#i would have to order an overly expensive english version

[trupowieszcz-moved]

i live dungeon meshi. love to watch it someday

[jjuzoir]

Homare Arisugawa General HCS

request: “Hi Sora! I never see any art/writing for my boy Homare from A3! (Maybe because his dialogue is so ridiculous.) Would you mind writing something for him?” from tlali

a/n: ahhh i don’t think i’ve ever taken so long in a request jdjdndnd but i just wanted to make it right because i love homare so much❕ he deserves everything and more i just HDHSJJA we need more homare love 🤬 his dialogue is hilarious and i feel like we need to appreciate his style more no more homare slander 🙅

word count: 1667

- He smells like earl gray tea. No one knows why since he uses unscented soaps, he says it’s probably because he spends most of his time drinking or around tea.

- He’s very particular about his hair, he uses very specific shampoos and conditioners that he will absolutely not share or change unless he notices his hair needs it. Talking about his hair, it’s naturally kind of dry so he uses a lot of hydrating products which leaves him with the softest, most fluffy hair ever. It’s like touching a cloud.

- One of his favorite gifts given to him is a tie given to him as a birthday gift by his members. Everyone pitched it, including Izumi, and Azuma picked it out. It’s black, much like his everyday tie, but it’s got a small embroidered snowflake.

- He’s got three main pairs of glasses; his everyday ones he keeps at hand when he goes out, his at home ones which are (according to him) less flattering, and his driving ones. Keep in mind he can’t drive, he doesn’t even own a car.

- He can speak french and latin, and he’s super loud about it too. He’ll sometimes slip in french phrases and no one will understand other than Chikage and it’s just a mess - Muku is always so amazed that he knows two other languages too and probably asks him to teach him sometime.

- Definitely has the prettiest handwriting when it comes to the roman alphabet, he writes in ink and with fancy pens that cost more than Banri’s tuition.

- Absolutely has a bunch of business cards printed out, each with its own quote made by him. Sakyo thought it was such a waste printing them until he realized that no matter how many Homare took when he went to run errands he always gave them all, to whom? No one knows.

- He’s very well respected in the literary community, which still shocks pretty much everyone. He gets stopped often by fans or people who’ve read his work, it happens at least once a day and Izumi really doesn’t… she doesn’t understand, poor girl.

- He’s not that good with phone calls, he’s not bad but he definitely prefers texting or just talking face to face. To him there’s just a certain level of discontent he doesn’t like that doesn’t exist in other mediums.

- His favorite shows are either comedies or heavy hitting detective shows, there is no inbetween. You’ll walk in on him watching a sitcom leave the room and walk in on a serial killer chase down.

- About his love for detective shows, his favorite pastime is trying to solve the mysteries with the main character. He’ll rewatch the episode so many times to try and pick up clues, he’ll take notes and come to a conclusion and he loves the feeling of getting it right.

- In the same spirit as the statement above, absolutely got Tsumugi and Sakyo hooked on some of his favorites and they hang out to talk about the latest episodes and the overarching mystery. The conversations can tend to get kind of heavy very quick, more than once Muku thought they were investigating a real crime and almost fainted.

- He looks like he’s probably allergic to wool sweaters, they make his skin itch and he always needs to use a shirt underneath them - so he tends to buy those expensive anti-allergic ones that need to be washed in a very specific way that could probably pay Tsuzuru’s whole college debt and it takes a lot of restraint from the playwright not to steal one and sell in the black market.

- Talking about Tsuzuru, he often gives him writing advice. Said advice tends to be very useful, like keeping a pen and notebook on him in case anything comes to mind during the day or writing daily to help ease him into a style, etc. Homare genuinely wants him to bloom into a writer and is willing to beta-read anything Minagi needs, be it a script or a sleep deprived rambling about the gay subtext in Nocturnity.

- Arisugawa sets himself reading goals each month, he likes to read at least one book. He prefers poetry books or classic english literature, but he also likes to read romance books or really bizarre dystopian novels.

- Has read more books than most people in the company and can give very detailed recommendations if you give him like a day.

- Sings operas in the shower, unless stopped he will keep going until the second act. Surprisingly good falsetto, but one time Tenma thought it was a Banshee for a second and almost cried into Juza’s chest.

- He’s not only an overly emotional drunk but also a loud drunk, he’s already quite loud but when he’s downed half a bottle of wine and a shot of vodka he’s louder than the Summer Troupe combined. Because of this, Izumi tends to restrict his alcohol intake when they’re at the dorm.

- I can see him being very big into musicals, not all musicals but a very specific niche; classic horror novels turned into musicals. He’s a very big fan of both the German and Korean versions of Dracula, his favorite song is probably “Zu Ende” or the Korean version of “It’s Over”. He also likes the Frankenstein musical too, but overall he finds Junsu’s Dracula more interesting thus his preference.

- He will talk your ear off if you mention any musical though, be it a classic like Phantom or something newer like Heathers.

- A very big fan of Ghibli movies, he told me so himself today. He really likes Spirited Away though, it’s a movie he’s watched so many times but he’s still completely enamoured by it; he probably has made the Winter Troupe watch it at least once and Hisoka definitely knows the beginning of the movie by heart now.

- Homare is also really good at drawing, not like Kazunari but he’s probably the second best. He learned by analyzing and looking at artists he admired and picking up on their techniques. A true Renaissance Man™️.

- I feel like he’d also have a bunch of skills that are kind of, useless? He can probably carve wood and make candles, he also took a course in glass blowing probably. Arisugawa just wants to try everything at least once, his motto is probably to explore and learn as much as possible, not just about art but the world (he can be surprisingly smart if you have a dictionary at hand).

- Very observant, just in general. Which can be both good and bad, it’s good because it helps him understand the situation in ways others might not but it leads to him to sometimes overthinking things and behaving in manners which may annoy or hurt others.

- He also has a hard time trying to react to social cues, as seen in game, with certain people. While he’s worked it out with the Winter troupe and the Mankai company he still struggles when it comes to new people.

- Will make little tunes he sings in the shower that kind of become a little daily song, each day there’s a new one he’ll hum.

- He also canonly makes music and he makes contemporary electro-pop, you cannot change my mind. He probably also mixes opera and classical music into his tunes, which can go from 1 minute to 10, so you end up with a very cool mix of orchestra and techno-pop - it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but he’s probably got his own niche group.

- Now, into more romantic HCs...

- He’s a good flirt, a very good flirt. They may sound weird looking back at it, but his pickup lines work and they work well.

- He knows when to stop pursuing someone too. He senses even a bit of discomfort and he’s backing away, won’t ask anything. Very big on consent and unless stated absolutely explicitly he’ll keep his distance.

- A true gentleman, please - he’ll never let his dates pay, always open the doors for them, will even do the “walk on the inside of the sidewalk” when he’s walking you home.

- His favorite dates tend to be ones where you get to know more about each other, not always necessarily by talking though. Being able to go into a bookstore and look at the books, seeing the ones you pick, what you pick at a cafe or restaurant, it all helps him draw a better picture of who you are and he likes to think it helps you get to know him better too.

- He’s very in tune with his S/O’s feelings but is afraid of overstepping any boundaries which may lead to some miscommunication at the beginning of the relationship. But it’s workable and it wouldn’t be that big an issue in the long run as long as his partner is willing to help him understand them.

- Not big on PDA, thinks certain things should remain inside - not to say he wouldn’t talk for hours about his partner to anyone who listens but things like kissing or hugs tend to be behind closed doors. He’s okay with hand holding and maybe a kiss on the cheek though!

- Likes wearing matching outfits with his S/O, thinks it shows how they’re “one in spirit, heart, and mind” and will not stop pointing it out to the point even married couples feel single as they hear him ramble on about the subtle coordination in your color schemes to create a perfect contrast.

- Notices the smallest things like how much sugar you like in your drinks, the telltale signs of when you’re lying or uncomfortable, how you act when you’re too cold or too hot, and learns it by heart.

- Homare is also the kind of boyfriend who’d confront the waiter if they get your order wrong, he’s not ashamed of it either.

- He kind of just wants to make sure you’re doing well and happy, he’s a gentleman.

- Damn… I love him so much

[jippy-kandi]

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Movie Review

I've seen the film. It was pretty good! Spoilers under the cut.

So, before I watched it, I did read a few bits and pieces of random spoilers. However, I did NOT read the novel – because I wanted to judge the film on its own merits and not be thinking about “what the novel did better”. But I knew things like most characters were sidelined, who the villain was, and how the movie ends. I still have not read the novel.

This is not a “proper” review of the movie -- because what’s the fun in that? You can google actual reviews of the movie by anime websites, if that’s what you’re after. These are just my personal thoughts, impressions and fangirl ramblings (I bias Yamato hard). Plus, a few comments from two others I went to the screening with for a different perspective.

It was like nerd city at the movie theatre, LOL. So. Many. Nerds. Some people even brought Digimon plush toys to the screening! I’ve never witnessed that before. It was great though, being surrounded by so many Digimon fans. I think the cinema was more than half full -- and this was an 800-seat cinema! 400+ Digimon fans? Whoa! I actually thought like only 20 people would show up, LOL.

I tried to put the following thoughts in “order” but some of it isn’t due to the nature of what they’re about . . . plus, I couldn’t 100% remember what order the scenes were in.

Screen time distribution (most to least): Taichi/Yamato, Koushirou, the 02 kids (roughly: Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Miyako, Ken, Iori), Mimi, Jou, a hamburger, a whistle, a beer, Sora. (Sora got shafted hard.)

Taichi was exactly just Taichi, which is 1000x better than tri. Taichi. He really did seem like a 22-year-old version of Adventure Taichi, beer-drinking and porn-watching and all. Thank you, Toei. Please don’t fuck him up in the reboot. (Although maybe that’s the idea?)

Yamato is the coolest motherfucker on a motorcycle. He looked SO DAMN GOOD in this movie. There were even a few gratuitous shots of his arse for no apparent reason, LOL. Or maybe that’s just me thinking, whenever he’s bending over or his back’s to us, “That’s a nice arse.” XD (HE IS THE ONLY 2D CHARACTER I THIRST FOR, I PROMISE. I’m actually engaged to Jungkook of BTS.)

Koushirou was the same old Koushirou we all know and love, doing smart stuff and generally being useful. He has no pointed interest in clothes or girls (Koumi began and died in tri., you guys). When it was shown that he was a company president, some people in the audience laughed, lol.

Takeru was pretty bland. I guess tri. Takeru will always be the definitive Takeru to me. This Takeru definitely evolved straight from 02 Takeru (who was also bland AF). But he was fine? I miss overly confident, charming Takeru. Also, where was your crush on your big bro??? lol

Hikari . . . was also fine? I don’t have much to say about her. I like tri. Hikari better (because she was cute? *shallow*). This Hikari was just serviceable. I think because everyone really is just playing second fiddle to Taichi and Yamato, they didn’t really add charms to the other characters. They just . . . serve the plot. And it seemed, at the beginning of the movie, that Takeru and Hikari were going to be in it a lot -- but they have most of their scenes in the first third-ish of the movie before disappearing until the end.

