#referenced what vatican did

[keshetchai]

Haha yeah. I just reblogged and expanded on this in detail, but this guy represents a growing movement within Catholicism that is centered around rejecting the Second Vatican Council and therefore rejects a lot of the mainstream Catholic theological positions that you were probably taught as someone raised Catholic.

...Assuming you are under the age of 59!

Vatican II of course, includes the theological assertion that you learned, which is that all of humanity was collectively responsible for jesus's crucifixion, and not "all of the Jews, then or now." This also directly influenced the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) that has been used as the basis/structure/reference for like...basic Catholic study/teachings.

I heard that the football player Harrison Butker's commencement speech at Benedictine University went viral because it was wildly sexist and was like arguing women should just be wives and mothers. But as a Jewess BOY DID EVERYONE BURY THE LEDE ABOUT THE ANTISEMITIC DOGWHISTLES HE STARTED OFF WITH.....

[subzeroparade]

Hello! I really liked the clothes you designed for Laurence in the last artwork. I was wondering if it's just an alternative design to the usual one or if it's how you'll draw him from now on. Is it maybe something he wore before he started wearing the choir clothes?

Thank you anon (・‧̫・) Also you made the mistake of asking me about fashion, so - *inhales*

I’ve drawn Laurence in version(s) of the Choir garb before (you'll notice I change his sleeves a lot lol), but I normally almost never draw characters in the same outfits all the time, even if they are canon - just by virtue of being bored of it, and wanting to invent. 

The one you’re referencing was early Church, in my timeline - there’s two similar ones that I’ve more or less described in fic that are simpler, and closer to typically clerical/in-game Church garb. One of the first scenes in The Feast We Were Promised (which deals mostly with early Church timeline) is Laurence changing from the weighty, jewelled chasuble he wears in the context of ministration/communion in the Grand Cathedral into a modest black cassock to return to the Chapel of the Good Chalice down in the poorer quarters of old Yharnam. There is a certain canny strategy for the Church to remain humble in what they wear, if only to imply a sort of modesty and separation from the main religious powers of the time - there’s an established church, in this timeline, with all its pomp and splendour (because sects don’t just spring up in a religious vacuum).

I think that changes with the founding of the Choir, and the domination of the Healing Church as the main religious organisation over time, consolidating its power on the reputation of the blood. I think the Choir garb feels like a kind of mix between clerical clothes and Byrgenwerth-style robes (this should not be surprising - Willem’s imagery in his chair is very papal). This reflects the Church’s eventual takeover of Byrgenwerth, and how the Choir is established - which is to say an "order", or faction of the Church only in name, but solely focused on using the Church’s resources to attain ascension/communion. I like to imagine that Laurence would wear a different variation of the Choir garb at the height of his power, to distinguish himself - incorporating some of these more traditional liturgical symbols, since he retains the title of vicar. 

On the other side of the Church’s heyday, I think the more things get out of hand, the more ostentatious their dress - a sort of visual power, if you will, that negates what is happening in the streets with the coming scourge. A veneer of material splendour to mask the reality - a show of control, and mastery, even as the Church is impotent in the face of what's happening. In that sense I’d imagine Laurence wearing really ornate chasubles, or the kind of stunning cope that Lenny wears (minus the hat) in the Sistine Chapel scene in The Young Pope (which I am a big fan of). To bring it back to your first question, that white and black ensemble is a play on both real ecclesiastical garb but also specifically Lenny’s wardrobe, and his countenance when he wears it. (The costume designer, Carlo Poggioli, did a spectacular job working from the existing pieces in the Vatican museum). The red shoes in that final design above are a bit of a joke - the pope actually wears red shoes in real life, but the version on set are Louboutins and were nicknamed by Poggioli “the Ferraris” (extra inside joke - my Laurence has partly Corsican roots for obvious parallels with another historical tyrant).  

As for Ludwig, I almost always give him a different outfit - even in plainclothes - but I like the idea that he only starts wearing that pseudo-Executioner’s garb after the Cainhurst massacre (in my timeline, anyway). I always try to add a little element of armour to his clothing and to distinguish him from both the clergy and other Church-affiliated folk, be they Prospectors or Hunters. Beyond actual historical sources, I’m obsessed with Jany Temime’s work in House of the Dragon, and so you’ll find traces of the Kingsguard armour in Ludwig’s overall look, but without making it too medieval. 

I also have a headcanon (developed alongside some mutuals) that the blindfold part of the Choir cap is a very late introduction, during the scourge. In my work Laurence’s disdain for Willem’s dumbfuck pope hat is evident, and so there’s none of that shutting-your-eyes-to-the-world stuff - until most everyone’s eyes, including his, start to change by way of the scourge. 

Anyway tldr I like playing dress-up with them. 

[ananke-xiii]

watched "conclave", didn't like it as expected, here are some spontaneous thoughts with spoilers&acidity so be warned:

- "Aspirina C" product placement baffled me. I mean, if you sell a pharmaceutical product, do you really want it to be associated with the sudden death of a pope? I mean, just saying. Anyway, at least it lets us know that Big Pharma is in the conclave with us;

- the actors are wasted on this movie. Ralph Fiennes did his best but his character was just too flat, Stanley Tucci can play anything but he was born to play cardinal Tedesco, Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow are criminally underused, Carlos Diehz would do well if only the camera were on him when he delivered his last big speech, Sergio Castellitto is fine because he just played the role of "Being Italian", so he couldn't actually fail at that, but his character seems to be so much bigger than that, it's a shame that it wasn't explored (sad to report that it's not his fault although I was ready to blame him for literally everything wrong in the movie but no, he did what he was told to do: the Italian fascist comic relief, guys like him are regularly posting "buongiornissimo caffè" type of shit on facebook and commenting misogynistic stuff on tiktok);

- the camera work was dull. The movie is titled "Conclave" which literally means "locked room" and yet no tension is detected, no claustrophobic anxiety, no uneasiness due to close proximity. It was A Choice to have some of the biggest scenes happen in a sort of theatre (?) and in a cafeteria. Okay, I guess, but, to me, the potentiality of showing an actual conclave was totally squandered this way;

-kudos to the people who had to rebuild the Sistine Chapel cause it's a thankless and unfair job by default and they really, really did their best. But honestly I think that the choice of making it look bigger than it actually is worked against the whole meaning of the movie (see above, the "conclaveness" of the conclave is hardly explored);

- same goes for the choice of filming in the Royal Palace of Caserta. I thank the movie if this choice will make this Unesco World Heritage site more appreciated (I will die on the "Caserta is better than Versailles" hill). But, again, the Royal Palace is huge and its rooms and corridors are large and I don't think this helps with the general theme of the movie;

- the reference to "The Ninth Hour" by Maurizio Cattelan when Lawrence is hit by the bomb's rubbles is objectively well done and it dovetails nicely with his homely where he referenced the ninth hour of Christ. I loved it, well done;

- the bomb: I'm sorry but that was just ridiculous. First of all, although I wouldn't bet on it, if a bomb were to explode in Piazza del Risorgimento, and hit the Sistine Chapel's windows, it would probably mean it's a war-type bomb, like a bomb causing huge explosions and devastation. Second of all, I think the movie underestimated the consequences of a terrorist attack taking place extremely close to Vatican City during a conclave, lol. Now I understand symbols and metaphors and how movies need to be understood figuratively but like... ngl, I think this one isn't on me, it's on sloppy writing;

- the whole theme of the power of Church vs the times that are a-changing. It's a no for me because Catholic Church, like many other different types of power, is not so much about power but control. It's rational, logical and sane to read the gospels and then look at St Peter's Church and be like: these guys aren't doing what Christ said. I mean, this is surface-level reading. You gotta ask yourself why and the why is control. Lawrence, Benitez and Bellini vs Tremblay, Adeyemi and Tedesco is such a manichean good vs evil type of thing that's just meh. Like, tell me why Tedesco is so reactionary and fascist and why Bellini is more progressive and fake-woke. The movie says that the Church has regarded men as ideals rather than human beings for too long but it does the same to its characters: they are all very vague ideals with no substance.

[amicidomenicani]

Question  Dear Father Angelo, My name is Giuseppe. I’ve been following the Dominican Friends site for a long time and I find it to be a very useful instrument. I thank you for the service you provide and I’m especially thankful to God for your gift to the Christian community. I’m 28 years-old and I’ve always been active in the Church, I thank God for having made Himself manifest and having given Himself as a gift to me through my parents, who raised me in the Faith. Even with my limits and falls, I’ve never stopped believing in God’s mercy and grace. Life as a Christian is countercultural, it’s a perpetual fight, especially in today’s society which reverses the principles and teachings of Jesus Christ. For a while, though, some questions have been reverberating in my mind that I find difficult to answer. I know fully well that Christ instituted the sacraments, but established the Church through Peter in particular. However, I ask myself: taking history and current events into account, is the Church that Christ edified through God truly a community that follows God’s will from the beginning? I mean, is it really the Church that Christ had in mind? That community which is supposed to follow Christ in everything, without any ifs and buts? I ask you this because, during the centuries after the birth of Christ, certain events took place in the Church that I cannot conciliate with the Gospel (i.e. the enormous financial and political power of the Vatican State, the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc.); behaviors that still persist today in other forms (corruption, little transparency in the management of money, etc.). Now, deep down, this problem doesn’t touch me personally — I haven’t lost faith in the Church. Since the Church is constituted of people, it is a fact that all of us can fall and only God can give us a new nature. It’s also true that the bad has more resonance than the good. I think of the things that many people of faith did for the Church, in particular religious orders like yours, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, Saint Teresa’s nuns. The problem comes up when I interact with people who are far from God and the Church, who use these reasons to justify their distance, oftentimes referencing a series of common misconceptions which make it difficult for me to find the appropriate answer. In conclusion: how should a Christian behave in light of these facts? I thank you in advance for your answer. Best regards, Giuseppe Priest’s answer Dear Giuseppe, 1. You ask yourself if today's Church is the Church Jesus imagined and wanted. This question would lead us to believe that the Church of today is the one presented through certain media which identify the Church with the Vatican or, best case scenario, identify the Church with the ecclesiastical hierarchy. But that is not the Church. What is the Church? It is the society of the baptized, who receive their spiritual life from Christ, for their life and activity in the world. The society of the baptized includes bishops and priests. But the Church is made up of everybody. It is an error to identify the Church exclusively with the clergy. We all are the Church, even those who never attend Mass. 2. The Church, using our Lord’s phrase, is like a field where the good seed (the grace of Jesus Christ) brings about different fruits, depending on the disposition of the individual: a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold (Matt 13:8). Some inside the Church do not bring about fruit: they are like the path where Jesus tried to sow (Matt 13:4). Some have little consistency: they are like the “rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.” (Matt 18:5-6). Some started out well, but were choked by the preoccupations of the world (Matt 13:7). Without mentioning the fact that, again using the language of the Gospel, the enemy of man sows weeds all through the wheat (Matt 13

