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zukoandtheoc · 4 years

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1, 8, 9, 16

1. How’d you form as a system?

in… I think it was 2013, Evan discovered the concept of tulpas, and within like a day was like “oh this sounds cool as fuck, time to create an entire person in my head” and that’s how Jade happened! and then literally two months later Jade was like “we need another friend” and Evan was like “yeah okay” and together we made Ollie. and for a few years it was just the three of us, but uh fun fact, once your brain learns how to make extra people, it gets a lot easier for that to happen, and so one day a couple weeks into Evan writing an ATLA fanfic Zuko just kinda showed up fully formed and verbal. we seem to gain a new systemmate once every couple of years, though it’d probably be more if Evan were less resistant to new systemmates showing up, but we do not need every fictional character I ever get obsessed with hanging out with us, ok? ok.

8. How complex is your mindscape? Does your system even use it? Do you even have one to begin with?

we definitely don’t use the mindscape/wonderland nearly as much as we did when we first started out - Evan and Jade created a little gazebo (always called it a pavilion tho) and it had a couch that folded out into a bed and that was where we spent most of our time in the really early days. later we expanded out into a whole island, we had a house and Ollie had a beach house and we had a nice little spot on the beach that was surrounded by cliffs, and there was a spot in the forest by a river that was Jade and Evan’s special spot, all around it was really nice.

later on, around the time Markus first appeared, the mindscape expanded into an entire planet, kinda floating in a bubble universe in between various fictional worlds. it’s called Perception - i think that happened after a comment Zuko made about there being a lot of perceptive people there? dunno, it made sense at the time. it was created because of an instability in the multiverse, involving some shenanigans featuring Aang and the Twelfth Doctor and various others, but it’s stable now. various fictional characters pass through from time to time, and it’s a safe space where we can hang out and play music and talk to people. most of the people who pass through don’t know the true nature of Perception, and most of them don’t remember it as anything more than a dream when they return to their own worlds, though there are a few inner-worlders, not part of the main system, who are In The Know, like Aang.

also sometimes we will visit other universes, typically whatever fictional world is the current special interest, and hang out and generally get up to Adventures and Shenanigans. it’s fun.

9. Is making major decisions that affects the whole system hard? Who argues a lot when discussing major changes?

hoo boy. uh. who wants to take this one?

Jade: Evan is really resistant to change. We - don’t argue, exactly, because no one - we don’t want to argue, but sometimes I do kind of try to persuade Evan to think more about the system - we’ve talked about doing sort of designated co-fronter days, because I do know that Evan worries that they focus too much on Zuko -

Zuko: Rude.

Jade: - and not enough on, say, Ollie or Alex sometimes. We haven’t really implemented that, though, since Evan and honestly all of us are kind of exhausted most of the time, and this - that’s the kind of thing that requires planning and sit-down conversations and we just haven’t been very good at that lately.

Markus: Well said, Jade, good job, and good job Evan for proxying, I know we’re, you’re tired after talking about Perception and all. We, I do think that all of us are concerned with what Evan thinks about things since - no, write this down - since they’re the host and they’re kind of the center of the system, they really are and we’re pretty invested in taking care of them. They feel weird about it sometimes and sometimes they have moments, even now, where they have doubts about whether the rest of us really exist, but.

Zuko: What was the question again?

Evan: *laughing*

Markus: Stop. Anyway - are we - do we wanna talk about?

Jade: I think so.

Evan: If it’s okay with her? Yeah, and I do think you should be the one to say this, Markus, if you want to?

Markus: Yeah. Yeah. Soo we’ve recently - I guess you could say we’ve recently acquired a new system member.

Zuko: The emphasis on acquired - you, you make it sound like we stole her!

Markus: Shhhhh. Okay. Basically, we noticed her starting to form, and we - Evan was concerned, like always, they’re always nervous about new people, so we did have to stop and kind of talk about it. And it took us a few days, but I do think we were kind of in agreement, that yeah, we wanted this new person.

Zuko: We were definitely a little worried if now was the best time, we talked about our options,

Markus: I distinctly remember saying “No making major life decisions at 3 am.”

Evan: Yeah, you said that.

Zuko: But at the same time we were all kind of excited, you know? The last one who showed up was Alex and that was three years ago, he was like me with the whole fanfic origin story, and Evan fought against him for the longest time.

Alex: Just - hi - just butting in here, I believe the original arrangement was that I would stay - laughing - I would stay until Evan and I finished writing my fanfic, and then I would go back home to my universe and my happy ending. And that was three years ago, and we never finished the fanfic.

Evan: Oops.

Zuko: Guys, we’re going off on so many tangents here. But we were kind of excited, you know, to sort of nurture this new person and create them together.

Evan: I did - what was it? I remember thinking, why do I always get so excited whenever outside friends get new system members, but with us it’s a source of dread? So I’m trying to change my attitude on that a little.

This got very longer than expected, and also proxying is exhausting. Mostly we used this question as an excuse to talk about our new girl, this is the first time we’ve talked about her outside of just between us, actually. Perhaps if she wants to we’ll do a proper introduction later. Fortunately I wrote the answer to the next question before starting on this one.