Daisuke was also exactly the same. But I’ve never been a fan of him, nor do I hate him (though he did get on my nerves in 02 sometimes . . .). I just don’t care about him, or any of the 02 kids, personally. :P

I don’t think Ken had a personality in this movie, LOL. He was fine, though. Serviceable. I’m sorry I lack opinions here, but there really wasn’t much to go on. He has no Kaiser issues or anything, he just seems like a normal, well-adjusted kid . . . with no personality, lol.

Iori didn’t have a personality either -- but everyone has always known that. Ha! XP He is just an extra reading lines. I found it odd that he seems so short though? I kept thinking he was still a 9-year-old because of the height difference between him and the others . . . I think Toei forgot that HE IS 17 AND THUS SHOULD BE VERY CLOSE TO FULL ADULT HEIGHT. Puberty is amazing, Toei! (Yeah, he can just be a really short person, I know. I wouldn’t have made that design choice, though. Especially when he’s short compared to Daisuke . . . who is short compared to Yamato . . . and Iori really is a midget.)

Miyako . . . it’s probably due to her voice actress, but she was SO LOUD. And I found her annoying because of it. In fact, she was the only annoying character in the movie to me. Loud people can be charming . . . but I didn’t find her charming. Sorry, Miyako fans. =\

Mimi has an e-commerce startup at 21, lol. OK, you go girl. She was definitely shafted, but she was in it a bit more than Jou I think, and definitely more than poor Sora. Probably a few minutes? Yeah, not a lot, especially compared to Taichi and Yamato. In one of her (four?) scenes, she loses consciousness and ends up in the hospital -- and Taichi, Koushirou and Jou are in her hospital room when Yamato bursts in and goes, “Jou!” You know, instead of acknowledging Mimi, THE COMATOSE FRIEND IN THE HOSPITAL BED. I just found it funny that’s how they chose to frame that scene. :P

Jou only had a few lines, but he was still in it more than Sora. But he is really just a doctor here. He could’ve been an extra hired for a doctor role and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, lol. Oh, Toei, please give all the characters almost-equal screen time in the reboot? Please???

Sora had like four lines and thirty seconds of screen time, TOTAL. I think the decision to hold her back from THE ENTIRE PLOT was SOLELY to have the scene where she reacts to Taichi blowing the whistle, so you know that the sound is going out of Neverland and reaching the real world (or whatever dramatic effect they were going for). I really think that’s it. That, or her voice actress did something terrible to Toei and they’re punishing her. :P

The movie basically opens up with Parrotmon attacking. Takeru was the first to be shown, then Hikari, then Taichi. Taichi is wearing those special goggles Koushirou made for him and he looked goofy AF lol. At one point, Greymon tackles Parrotmon into a building where you see some people inside running away from the rubble. My sister said (without knowing anything about tri.): “Does Tai not care that his digimon definitely just killed some people in that building?” I chuckled because . . . well. ;)

Yamato enters the scene COOL AS FUCK on his motorcycle (most of his entrance is shown in a clip that Toei released) and thank you Toei for doing that for him. He deserves a showy entrance. :) Although I do find it funny that he’s obsessed with motorcycles, given I still remember giggling as a kid at him NOT liking riding on the back of some guy’s scooter in Digimon: The Movie.

The music was nice and nostalgic and I have no complaints.

There is a quick scene of Yamato seeing a kid in a music store getting a harmonica, and watching a street performer singing. Obviously he’s thinking about his passion for music as a kid/teen (and his childhood in general?) and it was a nice touch. I think by the end of the movie you would’ve understood that Yamato was letting go of his past (childhood) and heading towards the future (adulthood).

A friend of Yamato’s makes a comment to him that Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are going to recruit him into the military due to his experience as a Chosen Child. Yamato replies, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”. BUT . . . this is Kizuna telling you EXACTLY what is going to happen, lol. I actually “predicted” Yamato’s career path years ago -- but it wasn’t hard, as there is really only two ways it could’ve gone, lol. Military test pilot or commercial air pilot -- which one, especially given the context Kizuna just gave us, is more likely? ;)

Yamato is shown wearing GLASSES in class (looking nerd-hot AF). Toei Animation must not have researched Yamato’s astronaut career as intensively as I did, and therefore did not know that astronauts need 20/20 vision lol. Oh well, he can get it corrected. :p (Or, he doesn’t actually need glasses but WEARS THEM AS A FASHION STATEMENT. Because I can believe that. XD)

I think Yamato had about three different outfits in the movie? And he looked good in all of them. Are there people out there who think he’s not fashionable? I'd find that opinion strange, given the fact that the staff behind 02 and tri. were actively designing him as the well-dressed cool guy of the group. He wears exactly the kind of clothes the well-dressed cool guys at my high school/university wore. Sure, sometimes they force green tops on him purely for nostalgic reasons and it therefore clashes -- there is only so much you can do with a green top -- but overall, he is supposed to come across as someone who cares about his appearance. If you don’t think so, you’re either not into fashion or you aren’t aware of 2005-2010 fashion as a teen/young adult. (If Yamato was a millionaire, I’m sure he’d dress identical to BTS with super expensive clothes lol. But he dresses very well for a “normal” person. :p)

Taichi was shown with two of his friends who were asking him about his aspirations or something, and the guy looked like an unattractive nerd. My sister said: “I didn’t like how they showed Tai with sloppy friends, but showed Matt with good-looking people.” LOL. Her favourite as a kid was Taichi, BTW. XD;

Menoa and Imura were . . . OK characters. Menoa seemed likeable enough at first, but when her real intentions were revealed she turned into a typical, crazy, possessed villain. Imura was really just there to service the plot, like a necessary extra on set. There was nothing more to him.

Menoa’s English is terrible. And it’s very noticeable because she inserts random English words into her Japanese sentences, lol. I laughed when Koushirou told her that her Japanese is very good (because SHE IS ACTUALLY FLUENT IN JAPANESE . . . and not so much in English). Yes, I know it’s because it’s a Japanese voice actress -- but it was still funny every time she spoke heavily accented English, followed by fluent Japanese. :P

Menoa’s partner digimon, Morphomon, was cute in design. Eosmon was the villain digimon and was Menoa’s attempt at recreating Morphomon, who disappeared on her. Does this sound kind of familiar? lol

Omegamon devolves into Koromon and Tsunomon when fighting against Eosmon. Back in Koushirou’s office, Menoa explains that you only have a limited amount of time with your digimon before they disappear and that fighting accelerates it. Taichi has a circle of lights on his digivice that lose a bar of light every time he fights with Agumon. When the lights all disappear, Agumon will disappear. Koushirou and Takeru look at their digivices to check if they’ve got it – they don’t, and they are relieved. Yamato then checks his and . . . well. He has it. His eyes start watering and he storms out of the room saying something along the lines of his bond with Gabumon will not be broken. I FUCKING LOVED THIS SCENE. Top 3 in the movie for me, personally. We all have weaknesses. Emo Yamato is mine, lol. I like it when he gets so emotional he cries in front of other people. :3

The “porn stash” scene with Agumon at Taichi’s apartment was HILARIOUS. The funniest scene of the movie. Everyone in the cinema laughed so hard. It was Taichi’s reaction that sold it -- it was BRILLIANT. The magazines actually had girls on the cover wearing bikinis, so, at least Agumon kept his innocence! lol

Gennai randomly appears in Taichi’s apartment to confirm the thing everyone should’ve always known (but that they just made up for Kizuna and which DEFINITELY led to “creative differences” with Digimon series director Hiroyuki Kakudou). This, of course, would be the whole idea that the more you “grow up”, the more your bond with your partner digimon breaks until, eventually, they disappear. Does the idea have problems? Yep. Menoa lost her partner digimon Morphomon at age 14 because she decided to accelerate her learning and go to university . . . meanwhile, Koushirou is the president of his own freaking company and still has Tentomon by his side. Yeah, OK, Kizuna. And, sure, you can argue that it’s about BECOMING AN ADULT -- but I think you’d just be drawing lines where YOU want to draw them. How mature is 14-year-old Menoa to be an “adult”? Is Koushirou really not mature enough at 21? And what about Jou, who I definitely think is an adult in all sense of the word? And so on. So arguments about this I think are valid, but at the same time . . . it’s Digimon. I think it’s a flawed idea but I also just shrug and accept it as it is, lol.

I “love” how Gennai just pops in when it’s convenient to the plot. Hello Gennai, what’s dark Gennai up to? Have you seen him around licking underaged girls anywhere? No? You’re just popping by to confirm shit to Taichi? OK, cool. See you in the tri. sequel, never. (He actually does give Taichi a reasonable answer as to why the growth/bond thing was never brought up before: that it’s like talking about how long you have to live. I bought it.)

Yamato is basically the reason the 02 kids are even in the movie, lol. He asks them to investigate Imura and Menoa for him and they do so. They contact him later on with info and they ask that he take them out for okonomiyaki (which is awful by the way, lol) as thanks and he smiles and says he can do that. This is just a nice exchange between them. :)

Yamato eventually confronts Imura (or is it the other way around, lol) and Imura HAS A GUN. Which was surprising to me because I remember that in the English dub, Puppetmon’s gun was censored, so seeing a gun in a Digimon movie was a little surprising. Anyway, Yamato doesn’t seem concerned by the fact that this dude can just shoot him dead, lol. Gabumon is with him, but still. Imura can still kill you before Gabumon kills him, you know. XD But it’s all good because Imura turns out to be an undercover FBI agent who wants to arrest Menoa, THE REAL VILLAIN. I was spoiled with this so no surprise.

There is a scene where Yamato has his hand tenderly on Takeru’s face because he lost consciousness. It was sweet, but I would’ve liked it more if Takeru had more of a personality in the film so I could actually care about him, lol. Yamato’s such a caring big brother, though. :)

Yamato was perfect in this movie. PERFECT. I had a few issues with his characterisation in tri. (I think he was, overall, about 80% Yamato), but he was ALL YAMATO, ALL THE TIME here. He is my favourite fictional character of all time, so DEAL WITH THE BIAS. I love him and, honestly, Yamato>Taichi all day, every day. I totally understand you, Sora. DON’T @ ME TAICHI STANS. XP

The ONLY minor quibble I had was that Yamato asks Taichi if they should really try to save the other kids, because fighting means it speeds up their bonds breaking. My quibble is: YAMATO IS NOT FUCKING SELFISH. He’s SO selfless. He would fight to save the other kids NO QUESTIONS, even if it meant he’s accelerating the destruction of his bond with Gabumon. But I give this scene a huge pass because it basically had to go like that, because ONE person out of Taichi/Yamato had to be reluctant so that the OTHER person pushes forward and has a “hero” moment. And who’s going to get that “hero” moment? The actual hero and MAIN CHARACTER of Digimon, Taichi, of course. SO I GET IT. I even agree and would’ve written it that way too, for Taichi to be the leader and reassure Yamato that this is what they’re doing (unlike in tri. where Yamato 1000% deserved the mantle of LEADER and Taichi could’ve whinged off the edge of a cliff and I. WOULD. NOT. CARE.). BUT I will still rant about this 30 second scene in my blog and scream to the universe that Yamato Ishida is the most selfless fictional being on the face of the planet and you better fucking know it. :)

Menoa is Maki 2.0. As soon as Menoa is revealed as being behind the evil stuff, she is instantly psychotic. So Maki 2.0 she definitely is. But . . . I don’t really care. Could Toei have been more original? Yes. But I can’t be bothered to criticise them for recycling a plot, because I’d rather criticise tri. for doing it in the first place, LOL. OK, honestly? At least Menoa’s plot had an actual resolution, instead of Maki being revealed and then . . . fucking off out of the entire series so abruptly. Like??? Kizuna followed through with it, tri. did not. That’s why I’m OK with the rehash, because Kizuna did tri.’s plot better. (Maki’s plot would’ve been good if the tri. writers didn’t get lazy AF at the end and just . . . didn’t . . . finish it.) I might also be giving Kizuna a huge pass because it made me feel things, lol.

