#people are not pawns for another persons profit

[fjorn-wanders]

Everyone always asks me what I plan to do with my degree. That's a terrible question, especially since society often prevents me from doing anything with my degree at all...at least in the way that the question generally implies. I'd rather be asked what that knowledge and training did for me as a person, even if it's a bit harder to answer.

My 'dead-end' degree has shaped me into a more thoughtful, responsible, and even cautious person. I'm more considerate of experiences beyond my own and ask questions with the intent to understand, to overcome my pre-installed biases, and to get a more accurate picture of whatever issue I'm faced with. It has, I hope, made me a better person and equipped me with the skills to become a better person (because I will definitely need to update as times change, new needs arise, and new discoveries are made).

These are abstract things that help me every single day. That, I believe, is far more important than any job I may or may not get based on numerous factors often beyond my ability to control. So even if I don't do anything with my degree, it has nonetheless done many things for me that myself and others don't always appreciate enough.

[joseline-woodhouse]

I want in on talking about Annabel and Prospero.

Since most posts I've seen are about how nice it is to watch them being healthy for one another (it really is, I adore their dynamic) I decided to talk about how neither of them would hesitate to kill one another eventually.

First of all both Annabel Lee and Prospero are calculative people. Both of them care for only the outcome and how to get there. I have seen people call Annabel a hypocrite for protecting Prospero because he's important to her after what she did to Duke and I entirely disagree, more on the rescue from Ada later. We have established that Annabel really doesn't care that everyone in the academy (except one, if the Deans can be trusted) is doomed.

I don't think Annabel's general willingness to sacrifice people needs to be discussed.

Now, I'm leaning a bit far out the window here, but take a good look at Prospero in the left picture above, he looks more frustrated than anything. His chances just got a lot worse, he needs to rethink his strategy and on top of all that Ada is invading his personal space again.

Moving forward to what I think makes their mutual betrayal inevitable, the episodes after the Mansion Arc (this is were it gets interesting):

Until now we have seen Prospero mostly be mildly bothered by whatever is happening. When everything fell apart during the Lesson and everyone except for him apperently just did not do their job, he seemed like he was about to explode and seriously questioning his choice of team. Everyone else appeared to just want to go on with the day, Prospero however demanded answers, proving that he cares to win this entire game without getting side tracked.

Further his behaviour during the lesson shows that he actually doesn't get how anyone else would still be reluctant to kill their friends here. He was genuinely not expecting anyone to act out of empathy anymore.

And after the widow's watch affair and him witnessing Annabel freaking out after the labyrinth and smoothly asking about Pluto instead of giving an explanation, he is surely just one big-ish failure or unwillingness to take action away from openly confronting Annabel how it can be that whenever she is alone with Lenore, things go south ways, how whenever people want to act against Lenore, she calls it a waste of time despite the growingly obvious threat that Lenore poses.

I think Annabel actually does matter to him, and I think he matters to Annabel as well, but both of them expect something really specific from one another and sympathy alone means little to them.

Now about Annabel saving Prospero.

I believe this says everything:

Since Annabel is a chess player, get ready for chess metaphors:

In chess, most gambits are about giving away a pawn. Why? Because a pawn has very little value on its own and sacrificing a pawn in order to get a slightly more profitable structure on the board can actually be worth it.

Sacrificing a queen? If you do something like that, you better be 100% sure you're seeing a forced checkmate.

Not only is Prospero's spector really powerful, Prospero is also the only thing keeping Annabel in control of her own team right now. Other than Prospero who's supporting her as long as she keeps bringing results, she is stuck with Ada who is a complete wild card and useless most of the time, Morella who is only half on her team, Will who is loyal mostly to Montresor and Montresor who constantly challenges her leadership.

The way things are standing right now, everything she has build would fall apart the very moment Prospero is gone.

Also, what if Annabel and Lenore have to stay long enough for their teams to start falling apart? Whom does Annabel want to face in a one on one? Someone like Montresor who's spector can very much use brute force against her or someone like Prospero who's spector is similarly unforceful as hers?

We even saw, that Annabel can just simply neutralise Prospero's rats with her fog, leaving him with no real attack on her. While he applies her with status conditions she can use her blossoms to attack him after she used her fog to make his rats disappear like she did on the widow's watch

Annabel did not safe him because she likes him, which she does. She saved him because he is a very important piece for her game and no real threat to her in the long run.

Prospero follows Annabel not because he likes her, which he does, but because she keeps bringing results. Or at least she did until rather recently.

[cerastes]

I haven't played the game, can you tell us what Mudrock is like, like her personality and backstory?

The first impression you'll get from Mudrock based on her fanart, is that she's cute or attractive, and probably nothing else. I do enjoy Mudrock art a lot, but part of me feels like there's definitely a lot of potential for more serious art involving her (which exists, in minimal quantities). That's because she's a very solemn character. Mind you, she does have a silly side to her, but it lives alongside this solemn side I speak of. Let's talk about Mudrock.

Mudrock is a Sarkazian warrior that possesses great might and magic both, being a highly skilled spellblade, or, well, spellhammer, owing to her own expertise of Originium Arts (particularly those that manipulate ground and rock) as well as her time in the battlefield. She made her debut on the event Grani And The Knights' Treasure, the game's very first sidestory event, on a cutscene after the very last optional map, where she receives a letter from that story's main antagonist, Big Bob, her sworn brother, who informs her that he's doing alright after getting part of the treasure. It wouldn't be until Twilight of Wolumonde that she'd take to the stage again, where she is not playable and is, in fact, the main antagonist (though not the villain) of the story. Just like Big Bob, Mudrock is ex-Reunion (Reunion being the first part of the game's main antagonist), and she, alongside Big Bob and their respective squadrons, of which they were leaders, deserted Reunion after it rotted from the inside and strayed from its supposed objective to protect and fight for the Infected: They both realized that Reunion had become yet another pawn in the international war games between the bigger countries, and the Infected had become little more than cannon fodder and easily swayed soldiers to Reunion more than the people they sought to protect. Big Bob and Mudrock both are characterized by having a well-attuned moral compass, and this wasn't what they signed up for. They weren't simply lashing out at an uncaring world and letting their rage loose, they seriously were fighting for the freedom and well-being of the Infected. So they deserted... But they couldn't leave together.

Here's the first big important aspect of Mudrock: Big Bob invited her and her Mudrock Squad to come with him, since they were sworn siblings and their squads also got along really well. It seemed natural to walk the walk together, right? Big Bob's plans were to find the Knights' Treasure in the outskirts of Kazimierz, and use those riches to buy land in Columbia, where oppression against the Infected isn't as prevalent as in most other places, and money speaks louder (for context, the Infected are usually secluded into special Infected neighborhoods in other countries, or even executed outright, so while Columbia still oppresses them to some degree, it is leagues better than other places) and the Infected are allowed to own land and businesses, so long as they have the capital. Big Bob then intended to make a business with this money, and then be able to provide housing, employment and profits for his "family" (what he calls his squadmates and close friends), and for any other Infected that needed help.

However, Mudrock politely declined, because the Sarkaz in her squad simply couldn't live a life that wasn't one of blood and steel: Sarkaz from Kazdel are known to live short, fast mercenary lives, and those who see a longer life, can only live in the battlefield. It's all they know. Mudrock knew this, more so the older Sarkaz in her Mudrock Squad. To subject them to a civilian life would be to simply put them in a pressure cooker until they snapped, until PTSD or incompatibility with the lifestyle became too much, until their grave Oripathy claimed them anyway, and Kazdel Sarkaz tend to prefer a end in the field of battle. They needed a leader, and Mudrock was that leader. Not only that, Mudrock didn't want to leave any other Infected dry out there, a sentiment shared by her Sarkaz, who figured, hey, if we're going to keep fighting, we should do it to rescue as many Infected as we can.

