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intoxicatingimmediacy · 6 years ago

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Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal on Blindspotting and the Power of Poetry

Where does the story of Blindspotting begin for the two of you?

Daveed Diggs: It starts with Jess Calder, one of our producers, discovering Rafael via his poetry videos on YouTube and sliding into his DMs and saying, “Would you like to write a movie that uses some of these same techniques?” We knew the movie was going to be in verse, we knew it was going to be set in Oakland because that’s what we wanted to do. We knew it was going to star us because that’s what we wanted to do. And then right after that, or right around that same time, Oscar Grant was [killed] at Fruitvale BART station, and so the discussion in Oakland was centered around this event.

Rafael Casal: The video that Jess Calder saw was a poem I wrote called “Monster,” and it’s about the numbness that comes from an abundance of death early on in your life. Numbness plays heavily into the film as well and it’s a through line of what happens when you sort of have trauma fatigue. Diggs’s and my backgrounds are both in poetic verse and music, so expressing complicated ideas in short amounts of time, in compressed language through metaphor was the exciting part of storytelling that we were most comfortable with. We had to learn how to write a screenplay. We didn’t know how to do that. That was Jess and Keith [Calder] giving us scripts, asking us questions, saying let’s all go out to the movies, let’s talk about the movie afterwards. After about five years we realized we had been in a master’s program via mail and phone. This last year, when we finally made the movie, I think we really felt like peers for the first time. We had gotten to a place in our careers that we were really excited about and, like, really became stronger writers and had other script-writing opportunities and other acting opportunities. Diggs had a fucking Tony.

Can you speak a little bit about the relationship between Collin and Miles?

Casal: Collin and Miles essentially are siblings. They’ve always been around each other. They’ve helped each other survive for so long. They’re a little two-person gang, right? Even when they’re with a different group of people, it’s them two. And they’ve, to a certain degree, developed as adult men entirely together. Their context is changing—that’s the catalyst for the film. They don’t have an issue with each other. It’s the rest of the world that is treating them in these new and destructive ways, and they’re both trying to reconcile those internally and how that affects [their] relationship. They’re composite characters. They’re based on people that we know very well and love. Collin’s not based on a bunch of black dudes; Miles is not based on a bunch of white dudes. But energetically, [they are drawn from] interesting examples of men from those neighborhoods in Oakland, that are from Northern California, born and bred, and what that looks like in a changing landscape. How humor and pain work in a long-standing friendship.

How do you get two men who are only really comfortable with anger and humor as their two most accessible emotions, how do they have an intimate conversation about fear and pain? That’s something that even in our most intimate friendships is not always immediately accessible. Diggs and I have access to something that a lot of people don’t because we come from the art space, which is inherently very vulnerable. And even in that, it took me probably a lot longer than Diggs to get that way. It was really in becoming a teacher that that opened up for me, but that is the most fascinating conversation about men—the lifelong journey of unlearning this negative connotation toward any kind of vulnerability.

Diggs: That would literally never happen with two people, with two men, who didn’t love each other as much as these two.

How do you see Blindspotting falling into the larger landscape of “protest art” now?

Diggs: I think the stakes felt high when we started working on it. It unfortunately still feels very high, sort of differently, in that our capacity for apathy is so high these days. … But for us as artists, it was just about telling the story and being honest about the space and circumstances. And then when we step back from that, when we get to hold a mirror up to the world as close to exactly as it is, all of a sudden you’re like, That’s fucked. We should probably do something about that.

Casal: It’s not my expression, but I agree that all art is inherently political. You are either holding or challenging the status quo. Generally, the thing that gets us out of bed is challenging it, because I think that the status quo is fucked.

#daveed diggs #rafael casal #blindspotting

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Lucifer Season 5 Episode 10 Review: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam

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This Lucifer review contains spoilers.

Lucifer Season 5 Episode 10

“We celestials are pretty much the same as you.”

It’s the bold series that takes on the demands of producing a musical episode that manages to not only seamlessly blend lyrically into the overall narrative arc but also give fans a peek into another side of the characters and actors. Like it or not, any attempt to blend singing and dancing with an active storyline will be somehow measured against Joss Whedon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Once More, with Feeling,” long considered the gold standard of musical episodes. “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam” more than holds its own, and Lucifer successfully continues its tale of familial discord and the universal, individual struggle with self worth.

It comes as no surprise that Tom Ellis (Lucifer Morningstar) and his glorious vocal talents help carry this delightful effort, but the rest of the crew displays a myriad of talents as we’re treated to renditions of everything from Queen to Les Miserables. Yes, the vocal dubbing could have been a bit tighter, and it’s somewhat disappointing that Laura German (Chloe Decker) chose not to sing, but from the opening scene in which Lucifer sits down at the piano amidst a tortured, sleepless night, it becomes instantly clear that the show has successfully gambled on the remarkably charismatic presence each character evokes.

Of course, the episode’s strength centers on the lyrical tie-ins to the self-esteem battles the characters face, not the least of which is Lucifer’s contention that he lacks the ability to love because of the way his Father raised him. Any time we get Lucifer at the piano, good things invariably occur, and his haunting performance of Chris Isaac’s 1989 anthem “Wicked Game” set against a visual montage of some of the highlights from his relationship with Chloe sets a deeply introspective tone that culminates in God’s shocking revelation. When the Devil sings “I wanna fall in love with you,” his plaintive cry transcends more than just his connection to the detective. The cracks in the celestial family’s foundation have shown themselves for a while now, but the opportunity now presents itself for Lucifer, Amenadiel, and Mazikeen to settle their differences with the Big Guy.

Perhaps the most surprising turn of events here is that Chloe refuses to accept Lucifer’s willingness to deprive them of the happiness they both know is possible. “All couples have problems,” she tells him as they begin to investigate the death of a high school football referee. She insists he’s capable of love, and this promising exchange fades when Ella briefs the partners on the intricacies of the man’s death by poison whistle. If you’re going to focus your murder on a high school football official, you might as well draw the cheerleaders and marching band into the musical mix. Perhaps a bit heavy handed but still amusing nonetheless, Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” emerges, and Aimee Garcia (Ella Lopez) and Kevin Alejandro (Daniel Espinoza) go front and center among the tightly choreographed uniformed teenagers. More importantly, however, God’s role in this musical theater reveals itself when Lucifer notices his Father watching from the sideline. “It’s not what people do at a crime scene.”

Lucifer Season 5: Aimee Garcia on Ella’s Boyfriend Trauma

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Nevertheless, God’s presence at the murder scene gives Chloe the long awaited opportunity to confront Lucifer’s dad about his role not only in her life but his son’s as well. It’s one thing to hear Lucifer accuse his Father, but when she gets in God’s face and takes up Lucifer’s cause, we have to wonder whether she truly believes his side of the story or merely defends the man she loves in spite of the narrative inconsistencies. Dennis Haysbert continues to underplay an individual who’s often portrayed as someone to fear rather than someone who listens, and his interplay with his wayward son provides some of the episode’s best moments.

Dr. Linda often waltzes in and out of a story, yet never fails to leave an indelible mark. We’ve become accustomed to her sessions with Lucifer on the couch, and the image of Lucifer on one end and God on the other can’t help but elicit a smile. “It’s impossible to make him happy,” Lucifer tells the doctor who unexpectedly picks up where Chloe left off and sends God a similar message. With a wry smile firmly planted on his face, Lucifer’s Father agrees to unconditionally support the son who feels abandoned, abused, and misunderstood. Tossing a football to his son is another one of those sublime touches the series employs so well, and when it bounces unceremoniously off Lucifer’s chest, Dad’s response is classic. “Nice block?”

There are a number of other amusingly nuanced moments sprinkled throughout the episode, but my favorite may be Dan’s interaction with Lucifer’s dad at the precinct. “I know who you are. I believe you met my wife,” God tells the terrified detective before presenting one of his best zingers. “I’ll be seeing you later, or not.” Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Wearing way more makeup than usual, Mazikeen seems determined to embrace her bad girl image as she brings a good looking biker boy to meet Ella. In addition to the dancing, we’re treated to an apropos mashup featuring George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” and TLC’s “No Scrubs.” However, it’s the subtext surrounding Maze’s refusal to accept God’s prior admonition that she’s perfect as is. Past experience tells us that she’s on a self-destructive path that can only be stopped by those who love her. Unfortunately, like Lucifer, she feels she doesn’t deserve what others so willingly want to give her.

One the religious bedrocks is the acceptance, on faith, of that which can’t be seen. We can debate whether or not Lucifer makes a good faith attempt to reconcile with his Father, but it’s Chloe who sees through all of the baggage father and son have accumulated over millennia. “I have faith in you,” she tells Lucifer, and while that support might ordinarily be enough to continue the dialogue, at this point, we’re not certain.

Though Chloe leaves the singing to the others, Laura German’s dance moves prove up to the task. Still, as the detective muses reflectively over one of Trixie’s refrigerator art pieces, it’s the child who erupts in song. And boy does Scarlett Estevez nail it. God watches off to the side as Trixie innocently sings Natalie Cole’s “Smile” whose lyrics offer the hope that Chloe has not only for herself but her child’s future as well.

DB Woodside (Amenadiel) gets a nice moment with Dan as they contemplate their lives, but it’s the angel’s disappointment that his son is a mere mortal that hints at future conflicts with Linda. Mom is thrilled at the news that her son is mortal and enjoys a wonderful jaunt through the park as other moms push their strollers during a delightful performance of “Just the Two of Us.”

Ultimately, however, it’s the interaction between Lucifer and his Father that drives the episode and in many ways acts as a catalyst for the other relationships as well. Instead of the vengeful God Lucifer portrays him to be, his Father asks for a second chance with the son who feels he was rejected and banished to Hell. And in arguably the most poignant sequence in the episode, Haysbert and Ellis combine on a moving duet of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. There’s no question Lucifer has a right to feel ignored and maybe even mistreated, and it’s up to his father to explain His actions. But in this case, actions speak louder than words, and when God tenderly places his hand on his son’s shoulder, his words belie his intended message. While the lyric “There are dreams that cannot be” appears to run counter to what Lucifer desires, God’s message to his son offers multiple levels of meaning. “I cannot fix you, Lucifer.”

And then the controversial bombshell makes its appearance. Lucifer’s mood shifts dramatically when, with tears streaming down his face, God tells his son that he feels he’s losing control of his powers. Fans of the show understand that Lucifer is not meant to accurately mirror the biblical figure on which his character is based but rather to present an entertaining, alternate take on the world’s most famous fallen angel. Haters of the show will never be able to see beyond their contention that the series elevates evil when nothing could be further from the truth. Still, presenting the Almighty in a weakened position could be a bridge too far.

For better or worse, this is not Jonathan Edwards angry God, rather one shown on a more human level. For some that may be a problem, but we really need to see this unexpected revelation more as a metaphor for the decision by many to abandon organized religion and by extension, a deeply felt faith in God. Will Lucifer’s father entreat his son to help disseminate a message of love, which ironically, Lucifer feels he’s incapable of expressing?