The movie really picks up after Menoa reveals her intentions and they end up in Neverland (a place she created in the Digital World?) where she claims all the Chosen Children can stay as children with their partner digimon forever. It became a lot more interesting after that. But that’s also near the climax, lol.

In Neverland, all the kids who have lost consciousness are in their child forms (from the first season) and are basically Menoa’s puppets. This was really cool; it not only gave you nostalgic feels to see them like that, but it was also pretty creepy to see them with glowing red eyes. The Chosen Children, as kids, attack Taichi and Yamato. I laughed when Patamon attacked Yamato’s face and Tentomon tackled Taichi, lol. But I have to say though that Sora’s absence was VERY glaring here. Because . . . everyone was there, but her. :(

Other Chosen Children from the past are present in Neverland too. I FREAKING SAW MICHAEL, MIMI’S AMERICAN FRIEND, STANDING BEHIND HER. I was so surprised at his appearance that I didn’t catch anyone else. There were definitely others, but I didn’t make them out at all because I was so caught off-guard with Michael. XD; (I DON’T EVEN GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HIM, LOL.)

Someone said that Taichi called out Meiko’s name in the movie . . . well, I’m pretty sure that Yamato does, and he calls her by her last name, “Mochizuki”. This is when they’re in Neverland and Menoa shows them her “collection” of Chosen Children. Meiko pops up for one second. It was like Kizuna went, “Oh! Hey, tri. existed by the way. Now let’s move on.” lol

While being attacked by the Chosen “puppets” in Neverland, Taichi manages to reach his hand out and grab Hikari’s whistle and blow it -- effectively “waking” them all up from their puppet states. Everyone in the cinema got hit with audible FEELS, because when Taichi blew Hikari’s whistle the screen flashbacked to that scene from the first movie. I found the collective audience reaction more powerful than the scene itself, lol. But I really liked it, too. :)

So while everyone else is in Neverland . . . SORA IS IN HER APARTMENT HUGGING PIYOMON. Thanks, Sora, you’re a real friend. *cough* After Taichi’s whistle blow, she intuitively knows what’s going on and says she believes in everyone . . . THANKS AGAIN, SORA, YOU CHEERLEADER. OK, look: I do think it is pretty selfish of Sora to choose not to fight. I understand all the reasoning behind it, I even think SHE DESERVES TO BE SELFISH FOR ONCE etc., and I am fine with it -- but I still think it’s selfish. Because it is. And that’s OK, nobody is perfect, and people are selfish from time to time. If only it wasn’t glaringly obvious that her selfishness happened only because Toei just wanted her out of the way for most of the film . . . her absence, as stated before, really was noticeable in scenes where literally everyone else was included but her. (I’d also just like to point out that her voice actress was STILL CREDITED THIRD after Taichi and Yamato in the ending credits. LOLing forever -- such little contribution, such big recognition. XD)

But don’t get me wrong, I love Sora. I really fucking do. Taichi used to be my second favourite character in Digimon for a long, long time -- but Sora managed to dethrone him from second place (fucking Yamato probably helped, LOL). I think, screen time-wise, Kizuna did her a bigger disservice than Our War Game did. Yes, let that sink in. Remember how little she was in that movie? It’s worse in Kizuna. But story-wise and character-wise? Kizuna probably did better, because Sora was angry over a hairclip in Our War Game lmao. If you haven’t already, check out her memorial story short “To Sora” that Toei Animation released online. It’s six minutes of Sora . . . which is 5 and a half more minutes than in Kizuna! XD;

There’s a scene where Agumon and Gabumon tell Taichi and Yamato that they like watching them grow up. It was very touching, but also very brief. It was one of my favourite moments though. It made me have quick flashbacks in my mind of itty bitty Taichi and Yamato growing up into who they are now. The enormity of everything they had been through since the first season. THE HISTORY. THE GROWTH. It hit me right in the feels.

Taichi and Yamato’s homoerotic-ness was actually toned down a lot, especially compared to tri.. They don’t have forced disputes where they get angry at each other and the gay sexual tension shoots through the roof. They’re just . . . friends. Two dudes who drink beer together and moan about their lives. The partnership between them and their digimon were the focus of the movie, more so than the friendship between them. I actually liked this, and I usually care more about the human connections over the human-digimon ones.

“Shipping moments” – if you squint hard enough. Takari: At the start, Takeru shields Hikari from harm. Sorato: While Taichi informs Yamato about the lives of some of the other Chosen Children, Yamato lets Taichi know what Sora is up to -- that she’s seriously studying flower arranging. Kenyako: Ken asks Miyako, and only Miyako, if she’s OK (when Daisuke is right next to her). Taiora: Sora says Taichi’s name when he blows the whistle in Neverland and she hears it all the way in the real world. (My sister legit whispered to me: “SHE DIDN’T SAY MATT’S NAME.” BITCH, he ain’t the one whistling! XP) Now, Digimon Adventure tri. shipbaited hard -- but Kizuna did not do this. All of these very small moments felt very organic and passed as if they were a natural part to the story, instead of something shoehorned in with the explicit purpose of shipbaiting. I really liked this approach. The Sorato one in particular (surprise, surprise) said a lot about Yamato’s relationship to Sora without being explicit about it. He knows what she’s up to when her childhood best friend doesn’t? Yeah, those two are definitely hooking up after classes. :P (I jest. But it does tell you with one sentence that Yamato and Sora keep in touch, which I appreciated. You gotta do that if you’re having babies together within the decade, you know?)

There were next to NO evolution sequences. I might remember it happening once or twice? Max. And . . . that was a REALLY lame choice. Especially when Agumon and Gabumon evolve to their newest forms; Taichi and Yamato are just floating with them up into the air and then, poof, the new evolutions are shown. Google tells me they’re just called Agumon -Bond of Courage- and Gabumon -Bond of Friendship- respectively . . . they were not named in the movie. Here’s the thing: I don’t really care about digimon and evolutions. But it was so underwhelming; they really should’ve amped it up with an evolution sequence to be like HERE BE THESE NEW AWESOME FUCKING DIGIMON ‘bout to kick your arse. It seems like such a no-brainer that I really don’t know who would sign off on a evolution sequence not happening. Oh well. As for the designs? They are OK, but definitely could’ve been better. I think “cool AF” when I see Omegamon and all his forms. I don’t think that of these new evolutions lol. (But my sister liked them and thought they looked cool, so . . .)

Also . . . the fighting scenes in this movie were pretty bad. Very underwhelming. Our War Game and Diablomon Strikes Back did a lot better. I both like and dislike the animation style in Kizuna. I do actually like the art of it, like how it looks. But I kinda dislike how it’s actually animated, because it doesn’t really look like they’re moving fluidly enough. It’s a bit too choppy. I just expected the fighting/action scenes to be more exciting (I was hoping Our War Game-level) and of a higher standard. But they are not, unfortunately.

Everyone in the cinema audibly GASPED when Taichi and Yamato were just talking to Agumon and Gabumon after the final battle, and then they turned around and they . . . just . . . disappeared. And then Taichi and Yamato CRIED. SO. HARD. And I actually started repeating in my head, DO NOT CRY, DO NOT CRY, lol. I didn’t cry! Almost, though. :p I really loved this scene. And I really think, narratively, it would’ve worked A LOT better for the movie to end on this scene. The actual ending scene that comes after it felt a little too out of place and tacked on to me. More on that later.

There was a small smattering of applause at the end of the movie, lol. But I did not clap, because I find that weird. :p (Even though I clapped, alone in my house, when Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars LOL.)

The ending credits showed different photos of the kids. Unfortunately, I . . . don’t really remember most of them. XD; I think I saw Sora arranging flowers? And maybe Daisuke and Ken having dinner? I definitely saw Iori doing kendo, because I thought it was cool. And the one photo I definitely remember for sure: Yamato standing in front of a space shuttle. I stan astronaut!Yamato so hard, you guys have no idea how happy it made me that he’s pursuing his dream omfg my little baby boy. XD;

This is definitely Taichi and Yamato’s movie. Everyone else is just playing supporting/cameo roles -- some more than others, as outlined way above. (Well, except Menoa I suppose . . . and Koushirou to the extent that he’s just needed to be the Digi IQ.) But if you’re NOT a fan of either Taichi or Yamato? I think, though you’ll probably love all the nostalgia bits, you’ll also be really disappointed -- especially considering this is supposed to be the final instalment of the original Adventure continuity. It’s a great “love letter” to Taichi and Yamato specifically, but not for the other characters, sadly.

I saw the movie with my sister (a non-fan who used to like it as a kid) and a friend (a casual fan now, but she used to like it a lot years ago). I’ll refer to them as “S”(ister) and “F”(riend), respectively.

After the movie ended:

S: “Did you cry? Because two guys beside me were literally sobbing. SOBBING.” *Judging.* (LMAO.)

What was our favourite part of the movie?

Top 3 scenes for me were Yamato storming off with his eyes watering when he realises his bond with Gabumon has an expiry; the brief “speech” Agumon and Gabumon give to Taichi and Yamato about wanting to see them grow up; and Taichi and Yamato crying at Agumon and Gabumon vanishing. EMO EMO EMO.

S: “Sora doing fuck-all.” (LMAO.) F: “Yeah! What was up with that? It’s like they forgot she even existed.” S: “Sora is just a cunt.” (Note: S has a dry sense of humour and isn’t really being malicious. BUT . . . I do think most viewers watching Kizuna would have a poor opinion of Sora in this movie . . .)

F: “I liked the 02 kids. I guess it was mostly Davis. And I liked when Veemon was riding on Armadillomon’s back and Wormmon was trailing behind. It was just this random thing but it was funny. Maybe I just like making fun of Wormmon.”

About the idea that growing up affects your bond with your digimon:

S: “What I took from it was that you shouldn’t grow up too fast. Cherish your childhood, cherish your memories. But, eventually, you do need to grow up.”

F: “I don’t understand how this whole “Digimon disappear when you grow up” thing wasn’t known. Weren’t there older people with Digimon before? You’d think they could have made a more specific threat that was just affecting their digimon, not be like, “Yeah this happens to everyone, it’s just a fact of life that we’ve never addressed before.” It felt a bit like they were telling the audience to grow up and get over Digimon.”

What would we rate the film?