So she traveled. Even though Reunion might as well be dead, rotten from the inside, Mudrock took matters into her hands. She knew her scope would never compare to that of an organized movement... But she had to do whatever she could, even if it was minimal in scale.

Twilight of Wolumonde is a whole can of worms and a half, so let me summarize it by saying this: Mudrock fought Rhodes Island entirely because she demanded there be justice for the Infected that were unjustly killed in Leithanien (or, well, that small corner of) in what basically was a mystery novel plot of whodunit. Once justice had been doled out and responsibility was taken, she took what oppressed Infected would be fine with leaving with her, and quietly left. Her stay was anything but quiet, however, as she summoned several Colossi of stone and soil in order to fight. At one point, she even summoned a particularly gigantic one, akin to a mountain, which she proceeded to transplant her consciousness into to 'pilot' it herself.

Afterwards, however, they were hounded by several Infected Hunters from Leithanien, who had the complete advantage in terms of terrain, who kept picking them off one by one, survivors and fighters both. As Mudrock and company finally arrived at the frontier with Kazdel, just one bridge away, she ordered all stragglers and survivors to cross the bridge, telling them that they could eke out a free, if hard-earned and arduous, living in the Kazdel outskirt towns. Mudrock and her Sarkaz warriors, however, would not accompany them, they would stand their ground by the bridge, to stop their pursuers. Mudrock was ready to die. She put it in no uncertain terms, if anyone wanted to leave with the survivors, they could, and those who stayed with her would die alongside her defending the survivors. Her men and women stayed with her. If it meant saving those, even though they weren't many, that was what counted, she'd seen her personal duty to the best of her abilities. She was fine dying in these terms.

Of course, she didn't die: Elite Rhodes Island Operator Logos had come across this little kerfuffle recently and tailed both groups, and then took action to support and rescue Mudrock and what remained of her squad. They fought. They won.

Mudrock and her crew went to Rhodes Island afterwards, where Human Resources struck a deal with her: If she worked as an Operator for them, they'd provide for her and her Squad, giving them jobs in the field as well as Oripathy treatment. Mudrock wasn't initially sure, but a chance encounter with Grani led to both of them conversing initially about Big Bob and then about other stories, and, plus encouragement and endorsement from Folinic and Suzuran (who knew Mudrock from the Wolumonde incident), Mudrock ended up accepting the deal.

Besides her very full, sincere intention to do anything she can for the Infected and her Sarkaz brethren, Mudrock is a bit... Weird. She'll usually go on bizarre tangents about the weirdest things, or simply say strange things with the utmost serious expression. Not random stuff, just actually letting her thoughts drift along with whatever thought comes to mind, in a contemplative manner. She also likes making little clay dolls of people and talking to them, but feels very embarrassed when seen doing this (though it is implied she actually can just talk to the earth). Mudrock is also popular among Rhodes Island logistics personnel (which includes plenty of Sarkaz from the Babel days, the precursor to Rhodes Island) because she'll offer to help them move heavy things whenever she sees them, given that she's both immensely strong physically as well as a powerful caster whose earth Arts make moving things around easy. She also very rarely isn't wearing full armor, meaning that while you likely usually see her like this in fanart:

She actually looks like this most of the time:

In fact, a lot of people in her very own squad didn't know what she looked like. There were rumors about an unknown Sarkaz girl that would wander around Mudrock's camp now and then. That was actually Mudrock in the rare occasions where she didn't wear her armor.

Two fun facts about Mudrock!

The first one is that her birthday is on the 21st of September, which is the International Day of Peace. It serves to reflect that ultimately, what she wants is peace for the Infected and Sarkaz, even if she has to fight for it.

The second one is that her hammer has an inscription if you look closely:

In the trailer for Roaring Flare, we get a good look at it:

"For evil men will be cut off". This is a short form of Psalm 37:9 from the Bible (King James edition): "For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."

All in all, Mudrock is bundle of love and kindess in an awkward package (awkward in terms of how she socializes, not in that she's shy or anything), but when an injustice is present, she will fight tooth and nail until justice is meted out (as she did in Wolumonde) and is willing to die for her ideals, if it'll save just a few people.

[m0llygunn]

(humour me while I talk about guitars for a minute) eddie not letting people touch his guitar is so odd to me because as a person who appreciates guitars and spends all my money on them, every time i get something new and cool I make everyone try it, like I am forcing this guitar in your lap, you will strum it, you will tell me how great it is, and you will be excited (maybe this is just a flaw of my character though idk).

what I wouldn’t do is throw it over my shoulder though, that’s pretty crazy and couldn’t be me, he was brave for that (arguably more brave for that than fighting all those bats����😌). also I know that man was making frankenstein guitars, like buying cheap pawn shop shit and modding the hell out of them just for fun (maybe for profit too?? omg maybe that’s how he saved up to get his big boy guitar!!) and his inspo at one point or another was 1000000% the eddie van halen infamous frankenstrat

anyways I really want a new guitar and I got guitar brain rot thank you for coming to my ted talk

[muu-kun]

Career Breakdowns: Muu's Employment at a Brothel Edition. Part One.

Background information pertaining to the business in which he is employed by:

Name: Cracked Saddle. It was through his own curiosity that Muu came to learn that the name is intended to be a reference to many different things. One of which includes the fact that the ongoing matters within the establishment invoke the assumption that all used and worn out in a matter akin to a cracked saddle would come about in time and longevity of usage. Another is that of the observation that saddles are prone to cracking due to the conditions presented in frequently riding a horse. The bit about riding was really all that the owner of the establishment needed to go forward with when he put his time and money into an establishment centered on men primarily servicing other men.

The Boss himself: Cracked Saddle is ran by a surprisingly very kindhearted man by the name of Bertram Wild Okabe, a born and raised third generation American who's family lineage remains distantly connected to Japan. Having spent his childhood in the deep south of the United States, he grew to form an appreciation of the aesthetics and values behind the culture Native American communities in the vicinity. Lessons taught to him as a boy by those kind of enough to take his spiritedness curiosity under their wing have carried with him as an a middle aged man who's focus in life is to tend to those less fortunate than himself. In his prime, travels about the Earth in search of meaning and home amongst the vastness of the planet, brought him face to face with witnessing the tribulations faced by young men on the streets, more lost than himself. No matter where his impulsiveness and yearning to live life to his fullest, conversations had with those in a state of adolescence that mirrored his own would stick with him the most. Enough so in fact that on returning to where he felt not just the most like himself, but also the most in tune with the heart of rhe universe around him, he took to building a property in which he could facilitate a safe space to exist for likely those some young men turned to adults after years of surviving on the streets with a limited education on much else than utilizing intimate encounters as a means for money to be spent on food and supplies for making it though the day out on the streets. For him, the goal has never been to stop sex work from taking place. Instead, he solely intends on maintaining an environment in which those in community can come seek out an avenue for their urges that doesn't include going out onto the streets to scope out the barely above children that shouldn't be out on them in the first place. If those employed under him were asked what sort of connection does he functionally maintain with all of the men working at Cracked Saddle, the answer would unanimously be that he makes each of them feel loved by him entirely. Never would he allow for any of them be subject to harm, or to venture forward with an act with an individual they did not fully provide their consent towards in the first place. While it may be an objectifying business, he himself makes no point to make those working for him feel that way under his gaze by any means. Never does he offer pity either. These are people arguably more brave than he could ever consider himself to ever be, so why would he have thought to glance upon them as if they were merely pawns to profit from? The only instances in which he has thought to send harm any of their ways is out of punishment for referring to him as a fuddy duddy. Yes, he may be a stickler for rules; however, he was once cool in the face of danger well before some of the men in his care could even walk and talk. As the person who writes out their business reports at the end of each month, was it really all that much to ask for consistent respect?

General Information of Big Bertram himself:

Name: Bertram Wild Okabe.

Nicknames: Wild Card by most, as well as Bertie / Birdy / Ram-man by a specific, strange named employee of his known as Muu.