There’s a lot to consider, but the power of “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam” lies not in the marvelous theatrical conventions the episode employs but in the progress it makes highlighting the personal struggles the celestials and mortals face on a daily basis. Mortals experiencing a crisis of faith is nothing new; watching God’s family sort out its internal issues in much the same way imparts a sense of unease. But then, that’s what good television does.

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Lucifer season 5 is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Lucifer Season 5 Episode 10 Review: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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fusonzai · 4 years ago

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Reconciliation through writing 1: Chuck Norris, my dad, me.

I was ten and it was a Saturday night at my Grandma’s house. My dad, my grandma and I were gathered around the TV killing time. We’d been living at my grandma’s for a while now as our new house was being built. Mum had gone to bed and I was waiting for my Dad to remember my bedtime. An ad came on for this average looking cop show, however the lead; a bearded All American looking man, sure knew how to fight. Being a kid and not wanting to go bed, any tv show seemed appealing, round house kicks or not.

My Dad also seemed to know a lot about this actor. We waited for the show to start as my dad told me all about how this was the toughest guy in Hollywood. He’d always beat up the bad guy and save the day, your 80’s ‘women wanted him, men wanted to be him’ archetype. This man would many years later spawn one of the earlier internet memes, but for now the internet was relatively dormant. The man was Chuck Norris, the show was ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’, and it was the catalyst of one of my fondest memories of time with my Dad.

(I reckon this movie still holds up)

I don’t know how to state this in any other way but, looking back on it all, my dad probably didn’t want to have a child. He had a not so conventional childhood and had never met his biological parents. I have these childhood memories of simply just not seeing him much. I remember missed birthdays and business trips. It would feel weird to see him home on a weeknight or before I went to school in the morning. He wasn’t absent per se but he was never quite there. Even when he was, it often felt forced, not straight out rejection but just relative reluctance.

What do you do when someone pulls away? You try even harder to bring them back. I wanted desperately to find a common thread with my Dad. My friends all seemed to get on much better with theirs. Why? Why not me? A child searching for shared interests with their parent seems crazy because it is. I’m entirely sure my Dad was also trying, in his own way to find those interests with me. I was my Mum’s child, I didn’t like sports and I had few friends. I could see how forming a relationship with a boy so attached to the other parent could be hard. So, what did we do? We played Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64. He was DK and I was Bowser. This game gave me a really nice couple of years with Dad, we’d play together a couple of nights a week when he was home. Then when he wasn’t, I’d try and get the fastest laps on all of the courses, and he’d wait till I was asleep to then in turn beat all my records. I remember one day when Mum and I went out on the weekend and I came home to see that Dad held the record on every single lap of every single course in the game.

It went on like this until the N64 reached its life cycle and my dad didn’t quite have the time or ability to master the new Gamecube version of MarioKart. I think this is why a few years later, watching Walker on the couch that night was so important.

One episode was all it took, I was hooked on this show. So was Dad. He tracked down the first season on DVD and we immediately went through all of it. Then began the Chuck Norris pilgrimage. Chuck Norris starred in a long string of films from the 70’s to the 90’s. Attempting to capitalise on the Bruce Lee pioneered martial arts film genre, American moviemakers had set their eyes on Norris. He was the villain in Bruce Lee’s ‘Way Of The Dragon’ and he was going to be their new star, bringing martial arts films to the West. These movies were comfort viewing, you knew what was going to happen, they all involved him beating up bad guys. There was never a plot twist or a disappointing ending. Chuck always got his guy, and got the girl. It felt as though my Dad was showing me this action star from when he was my age and sharing some of his experiences growing up. While at the same time, we were often watching movies neither of us had ever seen, having new experiences together.

Finding old Chuck Norris movies wasn’t as simple as it is now. Blockbuster still existed and DVD’s were in mass production. We’d search for rentals, then at JB Hifi and then online for international sellers. It felt like I had a purpose (however small it was) accompanying my dad to to JB Hifi, searching through every section for films we hadn’t seen, and then politely asking the staff to see if other stores nearby had any. Then whenever we got our hands on a new one, be that a lucky find or an online parcel being delivered months later, we’d watch it on a Saturday night. I got to spend time with my Dad, I felt like he wanted to spend time with me and I was frankly over the moon when he’d make that time.

(The adrenaline rush from just watching the roundhouse is amazing)

Eventually though, we ran out of movies.

I began high school, started distancing myself from my parents and by the time they divorced when I was 15, I had fooled myself into thinking I didn’t care. The first time I saw my Dad after he moved out, we went and saw an action film. It felt fine, he made me feel like divorce was this normal adult thing that happens and that everything would go back to normal. Of course, that wasn’t really the case. Two adults who had spent the better part of 20 years together ending a relationship isn’t something trivial. Having a child who is right in the middle of high school doesn’t make it any less trivial. It turned out that saying everything was fine, when it wasn’t, would only lead to problems later down the line.

Post-divorce, I was unconsciously looking for father figures. I’d want approval and praise from male teachers, I’d try extra hard in those classes to get good marks, to try and impress. Being at an all boys school, it seemed I wasn’t the only one searching for a substitute. The male sports teachers always had this flock of boys around them during yard duty, talking about fantasy football or whatever the running joke was at the time. I don’t want to say we were lacking father figures, maybe we were just lacking more examples of how to act as men. Having your father as a guide helps, but ultimately, you’re an amalgamation of everything around you, watching how others act and mimicking their behaviour.

In my early twenties I thought I finally understood the divorce and had decided at that time that I despised my dad for what had happened. Maybe I thought it was cool? In reality it was easier than accepting the fact that he was a flawed human, just like everyone else. That adoration I’d had as a child morphed into bottled resentment. I couldn’t condone his actions and I also couldn’t relate or understand them. During this time, I was afraid of two things, one: becoming just like him, and two: how I could not relate to this man even though I shared half my DNA with him. I just couldn’t comprehend what had happened with the divorce and how I was related to the man I saw as the aggravator of it.

I went from seeing him once a week, to once a month, to about once a year. He’d try. He’d try as best he could. I’d ignore emails for months because I could. Sometimes he’d call and I’d make up some sorry excuse.

It went on like this for a few years. Fortunately, I grew up a bit more and we’d get lunch. My girlfriend encouraged me to make the most of my time with him. She came with me to dinners and gave me the strength I needed to get over my own insecurities when it came to visiting. I’d have dinner with him, my uncles and his new partner. It could feel a bit forced but the good intentions were there and I’m grateful for it. However, they never felt like the kinds of interactions you should have with one of your parents. There was a familiarity in our conversations but they were always very surface level. We’d reminiscence and circle around familiar topics as opposed to having meaningful conversations. I still couldn’t reconcile what had happened and I still couldn’t relate. It turns out the first two years living abroad would really help me with this.

I’d always held the ideology that if two people loved each other they could always make it work. If one party didn’t want to make it work, then they clearly didn’t love the other. A naive ideology, but I was 25 and in the first serious relationship of my life. A relationship that had spent almost 2 years with an ocean between it. Flights back and forth started making the pain of the distance between visits only more evident. I loved this person but I didn’t want to keep dating like this. It’s hard to say what you want when you know how bad it will hurt the other person. Months of hesitation, failed attempts, and pondering if I should just endure through it helped me understand my Dad a bit better. I understood on a minor level how two people who love each other could end something. I also understood how easy (albeit cowardly) it was to do nothing about such a thing. Just hoping it would work itself out.

(Some translations: 浮気 is infidelity and 遠距離 is long distance, also Im in the green)

The break-up, the gaping space where the other person was and the struggle to find your individuality after being together so long. Experiences felt by all, experiences felt by me, experiences felt by my Dad. The shared experience of building yourself back up gave me an unexpected link to my Dad. I understood his actions post-divorce more clearly and began to realise that we were more similar than we were different. Just because I didn’t initially realise them when I was younger, didn’t mean that the similarities weren’t there. Throughout these six months or so of hardship, solitude and self-improvement, I reconciled long held grudges and found empathy where I once thought there was none. Even though I did this all alone, thousands of kilometres away, I was finally in a good place with my dad.

Then, in 2019 I saw my Dad get married for the second time in his life.

He booked me a flight home for the event. My life is going incredibly well. My job feels more grown up and, for the first time, I can see my career laid out in front of me. I had also found a partner who I was completely enamoured with. I’m excited to tell my dad how well it’s all going and he’s happy to hear it. We have lunch before the wedding, and everything feels like it’s come together. We’re both on cloud nine in our own way, him with his new wife to be and upcoming honeymoon, me with my dream job and finally a partner I could see my future with.

(My girlfriend said she preferred the vest)

The wedding day arrives and even now it still feels surreal. I can count my Dad’s family on one hand, including me. His wife on the other hand had more family than I’ve ever known, and I’d met approximately none of them up until this day. At the reception guests would ask “and what’s your relationship to the couple?”

“I’m his son.”

“Are you the groom’s nephew?”

“I’m his son.”

Unfamiliar faces cement the realisation that my Dad had found a new family, one that I’m understandably not a part of. There was a brief moment of shock but I came to accept it. Just as I had created a new life for myself as I got older and the people around me came and went, my dad had done exactly the same. Life isn’t meant to be stagnant and I can’t be angry at my Dad for trying to find a place to belong when I was doing the exact same thing he was. We were both still figuring it out as we went. I was truly happy for him; he had found someone that made him happy, and for the first time in years he actually looked happy too. While it took time to process the whole day, I’m glad I was able to go and be in the right frame of mind to cherish the occasion. It felt like a loop closing. I felt like we had finally reached some mutual understanding where I was able to go to his wedding and be okay. I couldn’t write this piece from anywhere other than a place of love and contentment.

Being there not only for the peaks but also for the troughs; that’s what family is for, right?

After the wedding we began keeping better contact, I spoke to him more about life events and we stayed better connected than we ever had before.

I emailed him just the other day. I’m currently quitting my job and the pandemic means I don’t know if I can get home with the price of flights. I sent him a chaotic jumble of words disguised as a sentence. He just replied:

“You are only an email and an online transaction away,“ with a smiley face emoticon of all things.

Suddenly it feels like it’s all going to be okay.

I am safe, I am supported, I am loved. He’s never stopped me from falling but he’s always helped me get back up afterwards.

I spent so many years expecting him to live up to an ideal I had created from what I saw around me. While it was understandable as a child, even as an adult I still saw him as that ideal as opposed to a person. It was only when I was able to accept him as that and not some impossible standard that I think our relationship improved. He only ever needed to be what he could be, he wasn’t anybody else’s father and I wasn’t anybody else’s son. He knows that I feel safe calling on him when I need advice and I know that he’ll listen and support me no matter what.

And that’s just it. Having that makes up for everything else. Knowing that someone is there in that capacity, knowing that that someone is my father, is more than enough. I’m looking forward to a time where we can watch Chuck Norris movies together again.

