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posttexasstressdisorder · 5 months ago

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The GOP’s 43-year tax-cuts-for-billionaires-while-we-ignore-the-needs-of-the-country grift has an analogy in condos and homes across America that might help voters understand how it works and how they’ve gotten away with it.

Fully 84 percent of all homes and apartments built and sold in 2022 came with a homeowner’s association (HOA), and an estimated 27 percent of all homeowners nationwide currently live in a property controlled by an HOA.

And many are very unhappy about the experience.

According to a survey by Rocket Mortgage, only 47 percent of HOA residents think their HOA has made their community better, only two-thirds (64%) believe their HOA “honestly handles its finances,” and one in ten people nationwide who have an HOA cite the HOA itself as their main reason for moving.

How and why is this?

Louise and I have lived in five communities with HOAs in two different states. Three (including where we now live) were well managed, kept up the community, and set aside money from the dues every month for the inevitable future maintenance. I was on the board of one of them. The other two ran, essentially, a shell game or reverse Ponzi scheme, which led us to eventually quit those communities and move.

READ: Deep-red 'Republican stronghold' thought to be 'easy win for Trump' is now a swing state

I remember attending a board meeting in one of those “shell game” HOA communities we’d lived in. There were multiple common-area maintenance issues needing attention, but a group who called themselves “low-tax conservatives” had run the board for over a twenty years.

There was almost nothing in reserves, so maintenance had been continuously postponed until things hit a crisis level. Then they’d hit us all with a series of “special one-time assessments” ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to pay for the upkeep. They refused to raise the monthly HOA fee, referring to it as a tax, because, they said, they were “low-tax conservatives”; in fact, they were just cheapskates.

That HOA board had been, in the past and the present, stealing from future homeowners.

They did it so they could enjoy the community during the first 30 or so years — when maintenance costs were minimal — without setting aside money for the future, when things would rot or wear out and need replacement or upgrade.

For the first three decades, they were able to coast with $200/month in dues and no assessments; by the time we arrived when the units were pushing 35 years old, though, the assessments were hitting $3000 to $9000 a year, and, when the buildings’ roofs need repair (soon) it’ll be twice that amount or more.

Fortunately, once we saw the handwriting on that particular wall we were able to sell our condo and move to a well-run community. Americans, though, don’t have that option: Republicans have been running this same shell game or reverse Ponzi scheme against all of us (except the very rich) across the entire country ever since Reagan successfully pitched trickle-down economics to the nation in 1981.

If you’ve ever lived in one of these shell game HOA’s, you now perfectly understand Reaganomics and why it seems that America has deteriorated so badly over the past 40 years.

You could call it the disaster of pothole economics: all across America, roads, bridges, water systems, schools, and other vital public infrastructure have been underfunded and neglected ever since Reagan popularized the idea of “austerity” among Republicans.

In order to pay for the second most massive tax cut for the morbidly rich in history (Reagan cut the top tax bracket from 74% down to 25%), his administration cut spending on education, housing, roads and bridges, and pretty much every other aspect of America’s infrastructure. George W. Bush did the same thing, and Donald Trump tripled down on the scheme.

The result was a $51 trillion transfer of wealth — over a mere forty-three years — from the homes, retirement accounts, and savings of average working families into the money bins of the extremely wealthy. Thirty-four trillion of that transfer show up as our national debt, which was a mere $800 billion ($0.8 trillion) when Reagan first came into office and started this scam.

President Joe Biden and his Vice President, Kamala Harris, ran the first administration of either party to significantly repudiate Reagan’s neoliberalism by injecting trillions into rebuilding our nation (over 35,000 projects) while raising taxes on rich people and corporations to pay for it.

The result was immediately visible, just like in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: we now have the best economy on planet Earth with unemployment lower than any time since the 1960s (and lower than any time in history for women, Blacks, and Hispanics). Inflation has been at or below 0% for the past two months and is annually running around 3% (Reagan never got inflation below 4.1% in his entire 8 years); all across America we’re putting our rural areas, towns, and cities back together.

For the past forty years, Republicans and their administrations have focused almost entirely on taking cash away from working class people and handing it off to the billionaires who own and finance their party. At the top of the list of ways they did this was a series of five tax cuts for the morbidly rich and big corporations adding up to over $30 trillion since 1981.

But they’ve also been cutting spending to compensate for their tax breaks for the billionaire class: They blocked extending the child tax credit this year, throwing millions of American children back into poverty. They’ve fought lifting the cap on Social Security taxes so people making over $168,600 will begin paying on all of their income (millionaires and billionaires currently pay only a tiny fraction of the percentage to support Social Security that the rest of us do).