Age: 48

Birthday: January 16th, 1976.

Height: 160cm / 6ft3in

Sex & Gender: Male. Though he welcomes all identities with open arms, he himself doesn't associate himself with anything other than being an ordinary cismale.

Sexuality: Pansexual. A self described lover of all. His preference, though, lies with women. It just remains unfortunate that he can not settle with one as his far too independent lifestyle prevents him from complete commitment. In regards to position in the bedroom for those with dirty, curious minds, Bertram is a full-fledged top. Submissiveness in that way has never been in his demeanor and he has no plans for that to change at any point in the near or distant future.

Relationship status and children: Chronically single and none that he knows of for the time being. The likelihood of such is high, but not yet confirmed. He'd love to be a parent, though, so such an opportunity would be welcomed by him should such occur naturally in his life any time soon.

[none-shall-caricature-me]

Goody - two - shoes discourse has reached the VTSOM fandom. Ugh.

Just finished Vincent : The Secret of Myers, SPOILERS and opinions on its fan discourse below -  ISTG if another person says ‘Vincent should've seen that bad end coming because he was going TOO much down a dark, vengeful, murderous path and EMOTIONALLY - DRIVEN REVENGE BAD 11!!!’ I’ll go berserk. Bruh, ALL THE CHARACTERS in this game are morally grey (less so for Draco, it seems). Vincent is brutally murdering the core members, and people’s issue with that is that he’s apparently also killing those sidepiece employees who were very selfish but not fully evil, just like he used to be. Now, regardless of whether or not he’s killing the less shady workers too (I personally think it’s not clarified so far, though sparing other pawns like him would make his revenge ethically sound), get out of your asses for once and see how convincing ‘BUT I WOULD NEVER SINK SO LOW IF I WERE HIM, I’D STEW IN MISERY OVER MY TORTURE LIKE A GOOD VICTIM INSTEAD OF GOING ON A BLOODY RAMPAGE TO TAKE BACK SOME SEMBLANCE OF CONTROL OVER MY SHITTY LIFE’ sounds.

 Dude, first of all, once you’re self - centred and socially desperate enough join a cutthroat MNC as their top dirty - dealing lawyer -- and then get fucked over horribly despite reluctantly licking the company’s boots -- you’re also self - centered enough to seek vengeance at all costs. And barring the whole corrupt lawyer thing, being self - centered isn’t necessarily bad. An ordinary person wouldn’t have the means to take on Myer Corp. and that’s why most ‘normal’ folks would just give up on revenge, willingly (if they’re of the insane ‘I will suffer in silence and simply expect to get over the horrible destruction of my self like a good girl’ variety) or unwillingly. But Vincent has the genius, the insider info and the wealth to fuck over Myer Corp.’s experimenters - SO WHY WOULDN’T HE ? 

Yes, his ostensible targeting of a probably memory - wiped Vanora is not at all a good move - in fact it was mostly quite dumb and could’ve been averted since altering memories can definitely change a person’s goals, loyalties, personality and philosophy (Vanora at the game’s start, before Vincent intentionally reminded her of her past, was harmless). But Myer Corp sent her to kill him, and maybe he was paranoid that she could be a sleeper agent, BUT most importantly his terrible experiences have understandably fucked him up psychologically and he’s NOT thinking straight at all. Therefore Vanora and those he killed may be brainwashed company pawns just like him, following callous orders for self - preservation or profit, but it’s hardly easy to empathise with that when you’re stewing in your own hell. That’s something smoothly said but rarely done, and very few of you morality hecklers would be saintly enough to pull it off if you were in his place. 

Do you seriously think that ANYBODY is such a dumb baby lamb that they’ll simply get over their life being ruined, having to eat humans to live, suffering long agony; perk up, fix a smile on their face, and try to live out the rest of their life like they’re fucking Jesus Christ a - okay with being crucified ? No, and whether they were a bad enough person to be called hypocritical for their obsession (like Vincent probably is) DOESN’T MATTER. Because the alternative is fucking unrealistic and oppressive (like Madoka Magica’s bird - brained ‘happier ending’ where the puella magi swallow their pain and straight up have to die so that their pain won’t make them lash out in the only way they can). 

Point is, Vincent’s mad fixation on gorily wiping out Myers IS, as far as we know, NOT good, yes. But given his realistically morally grey personality, his trauma and his circumstances, it makes sense. Similarly, his attempt to kill Vanora after HIMSELF ensuring she’d remember her past and calling her loyal to Myers at heart was SUPER DUMB and horrible - but it makes sense given the above. The world is full of Vincent Edgeworth, Self - Preserving Ex - Corrupt Lawyers. Unconditionally loving, naive, selfless Dracos are rare. 

And tbh, I personally find a fucked - up Vincent very interesting, realistic and poignant. I don’t care that he’s problematic because he’s super well - written.

[ankhmeanswombman]

Life’s cycles of ceaseless sorrow can be easily diverted to the direction of pure light. The truth will set you free is quite literally the grandest piece of philosophy ever given. Those wasting time on fickle lies and taking incomplete opinion pieces to heart will forever be in a state of paranoia as they keep seeking an outside reason or force for why their lives and the world at large are falling to pieces. Ask and you shall receive applies to both darkness and light. The majority asks for darkness and therefore receives darkness, even the most hardline conspiracy theorist will admit that the elites exist to profit off of people, yet they conveniently leave out the fact that the people in question are riddled with crises and strife and have been abusing one another behind closed doors for aeons which is why they are now being utilised as pawns on these elites chessboard, who are simultaneously providing for, and culling, the masses. Eye for an eye, cause for effect. People who wallow in darkness and entitlement will get their just deserts by being catered to by people just as psychotic as they are. The average person has a closet of shadows they cloak in skins of nicety, maintaining an illusion that gets spat right back at them by those equally as fake as them, who champion goals of global dominion thinly veiled behind a smokescreen of public service. And they keep succeeding because they keep giving back, spitting morsels of filth at a world hungrily gobbling up every crumb. Faith creates reality and the average person, being as fake as they are, lying so much to themselves, genuinely do not see how their chosen representative can possibly ever be corrupt anyway, drowned as they are in the red-blue polarity, sticking to their script of falsehood. Most of the world wants to be ruled, the natural result of being Godless and confused.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Anakin's fall to the Dark Side

Anakin was born Sith. This is a term bestowed upon him by Qui-gon when he noted that he's "Probably the chosen one" and the reason why the Jedi Council wouldn't train him.

But still; that doesn't quite explain his fall to the "Dark Side" does it?

That statement holds a lot of different pieces of Star wars lore, about the "Sith'ari". A lot I don't want to extrapolate here because many content creators already have.

Because of this the term "Sith" doesn't have any dark side connotations. And the only one who identified himself as "Sith" was the Emperor Palpatine.

So there's a lot of unexplored territory as to what "Sith" actually means during this era of the Star Wars franchise. And while KotoR designated the name for a race of evil beings... I'm not quite certain that's the whole truth either.

What happened to Anakin; Force Balancer?

Seemingly trapped in a lifetime of slavery he momentarily gained his freedom to be trained as Jedi; only to lose it again when his mother died.

At this point in time; Anakin was a Jedi Warrior. Not a good person. The Jedi were not good. They fought and they killed people. By the time he took his wrath out on the people he thought murdered his mother; he had already [lifed] whole peoples under Jedi order.

Most of the media portrays this as just him fighting robots. But to him; C-3P0 was more than a robot..a person. And also; he was tasked as a General in war against *real people*. The things they don't tell you in Jedi history. To make them seem more benevolent.

This was already second nature to Anakin thanks to the Jedi teachings and the Orders given to him by "The Light Side of the Force".

There's no telling if the People of Tatooine actually tortured his mother, or if they were directed to by another source or if they actually tried to nurse his mother back to health *but* their medicine was poison to human.