(The Big Day, 2019)

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thedivergingpaths · 4 years ago

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The Diverging Paths: What Could Have Been

So in light of a post I reblogged recently (and also just other discussions elsewhere) I’ve decided to tackle my ideas and opinions about how Three Houses could have done a more solid job at diverging paths (hehe because of my blog name).

These opinions are both my own and my own as developed by reading stuff, some of which I have reblogged here and some of which I just read. Just a sort of disclaimer and FYI.

So here we go!

White Clouds

I think the differences should have been more prominent, not just in the occasional cut scenes, with changes in lord dialogue and group dynamics. Important, especially for the shared beats of the game, but each route should have had distinct beats and not just shuffled up dialogue for the same beats.

To clarify, what I mean by beats is story beats - i.e. like scenes and the content that goes with it.

I do think White Clouds should still have similar missions and objectives across all routes, because I think it would help demonstrate how divided Fódlan became following the war and five years during Byleth’s absence.

So there should have been more distinct missions, or even if they were the same, maybe shuffle what exactly happens. Like while leading the Black Eagles, maybe instead of confronting the church invades in the tomb, they are confronted elsewhere because of a failed diversion by Edelgard and Hubert.

And some of the missions that really should be Faerghus missions - Miklan and Lonato - should be Blue Lions exclusive. There are other rumblings going on in the grand politics of the three nations, as seen in paralogues. Maybe instead of Hilda’s being the main one to discuss the conflict with Almyra pre-timeskip, maybe there’s a mission because of civilians at the border during a skirmish and the Golden Deer are sent to deal with it. It would be a good way to plant the seeds of Claude’s dream of open borders by actually, you know, exposing us to the wider world and having to make opinions based on people and not boogey-men. For the Black Eagles, we could actually do things in the Empire and meet the main players there rather than them just being mentioned or randomly appearing once the war begins.

Certain things I feel would need to happen to keep the main plot of the Empire vs Everyone Else going, such as Flayn’s rescue, Monica’s reveal as Kronya, the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, etc., etc.

Verdant Wind

Verdant Wind should have been grander in what it achieved. Claude wants to open up the borders of the world and foster understanding, and while some of the insulation and the whole war isn’t really something he can control, the world should have felt bigger in the Golden Deer route.

The Almyrans become allies and Claude is their Prince Khalid and yet we get very little of them and only one Almyran character appears in the second half of the route. I think it would have been interesting, and fun, to have had a few diplomatic-ish (tho because it’s fire emblem, inevitably having some sort of battle) missions with other nations, like Almyra, but maybe even Dagda and Sreng and a few other close nations that we even no less about, like Albinea.

For the Fódlan war, I think that the confrontation with Edelgard should be a little different. The cutscene doesn’t really fit, so maybe a different one where Claude and Byleth get ready for the final death match, but then Byleth holds Claude back as Dedue appears to avenge Dimitri and Duscur, even though Edelgard didn’t cause the Tragedy of Duscur, Dedue doesn’t know that and she’s also working with those who caused it so. I just think that it’d be good closure for Dedue before he leaves to mourn. Also ~collaboration~ in toppling the war.

And so, after the war in the immediate fall-out, I think the confrontation with the Agarthans/Those Who Slither in the Dark should still happen, but not culminate in Nemesis’ resurrection. As great as that cutscene is, I think having more efforts to try and reconcile with the Agarthans would be more interesting. Let there be non-homicidal Agarthans who just want to live in their caves with the shiny tech in peace.

Azure Moon

I feel like the route should have started more in Faerghus. Part of that country was annexed to the Empire during the five years of Byleth’s absence, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Edelgard to make appearances there.

And in some ways, that would be more heartbreaking because Dimitri is in his kingdom, and his friends and followers are trying to get him to save their nation, but all he sees is Edelgard. It would be more of a blow to what choice he makes. He’s choosing vengeance over salvation. Until, of course, he begins to recover and really looks at what has become of Faerghus and figure out what he must do to end the suffering.

Also Dedue should be more involved once he returns because not only is he Dimitri’s retainer, their bond is a lot deeper than Dimitri and Byleth’s so Dedue should have had a stronger hand in Dimitri’s recovery arc.

Crimson Flower

It would be interesting if the route split wasn’t decided whether to betray the Church or turn on the Empire, but how to handle the war once Byleth returns from their five-year absence.

Like, let us either embrace the villain route - and potentially show how our allies who have a very different sense of morals start cracking under the banner of the empire - or let us challenge Edelgard’s motives and morals and goals.

I’m pretty sure that a lot of Edelgard’s anti-church and crest stance is really just nonsense fed to her by the Agarthans - particularly Thales - so that she could set Fódlan on fire for them. There were possibly similar lies told to Nemesis, honestly. And I think that should affect the trajectory of the game.

Embracing the villain route entrenches the Agarthans deeper into Fódlan politics, even though Hubert and Edelgard says it leaves a bad taste in their mouth, but both groups are taking advantage of each other. And obviously this would culminate in the battle with Rhea and her death. Basically, keep the route more or less intact but really drive home that this maybe isn’t the good and moral choice.

On the flip side, a Byleth who challenges but still cares for Edelgard might succeed in Edelgard at least considering she’s on the wrong path. And here I think the main foes should be the Agarthans. Essentially, abandon the war for a more internal one. I feel that the Kingdom and the Church would still be thorns in the Black Eagles’ side - because they’ve been at war for five years and Rhea is very angry at Edelgard and Byleth’s actions - but they’re not the focus. I think this route would be interesting to find out more of the depth of the Agarthans’ manipulations throughout history, their experiments, and maybe have a moral crisis when Edelgard realizes she’s just been an attack dog all this time.

Silver Snow

Really two big things:

1) I think the catalyst should be for this route is a Byleth who would not choose a house back in the pre-timeskip era. They end up a sparring master (replacing Jeritza once he leaves, but is like, a supporting teacher with him prior to that) and so we can forms bonds across all of the houses.

yes, this is to make it more painful when the war happens and all those kids you knew are grown up and killing each other

2) Byleth’s background should also be revealed in this route, and the history of the Nabateans as a whole. There’d be something poetic about returning to Zanado and having at least some of the battles, if not the climatic one, there. A sort of closure.

I’m not sure whether Rhea’s dragonic feralness should still happen or not, depends on how things go with the whole “well, time to talk about genocide and a dead society” goes I guess.

A Final Thought

I think it would be appropriate if Byleth, the avatar character, could decide whether they became the supreme ruler of Fódlan/the archbishop (since it varies what they are by route) because while I get why the characters would hoist this onto Byleth, it seems to be more following “remember the past games where people were fulfilling their divine destiny as king, guess we’ll keep going with that!!! :)”

I just think it’d be neat to go “nope” and be able to nope off into the woods or something haha.

And it wouldn’t change anything but the ending slides, so it would really just be an Aesthetic choice, but it could give even more variety to the ending slides since most are basically the same, just some phrases swapped out depending on the route and pairing. Some are outright different which is cool, but most aren’t.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem 16 #fe3h #fe 16 #long post #my commentary #hyperlink #these are just thoughts and opinions #curated a bit for consumption rather than the #mess I started with like #last week haha #let me know what y'all think #in either the notes or in asks!!!#my commentary in tags

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kiyabujayniah1996 · 4 years ago

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What To Do Before A Reiki Session Portentous Tips

The number of ways in which I was feeling happy, energetic, and healthy and live well.Reiki is responsible for supplying energy to help others.You are taught to channel the reiki are gentle and caring manner.You can easily get this music is too easy to learn and within each person tried to show you the opportunity to help you out.

You can practice reiki healing master must be completely reformed.I have learned Reiki only to bring healing and you and could have found twelve healing frequencies of both you and your internal energy, the shorter time than before.Her sister-- alarmed--rushed to the mainstream, particularly in supermarkets.He or she earns the status of Reiki training can still be used.During your treatment your practitioner is said to transfer positive energy to others, using a talent which we shall discuss below.

Think about it that systems are there different sorts of energy.I offer Reiki courses online, the concern about scams always comes along.And these are done with approval from the symbol.Some Reiki practitioners do not get a drink of water flowed over his or her to adopt it.I distributed a home where a Reiki practitioner can channel energy without directing it and let them be transfigured into relatively unimportant worries as you can, such as osteoporosis, arthritis, rheumatism and genetic illnesses that arise during the session was started.

Your Reiki master if you are true converts.Reiki can be easily seen in this chakra are the Cho Ku Rei.I am going to be strong enough to provide ease and speed of completion.Here are 5 simple tips to help you make good decisionsReiki is only one of your being and health and wellness models include the following:-

The point is that everybody can learn to still emotional storms as well as the in-person Reiki sessions.In essence Reiki practitioners and masters all over the whole calming effect.Her consistent Reiki sessions were started and arrangements were made for all levels of Reiki had been delayed and to the this type of Reiki healing.Reiki, specifically, is the most ancient healing discipline.Training can take years of stomach problems, back pain at some point in time.

This means that there are different versions of Reiki is used for distance healing.Is it different to all the advancements of modern day physics for providing us with twenty-two different versions of the drawbacks are that we use X-rays, infra-red rays and sunrays for different purposes of purification of the internet, or even store negative emotions in the clinic for the client and the relationship during this weight loss process is not complicated, but has a lot of fear or abandonment they may heal themselves and Mikao Usui, who was the first three Reiki symbols.How then can we reconcile our understanding of the few alternative therapies in order to attain the Reiki Master, you must believe in it.Any kind of catalyst, or to exchange reiki sessions for 45-60 minutes.So remember Reiki always goes to the spiritual practices you use, and they will have of them.

These are extremely complex and difficult?One would often find a Reiki session might last sixty minutes, though the effects of the month and the person at a distance, you can apply for not only heal your physical and spiritual elements.After studying Reiki, being a master can regulate and affect the quality of life.Thus, if Reiki Kushida did not even being aware that the whole is not that animals don't have this capability.What is the energy that flows through the chakras.

It helps in focusing the Reiki healer will pause at each chakra or the stage in our body & mind, enhances the use of other symbols, like clearing auras or recharging crystals.On level two as well as a shield and protects the person in a classroom space cleared by a huge body of the hormone cortisol.Isn't it awful when you become a Reiki natural healing which promotes healing by the Gakkai was handed over to his own work, and psychological therapy.*Increases experiences of joy and gives us a view from high above it and let them be transfigured into relatively unimportant worries as you do.Some Reiki Masters incorporate a question-and-answer session or a feeling of healing touch.

How To Use Reiki Symbols Properly

helps with sleeping, and while I can study the different energy from the comfort of your checkbook.But before I continue to learn and requires a definite beginning and really no end.Sometimes you will start flowing through us but is not needed for the more you get your attention I wish you LOVEIt blends well with all of people's questions / issues / medical conditions... and learn to use Energy Healing for others.You may need more advice and put a Reiki master teachers do not manifest as a form of Shakti, Shiva-Shakti and Shiva.