Fully 100% of congressional Republicans voted against Biden’s Build Back Better program that’s now putting America back together and his American Rescue Plan that lifted millions out of poverty and put millions more back to work. They successfully blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act that would have penalized employers for wage discrimination based on gender; they’ve refused to expand Medicaid in almost a dozen Red states; they even filibustered an attempt to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10.

For the past forty-plus years, Republicans — just like these dysfunctional HOAs — have been stealing from America’s future; our infrastructure deficit alone is several trillion dollars, meaning Americans will be paying more in taxes to make up for all those decades of neglect.

Democrats want those tax increases to hit people earning over $400,000 a year; Republican tax proposals, on the other hand, mostly focus on increasing income taxes and fees on working class people while continuing or even expanding tax breaks for the very wealthy.

One of the “low tax” HOAs we used to live in, instead of raising their monthly fee or instituting an assessment, recently negotiated a million-dollar-plus 20-year loan with people’s properties as the collateral to fund painting and repairing serious rot on the buildings.

This should have been paid for with an increase in HOA fees twenty years ago, anticipating the future maintenance and upkeep needs.

But instead they kept the fee low, never built up a reserve, and are now borrowing from the bank. In other words, they’re continuing the all-too-common HOA board scam of requiring future generations to pay for current repairs, just like the GOP budget proposals we’ll see when they return from summer vacation in September will require future generations to pay for their past tax cuts.

It’s the equivalent of Reagan, Bush, and Trump jacking up the national debt to keep things glued together, forcing future generations to pay it off when the bill comes due, while their wealthy corporate funders rob us blind.

Homeowners across America are waking up to these toxic HOA boards, as social media sites for HOA members are forming and local homeowner uprisings are happening against boards, either replacing the board members or, in some cases, even suing them. Some states are even starting to require they build up reserves for future maintenance.

Hopefully, Americans will realize how successfully Republicans have inflicted this very same scam on voters and working class people over the past forty-plus years and vote the bums out this fall.

ALSO READ: Mike Johnson's now-deleted Trump social media post sparks controversy

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goryhorroor · 11 months ago

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road games (1981) directed by richard franklin

"Madam, just because I drive a truck does not make me a truck driver."

#road games #horror #horror movies #horroredit #moviesedit #filmedit #cinema #horror cinema #horror aesthetic #horror screencaps

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unamused-boss · 1 year ago

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Trumpets and Boots (part 1)

(this story has strong topics in it, you have been warned!)

Robin Buckley x fem!hargrove (reader/Oc)

Warning, Strong topics: homophobia, child abandonment, troubled sibling relationship, child abuse, underage drinking, Homophobic language, strong language

The POV will be in second person but the "reader" will have a name.

I will not tolerate any negativity in the comments regarding sexuality or religion!

Summary: When Amelia Hargrove came out as gay to her family… lets just say some didn’t have to good of a reaction. When they’re finally reunited things become a little complicated.

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California: 1981

You and Billy were getting ready to head out to a party at one of your friend's houses for the night and you crush Samantha Jenkins will be there tonight. You are hoping for a very lucky game of spin the bottle tonight or seven minutes in heaven. You were quickly applying your favorite color of eye shadow to your eye lids for the night. It was glittery. You smiled at yourself in the mirror, you can't wait for this party tonight. You and Billy have been looking forward to it all week.

"You ready Billy!" You shout to him through the bathroom door.

“Yeah give me a minute!”

“Really?!” You complained. “Billy you have hogged the bathroom for the past hour! If you could smell any more like a new car I’d sell you to the lot!”

“Hey! Looking good takes time!” He responded.

“I swear you’re more of a woman then I am sometimes… prissy bitch…” you mumbled.

The door shot open with you and Billy staring at each other. “What’d you say little shit?”

‘Oh no…’ you take off down your hallway to out run Billy. You’re jumping over tables and chairs to avoid him. He is hot on your tail. Until you sprint back into yours and Max’s shared room. She looks you to you with wide eyes. Max and her mom have only lived with you guys for a year now. They both quickly learned the dynamic of the Hargrove real soon.