I don't think Anakin even knows. The Force Guided his actions because he wasn't fully conscious of them. That's what Blind Rage can do, and why the Jedi teach you to be cognizant of them.

Even Obi-Wan was not immune to this, but the only two people alive that he might've cared about were Qui-gon and Anakin. He didn't have to face the same pain Anakin had.

This is the point Anakin was chained to the dark side. He was being controlled by Palpatine through the dark side of the force.

It's likely he either couldn't articulate the problem to the council; or that they wouldn't listen. The Sith don't exist anymore afterall, and *those* teachings were buried by Councils past.

We do know that the Jedi stood in the way of Profit margins, but we don't know what impact that had on the people they were blocking.

We may never know.

What we do know is that Anakin was molded by the people who sworn to serve the light and peace into a perfect weapon. And then disallowed to voice any dissent.

This opened him up to the dark side, to be wielded by somebody who would use him for evil.

Anakin isn't dumb, Obi-Wan had the high ground.

"You don't know what's going on with me" he pleaded and cried. And launched himself at Obi. Not in hopes of victory, or this hardheaded arrogance that he was painted as.

He was [ritual of lifing] he wished for obi to save him by releasing him from his bondage. The only way he could think to do it.

It wasn't Anakin that defeated Dooku, he did not want to pull the trigger at the end. He hesitated. But in the back of his mind Sidious words echoed "Do it."

Unfortunately, it was Obi's own reluctance that sealed Darth Vaders fate. Anakin was sealed off from the force, and thus the only connection he had to life; Padmè Amadala.

And the Emperor's victory was complete. The pawn became his Queen.

[waheelawhisperer]

Hmm, Doc Heely questions: (1) this guy have any particular weapon preferences? (2) what sort of enemies has he made by the time best horse & crocnurse start working out their triad (or however many that turns out)? and...damn, what else...(3) is Lappy territorial about whatever they have or just Generally Lappy?

Contains spoilers for Arknights story events under the readmore.

Given that his preferred assassination method in the past was decapitation, he's very fond of anything with bladed edges, particularly swords and knives. Kal'tsit tries very hard to keep him away from bladed weapons for this reason and nearly has an aneurysm when Texas and Lappland let him try out their swords.

His enemies are... mainly just the standard canon ones, I guess, with the addition of Kal'tsit as his sitcom archnemesis? He's also Tomimi's mortal foe because Gavial pays too much attention to him.

Jk I lied he also hates Italians because he thinks the famiglie are a bunch of worthless thugs and absolutely despises the way the Signori Dei Lupi play bullshit power games using people as disposable pawns. Doctor Waheela has very firm ideas about the responsibility of those with power to protect and uplift those without, and the famiglie... do the exact opposite of that, so he thinks they're a bunch of losers who only know how to prey on the weak and butcher each other over their share of the sheep. He's very focused on efficiency and all his assassinations and plans and machinations are very no-frills, no-nonsense, no-theatrics, except as necessary to complete the contract or his personal objectives (e.g. leaving the decapitated corpse of a king sitting on his own throne is very dramatic, but it accomplishes something by reminding his court that no one is safe from the Saberwolf of the Headless Valley, so they'd better toe the line), so he thinks all the posturing and such the famiglie and their wise guys engage in is pointless petty bullshit and holds them in contempt because of it.

He was actually involved with the relocation of some of the families to Columbia (not the one who started it, though. Basically, Salvatore Texas got in contact with him and proposed the move and, as someone roughly affiliated with Columbia, he supported it enthusiastically and basically ran interference* with the Signori Dei Lupi while Salvatore and the other families that immigrated to Columbia made the transition). He tried teaching them his assassin wisdom but they learned the wrong lessons from it and it pissed him off so much he left Columbia for Victoria for a bit. He was trying to get them to be more efficient in terms of combat and operations and such and abandon all the egotistical posturing and grandstanding that characterizes the Siracusan mafia and instead they were just like "focus exclusively on profit, got it" so he just facepalmed and left before he got pissed off and killed them all. I think the moment where Salvatore was murdered by his son was the point where he just said "fuck this, you people are unsalvageable" and decided to relocate. He feels a bit guilty about this because if he'd still been around the liquidation of the Texas family would've gone differently (Signora Sicilia would've been forced to come herself instead of just sending the famiglie on her behalf and Texas never would've had to make her deal with Zaaro/Famiglia Bellone. He couldn't have stopped the liquidation entirely on his own, but he absolutely could've gotten Texas out), and also because he later sees how badly Siracusa fucked up Texas and especially Lappland and that's something he could have and would have protected them from if he'd known.

I'm playing around with the timeline a bit here but he's also not at all a fan of the Victorian nobility as a whole and has spent a lot of time in conflict with them for one reason or another. The reason he went to Victoria was to check in on the Aslan royal dynasty because he's invested a lot into them as a counterbalance to the nobility, but then he learned that the Aslan royal family had all been slaughtered, which came on the heels of his disappointment with the Columbian famiglie and all this together frustrated him so much that he decided to a) become a doctor/scientist instead of an assassin and b) fuck off to the middle of nowhere to sulk and write papers. If he'd been thinking a bit more clearly, he could've found and raised Siege, and I'm not sure if that would have made things better or worse.

For the third question, the answer is a bit of both? Lappy's being a bit of a shit because she's Lappy but she's also genuinely close friends with Doctor Waheela and gets very protective of him as a result. She doesn't necessarily get jealous of new additions to... whatever they've got going on unless she feels like she's not getting enough attention (her response is usually "oh hell yes a new friend/[boy/girl]friend/target to annoy this rules), but she watches anyone close to him like a hawk because he's fragile, relatively speaking, and she refuses to risk someone who helped her along the healing process the way he did. Lappy doesn't have a lot of people she's close to, and she does not particularly care to lose the ones she's got.

(Fun fact this actually led to Texas and Lappland giving Nearl the "if you ever hurt him" speech, which backfired completely because Margie got offended by the thought that she would ever do that in the first place and ended up guilt-tripping both of them into apologizing)

*He kicked their asses and made them eat shitty knockoff French versions of Italian food and told them that if they ever set foot in his territory again he'd make them eat more of it, just one of the many reasons they hate and fear him in equal measure

[bonajadesrpnt]

headcanons: on kakavasha / aventurine;

Starting off this blog with the best known connection we've seen in the game, I will be starting off by stating that Jade does not see Aventurine as anything but a valuable investment. In a sense, she doesn't even see him as a person but as a chess piece that she has taken in and uses on her board to win. She has seen what he offers and deducted it's going to bring in more profit than killing him off for what he'd done.

Kakavasha - when first introduced to her - was supposed to be on a death row, a person who was supposed to be executed. It's important to note that Jade is written as someone who can "read people's hearts" and what do we hear first from her when she meets an Avgin, who are stereotyped back and forth and when we know how Aventurine feels about his eyes? She asks him about if his eyes glow in the dark. We are all aware how Aventurine feels about his eyes from the get-go, we are players know it thanks to his backstory, but I believe so does Jade understands his dislike of such behavior. She is not a fool, she's been fully aware of what surrounds Avgins' history and made such a comment to see what kind of reaction will Kakavasha show her in that moment.

It was already the beginning of a test: Are you worth it? Are you smart enough to know what allies you can pick? Do you have an eye on opportunity when it presents to you?

Let's put this down as the basis of her behavior: Jade was searching for a TOOL to use in her agenda, in her machinations, and by passing her test? Aventurine proved to be exactly what she needed. But he is a dangerous investment, but then again: high stakes, high rewards. It's a very similar approach of Aventurine to his own job, Jade isn't to dissimilar it's just that she has far more power than the gambler and she is more aware of what plans need to be moved forward. While Aventurine - as a senior manager - puts his own life on the line, Jade puts others' lives on the line and isn't afraid to use sacrificial pawns to further her own goals and the goals of the IPC. It's all business, and in business there is nothing personal.

