#not to mention MEL FUCKING GIBSON

[famousblueraincoatmp3]

disney is a fucked corporation because wife beaters and such ilk are completely okay to show to kids but having a gay main character is too much for them LOL

[marzipanandminutiae]

The worst of that "fancy effeminate brits vs. manly american patriots" view you mentioned in th is probably The Patriot, which stars Mel Gibson (shudder) and fucks up histort so bad (even by usual hollywood standards!) to make the brits look as evil and poncy as possible.

My middle-school history teacher. Who was supposed to be ACCURATELY AND FAITHFULLY REPRESENTING HISTORY. Put on a faux-Posh British accent whenever she talked about things the British generals did during the Revolution. Made a huge deal about General Cornwallis- who was shitty for other reasons; see also: Irish genocide and the British Raj -taking his china with him on campaign. Of course she never ONCE mentioned that, you know...most of the American generals had trained with the British army, too, and did similar things. Washington's sleeping tent had freaking servants' quarters inside, among other interior rooms, and he traveled with eighteen wagons' worth of stuff at one point (source).

Women are subject to this, too: everyone knows Loyalist ladies were fancy, frilly, useless creatures who were all rich, and Patriot women were strong, salt-of-the-earth farm wives (but still Baseline Acceptable Levels of Feminine!) who had no interest in aesthetics or- heaven forbid! -fashion. </s>

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Did you read the Adjudicator's backstory that the Director/people from the show talked about? And that apparently they decided not to have anyone mention it on the show because it would make the audience sympathise too much with her? It makes zero sense at all. Rats ate her mouth when she was a baby because of her mother's neglect? This probably around the 1930s and she survived? And learned to talk and everything like nothing happened? Those scars don't even look like rat bites to begging with

I haven't, but I mean. That's all well and good, but it's literally extracanonical and therefore doesn't count? And to further disparage the creators-- if they were worried about making her too sympathetic, they a) did a huge disservice to Katie McGrath's ability to act absolutely reprehensible, and b) did us meme-knowers a huge injustice by assuming we wouldn't gleefully ascribe to the "cool backstory, still murder" gif.

And also, why does she need to be non-sympathetic? She wasn't our villain. Or any villain, really. She didn't actually do anything except get under Mel Gibson's skin, so obviously we were going to eat her up anyway.

I also want to point out that if the creators had this backstory, and it's cool-slash-important enough for the creators to talk about it with fans-- they should have put it in the FUCKING show. Releasing it as twitter bonus content is a real dick move.

Sounds like a whole steaming pile of male-creator bullshit if you ask me.

[seph7]

My Favourite J.T. Walsh Roles

Inspired by @tequilasunrise28 and her list!

Why Me? (1990) - Chief Inspector Francis Mahoney.

The first film I ever remember seeing him in. We rented it on video sometime in '91 or '92 and I loved every second of it! I always remembered the final scenes where he's trapped with his Deputy, Leon, on the 10th floor and getting progressively more angry at the situation! The no-nonsense attitude of Mahoney will always be up there in my top three of his roles. We love a character who takes no shit!

2. Tequila Sunrise (1988) - DEA Agent Hal Maguire.

We had this on a recorded VHS tape when I was a kid, along with The Cotton Club, and I wasn't allowed to watch either because they were 18s! When I eventually did watch it I was infuriated by Kurt Russell's character, Nick Frescia, helping his drug-dealer friend, Mel Gibson's Mac, escape a prison sentence by circumventing Hal's apprehension of him. I won't say how for anyone who hasn't seen the film, but Hal was totally done dirty! Myself and @tequilasunrise28 were so outraged, we collaborated on a fanfic for him!

3. The Negotiator (1998) - Inspector Terence Niebaum.

I saw this in July 1998, which was five months after he sadly died. I was 16 and utterly loved every second of the film. Full of great actors alongside our beloved J.T., you can definitely imagine that his career would have continued to ascend into bigger roles. I remember being devastated when his memoriam appeared at the end of the film, as it was only after seeing this film that I realised all of the other films and TV I'd seen over the years had actually included him. It was a great role for him where he wasn't entirely playing a scumbag and had just succumbed to the lure of a bit of cash to lose some records.

4. The Beniker Gang (1984) - Principal Arnold M. Stoddard.

One of his earliest roles in film and the meatiest he'd had at this point. He also isn't playing a bad guy which was so utterly refreshing! I only watched this in recent months and I was utterly hooked when I did! He plays such a wholesome character and is so softly spoken when dealing with the children, it's hard not to melt a little! I can't help but wish he'd played more of these sorts of characters...

5. Crazy People (1990) - Charles F. Drucker.

Less bad guy, more cold-hearted capitalist scumbag! My favourite scene will forever be the "I wanna know how the fuck the word fuck gets in the New York fucking times!". I saw this clip on TikTok and instantly had to find a copy of the film! I have no regrets and it is one of my favourites! I was also curious as to what his character’s past would have been like as he mentions starting his advertising career in Milwaukee, and I always wondered if he started out as this money-hungry company owner...

6. A Few Good Men (1992) - Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson.

A role he actually got to choose. Definitely not a bad guy role, and another role where I feel he was kinda done dirty as he felt the need to take the final action he did. Of all the Marine characters, his was the only one with the morals to actually do the right thing, despite what he knew it would cost him.

7. Outbreak (1995) - Whitehouse Chief of Staff.

A role that only lasted around four minutes and one scene, but it made such an impact that people to this day still talk about the passionate speech he gives in defense of the people they're discussing potentially bombing out of existence. This scene has also been immortalised on YouTube people love it so much!

8. Needful Things (1993) - Danforth Keeton III.

I just love this first scene he's in. A character with an inflated sense of self-importance and a chip on his shoulder about being called 'Buster'. He's not an inherently bad character, but he has a very large gambling addiction and succumbs to the temptations of the Devil in the hopes that he can win back some town money he gambled away. As he always did, he gave this character his all, truly excelling at highlighting the weakness of the character, despite the big, bold attitude he has in the beginning.

