licensing. The purchaser must undergo training in firearm safety. No military-style rifles are to be in any one’s possession other than the military. Third, if a person has a firearm in bodily possession, he will forfeit it if intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, or if he threatens to use it illegally or exhibits family violence. Finally, private militias must not be allowed firearms. Public militias will be controlled by the Department of Public Safety and have all firearms registered. Criminals must not have guns. Walter Lindrose, Denton He blames gerrymandering Re: “Uphill battle for gun control — Amid growing pressure, GOP leaders unlikely to push reform,” Thursday news story. This story concludes that reasonable gun control laws fail in Texas because GOP lawmakers are “driven by a more powerful force: Republican primary voters.” True enough, but where is the rest of the story? In a democracy, why are only Republican primary voters in control and not the entire electorate? The missing explanation to the story: gerrymandering. When voters are “packed” and “cracked” into district lines that dilute the voting power of some groups in favor of others, the will of the majority can be thwarted and we inevitably end up with legislators narrowly focused on the extreme demands of primary voters. A third of the members of the Texas House (58 out of 150) and Texas Senate (10 out of 31) didn’t even have general-election opponents in 2022. Even in the general election, only one contested Texas Senate race and only four contested Texas House races were won by less than a 10% margin. Legislators chose their voters, not the other way around. The “powerful force” driving GOP lawmakers is one of their own choosing. Those lawmakers created that force, by rigging district lines to favor certain voters. Dave Jones, Sherman President, Clean Elections Texas What will they take next? Re: “Neighbors, not short-term rentals, foster community — Restricting these dwellings in residentially zoned areas will protect homeowners, home values,” by Douglas Newby, May 7 opinion. If my worst fears hold true, the state of Texas is forging ahead to preempt local control of neighborhood property rights with House Bill 2665. My family bought a home in a quiet neighborhood zoned for single-family residential homes, and that’s the way we want to keep it. As citizens of Arlington, a city with the foresight to restrict businesses to areas zoned for business, we are able to plan for our future and prosper here. A state so eager to usurp our ability to enjoy the fruits of our labor in a quiet, single-family-residence neighborhood doesn’t appear to stand for personal choice or personal control over the biggest longterm investment many families ever make. It seems, rather, that the once-upon-a-time-limited-government proponents at the helm of Texas government want control over local government as well as state government in order to cull the favors of business interests rather than protect the rights of individual citizens. If my own state representatives can take my property rights away, what are they going to take next? Pat Sanchez, Arlington

[tiredbastard59]

Wait, I made an old post about how Anakin betrayed the clones as well by enabling Palpatine stripping them of any bodily autonomy and freedom.

But it somehow gets even worse when you realize that Anakin was probably aware that order 66 would occur across the galaxy putting the lives of any Jedi(or former Jedi) in danger. Like Obi Wan and Ahsoka. Anakin basically enabled Ahsoka and Obi Wan being attacked or potentially killed(which almost happened to both.) And he also forced Rex to try and kill Ahsoka and then had to kill his own brothers and that all ended with the entire 332nd company dead… ouch.

And not only that he betrayed Padme by utterly destroying the Republic which she loved in and wished to protect. And of course choking her in a fit of rage. So basically Anakin betrayed the four people that he cared the most about and all of whom trusted and believed in him. That alongside murdering children and Jedi and helping to establish an empire that would go on to commit numerous genocides and countless violations of peoples basic rights. And Padme still died.

And that really helps explain why Vader is the way he is. Just imagine knowing you killed kids and innocents, betrayed your closed friends and loved ones, got countless people killed or abused by the empire and for it be for nothing. I mean honestly how can one even think of themselves as not a monster after that?

I still think knowing what your doing is wrong but continuing because you don’t think you can be redeemed is just being a jackass, but damm that self loathing must have been strong.

[whatifsandspheres]

I think one of the things I didn't even grasp until I became older was how much I really did take to heart the events surrounding the Danielle Van Damme in the same County of San Diego that I lived in. Around that time I had been bored and fed up with school, I started either faking or causing myself stomach aches just to get out of needing to go, and in case I needed to go to the doctor about it I wouldn't be fake sick, but to me it was worth it because when I did feel bad nobody would listen. It was almost like the opposite of "The Boy who Cried Wolf." I was able to watch some of the trial on television at home, which was either during school or during summer, but my summers were never really mine. My parents demanded that I go to work with my father some weekends and at least a large part of my vacation time. The trial was interesting to me, all the forensic science they talked about, they even had an entomologist take the stand. But something was obvious to a lot of people. The parents, and especially the mother, were not innocent. Someone else may have committed the set of crimes, but the reality was that the mother was more than complicit and far, far, far less than ignorant. I know around that age there was a lot of wicked stepmother fairytale stuff fresh on my mind, but this was different for many reasons. The mother was practically let off the hook entirely. I also had read the Myst books before 2002. Ghen was a bit of an absentee father figure. He had a God-complex. But in the Book of Ti'Ana you could see and understand that his parents meant well, were good people. And yet he went on to commit genocide, destroy worlds, and influence his grandchildren to do the same. I guess it's just easier for me to intuitively understand that you don't have to pick a side to avoid neutrality. You don't have to side with your mother or your father, because that's not all there is, even when you're a kid. I think it's important to have examples of flawed, even bad, parents and people in media. I think it helps take a little bit of the pressure off the individual to realize that it could be worse, but that doesn't make it okay. And maybe you can't go to the police or you can't tell friends or relatives, but you have to try to find the right and proper side, even if you have to make it yourself. Just because they say that there are proper ways to go about things doesn't mean they care about doing things right or that they even understand how to solve those problems for you. There's all this emotional-porn for people nowadays that tries to peer-pressure people into sentimental reasoning and self-sacrifice. Chicken Soup for the Stockholm Hostage. They Live, They Laugh, They Love... You're in this alone, in the end, and their best weapon against you is to convince you that that in and of itself is not enough to get by on, that you need them more than they need you. It's a lie. It's ironically antisocial because it erodes the integrity and self-valuation of the individual component that constitutes that social group and society. "You're a piece of shit and you need the majority." Why does such a powerful majority need to concern itself for a second with such a lowly piece of shit? Vote Democrat or vote republican, but you must vote or else you're not contributing to democracy and good government. I see your gamble, and I call it. But I want to raise that wager. I want to raise the bar, and you just want to push me down lower so that you don't have to see that higher set of standards. You want me to fail worse than you in order to validate you. You don't want to look bad or obsolete in front of your peers.

[bmoviedragonsreloaded]

Review: The Russian Specialist (2005)

"Oh Christ, whoever you are, take whatever you want – I'm going to bed"

SOURCE

When Dolph Lundgren began directing his own vehicles in the mid-2000s, I thought it was a big deal. After Seagal and Van Damme fell short with their own directorial debuts a decade earlier, the Swedish Superman’s more economic outings in the video realm seemed like the stabler path for a western action hero to redefine himself as a filmmaker. I never assumed that Dolph would be our answer to Sammo Hung or Jackie Chan, but I still think that the surest way for the classic style of karate B-movies to survive the future is for the stars of yesterday today to become the filmmakers of tomorrow. Disappointingly, Lundgren’s sophomore outing is indistinguishable from the slew of already-undistinguished movies put out by the Nu Image film studio around this time. Expect cliches and limited action in a drab European setting, with some highlights.

The story: Former special forces agent Nikolai Cherenko (Lundgren) is hired to rescue a young woman (Olivia Lee) from the clutches of the same gangster who killed his family (Ivan Petrushinov).

I need to talk about Lundgren’s effort as a filmmaker before anything else. While his directorial debut (The Defender) happened by accident, The Russian Specialist seems to have been his project from the start. It was the first movie he wrote the story for, and there’s a general feeling of investment here not present in the features he’d recently done. That said, the film looks so very much like countless others the studio was producing that I suspect there was a lot of executive meddling afoot. Lundgren has a fair hand for interesting shots and artful cinematography, but they’re lost amid the cheap overexposure, senseless slow motion, and annoyingly sped-up footage. The Bulgarian shooting locations further stifle the originality, with everything looking colorless and boring. Say what you want about Seagal’s On Deadly Ground and JCVD’s The Quest, but at least they left an immediate impression.

Of course, taking a closer look at what may seem bland and unremarkable to others is what we do here at B-Movie Dragons, and sure enough, there are some things that make this one stand out. The best of these, without a doubt, is the casting of Ben Cross. He plays Nikolai’s contact and de facto partner, and darn if he isn’t better than this movie deserves. Cross is up there with Lance Henriksen and John Rhys-Davies as an actor possessing both talent and prestige yet who never fails to offer his time to smaller productions. You may know him for playing Spock’s father in the Star Trek reboot or starring in the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire, but he also pops up in trash like Species: The Awakening and the odd Dolph Lundgren actioner. Here, at his best, he’s absolutely hilarious and certainly gets the best lines. (“From one old dog to another – shut the fuck up!” he admonishes a noisy German shepherd.) He’s got surprisingly good chemistry with the monosyllabic Lundgren, giving Nikolai’s stereotypical somberness some contrasted weight. Disappointingly, Cross is about it as far as standout performances go. Even though the cast includes several award-winning Bulgarian actors, these have either too little screentime or insufficient material to be memorable. Comedienne Olivia Lee feels particularly underutilized, her character having very little personality and she even less opportunity to express it. (There is an unintentionally funny moment where Nikolai’s handed a photo of her, and it’s the exact same headshot you can find on her IMDb page to this day.)

The action content is good enough that I’m disappointed there’s not more. It’s a decent mix of shootouts, vehicle stunts, and fighting. Lundgren was apprehensive to commit to hand-to-hand action scenes even before he started directing, and as a result, we only get a single match between him and a henchman in a strip club. It’s not even the lead henchman (Raicho Vasilev) – Ben Cross has to fight him during the climax. There’s a gnarly-looking crash into a fountain during a motorcycle chase, and a couple shootouts feature some well-executed choreography. If there were just a few more scenes like this, I would’ve been more satisfied. It’s understandable that Lundgren wasn’t nearly as flexible to shoot action scenes while he was directing all other scenes across multiple countries, but even the bandaid solution of giving his character a team of four mercenaries doesn’t help because they don’t do anything cool.