Is he unpredictable? Yes. Does he have an extensive grudge against the IPC? She is fully aware. Does she expect him to someday go against them? In a sense, yes, but she is also aware that he simply cannot. And even if he does? He then would serve his due as the chess piece and as a Stoneheart she invested in.

Jade is on his side because she is basically his sponsor, and as his sponsor it's also important for her reputation to have her 'pawns' be as well off as she is. Thus, if there are ever her stepping in for Aventurine's sake? It's never personal, it's all about better strategy and business. Because how Aventurine behaves also reflect on her who invested in him and his presence at the IPC. Therefore, she ensures he is taken care of, especially in the beginning. He is her lucky charm, as fucked up as it sounds, and he is an investment she is fully willing to see how he turns out. She is aware of how far he can go because she saw the potential in him.

Not only that, if Aventurine were to be taken in by Oswaldo, it'd be an issue for both herself AND Diamond, which she couldn't allow to happen. Because she knows Aventurine is smart and he can survive where Oswaldo may fail to 'keep' Aventurine as he is within the IPC. Jade made sure that Aventurine is fully aware that he is still on the line, she still has the capability of sending him off to die. It's not just his missions, but she has the power to get him executed. One way or another.

There is power imbalance between them, and it's all too big. From connections to history to experience. It's wildly unhealthy, but... It's all about business, you see. There is nothing personal, only business.

[videntefernandez]

Okay now more info on Karsten!

(Don't really hate him, but I don't like him either lol. Minerva stays my favorite from the Lustgarden fam)

It's okay to hate him, he's the villain!

So yeah we have already talked about his childhood in Austria, traveling a lot, going to school in Germany and meeting Dick. Going to US and enrolling in the army, marrying Minerva. Dick went to business school and Karsten went to medical school majoring in virology.

In college is where he joined his first secret society, there he met his frienemy JC Sunderland (I stole the name from silent hill because james is my boyfriend and there's also a ton of horror references peppered in there). He was another doctor who was majoring in immunology, and they both joined the society for vastly different reasons, one wanting to create and spread new diseases and the other wanting to find a cure for everything, so they butted heads a lot.

And the thing about the medical secret society, the Osamentas, is that you have to work in pairs so you can complement each other, watch each other's backs, and so that one person can continue the project in case the other dies; so ironically Karsten and JC were paired up together.

Their project was something akin to the 1968 flu pandemic, with one spreading the virus and the other one creating a vaccine that they could sell for hideously inflated prices. The Osamentas are responsible for keeping people ill and constantly paying for treatment, the whole story is based on conspiracy theories like that.

Once their project had found success, he was approached by the devil at a Blood and Bone party, pretty typical Faustian contract. This was a particular greed demon named Euronymus, and Karsten was offered immense wealth in exchange for his soul. Though being in a demonic arrangement doesn't end there. Aside from participating in the society's rituals (offerings to Moloch, humilliation rituals, cannibalistic rituals, orgies, etc) he had to offer constant sacrifices to Euronymus, one of them being his first born, another being the opening of a hell portal.

So two birds with one stone, he built his hospital ON the portal, which he could use to profit from patients and also allow demons into earth so they can carry on Euronymus' business. Though like i said, the sacrificing of the first born didn't work, so he sent him to work at the cursed hospital where he could possibly be killed, potentially hitting 3 birds with one stone.

After Minerva's death, he remarried 3 more times, always searching for another 3 children, but he never really loved the second or third wife as much (one of them was too young and slept with his son, the other one was only after his riches and was mysteriously killed by flesh eating bacteria) and by the time he married the third wife he was too old to procreate. Without illuminati pawns, he lost some clout in the society.

This is already so long. He cut contact with Diedrik because he married Kyrie who was below his social class, only reappearing by surprise at his union ceremony with Tristan who was from a well regarded family, but that's maybe a story for another time.

[audreyhardmeyerbloh]

Blog #4: The Sexualization and Objectification of Women and its Effects on its Viewers (9/23)

Next, I'll be talking about the sexualization &objectification of women in the media, the message it's sending, and its effect on its viewers. More times than not, I've seen advertisements, billboards, TV shows, films, magazines, and commercials objectifying sexualizing women for their own profit and the male gaze. Remember, a conventionally attractive naked body will bring in profit, money, and power, reinforcing this negative cycle of objectification. The majority of film makers or corporations that create movies are controlled by men. [Don't even get me started on the sexualization of women in video games, treating them as nothing but a sex trophy, seen as something to be won]. This leaves so much space and control for men to depict female characters and use women as they please. AKA allowance for sexism to run rampant! The sexualization of women online can translate to real-world violence and suppressive norms. I also think that the forceful sexualization of women in digital media and films takes away from women's choice to show their bodies, which can be self-empowering and showcase their own agency to use their bodies how they want to use them.

According to graph by the Annenberg School of Journalism, “over the past 10 years, top films have shown more than 40 percent of young women in “sexy clothes and 35 percent with nudity” (Smith et al., 2017). While women are already underrepresented in many careers, leadership roles, and specifically films, they are also objectified and used to evoke sexual desire in consumers. Many female characters and films don't get to show their personality, have an opinion, or have control, or power. Instead, they are given roles as a sexual “sidekick”, to keep people watching the films. As portrayed in Disney, many female characters exist primarily to serve the male protagonist storyline, such as Jasmine and Aladdin, Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Meg from Hercules. For example, in The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie is used as a sex pawn and has no other big role in the movie other than to be sexy and objectified. In a movie about scamming and life on Wall Street, there is no objective reason as to why her character should be naked, it is only for the male gaze and to push the agenda that it's OK to objectify women. Giada Gavazzi says that “ her main contribution to the film is aesthetic: we see her fully naked in one scene, topless in another, and otherwise clad mostly in lingerie and tight dresses” (Gavazzi, 2022).

Women are hyper-sexualized in the media, and it is everywhere. There will be commercials or digital advertisements that are trying to sell things that have nothing to do with a woman's body, but they use a woman's body to sell the product. And in this case, women's bodies are being used as sellable commodities and objectified via sexualization of them. I've even seen a soap commercial that uses a naked woman in the commercial and for what? To use women as a distraction or an object – the woman is the object getting as well. Elizabeth Gonzalez, in a presentation, made a really good distinction. She explains that sexualization occurs in four components. To paraphrase, women are first sexualized when their value is determined by their physical or sexual appeal,  not their personality. The second is when young girls are treated as sexual or sexualizing children. The third is when a woman is held to a standard that only equates their attractiveness to being sexy, naked, or hot, rather than being smart, kind, or intelligent. The last is when a woman is made into a tool for others' sexual desires, rather than treated as a human person who has agency and independence. All of this exponentially is occurring in the media, specifically, films, and examples are shown in many of the classic Disney films.

It happens in politics, rallies, and other important events. What I also want to mention is how the sexualization of women takes away from the fights that they may have to battle. For example, in Pocahontas, the young Indigenous woman is sexualized and romanticized in a way that takes away from the historical event that is happening in the film. Pocahontas and the rest of her tribe are fighting for their lives, their land, and their agency. At the same time, Disney is creating a character who is seen as sexy and in need of a husband, to gain happiness. Sexualization here is being used to mask the reality of a brutal and cruel situation, which is colonization and genocide. This classic message is that life can be fixed with a man and that a beautiful, sexy woman will not have any issues if they have a man who is sick and shown in a sexualized narrative. Pocahontas does not need to be shown in sexy clothing that is not at all representative of Indigenous tribes, etcetera. This type of sexualization, on a broader scale, serves as some type of distraction from the deeper issues and battles that women face, such as inequality, systematic violence, and dehumanization. By focusing on a woman's breasts, no structure, cleavage, or waist-to-hip ratio, it honestly dulls conversations about women's rights, agency, and independence that women still fight for. In this case, it also masks the reality of the situation in the movie Pocahontas; Pocahontas and the rest of her Indigenous tribe are fighting for the land that they own.