I probably have to watch it again to give a definitive score, but at the moment, I give it about a 7/10. It was good, but not great. The last half was pretty great though -- it definitely started out slow (there was a lot of exposition via Menoa vomiting words). Is it better than tri.? Chapter 3: Confession, no. Confession is better, I think, but I also haven’t seen it in years. But the rest of tri.? Probably. Especially the pile of shit that was Chapter 6: Our Future. *cough*

S: “4/10.″ (LOL.)

F: “It was better than tri.. I guess a 7/10 too.”

Sequel?

I think it’s definitely a possibility. I feel like the very last scene of the movie was slapped on just to be like, “Well, if we don’t do a sequel, you know that Taichi and Yamato are definitely going to reunite with their partners eventually for the 02 epilogue to happen.” The scene is of Taichi and Yamato saying something along the lines of meeting Agumon and Gabumon again one day.

And while it’s an uplifting ending, I actually think the movie would’ve ended better with the scene before that -- with the digimon disappearing and Taichi and Yamato crying. It would’ve made a bigger emotional impact and raised the movie up just a notch higher to end on such a ballsy note. But, of course, it would’ve meant a sequel definitely had to happen. So the actual final scene was added on so that a sequel doesn’t need to be made -- but that it leads to the 02 epilogue “off-camera”, in case they really don’t do a sequel.

I think there’s a 50/50 chance of a sequel. The movie actually does close the Adventure story pretty well -- it has all the ingredients to lead to the 02 epilogue without actually taking you there. But it also keeps the possibility of a sequel open, where they can show you exactly how Taichi and Yamato reunite with their digimon.

And, honestly, the only “barrier” I see to a sequel happening is that the reboot is airing next month -- and it’ll be confusing for the next generation of kids to follow one continuity, and then have a movie released with characters they recognise, but in an entirely different continuity. Unless, of course, the sequel comes out in another two years and the reboot has finished after one season (though there’s always a possibility it goes on beyond one season).

S: “Yes, I think there’ll be a sequel.”

F: “It seemed quite final. But obviously if the 02 epilogue is accurate that can’t be the end. Unless Matt finds Gabumon again on the moon I guess. “Oh hey yeah we don’t really disappear, we just go to space!” Yeah, it could go either way. Maybe they are saving Sora’s big part for the sequel!” (XD)

And that’s a wrap! I’ll probably read the novelisation of the movie eventually . . . and it’ll probably be like 95% the same, lol.

[365days365movies]

January 21, 2021: The Wages of Fear (1953)

What exactly is a thriller, anyway?

Now, I’ve repeatedly considered having thrillers take up their own month, considering that they’re considered one of the core eleven film genres. However, they intersect so commonly with other genres, that I’ll be incorporating it into other months this year.

The definition of the thriller or suspense genre relies on surprise and intrigue. The audience is made unaware of certain information, giving a sense of mystery to the movie’s setting. The protagonist is often also unaware of these certain things, although that certainly isn’t a requirement. 

Sometimes, they’re as innocent as the audience, if not moreso, and may be getting manipulated during the course of the story. Escapes, chase sequences, clear or hidden dangers, all of these meant to build suspense and unnerve the audience. It doesn’t have the overt scares of a horror film, and its action scenes build up to a feeling of building dread. They’re adrenaline-raising, heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat films. 

We’ve already covered one of the most prominent subgenres, the spy movie. We’ll cover more during Horror October, naturally, and a couple more this month. Comedy April’s even going to have a comedy thriller or two, while Romance February will pack an erotic thriller in there. Oh, and let’s not forget Crime July and Drama December. Like I said, they’ll be all over the place. Today, though, we cover one of the seminal French action thrillers, similar to our last two entries, but MUCH older. Enter Jean-Georges Clouzot.

Clouzot is one of the old-school French directors, even though he debuted quite late as compared to most, in 1942. A French Alfred Hitchcock, Clouzot’s first solo film was The Murderer Lives at Number 21. And surprisingly, it’s known as a comedy-thriller, and made a splash in theaters when it debuted in 1943. Which is interesting, given that whole World War II kerfuffle at the time. His most famous film, however, came in 1955, and was called Les Diaboliques. And THAT’S a psychological thriller that may end up on my list for October.

But two years before that, he made an action thriller. You know where this is going at this point, so let’s get on with it! SPOILERS AHEAD for The Wages of Fear!

Recap

Before we start, a tiny disclaimer: GIFs were...impossible to find for this one. HOWEVER, I miraculously found a recolored copy that I was able to convert into GIFs. I prefer the black-and-white version, which is how I watched it, but SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE

We start in Las Piedras, a small village in a Spanish-speaking country somewhere in Central America. A group of men speaking French, English, and Spanish are relaxing on a saloon porch, trying to beat the heat. These men include Mario (Yves Montand) and Bimba (Peter van Eyck). His girlfriend (?) Linda (Véra Clouzot, the director’s wife) works as a servant in the saloon.

Eventually, the men are told to leave, with Bimba being told to go to the airport to pick up mail. Arriving on the plane - other than a man with a whole-ass GOAT, which must have made for a fun flight for EVERYBODY involved - is a rich-looking man in a white suit and a fancy fly-swatter.

Our man, who’s French, runs into Mario, who is also French. This is Jo (Charles Vanel), who, despite looking rich, is out here looking for something monetary. Mario, after being weirdly cold to Linda, leaves for his home where he lives with Luigi (Folco Lulli), who speaks Italian. A real polyglot of a movie, this one. 

Over the course of a montage of indeterminate time, we find out that there’s no work in this town for the various men, who are stuck in this town because of the desert surrounding it, expensive tickets, and no jobs or employment opportunities. We also find out that since there’s oil, there are Americans.

The Southern Oil Company, SOC, dominates the town due to nearby oil fields. They aren’t the best, though, and they tend to treat the townspeople pretty terribly. Jo inquires for a job there, to no avail, and reconvenes with Jo. After treating Linda and Luigi, to be frank, like ABSOLUTE shit, Mario...WAIT A GODDAMN SECOND

HOLY SHIT, MARIO AND LUIGI LIVE TOGETHER. REALLY?!? Holy shit.

Jo’s a dick, it turns out, which causes a rift between the two Frenchmen and the others. After literally getting the entire saloon angry with his antics, he threatens the nice Luigi with a gun, causing a tense atmosphere with everybody. After literally handing Luigi a gun to shoot him, the dejected man leaves the bar, dejected. Like I said...Jo’s an absolute DICK.

The next morning, something’s happened. The oil field has caught on fire, killing some of the residents who worked there. This causes some anti-foreigner rhetoric, which’ll probably spell trouble for our mostly foreigner cast. The foreman is Bill O’Brien (William Tubbs), who’s asked to handle the situation by his bosses. The only way to put out the fire is to generate an explosion triggered by nitroglycerin. Which seems...backwards, but I don’t know how oil works. They need to transport the nitroglycerin to the field, but the job is too dangerous for unionized workers. Therefore, the idea is formed to bring in some of the unemployed men, especially those that hang around the saloon. And, of course, that includes Mario, Jo, Bimba, and Luigi.

Speaking of Luigi, sad news. Looks like his construction job has resulted in cement powder depositing in his lungs, giving him 6 months to a year to live. Shame, he seems like a very nice guy. And so, considering that this job is dangerous, but follows a lot of money...he doesn’t have much to lose.

One of the people at the briefing immediately backs out upon learning about the job. He notes that this job infects men with fear that they can’t recover from. For that fear, the wages are $2500 per person. Only four people can do this job; two per truck, with one driver and one passenger. After some trials, Mario, Luigi, Bimba, and Smerloff, a German, are chosen. Jo isn’t good enough, much to his own dismay. However, as Bill and Jo are old friends of sorts, they make a deal; if one of the men doesn’t show up, Jo can take his place.

That night, the men (sans Jo) gather in the saloon. One young man, an Italian named Bernando who wasn’t chosen, gives Linda a note to mail to his mother. Sadly, there’s a reason for that that I won’t show here. But while they tell him that there’ll be a next time, he insists that their won’t be. I’ll let you fill in the tragic blanks.

The next morning, Smerloff doesn’t show up, having last been seen with, uh...with Jo. Wonder where Smerloff went. Well, predictably, Jo ends up replacing him. Jo and Mario go first, after winning a coin toss. They drive off hauling their truck loaded with nitroglycerin, and you can feel the fear begin to set in for Mario. As they drive through town, Linda tries to say goodbye, only for Mario to literally push her off the truck, MAN, I don’t like this guy.

As the truck drives, they encounter their first obstacle: Jo. As he’s driving, fear would appear to set in for him as well. He overcomes a couple of large puddles, but begins to shiver and sweat, saying that he’s sick. But no, he’s definitely just nervous, and they stop the truck in a forest of sugarcane so that Jo can take a break. However, they have to get going quickly, as the second truck is close behind them.

In the second truck, Bimba and Luigi talk a bit, with the affable Luigi doing most of that talking. But when Jo and Mario stop for a second time, they tell the pair off and drive past. Because of this, they hit the first real obstacle: a stretch of rough and bumpy road called the washboard. To get over it, one has to go 40 mph to get over the bumps. If not, then the truck will feel the bumps, and the nitroglycerine will explode.  Luigi and Bimba get over with some difficulty, finding out that the gas in their truck contains water, and needs to be changed.

As for Jo and Mario, Jo’s nervousness costs them time and energy, as he refuses to speed up to the proper speed before getting on the washboard. They have to back up (inside their own tire tracks), and Mario officially takes over the wheel. And he starts going fast...too fast.

They almost collide with the other truck, but Luigi and Bimba speed up in time. Next obstacle: a road under construction. A K-turn is needed, and that turn requires a flimsy wooden construction to be driven on. It isn’t easy, the very competent Luigi and Bimba manage it all right. Jo and Mario get there, and Jo, predictably, FREAKS OUT. 

Mario, on the other hand, is overly reckless. In order to get over the rotted out road, Mario has to drive to the very edge of the construction. Jo, who was guiding him from the back of the truck, ends up tumbling over the side. While Mario thinks he’s dead, Jo instead takes the opportunity to straight-up run away, although Mario does see him. This is a problem, as the truck begins to slide on the wood without Jo’s help. But Mario, ever-resourceful, figures it out. But...

OH SHIT! Mario gets off the construction just as it’s starting to collapse. He makes it forward, and passes the cowardly Jo, who tries to get back onto the truck.Mario, UNDERSTANDABLY PISSED, almost leaves him behind, but finally stops so that he can get rejoin. The two get into an argument, where Mario calls Jo out for once being brave, but now being a coward. Jo tells Mario that he has no imagination, and that Jo’s “died fifty times since last night.” I love that line, honestly.

Back to Luigi and Bimba. They talk about life after the money, even though we’re aware that Luigi doesn’t have much of that left. It’s then that the next obstacle appears: a talus slope, from which a giant rock has fallen, and blocks the road. Bimba has the...bright idea (?) of using the nitroglycerin to blow up the stone. Which I feel like is an...idea.

They make a hole in the rock, then siphon some nitro out of a container. The others catch up, and back the trucks away, leaving Bimba by himself to do the deed. And it is...ABSOLUTELY NERVE-WRACKING HOLY SHIT. After setting up a Rube-Goldberg device and pouring the nitroglycerin into a hole in the rock, Bimba lights a fuse and sets it to blow. 