9. Breakdown (1997) - Warren 'Red' Barr.

Another big screen role that was beginning to open doors for him, he plays the sadistic kidnapper with uncanny ease. I feel sad that I didn't get to see this in the cinema, I saw it on video a few years later along with Pleasanville. Probably the role he's most remembered for outside of Good Morning, Vietnam and A Few Good Men.

10. Red Rock West (1993) - Wayne Brown/Kevin McCord.

Less a scumbag role and more of a 'I'm out for a quiet life with my embezzled money' role. Myself and @tequilasunrise28 have always wondered if his character was taken advantage of by Lara Flynn Boyle's character and he suspected she intended to off him so wanted to do the same first. Hardly a moralistic stance, but he does display some genuine concern for the people he works with when the young deputy is killed. I'll always wish we had a bigger backstory to his character...

[transitat]

The General Nosiness Tag

Tagged by @writerrose1998

A beautiful place you visited that made you very happy (pictures welcome!).

Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) in the south coast of Brazil. It has a broken down fort right on the beach where you can almost feel the history of the place.

A book or written piece of media that made you go "oh yesssss".

I'm very much into poetry, so I just have to mention Richard Siken's Crush. A really good book I read this year is A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson.

Your Spotify top song of the year.

So You Say by No Pressure. Funny story: I bought tickets to see them live in two different cities this year and saw them zero times due to weather and train delays (fuck the Deutsche Bahn).

Your favorite line/paragraph that you've written or an artwork that you're proud of.

Idk why this one had me cackling: Secure in the knowledge that they're all going to hell, Tyler waves his hand at Lucas and Bianca and drives his heels into the horse's flanks. From Nun'a'ya Business.

Your favorite painting/art piece.

This weird painting my grandmother has had forever.

I'm also absolutely obsessed with churches and religious imagery.

A language that sounds beautiful to your ears.

Italian. I really can't get over it.

Rec some fics that you keep going back to.

There are so many, but I find myself often rereading @suchaladyy and @cupoteahatter works.

Please, please share pictures of your pets if you're comfortable with that.

Kings of the trash. Damasco (Apricot) on the brown boxes and Pêssego (Peach) on the mixer. They're 3 year old twins and a bonded pair that I adopted from Bulgaria on ebay.

They have a lot of love and zero braincells.

A happy story from your life.

The time my waifu and I proved we're the stupidest idiots in Europe. We travel a lot to see our favorite bands live but I live in Munich while she lives in Leipzig, so sometimes we just meet at our destination.

We went to Paris to see Bring Me The Horizon and took trains there. I had a connection in Mannheim and was keeping her updated.

"I'm about to get on the train in Mannheim."

"Cool, my train is just pulling up to Mannheim central station, we'll probably get there around the same time," she said.

"Awesome," I replied, still stupid. "I get there around 5pm."

"That's good," she said, also stupid. "We won't have to wait for each other, my train arrives in Paris at 16:55."

"Oh," I reply while waiting to stow my luggage. "We might be on the same train. That would be fate bringing me to thee, lady wife."

"Oh yeah," (note that we're still stupid) "I'm in carriage 17."

"Me too!" I'm trembling in excitement. "What seat?"

"75"

"I'm in seat 74, omggg!!"

Anyway, turns out we'd booked the tickets together about 8 months before and completely forgot that we reserved seats next to each other. It's been 2 years, we're still stupid.

A show or movie that you could rewatch forever.

X-Men: First Class. The soundtrack, the plot, the shots! I've watched it so many times.

[valhala90]

Shall we date? Love Tangle, Dean's story review

Dean is a brave cop, and his story didn't look appealing at first glance, while Wylder seemed more compelling since I dig the artist-eccentric vibe they were going for in the common route. My expectations tanked, and both stories are meh at best.

Let's get straight into Dean's route because I have a lot to say.

I gave Dean's route 3 out of 5 stars because I liked some parts, and I guess I liked the possibility of what it could have been rather than the mediocre execution. Dean's survivor's guilt was not handled well, and that's my biggest issue. The author(s) addresses parts of it in the last two chapters, which totally fucks the consistency of the story. Maybe you never watched Lethal Weapon, but in that movie, you have a character named Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson). I won't get into the history of the character and will just address the first movie where he's introduced as a depressed cop driven by the grief and pain of losing his wife in a car accident, so he regularly puts himself and others in danger, hoping that he will die or that someone will kill him. This total disregard for his own life makes him completely fearless, turning him into a "lethal weapon." I didn't mention this just to promote a great movie, rather, Dean's story was supposed to be similar to the above-mentioned character, but they completely and utterly failed.

I understand that the writer(s) wanted to keep his history a secret in the common route, but you could tell right off the bat when watching Riggs that something was wrong with him, while with Dean, you don't get that impression since most of his statements and dialogues are fine.

When I read it for the first time I was like, this guy is super brave and passionate about his work and wants to save people at all costs, but in the last two chapters they turned it into: he does that because he doesn't value his life.

He thinks he should have died with his family in that accident and feels guilty because he stayed home.

Couldn't you introduce that a bit earlier in HIS story? Like making him reckless when he didn't need to be? Because both times when he risked his life, MC was in serious danger. He pulled Wylder out of the fire and tried to protect him, so what the fuck? Isn't that what most police officers do in real life?

Another thing that annoyed me is that the author of the story gave Dean, a man in his prime, sentences of a 70-year-old man.

The background plot is as ridiculous as ever, with so many "lucky" coincidences. When the moment comes for Dean to tell MC about his past, it's done so unnaturally that you lose interest because the story is like a written report rather than engaging storytelling, and MC is there to take notes and try to resolve shit. I must say that the elements of this story are good, but the writing goes from mediocre to bad and cringe as fuck.

