#like. people have gotten way too comfortable with stuff about the holocaust i think

[mbat]

you know, i just wanna say that if were gonna put any word up on the high shelf, 'nazi' should probably be one of them. very heavy word that people throw around way too lightly, i think

[scentofgenocide]

Not only did I lose you,

I lost myself too.

Fears on my pillow,

Under the unlucky Jew.

I don’t know why it all tumbled out as it did, sadness and spite. Too much truth. You talk too much. You interrupt too much. You said too much. Spiky and stuttered. can’t even spit it out. When you do spit it out, it’s just blood and salt. You know he’ll just turn it on you, right? You’ll get close and then you’re responsible for him. You’re already responsible for him. When people talk against him, you’re ready to fight. You never felt that way about your other fathers. You never wanted to defend their honor. What honor? You turn to an angry dog, rabid and feral.

Through some weird, twisted, fucked up psychic event, it all came tumbling out. The lost years. The grief, the anger.

I heard him say though, “I’d like to hear your story, for personal reasons…” and trail off. I don’t even know why I’m having trouble writing this. It was a chasm. It was a canyon. It was a forest full of branches and sand.

I don’t know why they are intertwined in my mind. There’s crossover. I will recount it, as best as I can, because it was significant.

The non-binary student mentioned their family stuff to him, getting in touch with their half brother, the similarities. They mentioned ties to Israel and Berlin, grandparents they never knew. I was taken aback, and out it tumbled:

Hope yours goes better than mine. We have remarkably similar stories. Wow. Yeah, my dad’s from Israel. Abandoned me as a kid. Didn’t hear from him for many years. I’m adopted. He got back in touch 25 years later.

And he paused, in his measured, lanky baritone, “if you’re comfortable talking about it, I’d like to know more. For personal reasons.” I know he meant his daughter. The missing piece. The dark places, the loose threads. And the non-binary student interrupted. That was supposed to be our talk. It’s not the students fault I bleed all over. It’s not their fault my story went awry. It’s no one’s fault. But I’m furious, furious, furious.

He and I walked outside, and I just. It all came out. The anger, the frustration. I could hear it dripping on the pavement like melting snow, thinking too myself, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, this will only be used against you. You took everything over and you let it fly. Muck, slime, bile. Blood. So much blood.

He asked why my dad got in touch. I said I’ve probed, I’ve asked, and he just isn’t forthcoming. I’ve asked about my grandparents. I told him he just writes to me about all the great vacations they go on. He clipped in his funny German dry humor, “oh, well, that’s great. Why would he do that? Why would be even get in touch?” Reiterate. I don’t know.

I saw him listen, I saw him show compassion, I saw him struggle not to linger longer.

I Said that Ive asked about my grandparents and the Holocaust, and gotten no answer. He said maybe my dad didn’t even know. Many people didn’t talk about it. I said I knew, but I wish my dad would tell me the truth. I bristled a bit, he apologized. It’s not your fault, I said, it’s just frustrating.

However, when we parted, I could feel him a bit shaken, maybe a bit rattled. Maybe someday you’ll ache like I ache. I could be projecting. Maybe he isn’t thinking about me at all. Probably not. Maybe.

This journey plagues me like an illness, a blister, it opens and festers,

But perhaps most acutely

I love him even more

[titusmoody]

2021 Q2 stuff

Games

Return of the Obra Dinn -- Very different. A great experience to play, it doesn’t use any typical “gamer” skills or knowledge. It also hit on a lot of my personally prefered sensibilities (stories self-contained to ships, non-linear storytelling, mysteries, and meticulous attention to detail)

Kentucky Route Zero -- Even more different. I’m glad I played it for the atmosphere, though it didn’t click with me the way Obra Dinn did. Extremely atmospheric and cool, but also has a strong academic curiosity to it.

DOOM (2016)-- Okay, we’re back to regular video games. Everything about this one seems very carefully crafted. I had a good, mindless time with this one.

Spider-Man -- Not as well-crafted as DOOM, but also less juvenile. I also had a good, mindless time with this one.

Metroid: Samus Returns -- Feels like Metroid. The moment-to-moment combat is different than Super Metriod and Fusion, which is a nice way to keep things from getting stale.

TV

Shadow and Bone -- Sometimes tropes exist because they make for good stories. This show was a good example of that.

Pani Poni Dash -- WTF Japan, in a good way

Princess Tutu -- Much like I felt about Cowboy Bebop, this show was very well-made and I had an easy time appreciating what it was doing, though in the end it’s not the kind of thing that’s really for me

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid -- Pleasant to watch, mostly lighthearted but could definitely have emotional moments here and there to keep you interested.

Kakegurui -- Shows like this are the reason anime fans are so self-depricating. It was thoroughly trashy, but I’d be lying if I said that the trashiness didn’t lead to a lot of fun.

Love, Chunibyo, and other Delusions -- An excellent comfort-watch. About a high-schooler trying to run away from his cringe-y middle school phase. I definitely have criticisms of it, but I’m also definitely going to watch it again.

Devilman Crybaby -- I swear, Masaaki Uasa takes the most overdone premises and portrays them in such bonkers ways that they become pretty cool. This isn’t one of the best examples of that, but it still works.

Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket -- Part of Gundam’s brand is that it shows the effect of wars on individuals. This is a great small-scale example of that. 

She-Ra -- It’s good. The plot kinda meanders and the backstory lore is presented confusingly/unclearly at times. But the central characters are good enough to carry at least a few seasons, and the secondary characters really elevate the whole thing. I was personally very fond of Scorpia as well as the way the writers used Entrapta both in the plot and as a character foil.