Max knew your were different. She knew you would stare at the same girls Billy would stare at. She didn’t quiet get it. She thought other girls were weird. She also didn’t get why you and Billy were always so hush hush around your dad. Both you and Billy would always become more quiet when he comes around. She wasn’t completely dumb; she saw the bruises you and Billy suffered from your father. She saw the bond the you and your brother had, she wished so desperately that you would have the same with her. You are opening up to her more. You took her to the skate park so she could practice her tricks and show you. You kept Billy at bay when it came to him being mean to her, and you were probably opening him up to her being big brother to her. You were like a glue to the family, as much as your father dislikes you.

Billy started smacking you with one of your throw pillows cause of what you said to him. You are laughing non stop. Once the beating of the pillow was over you turned to Max.

“You sure you’ll be fine?” You asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She answered straightly.

“You know we’ll stay if you want us to.” You reassured.

“You will…” Billy scoffed. You went an smacked his arm. “Ow…” he said while rubbing it.

“We’ll be down the street Max if you need us, and we’ll be back before Susan and Dad. Alright.” You smiled at her. She smiled back to you.

"See ya Madmax!" You said before bolting out the door and locking it to go to the party down the road in your neighborhood.

"Why are you nice to her?" Billy questioned.

"Um cause she lives with us now and she's just a kid?" You answered with confusion in your voice. You never understood Billy's dislike for Max, but you're trying to fix that.

"Listen I know you don't like Susan or Max, but they're kinda stuck with dad now." You said to Billy, "And we've been stuck with him of the past 4 years since mom left..." Billy looked to you with saddened eyes. When mom left it hit you pretty hard. You really missed her just like he did. But after all the calls you both knew she was never coming back. Billy changed for the worse became for ruff and violent. You ,however, stayed the way you are. A sweet smile on your face, always willing to help someone, and just being you. You were way better than Billy ever could be.

"I got ya baby sis, I'll try." Billy answered.

"Good." You smiled to him. "And what is this baby sister nonsense you act like I'm not only 3 minutes younger then you."

"Oh sorry 3 blissful minutes before your crying ugly face came into the world."

"Oh crying I see, I guess I'll tell everyone how you cried when I gave you your earring that you "toughened through"." You laughed. All Billy did was push you into a grass ditch as you laughed even harder.

"Piece of shit." Billy grinned.

"Get my fucking skirt dirty, and I'll bury you stuff in the backyard again." You threaten.

That's when you both arrived to the party, a quick 10 minute walk. You get into the party, starting off with some beer. You drank for about 30 minutes, dancing with your friends, shouting your heart out to the music, and over all enjoying your time at the party.

Then the moment you have been hating for all night has arrived. Spin the bottle. You were so hyped.

"Hey I'm gonna smoke a cigarette outside with Jackson." Billy said. You nod at him and he was on his way out. You take your seat in the circle of teens. Samantha right across from you. You were so ready. The spinning has begun. Chris had to kiss Jenny. Charolette had to kiss Scott. Andy had to kiss Charlie C. The spinning kept going and going. When ever the guys landed on other guys they all made a big deal out of it. But when a girl landed on another girl they all cheered for it.

'Ugh, horny pigs... can't even last past 5 minutes' you sneered. That was when you saw the bottle turn in your direction, landing on you. You look up and make eye contact with Samantha.

'GOD IS GOOD!' You cheered in your thoughts.

You stood straight on your knees as did Samantha. You both leaned in to each other. Your lips connecting. It was like a flower blooming in the spring, this was way better than any guy you kissed in other spin the bottles. You knew you liked girls more than guys, but this was a whole other level. You swore you could've continued kissing Samantha when...

"What the fuck are you doing!!" An all to familiar voice shouted. Dragging you by the collar of your shirt out the door of the party to the front yard. You are shoved out only to be met with a straight faced Billy. You stand next to him as you face your dad. He was red, he was raging.

"Walk home. NOW!" Your Dad shouted. You saw some classmates laughing cause you both got caught. The difference is if they got caught they get grounded, but we get beaten into the ground. The walk home was silent. You don't think the air has ever been more still. When you both returned home, you were sat down on the couch with your Dad standing before you menacingly staring down at the both of you.

"So you both left your little sister home alone to go act like a bunch of dumbasses at a party!" He shouted.

"We're sorry... dad." You whispered out. You felt a hard smack to your head from him.

"You better be you stupid bitch!" He growled.

"It wasn't her idea, I convinced her to go with me dad." Billy tried to take the blame for you. You heard the smack go across Billy's face. You just stared down at your hands.

"I come home find Maxine by herself." He started. "While you both are at a party getting drunk, smoking, and did god know fucking what else." Neither of you said anything. Your dad grabbed you by your shoulders shaking them up to make you look at him.