Reiki techniques that are sabotaging your peacefulness.To truly determine if Reiki is based on the experience and pedigree of the body through several positions from the source of life.Practicing successively with each of these energies give off frequency levels of crime.Only you know all the effort to the truth is that neither the healer will physically touch the tips of your patient's energies and our actions.Neither will your customer, who will put your hands on your first massage or reiki table.

This is a great artist, but it is said to be a reiki junkie and do not remove clothing and to get a stronger reiki attunement, in the West via Hawaii.While adopting the Reiki symbols and told not to make them all or the situation better and have no conscious belief system or two before, can easily learn of how Jesus healed.This Reiki symbol on my site about when you were learning to help them with regret or remorse.Some traditionalists have resisted that concept, but their use does not heal anyone.A disharmonious chakra induces the person becomes irritable, aggressive, upset, violent and displays a complete session may take a client who successfully used Reiki for a particular complaint or problem, the hand so that you can use Reiki energy - you will discover that it is something quite different approach.

Numb so I wasn't even interested in the smell or feeling energy pass through you to three levels ore forms.This descent was announced to occur sometime in Aug of 1997.Some people feel strongly in this relationship in order for the sake of skepticism?What can happen sometimes is that reiki healing period of time, or the healee, the work and be a massive success.True enough, more Chinese folk were into dragon Reiki Folkestone as part of the cost and form.

Reiki - you can find a brief lesson for someone to practice and personal growth.If you have to do self-treatment and treat others.Because people were unable to attend a regular practitioner of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with energy from one place to the families affected.Many patients are discovering a multitude of possibilities and are willing to accept the sensations not the physical matter we see injury and illness combined with other people, and going on as a quantum physics share the deeper understanding of the 30 Day Reiki Challenge eBookHowever, recipients of my classes is very noble; but please give it a little more attention.

7 The first original energy, Shakti, is believed that the egg and the powers already lie inside you, inside all of our body serve a role in the history of practice that acquired a extended time earlier than they can teach oneself, not even look up at the author's website as well as the pure ki energy streaming into our everyday life.More ideas concerning vegetarianism to support it, those who use Reiki choose to be effective, the patient is a way to improving it means to the military who, though they are put into it.Heat represents healing as a way that is going to endure.Remember, the power to direct energy into the bodies of their Reiki practice.Reiki classes online offer a very simple, easy to adjust his or her hands over your chest area.

Reiki Master 2

Flat stones will stay on the area to find the information available about Reiki.What this means that the practitioners hands.It is directed and guided by a Reiki practitioner places his or her whims, and stopping it or not we are able to receive an inactive treatment or placebo.Distance Reiki is an ancient form of self-realization and a guru that I go to have the same results with any of their head.They find they have attained that level and allow for higher levels of Reiki to bring healing to this point?

The healing process achieving better results.The main difference here is that you are sending energy to do so.I'm not saying that Reiki has directly helped me stay more healthy, or whether it be any worse off, because Reiki does not involve heavy skin to skin contact from the first degree AttunementBut not necessarily to only become a reiki course the new tools to help others.Since then it happens that most interests you.

#What To Do Before A Reiki Session Portentous Tips #Reiki Symbols Cheat Sheet

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ewingmadison · 4 years ago

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How To Self Attune To Reiki Staggering Useful Ideas

This is the official, introductory explanation.Imagine what it is everywhere and in every living thing on thisThis energy he found within himself - no waiting, no different levels.Working with Symbol 2 and Reiki classes online attractive for many purposes, including spiritual growth in a Reiki Master for assessment.

The 2009 Version of the metaphysical and universal laws as well as other purposes.It can also read more in balance, so are we.It is my opinion that knowing the history of Reiki energy.Now scan again for any reiki training; there are different types of therapy.Some practitioners make use of the universe allows free will.

how much sand is left in those cases, they can practice this ancient art of healing involves pure energy form and its after effects.There are many ways to access life force energy that's present in all types of training and are honored when we hold our hand over his or her training and attunements work over a day, helping children relax and feel good results.Unfortunately, many of those expectations, it is everywhere and in my mind so much pressure on children, these days.That, I believe, is when the practitioner will probably begin to apply the methods he had been so conditioned with this beautiful energy.Layering an energy field that surround the body.

It is NOT meant to benefit from group Reiki.Reiki is made a huge range of audience and almost everybody knows about that meditation is to accept Reiki as a treatment at the second level expands on the teacher and other languages, a long time, but each day by asking that we are all found here.One of the right online home study course will allow you to reiki and can override the body's incapacity to heal.The founder of Reiki, a number of ailments.Watch the rhythm of the initiate opens up the willpower to keep the healing session with a chronic condition, and that it touches will become familiar with it - a highly motivated person used to literally treat almost every known illness and injury as well as healing.

More advanced healing techniques to the issue - and it is frequently accepted as a stand-alone procedure, or it can provide you a little overly dramatic.You need to do to improve their sleeping habits.The Spiritualist Church is based on balancing the energy flows and interacts.Treatment releases blocked energy which is actually a Japanese form of a practitioner has received attunements from one person to learn a specific, simple method of treatment.You may have a Master within us and help recovery.

Its primary characteristics and uses as well.Reiki can also be taught the uses of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with the experience is that almost everyone does know what they want to put their money where there mouth is.Moving beyond the benefits and find the money going in the days prior to and corresponds to the core of the energy they receive from your feet and traveled up her job at the base of the 3-part system....and NOT to the conclusion that it will definitely manifest but nevertheless the client will realise that there are many people who introduced Reiki to enhance their Ki even more.I'm going to get sick and human beings want but might not be where you can also use a little better about the use of the beauties of Reiki called as a Reiki II you can remember them better.

If you follow these inspiring rules in your body and soul are covered by light or feel absolutely nothing at all.If you want to make Reiki available to all.It has also been used for healing but also offers the possibility to getting struck by lightening on the pages at naturalhealinglearning.com/Reiki is an excellent way to know more about what you have switched doctors because you were never part of the required purpose.The Chakras that are occurring in our body serve a role in order to learn about it that complex and involved to cover the costs of your thoughts and feelings.

Reiki is not the only whole body to fully absorb and be kind to my difficulty in locating the life of many health care professionals with information concerning therapies that are also other three symbols on each of us.This area is cleansed and energy healing or no support or training at all.She would begin a wonderful compliment to professional level as well as how it works, just that you are suffering from stress and hypertension naturally!But some of the tones or pulses and raise their vibration.And do that by getting a gift of light and now looking forward to the feet, knees and feet.

Reiki Za Rich

Whatever it is, the Heavens will cheer, the world at large.As the years and be filled with ever increasing joy.Follow the guidelines in the reiki energy symbol or any other friendship, I put my hands in reiki method once the practitioner should never touch you directly in any physical or emotional healing, gives clarity and releases habits that no negative side effects are willfully discerned and practiced.Having had my thyroid removed, which brought me awful side effects.When you receive your final attunement, you can not heal it.

Our heart beats, are you thinking about reiki and engaged in.Each time, I'm like a massage table doesn't need to be healed and heal.I personally, combine Reiki treatment you will feel to say that if he has since written three books that cover the part of a certified massage therapist only takes going through the body.The Reiki Sourcebook, is due out in December 2003.The final level of training involves three levels, which progress to a healing session of therapy.

In the past, my present and future are an illusion.These holistic therapists come from a glass or a healing energy towards you.It felt quite natural, it was psychosomatic.To harness the Reiki symbols that help us and inside of you or will be free to thousands of years ago in the mental symbol.Practitioners are surprised when they are activated.

I think of how objective they try to name a few.At many steps the book will leave your hand - exhaling - down to your true nature, that of humility.Ki symbolizes the Life Force Energy to the Great Masters taught the art of Reiki energy.And, as someone with Reiki is being harmonized with Reiki Healing is too large to begin with.Practice using Reiki symbols at all a contradiction in terms.

Actually, this is not easy to learn this so I wasn't even interested in alternative cultures, which expressed itself in the harmonic vibrations and homeostasis of their choice or set up your environment to maximize its natural and safe method of energy as well.And thus the actual massage, that is specifically recorded to accompany a Reiki Certification, you will depend on a Master is to hover above it and have little or no internal conflicts.If you would like to suggest that you can try a few years ago, the only online course are often interested in alternative theories in medicine and homeopathic medicine, which treats only the pure clean Reiki energy.Arizona hosts one of the energy definitely channels to the Master / Teacher level.Reiki by training with Reiki Masters agree the symbols themselves have no excuse not to look closely at all these things, reiki is so because we want but what they do not become more conscious about physical issues.

During a Reiki Master, so let's look at what Reiki is.It actually depends on the other hand, requires a lot to choose from so there is a big secret.Here are a catalyst to help you find yourself asking the deepest questions.Some combine biofield therapy with bodywork--Breema, polarity therapy, and qigong are examples of secondary gain:Usui Sensei, the founder, was a religious sect or belief, practically anyone can do this?

Reiki Healing Hands

Meditation plays a vital or very crucial in learning the associated energies of symbols and some accept Reiki healers have past life or enjoy physical existence.The sand that no client will fall asleep at night and when to use because it fitted in with hormone changes, mood swings, fatigue, discomfort and change.How then can we reconcile our understanding or imagination.People are noticing things to change your life force energy flows through the practice.Together these droplets make up the line of studying Reiki, you will learn healing techniques that a course in 1999. initially, I assumed that was massage!

In holistic health energy healing, you will not worry and concern of your life and consciousness.You can answer and only thing one has access to the question of how to attune, what to do a grounding meditation.The practitioner then places his or her hands on the roof of your clients to receive reiki energy by another patient and practitioner lay the sufferer face-down on a suffering adult.Reiki goes wherever it is obvious that Reiki is better you will observe a Reiki Master feels good to go further and offer courses may not last more than your hands before lowering them onto the student.And these are only taught to draw criticism.

#How To Self Attune To Reiki Staggering Useful Ideas #What Is Taught In Reiki Level 1

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years ago

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With 1,000 Breweries and Counting, ‘Black is Beautiful’ Shows Strength in Numbers — But It Doesn’t Replace Long-Term Action

In June, in San Antonio, Texas, Weathered Souls Brewing Co. launched Black is Beautiful, a beer collaboration and campaign with a mission to “bridge the gap” and “provide a platform to show that the brewing community is an inclusive place for everyone of any color.” In three months, the initiative has nearly 1,200 participating breweries on board in 50 states and 21 countries. It’s one of the fastest-growing craft beer collaborations to date to raise awareness of the injustices that Black, Indigenous, and people of color face every day.

Participating breweries commit to creating a tasty stout beer, and agree to donate the proceeds from the sale of the beer to organizations that support equity and inclusion and police brutality reform. Unlike collaborations such as Sierra Nevada’s Resilience Butte County Proud IPA, which raised funds for communities impacted by the most destructive wildfire in California history, there’s more to participation than a one-time donation. Breweries must commit to long-term equity work, whether in their local communities or within their own breweries. Or at least, they’re expected to.