Chernobyl -- Second time watching this, it’s definitely a favorite. 

Movies

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again -- You already know what this is like and whether or not you enjoy the sort of thing it is. 

Moulin Rouge -- It’s hard to watch Mamma Mia without thinking of this one, so I watched it soon after.

Minari -- My personal reward for being fully vaccinated was to go to the movies by myself. This was a good movie, though overshadowed by the circumstances in which I saw it. I would’ve been very happy to be seeing anything.

My Fair Lady -- An iconic pop-culture touchstone. Not my favorite musical, for sure.

Interstellar -- This movie is in the odd position of currently being my favorite Christopher Nolan movie despite the fact that I don’t like it nearly as much as I liked either The Dark Knight or Memento when I saw those for the first time.

The Perfect Storm -- George Clooney, big wave.

Legally Blonde -- I didn’t hear the term “sitcom” until oddly late in life, and when I heard it, I assumed it meant movies like this where there aren’t a ton of jokes, but the characters are constantly in inherently funny situations. I don’t like this type of humor that much.

Jurassic Park -- A big “moral” of the movie was “don’t trust computers to do anything important” but today it’s hard not to get the message as “never underpay your system administrator” instead.

Apollo 13 -- Pretty good

ET -- I really didn’t like this movie and I don’t quite know what it doesn’t do that Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones do. Imminent danger seem to be part of it, but I don’t think that’s the whole picture.

The Day After Tomorrow -- *shrug* I had fun watching it

Pearl Harbor -- expected it to be bad, it was bad. It was definitely bad in interesting ways, and was almost good a lot of the time.

Die Hard -- I was looking for suspenseful movies with clear character motivation and this fit the description. It was good, though I didn’t like it quite as much as I hoped to.

Star Trek V -- Star Trek is often silly and I just can’t get on board with some of the silliness, like the last part of this movie.

Terminator 2 -- Yeah, I do like suspense. I don’t think I’ll look back on this as a favorite, but I was pretty into it. Moreso than Die Hard.

Cast Away -- Pretty good

Predator -- Somewhere between Die Hard and Terminator 2. I was a bit bored by the end, which ironically was the part that most closely resembled what I was looking for.

Braveheart -- I think romanticising medieval Europe is fun and cool. Unfortunately this movie has some creepy sexual hang-ups as well as rampant “no step on snek” energy that ruin the whole thing.

Redline -- Just a cool looking movie

State of Play -- I forgot the whole plot of this already, but I enjoyed it

Troy -- It’s not as bad as its reputation suggests, though the end does get really over-the-top cheesy

Demon Slayer -- I liked going to the movies by myself so much the first time that I did it again. This time it was in a much more full theater and I was one of very few people over 17. Fun action anime movie, though.

Gladiator -- I’m so disappointed that I didn’t connect to this movie, since over and over I felt like I was very close to loving it. I think the revenge motivation was what ultimately prevented me from really getting into it.

K-19: The Widowmaker -- Hell yeah, extremely tense submarine scenes, that’s exactly what I wanted.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) -- The movie felt like it wanted its premise to feel plausible, but it really didn’t. Still pretty good, though

The Big Lebowski -- Still not a big fan of this one. 

The Naked Gun -- This confirms that my sense of humor has not gotten more refined since age 17 or so. I still thought this was pretty funny.

Dances With Wolves -- Mostly just boring. 

Angels and Demons -- Even at age 15 the book’s riddles and clues premise felt a bit too contrived. The movie has the additional disadvantage that verbal explanations are the most boring way to resolve questions, unlike books where words are all you have.

Chinatown -- Meh, a fine detective story but nothing really clicked with me. The director’s life is wild, though. He escaped the holocaust, had his pregnant wife murdered by the Manson family, and is currently a fugitive from justice for raping a 13 year old.

The Core -- Like The Perfect Storm, appealing in the “so bad it’s good” way.

Porco Rosso -- Think the type of character study of Kiki’s Delivery Service, but about a middle-aged man, so it doesn’t resonate with Miyazaki’s audience enough for many people to talk about it.

Uncut Gems -- My second time watching it, it’s definitely a favorite. Between this and A Serious Man, I seem to love extremely stressful movies about mediocre jewish men.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) -- Interesting to compare/contrast with the other version. I like both

Galaxy Quest -- another movie that fits my personal definition of what “sitcom” should mean. Again, not my favorite type of humor

Fantastic Planet -- Looks like something between the animated sketches in Monty Python and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Very weird, it personally really worked for me.

Scarface -- I think romanticising organized crime is fun and cool. 

In the Heights -- colorful, catchy, happy and fun. 

Books

The House in the Cerulean Sea -- a good comfort-read. very simplistic and a little clunky and amateur-ish, but ultimately pretty cute.

There There -- not a comfort-read at all. A super raw look at the modern life of a variety of Native American situations. Very harsh but also interesting.

Six of Crows -- Fine YA fantasy fluff.

[moviepower]

Why do people criticize Jojo Rabbit?

We'd say that this is uncharted territory for distributor Disney, but the company did previously give us their futures face. Hmm. I saw Jojo Rabbit in the best place I could for movies, in my opinion.

For this list, we're looking at why Tyco ITTS 2019 black comedy has proven. So polarizing for critics just to clarify the critical reception thus far has been mostly positive and even watch mojo gave the film a rave review following its TIFF premiere.

Nevertheless, we can definitely see why a movie like this. Wouldn't win audiences over everywhere. Hey Joe, Joe, my old friend. Hi adults. Number 10, the controversial premise. I don't think I can do this last. Of course you can simply by reading it synopsis, you can tell why Jojo rabbit has stirred up so much controversy.