16. Do any of your systemmates display unique talents whenever in front? If yes, what talent and how good are they at it?

so uh, actually we aren’t… able to switch? so I, Evan, am the only one who ever fronts. Markus and Zuko can sometimes help me out when I’m having a shutdown or a panic attack though, by kinda co-fronting and walking me through whatever it is I need to do just then (Markus calls this ‘dad mode’)

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ljones41 · 5 years

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"THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" (1990) Review

"THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" (1990) Review I will be the first to admit that I have never been an ardent reader of Tom Clancy's novels. Many who know me would find this strange, considering my penchant for the movie adaptations of his stories. The first I ever saw was "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER", the 1990 adaptation of Clancy's 1984 novel of the same title.

The last remnants of the Cold War - at least the one between the United States and the Soviet Union - were being played out when "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" hit the screen. Realizing this, director John McTiernan, screenwriter Larry Ferguson (who also had a role in the film) and producer Mace Neufeld decided to treat Clancy's story as a flashback by setting the movie in the year Clancy's novel was published. The movie begins with the departure of the new Soviet submarine, the Red October, which possesses a new caterpillar drive that renders it silent. In command of the Red October is Captain Marko Ramius. Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Navy submarine called the U.S.S. Dallas has a brief encounter with the Red October before it loses contact due to the Soviet sub's caterpillar drive. This encounter catches the attention of C.I.A. analyst Jack Ryan, who embarks upon studying the Red October's schematics. Unbeknownst to the C.I.A., Captain Ramius has put in motion a plan for the defection of his senior officers and himself. They also intend to commit treason by handing over the Red October to the Americans. Unfortunately, Ramius has left a letter stating his intentions to his brother-in-law, a Soviet government official. This leads the Soviet ambassador in Washington D.C. to inform the Secretary of Defense that the Red October has been lost at sea and requires the U.S. Navy's help for a "rescue mission". However, Ryan manages to ascertain that Ramius plans to defect. When the Soviets change tactics and claim that Captain Ramius has become a renegade with plans to fire a missile at the U.S. coast, Ryan realizes that he needs to figure out "how" Ramius plans to defect before the Soviet or U.S. Navies can sink the Red October. I might as well put my cards on the table. After twenty-three years, "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" holds up very well as a Cold War thriller. What prevented it from becoming a dated film were the filmmakers' decision to treat Clancy's tale as a flashback to the last decade of the Cold War. I have never read Clancy's novel. In fact, I have only read two of his novels - "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger". Because of this, I could not judge the movie's adaptation of the 1984 novel. But there is no doubt that "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" is a first-rate - probably superb thriller. Screenwriters Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart made another first-rate contribution to the script by not rushing the narrative aspect of the story. The movie is not some fast-paced tale stuffed with over-the-top action. Yes, there is action in the film - mainly combat encounters, a murder, hazardous flying in a rain storm and a shoot-out inside the Red October's engine room. And it is all exciting stuff. However, Ferguson and Stewart wisely detailed the conversations held between Ramius and his fellow defectors, Ryan's attempts to figure out Ramius' defection plans and his efforts to convince various high-ranking U.S. Naval officers not to accept the Soviets' lies about the Red October's captain. "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" also features some excellent performances. Sean Connery gave one of his best performances as the Red October's enigmatic and wily captain, Markus Ramius. Alec Baldwin was equally impressive as the slightly bookish, yet very intelligent C.I.A. analyst, Jack Ryan. A part of me believes it is a pity that he never portrayed the role again. The movie also boasted fine performances from James Earl Jones as Ryan's boss, C.I.A. Deputy Director James Greer; Scott Glenn as the intimidating captain of the U.S.S. Dallas, Bart Mancuso; Sam Neill as Ramius' very loyal First Officer, Vasily Borodin; Fred Dalton Thompson as Rear Admiral Joshua Painter; Courtney B. Vance as the Dallas' talented Sonar Technician, Ronald "Jonesy" Jones; Tim Curry as the Red October's somewhat anxious Chief Medical Officer (and the only one not part of the defection) Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov; and Joss Ackland as Ambassador Andrei Lysenko. Stellan Skarsgård made a dynamic first impression for me as Viktor Tupolev, the Soviet sub commander ordered to hunt and kill Ramius. And Richard Jordan was downright entertaining as the intelligent and somewhat manipulative National Security Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Pelt. The movie also featured brief appearances from the likes of Tomas Arana, Gates McFadden (of "STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION") and Peter Firth (of "SPOOKS"). Before one starts believing that I view "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" as perfect, I must admit there were a few aspects of it that I found a bit troublesome for me. The movie has a running time of 134 minutes. Mind you, I do not consider this as a problem. However, the pacing seemed in danger of slowing down to a crawl two-thirds into the movie. It took the Dallas' encounter with the Red October to put some spark back into the movie again. And could someone explain why Gates McFadden portrayed Ryan's wife, Dr. Cathy Ryan, with a slight British accent? Especially since she was an American-born character? Despite these minor quibbles, "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" is a first-rate spy thriller that has withstood the test of time for the past 23 years. And I believe the movie's sterling qualities own a lot to John McTiernan's excellent direction, a well-written script by Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart, and superb performances from a cast led by Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

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