:25). 3. Of course, Jesus wants a holy Church. But perfect holiness, immune from every danger of corruption, is not of this world, but of the next — of Heaven. While we are here, all the baptized, meaning the whole Church, are subject to temptation, to defeats and to victories. The Second Vatican Council says: “While Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled knew nothing of sin, but came to expiate only the sins of the people, the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal (Lumen gentium, 8). All the members of the Church, from the first to the last, are always in need of being purified. The same goes for the Pope, for me and for you. We all go to Confession — some more often, some less — and we will until the end of our existence on Earth. We all know ourselves to be in this condition: we are never definitely saved until we are at least in Purgatory.  4. For this reason then, conscious of who we are, from the least to the greatest, we do not point the finger at anyone, because we are conscious of our personal need for purification. The great Saints purified the Church by purifying themselves with great intensity: see the example of the lives of Saint Francis or Saint Ignatius of Loyola. 5. The Church of all times finds Herself contaminated by human miseries. Starting from the Church founded by Jesus: the Apostles argued about which one of them was the greatest (here is pride!) and there was even a traitor (Judas) motivated by greed. I’m not interested in which member of today’s Church is a victim to pride or to greed. I’m worried about not being the one who is dominated by pride or greed. 6. However, I have to add one last thing: in your email, you make reference to common misconceptions about the Church. You know fully well who they are orchestrated by. Those are people who scold the members of the Church for not being in conformity with Jesus’ teaching. Granted, who fully conforms? But are they, who systematically and aggressively move this criticism against the Church, holy, immaculate, stainless, pure, detached from money, ambition, tending toward holiness? A passage from Saint Paul comes to mind: “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (Rom 1:28-31). Abortion — the killing of the innocent — is their flag, they claim as a right or civil victory every sort of impurity, even the most abominable, they don’t promote marriage in any way, are in favor of euthanasia and they practice it if they can… In summary, they are in favor of every kind of degeneracy: they do not realize they are promoting nothingness and dissolution as an ideal. I will stop at this for the time being. In the future, I will come back to some of the other points in your email. 9. Keep pointing towards sanctification, towards being like the Lord wants you to be. I assure you of my prayer and bless you. Father Angelo

[shunsellon]

The Vexos as religious leaders... But what religion may Vestal have? A Roman-esque cult to the leader? A monotheistic one telling them to "enlighten the impure" with colonization? Do they worship the Six Warriors, or do they know about the Code Eve? Or did they worship a similar set of beings they then identified with the previous seven? Is all of that at once? 1/2

2/2 Does that mean Shadow maybe conducted sacrifices to Exedra, while Mylene believed Frosch to be the same as a water deity they worshipped back in Vestal? Does Volt think Bakugan deserve the same rights as them because they're all children of the Code Eve? Does Lync "realize" the current monarchy is unworthy of their title and decides to help Alice in the hopes then a true king deserving of worship would follow? Is Gus so enamoured with Spectra because he believes him to be a Messiah? Idk 3/2 Did Keith believe he was this figure that was promises to bring an era of enlightenment and prosperity to Vestal, and that's why he changed his appearance and name? Ok, this question and the Gus one are pretty much cannon... But idk, I think this is fic material

this got long LMAO i love talking about the connections of religion to the state and social psychology so this just got me talking. under the cut so it won't clog everyone's blogs

i def think vestal lacks any solid indication to what their religion may be, if any. the most we get is the origin of their people's name but that doesn't come from anything in-canon, it's from irl history. BUT there's also the theme of their bakugan being named after greek/roman deities - helios, vulcan, hades, brontes/bronte. altair and vega (jpn name of elico) are named after stars. from this, i'd give them a polytheistic religion, maybe one modeled after ancient greece and rome. this would inform much of their collective psychology.

also, in the rare time that i'll ever back up the wikia, here's their note on zenoheld's name which i can see happening due to the pattern of vestal referencing ancient greece and rome:

Zenoheld's name is possibly a mis-transliteration of Xenoheld. Xeno- derived from the Greek ξένος (alien, foreign) and -held, with connotation of ownership, Zenoheld's name therefore means "ruler of the cosmos/foreign lands".

here's my problem with making bakugan/the brawlers deities in any possible vestal religion - if they were deities in the vestal religion, why then do vestals enslave and colonize the bakugan? aren't they supposed to be holy beings, to be given reverence to? by all accounts, hydron turning 5/6 of the original bakugan to stone (and planning to turn shun and marucho in bronze statues) should make him and the vexos the worst heretics ever. i don't think they know of the existence of code eve, either. vestals (namely spectra and clay) only get in contact with neathia by the near end of the season, and it's through fabia's encrypted message.

also, if they worship the bakugan, they should have a longer exposure to bakugan, but the timeline shows that the bakugan only came in contact with the vestals the same time it with humans, which was three years. keep in mind that religion more often than not is the justification of monarchies throughout history - japanese emperors claimed they were descended from the celestial sun goddess amaterasu, the zhou dynasty had the mandate of heaven, sultans trace their ancestry to the prophet Muhammad, and european monarchs were always in junction with the churches. even today, the world's remaining absolute monarchies either have islam or christianity as a state religion, at least if you count the vatican. but zenoheld is an old man and is the fourth of his name. it just doesn't line up with the given timeline.

spectra and gus are interesting because spectra canonically refers to himself as a god/aims to be a god, and gus' reverence for him is honestly so much like a god and its believer. gus saying spectra showed him the "light of hope," gus saying spectra gave him a reason to live after he lost and was aimless, spectra "converting" gus in a cathedral-esque setting with a painting of helios in front of them. very much religion-like. if there's any religion or belief system in vestal, it's whatever spectra and gus have going on. gus' reverence for spectra is also what supports spectra in his bid to rule vestal and the rest of the known world - it's a version of the divine right of kings.

[pugzman3]

Watch "FOJC Radio: Billy Graham Exposed w/Dr. Kathy Burns & David Carrico" on YouTube

This was an interview between David Carrico and Dr. Kathy Burns over her book Billy Graham and His Friends. It's a lengthy interview but it could have been a lot longer due to the out of information she has in her book. Her book has been referenced by many other people who have tried to call out Billy Graham for his apostasy.

I've posted and said before that what Graham did was lined up a full generation of protestants, to drop their guard against the catholic church (and that's just one thing), setting them up to accept the catholic church and the pope, all the while, the Vatican was continuing their work with jesuit infiltration of all denominations that aren't catholic, and tearing them down from the inside. The catholic protestant war came to a "peaceful" end in the 90's, that's a nice way of saying the infiltration worked and the Vatican won. So what has happened is that to keep protestants thinking they aren't owned, they are allowed to "worship" as proteatants. This is the same kind of game they played centuries ago when there was a huge fight over whether Christians should celebrate Passover, or Easter. The catholic church said "ok....we will do Easter, you guys go ahead and do passover". Not long after they said "nope....you will do Easter, or we excommunicate you". And they did.

So the role Billy Graham has helped to play set up a generation to go weak, to accept weak preaching, accept weak doctrine, and basically follow him and any other preacher who promotes him. The church slowly began to become more sorporatikn than ever...and then came his sons. They are taking it to another level. But I'm getting off subject.

This interview will shed some light on people who do not understand where some of us come from when we call Billy Graham a tool of Satan and the antichrist vatican.

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog, Ch.11-13

This is the “Balance of Power” arc.

One of the things that frustrated me about the Hellsing TV anime (as opposed to the Hellsing Ultimate version) was that the TV series aired while the manga was still running, and it seemed to struggle between following the source material or just diverging into all new stories.    I think if Gonzo had made up their minds one way or the other, it would have ended up a better show.   Instead, there were all these filler scenes of Seras training with human soldiers, which seemed like an utter waste of the character’s time.    Worse, this meant the human soldiers featured much more prominently than they ever did in the manga, where they all get killed off by Chapter 9 or something.   And if you know that’s coming, like I did, it makes the human soldiers that much more insufferable, because you know dorks like Farguson aren’t going to matter, but they get tons of screen time anyway.    Farguson is like every episode of Dragon Ball GT condensed into a single character.  

Here, in the original manga, it’s pretty clear that the soldiers never mattered, because the only time you ever see them is when Jan Valentines’ ghoul army slaughters them all.    They only existed so Integra would have something to be in charge of, but the only ones who actually matter here are herself, Alucard, Seras, and Walter.    In this chapter, Walter practically admits as much, when he states that there were 96 staff members, and now we’re down to ten: Walter, Integra, and eight jabrones who weren’t at the base that day.    Well, maybe those eight guys will show up later and do something important?   Bullshit they will, they never get mentioned again.   The Gonzoverse might have been able to break some new ground by focusing on those human characters more, but what they actually did was half-assed, and it looks all the more futile when you know how unimportant they are to the original work.   Walter just hires a band of mercenaries to backfill all the vacant positions, and I’ll give you three guesses what happens to those guys.

Concerning “Millennium”, their mysterious new enemy, no one has any idea what they are.    A bunch of people try to research it, because we didn’t have Google in 1999, or at least not Google as we now know it, so if you wanted to know something cryptic you just had to rummage through a card catalog in a library or whatever.    But Integra just makes the logical leap that “Millennium” is a reference to the “Thousand Year Reich” dreamed of by Nazi Germany.   This seems like a stretch, but I think Integra’s reasoning is that this is the only “Millennium” reference that could possibly be worth Hellsing’s attention.

Later, Integra meets the Wild Geese, the merc group Walter hired, and explains their assignment even referencing the Bram Stoker novel.    So I guess Dracula is a real book in the Hellsing world, but it must be at least partially based on a true story, right?   The Geese don’t buy any of this, so Integra introduces them to Seras to prove that vampires are real.

They all laugh at Seras until she starts flicking their leader, Pip Bernadotte, with her fingers.    Then Alucard shows up, and that seems to be enough to convince them.

After this, Integra gets a letter from the Iscariot Organization, inviting her to a meeting with Enrico Maxwell at the Imperial War Museum.    The whole thing introduces Bishop Maxwell very effectively.   He tries to play this off as a peaceful, diplomatic conference, but he makes Integra wait, and she’s still sore about Anderson’s violation of their treaty back in Chapter 5-6.   Maxwell takes all this in stride, then replies that he could care less about the deaths of even two billion Protestants, so the two guys Anderson killed mean nothing to him.    He’s only here because the Pope ordered him to do this, and he calls Integra a “Protestant sow” for good measure.  

At this, Alucard comes out to stand up for Integra’s honor, and then Maxwell responds by bringing out Anderson, except Anderson has a berzerker rage thing going, so it kind of ruins Maxwell’s posturing.    For all his contempt, he really was ordered to London to talk to Integra, so he’d probably get in trouble with the Pope if Anderson starts a big superhero battle in a museum.

In Cross Fire, the unpublished manga that was sort of a precursor to Hellsing, Maxwell looked a lot like Sir Integra does now, so when Kouta Hirano brought him back for this arc, he slicked his hair back and removed his glasses.   On the other hand, Integra doesn’t look much like the early Integra anymore either.    By now, Hirano seems to have settled on her design, straightening her hair out and making her face longer and thinner.   Anyway, Maxwell’s brinkmanship has backfired, and now even he can’t stop Anderson, so what can be done?

Luckily, Seras is here to provide a distraction, as she leads a tour group of elderly Japanese tourists through the gallery.    For some reason this kills Anderson’s fighting mood completely, so he leaves.    Alucard also leaves, because he hates being up during the day.    Walter gives Seras a hearty thumbs up for defusing this tense situation.    Good job, Seras.    You’re doing amazing, sweetie.

All right, so what’s so blamed important that the Pope would send Maxwell to London?    Well, he knows about Millennium’s attack on Hellsing’s base, and he has some juicy deets on them.   After making Integra say “please”, he explains that “Millennium” was a Nazi military unit responsible for transferring resources and personnel for Nazi Germany.    They relocated a ton of these resources and personnel to South America for safe keeping.    Integra’s not too impressed with that, since “Nazis fleeing to South America after the war” isn’t exactly a shocking revelation.  

The twist here, though, is that Millennium was smuggling Nazi stuff to South America during World War II. 

Also, the Vatican helped Millennium do this?   I never understood this part of the story, but I think it gets explained later.   I mean, it explains how Maxwell would have this lead to share with Hellsing, but it raises more questions than answers.