To bring the Disney corporation into this as well, there are far too many examples of the princesses being sexualized and objectified. Just to note, many of the Disney princesses are very young, I'm talking 11 to 14 years old --some of them are dressed up in very revealing shorts, busty shirts, showing cleavage, and being half naked. Why do young characters need so much revealing clothing, if the Disney corporation is not trying to send a sexualized message about women to the consumers? Unfortunately, Disney sexualizes adolescent and preteen princesses, because they have An audience of not only young children, but parents and adults. How do they get older people to also watch these classic Disney films? Well, they make some of the women look sexy, flirtatious, and stunningly beautiful, to attract the male gaze and male viewers. Although on one side these princesses are idols for young girls and boys, they're also sex symbols for adults and older individuals. Pocahontas tells the story of an 11 to 12-year-old girl, who is romantically involved with a man. Jessica Rabbit is shown as a very voluptuous sexy symbol. Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Ariel from The Little Mermaid only wears a bra and shows 75% of her entire body, and she's a young girl. Hanes found that even “ The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media found recently that even animated female characters tend to wear sexualized attire: Disney's Jasmine, for instance, has a sultry off-the-shoulder look, while even Miss Piggy shows cleavage” (Hanes, 2011).

Once again the prominent sexualization of women in films or digital media helps to shape perceptions of how women are valued and seen. From Coca-Cola advertising campaigns to the Friends TV show and the classic Disney Princess films, women are often depicted as mere objects of sexual desire, which do not attain agency, control, or power, and don't even get me started brains or intellect. This type of representation and sexist stereotype that prioritizes conventional beauty, bodies, and physical appearance is extremely harmful. The agenda is pushed that a woman's worth is linked to her body or sex appeal, which can have effects on both girls and boys, who view films that portray these messages. For example, if young girls and women view movies where women are constantly sexualized or used for their bodies, this can lead women to think that they are only as good as their bodies. Or that they need to achieve the unattainable beauty standards that the male patriarchy portrays through Disney films, such as a thin waist, a button nose, voluptuous hair, fair skin, etcetera. This can tank self-esteem, and create body image issues, and mental health disturbances. On the other hand, for young boys, it teaches them that it's OK to only look at women as inferior objects or as simple bodies come up rather than recognize them as individuals with agency and independence.

Persistent viewing of sexualized images holds the potential to desensitize young audiences, which creates the normalization of objectifying women.  Swagata Sen says that “men tend to internalize that message, and it influences their subconscious biases of how they view women… they legitimize violence, harassment, and anti-women views” (Sen, 2019). The more this happens, the more people believe this is how socialization and society should function. Men have created dominant views in the USA because they are seen as the ones whose decisions and views should be taken as "facts." This includes perpetuating the idea that women are just objects that can be used and paraded around for men and their happiness or that when we have to look sexy and hot to even gain an ounce of respect or attention from our male counterparts. Furthermore, because the devaluation of women has become ingrained in daily life via digital media (AND DISNEY MOVIES), the widespread adoption of such imagery and characters fosters social acceptance of sexism and sexualization.

In the Disney movies, the female characters were way more sexualized than the male characters. They were wearing clothing that was revealing of a sexualized body part or physical feature and treated as objects, in a way. One person even said, "Ariel’s cinched waist and round derriere reminded me of Kim K, which is a little disturbing to see…” (Dockterman & Stampler, 2014). according to Disney, she's a 16-year-old girl. She is one of the youngest daughters of King Triton but is portrayed in such a way as to make her look much older and more developed. She has a seashell bra that is very provocative, shows 80% of her body, has perfect hair and skin, and a tinier waist than the length of her eyes. To me, this is outright sexualizing a young teenage girl, which has even broader implications to women in general Sexualization does include making young childlike girls look more adult like and sexy. I think that it's very twisted and pushes a certain agenda to make women look a certain way, via the way they portrayed Ariel in The Little Mermaid. In this short clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG6zL909y_o&t=99s ) much of the focus and shots are on her body. Even I am watching back the film, couldn't help but stare at how beautiful and perfect she looks. It makes me feel bad about myself! I'll never have the waste of her, or the voluptuous lips, hips, breasts, and etcetera. Disney showcases but a perfect and conventional woman looks like, which is aerial, which sexualizes women in a negative way. I don't know if I know one woman who naturally looks like that, and women who do look like that are sexualized. Women who are beautiful, get catcalled, sexually harassed, and objectified for their looks, which is instigated via digital media and Disney films.

We also see this in Jasmine from Aladdin. Jasmine is supposedly around 15 or 16 years old. She wears a tiny crop top, and flowy pants accentuate our tiny waist and big size. She has perfect eyeliner, huge eyes, perfect hair, and tiny wrists and feet. Again, she looks breathtaking and stunning but focuses on her body rather than what she wants for her life and decisions. She even says in the movie that she is not an object or a prize to be sold or won. Jasmine says in this small clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_WRPz-arFA ), “ …all of you standing around and deciding my future, I am not a prize to be won.” They outright objectify and sexualize Jasmine in the film, her father, the Sultan, Jafar, and other men who are begging for her on their hands and knees. Another point that I want to point out is the dominance of the sexualization of women of color in the media in general. Women of color are often sexualized and objectified and stereotyped as exotic, sexual, or erotic -- which stems from racist and gendered depictions. The intersection of race and gender can be seen here in Jasmine or Esmeralda. Jasmine is a woman from the Middle East, unsure of her actual ethnicity. Women from the Middle East are often sexualized and exoticized when portrayed in white contemporary films, more so than if a white character is playing the same role. Back to my point, many women in the Middle East do not regularly wear revealing clothing because it's a part of the culture or religion. There is no good reason that a young 16-year-old Princess named Jasmine should be sexualized in a way where she's wearing ‘suggestive’ clothing(or written into the storyline as such) because it's not representative of who she is supposed to be.

There's also a scene where Jafar imprisons Jasmine. Again, she is dressed in the sexiest attire, with, well, I'm sure, his hair, beautiful jewelry, a tiny waist, and revealing clothes. So far, then says very sexist and stereotypical verbiage associated with sexualization, “a beautiful desert bloom like yourself should be on the arm of the most powerful man in the world.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW95aHWcwQM&t=34s ) She's then seen talking in a flirtatious and sexy tone and using provocative body language towards Jafar. Disney explicitly made her look like a sex object in this scene, but again, she's only 16 years old. I don't understand the intent behind this whatsoever. This also creates the narrative that women can only get what they want or get out of a troubling situation if they sexualize themselves for the male gaze. Many times, I've been in this scenario or have seen others in a scenario where they have to objectify themselves to a male to get what they need. This may mean, in a way, using your body, flaunting your hips and waist, and being flirtatious to get out of the uncomfortable situation, get what you need, get safety, or anything in between. Jasmine has to flaunt her body and pretend that she is sexually desired by Jafar to escape his imprisonment. This is such a bad thing to teach young women that they have to use their bodies to be paid attention to or even respected in a way.

Citations:

https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/the-future-is-female.pdf (Smith et al. article)

https://prezi.com/mhlnspaqxzma/the-sexualization-of-women-in-the-media/?fallback=1 (Elizabeth Gonzalez presentation)

https://thematthewrome.com/2022/03/15/male-gaze-and-female-objectification-in-contemporary-cinema/ (Gavazzi article)

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0924/Little-girls-or-little-women-The-Disney-princess-effect (Hanes article)

https://www.rightsofequality.com/objectification-and-exploitation-of-girls-and-women-by-the-mass-media-and-the-social-media/ (Sen Article)

https://time.com/3586569/sexist-little-mermaid/ (Dockterman & Stampler article)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG6zL909y_o&t=99s (ariel clip)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_WRPz-arFA (jasmine clip)

[reasoningdaily]

Futurism: Billionaire Drools That "Citizens Will Be on Their Best Behavior" Under Constant AI Surveillance

Here's something worth noting, though: in 2022, Oracle was sued for running a "worldwide surveillance machine" which was facilitated by allegedly collecting billions of people's personal information and pawning it off to third parties.