Dean's speaking again like this:

The scenes that should be the best and let me down the most are the lab scene and the hospital scene.

So the whole premise of the story is MC finding some magical bullshit plant that can cure diseases, and she's researching it for the leopard's sake and for the sake of future achievements in medicine. She's warned a few times that a big pharmaceutical company is after her findings and that they will stoop at nothing. The big culmination scene is some goons coming in at her workplace to take away her research and are called "Mafia 1 and 2" I shit you not.

Julia is all defiant and shit and quickly pieces together that the p. company has to be behind it.

No shit Sherlock.

While they aren't paying attention since they came out of a cartoon, she slams the alarm and one of the goons wants to shoot her.

Dean appears in 0.5 seconds and hits the guy who held her at gunpoint. The other one grabs Julia as a hostage and shoots Dean in the abdomen. Is this what is supposed to hint to us that he's an unhinged cop wanting to die? I think not. I see him as someone wanting to protect the girl he loves because he was in the area since he mentioned he will be patrolling around her workplace. However, Dean quickly disposes of him and shoots the guy in the shoulder. He then tries to interrogate him when Mafia 1 sets off the sprinklers in some dumbass way because of the plot and escapes, while Dean collapses due to his wound and makes the death speech but it holds no emotional weight since we know he'll survive because this ain't that kind of game.

The hospital scene was where the game made me pause and return a couple of days later. So, Dean is in the hospital, Julia is by his side and so is Wylder. After guilting MC into thinking that Dean will die if he constantly risks her life for her, Wylder also attacks Dean when he wakes up.

He says that he should think about the suffering of the people who he saved, risking his life, and I'm like:

The next idiotic moment comes when Julia and Dean are alone in his hospital room. They hug and Julia tells him how worried she was for him, and he replies if it meant saving her, he would gladly give his life. I'm like: aww dude, you really care about her, huh? MC is like: no dude, I want you alive, don't throw your life away for me.

And here is the moment that I mentioned. I get what they wanted to say but the writing doesn't support it. It comes off as if she was telling him that risking his life for civilians is throwing his life away, which is ridiculous given that he's a police officer. It's not a coping mechanism, it's just their bravery and selflessness, and kindness.

Dean states that he thinks he's atoning for the death of his family by saving people, so it feels off to me? Is it just me? Nah, it's the writing. You see, Dean's deal is, and I grasped what they wanted to say only when I read it carefully the second time, not because I missed something but because they are that incapable of getting their points across - he doesn't value his life at all and doesn't hesitate to expose himself to danger, that's why he jumps in front of a knife, gun, etc. That's a whole different matter than doing your duty as a cop, and I mentioned Riggs as an example of that. The part with Wylder needs to be rewritten, where he would clearly state that although Dean saved him, he had no intention of saving himself or something.

For example, he pushed him out of the way to safety and froze there looking at the fire because he remembered his family or something similar and stood there waiting to die, and Wylder's shouts snapped him awake or whatever. Would make much more sense, especially the thing Julia said at the hospital. And this should have been introduced earlier on in the story not at the end.

I mentioned this in some of my other reviews, both lovers need to learn something from one another and work together towards a goal of some sort, in this case, Julia helping him value his life and overcome the trauma of the past, while he helps her get the needed courage to persevere through the corrupted world and pressure around her. It could have been so wholehearted.

Everything gets patched up and resolved in a matter of seconds, without proper mental and emotional healing, since Dean is like I found you MC, and my problems are gone, leaving you with what the fuck did I just read and gave money on? (Bought premium route) Apparently, on good tropes that were ruined by shitty writing with the abundance of cringe.

[sleepynegress]

So, there's a storyline in the show UNDERGROUND...

...in which a character named Sam, an enslaved man and talented carpenter, saves every penny he can, because his enslaver mentions, that if he saves enough he can buy his freedom. So, for decades, this man is loyal. He creates museum quality furniture pieces for his enslaver. And finally he manages to acquire a substantial sum. So, he approaches this enslaver and requests a purchase of freedom. Not for himself but for his younger brother, -a little boy (who has just been sent out into the fields from the house). Patronizingly, as if Sam had asked for the most out of the blue ridiculous thing ever, the enslaver says "No." And Johnny Ray Gill plays his reaction as Sam fantastically, -that disappointment in both his enlsaver and himself clear on his face, for falling for the bullshit, before he plays contrite and leaves. So, now Sam finally breaks a rule. This black man who had been loyal, and an exmplary craftsman, for decades... RUNS. When he is found and returned? He is given the harshest of punishments. Lynching. For his first time stepping "out of line". -And his body ends up dangling in the back of a stage like decor, while his enslaver is applauded for a political run. So, why do I tell you this??? Because that storyline was told in this way to show a particular pathology that has deep roots in the U.S. That "make this black man an example" pathology that is common within white institutions. And that's what is happening to Will Smith. A man who has decades of family film classics, great interactions w/ fans, a jovial harmless reputation, and notably ZERO other incidents beyond a public slap. The man who turned down Django, because the role wasn't a good example/he didn't want to make a slavery movie. Banned from the Academy for 10 years, and future fims on-hold for a public slap. Meanwhile, Casey Affleck accepted his award with no problem and Mel Gibson has both his Academy membership and several films on the table. It's fucked. Will is being made an example of by a hypocritical institution.