  Volume 2 ends with another chapter of Cross Fire, starring Heinkel Wolfe and Yumiko Takagi.    In the first story, they saved hostages from Islamic terrorists.    This one is them recovering stolen church money from radical communists, which I guess could have been a thing in 1998?    It’s basically the same story, though, as they send Yumiko to infiltrate the bad guys, then they slaughter everyone in sight.    Mostly, I want to focus on the part at the end, where Maxwell, the leader of Iscariot, justifies the use of extreme hyper-violence in the name of the Catholic Church.   You sort of get the sense that the Iscariot Organization in Cross Fire was a concept in search of a villain.   the idea of two girl-assassins dressed as a nun and a priest might have had some traction, but Hirano really seems to have had trouble coming up with worthy enemies for them to fight.    But Hellsing brings vampires into the mix, which suits the Iscariots quite nicely.

Back to “Balance of Power”, the third part features Seras training with the Wild Geese in the middle of the night.   For some reason, Seras expects them to shoot targets from over 4km away.   She can do it, but only thanks to the vampiric senses Alucard showed her how to use.    It’s like she doesn’t realize that this is an ability she only has because she’s a vampire or something.   

Indoors, Alucard and Walter discuss the whole Nazi angle.    Al isn’t terribly surprised, because he only knows three who have ever used undead warriors for combat.   

1) Hellsing

2) Himself

3) The Nazis.

He knows #3 is legit, because he and Walter destroyed a Nazi research facility during the war.    Supposedly that contained all their work on the undead, but now that we know Millennium was smuggling important stuff from Nazi Germany to South America, it only makes sense that they’re the ones who devised the Valentines’ ghoul attack.    The bigger point of this scene is to reinforce that Walter used to be a big wheel in Hellsing, teaming up with Alucard to have Golden Age WWII adventures.   And now, Hellsing will be sending Alucard and Seras to South America to investigate this new threat.   

Here, Walter asks the big question: Why make Seras a vampire?   I’ll have more to say about this later, but I dig this scene because it works as an exposition scene, but there’s more to it than that.   Alucard’s only apparent motivations are over-the-top violence and doing his master’s bidding.   Helping Seras doesn’t seem to fit either of those, so it does indeed feel out-of-character.   You’d expect someone to ask this question, and by now there’s really only two people left who know Alucard well: Walter and Integra.   So yeah, let’s have Walter ask the question.    But later on, it becomes clear that the point is not the question itself, but the fact that Walter is the one asking it.  

For what it’s worth, Alucard doesn’t seem to know, or maybe he just doesn’t want to spell it out.   He keeps saying that it was her “choice”, except he had to make his own choice that night.    He could have just let her die, regardless of any requests she might have made.   Al remarks on her tremendous resilience on that night, since she was surrounded by death and hopelessness, but didn’t resign to her fate.    That impresses him, so I guess we can say that he chose her because he found her to be such an impressive specimen, in spite of some of her goofier behavior.    As it currently stands, Seras can’t even travel across rivers or oceans, a weakness for lesser vampires, but not a problem for Alucard himself.    He seems to think that’ll all be resolved once she finally drinks blood, and he expects that it’ll just be a matter of time before she does.    Ominous!

As far as transporting Seras to South America, Alucard figures the easiest thing to do is nail her shut in her own coffin.   The Wild Geese know a smuggling operation that can fly them to Brazil without any messy customs.   That works out, since they also have to transport Alucard’s coffin, and all the guns.

Integra asks why Alucard is dressed like this, and he says he can’t wear his usual stuff because he’d be too obvious to their enemies.    Also, he doesn’t need to spend the whole trip in his coffin, because sunlight and traveling over water doesn’t bother him, I guess?    I don’t really get the water thing.    If Seras can’t travel over running water, what difference does it make if she’s in her coffin or not?    I can accept that Alucard, who’s basically a super-vampire, would be immune to the whole water thing, but it becomes a plot point later on, so... aw, forget it   

Integra gives Alucard only one order: Search and Destroy, which seems kind of vague when you think about it.   Anyway, she’ll be saying this about a hundred times before the story is over, so we may as well appreciate the original.

[glowing-disciple]

Recently a friend asked what my opinion was on a couple of subjects, and I had to admit that I knew very little about two of them and had never heard of the third. So, I've been doing a little research to correct that.

I've found some books about the first two topics, but have yet to check them out of the library and actually read them. It was much easier to find resources about the third thing, so I've been reading about that, and it's been a bit of a rabbit hole.

So here's a quick summary of what I discovered about the Donation of Constantine.

This document was exposed as a forgery in the 1400s. Despite claiming to have been made during the reign of Constantine (300s), it's likely to have been created between 700-800 AD. It appears to have been referenced by the Pope only once, a good four hundred years before it was proven to be a forgery.

The document itself describes how Constantine was cured of leprosy by an early Pope, and in return Constantine gave the papacy many powers, rights, and properties.

Today, Protestant groups sometimes use this forgery to attack Catholicism. One accusation is that the papacy used this illegitimate document to create the Vatican or secure its lands.

There's just a small problem with that: it doesn't line up with historical fact. Constantine did donate some land to the Church when he made Christianity an official religion, but it seems he only donated the land around St. Peter's Basilica. Other properties that would later form the Vatican were either purchased or donated by others, and the entire property belonged to the Church by 600 AD.

In other words, by the time this document appeared, everything was already done; there was no need to resort to fraud to explain why the church owned this territory.

Another claim about this document is that the papacy used it to gain political power through deception. Christianity did undergo a significant change after becoming a recognized religion, and this did include new political privileges, but let's put our critical thinking caps on for a moment.

A religion that exists as an underground movement will, by necessity, look and act very differently from a religion that is able to freely and openly exist. You don't need to resort to forgery to defend that change.

For example, I'm still fairly young, but I'm also old enough to remember when LGBT+ groups weren't able to safely announce their presence in public. Today, they can proudly display their orientation via bumper stickers and other elaborate decorations. You don't need to come up with a conspiracy theory to explain why this changed; it's pretty basic cause and effect.

Another point about the Donation of Constantine is that it seems to be linked in some way to the Decretals of Isidore. This is a collection of papal letters that was composed during the 9th century. The majority of these letters were forged by someone who was knowledgeable about papal history and Church Law, but not very skilled at keeping their continuity straight.

From the looks of things, the author of these forgeries tried to provide rules and explanations for various things by creating letters that supported or explained them. To help with the deception, they tried to pass the new documents off as documents that were known to have been created, but had been lost over time.

This fill-in-the-blanks trick worked reasonably well, but the author often made a simple mistake. Letters by early Popes would reference decrees and letters by later Popes, creating anachronisms that anyone could spot. And they did: by the time of the Reformation this collection was already known to be a forgery.

One of the core issues with the Decretals of Isidore is also an issue with the Donation of Constantine - ie, papal authority. Some Protestants, most notably Martin Luther, used this collection as proof that the papacy had overstepped its authority or grabbed power through illegitimate means. Sound familiar?

This time, the main problem with this claim is that the author of the Decretals of Isidore based their "new and improved" papacy on what was already supported by real documents and traditions. You could toss out every known forgery in the set and still end up with the papacy as we know it today.

If you seriously want to challenge the papacy, it might be better to look at the East-West Schism, which divided the Church into the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. The authority of the Pope was a key point in this debate.

[dantays-inferno]

All the homages to Tom Hiddleston in the ME! music video

This may seem outdated now that TS8 has arrived, but I’ve been working on this post for a long time, and after a listen to Folklore, I think it’s still a bit relevant ;) 

I wanted to share some Easter eggs we unearthed while doing an archaeological excavation of the ME! music video.

I know what you’re thinking...that video came out over a year ago! Aren’t those Easter eggs a little rotten from sitting out there this whole time?

Don’t fret, dear reader. The eggs were well preserved like bread baked in Pompeii just before Mt. Vesuvius blew. That is to say, these Easter eggs pointing to Taylor’s undying love for Tom (who can blame her!) are both deeply buried and in shockingly plain sight.

Our journey into the excavation all started with this:

I was watching this video and noticed the jaguar sculpture on the desk and just about died because I will always associate jaguars with Tom Hiddleston’s ad campaign for them. The ads contain three of Taylor’s favorite things: London, cats, and Tom Hiddleston. I’m not sure what her feelings are on luxury cars, though of course she referenced the commercial on reputation (jag-you-ars.) You can watch them here, but be forewarned--you may feel weak in the knees by the end. You may also be triggered by seeing a human interacting with a big cat (I can’t be the only one who feels scarred by Tiger King...)

After this, I watched the ME! video again and saw one reference to Tom after another.

The living room scenes remind me of a Gucci ad campaign Tom in...fall of 2016. Oh. Seems significant.

1. Why those shoes. 2. How does he not have dog hair on his suit. 3. This very ad hung on my fridge for a month. 4. The color scheme and mod feel of this photo shoot feel very similar to the ME! living room. Taylor even included her own two animals (who are somewhat similar in color to these glamorous pooches.

Here’s another image from the Gucci campaign:

The suit Brendon wears while watching out the window, to me, mimics the suit Tom is wearing above. Not incidentally, the jaguar statue is at Brendon’s elbow. And you’ll notice that the pinkish pillow behind Tom’s right shoulder is basically the same color and texture as the sofas in the ME! living room.

Let me also note that all of the rooms above featured shades of green associated with Loki.

Well, that was fun. Let’s do some more.

The hallway Grace Kelly Taylor walks through at the beginning of the video always puzzled me. It was one of those things that stuck out but I couldn’t say why. Well, I wondered if it represented a place TS had been. I guess so because here is an interior shot of part of the Vatican Museums in Rome:

I saw this and just about fainted. Taylor and Tom visited the Vatican while in Rome in summer 2016. They were heavily papped, unfortunately. I can’t imagine how miserable that would have been, but they also did look very happy together. I get little heart eyes and then cry for Taylor (and Tom), praying for her happiness while listening to New Year’s Day. I might also mention she wore blue kitten heels, remarkably like the pink ones in this portion of the video. 

Now this is a find I’m truly proud of...here’s an interesting tie Tom wore many moons ago. And I really mean many moons ago because there are only these sad tiny photos you get when someone cropped a VHS recording they took of that time your were on TV in 2010.

First, what a great tie, and can I get a sundress made out of it too because I just really love floral prints. But besides that, I mean, I’m just getting some deja vu...

And the color scheme shows pretty well (along with the silky texture) in Brendon’s most excellent costume at the Billboard awards (which I would also like a dress of):

And there’s that whole Mary Poppins reference with Brendon teetering down from the sky on an umbrella. I couldn’t help but be reminded of this odd but somewhat talked-about short film “Leading Lady Parts” that Tom had a role in. The basis of the plot being that he wins all the leading female roles in movies because other women can’t live up to Hollywood’s (or whatever the British equivalent of Hollywood is) standards. So at the end of the film, a character walks past a series of posters where Tom has been photoshopped into famous female roles, including...

Something you’ll never unsee, I know. 

Okay, the next part needs its own whole SECTION.

Thor Ragnarok References

So partway through Taylor and Tom’s midsummer’s night dream, Tom started filming for Thor Ragnarok, one of Marvel’s greatest gifts to mankind, in Australia. The finished film came out on Nov. 3, 2017, just seven days before reputation.

To start with, the color of Loki’s costume shows up quite a bit:

Beyond this, Thor: Ragnarok takes place on two alien planets: Asgard (Thor and Loki’s home) and Sakaar (a bizarre planet where intergalactic trash is dumped and Jeff Goldblum holds gladiator-style games.)

Sakaar looks a little like this:

An odd pastel palette splashed on a sea of grays. Detritus and occasionally people (notably, Thor) fall from holes in the sky. Also, notice the sky has a strange refracted nature to it that is seen in the ME! video. 

So we have another scene of people falling from nowhere down to a sea of pastels and gray with a pink refracted sky.

The sky behind His Lordship Jeff Goldblum in Ragnarok is the best pic I can find of Sakaar’s sky.