It settled the case in July, agreeing to pay $115 million. Make of that what you will.

"Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on."

Say Cheese!

If it were up to Larry Ellison, the exorbitantly rich cofounder of software outfit Oracle, all of us will soon be smiling for the camera — constantly. Not for a cheery photograph, but to appease our super-invasive, if not totally omnipresent, algorithmic overseers.

As Business Insider reports, the tech centibillionaire glibly predicts that the wonders of AI will bring about a new paradigm of supercharged surveillance, guaranteeing that the proles — excuse us, "citizens" — all behave and stay in line.

"We're going to have supervision," Ellison said this week at an Oracle financial analysts meeting, per BI. "Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there's a problem, AI will report that problem and report it to the appropriate person."

"Citizens will be on their best behavior," he added, "because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on."

Cop Out

Of course, many of these surveillance apparatuses — security cameras, bodycams — are already in place. The novel dystopian development would be that AIs would be deployed to monitor these feeds constantly — which already happens to some extent in experimental forms, but not as pervasively as Ellison envisions — so those poor, outnumbered Feds at intelligence agencies everywhere have a little backup.

Hell, it might even give patrol cops a run for their money, according to Ellison. Why have them engage in a risky car chase, for example, when you can get an AI drone to tail a suspect instead?

"You just have a drone follow the car," Ellison said, per BI. "It's very simple in the age of autonomous drones."

Ivory Power

This is all very rich coming from a guy who's, well, very rich. Depending on whose estimate you go by, Ellison's net worth is north of $200 billion, making him the second wealthiest person in the world behind Elon Musk (another tech bigwig who, it's worth mentioning, is currently profiting off government surveillance).

Under Ellison's stewardship, Oracle has been attempting to position itself as another leader in the AI race, and has quickly integrated the tech into its cloud computing services.

It's not a stretch to say that the Austin-based corporation will want to be part of that royal "we" Ellison is so fond of using that will oversee the "citizens." Here's something worth noting, though: in 2022, Oracle was sued for running a "worldwide surveillance machine" which was facilitated by allegedly collecting billions of people's personal information and pawning it off to third parties.

It settled the case in July, agreeing to pay $115 million. Make of that what you will.

[dankusner]

HOG HEAVEN: Scenes from Dallas — John Lahr

In this "relentlessly acute essay" in which Lahr examines Dallas as "a symbol of the way contemporary America has distorted the American Dream" (cf. www.johnlahr.com), the author offers portraits of such Dallas personalities as street preacher Prophet Calhoun, cosmetics tycoon Mary Kay Ash, Dallas Theater Center founder Paul Baker, and politician/civil rights activist Al Lipscomb.

••• Photocopy of a typescript with manuscript corrections.

Call Number: 976.42812 L184H 1979 (319604748)

Dallas seeks to protect its community from perversion but perversely glorifies other neurotic behavior.

Vindictiveness is seen as drive, megalomania as commitment, greed as just reward.

The result is a community that has avoided the shame of penury, only to commit the greater sin of mercilessness. 

The 26-member Dallas Motion Picture Board – the only one of its kind in America – meets weekly to impose its own ratings on the Parental Guidance pictures. 

The Board meets at City Hall. The members wee and assess every commercial ‘PG’ release and either reject or accept it as suitable for young persons.

The Board is empowered to add its own symbols of classification to indicate exceptions to the films suitability.

According to the Dallas City Code, 

“L”  means obscene language

“S” means sexual conduct or explicit sexual conduct or defecation or urniation.

“V”  means infliction of serious physical harm to a person, animal or inanimate object, or serious injury to a person. 

“D” means use of harmful drugs or drug abuse.

“N” means nudity.

“P”  means a perverse person such as a masochist, sadist, pederast, or other aberrant sexual person. 

The Dallas skyline rises up out of the flatlands like a bar graph of profits

Banks and insurance companies

The car is a means of cultural sterilization that keeps each segment of Dallas sterilized from the experience of others

Radio... Dallas is to money what NYC is to fashion

The Athens of the alfalfa fields

High roller and low rider

1250 marfa

The conquistadors led by Francisco de Coaronado left the land to the Caddo in 1542.

The only place in the United States Mr Lahr examines in detail is Dallas, which he calls 'Hog Heaven', where his country's notorious faults are exemplified in their most exaggerated forms. 

He is most irritating when he slams away at “the American People” or when he takes pot shots at easy targets (Dallas and Neiman-Marcus in a long, only fitfully interesting chapter called “Hog Heaven: Scenes from Dallas”).

Hog Heaven: Scenes from Dallas 

Mr. Lahr is such a fine writer and critic it seems a shame he's misplaced the sense of humor that informed ''The Autograph Hound'' (1973), his bleak novel that also dealt with the pathology of fame in American life. Except when he's quoting lines from the book's funny men, he's resolutely glum here, and he's disinclined to give credit for humor and irony as practiced by others. However self-regarding Miss Didion's reports on the American scene (or those of another Lahr target, Hunter S. Thompson), they're still far more valuable than the one extended example of firsthand reportage in ''Automatic Vaudeville'' - a flat and deadly earnest account of contemporary Dallas in which football is described as ''a paradigm of the corporate struggle'' and the spendthrifts at Neiman-Marcus are dutifully contrasted with disenfranchised Chicanos. Instead of serving as a model of selfless journalism of the Agee or Orwell school, the piece becomes a sample of disembodied, automatic writing in which rich and poor alike serve as faceless pawns in the author's unassailably right-minded morality play.

''Hog Heaven: Scenes From Dallas'' - as this article is almost predictably titled - is not the book's only piece of filler. A mash note (however deserved) to the rock and roll songsmiths Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller is a cheerless exercise in nostalgia in which caution is thrown to the winds so we can be told that ''Yakety Yak'' and ''Hound Dog'' were ''more than art - they were life.'' The brief essays on the Australian comic Barry Humphries (a Lahr hero who mocks ''every bourgeois value'') and the ''media celebrity'' Studs Terkel fail to persuade. But it will come as no surprise to admirers of Mr. Lahr's essential biography of Joe Orton (''Prick Up Your Ears'') that his tightly condensed summation of Orton's oeuvre nearly proves the proposition that the playwright was the ''master farceur of his age.'' SHOWCASE about the Stork Club... Tells about the annual Easter Sunday balloon grab at the Stork... Each balloon contained a prize: a bottle of Sortilege, a year’s supply of Cigogne soap, a hundred-dollar bill, a trip for two to Bermuda—all totems of the Stork Club’s special, almost giddy atmosphere of privilege and abundance... [A]mid the Easter shower of balloons it would momentarily lose its aplomb and turn into a scrum—shoving, stamping, grabbing, laughing, as its members battled for prizes. I remember seeing Dorothy Kilgallen jostling up against Walter Winchell and Roy Cohn and Ethel Merman, and even my father, Bert Lahr. That emblematic moment is captured both in an exhibition of photographs of the Club currently at the New-York Historical Society and in a new book, “Stork Club: America’s Most Famous Nightspot and the Lost World of Cafe Society,” by Ralph Blumenthal. Tells about proprietor Sherman Billingsley... The flames of the fifties Red scare were fanned at its tables ...and it was forever tarnished by an incident involving the celebrated black entertainer Josephine Baker, who claimed that she’d been refused service...

Lahr has a good ear for spoken conversation, as is immediately obvious in "Hog Heaven," a long essay on Dallas; and he quotes print equally well. 