In the midst of world war II, a young German boy named Joe Joe dreams of becoming a Nazi upon learning that his mother has been harboring a Jewish girl in the attic though, Jo Jo begins to reevaluate his outlook on life. I tell them you will be in big trouble throughout this coming of age journey. Our titular character is guided by his imaginary friend.

Is it worth to watch Jojo Rabbit full movie

Who just so happens to be a flamboyantly incompetent, Adolf Hitler, as inventive as the premises, it was guaranteed to ignite passionate feelings. Critics are unsurprisingly split as to whether the film's premise is inspired or irresponsible. I wish more of our young boys had your blind fanaticism. Okay.

Number nine, how it stacks up to other satires and this world is ruined for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way Jojo rabbit. Isn't the first film to satirize Hitler or Nazis 1940 twos to be, or not to be was criticized upon release for its farcical, spin of Nazi occupied Poland.

But today is viewed as a comedy classic. I know you're quite famous in London kernel. They call you concentration camp Earhart. Yes. Yes, we do the concentrating and the poles do the camping Hitler. Technically isn't the protagonist and the great dictator. It's obvious who Charlie Chaplin was parodying. We can learn more about actress playing mother Jojo on Wikipedia.

Arguably the most famous sendup of Nazi Germany is Mel Brooks. The producers. In which two con men put on an intentionally horrible musical entitled springtime for Hitler. Practically a love letter to this own run a week week. Are you kidding display? It's got the close on page four. Some critics are ready to place Jojo rabbit alongside these revolutionary respected comedy.

What do critics write in reviews about Jojo Rabbit?

Others, however, would claim that the film has more in common with the bridge sit-com Hile, honey I'm home, which was so misguided and tasteless that it only lasted one episode. Oh 10 night. You will make an schnitzel. What a joke. You must be real mad at me, honey. I'm a very, very bad Hitler. Number eight, what's going on in the real world right now?

Fuck man. The house, although world war II is in the past. The same, unfortunately can not be said about bigotry. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the 2017 unite the right rally in Charlottesville, which attracted several hate groups, including neo-Nazis. Since prejudice and discrimination remain prevalent in today's world.

It's obvious why various critics would object to a film that makes light of Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, satire can reflect modern times as well as history in ways that straightforward drama can't. Some might argue that now isn't the right time for a Nazi satire, but others would debate that society needs a movie like Jojo rabbit. A great story about the Irishman is here.

Now more than ever, you're not to nuts. Jojo, tenue kids likes dressing up in front of you. If somebody wants to be part of a club. Number seven, the humor, the best weekend ever.

Soundtrack in the highest level of production

Wow. Your enjoyment of Jojo rabbit will hinder on how hard you laugh. Or of course, if you laugh, the film didn't tickle. Roger Freedman. Funnybone who wrote in his showbiz four one, one review Jojo rabbit is actually borderline antisemitic offensive on many levels and not even funny. Sam Adams of slate couldn't have disagreed more proclaiming for Jojo rabbit comedy.

Isn't a means to minimize, but to analyze wise, to pry at the way, hateful ideologies can be embraced as a comfort and how beneath their promise to. Blame how the world really works is an understanding no more sophisticated than a child's it's time to buy some books. Since humor is subjective, we guess there isn't always going to be a clear line between what's offensively funny and what's just plain offensive.

Oh God. Number six. Jewish jokes. Did you know, Jews can Z to each other's mind. So tell us, you know, who saw one? They could look just like us of Tyco. ITT satire is clearly the Nazis. However, the director who's of Jewish and Maori heritage also pokes fun at Judaism. Hi, well, the real Jordan Rumi was horrified by the audience's reception at the screening he attended.

Writing, you have no idea how it is to be surrounded by thousands of people laughing at jokes, specifically directed at Jews. That being said, Rumi seemed to be in the minority of a group that found the film. Hilarious. As with Borat and South park, many would argue that the humor and Jojo rabbit isn't intended to mock the Jewish faith, but to criticize how ignorant and Semites are a cute number five, the life is beautiful comparison, right?

Jojo Rabbit's reaction to mom's death

Yeah. Critics have stocked a Jojo rabbit up against numerous other films. But life is beautiful. Seems to be the one that's invited the most comparisons this 1997, Italian dromedy also presented world war II through a lighthearted lens, centering on a Jewish man who uses humor and imagination to shield his son from the horrors of the Holocaust. It's interesting what they write about this movie on Amazon.

Well, the film won an Academy award for best foreign language film, and even got nominated for best picture. There were those who found the movies comedic tone, inappropriate. Over two decades later, we will continue to debate if the movie is a life affirming fable or a dated misfire. It's actually eerie how much these two films have in common, especially since both one TIFs peoples choice award.

That is the strongest thing in the world. Number four, is it shocking enough? I was your age. I had an imaginary friend come in so much stuff even before the first trailer dropped Jojo rabbit was being built up as one of 20 nineteens most controversial movies. Weirdly enough though, some critics have expressed disappointment that the film isn't more shocking.

Well, audiences have arguably gotten more sensitive with time. There are still patrons who crave comedy that pushes the envelope to its limits. It's time to burn some books. Brian Talarico of the Chicago sun times felt Jojo rabbit played it too safe. Writing the final scenes of Jojo rabbit are too easy for a film that needs to be dangerous and daring. 

Are the best scenes already included in the trailer?

Even if the film doesn't go all out with its edgy concept. Seeing Tyco, ITT dresses, Adolf Hitler will be more than enough to make a few jobs drop. What am I going to do? No idea. Going down the house in Glen Winston church one, negotiate number three. It's depiction of Nazis. The playlist Charles romesco took issue with the films, humanization of antisemites writing.