Let’s move on to a more exciting one:

One of the movie’s main characters, Valkyrie, rides a gray pegasus (unfortunately not a pegacorn)

The pegacorn Taylor sits on has a rather peculiar eye that evokes Thor’s when he’s in lightning mode:

Valkyrie also has a totally dope cape (so do a lot of characters, but we’ll focus on her):

Which reminds me of Taylor’s cape in the marching band scene:

And the rainbow leading up to the kaleidoscope where Taylor and To--er, Brendon dance? If you’ve watched any Thor movie, you probably remember the long almost-translucent rainbow bridge that stretches from the bifrost to Asgard. 

So as you see above, the bifrost leads to a room where Idris Elba controls the bifrost bridge. It look a bit like the kaleidoscope room Taylor and Brendon end up in:

To top things off, Taylor and Brendon’s suits really evoke that old school country feel that stars like, I don’t know....Hank Williams would wear (rest in peace.) 

Finally, the hotel lobby resembles the interior of the Asgard palace, but I can’t find good pictures and this has taken me hours. 

In conclusion, Taylor is brilliant, love is cruel, ME! is a fantasy fever dream, and Tom is worth the fight. Hopes, thoughts, prayers.

[guiltywisdom]

I'm so happy to have discovered your blog today! If I may ask--I have a problem and I'm interested in your thoughts on it? I'm genderfluid and bi, and I recently told a fellow Catholic friend that I'm not in agreement with the Church on LGBTQ issues. She has become DETERMINED to "help" me change my mind, but she puts it as helping me "understand" church teaching better. Like, talking about this regularly and trying to figure out "why" I'm like this. I DON'T WANT! But how do I make it stop?

I’m happy you found me! I’m not Roman Catholic, rather Orthodox Catholic (and even then I’m a bit of a heretic) but I’ll try my best!

(also before I start, a friendly reminder that Orthodoxy is a collection of decentralized and independent churches, not one large church under one authority like Roman Catholics)

Quoting bible verses verbatim without interpretation can often be helpful. 

The first thing that comes to mind is “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” (Mathew 7:1) and “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.” (Romans 14:4). 

However my largest conviction (besides my own morals the Spirit blessed me with of course) comes from my belief that there is no true translation of the Bible yet and rather often it has been read wrong! As the Church Father’s have said, no man can boast that he has the one and only definitive reading of the Bible, more that he is one of many who endeavor our best to interpret the word of God. Also we must look at the historical context first though to even get close!

So, firstly any translation that uses the word “sodomites” is probably using it wrong! A “sodomite” is actually only a person who lived in “Sodom” however the more broader use refers to a person who does not treat guests well nor do they give to the poor. "'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49). 

Now you probably know the passage in Leviticus, its the one soooo many anti LGBTAQ+ people quote! 

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)

Well here is some facts. If you look around the passages, in the Hebrew/Greek and the historical context you realize it’s referencing male concubines or even sacred prostitution/temple prostitution. I will admit that it might be on unsteady ground, but I think it should be looked into further and not just simply dismissed. 

Now Corinthians is not the same, it’s a lot more obvious.

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men.” (1 Corinthians 6:9)

This is how the passage is usually translated but in the Greek from which this was translated it actually is using the words malakoi and arsenkoitai which ACTUALLY translate better as “Adult men who have sex with younger men”

As Cristina Richie says “Paul [in I Corinthians] intended the term malakoi to refer to a catamite, or the boy in the Greek boy/man arrangement [pedophilia victim], and arsenkoitai to refer to a pederast, or the man in the same relationship [pedophile]. These terms are not synonymous (unlike ‘homosexual’) but complementary[…].”

Now after all this, why have I said all this? I’m trying to arm you with some information! That’s the best way. A lot of people will come at you with their own interpretations and you need to arm yourself against those who would try to do you harm both physically, mentally and spiritually! 

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:10-17)

Now that I’ve armed you with some passages I just want to say, if you want this to stop (other than using the armaments I have given you) just be honest with them. Try to make them understand that you don’t want to change. That this is who you are, it’s who God made you to be and this isn’t a thing to be “solved”. The Roman Catholic Church isn’t going to change it’s broader teachings any time soon, I do hear the Pope has spoken out about how he believes God only condemns the act of homosexuality and not the person themselves and don’t get me wrong, this is an important step! Maybe there might be a Vatican III where they decide homosexuality is fine! But this doesn’t change how they view it right now. It’s only a single step and a institution as old as Rome isn’t going to change any time soon in any real meaningful way. I am talking about Homosexuality in general since it’s the only issue directly addressed in the Bible, except maybe “cross dressing” but don’t get me started on that one (What the Hell does Deuteronomy 22:5 MEAN? “A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.” men wore “dresses” back then though???).

I think your friend has to learn to sympathize with you, to know that this kind of rhetoric is hurting you! That if they want to be your friend, if they want to be a friend at all, that this is NOT how! Jesus and God is first and foremost about love. 

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with my block of text! 

Even if your friend doesn’t come to accept and love you for who you are, know that I DO, that other people like me do and of course, God does. 

“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10)

[unofficialkfamtranscripts]

King Falls AM - Episode Eight: Electrolocaust Now

View on Google Docs

Summary: August 15, 2015 - Sammy & Ben have planned a tribute to King Falls AM's resident jazz legend Chet Sebastian, however an impromptu, and selective power failure, takes out most of the station's broadcast tools, leaving the boys to fend for themselves.

[podcast intro music]

[KFAM intro music]

Sammy Good evening, King Falls. You’re listening to 660 on the radio dial and I’ve gotta tell you, we’ve got a heck of a show this evening. We’re paying tribute to King Falls’ musical legend and Ben’s old boss, jazz maestro Chet Sebastian. We’ll be discussing [static/buzz] 40 years of— [sound of things powering down]

Ben [confused] What the hell?

Sammy Uh— W-what did I touch?

Ben I don’t think it was you. [sound of Ben getting up]

Sammy Sorry, ladies and gents. It seems we’re having a slight technical difficulty here. Uh- ye- hey, my computer’s down, Ben.

Ben Yeah mine too. Sammy, I don’t know if they can even hear us. We might be… out out.

Sammy *sigh* Well, okay then. Uh. We’re live and we’re winging it, folks!

Ben [smugly] Au contraire, my friend! You should know: I’ve got a backup plan. And a backup for the backup plan.

Sammy [incredulous] Uh-huh.

Ben Lemme just pull out- the- [rustling] trusty— smartphone, aaand— [dull clatter]

Sammy And?

Ben It’s off.

Sammy Well.*laugh/huff* Good thing you’ve got a backup for this.

Ben It’s… an expression. We’re, *anxious sigh* we’re flying blind, Sammy. Check your phone.

Sammy It’s, uh, it, it is off, uh, let me guess, the ghost—sorry, apparition—

Ben Thank you.

Sammy Of Marconi[1] just visited the station and just decided to start yanking wires.

Ben Maybe Merv forgot to pay the electric bill.

Sammy The lights, the mics, it’s not electricity, this is selective. [disgruntled] Uh, you know, but thanks for being so cheap and old, Merv, it may have spared 660 from the wrath of Skynet.

Ben Yeah, the board’s lit up and so are the phones. I, I don’t get it.

Sammy King Falls, have you gotten whacked by this random and seemingly mischievous power outage?? Uh, you, you’ve heard our story, let’s hear uh- wait, can they hear us?

Ben Good call. [sound of Ben getting up]

Sammy I, I don’t understand why some of this stuff is working and some of it is out! [slightly desperate] What are we doing, Ben? Y-y— [radio interference in bg] Now’s not the time to go rogue!

Ben [in bg] Radios are working, Sammy. [closer] We’re live.

Sammy *sigh* Well, you’re hearing our story right now, King Falls, let’s hear yours. If you’ve got a phone that’s- working, give us a call or tweet us @KingFallsAM—

Ben Can’t check the Twitter.

Sammy Damn it! *sigh* Let’s take a call, Ben.

Ben But- the- schedule!

Sammy Dude, what schedule?! The one locked in the computer that zoinked out, or the one that’s locked in our iPhone that won’t power up?

Ben [muttered]Damn your logic. Line one!

Sammy You’re live on the air with Sammy and Ben. Hope you’re well on this weird-ass evening.

Line 1 [slightly suggestively]Hey, Shotgun!

Sammy *exasperated sigh* Hey, man. What’s your name again?

Line 1 Not important! *chuckles* I-I jusht wanted to check in with my favorite AM radio hosht and tell you you’re coming in loud and clear on my end. Loud and clear! Ha ha! Haaa. [realizing] Am I on the air?

Ben You’re live, sir.

Sammy So how are things in your neck of the woods? Any technology issues? Things not powering up and on for you?

Line 1 Not a problem in the world, Shotgun, ha ha.

Ben Is he gonna keep calling you—

Line 1 Shotguuunn Shammyyyyy

Sammy *sigh* Was there anything in particular you needed?

CALLER That’sh it! Love the show. SHOTGUN SAMMYYY!!!!

[click, dial tone]

Ben [curiously] What did you do in your past life, Sammy?

Sammy [muttered] You don’t even want to know.

Ben *snickers* Line seven, good evening, you’re on King Falls AM.

Line 7 [guy sounds stoned] Hey Ben, hey Sammy, you dudes doing okay up there?

Sammy All things considered, we’re doing well! Uh, and who are we speaking with?

Doyle Ohh-h-h, this is Doyle. Doyle Bevins, out in Hollybrook Estates.

Ben Hey, Doyle. You having any issues with your computers? smartphone? what-have-you?

Doyle Oh, yeah! ‘Bout- ‘bout five minutes ago, all my toys just shut off. TV, ‘puter, phone. Sounded like a transformer just shut doowwwn.

Sammy Oh! So you had a transformer blow up by you! A- y- c— you know, could that have caused that way up here, Ben?

Ben I—

Doyle Oh, no, nothing like that! Like- like it was Bumblebee[2] powering down like a [gutteral] guchuchuhh aguchuchuhhh.

Sammy …Oh…

Ben Right. Regardless, Hollybrook is a good five miles outside of town. I don’t know if that would’a hit us.

Sammy Doyle, thanks for calling in and letting us know what’s going on with ya.

Doyle Oh, sure thing, bro, but. *chuckles* That’s not why I caallled.

Ben Oh! Uhhh, o-okay.

Sammy What’s on your mind tonight, Doyle?

Doyle Well, before all this new age funky-junk started, I was having some really crazy stuff going on here in the apartment.

Sammy Crazy stuff? Uh, wh-w-what kind of stuff?

Doyle Supernatural stuff.

Ben I’ve got nothing, I’ve never heard of anything going on in Hollybrook.

Doyle Ohohoh, it is in-sane, Ben. It’s like I’m living in some sorta Cybertronian spacecraft.

Sammy Cybertrone— I- I’m not familiar wi— Ben?

Ben It’s a Transformers reference. It’s not real.

Doyle Hey. It’s real, Ben.

Sammy Can you give us an example?

Ben Without referencing a Mike Bay movie.

Doyle Sure thing, bro. So, I’ve got this toaster, right?

Ben Mm-hmm?

Doyle Sometimes— late at night— BOOM! It’ll pop up the scariest damn thing you ever laid eyyes onn.

Sammy So it makes the noise like when the bread is done.

Doyle Ghost Toast, boyyys. It pops— but ain’t nothin’ there.

Ben Doyle… We’re gonna take another call.

Doyle Ohohoho! not good enough for you, Ben, not Spooky-Kooky enough, huh? I’ll do you one betterr.

Ben [dryly] You’d have to.

Doyle Sometimes— late at night— my fridge starts making this Scary hummin’ noise, like HUMMMUMUMUM—

Sammy Doyle.

Doyle —MUM HUMUMUMUM-HUHHH—

Sammy Doyle.

Doyle —MUMM HUUMMUMUHUH-UH-UH-KUH— *coughing* *clearing throat* You get it.

Sammy Doyle. Are you only experiencing this phenomenon with your appliances?