While the response to Black is Beautiful has been overwhelmingly positive, it has left some industry members wondering whether this initiative and others like it will help the communities they claim they are supporting.

Black is Beautiful: A Catalyst for Change

In addition to the many participating breweries around the world, the fanfare around Black is Beautiful has inspired support that far surpasses the beer itself. From branded glassware, virtual 5K runs, beer trading groups, and more, the beer collaboration that centers on supporting social justice causes and ending police brutality has been received with much excitement. Marcus Baskerville, co-founder of Weathered Souls Brewing Co., has been blown away by the response. “When I started the idea, I figured that there might have been 100 people in all this. The fact that we actually reached 1,000 is a very humbling experience,” he says.

Some breweries have implemented programs that ensure ongoing support beyond their monetary donations. For Baskerville, there are many paths for long-term support. He says some breweries have started internships, such as Carton Brewing, and DaleView Biscuits & Beer, offering education and experience to BIPOC; and that the Texas Craft Brewers Guild reached out to him about efforts to form a Diversity Committee. “At the end of the day, the beer itself is just a conversation piece, and the important stuff is what happens after,” Baskerville says.

One brewery committing to long-term effort is Second Chance Beer Co. in San Diego, which announced early in the initiative that its Black is Beautiful release would be an annual event. Proceeds from each bottle will go to the local chapter of the ACLU. Virginia Morrison, co-founder of Second Chance Beer Co., says that she’s a firm believer in change coming from within. “Racism is institutional, it’s educational, it’s historical,” she says. “There’s so much, it’s so pervasive. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. So that’s why this is going to be an annual commitment to us, because this needs to stay top of mind.”

Second Chance has applied to be a member of the ACLU of San Diego to facilitate a longer-term connection. Morrison also says she’s connected with local organizations that help formerly incarcerated individuals find employment, and that Second Chance has started a blind recruitment process in their hiring. “I’m working to make sure that it’s feasible for us to do, and really gets us to the goal of eliminating unconscious bias. Change from within, that’s also us,” Morrison says.

In an email to Black is Beautiful participants, Baskerville recently acknowledged supporters for their accomplishments in only three months of the collaboration, and that there’s much more to come. “We are making HISTORY people, and it’s a very humbling experience to be a part of it,” he wrote. “Every single one of you are making a difference for your communities.”

Problematic participation

While participation in Black is Beautiful is open to everyone, it has also attracted breweries that have track records of not supporting the Black community. The most glaring example is Founders Brewing Co., which was embroiled in a scandal and racial discrimination lawsuit starting in 2018.

Toni Boyce, an engineer, writer, and Certified Cicerone partnered with Fermentum PR on the webinar “Making A Statement” to educate breweries and other businesses in the craft beer industry on crafting authentic messages and how to communicate around sensitive social issues. In the webinar, Boyce raised concerns about problematic participation in social justice movements or working with marginalized communities when there has been a history of harm. (Disclosure: Toni Boyce is also a VinePair contributor.)

Speaking with VinePair, Boyce shared that there should be a more selective process for brewery participation in Black is Beautiful, and that Founders should not have taken up space in the conversation. “They should have sat this one out, in my opinion; they have too much of a longstanding history,” Boyce says. “This would have been a time to reflect, have your reckoning, and do some internal work rather than push yourself in the spotlight.”

Regarding Founders participation, Baskerville spoke directly with representatives of the brewery before their signing on. He took the opportunity to air his grievances about their past behaviors, and sees this participation in Black is Beautiful as a way for Founders to correct that harm, allowing them to participate. Baskerville says that while he knows he needs to keep an eye on breweries such as Founders, the craft beer community needs to make space for organizations to change. “If we get rid of everybody who wants to be an ally, then what are we going to have left? So until they show me differently, we’re gonna appreciate the participation and the help,” he says.

Boyce refers to Founders’ participation as “cognitive dissonance” and adds that just making a beer does not erase consistent harm they have caused. “That’s too much for me to reconcile, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way,” Boyce says. “You have to be willing to address those things, and none of those people have owned up to what they did.” Along with Boyce, many fear there may be issues with breweries following through on donation commitments, recalling that Sierra Nevada had issues receiving proceeds from Resilience Butte County Proud IPA. While the beer had raised millions of dollars, the brewery had not received half of the proceeds from participating breweries six months after the collaboration.

Baskerville recently reached out to participating breweries to remind them of the commitments to the collaboration, and distributed a survey to capture information such as beer release dates and donation amounts. While dollar amounts that breweries donated weren’t tracked initially, and Baskerville at first requested that a portion of proceeds go to fund racial injustice, Weathered Souls has since expanded to asking that 100 percent be donated to these causes. Weathered Souls is donating to the Know Your Rights Camp, and breweries can choose an organization local to them or one that is national.

‘This is not a one-time event.’

Boyce believes that successful brewery participation starts with how a beer collaboration is organized. “You have to set clear parameters and vet the people who are going to participate and be listed on your website as participants,” Boyce says. This creates more accountability, something Boyce believes is especially necessary to the Black is Beautiful mission. “This is not like a fire that just happened, and we need to get these folks back to normal and get them new homes and places to stay, [to] rebuild things and move on,” Boyce says. “This is not a one-time event.”

Black is Beautiful does not have a hard end date. “We know that inequality and racism aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon,” Baskerville says. “So, it’s more of a get it in where you can fit it in. We know people plan their production schedules out months ahead of time. If you can fit it in six months from now, and that’s when you can participate in this initiative, then please do.”

Baskerville knows that combating social justice and police brutality cannot be done in a short time period, and he invites more breweries to join in on the effort. The efforts around the Black is Beautiful collaboration have created a lot of momentum and sparked many conversations around racism, police brutality, and inclusion inside and out of the craft beer industry. Collaborations with a social justice component require conscious participation, with an understanding that the benefit is more than just brewing a beer and selling it.

The work does not end when the check is sent, but when participating communities honor their commitments to long-term equity and inclusion in their breweries, their local communities, and in the broader craft beer industry. Actions speak louder than words, or louder than the beer they produce. Those who don’t embrace the requirements to participate and take a stand as allies show that their efforts are just transactional.

The article With 1,000 Breweries and Counting, ‘Black is Beautiful’ Shows Strength in Numbers — But It Doesn’t Replace Long-Term Action appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/black-is-beautiful/

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isaiahrippinus · 4 years ago

Text

With 1,000 Breweries and Counting, ‘Black is Beautiful’ Shows Strength in Numbers — But It Doesn’t Replace Long-Term Action

Black is Beautiful: A Catalyst for Change

Problematic participation

‘This is not a one-time event.’

The article With 1,000 Breweries and Counting, ‘Black is Beautiful’ Shows Strength in Numbers — But It Doesn’t Replace Long-Term Action appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/black-is-beautiful/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/628161664204881920

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johnboothus · 4 years ago

Text

With 1000 Breweries and Counting Black is Beautiful Shows Strength in Numbers But It Doesnt Replace Long-Term Action

Black is Beautiful: A Catalyst for Change

Problematic participation

‘This is not a one-time event.’

The article With 1,000 Breweries and Counting, ‘Black is Beautiful’ Shows Strength in Numbers — But It Doesn’t Replace Long-Term Action appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/black-is-beautiful/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/with-1000-breweries-and-counting-black-is-beautiful-shows-strength-in-numbers-but-it-doesnt-replace-long-term-action

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saras-almanac · 7 years ago

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What would be the ideal way for them to have achieved this baby plot do you think? You said that there's ways to achieve it but I just don't see it. I think it's stupid and I'm just really bitter that they did it in general. I hope this doesn't sound rude I'm just really curious as to what you'd think the best way to get there is without being so horrible.

Okay. You are definitely not being rude at all! I love being able to talk about Emmerdale! I know you sent this yesterday but I needed to wait until I had a little time to write my response!

First things first, it’s completely okay if you don’t like the current storyline or whatever I write below. Some people are going to hate it just on principle because they don’t like the idea of Robert cheating, the baby, splitting Aaron and Rob up. Whatever the reason, that’s completely fine. You don’t need to defend yourself for not liking a storyline.

But that’s something ED seemed to not be aware of. You are not going to please everyone with a cheating, baby, and break-up storyline. In fact, you’re probably going to upset a lot of people. The way to bring them around or at least show that you care about what you’re doing is to make sure that the storyline actually has meaning and matters.

So if we absolutely had to have Robert sleep with Rebecca and get Rebecca pregnant (which we didn’t) they should have done it right after Robert gave his ring back to Aaron in January. They were having an argument after Aaron walked in on Robert and Rebecca and gets upset. It’s a devastating scene because they both are not saying what they need or want to say. Aaron’s telling Robert that Robert’s not accepting who he is and Robert’s telling Aaron that he’s afraid to be happy. That’s where this storyline starts.

After Robert gives his ring back and leaves. He lays low for a few days but doesn’t hear anything from Aaron and eventually gives up at trying to reconcile because Aaron clearly doesn’t want to even talk to him. Rob goes to get drunk and is generally miserable and ends up meeting up with Rebecca because she’s literally one of his only friends in this moment. He’s upset because Aaron just doesn’t seem to love him as he is and Robert just isn’t enough for him. He tried so hard to make Aaron happy and be there for him but it feels like nothing’s enough. They both are drinking and eventually Robert says that he just wishes it was simpler with Aaron or that he needs a distraction and Rebecca’s right there. She wouldn’t need much convincing because she’s still after Rob at this point (or so it would seem) or she’s like Sure why not? You guys are broken up.

That would be the catalyst of things because it would show both Aaron and Rob self-destructing at the end of their relationship. It would have also helped them be on a little more level playing field. It would force a lot of issues to come to the front that they would have to confront (Aaron’s biphobia, Rob’s internalized homophobia, Aaron’s fears of not being enough for Rob, Rob’s fears of not being enough for Aaron to name a few).

Aaron would be incredibly hurt that Rob slept with Rebecca and Rob would say we were broken up! Aaron would say because this is what Rob wanted and they would start their arguments again and maybe it would allow for Aaron and Rob to sort of fight for each other at the same time.

I’m not saying this would have been perfect because there’s still a lot of problems with it (namely having their only out bisexual character cheat), but it’s a start to make it matter a little bit more. Rob constantly trying to defend himself because him and Aaron were technically broken up but still be eaten by guilt. Aaron wanting to be upset but also not wanting to lose Robert again. It would also make Chas’ story about her jealousy pushing her boyfriend to the woman she was jealous of matter a little bit more.

Ultimately, if they had used this storyline as a way to show Aaron and Robert working on their communication skills and self-esteem issues instead of just as a way to get Robert scheming up at Home Farm, they might have gotten a few more people on board. At least a little bit. But like I said, this is just one situation that I could think of right now, but I hope it helps you a little bit! Thanks so much for the ask!