[horde-princess]

One fun/illustrative short way of describing the injustice of penal substitutionary atonement theory that you mentioned is to say "the Christian God creates you with a broken leg and sells you a crutch". Anyways, great meta as always. I think SPOP really shines in the way it subverts traditional sacrifice and punishment narratives; suffering isn't necessary to help others, nor is it necessary to be forgiven.

happy good friday everyone ! lskjdlfdfdjljd

no absolutely and thats a cool way to phrase it ill have to remember that 😌 hold on i wanna say something but its like. ill do a read more

it just now struck me how fucking wild this is but. do u know how many good fridays i’ve spent watching a passion play, or that dumbass mel gibson movie, desperate to drown myself in guilt and shame bc it should’ve been me on the cross? like i was probably 12 years old watching these terrifying crucifixion reenactments thinking that punishment was meant for me, so i better thank jesus for taking it instead. and again i wasnt in some extremist sect of christianity like this is all very typical. its psychological abuse there is no other word for it.

so yeah when i say she-ra’s subversion of sacrifice is an important part of the show i mean that with my whole heart and this is a major reason why lmao

[homophobicdean]

it’s such a trip to see trisha paytas mentioned on tumblr, I tend to think of her as like. An entity haunting YouTube that doesn’t really exist outside of that space. But yeah, her long standing reputation as an air-headed troll and all-around unserious human being lets her get away with some very naked antisemitism, glad someone is calling it like it is outside of offhanded shots about it in the scheme of a larger general callout.

yeah i felt weird posting about her like she is def haunting youtube and talking about her outside of there or like twitter feels like speaking her into existence where she hasn’t gotten her hands on

but yeah it’s good to see like a well researched well made and cohesive video that really illustrates the way in which she is seriously horrible about and towards jewish people like i cannot believe the shit with mel gibson and his radical church what the fuck

[flyingpurplepeopleeater42]

Okay no one asked for it but talking to yourself on tumblr is better that just talking to yourself so here I go .

I watched 1x10 for a second time and these are my thoughts while watching the episode.

...................................................................................................

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PATHETIC LIZARD. SERIOUSLY GUYS WE NEED TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE OPENING NARRATION. I nominate once and future queen Guinevere

Oh god it's the Will episode reaches for the tissue packet

Anderson ?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

YES HUNITH! FUCKING YES! STAND UP TO THE BASTARD! GOD I LOVE THIS WOMAN.

Oh yes a little bit of 🎆merthur🎆

Hskahenshwnanabs Morgana in that outfit kahajwhsjshnakwjwnwjwjjsjw I am looking respectfully jwjwjwjejehjejejwhsjsj

"She is the only person I know who isn't frightened of Uther" ~Merlin about Morgana. DAMN RIGHT SHE IS. (I know what Morgana does in later seasons guys, just let me enjoy this)

Have I mentioned that I love hunith?

Jahajhwjwhwhw Merlin dear you almost decapitated that poor clotpole hajshwjwj

MORGANA WITH A SWORD >>>>>>>>

Arthur stop being fucking jealous of Will.

YES HUNITH YES ! HUNITH IS A FIGHTER TOO!!!!!!!! I mean Merlin did not take from his caveman father so duh?! (fuck you Balinor )

Oh yes here comes the jealous!Will

HUNITH=NO 1 MERTHUR SHIPPER

How the fuck Will is not canonicaly Merlin's ex. EXPLAIN THAT BBC.

🎶 Let's get down to business. To defeat. The huns. Did they send me daughters. When I asked for soooons🎶

GWEN WITH A SWORD. YES. I WANT MORE OF THAT. ARTHUR YOU DUMB FUCK WHY DIDN'T YOU KNIGHT GUINEVERE?!?!?

Morgwen really said and there was only one bed in this episode.

And oop Anderson died.

Okay Will maybe it's not your fucking place to tell Merlin what to do what his magic ?

GWEN FUCKING SAID WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND GUYS I'M IN LOVE.

Okay okay. Give the speech Arthur. Braveheart or whatever. Idk. I haven't seen the film . Fuck Mel gibson.

FOR EALDOR ✊🏼

Hunith and Merlin scenes >>>>>>>

Boy did I really think that we were gonna get a magic reveal when I first watched this episode. How fucking naive I was back then.

Oh yes and a bit of 🎆arwen🎆

GOD I LOVE GUINEVERE 💕💕💕💕

YES MERLIN FUCKING SHOW THEM. OBLITERATE THEM WITH YOUR MAGIC.

Arthur: I know magic when I see it (insert sure jan meme)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. NOT WILL.NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.SKIP THIS. SKIP. WHERE'S THE SKIP BUTTON. NOPE. NO . I AM NOT WATCHING THIS. NO FUCKING WAY.NO.

😭😭😭😭😭🤧🤧🤧🤧🤧😭😭😭😭🤧🤧🤧

exCUSE ME WHY IS HUNITH QUOTING THE WINGED ALLIGATOR??? WASN'T HE WHO SAID THE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN THING FIRST?????WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE. I NEED ANSWERS. SOMEONE TELL ME.

[steamedtangerine]

Speaking from personal experience.....

I have never met or seen a self-avowed “Tea Party” member-and I traveled through a dozen states as a homeless person during that time period. Did I see Confederate flags? (ugh) Yes, but nowhere near as bad as what I see in parts of the Western suburbs or downriver area outside of Detroit.

I have never met or seen a QAnoner nut-and the closest was when I went to the worst garage sale I had ever seen last year (no masks, scratched CDs in no cases, dirty seashells) and overheard people being idiots talking about how “Mel Gibson is leading the fight against the pedophile elites in Hollywood”. Needless to say, I left.

However, since COVID, I still see a stark difference between the way folks carry themselves in the suburbs and how people do in the city. Persons of color-be they African or Latino American-(for the most part) take this virus quite seriously and demonstrate that they are taking the necessary precautions. In a way, it’s no different than what I always saw with how folks drive with hostile self-entitlement in the burbs and then actually seeing a stark contrast of folks being considerate in the city.

Yet, I’ve seen maskless people throw fits at Meijer’s (at the early onset). I’ve seen people from the suburban food pantry I once worked at (no more) acquire COVID. One was the dang janitor who had a Trump sticker on his van. The other a man who refused to believe how serious the virus was. No one at any of the pantries in Detroit have acquired the virus.

Still, certain things stun and irk me in a bad way.