I’m not entirely sure what the point of the story is. Nikolai clearly must come to terms with his trauma and Lundgren delivers some respectable nonverbal acting to that end, but we don’t find out too much about his mental state and I’m not even convinced that he establishes genuine relationships with anyone. With the exception of one scene, Olivia Lee’s character is also unable to express her feelings. Ben Cross seemingly overcomes his alcoholism by the end, but I’m not sure how. The general thesis is likewise elusive. Lee’s character is being groomed as a sex slave and sex workers in general are protrayed sympathetically, but I’m not even convinced that the film stands behind the most basic notion of “sex trafficking is bad” because it still indulges in some masturbation fodder within the same context. I’m not saying the story sucks, just that it doesn’t commit to much.

Lundgren’s progress as a filmmaker was halted for a long time after he recaptured some of his old stardom with 2010’s The Expendables, but he seems to be returning to the director’s chair these days. If he remains free from the restrictions that made The Russian Specialist so unremarkable, he may yet become a valuable force in maintaining the gritty, physical style of action we know and love. As for this particular film, it’s probably best viewed as a decent but ultimately elementary exercise in the big guy’s movie-making education. Dolph’s biggest fans shouldn’t be without it, but it’s harder to recommend to more casual action devotees. Martial arts nuts like me shouldn’t even bother.

SOURCE

The Russian Specialist (AKA The Mechanik) (2005) Directed by Dolph Lundgren Written by Bryan Edward Hill (screenplay), Dolph Lundgren (story) Starring Dolph Lundgren, Ben Cross, Ivan Petrushinov (Longing for the Wide, Wide World), Olivia Lee (The Olivia Lee Show) Cool cast: Bulgarian stunt pro Raicho Vasilev (Spartacus) plays the lead henchmen. Action regulars Valeri Yordanov (Death Race 4) and Dejan Angelov (Leatherface) are mercenaries. Pop star Maria Ilieva plays the doomed, sympathetic sex worker Natalya. Second unit director Mark Roper was already a director proper, having helmed video and TV vehicles for Bryan Genesse, Joe Lara and Ralf Moeller. Fight consultant and karate master Barry Evans would henceforth be Dolph Lundgren’s personal choreograher for the next ten years. Content warning: Violence against women, child murder, sex trafficking, sexual assault, drug use, extreme violence and gore, alcoholism Title refers to: Both the title on the DVD case (The Russian Specialist) and the one in the movie (The Mechanik) refer to Dolph Lundgren’s character, who’s both a Russian specialist (i.e. special ops) and a mechanic. Cover accuracy: The classic cover, featuring a shotgun-toting Lundgren standing before the gangsters with Russian architecture in the background, is accurate and to the point. The newer cover with starker contrasts and a close-up of Lundgren is also accurate but conveys a comic book aesthetic that the movie doesn’t have. Number of full-length fight scenes: 2 Copyright Millennium Films / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

[myscionstaffing]

What to expect when you sign up with a temp agency

As more and more corporations struggle to fill roles, they are turning to temp agencies to find qualified candidates. Sometimes it’s to alleviate some of the strain of an overworked staff; other times it might be to cover a worker who is on leave. Regardless, temp jobs could be a great opportunity for you to test the waters of a job or career without committing to a full-time position. That said, if you happen to have a positive experience temping for a company, it may wind up turning into something more permanent when the circumstances allow.

Another upside: Temp jobs exist in plenty of industries and roles. “Staffing companies have a wide-ranging list of clients and can be your foot in the door for an interview at a company you haven’t had luck with on your own,” says Elaine M. Damm, CEO of ACCU Staffing Services, which specializes in temporary and temp-to-perm placements.

If you’re thinking of pursuing temporary work, it’s important to understand how the process works and how to maximize temp jobs. Start with this guide.

What is a temp?

You’ve probably heard the term “gig economy” for a while now, but temp work is something totally different. Gig work refers to freelancing, for which you’re an independent contractor. When you get work through a temp agency, however, you’re technically an employee who gets a W-2 form.

“When you’re working with an temp agency, you don’t have to go out and find next positions, and you don’t have to invoice or worry about taxes,” says Zach Woodruff, director of interim services for The Roman Healthcare Group, a Sanford Rose company.

How it works: Companies hire a temp agency to find them people who can fill roles for a short, set period of time. In the meantime, the temp agency interviews job candidates and tries to match them with the appropriate clients.

The interview is designed to determine your top skills and work preferences so that the agency places you accordingly. At that point, you’ll usually get a work assignment agreement or contract to get started. “It will state the pay rate, the per diem rate, travel expenses, and anything along those lines,” says Woodruff.

You do want to watch the fine print, however. “A lot of firms and contract agencies require the candidate to sign a contract that states they’ll only work with that agency,” says Woodruff. And some agencies may try to charge you a placement fee, which is generally a red flag. Do some research to find out what is typical for your field, and to make sure that you’re working with a reputable temp agency. (The American Staffing Association is a great resource.)

The other thing to keep in mind with temp work is that the length of your work assignment will vary. For Woodruff, the majority of his temp workers fill 13-week roles.

Advantages of temp agency work

“Temporary work assignments can be a great way to gain experience in different industries and work environments,” says Damm. For recent graduates especially, it can help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses as you evaluate your next career move, she adds.

Here are some other benefits of temp work:

It can be a resume builder. Temp work might give you the opportunity to build skills you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to if you were just taking on a permanent position, says Woodruff.

It allows you some flexibility. For certain types of temp work, especially in fields like health care, you can choose to work for a certain period of time and then take a break before starting another assignment.

You might discover a new passion. “I had a candidate take a summer position in Cape Cod who said she definitely didn’t want to be there in the winter,” says Woodruff. But she ended up loving it so much that she not only accepted an extension, but it turned into a permanent position.

You won’t have to deal with the politics of a full-time role. Sometimes in permanent positions, there are a lot of internal factors at play that prevent you from advancing, says Woodruff. With contract work, you’re just there to do a job and get it done as best as possible, drama free.

How to be a successful temp

For starters, be open to the positions that are available. “The more flexible a candidate is to work, the more available assignments there are,” Woodruff says. Even if you’re at a higher level, sometimes candidates enjoy getting back to the basics of doing the work they haven’t done in years, he adds.

And once you start a temp job, there’s no time to be shy. “You are only there for a limited amount of time so you need to make the most of it,” Woodruff says. In order to make an immediate impact, you need to be able to communicate and relate to all types of people.

How to go from temp to permanent

Many temp agency positions can become permanent, says Damm. In fact, some companies purposely use temp agencies so they can do a trial run with candidates before offering them full-time work. “Temporary associates should always be mindful of this and show the company they are an asset that should be considered for permanent employment,” she adds.

It’s also important to communicate regularly with your agency so they understand your short- and long-term goals. That way, if your aim is to come away with a permanent job, they can place you in jobs that have the most permanent potential.

Keep in mind that should a company become interested in hiring you full-time, they will have to do it through the agency. Typically, they must pay the agency a fee to release you so you can start working directly for the company.

One important thing worth noting, however, is that when you go from temp to perm, you might actually take a pay cut, says Woodruff. “Contractors should be getting paid more on contract positions than they would get paid for permanent. That’s the case across all niches,” he says.

However, the other benefits and opportunities that only full timers get (like longer-term job security, more comprehensive health insurance, a pension plan, and paid time off) can make up the difference.

Job search next steps

If your traditional job search is lagging, or if you’re ready to try something now, pursuing temp agency work could be a good move. Not only can it help fill your income gap, but you can get a chance to test out different types of work with fewer strings attached. Want some help getting started? Join Monster for free today. As a member, you can upload up to five versions of your resume—each tailored to the types of temp jobs that interest you. Recruiters search Monster every day looking to fill top jobs with qualified candidates, just like you. So roll up your sleeves and get let Monster help you get started on the temp trail today!

[libidomechanica]

Untitled Poem # 8650

The morning on annuities joined  slack, gold, upon his energy; you were  open—and went, to the warm  waterlily the wicked deep can  not heauns food. And if we not blush and 

that any “flaws of going on  one sole bond or frosty air is  the fair in knows north, and a  kindle fire, where he country summers  pickd it is the passion for  every morning-” here they haggled,  swore, suffer not, the sky. According to 

their lonely wild: so as on the  way she does either night far  the weeds oer the Muse— having clearly,  hears or industrie: of folly is  the Sword-wind stream of a  female mode of the bats, where came, 

I climbe. ) To this aged men whose 

dear, it must babies haue seen many worship  were done, the military  twinges of cherrywood call  men seen. And when the beach,  and heaven days no light make me fornicator  being stronger. This (st. And  did mine these while words of earth, and 

plate, and turn on the Faith winter  dreary, he commits sunset the name  thy lips and thereon speculations. Two perfect.  That have also may cross, how can  touch had died as fly for want  of porters, and no wind—the  thin potato,— Affairs, the strongest of  vintage! while a few slight, some bitter  said— “can this dearely, seeing joind by  axe and should have been;” the British “ Damme” “s rather moved that passd  away among the rose, for his  Justice to a spirit  of commonest aspect lay, where  thing, he approving from Canaan: the  blossoms on the water fall. It  was to drowned it shakes.”

[aion-rsa]

Mortal Kombat and Bloodsport: The Strange Connection That Changed Gaming

https://ift.tt/3vd5lXB

As we eagerly anticipate the release of the latest Mortal Kombat movie, many find themselves looking back on Mortal Kombat’s 1995 big-screen debut. While that film has its charms and its fans (myself included), the movie has rightfully been criticized over the years for lacking many of the best qualities of the game as well as many of the best elements of the martial arts movies that clearly inspired it.

Of course, the relationship between Mortal Kombat and martial arts films has always been close. Not only did the game utilize a then-revolutionary form of motion capturing that gave it a standout cinematic look, but many aspects of the title were practically taken directly from some of the best and biggest martial arts movies of that era.

As the years go on, though, it becomes more and more clear that no martial arts movie impacted the development of Mortal Kombat more than Bloodsport. Maybe you’ve heard that MK was inspired by that beloved movie, but a deeper look at the relationship between Bloodsport and Mortal Kombat reveals the many ways both big and small that the two would go on to change gaming forever.

Bloodsport: The Crown Jewel of Absurd ‘80s Martial Arts Movies

While the 1970s is rightfully remembered as the decade when America became obsessed with martial arts (due in no small part to the influence of Bruce Lee’s legendary films), it really wasn’t until the 1980s that you saw major and minor studios compete to see who could produce the biggest martial arts blockbuster.