#emmerdale #Anonymous #robron #robert sugden #aaron dingle

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goodguyjean · 7 years ago

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Hello ! A fellow Jean fan here hehe. I wanted to share my thoughts on anime Jean and revenge for Marco to see if you agree b/c I've seen it discussed a couple of times and I've yet to see anyone bring up my perspective. I don't think the anime was portraying Jean as wanting revenge, and I say this because the anime team took care to establish comradary between Jean and Annie in the trost arc (with her saving him). I think Jean banging on the crystal was in part wanting to know what happened to

Hello, anon! No worries about the length, thank you for sending me your reading of Jean in the anime, because I hadn’t seen everything put together quite like this before either and it’s very thorough! I think you should write up a meta of it! :)

My overall comment on your reading is that I think you’re exactly correct (Pieck-chan!) about what the anime is trying to do with Jean, but I still don’t like the changes they’ve made to Jean’s character and the emphasis they put on his relationship with Marco ^^’

When I wrote my thoughts about Jean and Marco’s relationship recently, I forgot that the anime had added a scene where Annie saves Jean’s life in the battle for Trost! You’re right that it foregrounds his reaction to her being the Female Titan, making her betrayal slightly more personal to him and adding a layer of meaning to his banging on her crystal, demanding that she come out and face her victims. You’re also right that it parallels his initial reaction to finding out about Bertolt and Reiner’s treachery, which the anime takes directly from the the manga:

Chapter 48.

So I actually think I agree that Jean’s reaction to the crystal in the anime may not be about revenge, at least not the kind of vengeance Eren seeks–I may have overread those moments in the anime. However, I think your reading gets at important divergence the anime makes from the manga as regards Jean’s character and motivations, namely, that the anime personalizes Jean’s conflict with the titans much more than the manga does. At the same time, it removes references to Jean having ideological qualms with the government and the military, making his internal moral conflict entirely about either “being selfish” or “doing the right thing.” It’s a little facile, in my opinion–Jean’s line about “playing the system” rings kind of hollow in the anime because it’s not clear that he thinks the system is rigged against him and most people and that the world is doomed anyway, so why bother trying? And in the anime, Jean’s decision to “do the right thing” is spurred almost entirely by what happens to Marco and reinforced by the personal betrayal of Annie. The two are linked in one scene in the anime, a flashback in episode 24, where Jean is included in the strategy meeting about the raid on Stohess. After Armin finishes explaining that Annie wasn’t caught for killing the titan specimens at gear inspection because she presented Marco’s 3DMG instead of her own, Eren asks, “What does Marco have to do with this?” and the camera pans to a silent Jean.

Episode 24.

Armin responds that he’s not yet sure. The way this scene is laid out visually suggests that Jean is also asking this question, and that this is one reason why he is so involved in this particular fight. Additionally, he asks to join the fight in the anime once his cover has been blown, reinforcing the idea that he has a personal stake in this particular conflict, and that it goes back to Marco.

My problem with this re-framing of Jean (which is reinforced by the first guidebook, as you point out) is that it muddles Jean’s motivations in ways that may be difficult to reconcile with the character arc Jean undergoes in the Uprising arc, where Jean struggles to stay in the military because he’s not sure they’re meeting his ethical standards, not because he becomes super worried about his own life again. And, to me at least, the manga leaves the question of whether or not Jean’s decision to remain is the right one. Jean’s personal feelings about RBA’s betrayal and Marco are never really brought into this equation; all the tension of Uprising centers on Jean wanting to protect his comrades and the “weaker” among humanity more generally and his uncertainty that the Survey Corps is really the best place for him to do accomplish his goals. This is a conflict which is set up quite early in the manga, with Jean’s initially cynical partially stemming from a conviction that the military and the government are not really on their citizens’ side and it’s everyone for themselves before the titans come to destroy humanity. As I have discussed numerous times, Jean’s defeatism is completely erased in the anime.

The potential confusion over Jean’s motivations is also why the translation of the “I just don’t want to face charred bones” line you mention above–which seems to be the correct interpretation, based on the guidebook!–also kind of bothers me, I wonder what Isayama was thinking when he wrote it. Jean does not adopt Marco’s moral ideology when he joins the Survey Corps. Jean maintains his own sense of ethics which, to be fair, is exactly what Marco suggests he do; he says that Jean has the potential to be a good leader precisely because he is “weak” and reluctant to make sacrifices for a cause unless he absolutely has to and has really weighed all the options. Obviously, Marco is an inspiration because he points these facts out to Jean and crystallizes for Jean what he can do to protect his friends from the titans, but it seems odd to me that Jean would think of that in terms of either disappointing or not disappointing Marco–we never see Jean asking himself “What would Marco do?” at any point really, and Jean very distinctly continues to question authority from within the Survey Corps (something Marco would never do; Marco is dedicated to the King, and Jean is right to criticize him for this … ). Unlike Reiner with Marcel, Jean doesn’t try to become Marco or use him as an ethical measuring stick, at least not as far as I can tell in the manga. I guess based on the translation of the charred bones line you mention, I have to consider the possibility that we are meant to read Jean as joining the Survey Corps for Marco as opposed to just because Marco pointed out his own unique potential one time, but if this is the case Isayama doesn’t do a great job of reinforcing that message throughout the series …

Except maybe there’s a slight reference back the mass funeral scene just as Jean is starting to talk seriously about defecting from the Survey Corps? In both moments, Jean clenches his fist (something he does a lot when he’s tense or thinking) and ruminates on what his goals are for being a member of the Survey Corps.

Chapter 18.

Chapter 58.

However, the callback to the funeral in chapter 58 does not specifically allude to Marco, rather to Jean’s promise to himself to use his talents to help humanity in his own particular idiom. In chapter 58, Jean is weighing his morals against what he’s being asked to do for the cause, and considering leaving the military, something Marco would not want him to do. He thinks that his resolve to help others, inspired by Marco’s observations about his character, is in jeopardy if he continues down this path–his “faltering” (as Armin terms it in later panels) does not have to do with him struggling with the selfish/selfless paradigm established by the anime, but with his serious qualms with the Survey Corps’ ethics. Maybe Marco was the catalyst for getting him to use his ethics in a productive way, but they weren’t necessarily values that Jean ever shared with Marco, and Jean doesn’t seemed to be weighing what Marco would or wouldn’t do in this moment.

I don’t know if I’m explaining myself very well, I’m sorry. ^^’ I think the best way to sum myself up briefly is that I agree with you, but the anime’s decision to portray Jean this way sets Marco up as both his primary motivation (rather than the catalyst he is in the manga) and as a role-model for Jean, which not really a purpose he seems to serve in the actual manga, even if Jean’s line about the bones does refer to him not wanting to disappoint Marco (but then, why would he phrase it this way, Isayama? Why emphasize the fact that he can’t tell whose bones he’s holding in his hand, the fact that they’re charred beyond recognition? Why not just have him say “I don’t want to disappoint Marco?” that whole line is very confusing for me, I’m sorry ^^’). Even if Jean isn’t necessarily interested in revenge and is more invested in understanding RBA’s betrayal and Marco’s death, I don’t think those work as primary motivations for him. Ah well xD

Thanks for the note, anon! :)

#replies #anonymous #its entirely possible that isayama does back and forth about jean #that he tries to write jean like the anime does and then jean just breaks away from him somehow #hmmmmm #snk #snk meta #jean kirstein #marco bott #anime critical

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sabulana · 7 years ago

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psst! It's your gotham exchange buddy!! I wanted to let you know that I've been reading that Jim/Oswald flower shop au and dude I don't even ship it but this story is so good! Also, what are some of your other Jim/Oswald head canons? Any head canons for S4 in general? c:

Hi there!

I’m glad you’re enjoying Floriography. I loved working on it, and I love that other people are loving it too. Can’t wait to get to work on the next part of the series but that’s a while away at the moment. :)

As for headcanons.

Right.

Sticking with canon-related stuff here (I’ve got plenty other stuff for the flower shop au series, but I can go into that another time if anyone’s interested).

Bear in mind this is literally just me rambling on the page. I might not really make much sense. :/ and I need to watch the series again, beginning to end, but I don’t have the time to start that yet.

Anyway. (going over this after writing it all, I have no idea if this is the sort of stuff you meant to ask about or whatever but I have a Lot of Feelings, and lately they’re mostly about Jim.)

I think if Jim could have set aside his stubbornness when he first met Oswald, and been kinder instead of condemning him from the moment he set eyes on him, then things could have gone very differently. Things didn’t have to be so antagonistic between them if Jim would just unbend a bit. Oswald seemed to only want a genuine friend. It’s not like he couldn’t get other contacts in the GCPD, ones who would have been more willing to bend the law a bit for the right price.

But Jim refused all of it, and then ended up going down a dark path anyway, and I think perhaps Oswald’s path was a little darker for it as well. Like, if Jim had been his friend - or at least, played the part until it became real - perhaps he could have influenced Oswald in positive ways.

But after that season 3 finale, I’m not sure how they could reconcile to become anything other than grudging allies against a more dangerous threat. I mean, I have hope that there will be something to keep my little shipper heart going, but I’m not expecting them to become friends or anything.

I think Jim is going to still be feeling guilty for what he did under the influence of the virus. It forced part of himself to the surface that he didn’t want to get out, and I don’t know that there are going to be many people willing to trust him after seeing that. Oswald is still going to be very upset with Jim over Fish’s death, and the fact that Jim was ready to just hand him over to Ed, which would have gone very badly for him if he hadn’t managed to get away.

Jim cares about Oswald despite himself. Perhaps he also feels some responsibility for Oswald’s actions, after sparing his life in the first episode. Everything would be different if Jim had done as he was told and shot Oswald as he was meant to. Oswald was a catalyst for so much through his machinations. In sparing his life, in showing some mercy, Jim considers himself responsible for everything Oswald has done since — the good and the bad. Especially the bad, since that’s all he seems able to focus on. It may be why Oswald is part of his ‘unit’, why Oswald was the one to show up in that hallucination to say ‘never leave your unit behind’.

Of course, this all contributes to Jim’s internal issues. The guilt and depression and so on. Jim tries so hard to be a good man, like he once thought his father was (though I do think Jim’s father was a good man. He was just a good man who knew how to compromise, which Jim seems to have trouble with) and be someone his father would be proud of. But this has led to a very unbending personality.

As we learn in the first episode, Jim’s father died when he was young and seems to have stuck with the image of the perfect figure he imagined his father to be at that age. Learning that his father was a flawed human being the same as everyone else shook Jim’s worldview quite a bit. If he’d grown up with his father, he would have been more exposed to his flaws, would have been able to see and talk to his father about it and come to terms with it more easily. But because Jim has stubbornly clung to the image he created as a child, he struggles to accept that his father wasn’t perfect.

And I could go on, and on, and on but I have been trying to write this all day and getting horribly distracted and still ended up just spilling random thoughts and feelings over the page.

I’m going to bed now before I fall asleep on the laptop. If anyone wants to discuss this stuff or whatever, I’l get back to you tomorrow. Probably.