YTT concedes that a good percentage of Nazis really do hold hate in their heart. But maintains that at least some of them aren't you two seem to be getting on. Well, it doesn't seem like a bad cost. How much pain and suffering the Nazis caused many audiences will understandably struggle with this message.

However, if Ron Jones proved anything with his third wave social experiment in 1967, it's that even ordinary people can get swept up in the dangerous ideals of fascism. Likewise, Jojo rabbit poses, a challenging question. If we're not willing to acknowledge the bad and the good in people, how can we ever rid ourselves of prejudice?

Nothing makes sense anymore. Yeah, I know. It's definitely not a good time to be a Nazi. Number two it's message. And mother took me. She's kind me like a person, whatever your thoughts on Jojo rabbit, Tyco ITT clearly wanted to spread an anti hate message. YTT also claims that he started writing the screenplay before Nazis regained relevance in the media.

There's little doubt that why TTS intent was noble, whether or not the final product successfully gets his message across is where critics are split. A doubt of the a V club felt that making fun of Nazi Germany had been done before. Thus taking away from the movies, broader anti hate theme. Peter Howell begged to differ in his Toronto star review writing Taika YTT knocks it out of deer park with the meaningful lunacy of his anti hate satire, which is equal parts.

Adolf Hitler's thread in the movie

Mel Brooks, West Henderson, and  own whimsical brilliance growing up too fast. Ten-year-olds and the celebrating war and talking politics. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified a better latest videos. You'll have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.

If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications. Number one it's depiction of Hitler. Well, they call me a scared rabbits. Okay. Let's address the giant rabbit in the room. Tyco YTT spends most of his screen time prancing around in a Nazi uniform and toothbrush mustache. If you want, you can read here about preparations for making a movie and other curiosities.

Without a doubt, YTT, didn't set out to deliver a serious or dignified portrayal of Hitler. Rather YTT aspired to make the fewer look as goofy and idiotic as possible. Oh, . Just painting Hitler as a wacky, even likable buffoon desensitized us to the atrocities. He committed though. Some may say yes while others may argue that it leaves audiences more informed and open-minded.

At the end of the day, everyone is going to have a different opinion of Jojo. Let them say whatever they want. People used to say a lot of nasty things about me. Oh, this guy's a lunatic. Oh, look at that psycho. He's going to get us all killed. Do you agree with our picks, check out this other recent clip from watch mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

[reddit-tales]

What experience changed your perspective on life?

I was about 11 years old and I got into a horrible fight at school with my brother who was barely more than a year older than me so we were close growing up, but with a lot of tension. We had a lot of mutual friends and I don't remember the specifics, but I felt as if he had embarrassed me in front of everyone or diminished me into being some sort of child even though our age difference was small. After school I went to my Grandmother's as I usually did after school at that time, while my brother went to wrestling practice.

My Grandmother had a thick French accent and lived in an enormous, overgrown looking house that was filled from head to toe with books and I LOVED it. My brother was more sporty than me and that got a lot of attention and appreciation from our father who I was more alienated from for being bookish. My Grandmother was my only kindred spirit in the family and for much of my childhood really.

Anyways I kind of tried to conceal my anger from my Grandmother at first and I was helping her clean (which I enjoyed doing because we would listen to great jazz and blues artists which she loved and she would tell me about the lives of jazz musicians and such, it was all very cool to me). At one point though she said something or other about my brother and I just couldn't help it, I hadn't cried in front of my grandmother in years but I was just so angry and frustrated that it all came out. I was so embarrassed, but I just told her everything right then about how overshadowed I felt by him, how my father didn't love me the way he loved him, feelings I was super ashamed of even having.

She kind of let my emotions hang in the air and just quietly comforted me by rubbing my back, but then she told me to come upstairs with her to her bedroom. Her bedroom had a lot of character like a lot of the house and it was filled with photos and books and albums she loved and especially had a lot of Jewish art on the walls.

She fumbled around in her desk pulling out random papers and odds and ends until she pulled out a dusty photo album that I had never seen before which was in itself remarkable because my grandmother loved to show me photos of when she first came to America and my mother and uncles as children, all that. We sat down on the bed and she opened it and there were all of these black and white photos of my great-grandparents when they were alive. It started with very small children and my great-grandparents looking very finely dressed and happy and page by page there was just this horrible transformation of the children getting older and my great grandparents looking like they had aged 20 years when their children had only aged a few years. I had some understanding of what was going on of course, I knew about WW2, the holocaust etc. Which is to say, I knew an age appropriate version of all that, but I was beginning to get old enough that something darker was lurking, a more visceral reality to what I knew factually to be true.

We got to the exact center of the album with my Grandmother saying very little except people's names, when the photos were taken, etc. Then right there, over a photo, pressed between the pages, was a patch, a patch of a yellow star with the word "Juif" on it. And my grandmother, pressed the star to her chest, as if holding it to where it would have been sewn an age ago and gave me a small nod and said in her soft-breazy accent "This one was not mine, I don't think, but Claudette's" and she pointed down at the picture that the star had been covering.

It was of two teenage girls, young, perhaps 13 or 14, smiling in front of some sort of railing overlooking a river, stars visible in their clothing. One, I immediately recognized to be my grandmother, who... while a wonderful human being had sort of a crooked smile and a big nose that was altogether too interesting looking to be mainstream beautiful. The girl next to her in the photo looked in many ways like her, but definitely had more classic good looks and a certain radiance that really came off the page.