Of course, many of the martial arts movies of that decade were different from what came before. They had bigger budgets, were usually more violent, and, maybe most importantly, they generally catered more to Western audiences. Yes, the ‘80s is the decade that Jackie Chan and other Asian martial artists did some of their best work, but as more and more Western studios got in on the action, we saw the rise of a new kind of martial arts movie that more closely resembled the over-the-top violent action films popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That also meant the rise of a new kind of martial arts star who was typically either from America or played American characters in what we can now see was an effort to capitalize on the idea of American exceptionalism that was especially popular during the Reagan era. If you’re looking for some notable examples of that trend, I’d suggest checking out Best of the Best, Above the Law, and, naturally, American Ninja.

In many ways, though, 1988’s Bloodsport is the pinnacle of that time in martial arts movies.

Bloodsport co-writer Sheldon Lettich says he came up with the idea for the film while talking to a martial artist named Frank Dux. Among other things, Dux claimed to be a former undercover CIA operative who once participated in an underground martial arts tournament known as “Kumite” in order to take down the criminal organization that ran it. Dux also claimed he was the first American to ever win the tournament.

To be frank, Dux was full of shit and, despite the fact that Bloodsport bills itself as a story inspired by true events, Lettich knew it. Still, the idea of an American martial artist winning a global underground tournament featuring the world’s greatest fighters was too good to pass up.

Indeed, the absurdity of that premise is a big part of what makes the whole thing work. While Dux’s story was almost certainly “inspired” by the plot of Enter the Dragon, Bloodsport wisely veers away from that classic in ways that take advantage of the best (or at least most loveable) elements of that era.

The smoke-filled back room that hosts many of Bloodsport‘s key fights is far removed from the tropical paradise of Enter the Dragon, but it captures that vibe of an ‘80s pro wrestling arena where the stale air is punctured by the screams of a bloodthirsty crowd. Whereas many early martial arts movies were designed to showcase the speed of their leads, the deliberate, slower strikes in Bloodsport perfectly compliment the absurd sound effects they resulted in which suggested that every punch was breaking bones. It’s a ridiculous idea tempered by a surprising amount of raw violence. In a nutshell, it’s a snapshot of what made so many great ‘80s action movies work.

What really made Bloodsport special, though, was the work of Jean-Claude Van Damme. It’s hard to call the young Van Damme’s performance “good” in any traditional sense of the word, but considering that he was cast in the role to be a good looking young martial artist with charisma to burn, it’s also hard to say he didn’t do exactly what he was asked to and then some.

More important than JCVD’s movie-star looks were his martial arts abilities. I don’t know how Van Damme’s real-life martial arts experience stacked up against the best competitors of that era, but what I can tell you is that Van Damme came across as the real deal at a time when many studios were still casting the biggest bodies and teaching them to be action stars later. By comparison, Van Damme was lean, flexible, and not only capable of selling us on the idea that he could kick ass but genuinely also capable of kicking many asses.

Bloodsport was a box office success that would certainly go on to become a genre cult classic, but its most lasting impact has to be the way it introduced so many of us to Jean-Claude Van Damme. Indeed, the attention the movie brought to Van Damme was about to also make waves in the video game industry.

Midway to Hollywood: “Bring Me Jean-Claude Van Damme!”

Much like the tales of Frank Dux, the stories of the early days of Mortal Kombat’s development are sometimes twisted by legend. However, nearly all versions of the story come back to Jean-Claude Van Damme in one way or another.

Mortal Kombat‘s origins can be traced back to co-creators John Tobias and Ed Boon’s desire to make a fighting game featuring ninjas that would also allow them to utilize the kind of large character designs they emphasized in previous works.

Unfortunately, the initial pitch for that project was rejected by Midway for the simple reason that there seemed to be some doubt regarding the commercial viability of an arcade fighting game. Remember that this was all done before Street Fighter 2 really took over arcades, cemented itself as a game-changer, and inspired studios everywhere to start go all-in on the genre.

Instead, Midway decided to pursue an action game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The details of this part of the story sometimes get fuzzy, but it seems they specifically hoped to develop a game based on Van Damme’s Universal Soldier film. At the very least, the idea of adapting the mega star’s latest movie into a game must have seemed like a much more surefire hit than an unlicensed fighting title.

Recognizing an opportunity, Tobias and the rest of the four-person team that would go on to make Mortal Kombat decided to see if they could get Van Damme interested in the idea of starring in their martial arts game. Boon recalls that they even went so far as to send Van Damme a concept demo for that project by capturing a still of the actor from Bloodsport, cropping out the background, and replacing it with their own assets. There have even been reports that they were prepared to name their game Van Damme as the ultimate showcase of the star.

The idea fell through, and there seem to be some contradictory reports regarding exactly what happened. Boon once said that he’d heard Van Damme already had a deal in place with Sega that would conflict with their offer, but, as Boon notes, Sega clearly never released that game. If such a deal ever was in place, it seems nothing ever came from it. It’s also been said that Van Damme was too busy to model for the game’s digitized animations or was otherwise simply uninterested.

The entire Van Damme/Midway deal ending up falling apart, but there was a silver lining. Now given the time to properly recognize that the fighting genre was blowing up in arcades, Midway told Tobias, Boon, and the rest of the team to go ahead and work on their martial arts game, Van Damme be damned.

While Van Damme was technically out of the picture, the team at Midway were hardly ready to give up entirely on their idea of a fighting game inspired by Bloodsport

Read more

Movies

Mortal Kombat: An Ode to Johnny Cage and His $500 Sunglasses

By David Crow

Games

Mortal Kombat Timeline: Story Explained

By Gavin Jasper

Mortal Kombat: A Bloodsport by Any Other Name

Mortal Kombat went by a lot of names in its earliest days (the most popular candidate in the early days was reportedly “Kumite“), but one thing that remained the same throughout much of the project’s development was the commitment to making it the anti-Street Fighter. Or, as Ed Boon once put it, to make it the “MTV version of Street Fighter.”

The logic was hard to argue against. If Street Fighter 2 was the best at what it did, then this game should be the exact opposite of it in every single way possible

What’s impressive are the ways the small MK team distinguished their project. They used digitized captures of actors, which is particularly impressive when you consider that they weren’t even working with green screens. They just filmed some actors (mostly people they knew with martial arts experience) performing moves against a concrete wall and then manually removed the real-life backgrounds. It wasn’t too far removed from the techniques they used to construct a demo of their idea for Jean-Claude Van Damme

Of course, you can’t talk about MK without eventually talking about the blood. The game’s use of gore was certainly intended to catch people’s attention, which it absolutely did. While the MK team didn’t quite anticipate how the combination of digitized actors and extreme gore would put MK at the center of an emerging debate about video game violence, they rightfully predicted that the game’s violence was one of those things that people would force people to stop and look when they walked by and saw the game in action.

What’s really funny, though, is how those two qualities helped MK capture the feel of Bloodsport in ways that seemed both intentional and perhaps happily accidental. Yes, MK’s origins prove that it was clearly inspired by Bloodsport, but the ways in which MK most meaningfully mimics Bloodsport often aren’t talked about enough.

In Bloodsport and MK, you have this martial arts adventure that feels both wonderfully dingy and strangely fantastical. Just as Bloodsport told the unbelievable story of a global tournament featuring larger than life participants but tempered it with visceral combat the likes of which no human could survive, MK combined sorcery and mythological creatures with decapitations and punishing uppercuts in a way that shouldn’t have worked but proved to be too enjoyable to at least not be fascinated with.

Even the “awkward” animations you sometimes have to suffer through as a result of MK‘s motion capture process captured the spirit of Bloodsport and the ways that it replaced the smooth moves of someone like Bruce Lee with a more impactful MMA-esque style complimented by moments of absurd athleticism. It’s almost certainly also no coincidence that the average MK combatant’s most athletic move was a sweep kick. After all, a famous Hollywood legend says JCVD was offered the Bloodsport role after showing off his kicks to a producer.

Of course, when it comes to any discussion about MK and Bloodsport’s relationship, we certainly don’t have to rely on possible coincidences and speculation. Not only was an early version of MK literally ripped from Bloodsport, but as it turns out, JCVD did end up appearing in the game…

Johnny Cage: Jean-Claude Van Darn

If you step back and look at it, Mortal Kombat is basically the Super Smash Bros. for action stars of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Kano was a callback to The Terminator, Sonya Blade was seemingly based on the eternally underrated Cynthia Rothrock, Raiden was clearly inspired by Big Trouble in Little China (as was Shang Tsung), and Liu Kang was almost certainly a Bruce Lee substitute.

Then you have Johnny Cage. As a cocky movie star whose martial arts skills are largely based on his flexibility, it’s always been easy enough to suggest that Johnny Cage is a non-licensed nod to Jean-Claude Van Damme. Actually, many think that Johnny Cage is a bit of a mean-spirited parody of JCVD meant to mock him for turning the game down.

The truth is a little more complicated than that. Johnny Cage actually started as a character named Michael Grimm who was described as the “current box office champion and star of such movies as Dragon’s Fist, Dragon’s Fist II, and the award-winning Sudden Violence.” While his character model was reportedly also influenced by Iron Fist’s Daniel Rand, it seems that he was initially meant as a kind of broad substitute for the Western martial arts stars that took over the scene in the 1980s.

But yes, Johnny Cage is absolutely meant to be a parody of JCVD. I suppose where people lose the thread a bit is in the insinuation that he’s a jab at the star rather than an homage. While MK’s developers have said that Johnny Cage’s iconic “splits into a low blow” was absolutely a way to poke fun at JCVD and a scene from Bloodsport, it feels a little disingenuous to suggest the team was feeling bitter about not being able to put JCVD in their game and wanted to suggest that he was this star that was somehow too good for them.

What’s kind of funny, though, is that the rise, fall, and rise of Johnny Cage isn’t too dissimilar from what happened to JCVD. Van Damme was riding high in the early ‘90s on the back of films like Bloodsport, but a series of flops and some personal problems put his career in jeopardy later on. Similarly, Johnny Cage debuted as the prototypical Hollywood star but would fall from grace in the years that followed. He wasn’t even featured in Mortal Kombat 3 for the simple reason that he was the least selected character in MK 2.

Yet, over time, many people came to appreciate characters like Johnny Cage and actors like JCVD largely because they represented this golden age of absurd martial arts movies that weren’t always great (and were certainly usually a little problematic) but were ridiculous in a way that became much easier to love when weighed against increasingly self-serious genre works.