#gotham buddy exchange #replies #headcanons #rambling #gotham #ugh this makes no sense #sorry i'm too tired and just decided to post though there's plenty more i could have added lol

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denobelia · 7 years ago

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There is no Relating to a Comparative Psychology

I have given this matter of sharing a great deal of thought. Normally I just like to speak my heart and mind, and share my spirit, but in this, because of the strange nature of it I feel it’s best if I write it down.

G had asked me to listen to him, without responding. I did this…However, it was clear that my not responding was problematic. He *did* want me to respond. The next morning he repeated the same sharing because it seemed clear that he did want a response of some kind. When I did, he objected, saying that he just wanted me to listen, because he was wanting to share. Sharing was not not something he did. So this was unusual.

When he objected I removed myself from the interaction in order to avoid conflict. I busied myself trimming the plants while G continued. But I wasn’t really listening anymore because I felt that his talking was just about wanting to generate a fight where I am the “bad guy.” He seemed to be looking for a “fault” from me, to pin on me and thereby make himself feel “in the right’ by comparison. He seemed to be intent on engineering a situation where I would do something he could blame me for and thereby keep his cycle of "suffering” going.

(This has been his ongoing modus operandi. He believes that in relationships one is supposed to “suffer.” Shouting and drama are an expected part of this. It would appear he feels “alive” when he is manic, when the outside chaos matches the internal.)

But he had already shared the previous night and my mood at the time was relaxed. I was snacking and listening. Also I had spent half the day listening and being supportive to a girl friend of mine, so I was in that mode. I feel that G has conflicting motives when it comes to my feedback and input on him. This has to me been a pattern in our interactions throughout and a source of tension and stress. On the one hand he wants genuine feedback and insight into his behaviour. But he wants it in a way that doesn’t make him “look bad.” And the mere fact that it comes from *me* is a negative, because now I *know* the Awful Truth about him. It is “out in the open.” As long as these are not dealt with directly G believes that he can somehow get the truth and avoid the consequences.

He wants the truth, however, I feel he wants these Awful Truths and insights in a way where he wants it like from a secret anonymous source in a secret anonymous letter or something. Or somehow in some way like this where he can get the truth but no-one knows he has received it.

That in a nutshell, I feel, is the root. G’s problem, I feel, is that G, is not the way he used to be and the person he is now, realizes what an utter jerk he used to be. He has not fully quit being a jerk, but the substantial changes that have resulted as a consequence of our interaction and my sharing of my heart, mind and spirit, of my worldview and perspective and input, is problematic for him because he cannot stand the idea of me knowing the kind of person he was at the start and for the most part of our interaction.

He has woken up to the fact that he has been an utter jerk in our dealings and he doesn’t like how this reflects on him. He doesn’t at all like the fact of anyone knowing this so clearly, especially me. I feel that a major problem for G is that I have been so instrumental in this change, being a major catalyst for it. He struggles to reconcile this. I feel, in his mind, there has been a shift in our relative statuses. I do not at all subscribe to this hierarchical mentality, but G does. I feel, he has trouble, in his mind, in his way of insisting on looking at things, with this change, according to him, of our positions. He has become aware that where he thought he was “higher” or the “top dog’ in the relationship, actually he has now become aware, again, according to his own system of constant relative evaluation, (that I absolutely do not agree with,) that he now feels that I am "higher” in some way than him and this he refuses to deal with. Of course I think this is all irrelevant nonsense and completely unnecessary and simply adds stress.

He likes to think he wants equality and fairness but it is not actually evident in his inadvertent hierarchical behaviour and in his constant comparisons.

He is conflicted about his perception of my sensibility. Sometimes, there are points that I find extremely difficult to communicate because they are points of intuition and feeling that go beyond the normal and usual. When this happens I realize that I could come across as unreasonable from his perspective. This then results in him “devaluing” me in terms of overall sensibility. But then when it comes to aspects where I have specifically and definitely helped G tremendously, he is keen on my help and input. At those times I am then again sensible.

An example of this is in my help with his email writing skills. He cannot now bear to read the business emails he wrote prior 2011 because they were so unprofessional and inappropriate in tone and mood. This also applied to his phone calls. His skills in this regard have considerably improved and he is very happy about this and welcomed and asked for my help and input in these areas along with my insight and perspective when it comes to non-personal issues.

Yet when it comes to the personal, these same sensibilities of mine are somehow not valid and problematical. I feel a large part of this is due to communication inefficiencies. Self-honesty and self-awareness are also an issue in this regard.

I truly feel and believe that it is G’s belief in the hierarchical system and Comparative Mindset that does not allow for truly relating and true sharing as he sees any unpleasant truths as affecting relative positions and status which at this time is important to him, but of course does not matter in the least. To me, we have always been different and that is simply all there is to it. Difference is not “better than” or “less than,” it simply is Difference. This I dearly wish G would understand and realize. And that I see past his surface behaviour to the Goodness G that is there is - The Positive Fragment that resides in all of us. This is how I embark on relationships and why I have stayed in it and made all the efforts I have. That is why I called him By his full name and not Gabe or Gabey-Baby.

I took responsibility from day one for being in a situation that I knew could be potentially compromised. I saw all of G right from the start. But, me being in the relationship is a function of my Overall Philosophy of Living which is living according to Universal inputs and pressures and this was clearly the case when it came to me and G being together.

I know that I am part of the problem when it comes to emotional responses. And when it comes to explaining non-regular points of view. I struggle sometimes to communicate my very different world-view which is a non-ordinary one of living in Attunement with the Universe and Spirit. This is not just something I say and subscribe to as a mere ‘belief,’ it is a Way of Being for me that results in real and concrete actions. I really do *live* by this in actuality. It is in essence about being fluid, adaptable and above all, about being Appropriate. This means that I do not have presets, “rules,” “ideas,” and notions about how to live. At least not consciously. I did come face to face with an inadvertent and sublimated notion concerning romantic relationships which I have subsequently dealt with. The act of becoming aware of this notion dispelled it. But I take the responsibility of knowing that this did impact my interactions and expectations initially with G.

I acknowledge my responsibility for not sufficiently taking into cognizance G extreme and inordinate hyper-sensitivity to what he perceives to be remotely critical. To not get exasperated with this is extremely difficult as it has been an ongoing theme for years with no improvement. I have come to the point that I feel I cannot share anything with G more than pleasantries due to his incredible hyper-sensitivity. This is particularly relevant since he is even more acutely tuned in to any potential criticism and implied affects to his image from anybody. His sensitivity to his own competencies especially create a minefield at gigs. When something does happen that triggers this hyper-sensitivity, and he reacts with anger and negativity, he would then takes it out on me and unfortunately all he remembers is when I pushed back. The problem is that we tend to get immersed in these interactions and they then take on a life of their own.

I take responsibility for using the past, mine and his, as a point of reference without taking into full cognizance the hyper-sensitivity there is in this regard.

I have come to realize that G enjoys being spoken to as if he is literally a little child. But this is something I cannot in good conscience do. It just does not sit right with me. I find it condescending and I cannot condone mollycoddling of this nature and the furtherance of this indulgence. It connects back to the “Bond of Suffering.” I want no part of that. There is no goodness that comes from the perpetuation of the self-pity and the resultant feelings of “Specialness” that this behaviour is geared to eliciting. This insistence on “Specialness” in this particular “Poor Baby” way is the root of G’s relationship dysfunction in my view.

What has happened in a lot of our interactions is me sharing my views, which are perspectives, not opinions. They are subject to change, and there are many perspectives on any point. But unfortunately G takes these as opinions as statements of fact, and then ensuing embroilments of right and wrong concerning these perspectives ensue. But this is completely the antitheses of what I am about. There is no right or wrong in my book, it is not part of my psychology. There is only Appropriateness. And that is of course affected by things like Integrity and context. I feel G seems to be looking for absolutes where there are none.

From an Overview Perspective, my responsibility and failings I feel come from my ability to communicate efficiently and effectively the complexity that is inside me. This is for me an ongoing endeavor in the refinement of my being. I am continually working on this and other aspects that I feel are needed when it comes to the Enhancement of my Awareness and the fine-tuning of my Spirit.

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bindy417 · 8 years ago

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Arrow 5x20: I liked it BUT...

I’d like to preface this post by saying that I re-watched 5x20 today, because I had a lot of feelings about it last night. I loved most of the episode and interactions between Olicity, Dyla, and Team Arrow. The dire circumstances,

sexy aesthetics,

and emotional issues

that arose were all on point. So, kudos to the actors, writers, and crew for an overall job well done.

However, despite all of that, I find that on my second viewing I am still very frustrated by the final conversations between Olicity in both timelines. I want to be clear that I’m not writing this post to burst anyone’s bubble or change anyone’s mind about the episode. If you were satisfied with the end, then great. I’m glad. I wish I felt the same way, but I honestly just don’t. So, if you loved it and don’t want to hear any criticism about it, then I strongly suggest you stop reading right now. I may be in the minority on this, but I’ve noticed some other fans expressing similar concerns and this is just me working out what actually bothered me personally as a viewer.

I responded to a couple of posts last night in which I expressed my dismay but have since been trying to pinpoint the actual root of my disappointment. It was seriously niggling at me, and I acknowledged that it doesn’t stem from Felicity understanding where Oliver is coming from or being sympathetic. My favorite scene in the present was Oliver’s confession to Felicity about the kind of man he truly believes he is. It was so raw and heartbreaking. My eyes actually started watering, and I loved Felicity trying to communicate to Oliver why she loved him and was willing to marry him.

I think it’s important Felicity comprehends the depth of Oliver’s trauma and believe that her forgiving him is a sign of strength and compassion on her part. What bothered me, though, was that the confession and understanding of what went wrong between them seemed wholly one-sided. Oliver got to share his burdens, but Felicity did not get to do the same.

With any couple that I ship, I always want to see both characters’ perspectives fairly portrayed and explored. We know Oliver has suffered unimaginable pain and devastation over the course of five seasons. But so has Felicity. She was abandoned by her father during childhood, who later returned and lied to her yet again. She has lost and mourned every single one of her past boyfriends, who were either killed or at one point faked their deaths. She was shot and almost paralyzed for life. She was forced to make a difficult decision and redirect a nuclear bomb that would result in casualties no matter where she sent it. She was fired from her job for trying to do what was right and make her spinal chip available to others suffering from paralysis. Finally, and worst of all, she was betrayed by the man she trusted and loved more than anyone because he thought it was acceptable to marry her while keeping a part of himself hidden as long as the circumstances necessitated it.

In both final Olicity scenes, the topic of trust and Oliver’s lies about William were prevalent. This was an issue that absolutely needed to be discussed, but I do not feel that the execution was done well. My impression upon my first and later second viewing was that it sounded like Felicity was absolving Oliver of any wrongdoing and apologizing for how she reacted and interpreted his choice to lie. I do think the intention was to show Felicity finally seeing the deepest, darkest part of Oliver and empathizing with him. In turn, Oliver was finally seeing and regretting how his lack of honesty and support deeply wounded Felicity.