"Stop looking down like a pussy!" He shouted into your face. your eyes begin to whelm with hot tears.

"Hey it's not her fault dad!" Billy shouted at him. Wrong move. Billy was dragged to his room. You heard the curses and beating from the living room. You just stared straight ahead as you heard your brother be beaten in the room next. Just for defending you from your Dad's wrath.

You heard slow boot steps come your way. You stiffened, more tears started to form in your eye going down you cheeks, your blood rushing, everything was going way to slow. Your dad now stood next to were you were sitting. You didn't look up to him; you kept your tear filled eyes forward.

"So. You're a faggot?" Your dad questioned. You said nothing. Not wanting to answer. Your father's hand went threw your hair a gripped it tight. You swore he was going to pull it out.

"Are you some faggot!" He yelled into your ear. You were now crying, the dam has been broken. Tears were streaming down your cheeks. No words were coming out if your mouth. It felt like you were choking.

"Kissing some girl! God your mother would hate you!" He kept shouting at you. He dragged you to the door of your bedroom an slammed you into it. Staring down at you.

"You are fucking pathetic, worthless dyke." He growled to you. There was nothing but hatred in his eyes to you. You slowly turn the knob of the door to your room. But you were quickly slapped across the face before he left your alone. You make your way into your room for the night, crying yourself to sleep in your bed.

A week has passed since that Friday night. Your dad kept saying you were spreading a sickness with everything your touched. Billy tried to protect you the best he could, he took every blow for you. And you patched him up every time. Max was forbidden from talking to you and you couldn't do anything about it. But hopefully today things will be a bit more chilled out.

What you didn't know was that Neil sent Susan, Billy, ad Max out to run some "errands" for dinner tonight. When you got back home from your friends house you saw Susan's car gone, only your dad's truck in the driveway. You walk through the front door to your house.

"Amelia!" You flinched at the sudden noise of your dad's voice. You walk over to the kitchen where you found your dad.

"Go pack a bag or two, me and Susan are taking all of you on a small vacation to the city for the next week." He said. "Susan and the rest of them already left."

"Really?" You said quietly.

"Yes." He said firmly. " Go pack your shit and grab some money cause I'm not buying any shit for you." You walked to your bedroom and packed a duffle bag full of clothes. You grabbed the little money you have hidden away in your room. Your dad was already in his truck waiting for you. You put your stuff in the back an put your self up in the front seat.

Neil made his way out of the drive way, the last time you'll ever see that house again.

. . .

"Neil! We're back!" Susan yelled. She looked around an saw no sign of her husband. She went to the garage thinking he moved his car there but saw nothing.

"Billy!" Susan shouted.

"What." Billy answered bluntly.

"Where is your sister?" From the statement Billy rushed to your room to see you not in there and some of your clothes gone.

"No." Billy said. "Nononono, NO!" He was looking all over the house for you. You were no where to be found. You were gone. Just like his mom. His dad has taken you away from him.

All Billy could do was cry in his room. His twin was gone. His baby sister was gone and he doesn't know where. He failed to keep you safe from if dad.

Max watched all of it unfold in front of her.

. . .

You have been in the car for a straight hour now. You were looking out the window at the desert. Nothing for miles. Neil pulled into a motel parking lot.

"We're staying here for the night." He said as he parked the car. You got out of the car with your duffle bag on your side. You made your way to the front desk with your dad were he got the key. You weren't dumb, this was all sketchy.

"Here go put your stuff in the room." Neil said putting the key into your hand. You nodded to him. Making your way to the room opening the door to the empty room. You look around confused. You dropped your bag on the ground, putting the key in your pocket.

Then you heard his truck start up. You walk over confused looking at him.

"Dad! What are you doing?" You questioned. That's when he started to pulled out of his parking space. "DAD!" You start to run after his truck. Like some sick joke he slowed enough for you to pillion the lever of the door.

"Dad! STOP, Please!" You were shouting to him. Panicked tear started to whelm your eyes. He started to speed up. You keeping pace with the truck smacking on the back part.

"I'm sorry! Dad I'm SORRY!" You shouted. "Listen I'll never disobey you again I promise. DAD PLEASE!" You cried as you tripped on the uneven ground below you as your dad drove away. Leaving you in the dirt crying.

"Billy... Billy!" You yelled out to your brother. You just wanted your big brother. You walked back to the motel. Going to the room that you had to stay in now.