In his own way, Johnny Cage not only represents JCVD but the magic of a movie like Bloodsport and how such a silly little film could change everything because of (and not in spite of) its ridiculousness.

There’s another world in which JCVD became the digitized star of what would become Mortal Kombat, but due to a series of incredible circumstances, we don’t just need to project that reality on Johnny Cage to envision what that game might have looked like.

Bloodsport: The First Great Video Game Movie?

While it’s certainly funny enough that Jean-Claude Van Damme would go on to star in the Street Fighter movie after turning down what would become the first Mortal Kombat game, the cherry on the top of that story has to be the release of 1995’s Street Fighter: The Movie (the game).

That adaptation of the Street Fighter film bizarrely abandoned the design style of the Street Fighter games the movie was based on and was instead modeled after Mortal Kombat in an attempt to give Capcom a fighting game that could more directly compete with Midway’s runaway hit series. It failed spectacularly, but it did feature a digitized version of Guile as portrayed by JCVD in the Street Fighter movie. Van Damme even lent his moves for the game’s motion capture process.

Roughly four years after passing up the opportunity to star in Mortal Kombat (or Van Damme, as it would have likely been known), Van Damme ends up starring in a Mortal Kombat rip-off carrying the Street Fighter name. Call it a missed opportunity if you want, but to me, the bigger takeaway is that Van Damme may have missed the chance to recognize that he, Bloodsport, and Mortal Kombat were destined to be together long before the development of MK ever started.

See, there’s a scene in Bloodsport where Frank Dux and his new friend Ray play the 1984 arcade game Karate Champ. As one of the first successful arcade fighting games featuring multiplayer, Karate Champ would later be recognized as one of the fundamental pieces of the genre. John Tobias even said that Karate Champ was more of an influence on Mortal Kombat than Street Fighter was.

What gets me most about that scene, though, is the trash talk. Ray asks Frank “Aren’t you a little young for full contact?” Frank counters by asking, “Aren’t you a little old for video games?” They settle by playing another round.

It’s a simple sequence that’s hard not to look back on as an early indication that the popularity of films like Bloodsport would directly influence of new era of fighting games defined by competitiveness, arcade trash talk, and advancing technology that would inspire fans and developers to replicate the feel of being at the Kumite or, in our world, in a movie like Bloodsport.

In the same way that Mortal Kombat is basically an unofficial Bloodsport game, maybe it’s time to look back at Bloodsport as a kind of unofficial video game movie. After all, it may have debuted at the end of a strange kind of golden era for Hollywood martial arts films, but it was just the beginning of the golden age of fighting games.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Mortal Kombat and Bloodsport: The Strange Connection That Changed Gaming appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3eiNTKM

[hazel3017]

i love everything that you post about hockey and the players and the pens wiki and all of that! Thank you so much for existing and being the patient person that you are:) that said, do you know when you will post something that you've written? i really miss your writing

Thank you very much! This is such a lovely message Lightning, Before the Thunder – which probably won’t be finished until late next month at the earliest. In the meantime, here’s a random ficlet for you XDD

When Sidney jerks awake to the sound of Haggy and Horny crooning “You’ve got a friend in me,” to each other, with the baby Pens enthusiastically Ohhh-ing and Ahhh-ing at the appropriate moments, the first thing Sidney says is, “God dammit. Who the fuck pissed off a witch?”

Geno has just enough time to tell him, “Wasn’t witch, was—” before he too is singing:

“Would you let me see beneath your bea—” Geno cuts off abruptly, his eyes going wide.

Sidney blinks at him. “A siren,” he guesses, incredulous. “Someone pissed off a siren?”

Geno nods his head. He’s got his hands clamped over his mouth firmly.

“Who?” Sidney asks, but Geno just shakes his head again, refusing to remove his hands from over his mouth. Sidney sighs. He doesn’t really need Geno to tell him anyway. There’s only a select few of his teammates who are dumb enough to piss off a magical being and not realise (or care) that it would inevitably end up in curses and spells.

“Okay,” Sidney says. He gives Geno a friendly nudge before getting up from his seat. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure out what’s going on. I promise.” Finding out what’s going on is usually synomous with ending whatever is going on, because most spells are easily countered. Other times, the spell needs to run its course.

Sidney fervently hopes this isn’t one of those times.

Geno smiles and sings, “When I see your face—” before promptly shutting up, his hands flying over his mouth again.

Sidney holds back another sigh. All right then.

He walks past Haggy and Horny—they sing, “This is your heart, it’s alive,” as Sidney moves around them, making his way further down the plane until he reaches Tanger and Flower. Flower gives him a shit-eating grin. He sings, “Is it too late now to say sorry. Yeah I know that I let you down. Is it too late to say I’m sorry now.”

Sidney pinches the bridge of his nose. “What the hell happened?” he asks Tanger, because Tanger is a null like Sidney and can’t be affected by spells or curses. He’ll be able to speak. Thankfully. “We were fine when we boarded the plane. Did I miss something earlier?” Sidney says.

Tanger rolls his eyes. “Jake n’bake over there is your culprit,” he says, pointing at where Jake is standing with the rest of the baby Pens at the front of the plane, chanting, “Go, get your freak on. Go, get your freak on.” Tanger snorts. “Jake got into it with a Flyers fan when we went out for pizza. Girl was a siren. It’s a delayed curse.”

Sidney groans. “How many times must I tell them? Never go out in Philly. Or Washington. Or Columbus, or—” He breaks off when Tanger starts laughing and Flower sings, “Beat me, hate me. You can never break me…All I wanna say is that, they don’t really care about us.”

“Yes,” Sidney says and glares at Flower. “Exactly.” People love to hate the Penguins. It’s not a stat anyone keeps track of or anything, but Sidney is pretty sure that there is no team in the league that has been cursed as many times as the Penguins.

Every two months, it feels as if there is something new. Sidney shudders. At least they’re over the truth spell Dumo accidentally cast a few weeks back.

If someone had asked to touch his ass one more time—“I just want to know if it’s as big as it looks.”—Sidney may actually have committed murder. Or helped Geno do it, because he’d been uncharacteristically pissed off about the whole thing.

Usually Geno find the curses amusing. He’d been particularly fond of the fairytale one.

(Sidney has since learnt never to leave Geno unsupervised with a sword and armour.)

“Why didn’t you stop him?” Sidney asks Tanger. “You guys were with him, weren’t you?”

Tanger shakes his head. “I stepped outside to call Catherine, and when I got back in, this one was egging them on.” Tanger looks at Flower fondly. “You’re an idiot, mon ami,” he tells him.

“Why would you make it worse, Flower? Jesus. You know these things happen to us.”

Flower grins up at Sidney. He shrugs, opens his mouth, and sings, “Cuz I’m a boss. Uh uh, watch the beat go.”

Sidney stares at him. “We’re going to have to wait this out, don’t we?”

“Probably,” Tanger says cheerfully.

When Sidney makes his way back to his seat next to Geno at the front of the plane, Coach grabs his arm as he walks by and raps, “Now, I ain’t much of a poet, but I know somebody once told me to seize the moment and don’t squander it. ‘Cause you never know when it all could be over tomorrow.”

“Uh,” Sidney says, and beats a hasty retreat. He has no idea what the hell that was about.

When he finally reaches his seat, Geno is slanted against the window, asleep. Sidney smiles softly at the sight.

Usually, Sidney sits next to Flower, but Geno is the only one who can stand to listen to Sidney sleep talk about hockey, and Flower always disappears from his seat whenever Sidney falls asleep. It’s not unusual for Sidney to wake up to Geno sitting next to him, his breathing a steady hum as he flicks through whichever book he’s brought with him.

“Geno,” Sidney says gently, shaking his shoulder to wake him. “Come on. You need a pillow or something. If you sleep like that, your neck is going to be killing you later.”

Geno’s eyes flutter open slowly. He turns his head, and when he sees Sidney, he sighs groggily and croons, “Sweet creature, sweet creature. Wherever I go, you bring me home.” He tilts against Sidney and falls asleep again.

Sidney laughs softly, startled. He strokes a hand through the soft tufts of Geno’s hair. “Okay,” he says and feels a warmth inside, down to the very tips of his toes.

Maybe he knows what Coach was rapping about after all.

(It takes two days for people to stop singing. All things told, it wasn’t actually that bad.)

List of songs: 

Randy Newman - You’ve Got a Friend In MeLabyrinth ft. Emelie Sandé - See Beneath Your Beautiful Bruno Mars - Just the Way You AreNoNoNo - Pumpin BloodJustin Bieber - Sorry Missy Elliot - Get Your Freak On Michael Jackson - They Don’t Care About UsKelis ft Too $hort - Bossy Eminem ft. Rihanna - The Monster Harry Styles - Sweet Creature

[actutrends]

EU countries gear up for post-Brexit trade battle

The EU’s Brexit unity is about to come under severe pressure.

Speaking from one script was Brussels’ greatest property in the first phase of Brexit.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson states he wishes to conclude the talks by the end of next year, without any extension of the transition duration. That’s very tight.

” It won’t be possible in this very [limited] timespan to do everything, however we will do everything that is possible,” EU Brexit mediator Michel Barnier informed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Simply as in stage one of the talks, Barnier is currently trying to utilize the ticking clock to his benefit, by framing the trade talks as an option in between various choices made needed by the lack of time to agree something more bespoke.

” At a specific point there are going to be trade-offs essential. We need to remain joined to get an offer within this timeframe, but it will not be easy”– EU diplomat

” Does the U.K. desire to distance itself, and to what extent, from our regulative model?” Barnier asked, adding that Britain would have to address that concern “in the next weeks.”

” That will figure out the level of our ambition,” he included.

However in reality, the ticking clock likewise presents brand-new difficulties for the EU side. The constricted timescale implies it needs to make quick and unpleasant options about what to consist of in the trade deal and what to leave out.

” At a specific point there are going to be compromises required,” said one EU diplomat. “We have to remain united to get a deal within this timeframe, however it will not be easy.”

EU chief Brexit arbitrator Michel Barnier talks to reporters in Brussels on October 28, 2019|John Thys/AFP by means of Getty Images

Restricted versus enthusiastic deal

On the EU side, the fight over what to focus on in the talks is set to start in early January The Commission will utilize input from each of the 27 national capitals to frame a draft mandate by February 1, the U.K.’s very first day outside the EU.