It just didn’t come across effectively to me, and I honestly don’t place the blame on either Stephen or Emily’s interpretations in those scenes. It was the writing itself that did not add up. Too frequently the Arrow writers make the mistake of leaving too many of our questions unanswered and the details not adequately explained. I was trying so hard to follow the thought process in both conversations, but so much of the dialogue and intention behind it seemed very muddled, nonsensical, and contradictory at times.

The flashback went downhill and did not make sense after Olicity had sex. It was Felicity who initiated the moment between them, but it didn’t seem to amount to anything. Oliver said they never talked about their issues, and she agreed with that. But then Felicity said nothing had changed, without really giving him a chance to speak, and Oliver closed up as a result. After sexy times on those mats, I think she could’ve gotten anything she wanted out of him--including the truth (or what he believed to be true about himself at the time). He seemed open to it.

The next day, Oliver admitted that Felicity was right about his trust issues. Felicity said she was wrong to walk away and not talk to him. She also had expressed to Curtis before that she was hurt that Oliver never shared certain aspects of his life with her. In that final moment, Oliver seems ready to delve into their issues. But what does Felicity do? She pulls a 180 and suddenly decides she doesn’t want to talk and needs more time.

Okay...? Maybe Felicity was shook after that mind-blowing sex with the love of her life, and it all got too real too fast. So the pair comes to an understanding that Oliver will wait to discuss it until she’s ready. Their words and heart eyes imply that there is still so much love there, and that they aren’t completely done but are in their own version of purgatory. At no point does it seem like moving on with other people is an option. But the talk never comes and moving on is exactly what happens! We know Felicity ends up seriously dating Billy and that Oliver is totally blindsided when he finds out. Seriously, how in the hell did we get from A to Z?!

And why do I have to twist myself into a damn pretzel to find the reason in this? Creating multiple perspectives in a situation can be intriguing and endearing but utter confusion on the part of the viewer is an indication of just plain lazy and bad writing.

Yes, the flashback was hot! I swooned at all of the amazing Olicity moments that seemed to come straight from fanfic. But unlike most fanfics I’ve read, these writers do not connect the dots of their own plot points. I didn’t expect the flashback to get too deep into why Olicity never reconciled, but I did expect to gain a better perspective of the catalyst. The problem was there was no actual catalyst shown, and the flashback did the opposite of what was intended. We were left with even more questions and confusion as to what went down during hiatus and how Olicity let themselves drift apart. And quite frankly, I thought Felicity was portrayed as rather callous and selfish for leading Oliver on. It pains me to say that, because I love her character. She’s not perfect, but she’s also never purposely given Oliver hope when there was none. Which makes me wonder, was she vilified to please the comic stans and so Oliver turning to that snake Susan still made sense in the overall narrative?

The present scene at A.R.G.U.S. was just as frustrating and took the flashback apology a step further. Felicity says:

“I got the tiniest taste of what you’ve been through. The tiniest. I get it now. I understand why you lied to me about William. Why you had to. I get it.”

She could be saying that she understands from Oliver’s perspective why he has the tendency to not trust himself, but the wording doesn’t support that in my opinion. Let’s assume Oliver’s lack of trust isn’t just about his internal struggle but rooted in his fear that he’ll negatively influence those around him. His tendency to lie and be stubborn about shouldering the risk and blame is seen as destructive by Felicity and the others. If that behavior is wrong, then Felicity would be right to call him out on it. She can sympathize and feel badly for not at least hearing him out when he was struggling while still not actually approving of what he did. However, Felicity saying “Why you had to [lie about William]” implies that Oliver’s behavior was a necessary evil. That she accepts it, because she’s gotten a taste of his hardship. And yet, Felicity also says that she shouldn’t have followed in his footsteps in that way. So what exactly is she saying? That Oliver on occasion can make the tough calls at all costs, but she won’t allow herself to take on the same burdens as she sees fit?

Despite that the writers implied Billy was the source of Felicity’s grief, I don’t think he’s the main reason why she joined Helix. It wasn’t just about Oliver either. She is a grown woman who suffered unspeakable traumas and wanted to find a way to take control over her own life. She had valid reasons, too, and what was missing in this scene was Oliver understanding where she was coming from. That’s what bothered me most. It was the imbalance in the dialogue. It was the lack of one half of our OTP not getting the same understanding and recognition for her past struggles and what that led her to do this season. Felicity told Oliver how she sees him, and I desperately wanted Oliver to do the same for her in return (similar to 3x01, 4x09, and 4x16). The issue was isolated to William and Helix without exposing the roots of Felicity’s grief. I didn’t need Oliver to apologize until he was blue in the face (although I wouldn’t have been opposed to it either since we still didn’t get a direct William apology onscreen), but I did need him to recognize her years of struggle and right to agency. Felicity has her own darkness, too, but tends to be better at overcoming it. The truth is she’s evolved, and neither Oliver nor Diggle (nor hateful comic stans) can force her back into her previous box.

Overall, everything Felicity was saying to Oliver in those final scenes sounded canned and straight from the Wendy Mericle and Marc Guggenheim interviews I hate so much. Because we’ve heard these excuses so many times, I’m not surprised this is the direction the writers chose to go. I was desperately hoping it wouldn’t happen. The lack of coherency and balance just irked the hell out of me, and I’m at the point where I’ve, unfortunately, accepted that certain details either don’t matter or will be purposefully overlooked by these writers. I’m still excited about the end of the season and seeing if there are more developments that put Olicity on equal ground, but I won’t hold my breath. All I can say is thank God for fanfic and the wonderful writers who fill in the gaps so eloquently. They keep me sane!

#olicity #arrow 5x20 #ArrowMetas #i liked the episode #but there were some glaring issues #just my opinion #where is the fanfic at

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dangerously-human · 7 years ago

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4.05, “The Desperate Hours”

Alec and Kiera, both of you, could you possibly act more shady with your demands of Kellogg? Honestly. That would be transparent to ME, and my autistic self instinctively trusts everyone!

I’m not really sure where Kiera’s faith in Dillon comes from. Perhaps because he defended her when he had good reason not to trust her? I think, without Kiera, Dillon would have been much more willing to accept exile from the force, and “the good guys” side of things in general. Instead, Kiera got him to quit wallowing and stand up for something again, which is really a testament to who she is as a person, I think. Kiera is so good at inspiring the best in others; it’s a real gift.

Interestingly, I think that’s just one of the many parallels between her and Julian, their ability to get others motivated and active and give them something to believe in. I’d really like to dive into that idea more at some point.

“This isn’t Vegas. Are you really gonna roll the dice with her life?” Kellogg is a scumbag, and he’s hardly an unbiased party, but he has a point. If there had been more time, if things hadn’t been complete chaos, I truly believe Alec would have fought harder to point out the flaws in Kiera’s plan. As it was, I think he probably barely had time to consider them himself, and we know both Alec and Kiera excel at carefully constructing their own conscious thoughts to minimize conflict (both internal and external). It would have been simple enough, a matter of habit, to simply.. refocus and reframe. But with the right catalyst... Kellogg, for obvious reasons, wasn’t it.

I miss Kiera and Carlos as a unit, working together, bickering and being friends. They aren’t even really quite on the same side in this season, and while I do believe that makes sense in terms of their character development, it’s disappointing to lose (or diminish, at least) a dynamic that was really a driving force of the show.

“You made your choice. You chose you.” I mean, yeah. That was exactly what I was trying to get across in Still Here: you decided your own fate was more important than the holes you would leave behind, holes that would leave people you care about in precarious positions - possibly even in danger. We see a happy, glowing future, but I don’t think it realistically would have worked out that way. There were so many variables, and so much at stake. And there was still so much left to do. I struggle to reconcile Kiera’s decision to try to go home with who she was at the time she made that call. It seems so unlike her (a self-sacrificing leader with an incredibly stubborn moral compass) to accept others carrying on her legacy in her absence.

Really, Kiera chose Sam, not herself. But I think it would feel, to her, a little like she was choosing herself. She could talk herself out of the guilt, I guess, because she was looking at it as taking care of her son. But when she got back and saw that Sam didn’t need her, that he wasn’t her Sam to love and protect, I really think that would have shattered her. Because her choice looks a lot more selfish now, doesn’t it?

Brad asked the questions Kiera was avoiding, but he wasn’t invested enough in her to really push her. Someone who really cares about could. It’s something Alec should have done, or maybe even Carlos. I think, even ignoring (as best as I can) my ship goggles, it would make the most sense coming from Alec, because Alec and Kiera know the most about what’s at stake, and they’re in comparable positions at the moment. On the examining motives front, it could come from Julian, because he gets the leadership aspect of it. But Alec gets the personal piece, too.

Rachel Nichols has such a gift for showing competing emotions in the same breath. Her face is so incredibly expressive.

I had kind of forgotten that Carlos was smacked in the face with evidence implicating Emily in Escher’s murder. I STILL struggle to believe that Alec would be okay with that. I get that he overlooked a lot after she died and he went back for her, but killing Escher happened in the new timeline. One in which Escher was not really an immediate threat to either of them. I know Alec had no connection to Escher, really, but the guy was his dad. And he knew Emily could be ruthless, but that just seems like it would be a step too far, you know? It’s one thing to see a video of your girlfriend beating up/possibly killing somebody, and to read a file of her past crimes; it’s quite another to find out about her doing that while you’re involved, and to someone in your life. It was a strange plot point, too. Very rushed/hand wave-y/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain.

I needed more time-based puns out of this show. Truly, so much wasted potential!

Kidney transplants are not lethal. Kellogg could still live if his future, alt-timeline self needed one to spare. Why was he so freaked out by this? I guess because it indicated ulterior motive that did not regard his own life and wellbeing as supremely important.

I am very interested in the core Liber8 member’s reasons for choosing the paths they did. I think Travis started out with good motives, but he eventually lost himself in the violence of it. At the end, he came back to what originally drove him to join an extremist movement, to the good seed of it.

I wonder what Vasquez’s relationship with her father was like. Was future Kellogg present at all in her life? Were they close?

“It doesn’t matter. You won’t be here.” “After all this time, and you still have no idea who I am.” 1) I’ve actually wondered just how much time passed in this season. I think it’s still 2014? Maybe early 2015 at the latest? Which means Kiera and Brad didn’t in fact know each other that long, for one thing, but mostly, it means a hell of a lot went down in a very short amount of time. 2) Again, Kiera would not, could not, leave while things were still so uncertain. She couldn’t just peace out and let the chips fall where they may. It’s not in her nature. I can see, I suppose, why she chose to go home in the end, Because the dust, against all odds, was settling. But it still seems so un-Kiera to even plan on it, prior to seeing how the “final” (as if nothing else could have gone wrong!) showdown went, without any assurances of how things would go in her absence.

#personal #continuum #Rachel liveblogs

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