"This is her. Claudette, my sister. We were very close in age, closer even than you and your brother." she kept punctuating her sentences with a sort of bitter, humorless laugh and would pause, look away and then look back at the photo. "She was my best friend, but I was very jealous of her, very. She was beautiful, funny. It hurt to even be jealous of her, she was so likable." She sighed and I caught sight of the numbers tattooed on her arm, my earliest memory was and is of my grandmother giving me my first hair cut in front of the mirror and her guest room and my eyes catching those numbers in the reflection as if for the first time and the sudden curiosity they inspired. I felt a morbid echo of that curiosity then.

Then she said to me "I never would have thought then. That I would have been the lucky one. Your granmere has gotten old. Claudette will be 15 forever." and her voice broke on that last word, not quite finishing it. "Try not to fight with your brother Ezra, or else, do not let the fight go on for too long. You're young, but you're smart enough to know that most of us are not young forever. Trust me, the older you get, the more desperately you will need those who knew you when you were young."

And then just like that the moment was over, she replaced the star, shut the album and shut it all away. Then she went back to cleaning, as if her own heart hadn't broken all those years ago, as if she hadn't just blown my own fucking young mind.

My Grandmother died when I was 16, but wrote me a card for my high school graduation in advance knowing that she probably wasn't going to make it. On the day I graduated I opened and read her advice, her hopes for me, all good stuff. It ended with her recalling that day and what it had meant for her and how she hoped I could find balance in life between being true to myself and not sacrificing happiness. The last line was "We all have a responsibility to remember the bad times, even when it hurts to admit that they happened; just as we have a responsibility to remember the good times, even when it hurts to admit that they're gone. Congratulations on your graduation, I love you with all of my heart."

I bawled then, I'm tearing up now just thinking about it. Never has another human being had more of an impact on another than my grandmother had on me.

[canuckianhawkbi]

okay so ordinarily I don’t do this sort of thing but my brain just had the idea of a crossover between the Wonder Woman movie and Doctor Who (specifically Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, since he’s still the current incarnation for now) if you don’t want to read you don’t have to, you can just keep scrolling–move along–but if you do want to read, spoilers ahead!

so the reason I think this would work so well is because there are many Who tropes that could mesh into the story of the movie (while potentially seeming like a rehash of other Who episodes, but I digress) for example, the Tardis could accidentally land on Themyscira and the Doctor has no idea where he is. his instruments read that he should be on the open Mediterranean, but there he is on an island (a rather nice one too, his companion could point out) the arrival of the Tardis would be right around the same time Steve Trevor washes ashore and the next thing you know, look out, the Germans are coming! team Tardis could watch the appearance of the defending Amazons with their archery, acrobatics, and cavalry charge from the safety of the perception filter before somehow getting caught up in the mess. when the battle on the beach is over and the warriors grieve their losses there’s suddenly not one male survivor, but two, including one who claims he’s not even from this planet but is accompanied by a strangely dressed young woman

so then while Diana is defending Steve (with the Doctor trying to corroborate his story about the war) the companion can simultaneously be defending the Doctor while also trying to tell these proud, secluded people that there is a serious danger coming for them from the outside world

after this we could have a scene similar to the one in Day of the Doctor where he and his companion are locked up in a cell and he’s trying all sorts of things to escape, none of which are working, only for them to be rescued by Diana, who has donned the mantle of Wonder Woman for the first time, and has Steve in tow. Diana could insist that the Doctor (or maybe his companion, since she’s a woman and must be in charge) clearly has a way of getting off Themyscira, otherwise how could he have gotten there in the first place? then instead of sailing/getting towed by random tugboat all the way to London in a single night apparently, they can take the Tardis to get there (which would totally blow the minds of both Diana and Steve) the box might have been picked up from the beach or it might be guarded where it landed, either way we can still have that nice moment between Diana and Hippolita before the team leaves

on the way to London Steve could still insist that Diana needs a change of clothes to not stand out like a sore Greek thumb, and the companion could take the two of them to the wardrobe for a similar scene to the one we got with Etta Candy, complete with glasses at the end. when they disembark you could even throw in that bit with Diana’s shield and sword in the revolving door, but with the Tardis doors instead, since only one of the doors seem to open these days that compartment for the phone is the one flaw in a design I seriously love otherwise

the real kicker about them taking the Tardis to London is that the Doctor could land them right in the middle of the meeting about the armistice, which would cause most of the hubbub to be about a mystery box that appeared out of thin air, and not a woman! most unorthodox! (but if you want that sort of thing I guess there would be two women in there now instead of just one) Steve of course is as relieved to run into Sir Patrick as in the movie but the Doctor can be standing on the sidelines looking really cross because he has no idea who this dude is and he’s not sure why.

Steve can still get the rest of the gang together, and they can still get to the continent the conventional way because the Doctor would insist there’s no way he’s taking his ship into a war zone, not in this period of history! once Sameer, Charlie, and The Chief are added to the roster the Doctor will clearly take charge no ifs ands or buts, because eyebrows probably (he and Charlie will get along though, because Scots, and Sameer and The Chief could connect nicely with the companion)

it’s at this point where we bump into the unfortunate Who trope where another character tries to do some badass good guy stuff but the Doctor repeatedly reins them in. he and Steve would form a harmonious chorus, mostly agreeing with each other but maybe with a little bit of butting heads, but Diana still gets her No Mans Land set piece, which might not be as bogged down by the fact that it’s No Mans Land as it is in the movie, since the Doctor could provide alternate suggestions to ones that imply Diana can’t cross it because she’s a woman (gross)

somewhere in there is the scene where Steve infiltrates Ludendorf’s party, and maybe he takes the companion as his “date” or maybe she helps Diana steal some outfits and Diana takes her as her date (tada!)