The talks are set to be concluded at the end of February so that settlements with the U.K. can begin in March– leaving simply 10 months to conclude trade talks and validate the contract before the end of next year. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has actually called that schedule “very challenging.”

A senior German official stated that a “standard” trade agreement with the U.K. might still be reached: “We have currently shown that you can work out a lot in a short time if you set yourself clear objectives.”

” The more the negotiating partners are of the opinion that they must differ the standard in this specific case, for example due to the fact that the level playing field conditions are various or something needs to be included, the longer this takes,” he included.

But other German officials and legislators have actually considering that tried to downplay suggestions that Berlin was trying to find a less ambitious offer.

” There is a basic line that is absolutely essential: To maintain the stability of the internal market,” stated Markus Töns, a German MP and the Social Democratic Party’s spokesperson for European affairs. “I consider it essentially incorrect to endanger this by means of a restricted or scaled-down agreement.”

Countries with big fishing fleets fear that without the utilize of trade, the U.K. will not provide ground on access to its waters.

Töns argued that the U.K. could not simply gain broad market access to the EU, however would likewise have to commit to following EU rules along with social and environmental standards– with the considerable downside of no longer having a say on them.

Based Upon the Political Statement that is the plan for the U.K.’s future relationship after Brexit, numerous EU diplomats anticipate the Commission to prepare a comprehensive required that includes the desire lists of all countries.

On fisheries, for instance, the Political Statement stated that both sides should reach a contract by July but did not point out whether this need to be managed individually or as part of trade talks. Nations with huge fishing fleets such as Spain and Denmark are pushing for such a link. They fear that without the utilize of trade, the U.K. will not provide ground on access to its waters.

” It ought to belong of [the trade deal], and we are a number of nations who work for that. And likewise the signals we get from the Commission is that they see it like that as well,” Denmark’s Fisheries Minister Mogens Jensen informed POLITICO.

” This is going to be a fault line,” said another EU diplomat.

Rather, Eastern European nations like Poland and Romania wish to push for the addition of ambitious transport clauses.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson aboard the Opportunis IV fishing trawler on September 6, 2019 in Peterhead, Scotland|Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images

The Walloon issue

Promoting a detailed and enthusiastic offer, even if the U.K. plays ball, will make it even harder to complete on time. If the accord surpasses exclusive EU competences and touches on “blended” skills that Brussels shares with member countries, then ratification will likely take much longer.

Such mixed arrangements require not just the thumbs-up from EU federal governments and the European Parliament but also the approval of some 40 national and local parliaments throughout the EU. It’s a process that usually takes years and threats being held up, as was the case with the EU-Canada trade accord that was on the brink of failure in 2016 when the Belgian regional parliament of Wallonia threatened to veto it.

” It will depend a lot on how things are framed,” stated Lorand Bartels, a trade law professional at the University of Cambridge.

The very same would use to fisheries if the deal went beyond trade or conservation of fish and also discussed environmental elements connected to the EU’s common fisheries policy, he added.

” An enthusiastic arrangement will probably end up being a combined arrangement,” said Franziska Brantner, the Greens’ spokesperson for European affairs in the German parliament.

Isabelle Van Damme, a trade legal representative with Van Bael & Bellis, said that although a future EU-U.K. contract might touch on shared skills in between the EU and its member nations, that would not necessarily mean that EU nations would require to end up being party to that agreement and therefore demand ratification by national lawmakers.

” If they do not exercise the skills, the offer could pass as an EU-only agreement in order to make sure quick ratification and potentially avoid a cliff-edge at the end of 2020,” she stated. Van Damme stated that such a delivering of powers by member countries had actually never taken place before in the case of a trade deal, and that nations may not desire to produce a precedent for other future trade deals.

Some EU diplomats anticipate that the intra-EU conversations about the scope of the offer– and the effects this might bring for ratification– will be held off.

EU nations are now pressing the Commission to provide more clarity on the most likely form of the arrangement. While talking about the preparations of the required settlements on Tuesday, diplomats requested an extra meeting on the legal basis of the deal, according to a number of people in the room.

” Practically everybody around the table needed to know what the set-up is,” said an EU diplomat. “Kind needs to follow compound, however the framework matters to everybody. We asked the Commission to inform us on that aspect as well.”

Change strategy

Some EU diplomats anticipate that the intra-EU conversations about the scope of the deal– and the consequences this might bring for ratification– will be held off.

EU countries might consent to a thorough required in February and then return to the concern in June, when the EU and U.K. need to consider whether to extend the shift period beyond completion of 2020.

At that point, Brussels might attempt to put pressure on London to agree to such an extension, in spite of Johnson’s unwillingness, by revealing that it was unrealistic to work out and ratify an offer prior to year’s end. If that fails, the EU might then need to change method.

” In that scenario, it will be time to focus on,” said a diplomat. “Which topics have to be agreed on prior to the due date and which are less immediate? That conversation is going to be really difficult.”

Eddy Wax contributed reporting.

Desired more analysis from POLITICO? POLITICO Pro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From monetary services to trade, innovation, cybersecurity and more, Pro provides real-time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one action ahead. Email pro@politico.eu to request a complimentary trial.

The post EU countries gear up for post-Brexit trade battle appeared first on Actu Trends.

[tiredbastard59]

I posted 101 times in 2021

30 posts created (30%)

71 posts reblogged (70%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.4 posts.

I added 81 tags in 2021

#star wars - 25 posts

#critical role - 17 posts

#cr spoilers - 6 posts

#obi wan kenobi - 6 posts

#jedi - 5 posts

#the owl house - 5 posts

#cr 3 - 5 posts

#jedi order - 4 posts

#anakin skywalker - 4 posts

#the mighty nein - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 77 characters

#like trying to change mando society to stop tearing itself apart is one thing

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Look I’m not saying it would a terrible crime if we never get to see Ashoka meet Luke and Leia on screen, however I have begun making plans to take several writers hostage if they don’t do so.

26 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 14:22:16 GMT

#4

Someone: prevents me from doing something in any multiplayer game.

Me: WOW bitch. Look at this fucking loser, playing the game like your supposed to.

28 notes • Posted 2021-04-04 17:00:21 GMT

#3

Wait, I made an old post about how Anakin betrayed the clones as well by enabling Palpatine stripping them of any bodily autonomy and freedom.

But it somehow gets even worse when you realize that Anakin was probably aware that order 66 would occur across the galaxy putting the lives of any Jedi(or former Jedi) in danger. Like Obi Wan and Ahsoka. Anakin basically enabled Ahsoka and Obi Wan being attacked or potentially killed(which almost happened to both.) And he also forced Rex to try and kill Ahsoka and then had to kill his own brothers and that all ended with the entire 332nd company dead… ouch.

And not only that he betrayed Padme by utterly destroying the Republic which she loved in and wished to protect. And of course choking her in a fit of rage. So basically Anakin betrayed the four people that he cared the most about and all of whom trusted and believed in him. That alongside murdering children and Jedi and helping to establish an empire that would go on to commit numerous genocides and countless violations of peoples basic rights. And Padme still died.

And that really helps explain why Vader is the way he is. Just imagine knowing you killed kids and innocents, betrayed your closed friends and loved ones, got countless people killed or abused by the empire and for it be for nothing. I mean honestly how can one even think of themselves as not a monster after that?

I still think knowing what your doing is wrong but continuing because you don’t think you can be redeemed is just being a jackass, but damm that self loathing must have been strong.

29 notes • Posted 2021-09-13 03:20:29 GMT

#2

Spoilers for Episode 3 of The Bad Batch:

F in the chat for the trooper who refused to commit war crimes and got killed for it. All I have to say really.

39 notes • Posted 2021-05-14 12:39:53 GMT

#1

You know I just have to wonder how Rex reacted when he learned what Anakin did. Because one of the most horrifying things from what happened to Fives is that he died informing Anakin about the chips.

While he was not believed at the time, once Anakin learned Palpatine was a Sith he must have figured out Fives was telling the truth. He must have realized even if it was just in the back of his head what Palpatine was planning to use the clones for, and he still went along with it.

Anakin betrayed the Jedi and the Clones. He murdered children and forced the Clones to do so against their well as well. He became a slave master in a sense. And I just have to wonder what Rex would think about that. Because I can only imagine the anger learning your former friend not only murdered children and set up an empire, but that he also forced your brothers to help, to murder children and innocents, to murder their friends in cold blood against their will and then once that was done toss them aside. I would have wanted to push Anakins face into lava if that were me because that is one huge fucking betrayal.

79 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 23:45:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[thisdaynews]

EU countries gear up for post-Brexit trade battle

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/eu-countries-gear-up-for-post-brexit-trade-battle/

EU countries gear up for post-Brexit trade battle

The EU’s Brexit unity is about to come under severe strain.

Speaking from one script was Brussels’ greatest asset in the first phase of Brexit. It prevented London playing divide-and-rule and ultimately forced concessions from the U.K. in the talks. But while it was relatively easy to forge a common position on the Brexit bill, citizens’ rights and Northern Ireland, agreement on trade priorities will be much harder.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he wants to conclude the talks by the end of next year, with no extension of the transition period. That’s very tight.

“It won’t be possible in this very limit time frame to do everything, but we will do everything that is possible,” EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Just as in phase one of the talks, Barnier is already trying to use the ticking clock to his advantage, by framing the trade talks as a choice between different options made necessary by the lack of time to agree something more bespoke.

“At a certain point there are going to be trade-offs necessary. We have to stay united to get a deal within this timeframe, but it won’t be easy” —EU diplomat

“Does the U.K. wish to distance itself, and to what extent, from our regulatory model?” Barnier asked, adding that Britain would have to answer that question “in the next weeks.”

“That will determine the level of our ambition,” he added.

But in truth, the ticking clock also presents new challenges for the EU side. The constricted timescale means it has to make rapid and uncomfortable choices about what to include in the trade deal and what to leave out.

“At a certain point there are going to be trade-offs necessary,” said one EU diplomat. “We have to stay united to get a deal within this timeframe, but it won’t be easy.”

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks to reporters in Brussels on October 28, 2019 | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

Limited versus ambitious deal

On the EU side, the fight over what to prioritize in the talks is set to begin in early January. The Commission will use input from each of the 27 national capitals to frame a draft mandate by February 1, the U.K.’s first day outside the EU.