But because they fear they;ve parked too close, Luigi runs back to put out the fuse! Too late, though, as the nitro blows, and rocks fly, almost falling on the trucks in the process. As for Luigi...he survives! Knocked out by the shock from the explosion, but not injured. In the process, the rock is finally destroyed, and Mario and Luigi finally reconcile as friends.

Back on the drive with Luigi and Bimba! We find out that Bimba’s a German, whose parents died at the hands of the Nazis. He himself was in a work camp for 3 years, which is why he is as brave as he is. Behind them, Jo and Mario talk of France, and Jo rolls a cigarette.

...FUCK. 

Luigi and Bimba are gone. Like that. This, of course, freaks out Jo, who runs away from the truck. Mario catches up, and beats Jo for his cowardice. They return to the truck, albeit very reluctantly on Jo’s part. They make it to the site of the explosion, where there’s...no sign. No sign of the truck, of the guys, nothing. Just a busted pipe spitting up oil, creating a massive puddle.

Jo goes into the shallow pool to guide Mario through it, but gets stuck in the pool in the process. Mario runs over his leg, and the truck itself gets stuck in the oil. Mario gets out of the truck and helps Jo, whose leg is FUUUUUUUUUCKED up. I mean it, it’s like a busted sausage link, like a sock made of MEAT. It’s not OK, is what I’m saying.

Mario, using a cable, an iron rod, and his wits, manages to pull the truck out of the oil pool. He gets Jo, and the drive continues. Jo, in pain and possibly bleeding out, is close to falling asleep. To keep him awake, the two talk about Paris. Day turns to night, and Mario continues to drive. They finally make it to the burning oil field...but too late for Jo.

Mario’s finally able to get out of the truck, and stumbles towards the fire and collapses. Not dead, just exhausted. He gets all of the money promised to the four, and leaves in the now empty truck to go back to Las Piedras. Free of nitroglycerine and free of fear, he gleefully drives back. In the saloon, the patrons celebrate Mario’s survival while listening to Blue Danube, and so does Mario! And Mario is driving...carefree. And recklessly.

...That’s The Wages of Fear. See you in the Epilogue.

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 402

It shouldn’t be surprising when I say this post is going to be less jokey than last week. If that’s not your jam, I recommend you stop reading now and maybe just sing “Everyone is Garbage” to the tune of Everything is Awesome while you instead go watch the entirety of Underground, or the Rosa Parks episode of Doctor Who.

I have to say, the producers on this show have said a lot of dumb shit in the past. From “Frank’s a good guy!” when he’s portrayed as being objectively awful on screen to “We don’t shy away from the horrors of the past because we’re so daring like that!” as a justification of their need to rape or assault everyone with a pulse. But one of the dumbest things in recent memory was at NYCC when Ron tried to claim that Outlander isn’t a political show.

Bullshit. Everything is political.

Using America the Beautiful to underscore how America didn’t, and still doesn’t, live up to the ideals we sing about in our romanticized versions of our history was political. Albeit in an overly heavy-handed way. Choosing to do an episode about slavery that focuses solely on white people and not the enslaved, who are just there as props for the white people’s moral dilemmas, is political. Choosing to show a lynching on screen in a time when Black people are still being killed in horrifying numbers at the hands of white people who are supposed to serve and protect, in a time when Black people have the police called on them while simply having a cookout in a public park, in a time when a white man can shoot an unarmed Black boy and walk away with no consequences, is political.

How we portray Black bodies on screen matters. And in this instance, a *very* white show chose to frame enslaved people as the props against which they highlight the guilt of the white protagonists.

I really do wish they included someone checking to see if Claire, who had a man killed right in front of her, was ok. But instead she just does the emotional labor of assuaging Jamie’s guilt over Bonnet’s attack. Because doing emotional labor is just what women do. *flips off the patriarchy and also the producers*

Young Ian’s awe at River Run, how it’s befitting a king, just highlights how he has no context for what the symbol of a big white plantation house means for so many people. That image is so laden with white supremacy it should immediately trigger a bad taste in any decent person’s mouth. Go ahead and @ me.

Jocasta Cameron is straight garbage, but Maria Doyle Kennedy is fucking amazing. A++ casting, show.

Not sure if the parallel of Jocasta telling Claire to call her Auntie and Claire telling Phaedre and Mary to call her Claire was intentional or not. Will have more to say about that in a second...

Honest question, if the dog who plays Rollo is so poorly trained that they have to cut him out of most scenes, why didn’t they get a different dog? Slash, I thought they’d been training this one since it was a puppy?

“Some River Run hospitality.” *feels nauseous*

I SO hope they don’t do the Jocasta and Ulysses having an affair storyline from the books. Please, show, don’t do it.

Show!Jocasta is so much more overtly garbage than book!Jocasta. This is a woman who had to flee her country after the Rising because of how horrible the English were to the Scots. Yet she doesn’t bat an eye at the concept of keeping human beings as property. Even with Jamie, she isn’t thinking of him as his own person, but rather someone she can make do her bidding and use for her own purposes. She should fucking know better, but the promise of benefiting from white supremacy is apparently more beneficial than actually having morals. Fuck you, Jocasta.

Claire’s palpable discomfort with being led around by an enslaved man juxtaposed with Jamie thinking nothing of it as he reminisces about his mother is just the start of me side-eyeing Jamie a lot this episode.

Don’t worry, I’m an equal opportunity side-eye’er. Claire’s gonna get her share of it too. Starting with her asking Phaedre and Mary to call her Claire.

Claire. You know all about chattel slavery. You know it’s wrong. You know how enslaved people are treated. Why the fuck would you ask Phaedre and Mary to put themselves in a position to potentially face serious consequences for not being “properly deferential” to a white person just to make yourself feel better about being complicit in their enslavement. She’s prioritizing making herself feel better at the expense of the potential well-being of Phaedre and Mary. JFC, Claire, do not endanger the marginalized people you claim to care about in the name of wokeness.

The skunk bit with Young Ian and John Quincy Myers is a tad off-putting tbh. I love that Ian wants to learn about Native Americans and looks to find similarities with them rather than think of them as “savages,” but like they’re having this convo while completely ignoring the fact that an enslaved boy is filling the tub and like immediately just start talking about banging Native American women. It just feels like they were stretching for some levity when the characters in this episode don’t deserve any.

Jamie: “Uncle Hector and you have achieved a great amount here, Auntie.” Me:

Jocasta: “I purchase them in lots, in order to keep those with children together.” Me:

“Over the years, I found my slaves to be more productive when treated with benevolence. You see, I don’t actually see them as people. I only treat them nicely so my property can reach its maximum potential output. I am a garbage human and the myth of the benevolent slave owner is just bullshit that white people tell themselves to absolve themselves of the fact that they benefit from white supremacy.”

That Jocasta can refer to the people she enslaves as both too expensive to be livestock and friends in almost the same breath is peak caucasity. Seriously, show!Jocasta is an irredeemably shit person.

Also Jamie being like oh well done, Auntie, you are so nice to these people makes me want to punch him in his dumbass face. Show!Jamie has been on my last nerve for a while tbh.

Like bro, you literally lived in a cave for fucking years because the English were out to fuck Scots up. You were in prison for fucking years. You served on an English estate, where you were raped, for fucking years. And now you see people who were ripped from their homes and families and brought across the sea against their will (hey remember your nephew, Ian?) and you’re like oh Auntie, you’re such a nice white lady. Go fuck yourself, Jamie.

Jocasta playing the woman card with Jamie to justify her needing him to get involved with the enslaved labor on her plantation is something Colum would be proud of.

And Jocasta being like hey, “Claire, you’ve been homeless for a hot minute, shower me in praise for how nice my slave-run house is as I ‘graciously’ let you stay here” is such a power move in the worst possible way. Colum and Dougal raise a glass from whatever afterworld they ended up in.

Claire, girl, why couch your opposition to slavery in the Quaker influence. Own your opinions on this. Take a fucking stand. There are things in life worth standing up for. This is fucking one of them.

Oh Jenny. I love that she wrote to Jocasta about Claire. But also last season still turned me the hell off from show!Jenny so really I don’t like that lady.

Fuck each and every one of these yuppie white men.

Aw, woke-ish!Ian. Yes, it was their land, but let’s please not think of the Native American women as sexual conquests like you were earlier. KThxBai.

Ok for real, after living at Leoch and scheming through Paris and then being fucked over by Bonnet, Jamie sure doesn't learn much about people being sneaky. How does he not see where Jocasta was going when she so readily positioned him in a position of authority on the plantation.

Jamie, bro, buying into the benevolent slave owner narrative is not a good look. And by not a good look, I mean you are a garbage person. I get that that’s the point, but still.

Ok so the book frames Campbell as a friend to the Frasers, and the show is trying to frame him as someone genuinely trying to look out for the Frasers’ best interest. But he has also resigned himself to the reality of his current situation with no desire to try to make things better since it would mean making a personal sacrifice. To which I say, fuck you very much, you coward.

Hi, I’m Der, and I’m of the opinion that if you are in a place of privilege and see bigotry and oppression taking place, it’s your duty to stand the fuck up and try to make a change. 

“If we take the Tryon option, we don’t need to feel bad about slavery and can just bask in our white privilege on stolen Native American land and not have to deal with the consequences of accepting free land from the English, y’know, the people we hate, for almost a decade.” Cool, Jamie. Cool cool cool. Remember last episode when you were almost woke? 

Claire acting naive about what’s going to happen to Rufus should seem out of character. She went back into the past knowing full well how things were there. She knew that if she went back, she’d be in a time where this was the reality. Yes, she thought she’d be in Scotland, but that’s just another sign of her fucking privilege. She was like oh, I’ll just be in Edinburgh and not have to consider slavery. Joe Abernathy did not deserve the shaft he got in season three and he does not deserve fucking peak-white-privilege-the-past-is-fine-because-it-doesn’t-really-affect-me Claire as his friend.

Scrub Nurse!Ian is literally the only positive part of this episode.

This entire scene of a room of white guys being like “we need to uphold the law!” makes me want to kick the shit out of each and every fucker who has ever owned a confederate battle flag t-shirt or a bumper sticker. 

Also fuck each and every person who voted for the authoritarian narcissist who currently occupies the white house in 2016 or any of his fucking lackeys in the midterms. All these fuckers are straight garbage. And all the fuckers defending the authoritarian tendencies of the current administration can go fuck themselves. Go ahead and @ me.

“Don’t worry, my husband is heir to this estate.” Oh don’t fucking delude yourself, Claire. Rufus is going to die. And you are complicit in his death. Fucking own it.

*insert obligatory Joe Abernathy deserved better rant here*

I don’t like giving partial credit, but at least the show let fucking Rufus tell his own story. Just for a little bit though.

Ok I’m calling fucking bullshit that Ulysses, a man who (I don’t care what his relationship with Jocasta has been) has been enslaved for years, fucking calls Claire out and tells her she should have let Rufus die. Way to fucking try to absolve Claire by having a Black, enslaved man try to make her upcoming actions ok.

Don’t act naive, Claire. You know how this was going to end. Rufus was always going to die. You are complicit. There is no escaping that. Fucking own your part. Fucking own your privilege. And also fuck the show for centering this so much on the fucking white people.