I started talking in line with an African-American woman waiting at check-out at Kroger’s (cuz’ fuck self-serveice, I was involved in bagger strikes back in 1991.) with her nose peaking out of her mask. I casually mentioned how she had a lot of seafood and thought she was making some platter or salad. I then agreed that seafood is good, but added the cautionary tale about that one actor who got mercury poisoning from eating Sushi every day (Piven-but not worth name-dropping).

We gabbed some more, and she mentioned that she’s gained 40 pounds from binge-eating trying to cope with the loss of her father. I carefully asked how he died, and she admitted it was COVID. She also candidly admitted she has not received the vaccine yet (flashback a few weeks to a suburban garage sale run by maskless people-good stuff to be sold but still reckless-and watching as a concerned masked neighbor was quietly shocked to find her neighbors-the ones running the sale refuse to get vaccinated). I asked why, and she mentioned some BS story (the kind of thing you find on Facebook) about a husband and wife who got the vaccine and both died. I just detached a bit and said “uh yeah, I’m gonna have to look into that one.”

Things like that just get under my skin. I want to sympathize, but you’d think her father’s death would spur her into action to get vaccinated. I also tend to think she’s a bit clouded from the death of her dad. I can’t say. Somehow, I felt more comfortable talking with skinnier masked African-American woman in front of me who loved talking on and on about the necessity of vitamins (something I cannot deny, but, hey, preaching to the choir here).

Still things like this...it still baffles me that a woman in Detroit I knew who got me my cat refused to listen to her mom about getting vaccinated, waited to the last minute (probably had onset of the symptoms, which those administering the doses have warned about as they always screen for confirmation if you are currently exhibiting symptoms), got the shot, and immediately fell ill from COVID and “blames the vaccine”.

The point is: there is no point.......except that this virus has drawn some lines and demonstrated some character flaws and poor decisions more noticeably in a way that hits way too close to home for me than any of the other things I’ve been told have some formidable prominence and sway in Idiocracyland (be it the extinct Tea Party or be it the soon to be extinct QAnon movement).

[bisluthq]

Ok, there was a huuuuge debate in my book community because someone said that if you read harry potter books you're being transphobic, meaning you can't share a picture of the books or merch. I know JKR is awful. I know i love the books. I feel ashamed even mentioning anything about hp. Sorry for the vent. What's your opinion? I pick books cause i like their plots, i don't search every authors bio and their opinions on matters. Maybe i should?! I'm so conflicted 😟

Urgh okay so - disclaimer I’m cis so this is more ~hypothetical than for other people - my take on JKR is that she’s a terrible person and I won’t support her financially (not that I, one person, can make a difference but if we all do it that’s better). If I have kids idk that I’d read them Harry Potter and I lean to not.

But like… for me, we’ll always have Hogwarts. It was such a huge part of my life, and I loved it so much and so purely. I loved the books and the movies and - most of all - I loved the community. I loved writing fanfics and roleplaying and making edits and making theories for what’ll happen next. I loved dressing up and waiting in line for the midnight release. And she can’t take that away from us. She can’t take that away from me, and she can’t take that away from my trans siblings.

Idk that I’d reread the books now, partly because I tried to not long ago for like nostalgia purposes and they’re um very problematic lmfao. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have a special place in my heart for them, and for the feelings they gave me at the time, and people who do want to reread them are also not wrong for it. People who want to read it to their kids and share something we experienced together aren’t wrong for that. We’re allowed to still love it.

For me, the problem with the books is they are very problematic lol, like on a number of levels.

But I also am big on separating the art from the artist. Mel Gibson is a raging antisemite but I fucking loved Hacksaw Ridge and paid for a movie ticket for it and have watched it since. He doesn’t like me but eh I can still enjoy his art.

Woody Allen is one of the worst people ever but I’d be lying if I said I don’t love Annie Hall.

The Pianist is an impeccable movie.

It’s complicated and I don’t think there’s one right answer - do what feels right for you. At the end of the day, it’s your choice. I wouldn’t feel comfy paying her for shit now that we know what she stands for but I’m also not gonna get high and mighty about people who want a fucking illustrated edition of Harry Potter to read to their kids, you know?

[365days365movies]

January 30, 2021: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

So, now that I’ve gotten through the first of these movies, it’s probably time to talk about the director of all four films, George Miller.

Miller’s an Australian director and medical doctor. Yeah, dude went to medical school, and in his last year there, started getting into filmmaking! Nice. He immediately came off as a budding director, and made his official directorial debut with his first film...Mad Max. Yeah. Very interesting guy. Today’s entry is his second film, and he’s since made films including Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe (yes, the pig one), Babe: Pig in the City (yes, the OTHER pig one), Happy Feet (not the pig one) and its sequel, Happy Feet Two. So, a pretty good filmography!

But throughout it all, Miller’s flagship passion was the Mad Max franchise, continuing with this movie, and eventually ending with Fury Road. And from what I’ve heard about these remaining two films, I’m in for a ride. Pun half-heartedly intended. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

An elderly narrator brings us in, telling the tale of the Road Warrior, Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). He speaks of the downfall of modern society, punctuated by increased savagery, and the takeover of gangs on the world’s highways. People are ruined and forgotten, and they lose themselves. And these people include Max, who’s wandered out into the wilderness since losing his family. Yeah, Jess from the last movie? Dead. Guess she wasn’t doing so great after all.

Max and his dog are on the roads of Australia, where things have definitely changed. Ho longer around any vestige of civilization, the Road Warrior’s driving the Interceptor, being chased by punks on motorcycles, led by Wez (Vernon Wells), a cray, screaming dude with a bike and a mohawk..

After the chase, Max happens upon a recently-wrecked truck leaking gasoline, a much treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wez leaves, having been defeated, and Max gathers the fuel and goes his way. He drives through the desert until finding a mini-helicopter (a gyrocopter, it’s called), abandoned on the ground. 