Doyle [impatiently] Ca- can I finish, Sammy? Is that- is that cool? Can I finish?

Sammy I’m sorry, of course.

Doyle Alright. So like I said, it’s just a hurmming so [quietly, sharing-a-secret-like] I sneak in the kitchen, all Vatican assassin-like. [louder] Sling open the door– ACRACKACHOW! – ain’t nothing happening, boys. Mayo and mustard just looking at me like they wanna hop on a sanndwich.

Sammy [“you’re crazy and i’m gonna go”] Alright, Doyle. We’re gonna take another call. Please be careful out there, with the appliances and such.

Doyle Hey, do y’all want me to make a video and send it? *scoff* Pft-Duh! Maybe the electronics are zapped so I can’t prove it, man! It’s a big old vicious circle, bros!

[click, dial tone]

Ben Dear God.

Sammy Take care, Doyle. *sigh* Line nine, you’re on with Sammy and Ben.

Creeper [creepy guy from episode 2 who calls to “listen to Sammy”]Long-time listener here!— Second-time caller.

Sammy [click, dial tone] Nope! Not tonight. I don’t want that. Let’s go ahead and take liiine…

Ben *pointedly clears throat*

Sammy Uh- yes, Ben?

Ben Huhhh, wel- ah- we- we- we need to- play an ad, Sammy.

Sammy Play an ad? You know the computers are off, right?

Ben Mhmm.

Sammy Don’t look at me like that! Don’t even think it!

Ben *whispers*God. [singing to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”] ♫Whenn- You’re- Hunngry and you know it come to Rose’s!♫

Sammy No.

Ben ♫If you’re starvin’ and it’s showin come to Rose’s!♫

Sammy Ben, please.

Ben ♫We’ve got waffles and cranapples–♫

Sammy Beenn!

Ben I’m just trying to make sure that the clients get their money’s worth?

Sammy I understand that, but you know what? there’s no better way to do that than talking about just how delicious Rose’s Diner can be. Personally, I’m one for the country breakfast. What do you get down there at Rose’s?

Ben Umm, well it’s a fact you just- can’t beat Rose’s fresh doughnuts.

Sammy And from what Troy has told us, they make a mean bagel as well!

Ben I’ve been going to Rose’s all my life? Never had a bad meal there, not one!

Sammy You know, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped by for a great meal and good conversation. So if you’re in the neighborhood, just passing through, or wanna feel at home away from home, stop by Rose’s Diner! Right off the interstate.

Ben Exit 44.

Sammy There you go.

Ben You’re good and I’m hungry. [quietly] Man, I could go for the signature pancake puppies.

Sammy Whatever stops that singin’.

Ben Okay, plea—I- I’ll have you know, Mr. Sheffield cast me as the lead in King Falls High School’s rendition of Grease.

Sammy Alright, Zuko[3], well let’s take some calls! Good evening, you’re on with—

CALLER [static/interference]

Ben TIM!

Sammy Ca-can you hear us, Tim?

Pete Sorry, sorry let me turn my radio down.

Sammy [quietly, disappointed] False alarm.

Ben What do you want, Pete?

Pete This isn’t Pete! My name isss… Escobar. And I wanted to tell you that this is the absolute worst broadcast in the history of radio. You two oughta be ashamed!

Sammy We’re just trying to make the best of a bad situation, Pete.

Pete Escobar!

Ben I thought you weren’t ever listening to King Falls AM again, Pete.

Pete I’m not listening! I’m assuming.

Sammy Well you know what they say when you assume something, right, Pete?

Pete ES. CO. BARRRIBA!

Ben Don’t you have some mowing or clipping up to do at Beauregard’s manor?

Pete Racist! But you know dang well no one goes up there after sundown! Ese?

Ben So you admit your employer is a vampire. Hmm. Interesting.

Pete I didn’t say- I didn’t- I didn’t say that! I just don’t wanna whack a weed that ain’t a weed! Ben— start living right. All that scary stuff’s fryin’ yer brain.

Sammy Pete. Escobar. Do you have a reason for calling?

Pete Alright, pushy! Alright, you know what? I swear, I ain’t listening to you ever again, you brow-beating ruffians! Nunca! Nunca, now, I tell ya. [click]

[dial tone]

Sammy It’s gonna be a long night.

[sound of electrical powering down]

Ben Look at the phone lines! We dropped all the calls. Li- line one? Hello? … You’re on with King Falls. Ugh, Nothing. We can’t fill four hours like this, Sammy.

Sammy I’ve got an idea! Gimme your keys, Ben.

[rustling]

Ben This can’t be good.

Sammy Be right back!

Ben Sammy!

[footsteps running away, door closing]

Ben [singing] ♫Strandeeed at the drive iin, braannded a foool♫[4]… Yeah, I still got it. Okay folks, just uhh— lemme just check to see if our regular phones are working, make a little call out. [muttering] What is this, a rotary phone? Sheesh!

[sound of a rotary phone being dialed, ringing]

Emily Hello?

Ben Hey, Emily, it’s Ben! H- I hope I didn’t wake you!

Emily Not at all, I’m listening. What’s going on with the show? and the electronics?

Ben I know, right? I- I just wanted to make sure you were *sniffs* Oh! uh, hey, we’re live, by the way.

Emily As live as can be, right?

Ben Right. *awkward laugh* But, yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were okay with all the— weirdness happening tonight.

Emily I’m fine! Thanks for thinking of me. Good thing I’ve got a land line, I guess.

Ben [awkwardly] If you didn’t I would’ve had to, come over to check.

Emily Oh really? …That’s an interesting thought!

Ben Huh-h- mm- yeah. Y-you know, to- make sure that you’re safe and sound. Like a gentleman?

Emily Oh, of course.

Ben Oh! Uh, so, the other reason I called: um, in all your studies or research, do you ever recall any kind of electronic or- or electromagnetic pulses here in the Falls?

Emily Not to my knowledge. Obviously, I’ll dig more into this later today at the library, but it’s new I think. [door closing in bg] Lucky us!

Ben Lucky us.

[footsteps quickly coming closer]

Sammy Alright! what’d I miss?

Emily Hi, Sammy!

Sammy Hi, Emily! … Hope you’re doing alright tonight.

Ben Hey, I’ll, uh, call you later, okay?

Emily Sounds like a plan!

Ben Night! [click, dial tone] Don’t look at me like that, Sammy.

Sammy [clearly amused and judging Ben] Ah-I didn’t say a word. Crazy power outages and electrical malfunctions— do you call your mom first? Your brother? Nope! You call your local librarian, Emily Potter.

Ben So?

Sammy So it’s cute!

Ben Whatever. W-w-what are you up to over there?

Sammy Well, this is a record player, borrowed from Mr. Chet Sebastian’s office. This is not how we planned the evening, but, thank you, Chet!

Ben And?

Sammy Well, I figure since our fancy— new, high and mighty tech is out, then we’ll just have to bring back some old trusty, reliable stuff to pass the time.

Ben It’s a little telling that most of our broadcast equipment hasn’t gotten shut down.

Sammy Merv, take a note. Upgrade our WKRP radio shack so we can take a night off when everything goes belly-up, huh?

Ben Let me mic that thing up.

[sound of needle on record]

Sammy Alright ladies and gents, you’re listening to King Falls AM, that’s 660 on the radio dial. With me as always is my co-host Ben Arnold and this? This is a little Chet Sebastian jazz to help you through this weird-ass night. Thanks for being a legend, sir.

[jazz music plays]

[CREDITS]

References:

[1] Marconi - Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi FRSA was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission, development of Marconi's law, and a radio telegraph system. He is credited as the inventor of radio.

[2] Bumblebee - designation B-127, is a fictional robot superhero in the many continuities in the Transformers franchise. One of the most well known characters from the Transformers.

[3] Zuko - Danny Zuko is the male lead from the popular movie Grease.

[4] “Stranded at the drive-in” - from “Alone at a Drive-In Movie”, one of Zuko’s songs in Grease

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Hypothetical plot outline for season 1 of Hulu’s Ghost Rider series

Before we start, here is our main cast:

1) Gabriel Luna as Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider

2) Lorenzo James Henrie as Gabe Reyes, Robbie’s younger brother

3) Jose Zuniga as Eli Morrow, Robbie’s uncle and the main antagonist of the season

4) Jessica Parker Kennedy as Lisa Gardner, a detective and Robbie’s main love interest (at least as of season 1)

5) Derek Mio as Kenshiro “Zero” Cochrane, a hacker who befriends Robbie and eventually becomes his go-to tech guy (the “Cisco Ramon” of the show)

6) Josh Segarra as Hamilton Slade, a college professor who is dating Lisa Gardner, thinks Ghost Rider is a menace

7) Becky G as Alejandra Jones / All-New Ghost Rider, a woman whose soul becomes bonded to Eli’s after making a deal with him 

8) Malese Jow as Sister Sara Yang / The Caretaker, a warrior nun who reluctantly joins forces with Robbie in order to battle the supernatural 

Now, the episodes. Since this is the first season and Marvel might consider costs in making the series, I thought that 10 episodes would be a reasonable amount.

Episode 1: Still Angry

* A plot: Introduction to all the main characters. Robbie is a loner who helps a local church during the day and goes out as Ghost Rider at night. The opening scene is of Robbie destroying a local gang. Gabe Reyes is going to a nearby college, which is the real reason why Robbie moved to Texas. Lisa and Hamilton also volunteer at Robbie’s church, which is how Robbie develops a crush on her, despite her being in a relationship. Hamilton is friendly to Robbie but you can also tells he’s the “jealous / possessive boyfriend” type.  

* B plot: Sister Sara Yang, also known as “The Caretaker”, arrives in Texas with the mission to capture the Ghost Rider for the Catholic Church. She recruits Rising Tide hacktavist Kenshiro “Zero” Cochrane by blackmailing him (“if you don’t help me, I’ll report all your cybercrimes”). 

* C plot: Alejandra Jones is trying to cross the border from Mexico to the USA in order to find her long-lost father. In the episode stinger, we learn that she’s being stalked by a ghost, who we’ll learn later on is Eli Morrow.  

* The climax of the episode is Sister Sara confronting the Ghost Rider. The two fight and Robbie easily defeats her. Instead of killing her, Robbie spares her when he realizes she’s not evil. Sara asks why and Robbie just tells her to leave and never come back. 

Episode 2: A Good Man 

* A plot: Robbie tries to go back to his normal routine but is confronted by Sister Sara and Kenshiro. Gabe, who is fully aware of his brother’s nightly activities, tries to convince them that Robbie is a good man but Sara is unconvinced. Sara says Robbie needs to prove to her that he’s a good man or else he will have to come back with her to the Vatican City. Robbie proves he’s on her side by taking down a gang of human traffickers and saving all the people they captured. All the people who Robbie saved bless him, calling him an “angel of vengeance”. Sara and Kenshiro leave, with Sara’s faith shaken and unsure of continuing her mission.

* B plot: Lisa and Hamilton go on a date where they discuss the Ghost Rider. Hamilton hates the man but Lisa thinks he’s a hero. Lisa tries to pry into Hamilton’s past and he tells her bits and pieces but stops short of going into his “family legacy”. Curious, Lisa asks and Hamilton rudely tells her to “stop digging”. 

* C plot: Alejandra tries crossing the border but the cartel suspect her of wrongdoing (she was framed by another person). The cartel kill her on the spot, leading to her making a deal with Eli Morrow. Episode ends with her becoming the second Ghost Rider. 

Episode 3: The Other Rider 

* A plot: While patrolling one night, Robbie hears about a horrifying incident on the other side of the border. A Ghost Rider-like monster led a massacre of a cartel, leaving barely any survivors. As he investigates, he comes across Lisa, who is also on patrol that night, and Sara, who was investigating on her own. Survivors of the cartel attack the three of them, with the cartel shooters wanting payback. Robbie, Sara, and Lisa fight them off and Robbie drives all of them away to safety. Robbie drops Lisa back at the police station and drives away with Sara. Robbie tells Sara he wasn’t responsible for the massacre and Sara believes him. 