The talks are set to be concluded at the end of February so that negotiations with the U.K. can start in March — leaving just 10 months to conclude trade talks and ratify the agreement before the end of next year. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called that timetable “extremely challenging.”

A senior German official said that a “standard” trade agreement with the U.K. could still be reached: “We have already shown that you can negotiate a lot in a short time if you set yourself clear goals.”

“The more the negotiating partners are of the opinion that they should deviate from the standard in this particular case, for example because the level playing field conditions are different or something has to be added, the longer this takes,” he added.

But other German officials and lawmakers have since tried to downplay suggestions that Berlin was looking for a less ambitious deal.

“There is a fundamental line that is absolutely necessary: To preserve the integrity of the internal market,” said Markus Töns, a German MP and the Social Democratic Party’s spokesperson for European affairs. “I consider it fundamentally wrong to jeopardize this by means of a limited or scaled-down agreement.”

Countries with big fishing fleets fear that without the leverage of trade, the U.K. will not give ground on access to its waters.

Töns argued that the U.K. could not just gain broad market access to the EU, but would also have to commit to following EU rules as well as social and environmental standards — with the considerable downside of no longer having a say on them.

Based on the Political Declaration that is the blueprint for the U.K.’s future relationship after Brexit, many EU diplomats expect the Commission to draw up a comprehensive mandate that includes the wish lists of all countries.

On fisheries, for example, the Political Declaration said that both sides must reach an agreement by July but did not mention whether this should be handled separately or as part of trade talks. However, countries with big fishing fleets such as Spain and Denmark are pushing for such a link. They fear that without the leverage of trade, the U.K. will not give ground on access to its waters.

“It should be a part of [the trade deal], and we are a number of countries who work for that. And also the signals we get from the Commission is that they see it like that as well,” Denmark’s Fisheries Minister Mogens Jensen told POLITICO.

Financial services is another potential sticking point. “This is going to be a fault line,” said another EU diplomat. “For some Western countries, financial services is a crucial topic. For most Eastern European countries, it’s not relevant at all.”

Instead, Eastern European countries like Poland and Romania want to push for the inclusion of ambitious transport clauses.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson aboard the Opportunis IV fishing trawler on September 6, 2019 in Peterhead, Scotland | Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images

The Walloon problem

Pushing for a comprehensive and ambitious deal, even if the U.K. plays ball, will make it even harder to complete on time. If the accord goes beyond exclusive EU competences and touches on “mixed” competences that Brussels shares with member countries, then ratification will likely take much longer.

Such mixed agreements require not only the green light from EU governments and the European Parliament but also the approval of some 40 national and regional parliaments across the EU. It’s a process that usually takes years and risks being held up, as was the case with the EU-Canada trade accord that was on the brink of failure in 2016 when the Belgian regional parliament of Wallonia threatened to veto it.

“It will depend a lot on how things are framed,” said Lorand Bartels, a trade law expert at the University of Cambridge. “For example, when we talk about regulations for car emissions — is that purely trade-related or more environmental policy? The latter would stretch into mixed competence.”

The same would apply to fisheries if the deal went beyond trade or conservation of fish and also touched upon environmental aspects linked to the EU’s common fisheries policy, he added.

“An ambitious agreement will almost certainly become a mixed agreement,” said Franziska Brantner, the Greens’ spokesperson for European affairs in the German parliament.

Isabelle Van Damme, a trade lawyer with Van Bael & Bellis, said that even though a future EU-U.K. agreement might touch on shared competences between the EU and its member countries, that would not necessarily mean that EU countries would need to become party to that agreement and thereby request ratification by national lawmakers.

“If they do not exercise the competences, the deal could pass as an EU-only agreement in order to ensure swift ratification and possibly avoid a cliff-edge at the end of 2020,” she said. However, van Damme said that such a ceding of powers by member countries had never happened before in the case of a trade deal, and that countries might not want to create a precedent for other future trade deals.

Some EU diplomats expect that the intra-EU discussions about the scope of the deal — and the consequences this could bring for ratification — will be postponed.

EU countries are now pushing the Commission to give them more clarity on the likely form of the agreement. While discussing the preparations of the mandate negotiations on Tuesday, diplomats asked for an additional meeting on the legal basis of the deal, according to several people in the room.

“Almost everyone around the table wanted to know what the set-up is,” said an EU diplomat. “Form should follow substance, but the framework matters to all of us. We asked the Commission to brief us on that aspect as well.”

Switch strategy

Some EU diplomats expect that the intra-EU discussions about the scope of the deal — and the consequences this could bring for ratification — will be postponed.

EU countries could agree to a comprehensive mandate in February and then come back to the issue in June, when the EU and U.K. have to consider whether to extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020.

At that point, Brussels could try to put pressure on London to agree to such an extension, despite Johnson’s reluctance, by showing that it was unrealistic to negotiate and ratify a deal before year’s end. If that fails, the EU might then have to switch strategy.

“In that scenario, it will be time to prioritize,” said a diplomat. “Which topics have to be agreed on before the deadline and which are less urgent? That discussion is going to be very tricky.”

Eddy Wax contributed reporting.

Want more analysis fromPOLITICO?POLITICOPro is our premium intelligence service for professionals. From financial services to trade, technology, cybersecurity and more, Pro delivers real-time intelligence, deep insight and breaking scoops you need to keep one step ahead. Email pro@politico.eu to request a complimentary trial.

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[naturecoaster]

Cindy Seifert Art Garden

Enjoy a special experience at the Cindy Seifert Art Garden. Join an educational, inspirational tour through the many beautiful venues at the Cindy Seifert Art Garden Beginning with a gathering inside the gate, guests enjoy the unique topiary garden, where horse, cornucopia, and lion coexist with colorful flora. There is a year-round native plant garden, where guests learn about the different plants that grow in Central Florida's ecosystem and these beautiful, easy-to-care-for plants sustain the pollinators who visit them. Christmas Tree Gallery and Fantastic Brunch Next, step into the Christmas Tree Gallery, where spectacularly decorated trees surround comfortable seating and a fresh, delicious brunch is served, buffet-style. Many delicacies are hand prepared from food grown on-site. Coffee, tea, juice, and water are all part of this delectable experience. After your brunch break, you are able to enjoy a walking tour of the different garden areas with educational discussions of the plants and animals that make the beautiful location home. Live Butterfly House Tour the Butterfly house, where colorful winged creatures are emerging from their cocoons before your eyes. Learn which species of plants support each type of butterfly - at its larval, pupa and caterpillar stages, as well as its adult butterfly stage. The Event Center is a simple barn with video and audio capabilities, as well as table/chair set-ups and magical decor options. Pipevine Gift Shop Stop and shop in the Pipevine Gift shop, where you will find books about butterflies and gardening, unique art made by Cindy Seifert, a nationally acclaimed artist, and nature photos by DS Damm, a local nature photographer with a gift for capturing that perfect "look" on a bird, bug or bear's face. Other hand-crafted items are featured in the gift shop and it is a treasure trove of special pieces. Art Studio and Nature Center Next is a tour of the Owl Box Art Studio and Nature Center, where you may see Cindy's latest art project, as well as learn about local, statewide and national groups who work to save our environment. Guests can also add an art project to their tours, but this must be arranged in advance. Lastly, witness Cindy creating a wonderful piece of art in a Chainsaw Carving demonstration. Each guest receives an information folder containing educational materials on Monarchs, butterflies, and articles on saving the Monarch Butterfly species as part of Cindy Seifert Art Garden's commitment to education as a valuable tool in saving the Monarchs. Members of the tour receive a small gift bag, and one tour member will win the chainsaw carving as a door prize!

Cindy Seifert Art Garden Tour Details

Participants can expect to spend about 4 hours enjoying the hospitality and beauty at the Cindy Seifert Art Garden. The cost for the tour is $35 per person.  (Special rates for children and children's groups) Cash, Checks, and money orders are accepted on the day of the event. Children's Tour Options Two tours options are available for children ages 5-14: 1-2 hour tour - Educational tour of the gardens, art studio, and wildlife center. Children will tour the butterfly house in pairs while the other children may watch a movie about monarch butterflies and their importance. This tour is $15 per student and includes one free chaperone with a minimum of ten students. 3-4 hour tour - Special brunch meal served in the Christmas Tree Gallery with foods made from vegetables grown at Cindy Seifert Art Garden and other local gardens, fruit juice and an introduction to the experience to come. Enjoy a guided educational tour of the gardens, art studio, and wildlife center. Feed the koi fish. Watch a movie about butterflies and enjoy tours of the butterfly house in pairs. Each child receives a monarch butterfly lapel pin, a copy of Ranger Rick magazine and membership in the National Wildlife Federation, as well as a door prize drawing. How to Reserve Your Tour Reservations for tours can be made by contacting Cindy Seifert at 352-588-3832, or email at cindyseifertart@gmail.com. In order to provide the best service and guest experience, reservations for tours must be made at least 2 days prior to the event. EACH TOUR MUST HAVE AT LEAST 10 PARTICIPANTS IN ORDER FOR US TO RESERVE THE DAY’S EVENT.  Each tour can accommodate up to 20 guests. Read the full article

[easytravelpw-blog]

Full text write on https://easy-travel.pw/how-to-get-around-belgium-like-a-local/belgium/

How to Get Around Belgium Like a Local

01 of 04

Belgium Tourism Map Showing Rail Lines

James Martin

Belgium, grouped with Luxembourg and the Netherlands to make up the Benelux countries, is a fascinating tourism destination. It's a required side trip on the Grand Tour for beer and chocolate lovers. The landscape is a lush green, and it's flat for easy rural walking. There are plenty of castles and gardens to keep the traveler enamored with the medieval period busy.

Art lovers can be kept busy viewing the likes of the masters Peter Paul Rubens, Sir Antony van Dyck and Rene Magritte. Adolphe Sax, born in Dinant, invented the famous jazz instrument that takes his name–and jazz has become increasingly popular in Belgium in recent years.

And talk about diversity! Belgium is divided into three regions, each with language, culinary and cultural differences. The Flemish Region or Flanders occupies the north, the Walloon Region or Wallonia occupies the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region is central to Belgium.

Belgium doesn't seem to take the standard prizes in the “What's the best place in Europe to visit?” popularity sweepstakes, which is why I tend to think of it as Europe's Best Kept Travel Secret.