After taking care of a carpet python (Morelia spilota; don’t know the subspecies), he finds himself ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who holds him up for his fuel. However, using his dog, Max gets the upper hand. Frightened, Gyro tells him of a huge supply of fuel somewhere in the desert. He agrees to show him in exchange for his life. Max agrees, and does this.

Yeah, he tied a string to the trigger of a gun, and tied the other end to Dog’s bone. Fuck yes.

Gyro’s true to his word, and he takes him to an oil refinery in the middle of the desert. It’s being used and guarded by a gang of some kind. Max sets up camp, tying Gyro to a dead tree and spying on the gang. That night, many gang members leave the refinery, and return the next day. I should mention, at this point, that we start to see some of the crazy vehicles I love so much in Fury Road. Which, yeah, HERE for that!

Anyway, the bikers, including good old Wez, go after a guy in a tricked-out buggy, incapacitating him and...taking...his wife. Yeah, these movies are really leaning on that to vilify their bad guys, huh? First it was Toecutter’s gang and the young couple, and now it’s these random people. Not the best gimmick in the world, but...OK?

Well, Max goes down to take their gasoline, and finds that the man has lived. Max brings him back to a small settlement, where they take him in. Meanwhile, a child with a boomerang, called Feral Kid (Emil Minty), watches. Cool.

Max is taken into the settlement, where oil is being refined as well. The settlers definitely don’t accept Max, and are ready to take his car and oust him into the wilderness without fuel. And then, the bikers return. And there are a LOT of them.

These are the Marauders, and they’ve taken some of the settlers captive. They’d gone out, only to be taken captive by Wez and the others. But Wez isn’t their leader. No...no, that would be the Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of rock-and-roll-ah! THIS...is Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson)!

...Am I in love with this movie? Holy shit, I might be I mean, LOOK at that dude! With his voice and his scraggly-ass hair and Jason mask, he notes that the settlers sent out sentries to find a truck, with which to carry their gasoline and take it out of the desert. And as this is taking place, Feral Kid pops up, throws his steel boomerang, and kills Wez’ right hand man. WHAT

YES. MORE PLEASE. Feral Kid’s boomerang is thrown at him, misses, comes back and severs the fingers of the hand of Humungus’ mouth of Sauron dude, Toadie (Max Phipps). Humungus tries to calm the throngs, Wez included, and ends up putting Wez in a Sleeper. He tells the settlers to “just walk away, and [he] will spare [their] lives. Just walk away.”

...Yeah, I love Humungus. And his inevitable death saddens me more than I can properly say. Anyway, the settlers start debating whether or not they should walk away, and Max uses a little music-maker that he found to befriend the Feral Kid. The leader of the settlers, Pappagallo (Mike Preston) tries to convince them to flee with their fuel to a safe place. They continue to argue, until Max interjects with an offer.

Max can get them the vehicle to carry the tanker of gas that they have, but demands as much gas as he can carry, and the return of his vehicle. They agree to his terms, and Max heads off into the night to get the truck from earlier, with gas canisters and Dog in tow. With a little help from Feral Kid, he escapes the notice of the Marauders waiting nearby.

He catches up to Gyro, who’s managed to break free of the tree (well, mostly), and is quickly caught by Max in order to carry the gas canisters for the truck. They get back to Gyro’s gyro, where someone has died after being bitten by his...nonvenomous snake. Yeah, these films haven’t shown very high knowledge of zoology, huh?

They take to the air in the gyrocopter, and easily fly to the truck from the beginning of the film. They get it started, and Max leaves Gyro behind, although he protests to this, and follows behind in the copter. And then.he drives past Wez, who’s still enraged after losing his partner to boomerang hit.

By the way, I didn’t mention this about the gang, but they’re literally all wearing what looks to me like leather bondage gear? Like...I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what that is; it’s pretty obvious. ESPECIALLY Humungus and Wez’s partner, lemme tell you. Just a note, as this change in visual tone and style is going to carry throughout the rest of the series.

The Marauders run Max down, and Gyro saves the day with his snake, throwing it at one of the cars chasing him. Max JUST makes it into the Settlement, but a couple of the Marauders make it in as well, Wez amongst them. He kills a Settler using his favorite weapon, HIS OWN HEAD (fuck, this movie rules), and makes his was through the compound.

Max climbs the top of the wall, and uses a flamethrower on some of the men. Feral Kid throws a boomerang at Wez, who runs off with the rest of the Marauders. Gyro also arrives, landing in the settlement. Pappagallo, in the process, is shot in the leg with an arrow. Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the truck will take 12 hours to fix.

The Settlers thank Max for his help, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying there. That night, however, Humungus retaliates, and strings up their captured settlers for all to see, torturing them throughout the night. Nobody will make it out alive, by his promise. 

For the time being, Max and Gyro are still in the settlement, waiting for their chance to leave. Gyro tries to sneak away with a young woman, but she opts to stay out of loyalty to the Settlers. Also, her hair looks like a Who from Whoville. It had to be said...it had to be said. Pappagallo berated Max for just leaving, rather than helping the rest of them and driving the tanker. Max shoves aside Feral Kid, and he takes off.

However, this is NOT the best move on Max’s part, as he drives RIGHT THROUGH the Marauder camp, and Wez isn’t far behind him. Using a NOS system (EAT IT FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE), they easily overtake Max and run him off the road, DESTROYING the V-8 Pursuit Special, and injuring Max something fierce. Somehow, though, he manages to escape. But one of them KILLS DOG WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Max crawls away and escapes, but is found by...Gyro! Gyro picks him up with the copter, and takes him back to the settlement. He wakes up in a medical tent, still quite hurt. Pappagallo details the plan: use the tanker as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Max, although still injured, volunteers to drive the tanker after all. He doesn’t say exactly why, but he is now stuck there without a method of egress, and he’s the best chance they have. I’m going to choose to believe that he does it for Dog. JOHN WICK STYLE BABY

The time has come. On both sides, they head for conflict. Gyro’s air support, dropping bombs on them. But he’s quickly shot down. Meanwhile, the settlers get out in vehicles of their own, taking advantage of the distraction of the tanker. And once they’re all out…

Now, all eyes are on Max and the Marauders! With the assistance of Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey), Feral Kid, and a few more settlers, Max tries to outdrive Wez and his group. And a LOT of shit happens here, so do yourself a favor and watch this video!