* B plot: Gabe is at college, where he meets Kenshiro. They mostly have a humorous subplot, with Kenshiro trying to befriend Gabe since he has no friends in the area and that Sister Sara told him to get close to the Ghost Rider’s family. We learn more about Kenshiro and Gabe’s backstories. We also learn that Hamilton Slade is one of Gabe’s professors but is unaware that Gabe’s brother is the Ghost Rider. 

* C plot: Alejandra wakes up in the middle of the road, not sure of what she did. Her plot is mostly just learning that she’s now bonded to the soul of Eli Morrow and that he has some control over her. She gets into a fight with some truckers and accidentally kills them due to Eli’s influence. 

Episode 4: The Big Man from Down Below 

* A plot: This episode is mainly backstory. Robbie and Sara make it back to Robbie’s church, where they discuss last night’s events. As they come up with a plan to track down the second Ghost Rider, we go into some flashbacks which explains what Robbie has been doing since AOS season 4 without actually referencing AOS. Flashbacks include him taking the Darkhold to some unknown hell dimension, a fight scene with some gang that he wipes out, dealing with his dark legacy, and meeting Mephisto for the first time (who says Robbie’s soul is damned). At the end of the episode, Robbie and Sara decide to officially team up since they have the same goal of catching this other Ghost Rider. With Gabe and Kenshiro, the four of them form “Team Ghost Rider”.

* B plot: Similar to Robbie’s plot this episode, we go into Eli Morrow’s backstory. Alejandra learns, from Eli, that he was turned into a Spirit of Vengeance by Mephisto. When Alejandra asks why, Eli chooses not to tell her. We learn that all Spirits of Vengeance have similar stories to his, implying that Robbie’s Spirit of Vengeance became that way because of a deal with Mephisto. We see Alejandra become the All-New Ghost Rider at the end of the episode and she steals someone’s motorcycle. 

* C plot: Lisa tries to explain to her superiors what happened last night. Her superiors tell her that Ghost Rider killed a bunch of people on the other side of the border but she’s convinced that Robbie wasn’t responsible. Hamilton also tries to tell her she’s wrong, leading to their first fight.

* End episode stinger: Alejandra/Eli opens up a portal to an unknown dimension and a group of demons come out. Alejandra/Eli says, “Welcome to Earth”, ending the episode. 

Episode 5: Hell Hath No Fury 

* Main plot: Robbie, Sara, Kenshiro, and Gabe start investigating the second Ghost Rider while also trying to dodge Lisa, who tells them that GR is wanted for the massacre. She’s part of the investigation but it’s clear she thinks GR is innocent. The investigation leads them to a survivor, who Robbie tracks down. The survivor, who turns out to be the person who framed Alejandra and got her killed, says that Alejandra was murdered by the cartel, then the Ghost Rider showed up and killed everyone. The team finds out that Alejandra’s body was not among the dead. Sensing the dark aura in the area, Robbie puts the pieces together and realizes Alejandra made a deal with the devil. When Sara asks how does he know, he gives her a look that says that his situation was similar. He also points out that the attack happened immediately after Alejandra made that deal, as if the devil was waiting for her.

* Main plot (continued): After interrogating the survivor, Team Ghost Rider is confronted by the All-New Ghost Rider. Alejandra Jones, fully under Eli Morrow’s control, says that she needs to speak with Robbie. Robbie and Alejandra/Eli battle it out for the first time but the fight between the two Ghost Riders leads to a stalemate, even with Sara, Gabe, and Kenshiro’s help. Lisa and the rest of the police arrive, leading to a shootout between them and Alejandra/Eli. Alejandra/Eli kills most of the police force but Robbie is able to save Lisa in time. He creates a portal and takes Lisa away from the scene, but Alejandra-Eli orders her demon henchmen to go after them. Episode ends on that cliffhanger.

* Subplot: Hamilton Slade finishes up a class and we see him in his private study. As he looks through his photo albums, he comes across a picture of a burial site. Immediately, he shuts the book away, disturbed by the memory. We get a flashback to the moment when the photograph was taken and it’s revealed that Hamilton found the burial site of his ancestor, Lincoln Slade, who was a predecessor of the Ghost Rider. 

Episode 6: Like a Woman Scorned 

* A plot: Picking up right after the previous episode, Robbie and Lisa emerge on the other side of the portal. It’s revealed that Robbie took them back to his scrapyard in Los Angeles. Although Robbie tries to hide his identity, he realizes he needs Lisa to trust him and turns back to his normal self. Lisa is surprised to find out Robbie is the Ghost Rider and says he should’ve just told her. As they talk, Alejandra/Eli opens up a portal outside the scrapyard. One of the main demons, nicknamed Hive Mind, has mind control powers and takes control of several L.A. citizens to form an army. Robbie and Lisa fight the mind-controlled army but are hesitant to actually kill anyone. Eventually, the fight comes down to Robbie and Alejandra/Eli and her minions. Lisa leaves, with Robbie telling her to find “Father Reyes”. Alone, Robbie puts up a good fight but is overwhelmed and defeated. Before Robbie passes out, Eli (through Alejandra) reveals himself and says that he’s gonna finish what he started.

* B plot: Sara, Gabe, and Kenshiro are battling Alejandra’s demon henchmen (the ones who didn’t cross over to Los Angeles). During this battle, we get backstory on Sara. It’s revealed Sara was once a normal nun who had an interest in the supernatural. One night, she fends off an attack by a vampire, partly due to her studying on how vampires worked. Impressed by this, the church offers her a place in their top-secret division dedicated to hunting supernatural monsters. Also during this fight, Hamilton Slade, who is driving at this time, accidentally gets involved when a demon attacks his car. Kenshiro rescues him, thus bringing Slade into their group.

* Side note: For the B plot, Gabe starts reflecting on Alejandra Jones. From what he knows about her, he says that he’s sad that she was killed by the cartel and was turned into a Ghost Rider. He questions why she would be wreaking havok. Gabe’s interest in Alejandra Jones will be important later on.   

Episode 7: Tio 

* Cold opening dream sequence: Robbie wakes up in the church and sees (to the audience’s surprise) Chloe Bennet. However, she introduces herself as the Ghost Rider, revealing that the Rider took the form of Daisy to talk to Robbie. Daisy and AOS is briefly referenced. Daisy-GR tells Robbie that he’s in way over his head and that it’s rethinking their deal. Robbie says that he can beat Eli but before we can go any further, Robbie wakes up from his dream.

* A plot: Robbie wakes up on some desert planet. Alejandra-Eli is there. They have a chat where we learn that Eli is planning on building a portal machine with the help of the Darkhold. Robbie asks why and Eli says that he wants to open a portal to hell large enough to allow Mephisto’s army to go through and conquer Earth and turn it into a new hell dimension. Robbie realizes the truth; not only was Eli Morrow turned into a Spirit of Vengeance by Mephisto, he was now Mephisto’s lackey. Mephisto is planning on conquering Earth. Robbie says he’ll never give up the Darkhold but Eli says that he already found it, revealing that Hive Mind used mind control on Robbie to make him give up the location of the Darkhold. Robbie and Alejandra-Eli fight but Alejandra-Eli escapes back to Earth, leaving Robbie stranded on the desert planet. 

* A plot (continued): Robbie tries to make a portal back to Earth but realizes that Alejandra-Eli took his chains with her/him. He starts to wander around, trying to figure out how to get back home. As he does, he’s visited by the “ghosts” / hallucinations of Lisa, Gabe, Sara, and Kenshiro, who urge him on. He’s also visited by Daisy-Ghost-Rider and his parents, who we haven’t seen until this episode. Fueled by pure hatred and anger towards his uncle, Robbie uses the resources around him to find a way back home. He collects iron ores from the desert and uses the Ghost Rider fire to make a makeshift Sling Ring. He crosses through the portal, pissed as fuck.  

* B plot: Sara, Kenshiro, and Gabe try to calm Hamilton Slade down, who is hysterical since being attacked by a demon. While dealing with this, police reinforcements arrive and arrest the four of them. They’re brought to the police station and questioned on what happened. While being interrogated, a werewolf attacks the police station, killing several people. Sara, Kenshiro, Gabe, and Hamilton work together with the police to kill the werewolf. After taking the werewolf down, the head police chief lets them go, realizing he has a whole city to clean up. 

* C plot: Lisa finds Father Reyes, who is revealed to be Robbie and Gabe’s estranged father. The two talk, with Lisa saying that his son is a hero (without actually saying that Robbie is the Ghost Rider). Father Reyes agrees, although he’s worried about his son. Father Reyes and Lisa talk about Robbie and we learn more about Robbie’s childhood.

* End episode stinger: Alejandra-Eli is seen holding the Darkhold. Eli starts making plans to build a machine that could unlock a portal to Mephisto’s hell dimension. However, Alejandra briefly takes over, revealing that Eli doesn’t have as strong of a hold on her as he thought. 

Episode 8: The Phantom

* A plot: Robbie reconnects with Team Ghost Rider, who are all tired from battling the demons. He also brings back Lisa from Los Angeles. Before he goes back to his team, Robbie chats with his father. Father Reyes reveals that he knows Robbie is the Ghost Rider (“You can’t fool me, son”) and that he figured it out several years ago. He also says that he doesn’t think Robbie’s soul is damned, despite Robbie claiming he made a deal with the devil. He says that Robbie is using his powers to fight the forces of evil and that makes him a warrior for God in his eyes. Father Reyes also says that he thinks Robbie hasn’t fully explored his powers, indirectly hinting at the Penance Stare (will become important later on). 

* A plot (continued): With the whole team together, Robbie says that Alejandra/Eli is planning on building a machine that will open a portal to hell. He also tells them that Alejandra/Eli is working for Mephisto, who turned Eli into one of his minions in exchange for Spirit of Vengeance abilities. The team starts making a plan to destroy the portal machine, send Eli back to hell, and reclaim the Darkhold. However, Hamilton Slade doesn’t trust Robbie. He leaves the group with a plan to expose Robbie as the Ghost Rider

* A plot (continued): However, the team stops Hamilton in time and in an angry fit, he reveals that he despises the Ghost Rider since it’s his family legacy. His ancestor, Lincoln Slade, was a Ghost Rider but he abused his power. Robbie says that the Rider isn’t evil, it’s the user. He says that he’s using his powers to fight evil and that he’ll do whatever it takes to stop Eli Morrow and any other villain with plans to destroy the world. Robbie’s conviction to his mission is what finally convinces Hamilton that Robbie is a hero and abandons his plans.

* B plot: Alejandra’s battle for control over her own body gets heated as she tries destroying the portal machine whenever she’s in control. This leads to a surreal sequence where Alejandra and Eli play a game of mental hide-and-seek, with both of them fighting to be the dominant personality. Alejandra gets the upper hand near the end of the fight but, sadly, Eli overpowers her. Now in full control, Eli says to his henchmen, “The woman won’t be a problem anymore”. As he says this, he learns that his machine is close to finish.   

Episode 9: Wrath 

* Main plot: Picking up right at the end of the previous episode, Team Ghost Rider tries searching for Eli Morrow, realizing that he could be anywhere around the world. Robbie, knowing how he hid the Darkhold, begins retracing his steps to see if he could stumble across a clue on where Eli is. This leads to a sequence where Robbie and the team confront a demon named Hoss, who was keeping the Darkhold with him. When the team asks why Robbie trusted the book to Hoss, Robbie says it’s because Hoss is a collector whose personal vault is near-impenetrable. Hoss is also a demon bounty hunter, taking monsters back to hell just like Robbie, which is another reason why Robbie trusted him (although Hoss took demons back for pay). 