Rufus didn't get to be an active participant in his own death. Claire should *not* have been absolved of her decision to kill him by having him ask her to do it. But by not even telling him what she's doing, she's just another white person making decisions for him without his consent. She also should have known to kill him without Jamie telling her to. *gestures at the Graham Menzies part of the books* She knows what's about to happen. She should accept that by choosing to be in the southern colonies, she's going to be complicit in slavery. She made her bed when she decided to go back into the past and now she should have to lay in it. 

Sure she may not have known that she’d end up in the colonies, but she still knew she’d be going back to a time when she’d end up being part of something that is morally abhorrent. But apparently getting that ginger dick was worth it.

It’s cute they do a parallel of her helping Rufus to die with her helping Geordie to die. But I can’t help but think this is as much for her as for him.

Every white person in this episode is trash. As they fucking should be.

Fuck everyone who defends the continued existence of confederate memorial statues tbh.

I know that’s out of left field, but yeah, fuck those people.

The fact that this shit is bringing up very real feelings about today’s political climate makes me fucking angry at the fuckers around today and also the fucking production crew for trying to cater to the meemaws by saying the show isn’t political.

Fuck Jamie for being like yeah, I can just pray this shit away. No. God is a cop out. You did this. YOU. You need to own this. Don’t you dare hide behind your faith. You will not be absolved.

Fuck this show for showing a fucking lynching and them immediately cutting to Claire’s face to make the lynching about her white guilt. Fuck them. 

If Jamie and Claire really don't want to be complicit in the atrocities of colonial America, they should move to a city where they could join in the work of starting to dismantle the things they claim to be morally opposed to. Instead they embrace their privilege of getting to ignore slavery by leaving River Run next week and go out to colonize Native American lands.

And just think. After all of this. After witnessing a lynching. In a couple episodes, Jamie’s gonna voluntarily send a guy into slavery! 

Fuck.

Please all go read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. KThxBai.

[figureviews]

Review: Nendoroid 769 Kagamine Len Harvest Moon Ver.

I wanted Len Harvest Moon Ver. for a long time and ultimately I ordered him along with his sister and I’ve to admit this one is another of the Nendo I particularly love, not so much for its accessories but because he’s simply beautiful (below in an official photo).

...they were both sadly damn expensive to get... but I really love them.

So, a premise.

What does it mean ‘Harvest Moon version’? Everything starts with Hatsune Miku. At the HATSUNE MIKU EXPO in Shanghai held in China Goodsmile announced they would release a Miku based on an illustration (which you can see below) by the Chinese illustrator Rella, who is well known as one of the greatest Hatsune Miku illustrators on Pixiv in which Miku was dressed up in outfit based on those seen at the Mid-Autumn Festival in China (hence the name ‘Harvest moon’ due to it being a harvest festival).

(for who’s wondering she’s on my ‘I’M GONNA BUY THIS NENDO’ list)

Afterward though, Goodsmile decided to release also Kagamine Len and Kagamine Rin, always using illustrations made by the Chinese illustrator Rella in which they were dressed up in outfit based on thoseof the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (which you can see below).

And now let’s dig into how this Nendo is.

Kagamine Len Harvest Moon Ver.’s package is the Nendoroid standard package, with the mark Goodsmile company clearly visible (actually sorry, in the first photo isn’t so clearly visible due to the light hitting the box but it’s there). Do yourself a really HUGE favour and avoid buying bootlegs of this Nendo as there are a lot for Kagamine Len Harvest Moon Ver. but they’re really, really ugly.

The blister box isn’t as filled with accessories as Hatsune Miku Harvest Moon Ver.’s one but it still contains many cute things so let’s look at him!

His stand has the standard Nendo base, a square with many holes in which you can insert the brace those plug can be attacked to his back to support him.

However we don’t have just Len’s stand but also a stand for the special background that comes with Len and that you can place behind him.

Included is also an extra neck joint.

Like all the Nendo Len is stored in the box in a neutral position, with his legs straight and his arms straight and at his side.

The cartoon inserted behind him in the box has no background, it’s just a yellow with written over his Nendo number 769 but behind it in a plastic bag it’s attached the special background panel I mentioned before (below without the stand).

It’s really cute and gives a nice atmosphere, sort of like an ancient illustration centered on moon viewing.

Oh, and of course we’ve instructions in English and Japanese.

And now let’s look at him disassembled with all his spare parts!

We’ll start with the legs.

Sadly they’re just two straight legs. Same as KAITO Senbonzakura Ver. Len’s legs don’t come with the plug. Basically there are holes on the legs and you insert in them the ball shaped joins on the Nendo’s pelvis.

It gives the legs mobility… but I get really fearful about the ball shaped joint to break each time I pull a leg out so in a way I’m sort of glad I don’t have extra legs with whom to replace these ones.

Let’s continue with the arms, 2 for the right side, 3 for the left.

The arms are fundamentally a pair of straight arms and then arms to hold the bunnies and the Chinese tea set he comes with. As you can see they can be removed by the sleeves so that you can exchange them (actually I didn’t manage to remove the last left one so i think it’s not meant to be removed).

The sleeves have detailed folds and I love how their colour slowly changes from grey to orange.

We continue with Len’s body.

His Chinese clothes aren’t overly complicate, they’re actually pretty simple compared to Miku or Rin but they’re still lovely. In them too the colour switches gently from grey to orange.

I couldn’t manage to remove the pelvis from him. Below you can see the ball joint for his legs.

Faceplates! 

Only two sadly, a smiling one and an embarrassed one. The smiling one is nice but nothing special, the embarassed one is very cute.

It’s true, Len’s face and Rin’s face are exactly the same so you can easily swap among them and, in addition to this, Goodsmile produced already 3 more Len (4 if you count the cheerful version) and an equal number of Rin, so, if you are a Kagamine siblings fan you have already other faceplates for them but, well, I would have still loved if they had given him an extra one.

Hair.

Len’s cute, little ponytail is connected to the rest of his hair by a peg, so you can move it a bit.

For once Len’s hair doesn’t come with his headphones so I really love it all the more!

I also like the yellow used for them, which has darker shades.

And now we move to talk about the accessories included, the first being the bunny ear parts.

Following the Goodsmile tradition the idea is that you basically stick those small trasparent pieces in between the sealing parts of the hair so to keep them still.

I HATE THIS as they tend to slip and, what’s worse, one of the tiny plastic pieces somehow managed to slip out of the ears and I almost lost it. I had to gue it to keep it safely inside the ear, which is something I hate.

To be honest though the ears are cute, much cuter than the ones included in the Nendoroid More: After Parts 04 A Set rabbit ones.

Personally though, I love more the other accessories, my fave being the two cute rabbits.

Len (or another Nendo) can hold them both as each of them has, below it, a little hole to hold them.

They can also stand on their own! (by the way, they’re white, no idea why they come so grey in the photo... -_-;)

The bunnies are really beyond cute, I lvoe them so much!

Another accessory I love is Len’s adourable Chinese tea set.

Here it’s how it looks from above...

...and below it you can see the hole that allows Len to hold it.

It’s adourable and very Nendoroid sized. As I’m used to give them Re-ment accessories, which are often slightly bigger, I love how this one instead fits them perfectly!

Now… poses. 

The poses are all easy to get and, as you can see, Len comes out always very cute, no matter if you leave him alone or with Rin.

By the way, Rin and Len’s design as well as the rabbits make me think of some Chinese legends among which the story of Chang E, which is the most widely accepted tale regarding the moon and the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival and of the legend of the jade rabbit. Maybe it’s just me though.

Would anyone who’s not fan of the Vocaloids or of Kagamine Len himself, want to buy him?

Honestly I love Kagamine Len Harvest Moon Ver. both for his Chinese clothes and his accessories as well as his cuteness.

Yes, he could have more spare parts but I still think he’s enjoyable enough and I would recomment him.

And that’s all for him.

Next time I’m going to give a look at Kagamine Rin Harvest Moon Ver. which I got with him!

[clonerightsagenda]

Oh, when u have the finger energy for it, calliope VS skaia-muse-Callie VS alpha-lord-Caliborn VS directors’ cut alt!caliborn dvd commentary discussion sometime? 

I am dictating this entire DVD commentary.  We are going to see how that goes.  To prevent the computer from getting upset at me for weird words, I am giving all the characters code names. So let’s talk about the adventures of Carl and Cindy, and I will use find replace later.

Calliope ends up being more of a McGuffin than a character in canon.  Sure, she’s nice and sweet and provides a lot of the exposition near the beginning of Act six, but after that she is mostly something to rescue.  Once she is rescued, she doesn’t do much in the story.  I know there is something said within canon about not having to do anything to be worth saving or worthwhile as a person, and that IS important!  However, I also thought that after being victimized by her brother, she should be allowed to play some part in taking him down.  She has stakes! More than Vriska, for sure. We haven’t gotten there yet, but you may recall her being told she will have to help defeat him in the end.  Something to look forward to.  Calliope also ends up being very sweet and good, which she is.  However, she does have some faults, the biggest of which is that she admits a few times that she sometimes views her friends as characters.  Those faults are shown most dramatically in her other self, but she does get snappy toward Alt Caliborn in the director’s cut portions.  A lot of her development, which you haven’t seen much of yet, is going to involve learning from the mistakes of her other itself.

That seems like a good transition.  Alt Calliope isn’t exactly a villain in this story, but she is an antagonist.  She doesn’t have negative intentions.  In fact, her concern is the perpetuation of reality.  However, she is most interested in defeating her brother, because she sees him as a dangerous instability against good order. The little people don’t matter so much. Now, I actually thought canon would establish that she was behind the game. So much of the comic is about things that seemed mysterious or eternal (the demon, the universe, the Green Sun) secretly having an origin.  After all, the whole thing is a creation myth.  So when I started writing this, I honestly thought it would be stated in Homestuck proper that she was behind the game.  That did not happen, but that is what I went with.  So in our version, she used her powers to inspire the game, and the consciousness behind it.  She is the value system behind Skaia.

And that is where we get into Calliope’s faults.  Because Calliope, watching from a distance, was tempted to see her friends as characters. This version has never interacted with people directly.  She had only herself, her thoughts, and what she could see. It was easy for her to dehumanize them. They are the pawns on the chessboard of the game she is playing with her brother, and she will move them and sacrifice them in whatever ways she thinks will lead to the greater good.  Which is not so great if you are one of those pawns.  I have gotten into my issues with Skaia before, so I will just link you over if you want to look at them. But she is definitely a lesson in what not to do, and how space can become just as terrible as time.

So let’s move on to her adversary.  Lord English is not really a person anymore.  He is actually several technically, but all of them have degraded into a cosmic force. If Alt Calliope is a creation at the expense of individuals, Lord English is destruction at the whim of one individual.  He’s searching for his sister to consolidate his power, but he also just likes wrecking stuff.  Much as Calliope is behind Skaia, one oppressive force, LE is behind the alpha timeline.  Both constrain the possible actions of the other characters, punishing them for any divergence.  Anyone who writes a different story than the privileged alpha is doomed and killed.  (I talked a fair bit about the tyranny of the author here.) I’m not sure this is even what Caliborn wanted really.  Yes, it is a final manifestation of his self absorption and determination, but at the cost of his own personality.  I kind of see both of these “fully realized” master Classes as a sign that too much of your role can overcome you.  They are pure time and space in the worst ways possible. Overly clinical, heartless creation and overly aimless, heartless destruction.