throughout the back half of the story the Doctor could be puzzling over who that Sir Patrick guy was and why he didn’t know him, and he could piece together the fact that he isn’t human just a little too late for the big reveal (and if we’re pulling things back a bit to a Who level, maybe Ares could be super powerful without having to become Death Metal Professor Lupin with a bushy moustache) if you wanted to go the Whovian monster route, you could draw from an earlier draft of the script and Ares could conjure a chimera for Diana to fight while he escapes (not a mechanical one though) and gloat while he’s creating it like:

“head of a ram, my symbol in the stars; body of a lion, the might of the British Empire; and neck and face of a serpent, the very same that wound about the staff of Hermes, man’s symbol of healing science that I broke through Morrow–this beast I summon to ensure my escape! know that where I am going, you will never be able to follow my dear, and that as soon as I get there, I will immediately start planning my revenge. man is easily twisted, and as long as he exists, there will always be those in his number that I will be able to use–already there is one with such undiscovered darkness in his mind. through man will I continue to build walls for you to topple, Diana, until even you collapse from the vain attempt to conquer me alone!” *maniacal laugh* (note the subtle references to the coming Second World War and the Justice League, and a topical nod to current affairs–walls)

to balance out the Doctor being an upstaging jerk earlier we get a better, but still a little bit tired Who trope, which is the Big Motivational Speech™ in this case delivered by the Doctor to instil Diana with the confidence to know neither her perspective nor Steve’s is wrong (this is the icing on the cake for me, and the first thing I thought of for this) it would be something to the effect of:

“because people like Ludendorf are wrong–war is not humanity’s natural state, not yet anyway. I have seen species who have shaped themselves for the battlefield, and humanity might get there, but it all depends on what you two decide on doing. the outcome of this war will determine the shape of the next hundred years, and that’s okay, you can take my word on that because I’ve seen it. being a time traveller means that whether I like it or not I have certain responsibilities to history, but what I choose to do in this moment is to put those responsibilities into your very capable hands, because this is your history. I don’t normally meet big decisions like this with so much enthusiasm, but this time is different: Diana, I have seen what you can do, and no matter which path you take, you will save mankind, at least for now. All you’re choosing is the exact balance of good things and bad things to come, but whatever humanity’s future winds up looking like doesn’t really matter because you will be there to help them. I believe in the future as decided by Wonder Woman and Captain Steve Trevor. And don’t worry, there’s no pressure in that, because you literally cannot choose wrong–just make a choice”

the Doctor and the companion can help comfort Diana with Steve’s loss before she decides to I guess hide away from the world during WWII/the Holocaust/Korea/Vietnam/every other war until Batman v Superman and we can have a nice denouement as they travel back to England with what’s left of the team before returning to the Tardis and the credits rolling. the end!

[weekendwarriorblog]

30 Minute Experiment: The Scarlet Letter #30ME

No, I haven’t decided to turn this 30 minute daily experiment into a book report or review even though I borrowed today’s topic to a well known Hawthorne novel that I’m not sure I actually read even though we all generally know the basic concept: "The Scarlet Letter” in the title was the “A” that women had to wear when they committed adultery, a concept that’s been borrowed in so many different types of fiction over the years, as well as in historical contexts. Before we get too deep into today’s topic, I will say that this comes out of stuff that’s going on in the world today so this will be a rare COVID-inspired ramble/rant...

I think one of the biggest problems with the world right now is that there is so much confusion and disinformation even with the fact that New York is lucky enough to have a governor and a mayor who are fairly open with information and facts with what is going on right now... and when it might end if ever. 

One of the problems I’ve been having lately is that I have a lot of close personal friends who are realists, sure, but they’re also deeply pessimistic, and anyone who read my #30ME about concerts knows how irate I got with all the negativity that was surrounding me, something that absolutely is not helpful with my own mental well-being. (Heck, I have quit jobs over this desire to stay sane and not constantly be upset, stressed or anxious, which is very hard living in NYC at the BEST Of times!)

While I don’t want to get too political, I’m just so confused about the latest narrative which is now all about testing... testing for covid, immunity tests, tracing cases, isolating those who have it. I don’t know about you but this is sounding scarily like a situation that might lead to some of the worst possible situations. Yes, even worse than death, Governor Cuomo.

Part of my issues with the current push for testing is that it is likely to create a situation where those who have tested to have immunity to COVID might start getting special treatment... or everyone will have to carry around some sort of COVID ID with their status so that they can go out in public and not be stopped or questioned as a possible asymptomatic spreader of this disease. 

I hope it doesn’t come to that but sadly, there are a lot of scared and paranoid people out there who will only feel comfortable going to movies or concerts or the grocery store if they know that everyone there has been screened and passes rigorous tests to prove that they aren’t those asymptomatic COVID spreaders we keep hearing about. I mean, it’s not enough that everyone wears masks and gloves, which I’ve generally been doing anyway, but the politicians and news have now gotten everyone so on edge that I worry this testing might lead to really bad policies like the ones instituted by Hitler to make sure that all Jews would be easily identifiable for everyone who had become fearful and distrusting of them due to Hilter’s rants. (Yes, maybe there’s some irony that I’m writing this the day after Holocaust Remembrance Day but as I stated before -- probably in my review of Jojo Rabbit, I’m hyper-sensitive to these things having had both parents manage to evade and escape the worst of the Holocaust.)

I will try my best not to go on another rant about our President (despite my pal David suggesting today’s topic be “evil”-- don’t worry, we’ll get there) because this is about more than his policies to stave off immigration to make sure no outsiders steal American’s jobs.... at a time when there are no jobs to be had by anyone. No, I won’t go there, cause i really want to talk about testing and how it will be done and managed.