Compact Belgium

One of the great things about visiting Belgium is its diminutive size and the interesting cities crammed together so they're just a short train ride from each other. You won't spend a lot of time (or money) getting from one destination to another. Plus, it's very easy to get to London and Paris as well as other destinations in Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The Thalys high speed train whisks you from Brussels to Paris in about an hour and a half. Brussels to London takes a little over two hours. You can be in Cologne, Germany from Brussels on the cheaper normal trains in under three hours.

Belgium Cities and towns

The major cities popular with tourists are Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent, and Antwerp, followed by smaller cities like Liège, Dinant, Damme, Mechelen, and Mon.

Belgium is also a focal point for World War I sites, many including remnants of the rather brutal trench warfare as in the Trench of Death in Dixmude.

Where to Stay

Belgium has a wide range of accommodations. There are usually hotels near train stations, many budget, a few seedy. You may inspect a hotel before committing to it. There are many hostels in larger cities like Brussels.

Belgium has many self-catering accommodations, from small apartments to sprawling villas for large families and groups. Self-catering can save money over renting hotel rooms, especially for families. HomeAway lists almost 400 vacation rentals in Belgium (book direct).

Farm stays are popular with those who like the rural environment; we enjoyed our stay at Hoeve Spreeuwenburg.

What to Eat and Drink in Belgium

Frites -or the misnamed “french” fries. Pretty much the national dish, except for the superb waterzooi. You have them with mayonnaise. Find: The Best Belgian Frites

Waterzooi-from a Flemish word meaning “simmering water” comes a hearty stew of local fish (or chicken) with vegetables and herbs, often enriched by a trio of the kitchen god's best: butter, egg yolks and cream.

Carbonnades – meat cooked with brown beer, the national dish of Belgium. (Cabonnades Flamandes recipe)

Belgian Endive – White Gold, an endive kept in darkness for most of its life. Often served braised (recipe)

Chocolate – Belgian Chocolate! Yes, it goes without saying. See: The Best Belgian Chocolate Shops Travel Guide

Beer – Aficionados of Bud Lite need not read further. The rest of you who like variety and flavor must try one of these: Lambic Ale, Abbey and Trappist Ale, Witbier (wheat), Sour Ale, Brown Ale, Amber Ale, or Strong Golden Ale. You can even order Pilsner. See: Belgian Beer Styles and Food Pairings.

Languages

The language spoken in the northern region of Flanders speak Dutch. People in the southern region, Wallonia, speak French. German is spoken in the East near the German Border. English is widely spoken in main tourist areas.

If you would like to learn a few words of Dutch, there are online resources enabling you to do so. One of them is SpeakDutch.

Transportation to and within Belgium

Brussels Airport, east of Brussels, is the only international airport in Belgium. “Taxis with a taximeter are permanently available in front of the arrivals hall. The fare from the airport to the city centre of Brussels is normally around € 45. Licensed taxis can be recognized by the blue and yellow emblem. Travellers are advised to avoid unlicensed taxis!” There is also bus service.

Getting to Belgium – By Train

The Eurostar goes between Brussels and London and fast TGV trains link Brussels with Paris and Amsterdam. There is a Benelux rail pass available as well as one which adds France, and one which adds Germany (buy direct). See Our Belgium Map and Travel Essentials for more detailed transportation information.

Belgium is served by an extensive rail system as you can see in the map above. The Belgian Railway is called the SNCB and its website is here. Many discounts and passes are offered to the tourist or occasional traveler.

The fast trains in Belgium are the TGV trains. They run on three routes shown in red on the map. The red Thalys high-speed train links Paris to Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne and Dusseldorf.

Railpasses: A Benelux Tourrail Pass is good for five days unlimited rail travel throughout Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands within a one month period. Two adults traveling together get a discount. The Youth Pass will save money for folks younger than 26. A France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Netherlands Pass is also available.

The Eurostar will take you quickly from London to Brussels and other cities in Belgium.

There is direct bus transportation from the airport to Antwerp, Eindhoven (Sabena) and to Rotterdam (Virgin Express).

There are about 150,000 miles of highways in Belgium. You will need a car to take you to the smaller villages.

When to Go

Belgium enjoys a moderate climate. It rains frequently but for short durations in most of Belgium. For an overview of climate throughout the year in some of Belgium's most popular destinations see the interactive map at Belgium Travel Weather.

Etiquette and Culture in Belgium

Visitors to Belgium might be concerned about cultural habits and etiquette, especially when business is part of the plan. Executive Planet has information on the most common situations that might get you in trouble.

For insight into the Belgian identity see: Belgium: Society, Character, and Culture.

Restaurants in Belgium

A restaurant in Belgium is a pretty elegant eating place. If you're looking for something a little more informal, look for a bistro, café, restaurant-café, or brasserie. While food is relatively expensive in Belgium, you can also find broodjeswinkel (sandwich shops), or pannekoekhuije (pancake houses) offering good bargains in food.

Lunch is generally served from 12 to 3pm and dinner from 7 to 10 pm.

A “menu” refers to the special of the day.

See the food section of our Belgium article for what to look for in the way of food and drink.

Service charges are included in hotel, restaurant, shopping bills and taxi fares. Belgians commonly round up the total amount to determine the tip.

Alison Wellner, our guide to Culinary travel, recommends the 6 Belgian Food Experiences for Travelers.

Currency in Belgium

The currency in Belgium is the Euro. At the time the Euro was adopted, its value was set at 44.3399 Belgian Francs.

Continue to 2 of 4 below.

02 of 04

Belgian Chocolate and How It Became Popular

James Martin

You have checked into your hotel. Bags have been dumped on the bed, a map has been procured from the front desk, and off you go.

It won't be more than 5 minutes before you will encounter a shop with things made of chocolate. Yes, there are little shells like you'll encounter in Guylian chocolates–but there are way more tempting ways to market chocolate for some people: if you don't want your children to gander upon the lusty wonders as you see in the picture, you may need an opaque shopping bag to throw over their heads. Belgians do not flee, especially from breasts.

Belgians make a relatively pure chocolate, but so does Italy. There's a reason you think of Belgian chocolate before you think of Italian chocolate. First of all there are over 2,130 chocolate shops in little Belgium. Then there's consumption:

“According to the International Cocoa Organization, Belgium ranks number two in per capita consumption of chocolate, with Belgians enjoying an average of 11.03 kilograms per year.” ~ Belgium Chocolate.

During the 17th century Spain ruled Belgium. The Spanish consumed chocolate as a drink from chocolate they got in South America.

Once the Belgians got a taste for it, they looked for their own source. Remember the deep, dark, Belgian Congo? Yep, they exploited it for cocoa beans.

Neuhaus, Belgium's first chocolate shop, opened in Brussels in 1857. They're still kicking, and you can even order their chocolate from the US: Neuhaus Chocolates.

  Continue to 3 of 4 below.

03 of 04

Antwerp Central: The Railroad Cathedral

James Martin

It wasn't so long ago that railway stations weren't tall sheds or malls with shopping and a jumble of train tracks. Even in the 1970s there were some great, elegant restaurants in some of Europe's train stations. To go to the station wasn't all a burden but an adventure.

The station that's stood out to frequent travelers is Antwerp's central station. Built between 1895 and 1905, it replaced a wooden station built in 1854 by Auguste Lambeau.

The station is surrounded by diamond and gold shops. If that wasn't enough to be reverential about, the 44-meter high glass vault reaching toward the heavens was designed by the architect J. Van Asperen.

You should visit, even if you're not going anywhere. But then again, there are compelling cities not so far from Antwerp to explore. Look at the chart of departing trains. Dreaming is planning, too.

You could, after all, head to Rotterdam to buy a warm Belgian waffle with chocolate melted on top

The Railway cathedral was recently updated, the renovation started in 1993 was completed 16 years later–in 2009. This, like the chocolate, horses, mussels in great, steaming pots, and long, rambling countryside walks are things about Belgium to remember.

Continue to 4 of 4 below.

04 of 04

Walking and Biking in the Belgian Countryside

James Martin

The picture you see above shows you just about all you need to know about the Belgian countryside near the Netherlands border. There are those horses. They are everywhere. The ground is flat. The polder landscape holds a secret: amongst those trees in the background there are waterways, and many of the waterways had tow paths which are now bike and trekking paths that criss-cross the country, even ​between big cities. Here are some resources:

#travel #airlinetickets #airtickets #cheapairfare #planetickets #travelinsurance #travelquotes #travelblogger #traveller #travelling #travelocity #travelodge #vacation

[spryfilm]

“The Meg” (2018)

Action

Running Time: 113 minutes

Written by: Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub

Featuring: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis

Jonas Taylor: “My God. It’s a megalodon.”

Morris: “He’s kidding, right?”

As the Summer movie season winds down one of the more stranger entries into the madness of this blockbuster period is released, that is “The Meg” (2018), a disaster, monster movie of sorts about a roving prehistoric megalodon shark bent on eating eveyone and everything in its path with only a handful of humans brave or stupid enough to get in its way all being led by a charater played by Jason Statham who seems to be the only one who knows what kind of movie he is in. “The Meg” is a movie that has gone through at least two directors, had so much money spent on it that making it back looks like a long shot and a seemingly last minute change to excise any actual gore so that children could go and see it at the movies, which means we have a giant shark eating people with very little blood in the water, which seems nonsensical to say the least. However balancing out the equation is the lead, Jason Statham who is appearing in the biggest film he has led in his career, even though he has been involved in at least five franchises and numerous action as well as comedy movies to many to name, this is his firs time actually carrying a big budget movie. Interestingly, Statham has become an identifiable brand (similar to Dwayne Johnson) for those that know of him, he is a hard man, an action star who always knows how to play up to the camera as well as make people laugh with his one liners while normally punching something at the same time, the very essence of a modern action star who embraces his films for what they are, like them or not. With “The Meg” what we really want to see is him go one on one with a seventy foot shark, hopefully punching it into submission so that he can make the oceans safe once more. The question remains is this a movie worth going to see in cinemas or is it what most people were prepared for, a shipwreck of a movie that offered nothing more than a “Deep Blue Sea” (1999) rip-off with a nod towards “Jaws” (1975)? The answer is not as straightforward as it may appear on paper as this does offer some real thrills but does suffer from some real shortcomings.

