#pax south 2020

[greygoof]

i used to celebrate my birthday by taking a vacation to San Antonio for PAX South but the 2020 covid stuff killed it forever. no idea what to do for my birthday now..

[lady-valandra]

Me, wanting to touch up my LU Legend cosplay for TotK midnight release, that I rush created for Pax South 2020 and as such has been at the top of my "to re-create*properly* list" ever since: "Less than a week is totally enough time!"

Why is it (I, am I) always like this? 😭😂

[back-and-totheleft]

"The United States does not care about Ukraine"

When Oliver Stone presented his autobiography in 2020, he admitted that if he hadn't directed a conventional film since 2012 it was because "he wasn't inspired" and he didn't feel "the necessary fire" inside him . Maybe that's why his latest documentary is a return to the subject he touched on three decades ago in JFK: the assassination of John Kennedy. JFK Revisited, which Stone presented this Monday at the BCN Film Fest, resumes the investigation based on the analysis of official documents declassified in recent years and once again dismantles the Warren Commission report. It is a more thorough compilation than the 1991 film, even too much, and with little news of interest about the case beyond documenting that there were two other conspiracies to assassinate the president weeks before the mass murder. The conclusions, of course, are the same: the magic bullet theory is ridiculous, the FBI and CIA conspired to cover up the assassination, and the history of the United States would have been much better had they not removed Kennedy.

"JFK was the last truly popular president, I'm sure he would have won the 1964 election," defends Stone. "Since his death, no one has had the ability to change things or the courage to challenge the CIA, which controls foreign policy." 

For the director of Platoon, Kennedy was "a warrior of peace" who warned about the danger of having "a pax Americana imposed by force of arms, which is exactly what we have now." Kennedy's goal, says Stone, was not to encourage American imperialism: “He was Irish and his family had fought against the English, he knew the history of Ireland from top to bottom. He had good relations with Nasser's Egypt and the Middle East and wanted to invest in South America, not the military. Kennedy had been in the military and therefore knew how the influence and the military budget had grown and the danger that this entailed." The filmmaker, in fact, puts NATO as an example of a "completely superfluous" organization. And he adds: "If you think that being part of NATO provides security to Spain, you are crazy."

A "reasonable and rational" man

Stone insists that his main interest is not politics ("I make movies, I'm a director, the thing is, politics is good material for drama," he says), but just go through the list of politicians that he has portrayed from fiction or documentary throughout his career: Nixon, Castro, George W. Bush, Hugo Chávez. The last was Vladimir Putin, whom he interviewed in 2017 in a documentary series that offers a friendly and positive profile of the Russian president. He hasn't spoken to him in three years, but he says he doesn't think he's changed "or lost his mind." "He is a reasonable and rational man who thinks before he speaks, like a chess player. Putin is a good son of Russia who works in the interest of his people. He comes from the lower class and grew up a patriot, not a KGB agent. 

The director also does not hesitate to comment on Marine Le Pen the day after the far-right's best results in a French election. "They love to say that he is from the extreme right, but I don't know if he is," he says. "Some of the things he says are common sense, like questioning the role of NATO in the European Union. Before, the old Europe did not stand firm and always marched under the orders of the United States." For Stone, Le Pen is just "shaking things up" and he doesn't think it's bad. "Doing this is extreme right-wing, they say. But I'm on the left and I'm in favor of immigrants. So these labels no longer work."

"The United States does not care about Ukraine"

In line with his support for Putin, Oliver Stone produced the documentary Ukraine on Fire in 2019 , which analyzes the country's history from a point of view that coincides with the pro-Russian narrative and attributes the 2014 revolution to the interference of the United States. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he says, has not changed his mind about the conflict between the two countries. "In Ukraine there is a long history of anti-Russian sentiment and discrimination against the ethnic Russian population," he says. "This has been the basis of the country's policy since the 2014 coup that forced out President Yanukovych with the support of the United States, which has spent a lot of money in Ukraine to destabilize Russia. The United States does not care about Ukraine or the death of Ukrainians."

Stone, in fact, gets fired up at mentioning the war crimes allegations against Russia's actions in Ukraine. "It's typical Western propaganda," he assures. "What is the point of talking about war crimes? It's a war, that's what happens in wars. But saying it's Russia's policy is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." The director recalls the accusations against Saddam Hussein ("We turned him into a monster comparable to Hitler") and points to China as the next target of the United States. "For a while we were fine with them, but now they are our enemies and we accuse them of genocide, like in Russia, but things are not that simple. Our strategy is to point at others and shout loudly 'War crimes!', but in this way, we are perverting the purpose of the Nuremberg trials." Interestingly, the only question Stone has refused to answer during the meeting with the press was about Will Smith's slap to Chris Rock at the Oscars. "I always have problems if I say things without thinking them through," he explained.

-Xavi Serra interviews Oliver Stone for ARA, Apr 25 2022 [x] Translated from Catalan

[briandoescosplay]

Just some more operators from Pax South 2020 in January I forgot to upload

[alovelydayforchocolate]

Tango Evelynn cosplay from Pax South, January 2020.

Cosplay top and skirt handsewn by me. Rose appliques from Amazon.

Wig cut and styled by me. Rose hairclips from Amazon.

Lashers are a scarf I already owned.

Claws are acrylic nails painted with nail polish, with Crayola paint layered over top. People who aren’t sensitive to latex might find that liquid latex body paint works better for the fade into the skin.

[100percentdirtball]

pax south was good to me y’know?

[shiftythrifting]

Any Shifty Thrifting fans at PAX South?

Shoot us a message, Admin Otter has some goodies!

[honey-mantis]

the best picture i have from PAX South 2020, me as baby mantis and a twink venom snake cosplayer

he went up to me super excited to take a picture and he was super nice, i got a hug from him

i just wish i could have gotten his number or twitter or something cause he was so cool

[dreamnevermorecosplay]

"How to steal a heart?"

Dream as Joker

[glowing-tiger]

I ran around as @therealjacksepticeye 's ego Marvin The Magnificent at PAX South today!

Shout out to that ONE person that recognized, who I was cosplaying as. You are the bomb!

The mask was home made (as far as it was a white mask and I drew one it), the cape (and clothes, of course) were bought!

It was super fun!

[oberitsu]

I’m at PAX South 2020 in my Rouge cosplay (sans wig for now bc it’s HOT)

[serothivia]

San Antonio, TX 2020

[cat-with-a-frock]

Enjoyed paxsouth2020!!

[briandoescosplay]

Just a whole bunch of Defenders from Pax South in San Antonio, Texas

[alovelydayforchocolate]

I haven’t posted in a while, but I figured I might as well post some fairly recent cosplay from Pax South, January 2020. Back to a happier time, when the worst of covid-19 hadn’t affected us. You might recognize the first wig from my earlier Seira Loyard cosplay (Noblesse). I wanted to repurpose this wig, even though it’s a bit scuffed and not the exact shade of Kyoko’s lilac. Kyoko cosplay is repurposed clothes I already had; square tie altered by me. Wig cut and styled by me.