Rebecca and the other two settlers die, leaving only Max and Feral Kid behind. A LOT of Marauders die in the process, and then Lord Humungus catches up. As they shoot out the tires, Gyro (still flyin’, baby!) and some of the Settlers show up as backup. And...yup, another video. Yes, really.

After ALL OF THAT, Humungus ONCE AGAIN goes the way of Toecutter, and is killed by a head-on collision with a truck. Said truck careens off the road, and Mac and Feral Kid get out. It’s then that we see that the truck NEVER had fuel in it! No, instead it was a decoy! It allowed the vehicles, which actually contained the fuel, to escape to the safe North, away from the gangs.

The Narrator comes back, revealing that he’s the Feral Kid, and that their new leader was Gyro! And the Road Warrior. That was the last they ever saw of him. He lives now...only in his memories.

And THAT...was The Road Warrior, AKA Mad Max 2. WHOOOOOOOO!!! Second verse, same as the first; epilogue at the end of the weekend! LET’S GO PART 3

January 31, 2021: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

[lyledebeast]

If there is consensus about anything regarding The Patriot, besides that it’s wildly historically inaccurate, it is that Benjamin Martin is a good father. So much of the story rests on that, and his status as the hero certainly does. On closer examination, though, it’s hard to point to anything he does that supports that reading. Rather, the choices he makes put the children he claims to be protecting in even more distress or danger.

Let’s look at some evidence.

Susan

What in the fuck is going on with Susan? Ben’s youngest daughter, when we first meet her, does not speak.  But after Colonel Tavington burns down the Martins’ home, she and her siblings take refuge with Aunt Charlotte, and she almost immediately starts talking.  Maybe Aunt Charlotte was able to immediately overcome Susan’s trauma, not only from her mother’s death but from seeing her brother shot dead in front of her and losing her home, because women’s child-care ability is magic!  Or, maybe there was a simple solution to her communication difficulties all along that her father couldn’t be bothered to seek out. 

Nathan and Samuel

After Gabriel is arrested, Ben uses his younger sons Nathan in an attack on British soldiers to free him.  During this incident, he runs down a soldier who is trying to escape and hacks him to mincemeat with his tomahawk in front of the three of them.  Later, he goes to the two younger ones and says “You have nothing to to be ashamed of.  You did nothing wrong.”  

Umm . . . we get that.  They were tying to rescue their brother.  Let’s talk about what you did and how traumatizing it was for them to see that.  Funnily enough, that part is never mentioned again by anyone.

Everybody (except Gabriel)

In addition to failing to deal with his children’s emotional distress on numerous occasions, Ben also fails to make safe arrangements for his remaining younger children. Aunt Charlotte’s house is  The Most Obvious Place Possible for him to leave his family. It is so obvious that once Tavington gets Cornwallis’s permission to raise his war crimes game he is able to find their location in about ten seconds by asking one of his own men. The only reason Tavington does’t kill all of them is that Ben miraculously appears, just in time, to draw the dragoons away. Ben’s clever enough to hide an army in a swamp and coordinate attacks on British regulars, but he forgot he has loyalist neighbors who have all the dirt on him. He doesn’t even have the excuse of thinking noncombatants would be safe because Tavington has already killed one of his sons. Dumbass.

Gabriel

After Gabriel’s wife is killed, we never see him and Ben speak.  The next time they’re together is when Ben is holding Gabriel in his arms, crying, as he dies.  Tavington morally wounded him, but Ben gave him so much space to process his grief that not only did he go on a revenge mission against the Green Dragoons, but he took half of Ben’s men with him.  

That seems like an excessive amount of space to me.

So, in the face of all these parenting failures, why does this reading of Ben Martin as a good father persist.  As much as it pains me to say anything nice about his bigoted ass, a lot of it is owing to Mel Gibson.  He absolutely kills his character’s emotionality, especially in the scene where Gabriel dies.  He does such a good job of crying real (gasp!) tears that the audience forgets that, had he been there for his son, he might not have anything to cry about.

That said, Gibson’s stellar acting ability wouldn’t be enough if The Patriot’s audience didn’t already hold cishet White fathers to a laughably low standard.  That may explain, in part, why this movie continues to enjoy such insane popularity.  It asserts that having strong emotions about one’s children is all it takes to be a good father, even when those emotions become a stand in for being emotionally available to those children or making thoughtful decisions about them.

[tirsden]

I feel like I need to say something about this, and ironically I already said what I want to say in Youtube comments, so the following has been drawn heavily from said comments.

At the timestamps of 19:26 and 19:35 of the Cynical Reviews video are two scenes that stand out from the movie, and I remember those textures from the trailer too. If you want to trigger an autistic person on any level of the spectrum, show them those scenes or even a still from the scene. I pulled up Notepad at that point to pre-write a comment and about one-third of the paused video was showing behind Notepad. Even just that much in my peripheral vision was literally making me nauseous as I worked on the comment. The busy, repeating pattern on the wall and costumes is a fucking nightmare.