* Main plot (continued): At first, Hoss claims that someone broke into his vault and stole the Darkhold. However, after some investigating, the team learns that Hoss backstabbed Robbie by giving Eli Morrow the Darkhold willingly. Hoss says that he wants Earth to becomes a hell dimension, leading to Robbie beating him up. Robbie forces Hoss to give up Eli’s location, which he does.  

* Main plot (continued): The location turns out to be the old Momentum Labs. Eli Morrow, seeing that Robbie and his allies have found him, sends his demon army out to stop them. The rest of this episode consists of confrontations. Robbie battles and kills Hive Mind, avenging his previous defeat. Sara and Lisa team up and kill several demon minions. Kenshiro, despite being a non-fighter, manages to use his wits to take several demon minions down. While this is happening, Gabe tells Hamilton to wheel him to Alejandra. Hamilton questions him and Gabe says that he wants to talk to Alejandra. 

* Main plot (continued): Hamilton takes Gabe into the heart of Momentum Labs without telling the rest of the group and they confront Alejandra/Eli together. Gabe appeals to Alejandra’s humanity and even to his uncle. He asks Eli if he wants to be Mephisto’s servant for the rest of his life and for the first time in the series, Eli doubts his plan. This moment of self-doubt leads to Alejandra resurfacing. She quickly tells Gabe and Hamilton to destroy the portal machine before Eli activates it since the portal will be self-sustaining once activated (meaning, destroying the machine won’t do anything). Alejandra also says they need to kill her before Eli comes back. Unfortunately, Eli does return and, angered, he turns into the All-New Ghost Rider and attacks Gabe and Hamilton. 

* Main plot (continued): Robbie enters the scene just in time and the two Ghost Riders fight again. This time, with the help of Sara, Lisa, and Kenshiro, Robbie defeats Alejandra/Eli. However, before Robbie can burn Eli, “Alejandra” comes back and begs for mercy. Gabe stops Robbie and “Alejandra” begs them to save her before Eli comes back. But this turns out to be a ruse. It’s Eli pretending to be Alejandra. Eli activates the portal machine and the episode ends on the massive cliffhanger of Mephisto’s demon army ready to attack Earth!

Episode 10: Ghost Rider

(Season finale time! If you’re still reading this, I just wanna say, thank you, you’re a real trooper)

We start off right at the end of the previous episode. Robbie immediately destroys the portal machine but realizes that the portal is self-sustaining. Team Ghost Rider flees Momentum Labs as Mephisto’s demon army starts swarming Los Angeles. Things are going bonkers as police and National Guard come in to battle the army of darkness. As this is happening, Eli/Alejandra slips away. 

The group barricades themselves in an abandoned office and Robbie says it’s his fault that Eli managed to activate the portal and he’s the only one with the ability to close the gate. Robbie tells the group to leave but they tell him that they’re with him to the end of the line. They make a new plan; Robbie and Sara will fight their way back to Momentum Labs to close the gate, Kenshiro will be their “guy in the chair” as well as search for Eli/Alejandra, and Lisa and Hamilton will take Gabe and flee the city. 

As they prepare to exit the building, we get some interesting interactions. Lisa breaks up with Hamilton, saying that they’re better off as friends, and Hamilton wonders if it’s because she has feelings for Robbie. Hamilton tells Robbie that he’s surprised that he went from despising the Ghost Riders to working with one. Gabe tells Robbie that he needs to find a way to spare Alejandra since she’s an innocent in all this. Sara says to Kenshiro that she was wrong about Robbie and that he’s a warrior for God. Kenshiro admits that he has a huge crush on Sara but Sara says they can’t be together since she’s a nun. 

The groups head out of the building. To summarize what happens, Robbie and Sister Sara battle their way through the demon hordes back to Momentum Labs. Robbie gets his “Thor: Ragnarok” moment and goes HAM on the demon army as heavy metal music blares in the background. He manages to close the portal with his chain, foiling Eli/Alejandra’s plans. 

While this is happening, Lisa, Hamilton, and Gabe try to flee the city. Demons attack them and while fighting them off, Hamilton is fatally wounded. He tells Lisa that he loves her as he dies in her arms. After closing the portal, Robbie catches up with Lisa and Gabe and learns about what happened to Hamilton, enraging him. Kenshiro, who was guiding both groups this whole time, tells Robbie where Eli/Alejandra is, leading to our final confrontation.

Similar to Luke Cage season 1, Robbie confronts Eli/Alejandra while several bystanders watch. The two Ghost Riders go at it, with several big moments such as Robbie destroying Eli/Alejandra’s motorcyle, Eli/Alejandra destroying Robbie’s charger (temporarily, the car comes back of course), and so on. The fight eventually ends with Robbie defeating Eli/Alejandra and ready to destroy them. 

Just then, Father Reyes’ words come back to Robbie and, for the first time in the whole series, Robbie uses the Penance Stare on Eli/Alejandra. Eli’s soul is burned by this but Alejandra is spared. Robbie is unsure how he knew he could do that and Sara suggests that “God gave him the power”. Battle ends with Alejandra thanking Robbie as she’s arrested. 

Cut to several days later. The team attends Hamilton Slade’s funeral. Sara and Kenshiro decide to stay in Texas as Robbie’s main support team. Gabe also embraces his role as a member of Team Ghost Rider. Lisa is the last to join, saying that she always believed in the Ghost Rider. Robbie comforts her, telling her that he’s sorry for her loss, and Lisa thanks him for that. There are some signs of romantic feelings but nothing too blatant since Lisa is in mourning. 

Robbie sees that the news are calling him a hero. Robbie doesn’t see himself that way and he rides off into the night, off to battle another demon.

As he rides off, we quickly cut back to Alejandra Jones, who is in a holding cell. In the cell’s mirror, she sees Eli Morrow looking back at her. He’s still there but it’s clear he has no power over her anymore. 

The episode ends with Robbie riding off into the night...just as a motorcycle starts to follow him. We’re not shown who is following Robbie. Is it Johnny Blaze? Is it Danny Ketch? Is it Carter Slade? You’ll have to find out...in season two! 

tagging (sorry, i know this is a long post): @angel-starbeam, @whistlingwindtree, @lostinthespeedforce, @agentmilayawithshield, @happilyshanghaied, @acerobbiereyes, @isisparker, @shutyourmoustache, @clarasghosts

[muthur9000]

The Engineer Forum

One of the things which stood out to me was the use of Statues upon tall pedestals circling the forum, at first I thought of the Roman influence. Then after doing some research I also found that Foro Italico was an example of Italian Fascist architecture instituted by Mussolini. This follows a design specification which combined sculpture and architecture from Roman, Greek and Fascist Eras.

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By Blackcat – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Standing Sculptures

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Another gem from Mateo Jakicevic. "Not sure if this has been discussed before when I first watched Alien: Covenant, I noticed that some of the statues on top of the pillars surrounding the plaza look very familiar. Most of them resemble the statue of St. Bartholomew, with his own skin. While one statue specifically resembles Augustus of Prima Porta 🤔" #alien #AlienCovenant #augustus #statue #sculpture #stbartholomew #flayed #pillars #planet4 #filmdetails #filmanalysis

A post shared by muthur9000 | Studio Yutani (@studioyutani) on Apr 22, 2018 at 10:33pm PDT

The artistic choice between these two specific figures probably relates to the idea that the Engineers had worked closely with mankind and influenced Roman Art/Architecture and also influenced the belief system.

Movies.com: You throw religion and spirituality into the equation for Prometheus, though, and it almost acts as a hand grenade. We had heard it was scripted that the Engineers were targeting our planet for destruction because we had crucified one of their representatives and that Jesus Christ might have been an alien. Was that ever considered?RS: We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose. But if you look at it as an “our children are misbehaving down there” scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armour and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, “Lets’ send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it. Guess what? They crucified him.

In my interview with Ev Shipard had also mentioned he used some of his game character likenesses to pad out the statues filling the square. Creatives: Wayne Haag and Ev Shipard – Episode 15 – Yutani Podcast

I asked Wayne Haag if he did these statues in his matte paint, he said he used the one Ev created.

Referencing a couple of statues I sculpted a giant engineer. Then broke it down and resculpted for a highres milled ruin for the set. Blink and you’ll miss it. – evshipard

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Shared by Luis Lopez. The smashed statue of St.Bartholomew on Planet 4 in Alien: Covenant. "The account of St Bartholomew being skinned alive is the most repeated in many forms of art, he is often shown with a large knife, holding his own skin, or both like in Michelangelo's Last Judgment. Another parallel, Archaeological research demonstrates that the cult of Saint Bartholomew began in Avezzano, previously a temple dedicated to Heracles, which is always represented in the act of holding the skin of the Nemean lion. There is a solid relationship between the two iconographies and the re-semantization of the symbols Heracles/Physical Strength/Hero and Bartholomew/Power of Faith/Hero-Martyr. Bartholomew also plays a part in Francis Bacon's Utopian tale New Atlantis, about a mythical isolated land, Bensalem. Francis Bacon's tryptic was also inspiration for the original chestburster design. The island was populated by a people dedicated to reason and natural philosophy. About 20 years after Christ's ascension, the people of Bensalem discovered an ark floating off the shore. It contained a letter as well as the books of the Old and New Testaments. The letter was from St Bartholomew declaring that an angel told him to set the ark and its contents afloat. Thus the scientists of Bensalem received the revelation of the Word of God." More information here 🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_the_Apostle #AlienCovenant #stbartholomew #planet4 #evshipard #statue #bible #religion #reason #philosophy #ark #scientists #FrancisBacon #Bensalem #newatlantis #island

A post shared by muthur9000 | Studio Yutani (@studioyutani) on Apr 23, 2018 at 12:38am PDT

Augustus of Prima Porta

Found in the villa of Livia in Prima Porta, the statue is a portrait of Augustus as a handsome and young ruler, wearing a decorated cuirass and a tunic, with the figure of Cupid riding a dolphin on his side.

Look closely, though, and you’ll notice something curious: the Emperor has no boots. Art historians debate the significance of this, however, appearing barefoot was an attribute of divinity in art of the ancient world. Though likely based on a bronze statue created during Augustus’ reign, according to many scholars, the Prima Porta must be posthumous, since the Roman Senate deified Augustus a month after his death two thousand years ago in AD 14.

In other words, the Prima Porta Augustus, (named after the villa where it was found, which once belonged to his widow, the Empress Livia), is not simply a portrait of Rome’s first emperor – it is also a vision of a god.

Statue of Saint Batholomew

St Bartholomew is one of Christ’s twelve apostles, executed for his Christian faith, portrayed here based on how he is identified by iconography following the agony suffered.

The Saint, skinned alive, carries what looks like a drape on his shoulders and around his body. But it is his skin; clear reference to the torture inflicted. Up until the XIII-XIV century, the apostle was portrayed dressed holding a book and a knife; alluding to the Gospel proclaimed and martyrdom suffered. They started to portray his agony from the Renaissance onwards. Whereas the saint’s icon with his own skin removed from his flesh was finally sanctified after Michelangelo (XVI century) portrayed him that way in the Universal Judgement in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

The work of Marco d’Agrate does not do any psychological introspection or give evidence of the deep faith expressed by the martyrdom of Bartholomew. It is part of a 16th century sphere of interest: the study and presentation of human anatomy. The first scientific work on anatomy by Andrea Vesalio, on the autopsy study of the human body and dissection of corpses, was published in Venice in 1453.

The statue was an exercise, a careful description and a virtuous academic essay on the muscles and structure of the human body.