Initially this movie was to be directed by Eli Roth known for his work in the horror genre although why a studio would want him for a movie of this size is baffling so it was no surprise when he left, the studio then turned to journeyman Jon Turteltaub who knows how to marshal talent as well as competently direct action while retaining a semblance of a story. It turns out that the weaknesses in this movie seem to start and end with the script which is a mess, written by at least three people adapted from a novel that should have been fairly straightforward but ends up getting mired down in not only bland dialogue but commits the cardinal sin of taking far to long to actually get to the point, that is the titular star of the movie, the shark and the grandeur of its CGI presence, or at least the promise of it. The writers involved Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber, have some real highlights in their respective oeuvre’s, but they also have some stinkers which involve some expensive blockbuster bombs, the most egregious being “Battleship” (2012) which to was bogged down in bland dialogue but also a nonsensical story that made little sense. What saves “The Meg” from being outright bad are the director as well as its star, not forgetting the supporting cast who are all very different making them some of the reasons, besides the shark to enjoy the movie for what it is.

The movie is primarily about a massive undersea creature that attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With time running out, rescue diver Jonas Taylor must save the crew and the ocean itself from an unimaginable threat, a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.

The movie as already discussed is led by Jason Statham is as you would expect all seething masculinity who is just terrific in this role, his credentials are known well as an action star in the mould of a stockier, fiercer and more serious Van Damme who knows who he is as well as what he is doing. My only real criticism is that he could have been used better with a superior script that called for him to be front and centre for most of the movie, not just a part of the cast, he needs to put his stamp on a movie like this as he is capable of like few stars before him. The remainder of the cast is made up of character actors Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis who all do their jobs like the seasoned operators they are, for the ost part they understand their roles and what they are supposed to do, although the reason and motivations for their actions could be seen as murky but again that speaks to the quality of the script as well as the drawn out nature of the movie, which does have an adverse effect on the actors themselves, but hey we are all here to  see the big shark anyway, right?

Of course this movie is the very definition of a trope laden routine action movie, however where it also falls down is that it is all surface with all the rough edges taken off for so that it becomes the least offensive movie around, there feels like a lack of scope as well as no real stakes as there are really not a lot of shark deaths in terms of the main cast which was a missed opportunity in my mind.

At the very least this is a fun, splashy, action orientated movie that is inoffensive enough for the entire family, it is not too gory but contains just enough so that the parts that either drag or do not make sense are papered over with the cast as well as the goal oriented plot which reads like many other similar action movies before. This is not a movie that is going to shock or reinvent the genre in which it is based, even though as an audience member I wished for more, either for it to be funnier, or for it to be a bit more adult or just for it to be more original. To be fair with all the giant shark movies that are around, most television movies you would think that the demand for a big budget one would be low, but considering this has been in the works for over ten years the fact that it made it to the big screen defying expectations to become a hit says something about the stickiness of not only the genre but the work the marketing people have done which is saying something to cut through the noise and deliver something that was advertised, a movie about a giant shark who has to face off against Jason Statham.

While the trailers may be a little misleading if you enjoy PG rated action with a lot of action as well as special effects then this may be the movie for you, it is easy to understand as well as having a linear narrative with plot points seen before so it is easy to follow, I wouldn’t call it dumb fun or a guilty pleasure but I can see the room for possible sequels or at least spinoffs that follow more undersea adventure which as has been proven a big selling point for audiences.

“The Meg” is out now only in cinemas.

  Movie review: “The Meg” (2018) "The Meg" (2018) Action Running Time: 113 minutes Written by: Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber…

[omniversalobservations]

Marvel Age Vol. 1 No. 124 (May 1993)

Crossovers!

In other entertainment media, this refers to bringing an audience that likes one genre (like country-western music) to another, hybrid genre (country-western-rock) usually through the strength of a given performer's performance. This broadens their base of appeal, giving the artist a more mainstream audience. Hip-hoppers dream of crossing over and attracting a pop audience. Action stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme dream of crossing over and attracting more women to his pictures. In comics, the term has a different meaning. Crossovers are done within the same genre, and the one doing the crossing over is not the artist or the work, but the characters in the story.

Imagine Clive Barker characters making guest appearances in Stephen King's books. Imagine the kid from Home Alone meeting Problem Child. We occasionally see some of this. Seinfeld's Kramer did a guest shot as Kramer on Mad About You earlier this TV season. On the rarest occasions you'll even get genre-crossovers on TV, the classic example being when a few doctors from the dramatic series St. Elsewhere showed up on Cheers.

But when it comes to character crossovers, the comics medium in the champion, Marvel is the champion's champion, and there's no end in sight as long as you readers demand we keep doing them. Make no mistake, the vast majority of you do demand them, and they still do their magic, attracting readers to try a certain title they ordinarily would not buy. And crossovers can still be a lot of fun for us creative-types, too.

Industry jargon time. There are two different types of crossovers. A closed crossover is conceived of as involving specific titles where each title is equally important in advancing the storyline. Recent examples are "Operation: Galactic Storm," in seven different AVENGERS titles; "Dead Man's Hand" in NOMAD, DAREDEVIL and PUNISHER; and "X-Cutioner's Song" in the core X-titles. An open crossover is one which has a basic storyline told in one major series, but its ramifications and complications can play out in any title that chooses to get involved. Recent examples include the INFINITY trilogy (GAUNTLET, WAR, and CRUSADE); "Inferno" in X-MEN and "Acts of Vengeance" in AVENGERS.

The merits and demerits of the two types of crossovers? Open crossovers are more difficult to coordinate, due to the greater number of titles usually involved. On the other hand, they are more creator-friendly: no one is barred from participating ("Sorry, fella, this crossover is closed."). Open crossovers also enable the readers to pick and choose which tie-in issues of which they wish to partake. They pick up the key elements of the story by reading the keystone series, and the rest is just gravy.

Tom DeFalco has a theory that every other open crossover has lots of participants. Writers and artists get involved one year, discover all of the coordination headaches involved, vow to never do it again, and so pass up the chance to participate the next year. Months later, they get their sales incentive checks, realize the benefits and, forgetting the aggravation, agree to participate in the next one, having missed the intervening event. So it goes, year after year, according to the Chief.

The merits and demerits of a closed crossover? Each part of a closed crossover is essential, so to buy one is to commit to buying them all, or else the storyline is not going to be intelligible. They're creator-unfriendly, not allowing others to jump in if they have an inclination. Taken as a whole, they are probably more coherant, since more centralized scrutiny is given to every integral part. Participation in a closed crossover is probably a better sales boost for a title, since every part of a closed crossover is equally important to the advancement of the storyline.

In a crossover, there's usually one editor who's in charge of the whole magilla, and that's the person who's the regular editor of the main title character around whom the crossover revolves. The editor in charge, of course, has a supervisor (one of the executive editors) to look over everything in an advisory capacity, but the editor in charge has to do all the hands-on work: distributing the rough outline to everyone involved, answering continuity questions, and reviewing all the tie-in plots to make sure they conform to the details of the overall storyline.

Sound complicated? I'm not done yet. All the participating editors of the crossover must also submit their book's plots to the other participating editors if there's so much as a cameo of a given editor's character in their story. And once the art is done, photocopies of the artboards must also be distributed to fellow editors in the crossover so they can make certain that costume details and so forth are consistent. We're talking major league coordination here, folks, and it's never any wonder to me that try as hard as we might, there is always a detail that is a little off in one title or another.

I've initiated major storylines in closed crossovers. I've participated in open crossovers whose premises I had nothing to do with. I've read and supervised crossovers for which I had no input or participation. Let me bend your attention span a bit with some of my specific experiences.

"Operation: Galactic Storm" was based on a plot germ growing out of my QUASAR continuity. Quaze is supposed to be the Protector of the Universe. What would happen, thought I, if some aliens wanted to enlist his aid in a war with some other aliens? How would he decide which side to assist? Would he try to prevent the whole thing from happening, or would he turn his back on the whole murky affair? Well, when Bob Harras, Fabian Nicieza, and I were casting around for premises big enough to involve all the AVENGERS titles, I offered my QUASAR idea. Obviously, if the war infringed upon Earth in some way it could be "opened up" beyond the QUASAR title. Bob, Fabe, and I then thrashed out a raw outline of key events in each of the nineteen (ulp!) chapters that comprised the crossover. This took a lot of lunches.

Then we held an AVENGERS summit meeting with all the writers and editors, in order to debug and flesh out the outline. The writers were required to cover the events that were slotted for their issues of the storyline, like it or not. In most cases, there was plenty of room for the individual writers to make their portions uniquely their own, but it was still a far greater imposition upon their titles than usual. The net result, in my opinion, was pretty successful.

Last year I also participated in the open crossover INFINITY WAR. I had nothing to do with the basic premise-- the extent of my influence on the core storyline was "Since this story's so darn cosmic, and Quasar has a unique role in the cosmos, make sure he's got something special to do, please." And so he did. Writer Jim Starlin had the mad Titanian Thanos choose Quasar, of all the assembled multitude, to wield the Ultimate Nullifier. Unique enough for me. And when I wrote my tie-ins, I was obliged to deal with events in the limited series. In one issue, Quasar's role was to "find Eternity." I relished this, since I have long been interested in exploring the means by which omnipotent abstract entities acquire humanoid forms. I used my assignment to do a real offbeat story. I was happy.

For my second crossover issue, I was a little more hamstrung. My issue came between two issues of WAR and, at the beginning of the second issue, Quas was in exactly the same predicament he was in at the end of the first. I had an issue of QUASAR where he couldn't do anything! I managed to get around this as best I could by having Q go on a fact-finding quest that no one knew he went on. Whew. Then for my third crossover issue, Quas got nullified in WAR and never came back in the course of the story(!). Obviously, I had to tell what happened to him after he got nullified, and bring him back to life. This challenge was compounded by the fact that, in his own series, Quasar had already spent a few recent issues being "dead," so it was incumbent upon me to make this new experience as different from the previous one as possible. Truth to tell, I would never have chosen to do another "after death" storyline in the course of the book if I hadn't been obliged to. I now find that having had a character come back from the dead twice makes the threat of corporeal harm pretty empty.

So that's my side of the story on the subject of crossovers. They sometimes seem like a necessary evil, and sometimes like an unnecessary good! I would be interested to hear from you what you think our best and worst coordinated mass crossovers have been (I have my own theories). But as long as the idea of crossing over from one title to another remains a way to boost interest among you readers, we're going to keep doing it. And hey, maybe one time we'll get it absolutely right.

Source: Internet Archive

(image via Trusty Plinko Stick)