Speaking of how Caliborn wouldn’t like it, enter Alt Caliborn.  I didn’t want to do some pat ‘he becomes pure good’ thing.  He’s still a deck.  Man, it really doesn’t want me to swear.  Anyway, he is still a jerk.  That is just his personality.  However, I find strict binaries too simplistic.  Saying every type of this species is 100% evil all of the time is dumb.  So yes, he is still spiteful and rude.  If he was given the opportunity to sell his sister out to his own advantage, he totally would.  However, he is not mindlessly destructive.  He sees that cooperating is advantageous.  Also, this gave me a chance to highlight some character traits that disappeared later in the story as he was absorbed into the final boss.  He is insecure, has trouble learning, and sometimes feels abandoned.  All those come out much more clearly in this version.  Is he a good person?  No. But I didn’t feel like one note villains, and since Lord English kind of is inevitably one note by virtue of being a force of nature, I decided to flesh this one out instead.

In conclusion, I'm not wild about pure good or pure evil. The cherubs’ “realized” selves demonstrate how too much conviction to any ideal can become horrible and oppressive to those living in the world you are trying to create. No one person should be allowed to determine everyone's narratives. That is the danger of the master classes I think, and perhaps why their species was never supposed to play this game. It is a lesson Calliope will take to heart. 

[fic-dreamin]

Decent read This was a very enjoyable final installment to the epic sci fi series The Incal. As usual the artwork is beautiful and the storyline is strange but I didn’t find it quite as good as Before The Incal or The Incal but consider it required reading if you are a fan of the other installments. Go to Amazon

Great artwork, decent overall plot, terrible characters and dialogue. The art is fantastic, but probably weighed down by too many panels per page (the panels are very small). The writing is terrible. I don't know how much is lost in translation, but the dialogue is corny and uselessly explains action you can clearly see happening with the art. The characters are too broad and dated. Go to Amazon

The Incal is like your brain, if your brain were a fried egg. Good read. The end, like all the entries in the Incal series makes up for an overly spiritual third act. Go to Amazon

Some details about the different editions out there: I will try to explain the different English language editions of this book, because it can be very confusing. Try to confirm which edition you are buying first. This "Ultra-Deluxe Collector's Edition" is a very super-sized edition "Coffee Table Book", more expensive for being so large (12 x 16 inches) and being limited to 200 copies. You can find a video online, that was made by the publisher, showing it off if you search for "Final Incal Ultra Deluxe Edition". This edition is the only place you can find the original Moebius After The Incal pages at the "Coffee Table Book" large size. There is a extra large size "coffee table book Final Incal" (also 12 x 16 inches) drawn by Ladronn which is limited to 750 copies at $189 and at a more standard size of 7.9 x 10.8 inches for $35 (both of these versions to not have the Moebius After the Incal pages, only the complete Final Incal cycle by Ladronn, but the smaller hardcover has an author's interview that seems to be exclusive to that edition). Both the Moebius After the Incal pages and the Ladronn Final Incal versions are collected in the slightly oversized ( 9.4 x 12.6 inches) "Final Incal Classic Collection" but this Ultra-Deluxe is unique for the extra-large Moebius pages. To be honest, it is the Ladronn art that benefits most from the supersizing in this edition, the Moebius After The Incal pages look totally fine in the slightly smaller but still oversized "Final Incal - Oversized Deluxe Edition: Classic Collection", which was limited to 1,500 copies and was sold for $100. The The other things that makes the Ultra Deluxe so unique: the signed bookplate by Jodorowsky and Ladronn, the three nice loose art prints that are included in a tray in the back of the book (those are not signed), the slipcase and cover of the book are different from the other editions out there (one note: the cover image on this amazon page IS NOT the actual cover of this book or its slipcase, but one of loose art prints has that picture on it), and this book comes in its own special cardboard box that protects it during shipping (at least mine did, and you can see the box in the video I mentioned). I believe the publisher's original price was $590. Most of this information is on the publisher website: http://ift.tt/2BhUoI4 Go to Amazon

It’s traveling at hyper-luminous speed! Out of all three collected Incal books, I like the artwork in this one the best. Granted this artist, Ladronn, owes a lot to those who came before, but his style is more painterly and to me, beautiful to look at. This was published in 2016 so at least I don’t feel like a chump for not knowing about it sooner. As you would expect, this is the grand conclusion to the Incal trilogy and a wonderful end it is. If you are new to the Incal universe I would definitely recommend The Incal classic collection or Before the Incal as prerequisites. You can start here if you want, but come on, this is a complicated universe, you might as well make it easier on yourself by starting at the beginning. Go to Amazon

Four Stars a great finale to the Incal series. This is a direct continuation of The Incal, and Before Incal. both of the said book are like a prequel to it. so read those 2 before you read or pick this one up. the order to read is of the publishing: Go to Amazon

I really enjoy this book The art inside is phenomenal. The art alone is reason to buy this book. The story is very cool as well, but the art.....it's just impossible to comprehend. How the artist had enough time to draw in so much detail is a mystery. Go to Amazon

Five Stars I collect Mr. Jodorowsky's works so I am a wee bit biased. Go to Amazon

Five Stars Five Stars Flawed but still utterly original in some key ways Five Stars Five Stars Five Stars Hard covers are usually not the total story.

[ipadsadvise]

Why Apple Is Fighting Not To Unlock iPhones For The Government

Yesterday, the FBI filed an order compelling Apple to unlock an apple iphone made use of by Syed Farook, one of the attackers in the San Bernardino capturing occurrence late in 2013 which left 14 individuals dead.

Shortly after that, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Chef released a bold statement showing that Apple planned to eliminate the order. Apple was signed up with by the Digital Frontier Structure, which claimed it would certainly aid  in the fight.

We have actually currently covered the nuts and bolts of the apply for, as well as Chef's response and the White House's reaction to that response. You can read those for a primer. There has been a whole lot of ink spilled and also there will likely be a great deal more, but there are a few questions that I believe deserve a more detailed look-- as well as there is a more comprehensive factor to be made that will likely get obfuscated by people going after technological information instead compared to implications.

This existing order is everything about Apple choosing not to open a single tool for the FBI. It is not to be confused with the associated, yet larger, battle over the government forcing technology business to weaken their file encryption by introducing a 'secret' key that only they have.

The essential concern of the day is this: Why is Apple fighting not to open a terrorist's iPhone, rather than waiting to fight their huge fight over security back entrances? Allow's dissect it.

The Ask

The government desires Apple to produce a 'one-off' version of iOS that it can install on this tool with 3 essential modifications:

Disable or bypass the auto-erase function of iOS. This removes your phone if way too many wrong passwords are input. A generally allowed level on company phones-- which the apple iphone 5c had by the government firm for which Farook functioned-- is.

Remove the delay on password inputs to make sure that the FBI can 'presume' the passcode on the phone quicker, without it locking them out for mins or hrs, which is what iOS does to quit any type of arbitrary thief from doing this kind of thing. The inputs would be decreased to around 80 nanoseconds, which would permit the password to be guessed in under a hr if it were 4 figures and also considerably longer if it were more.

Allow the FBI to send passcode via the physical port on the phone, or a cordless protocol like Bluetooth or WiFi.

The final condition there is the scariest, and also the one that Apple challenge the most. Do not get me wrong. Cook's letter accurately specifies that Apple is opposed to all of the conditions, yet that last one is different. It is asking Apple to add a vulnerability to its software program and tools, not merely 'get rid of' a roadblock.

There is a probability that Apple can drag this out with the FBI for an extremely long time, saying about affordable needs or the expenses of this to Apple (which could possibly be prohibitive as signing firmware is an unbelievably non-trivial process). One result can be that Apple erodes the asks till they merely disable the auto-erase function, which is an os choice that already exists, and leave the rest of it to the FBI to figure out.

But that final ask is just what the entire objection rests on. The All Writs Act, come on 1789 (yes, a 200-year-old law,) is being used to force Apple to comply. That the act is being utilized to aim to make Apple do a great deal of work to customize iOS and to add functionality that would dramatically damage its products and also their safety and security will likely go to the core of Apple's protection when this obtains to the courts. It's a significant ballooning of the range of the AWA, and it establishes a criterion for enabling the federal government to require Apple or other firms to customize their systems to permit accessibility to your private data.

And herein lies snag. There has been some babble about whether these type of changes would also be possible with Apple's newer tools. Those tools come geared up with Apple's exclusive Secure Territory, a section of the core processing chip where personal encryption elements are stored as well as made use of to safeguard data as well as to allow attributes like Touch ID. Apple states that the points that the FBI is asking for are also feasible on newer gadgets with the Secure Enclave. The technical options to the asks would be various (no specifics were offered) than they are on the iPhone 5c (and any other older apples iphone), but not impossible.

If I had to wager, Apple is possibly working dual time to secure it down even tighter. Its reply to the following order of this type is most likely to be two words long. You choose the two.

The factor is that the FBI is asking Apple to split its very own secure. It does not matter exactly how excellent the locks are if you change them to be weak after installing them. And also when the precedent is established after that the chance is there for comparable requests to be made from all billion or two active iOS devices. Thus the importance of this battle for Apple.

This is why the argument around this specific order ought to not focus overly on the technological aspects-- however on the truth that the government would certainly be damaging the safety of a personal firm's item, potentially impacting the constitutionals rights of American people and also international nationals worldwide that use those products.

Reasonable Compliance

Apple has actually adhered to federal government details requests for years, and most likely did so in this instance. It is technically feasible, for circumstances, to obtain data from iCloud data backups of devices. Farook's device was last supported in October 19th of 2015, which suggests that the FBI currently has accessibility to that data. The firm could use other avenues (and most likely has) to gather information regarding phone calls by issuing info applies for to cell providers, for instance.

"From my unrefined testing in the past on an apple iphone 5, a four figure passcode need to be possible to strength in less than a hr. A six figure passcode should be possible to brute pressure in much less compared to a day," says Will Strafach, ex-jailbreaker as well as CEO of mobile safety and security company Sudo Protection Team. "I have actually not checked times for passcodes with numbers, letters or signs, but it is fairly understandable why it would certainly take considerably much longer. With numerical passcodes, it's 10,000 opportunities if four figure and 1,000,000 probabilities if 6 digit. Introducing symbols and letters drastically will raise the opportunities, considering you can also utilize several key-boards (for instance: an English phrase, an Arabic phrase, and then. some numbers as well as signs)."

There are also currently devices that the regulation utilizes to access passcode-locked apples iphone. A number of these tools are bundles of programs that utilize jailbreak exploits to access to the iPhone's memory, and then a collection of tools to accessibility and also assess the data. These devices are then branded with a safety firm's stamp and also marketed to police. When the exploits are fixed by iOS updates or spots, the tools end up being ineffective.

The suggestion that a government-issued phone that the FBI states Farook made use of to talk with co-workers would certainly be used to honestly assist in an act of terrorism is somewhat improbable.