References

Augustus Prima Porta, http://www.vatican-patrons.org/focus-on-the-augustus-of-prima-porta-2546

St Bartholomew, https://www.duomomilano.it/en/article/2018/06/29/the-statue-of-st-bartholomew-in-the-milan-duomo/696e8048-5a4c-4e83-ae63-79e51cac979b/

Jesus was an Engineer Emissary, http://www.movies.com/movie-news/ridley-scott-prometheus-interview/8232

Statues in Alien: Covenant The Engineer Forum One of the things which stood out to me was the use of Statues upon tall pedestals circling the forum, at first I thought of the Roman influence.

[hislittleflower-throughconcrete]

Hi! I had a quick question that might be kinda dumb: what is the "grand jury report" referenced in that prayer request? I feel like a bit of a clueless catholic...

Don’t worry, you are not alone - I guessed at what it was but didn't’t know the full extent until I researched it myself. Which makes me so angry because I wish more people were talking about this disgusting, momentous event in the Church.

Short version, from what I understand: Back when all the sex abuse scandals were happening (60s-70s and whatnot, immediately post Vatican II when everything was a mess and there weren’t really any safeguards to protect children in the Church) not all of the priests were caught. While 150-200 priests were exposed for sexually abusing children by the Boston Globe (such as depicted in the movie “Spotlight,”) it has just been uncovered that 300 more priests just in Pennsylvania alone had sexually abused children back then too, and the Church covered it up. So a lot of the victims are senior citizens now and a lot of the priests involved are dead, but the grand jury report lists a the names of the priests and what each did. It is over 1,000 pages. Here is the link. It is graphic.

I am devastated and angry. Angry that this happened, angry at the priests for how they handled it (while some may have just been doing what they thought was right by keeping things “in house”, many were doing it to save their own image and keep their power, and that infuriates me. You can’t care about the Church and not be angry, because the Church is the Body of Christ on earth whose arm is supposed to extend to heal and give life and hope to our downtrodden humanity. Instead, they violated sacred trust and duty by immeasurably wounding innocent children entrusted to them.

[irleughlivelyatalanteangodfan]

 This is probably bit off topic and me reading too much in, and I apologize if it doesn’t sound too coherent,  but also, way he approachess different cavaliers is very interesting to me. Aside from Ulysses and Titania/U- and T- who are corpses, while he still looks at them as belonging to hsi Lyctors/best friends, there is intriguing division in how he speaks of and names future cavaliers?

Nigella and Pyrrha, he names them, P- and N-, and seems to give them some value of agency and respect? Pyrrha especially, amybe because she is by nature such active person, but he speaks with her, he expresses respect and gratitude and bond with her even as he, perhaps most out of all, expresses envy towards her for being his ‘’competition’’  for title of Gideon’s oldest friend.

Nigella, he names her despite us knowing next to nothing about her life, and he implies few times that as artist she was near useless, but- he still seems to have ahd some fondness for her, as he speaks with some measure of gratitude about her moving in compound with them, of her creating cult’s aesthetic, and then him being best man at wedding.

Then there is Alfred. Now, he was probably not named because having two A-s around would be confused, but he is called Junior, and when referenced, mostly vaguely condenscending (little hedge fund manager, nobody likes peacemaker in fight), not given much attention. In a way, he is treated both as extension of Augustine, and as such dear person of John’s favourite, most overlooked and cold towards to.

Now, Christabel. Probably we don’t get name because of already having C-, but, it is interesting how again only truly nameless cavaliers are those of John’s closest, favourite Lyctors. And yet, Christabel isn’t  just extension of mercy, or without relation to John. She is opposite of Mercy (optimistic nun versus shrieky atheist since 12), she is one who mentors John in how to act as miracle worker and buys cult protection of Vatican, and ultimately, she is first soul John claims ( and possibly first body he preserves, as he points out to Alecto-Harrow that nun’s body isnt left laying around), and her actions directly pave way for his apotheosis and greatest deed- Ressurection- and he models his Empire in part on Catholicism...

(That makes it very interesting to me, how mentions of her look from John’s perspective, what is he thinking. Both Augustine and Mercy tie Cristabel in with ascent of Lyctorhood so hard, and what does John, who became God in part due to her, think of that? When Mercy bids him to say that he loved Cristabel, that he didn’t want her to die, is he thinking of moment when he tried to save her when she put gun to her forehead- and how if he could now turn back time, he wouldn’t stop her?)

Idk sorry for rambling, just; it seems to me that story is very interesting and heartbreaking and horrifying if John did love and care for cavaliers- but not as much as necromancers, and decided  they were worth less, that he could live with sacrificing them to keep his best friends forever.

Something something how John refers to those that would become necromancers’ as ‘his’ and by name but those that would become cavaliers are called things like ‘M-‘s nun’ and ‘C-‘s artist’. Trickle down economics for messed-up power dynamics’ or something

[siobhaneardley]

Religion’s Rocky Relationship with Horror Film: The Conjuring & [REC].

The horror genre has had ties with religion, going back to its roots in Gothic literature. The vampires in Dracula were warded off by religious icons and holy water and possession is often the work of the devil. Religion is often the saving force; the priest exorcises the devil and crucifixes repel the advances of the blood sucking vampires. However, what happens when religion can’t save the day?  

In an increasingly secular society, horror films have changed their representations of religion, either becoming suspicious of it, or scrambling to portray religion as the saviour in horrific situations. Two contemporary horror film franchises, one American, one Spanish show both sides of this. James Wan’s The Conjuring and Balaguero & Plaza’s [REC]. Although these films are wholly different in style and subject matter, this contrast enlightening when looking at how horror can interact with religion.

[REC] is a found footage film, shot by a journalist documenting a night in the life of a Barcelona fire station. They are called out to an apartment block, which is very quickly put under quarantine upon their arrival. Over the course of the film we discover that a deadly infection is spreading around the apartment block, seemingly originating in one of the residents’ dog. From this, the audience assumes rabies, which is a common explanation for zombie movies, and in this case, the horrific and animalistic nature of these ‘zombies’ does not dispute this. On the surface, [REC] appears to be a zombie apocalypse film and it pretty much is, until the end segment of the film.

As the film reaches its climax the filmmakers enter the penthouse to find a room filled with religious iconography alongside newspaper clippings reporting a girl possessed. This immediately switches this film from your typical zombie apocalypse film, alluding to something more sinister. On watching this part for the first time, I just thought that they were trying to give a religious explanation for the infection, it was just a misinterpretation, however on viewing [REC]2 it explicitly connects the infection with demonic possession.

I don’t know about anyone else, but for some reason the film became 100% creepier as soon as they entered the penthouse and saw what looked like a conspiracy theorists obsession, paired with the log of a Vatican agent on old tapes playing in the background. This mystery is completely unexpected and turns the whole film on its head.

But why bring religion into what, on the surface appears to be a mere zombie outbreak movie? The answer can be found in Spain’s political past. Spain was under the control of dictator Francisco Franco from 1936 to 1975. Franco took power after the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil war, his rule emphasised conservative values, including putting a great deal of importance on Catholicism, which was the national religion during his rule. Films during his reign were heavily censored, sex, politics and religion were all no-go areas in films made in Spain during this period. After his death in 1975, there was a great change in Spain, with the country becoming more liberal (Scarlett, 113). However, Elizabeth Scarlett in Religion and Spanish Film states that although Spain somewhat abandoned Catholicism, “the motifs of Catholicism were never abandoned” and states that Catholicism is ingrained in the works of Spanish directors (171).

Therefore, [REC]’s religious imagery does not simply contain this to evoke an ominous feeling in the viewer, it is because of the lingering national Catholicism of Spain. However, in this case Catholicism is not presented as the saviour, in fact, it is the very cause of what occurs in the apartment block.

The source of the infection is the girl in the newspaper cuttings who is apparently possessed by demons, the agent kidnaps her and attempts to find a cure for the apparent biological demonic possession, however, this only makes the enzyme mutate and become highly infectious. Andy Willis suggests that for Spain with its religious history, “such references would potentially have great significance for certain members of the audience who might be willing to believe in a potential Vatican inspired conspiracy rather than excepting a supernatural rationale for the virus” (58). Does this belief, therefore lie in the potential distrust that people may feel for religion, as they had been repressed by it for years?

There is only a hint of the religious involvement in the first film, we are presented with mere speculation, however, the sequel builds upon the conspiracy providing more information about the Vatican involvement in the infection, shedding light on the seemingly demonic origins.

We hear the infected people speak in a demonic voice, repelled by items of religious significance, which immediately takes the film into the realm of the demonic and consequently heavily religious. Something that can have a voice and act in such an animalistic manner is wholly disturbing, and although the mystery is being revealed, the eeriness is still there.

Although The Conjuring may seem quite far removed in tone and style to [REC], the theme of demonic possession is at the centre of both narratives. On its release in 2013, The Conjuring was a huge hit, grossing $319.5 million worldwide, $137.4 million of that from the US. What is it about this film makes it so endearing to audiences?

I have always loved a good supernatural horror film, and this is an excellently made one. Yes, it is scary, but for me a well thought out narrative is always what I look for in a horror film.  I was also rather drawn to the characters of Ed and Lorraine, played wonderfully by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Although the characters of Ed and Lorraine are based on real people I still view the film as a work of fiction, because I don’t believe in mediums, or ghosts for that matter, as much as I would like to.

For others the story may seem completely plausible, if you believe in ghosts, God and the devil. The film is so heavily saturated with religious imagery and the script, written by the Hayes brothers (who are very Christian) are not afraid to admit that The Conjuring is a film heavily influenced by Christian values, if not a light piece of Christian propaganda. In an interview Chad Hayes stated that “we want people after experiencing our movie to question, where are they? Where am I in my own faith? Where am I in my belief? The Lord has authority overall, and so here we are”.

Being party to this information has changed the way I view the film. I must admit I am rather put out by the fact I was drawn into a film filled with this kind of preaching. There is one point where Ed looks worryingly at the father of the haunted family after he says none of the kids are baptised, essentially implying they have set themselves up for possession because they are not part of the church; providing a strange narrative based on the notion that the US is losing its faith.

The basic premise of The Conjuring films is that religion can save the day. I did notice this a lot more on watching the second one, but on re-watching the first one it is so stark. The almost saint-like depiction of Lorraine is perhaps the most apparent, more so in the second film in which she is the almost spiritual guider to the young girl who is being possessed by the demon, she acts as a kind of motherly saviour and martyr, who has suffered greatly due to her God-given gift.

The US is lead by religion, it is seen in every element of their culture, from the puritans to the present day. Politics is saturated by religion and is used to justify so many things for example, the continued control over women’s bodies. Now, with the ever-changing world religion is slowly being rejected by many, mainly the youth of the country, the emphasis on religion is going down. The Conjuring appears to be a comment on this, whilst also desperately attempting to re-ignite the countries faith. But did it work? The success of the film does make me wonder, but were the film goers flocking to the cinema due to the religious nature of the film, or just for the scares?

With two films centered around demonic possession there are interesting notes to make about their countries relation to religion. One that has rejected Catholicism and is therefore suspicious and not afraid to critique it, and the other desperately clinging to religion, attempting to scare the audiences into thinking that God can save you from demons. With all that in mind, religion does evoke such a sense of fear in horror viewers, whether they are faithful or not. I for one, would love to see more mainstream horror films in the vein of [REC], openly critiquing religion, rather than so many narratives where religion is the saviour, when in fact, it causes most of the world’s problems right now.

By Siobhan Eardley. 

Works Referenced: 

Goodwyn, Hannah. “Screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes on The Conjuring and God”. CBN.com. 

The Conjuring. Dir James Wan (2013).

The Conjuring 2. Dir James Wan (2016).

[REC]. Dir. Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (2007).

[REC]2. Dir. Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (2009).

Scarlett, Elizabeth. Religion and Spanish Film. Michigan. UP of Michigan Press: 2014, JSTOR. Web. 

Wills, Andy. Transnational Film Remakes. Edinburgh. Edinburgh UP: 2017. JSTOR. Web.