Right now, our Governor says that testing will be random but it also says that there will be isolating and tracing measure that could really compromise many people’s privacies and rights. It’s not like I have anything to hide. If you were to trace everyone I’ve been in contact the last month, you’ll find that it was maybe a few delivery guys for less than 10 seconds and maybe the clerk at the only deli in my neighborhood. 

But let’s say that someone who gets one of these random tests and it turns out that they have COVID but are asymptomatic. They’ll immediately be put under the microscope of being isolated and having their lives infiltrated into... and that’s maybe just for wanting to go into a store or once they open, movie theater/concert, etc. Will it get to the point where those who prove to be immune to COVID have to carry a card saying so or having some sort of badge they need to wear? What will this mean for those who aren’t tested and don’t have these IDS/badges? Will this mean it will be even harder for us not to get jobs even though I already have so many strikes against me?

I only ask these questions -- and maybe you’re starting to see the connections to The Scarlet Letter, although in this case it’s in reverse -- because I just don’t see any scenario where I might get tested either for COVID or for the community. I mean, I’m not a health worker and I don’t work at any retirement home or assisted living (the people who really need to be kept healthy) and I see no reason i might be going to the hospital, so why or when might I get tested? I’m not one of those people who is particularly curious about whether I’ve contracted COVID or not. I feel fine and I’ve been relatively fine since this whole thing started in February, and that’s with six weeks of almost complete and total isolation!

The mayor has said that there will be more testing at NYCHA buildings which is essentially low income housing of which there is a ton in my neighborhood. Things haven’t gotten so bad financially that I’ve had to move into one of those buildings (plus they’re really hard to get into as there is a lottery system) but that  pretty much rules me out of the testing for lower income NYC restaurants. Nope, I’m in this weird place where I have no particular interest in being tested and certainly not after six weeks to learn “Oh, you have asymptomatic COVID and now need to be isolated for two more weeks.” I would literally kill someone right now if I was told that after six weeks of following all the rules, I now need to be isolated for even longer. And that’s what’s really happening, so maybe I’m a little more sympathetic to those who are getting mad and (stupidly) congregating to protest the politicians since they’ve been put in such bad shape financially.

I’m not sure how much of my own financial hardships I can blame on COVID but it certainly hasn’t gotten any easier to find a job now and if jobs start asking questions about COVID (have you had it? Have you been deemed immune?) that just seems like one more hurdle that’s going to be put in my way. 

The whole thing really just sucks and not knowing how testing will work and how it will be used to eventually reopen businesses --remember that I live in a neighborhood where EVERYTHING is closed including the cheaper pizza place, laundromats, and most market/restaurants-- but more importantly to me, how this will be used to reopen movie theaters and the movie business. 

Sure, there will be people who will never feel comfortable going to the movie theater but you know what? Just like with concerts, a lot of these more pessimistic friends are the same ones who rarely go to movie theaters anyway.  But I just don’t understand how this testing will affect me in anyway. I just know how not being able to go outside and going back to my job hunt and not being around people is starting to hurt me, mentally and emotionally, and it’s not good.

Unfortunately, I just don’t think I’m gonna get the answers I’m looking for because everyone sees my particular interests to be minor compared to keeping people alive but even without being tested, I know that I’m probably one of the lowest risk people in terms of spreading the virus. I don’t necessarily enjoy big crowds (even at concerts and movies) but I’m also not so driven by my social needs that I’m at risk at spreading a virus that I don’t have and may never have had.

I guess I just want more answers that might directly affect me because as much as I appreciate what health care workers, doctors and nurses are doing, it’s not like I can suddenly shift my entire focus into medicine at my late age to get a job in that field where people are needed (and less now than maybe a month ago). 

I’m trying hard to be positive that we’re not heading towards some dystopian society where we all have to wear our COVID status on a badge like a Scarlet Letter, but I also can’t see how this can be avoided if we want people to stop being afraid to going out in public (as much for themselves as loved ones).

Hopefully this will be my last COVID-inspired ramble for a while because honestly, I hate having to write about it, but every week or so I’m just gonna need to rant a bit because I’m just really confused about everything going on around me.

And with that, my time’s up....

[joshuazev]

On not quite slowing the ranty tangent down:

I know I’m not saying anything new, but it is quite sad how the media determines the label for mass murderers/killers that are white as opposed to mass murderers/killers from different nations and of a different skin tone.  According to many articles the man responsible for the largest mass shooting in USA history this past week was called a “lone wolf” in many articles, whereas others in the past who committed similar acts, but were of a different race, were called “terrorists.”  None of the white males who have done horrific things within this country have ever been associated with that term.  I suppose it depends on which articles you read.  Super left, left, center, right, or super right.  I was looking at my Facebook feed and noticed a lot of reposted articles drawing attention to this failed discrepancy.  Someone also mentioned how the government has a tendency to hone in on Islamic groups with such fervor; combatting them is their agenda and their number one priority.  However, when a terrorist attack happens in the US, such as the recent incident, there is little movement from the government to alter some of the policies of the NRA.  Like everyone, I’ve watched some of these news reviews of the Las Vegas attack in utter awe.  How the hell did this guy bring so many guns up to his room?  How did he purchase so many guns to begin with?  There’s no register of gun buyers that sets off an alarm when people have more than a certain amount in their name?  Seems like a flawed system.  I don’t know why I was thinking this the other day, but maybe I was caught up in all the conspiracy theories going around of what happened during the attack and why it played out the way it did?  My first thought were to the supposed conspiracy theories surrounding W Bush when the Twin Towers were attacked.  A lot of people thought it was an inside job.  Next thing you know the Iraq War is happening.  My parallel thoughts with respect to Trump made me think about all of the shit he was dealing with.  The Hurricanes, Puerto Rico, all of the ridiculous NFL stuff.  He was under heavy fire for everything, not to mention his approval rating was hitting new lows and a louder call for an impeachment was starting to reach more ears.  I thought maybe Trump had a hand in the mass murder, sad to say, to create a distraction and take the attention off of him.  The fucked up thing about it and what ends up being the spoiler for my theory is that the victims were mainly white people and it was at a country concert.  Something tells me Trump wouldn’t want so many white people to die at his expense.