Instead, it is being made use of as a crowbar that essentially forces Apple to oppose the order. No matter of the outcome, it's most likely that this instance will be utilized to strengthen the call for Legislative regulations that requires American business to weaken their security by mounting a 'back entrance' for the government.

Which brings us back to a question of philosophy.

Two Lines In the Sand

There are various other fights to come in this fight. File encryption of data on apples iphone, as an example, is another whole technical gambit, one that Apple has made wonderful efforts to take away from the formula by making it impossible for them to decrypt consumer data even if requests were made.

That would call for that Apple change its software application and also firmware on its gadgets to enable governmental companies to bypass security. Once that approach exists, there is completely, favorably, no chance for it to be maintained solely for the usage of the government. It also elevates the concern of exactly how any kind of global individual of an apple iphone would ever before really feel secure-- particularly given exactly what we currently learn about the government's electronic surveillance capacities and its determination to use them.

Apple is deciding to battle this fight now, as opposed to later on. Cook's letter attracts a line out on the beach, where we're still speaking about enabling brute force fracturing of iPhone passwords-- as opposed to right up against the citadel, where we will be fighting for our right to secure encryption.

It's a gambit with risks, for certain, outlined well by Ben Thompson here. If Apple loses this fight due to the fact that the court sees a demand for a terrorist's apple iphone to be opened to be sensible, then it is visiting be that much harder to battle the encryption fight later on. However Apple sees this as the line-- the alteration of one of its items to deteriorate its security. To Apple, any back door is still a back entrance, and an unacceptable problem. It doesn't matter to Apple whether the fight mores than a passcode or over file encryption. Like I said, it's a threat, yet it's one that Apple feels it must take.

A Seminal Case

All of the various end results of this scenario make modifications to the playing field.

The federal government gets Apple to include a weakness to a product? A criterion for weakening all security.

Apple resisting successfully? A possible precedent for safeguarding the users of all mobile phones iOS, Android as well as otherwise.

A potential win in the courts? Precedent to secure security, yet also perhaps to compel Congress to spoil American encryption.

Apple is taking a vibrant stance right here, however is standing rather lonesome presently amongst its direct peers. Jan Koum of WhatsApp-- who has had his own encounters with details requests-- published in support of Chef's letter. And the EFF and also the ACLU are both taking Apple's side also. Simply prior to this short article was released, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai tweeted, supporting Apple's position.

Other tech titans like Amazon.com, Facebook and also Microsoft have yet to consider in-- though they have possibly merely as much to lose or gain. Whether this is due to the fact that they have promoted these requests without a fight, who knows? For Apple's part, this isn't the first time that Chef has actually taken a solid position on security as well as personal privacy, his speech in 2014 summed up just how Apple has actually used it as a distinction point before and since.

This is a critical battle in between the largest tech business on the earth and also the most powerful federal government in the world. This is why it's essential that we do not obtain stuck down in trivialities. For Apple, and for us, this is not a concern of can we, but a question of should we. A concern that will certainly have ramifications for everyone from journalists to presidents to personal people of all countries.

Article upgraded to properly identify the phone's proprietor, Syed Farook.

[poutineandgreencurry]

Lapu Lapu and Maggie's Fam

We were up for our breakfast at 8 am so we didn't starve on the plane. It became clear pretty quickly that Tune Hotel is owned by Asia Air because the whole place was full of their employees ready to head off for flights. The little restaurant had limited options for food and when we got down there and ordered a muffin, we were told that the muffin guy had already left. Apparently 8 am is late in Malaysia because it was ridiculous that I was even asking about muffins at this late hour. Fuck me for not being there at a more airline friendly hour. We then tried a croissant and they were out of those too. Definitely a top shelf establishment. So we walked around to the back of the building and looked over the fence into, what I am fairly sure, was the exact yard they used to film Jurassic Park. Thankfully, Maggie is smarter than me and had squirrelled away half a pastry from the day before that could keep us alive til we got to the airport. We got to the airport via the shuttle and breezed through security. Nobody even looked me in the eye. Didn't have to empty my pockets. Just throw your bag through the thing nobody is looking at and walk through the beeping metal detector that no one is paying attention to and walk on. The food court was a welcome surprise. Plenty of options and not overly expensive for what airports often have. The shock came shortly after when we had about 10 minutes to go before our plane was boarding. Surprise security number two. You crafty Malaysian bastards. Thankfully we made it through the line fairly quickly and are well practiced at emptying and packing our bags again quickly and we made our plane in time. The flight was pretty easy and we ended up in Cebu pretty quickly. Upon landing, in one of our customs line ups we have become so fond of, we saw a ton of ads for JPark. I assume this is the theme park version of J-Date. I don't know why the Jewish people chose the Philippines to find love, but best of luck. Maggie's mom and aunt Juliet came to meet us at the airport and to escort us back to Lapu Lapu City where her uncle Peter and Juliet live half the year. Juliet is from the Philippines and she is lovely. She navigates most conversations with the locals for us to make sure we pay the real prices and get where we need to go. She has been an absolute saint and without her it would be a bit of a challenge despite the impressive amount of English everyone here speaks. Maggie's uncle Peter is a wonderful man. Really warm and welcoming and forced me right away to work on my German, which I really appreciate. He has had a really interesting life. Four years in the German navy as a navigator when he was young. Despite all of the crazy things he saw during his time, the biggest change in his life happened when he was back home after his tour had ended. At 24, he was hit by a drunk driver and spent his next five years in hospital. He spent three months in a coma and his early prognosis was not great but thankfully he is now walking and speaking with a wonderful sense of humour about life. He does have some lingering challenges due to paralysis on his left side but I've never once heard him complain. His wonderful wife Juliet seems to be a perfect balance in his life as she is incredible at knowing when to assist and when to let him do his thing. It was their influence that brought us here for this visit and it had been wonderful getting to know them. When we arrived, we learned that it's basically the ghetto here in Lapu Lapu so they live in a little gated building with 24 hour guard. That said, the guard is this lovely little dude named Goldan who sleeps in a hammock here during the day and hangs out with you while listening to gangster rap on his phone at night. Stellar dude. You can also get most things brought to you by Goldan at the little front room of the building. Including beer and 78 peso big bottles of Rum. That's roughly $2. Good god. The drinking. So much cheap drinking here. Magic. I've already become famous with the neighbourhood kids. They think I'm Jesus and I've had to pose for plenty of photos now. I'm kind of a big deal. We are basically exhibits in a zoo here as the evenings are spent hanging out drinking in the front area next to the fence separating us from the neighbourhood. It also happens to be the only lights on at night here so the kids all hang out on the other side of the fence playing and looking at us. It's a little weird. The only basketball hoop is over a patch of dirt across the street too, so our place is basically the entertainment hub of the area. For dinner Goldan and Juliet worked up some BBQ tuna fresh from the market. 180 peso ($4.50) for a full size tuna and some rice. The Philippine people aren't much for seasoning meat, it's usually some dipping sauce if anything and that's it. If you can just grab a fresh fish and BBQ it up, that is usually your best bet. Tomorrow, we go check out a little local beach and get our first proper day.

[fic-dreamin]

MacDonald's poetic writing is displayed again A reader can never go wrong with George MacDonald, as I discovered in childhood with my marvellous discovery of "At the Back of the North Wind." There are some similarities is "The Princess and the Goblin"....Princess Irene's great-great-etc. grandmother facilitates powers for the good, sometimes (not always) not seeming so pleasant when they occur...MacDonald brings an honest, strong theology across subtly in his works. I didn't quite love this work as much as "North Wind" as there was more violence to it....that war between humans and goblins, oh my!!!! (When you get done reading this, read "Peer Gynt" if you haven't done so already....the goblins were very reminiscent of the trolls; he even borrowed from the phrase "The Hall of the Mountain King" in one of his chapters.) That being said, the characters and emotions are real, and the imagery incredibly poetic. I do recommend this book--if you're giving it to a young person to read or reading it to them, just be aware that some of the content in the fighting scenes is a bit intense. Princess Irene is on an amazing quest to find herself, her family story and, in a sense, her spirituality...even though she never leaves the castle without her faithful nurse. Her friendship with Curdie is plainly going to be explored in further writings....I will make it a point to read "The Princess and Curdie" next. Reading George MacDonald will institute or strengthen a love of the beauty of the English language. Go to Amazon

It is a quaint read that will be a lovely addition to any family library. This is a small, but noteworthy tale. I will be keeping this review on the lighter side and encourage you to explore the story on your own. Go to Amazon

Excellent, classic story, unabridged (as far as I can tell): bad print job. ISBN-13: 978-1543137965, pub. CreateSpace Wonderful book: thoroughly mediocre edition. If printing details matter to you, this is not what you want. The cover is a low-grade copy of an old text: it looks good here on the Amazon site, and I was excited about the quaint illustrations, but they are pixillated blow-ups of a low resolution original. The trim size of the book is larger, so all the flaws on the original are magnified, with no attempt to clean it up. I bought this for my godchild; I think she'll be enchanted by the story, but the format is going to be discouraging, and would be for any young reader, I think. (She's going on 12.) The pages look just like they do in the "see inside" feature. Sometimes those pages are from the kindle edition, and Amazon is not careful about making sure that the pages you see are actually from the edition you are buying. The pages look like they're from a Kindle version both online and in the actual text. Big blocks of text until you get to dialogue, at which point there is extra space between each line of dialogue, breaking up the page TOO much. Only .5" margin left all around, so the pages are very full and everything looks cramped, especially the page numbers that are crammed at the bottom, directly under the last line of text. No care was taken in preparing the pages for printing: No attempt to make formatting attractive, no attempt to appeal to young readers who are excited about chapter books, no attempt to place pictures within the text without interruption (pictures get a full page, and the text on the facing page ends arbitrarily at some point on the page, then continues on the next, looking as if we're at the end of a chapter, but we're not actually: they just didn't want to reset the pages, which literally takes a few minutes of fiddling around electronically, whereas in the old days of publishing, it took major time to reset a page and all the pages after). This is incredibly slipshod. I wanted a cheap copy (I'm sending her a lot of books at once), but I also want her to love the story, so I'm not sure if I should give her this one. I may just wait and order a more expensive one that is attractive. I used to work in publishing, so maybe I've overly picky, but this is so poor of a reprint that it's painful. I should have had better sense than to order it. I'm still a professional freelance copy-editor and proofreader, and I shudder to think how bad of a job they did with the actual words and punctuation. It just came in the mail a few minutes ago, and I'm slowly talking myself into sending it back as I type this .... Go to Amazon

Great for our homeschool Our family homeschools and good books are important to us. We use books constantly as my kids devour books. They cost me a fortune but in the long run I will have kids that have a true love of books and a thirst for knowledge. I don’t want them to just learn what’s put in front of them and memorize information that they will forget in a few years. My job is to inspire them to learn on their own, something not pushed in schools today. My kids read nearly 100 books a year. Thankfully I can save books for the next kid in line but I am developing quite a library. Go to Amazon

The book was brand new and looks like it'll be a good read Five Stars and I still enjoy it, even though the writing style is much ... Does the job fine. A fabulous read! Wonderful read for all ages. non-purchase review Charming story This is a wonderful story for all ages Not a fan of the book or narrator