Before I go any further, I'll mention where I am on the spectrum. I'm high-functioning autistic, the label formerly known as Asperger's Syndrome but I'm guessing they're trying to get rid of that label because apparently Dr. Asperger was cushy with Nazis. Oops. And if that word seems a little too flippant, understand that my seeing the relevant information on Wikipedia was devastating. I've been getting fed up lately seeing that "Aspergers is no longer a diagnosis" because I went 28 years without knowing what was different about me and why the world didn't make sense. I was about to leave a comment on another video, something along the lines of, "You can't take my diagnosis away from me, I have a label and it's mine. Not only is doing so disingenuous to me and people like me, it's disingenuous to Dr. Asperger." Before I hit submit I realized I should go google him before I said something I might regret... and staring at his wiki page, if I had a proper desk close enough to use, I would have been head-desking so hard. I really don't know how to properly put in words how I feel about the whole situation now... though the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things" comes to mind.

Back on the Sia topic and review, after I'd finished composing that bit of comment and watched a few more minutes of the review, I was feeling more and more like I'd been hit by motion sickness. Some of the footage after the timestamps probably didn't help, but my gods... "you haven't even watched my film" = "I DIDN'T EVEN SHOW IT TO ANYONE ON THE SPECTRUM OR THEY WOULD HAVE BARFED." Maybe I'm a little more sensitive than some in the motion sickness / visual trigger department, but come on. That is some horribly tone-deaf cinematography, and that's not even getting into the portrayal of the autistic character.

One of the first things I thought about Maddie's interpretation of autism, is that it's closer to something like Down Syndrome, but I had a Down Syndrome aunt and the comparison still makes me want to throw up a little. Closer does not mean accurate... but, yeah. That was my observation. Cynical's mention of Maddie drawing character ideas from a DiCaprio character with some other type of developmental disorder explains so much now. And I don't blame Maddie for what she was involved in, because it's clear she has an abuser controlling her life. There really isn't any flowery way to say that. It is what it is.

Sigh. What the hell do I even do with this? I love(d) Sia's music, and her episode of Carpool Karaoke was probably one of the most fun things I'd ever watched on Youtube. My favorite Pandora station is based off her song Chandelier, a station I've affectionately referred to as "Dying Cat Radio" due to the sound style of a lot of songs that play on it. Now... I think I'm going to have to delete the station and try to rebuild it via Aurora and similar artists. I do not do well with associations, and I was already on the fence after watching the Music trailer recently. After this review? It's over. And it's another nail in the coffin of "having real people as heroes," especially celebrity figures. Other nails for me have been Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, and Vin Diesel... and I wonder at what point these people either became so disconnected from reality they lost their "souls," or if they were always like that and we just couldn't see it yet.

As for the associations thing and a big reason why I can’t really separate artist from art, I've only ever seen it addressed once by someone else, in the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. In the book, the author briefly describes his character Will Graham as such:

“Graham had a lot of trouble with taste. Often his thoughts were not tasty. There were no effective partitions in his mind. What he saw and learned touched everything else he knew. Some of the combinations were hard to live with. But he could not anticipate them, could not block and repress. His learned values of decency and propriety tagged along, shocked at his associations, appalled at his dreams; sorry that in the bone arena of his skull there were no forts for what he loved. His associations came at the speed of light. His value judgments were at the pace of a responsive reading. They could never keep up and direct his thinking. He viewed his own mentality as grotesque but useful, like a chair made of antlers. There was nothing he could do about it.”

And... I've run out of mental steam, so [insert conclusion here] because I've said what I want to say. The formal writing rules in me are cringing with a closing like that, but it can join everything else cringing over the disaster that is Music. Time to damage-control the migraine that's asking me why I'm staring at a big white thing with little black letters, and why I sat through that review when I knew the footage was not good for me, even just the clips used. "Oof" is right, Cynical Doggo... "oof" is right.

[ascending-royal]

What are Disney Fandoms list

 Thank you @deadcatwithaflamethrower for the heads up. Am trying to read the tos but a lot of the jargon is going over my head...

Even if its an overreaction, im backing up my art, downloading fics and trying to figure out just what is all under Disneys ownership.

So far fandoms I’m in or read even vaguely read in that Disney now owns and can Fuck me over:

All Disney Movie

Pixar

Sky High

Star Wars

X-Men films (all of them, not sure on comics, look below)

Marvel (does this include comics? Or just mcu?)

History Channel ( i think?)

Lifetime (lime 50% or something)

Narnia films

Indiana Jones

Labyrinth (It is/was a Jim Henson Company but also a lucasfilm but part of disney aquasition? or a different story that shares the name and I can’t find any mention of...)

The Simpsons

 American Horror Story

American Idol

Family Guy

Home Alone

 Avatar

 Deadpool

Die Hard series (?)

Night at the Museum franchise

Independence Day

MASH(?)

Alien Franchise

Planet of the Apes franchise

The 3 Muskateers

Ladyhawke (half? It’s also own by  Warner Bros. Pictures)

THE PRINCESS BRIDE!!!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series

Pagemaster animated film

Power Ranger Franchise

Braveheart (1995, Mel Gibson’s)

Romeo + Juliet (1996, with Leo Dicaprio)

Anastasia (animated film)

X-Files series

Moulin Rouge

Ice Age franchise

The Transporter

The Day After Tomorrow

Mr&Mrs Smith

The Devil Wears Prada

Unstopable (with Chris Pine and Denzel Washington, fave background film)

This Means War (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy)

Maze Runner Franchise

Book of Life

Kingsman Franchise

The Martian (Matt Damon) 

Hidden Figures

Assassin Creed (live action, not the video games)

Teen Wolf (? Not completely sure on this)

Shadowhunters (maybe? I don’t know if its just the Mortal Instrument life action movie it had or if it also includes the netflix series...)

Taking in the breathe of just how many fandoms and films and series and everything Disney has a finger in, The TOS is TERRIFYING.

Even if they never do anything (which I doubt they wouldn’t use any power they can) just having it set a dangerous precedence for other companies...

 these are the fandoms I’m mostly in that I can come up top of my head and with a quick check to my AO3 bookmarks/alerts.  Anyone want to add any other fandoms that they know maybe affected? I know writing this out really helped be get an idea of how freaked out I should be