I keep thinking of an apocalyptic time that we are headed towards.  Something always brings me back to Suzan Lori Parks’ play, “The death of the last black man in the entire world.”  The way black people are treated today I wonder if it is totally out of the equation to think that a genocide could take place.  I know we like to think that this era is far too PC for something like that and so many other countries wouldn’t let something like that happen, but is that awful, bleak, grim possibility totally unbelievable?  I sincerely hope it is.  I hope humanity has advanced enough in the past centuries to not go completely fucking crazy.  Then again, there are examples of craziness and insanity every day.  I just wonder if white people would take it upon themselves to stop something like that from happening.  They would be an intrinsic part of the resistance.  People in general, white people especially, are known to make situations a “me vs. them” scenario.  If a fascist regime like five steps beyond Trump suddenly called for the elimination of the black race would white people go into enough of an uproar to impede it.  The problem is that this is a nation divided and maybe not all the fucked up, out of their heads, people on the lunatic side would allow that to happen and sit by and watch, but a lot of them would.  That’s an extreme thing to say.  It really is.  Let’s not forget that we have thousands upon thousands of white supremacists and neo-nazis and fucking holocaust deniers who would not give two shits if the Jews had been completely exterminated.  The holocaust happened in Europe and a lot of people in America didn’t care one bit.  Slavery, black oppression, racial inequality has happened and still happens to this day.  Those same deniers don’t care if that racist movement is revitalized.  Half the country is still living in ancient times.    

Let’s slow this ranty tangent down.

I don’t know exactly where I’m going with this next thing, but I catered for the second time today and again was in awe, felt refreshed, and proud of all of the cultures and countries represented tonight.  There were several moments where people split off into their little groups.  A group of Brazilians laughing about something I couldn’t understand very well, but could when a couple of Dominicans joined into the conversation.  There wasn’t as much of a Eastern European population as there was last time, but I met up with an Australian and a Puerto Rican/Dominican dude and we shot the shit for a while.  That was the staff area every time we had a break.  Maybe that’s New York.  Maybe that’s not an accurate sample of the rest of the world, but not to sit here and write on my soapbox—it was comforting.  It was inspiring.  I’ve seen it enough to not feel sobered when I see people from all over the world interacting and treating each other as equals.  Let’s say the white south was all of a sudden inhabited by people from the Caribbean, South America, and Africa to the point where the white people already living in the area became the minority.  Would it be tiki torches and hate groups going after them?  Maybe.  I think so much of racism is formed in ignorance.  So much is created through lack of information.  Lack of exposure.  Would their opinions change?  Would their racism lessen?  Would the presence of international peoples be enough by itself to set them off?  I wonder, indeed.  I wonder sometimes how I compare with the average person living in America with respect to self-guilt.  It’s almost become taboo for someone to mention the complete obvious that this is the Native Americans’ land, we’ve contributed to their genocide and they have become a severely severely endangered peoples.  The other day one of my family members was telling me how his wife went to work down in New Mexico on a Navajo Indian reservation.  His wife didn’t know what to expect, but was surprised at how different everything was.  The husband said the attitude of the Navajo’s was a little jarring and there was an obvious feeling that they didn’t want any visitors there.  I was thinking to myself, “well, that makes sense.”  I mean, we are talking about a native people who used to be the rightful owners of their native land and their home has now been reduced to reservations.  I mean how fucked up can it get?  I would be more surprised if they acted like Stepford Wives and invited every visitor over for dinner when the only thing that gesture has gotten them in the past is a whole bunch of dead people.  I remember in high school when we used to read segments from Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States.”  Unfortunately, we weren’t required to read all of it, but I remember some passages vividly.  We were required to read all about the Native American displacement, the Trail of Tears and how their land shrunk and shrunk and shrunk until it was reduced to almost nothing.  That’s another movie idea that no one has made yet.  Native Americans taking back the US.  Knowing the media and the movie industry, they’d probably dumb it a horror film.  Knowing the media and the movie industry, they’d probably dumb it controversial.  And knowing the audience for movies nowadays, people would probably rather see the eighth rendition of Spiderman and the fourth rendition of Star Wars before seeing a movie that would cool their blood and make them think.  A movie that would sober their alcoholic movie accessories and American popcorn.  Could it ruin their taste buds, dare I say?

How many people actually moved when Trump became president?  Anyone got a Canadian census I can borrow?  Anyone move to Texas or Puerto Rico or a Caribbean island and then move back to their original home?  Outside of all of the marches—and there have been several—who has moved at all?  Who has moved their asses and their fingers instead of just their fingers?  (So much for slowing the tangent down).  I had a funny thought.  In “West Side Story,” the Sharks are fighting the Jets.  The Europeans against the Puerto Ricans.  If that movie was modernized (please, please don’t get any ideas Hollywood) I think both groups would resist Trump.  Who knows?  

Food for thought, ladies and gentleman.  I hope my lactose thoughts didn’t upset any stomachs.