Lacking any major mineral or agricultural resource

Regional marketplace

Mary Kay: powder pink Biarritz Cadillac Basic set costs $65 Someone's dad who was a tanner of hides developed a skin care line Called beauty control sold from The back of a beauty shop in oak cliff Paid $2k for the formula 1979: each director of consultants annual unit is $120k can drive a caddy for a year Applause mag has husbands corner. Seminar have consciousness raising "mr k " classes. The miss ultra ultras of Dallas Portraits of vacant eagerness

Dallas-- the last frontier of free enterprise Dallas is so young that it doesn't know what it can't do Dallas wax museum???

[kaidatheghostdragon]

The fight ring organizers think they picked up another 'young, dumb, and invincible' personality to screw over for profit in the ring, another poor sap to get lost in the gotham underbelly. They are not prepared for a baby godling in a human body.

Danny gives no fucks. He's a crowd favorite and knows it. There's something about his mix of self-defence foundation (his mom and ex girlfriend are ninth degree blackbelts, you cant tell me he doesnt know the basics) and feral raccoon street fighting packed into a skrungly teen body that hasnt yet hit its last growth spurt that has everyone rooting for him.

Shady underground fight club is shady. Sure, they made the effort to get all dolled up and lay out the rules for him. But two weeks in and he can already spot the scams theyre pulling. Skimming profits over here, threatening some of the fighters over there. With superhearing, he overheard the financer tell one of the fighters that they arent making enough money in the ring to pay off their debts, and another fight that they needed another week before they could pay the guy - right after giving danny a pretty hefty bonus in what was probably some convoluted entrapment scheme.

Danny just wants to fight. Why does it have to be so complicated to find a willing competitor to just throw down with?

He gives his bonus to the two other fighters, who are clearly being abused by this system. (Apparently, the first guy angered the wrong people and has been paying for it ever since. The second guy joined to make extra cash to pay off his wife's medical debt.)

Over the next few days, every fighter in the club seems to come out of the woodwork to warn him not to make waves. He's not invincible, the organizers will cut him down to size the moment his ego gets the best of him.

Two weeks later, after a long streak of wins, the organizers tell him to throw the next match, make all sorts of vague threats. Danny rolls his eyes at them. He's here to have fun, not be some shady organizations cash cow. When he goes into the ring, he calmly gestures for the referee's mic and announces to the crowd that he was ordered to throw the match.

The organizers are livid. They try to regain control of the crowd, threatened to kill danny, that he can run but he'll never be safe.

Danny scoffs. "No one ever tell you not to bite the hand that feeds? Seems counterproductive to threaten your prize fighter."

"I dont think you understand who's in charge here," they say. They already have a dozen bouncers pulling out weapons for "crowd control," and danny knows they organizers wont lose a wink of sleep if they have to hold the crowd hostage to control danny.

Real shame that all of their guns are suspiciously light on ammo... and whoops, now all their feet are frozen to the ground.

"I dont think *you* understand," he throws back at them, "im here to have fun and throw down. Im not your pawn, your debtor, or your latest mark to suck financially dry. If you have a problem with that, fight me."

Unfortunately, the bats arrived before they made their decision, and danny got the hell out of dodge before they could accuse him of being a meta.

A couple of days later, he tracked down the other two guys to discover that the fight club raid left them both jobless. Well, he happened to know they were decent fighters, and there happened to be a fight club vacuum in gotham at the moment...

And thats how danny found himself in the possession and management of an underground fight club.

DP x DC prompt #179

It took a while for Danny to realize that the ghosts in Amity Park(maybe even Vlad. He shudders thinking that) weren't fighting him for malicious reasons, but trying to get him to indulge in and support his baby ghost instincts. Now that he's in Gotham without any of his old friends(human or otherwise) he realizes that he's itching for a fight. When his classmate, Damian Wayne, picks a fight with him, he happily accepts.

[arttrampbelle]

You know what if you like the new fire god liu kang. Just block me. Because i absolutely hate what they are doing to him. Just straight up block me.

Like liu kang what did they do to you fr?!

Like why?

And the fact we got the best iteration of shang tsung in mk11. Only to have him treated like dogshit here in the new game says to me that nrs is not only fake af and used tagawa for profit.

Its disrespectful to him as an actor. Its disrespectful the the character.

And its fucking insulting.

I smell some dirty bullshit with nrs fr.

Like it feels so damn fake and condescending of nrs to do that.

Yeah brings back shao n wants to "turn him good" oh but we cant do the same for shang. When shao is worse than shang. And way to go nrs for being racist to asian men unless they are pretty,have the "correct personality traits" or are money making cash grab bullshit to dance n sing for you. (Same for other poc characters but yeah its getting worse for asian men and asian and indigenous Pacific peoples and cultures. But thats for another post. Unfortunately people still stay being racist to black characters but what else is fucking new?! Ugh. I hate these fans and nrs for that and people being absolutely stupid af to that but you know they only care about aesthetics and consuming product. But thats besides the point. ) like im just sick of it.

Yeah liu bring back and keep shao kahn the mofo that legitimately kills everyone in armageddon,committing genocide on tge supposed woman you loves people. Oh wait you dont actually love her now?! You think you're too important now for love?! Oh well shit. Shows who you really are. Guess you dont really care so as long as you get to have your cake and eat it too. Mr chosen,perfect,goody good shit.

Are nrs trying to actively sabotage its own franchise? Its own characters?! Im seriously doubting that its genuine they wanna make this game. Because im serious,liu kang doesn't feel like liu kang. AT ALL! like wtaf. It feels so hammy,so fucking black n white American comicbook,mcu marvel brainrot type of writing. It makes me wanna puke.

Considering how things played out in 11. And how well the did shang. How decent some characters were(not the best but better than past things in a long time.) We got something that hinted at actual threats,consequences. But then....nothing. all thats taken back because plot armor. Or enough fanboys whined. Like fr.

Now it feels like a huge downgrade. Like so much. And thats not saying a lot since 11 had huge plotholes and bad shit in it too.

But god damn.

Liu kang sounds like such an asshole and nobody's calling him out?!

Like wow.

Oh but shang is the biggest problem for you? No mofo. He's trying to knock some sense into you. Because you think you're infallible. But like all "gods" you can die too. And i hope you do. Painfully. Slowly. Excruciatingly.

If not by shang tsung than i hope dark raiden comes back to fucking whoop that smarmy fucking face clean off!

The only liu kang i love is mk shaolin monks liu and 95 movie liu kang. Thats it. Thats the only valid ones. Other than that. Liu can suck my metaphorical ballsack!

Fire god my asscrack. More like douchebag of the century.

He's worse than shao kahn. Makes him seem humble.

Unless liu is evil. Until that is announced. Liu kang can kiss my ass n die. Fr.

Unless its mk:sm or 95 movie liu. They can stay like i said. But fire god liu? Nah go die chosen boob. You reek of fanboys wank stains.

Im not just saying this because i like shang. Im pissed how ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE BEING TREATED LIKE LITTLE PAWNS TO GOD LIU KANG NOW! Like wtf. How is he good?! How is he still loved?! Again unless this is a villain arch... i dont see how this will actually work well. Its already shit but how are you still making it worse?! I dont get it.

Like it's a travesty that shang feels like a threat but also slightly sympathetic in mk11. But here,now. Its a fucking mockery. And liu isn't being called out for his hypocrisy. Hives shao kahn forgiveness. But not shang. Thats should be your first clue.

Im thinking fire god liu kang has to be a vassel for onaga. Why else would shao kahn live? But shang knows the truth thats why he wants to get rid of him? Because shang is the only one other than raiden who can fucking stop fire god liu cuck i mean kang. From fucking over everything.

That is the only way this will be slightly redeemed. But barely. Still not enough to forgive nrs and their sins.

Fans can hate. Me idgaf. Ive been a mk fan for many many many fucking years. Longer than most of this hellsite. So yeah. I was willing to try to give them a chance. But no. If thats how they play. And its not a villain arch for liu.

Then its official.... YOU SUCK NRS!