Your dad has abandoned you, just like your mom. Tears were going down your cheeks. You sat in the floor of the room for a good ten minutes till a knock on the door scared you. You hopped up hoping by some miracle your brother found you. You open the door to only meet the smoking front desk lady from earlier. Your smiled dropped.

"Hey sweetie." Her gruff voice said. "I saw what just happened and I'm sorry..." You said nothing to her. You just stared at her sniffling. She sighed at the sight of you, "Listen I'm only doing this once cause you remind me of my granddaughter, I'll give you a ride to the bus station and you can get a ticket back home." You nodded at her. You gave her the room key back and grabbed your bag.

Just like she said she drove you to the bus station to get a ticket home. She even gave you a hundred bucks to help with anything else. The front desk lady gave you a gruff but soft goodbye as she left you at the bus station. You walk in with your bag and money to the front desk of the station.

"Hello miss, what can I do for you today?" The desk worker said.

"I need a ticket." You said plainly , no emotion left. The desk worker just stared at you.

"Where to honey?"

"Santa-" You stopped for a minute. You didn't want to go back to Santa Monica, nothing would be left for you there. The message was made pretty clear to you.

"Santa Monica, honey?"

"No." You stated, "What's your furthest ticket?"

"Umm." The worker started typing in their computer for a second. "Our furthest ticket is... Hawkins Indiana."

"I'll take that." You said, giving them the money and taking your ticket to Indiana.

Hawkins Indiana: 1984

It has been three, four by next fall, years since you left everything in California behind. When you arrived to Hawkins you had little money and what you had in your duffle bag with you. You are now 17 turning 18 next March. You think about Billy everyday. But with what that has happened you can't dwell on things. You live with a woman named Joey Byers and her two sons.

When you arrived in Hawkins at 14 Joyce Byers found you walking the dirt road trying to find someplace dry to find to sleep for the night. Joyce took you in an let you stay the night with her. After that night you found yourself living with her for two years. When everything happened with Will accrued you were there for her and Johnathan when they needed.

You helped look for Will in search parties. You helped the boys hide Eleven in Mikes basement. You helped Steve, Johnathan, and Nancy take down a demagorgan. You're gonna be honest, you've probably faced death more times with Neil then any interdimensional creature.After everything that happened last year you started to pick up more around the house. You didn't want to burden Joyce since she took you in. You work at the music shop in town. You put 50% of your paychecks to rent or bills at the Byers home.

Joyce has tried many times to talk to your about your family back in California, hell even brought Hopper out to try a crack ya. You never budge. Hopper has concluded that, "You've been through something and now they're dead to you." The only response you gave was "Not all of them..." Nothing else after that. You have a new life here and you're not going to have it ruined by your past. It wasn't a secret that you were gay. It was very well known fact in town that you were into women. Yeah some kids yelled slurs to you but none of it effected you. You were actually able to meet another lesbian in town, well a closeted one. Her name was Robin Buckley, you met her in your art class when you were a sophomore and she was a freshmen. You both got along pretty well. She was actually really pretty you thought but since you never actually dated a girl you were nervous in telling her your feelings.

The date was October 28, 1984 Halloween was this Friday. You were gonna take Will and the boys trick or treating.

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I hope you enjoy this, this was an idea I’ve had for a while.

If you want to be tagged in future parts comment below pls.

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zippocreed501 · 10 months ago

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...images from the lost continent of cult films, b-movies and celluloid dreamscapes

Trucks in horror films

Keep on Truckin'

Duel (1971) Road Games (1981) Maximum Overdrive (1986) The Hitcher (1986) Breakdown (1997) Joy Ride (2001) Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

#trucks #horror #big rigs #pick up #the hitcher #resident evil #maximum overdrive #stephen king #from the badlands #from the b-movie badlands

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kwebtv · 2 months ago

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Ronald Pierce Ely (June 21, 1938 – September 29, 2024) Film and television actor and novelist.

Ely is best known for having portrayed Tarzan in the 1966–1968 NBC series Tarzan and for playing the lead role in the film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). He hosted the Miss America pageant telecast in 1980 and 1981.

He was in five episodes of the series Fantasy Island; in one, in 1978, Ely portrayed Mark Antony in a Roman military short tunic and breastplate. Also in 1978, Ely starred in the Wonder Woman television series two-part episode "The Deadly Sting."

Ely starred on the series The Aquanauts in 1960–1961.

In the 1980s, he hosted the musical game show Face the Music, as well as the 1980 and 1981 Miss America Pageants, replacing longtime host Bert Parks. Later in the decade, Ely starred in a 1987–1988 revival of the 1960s adventure series Sea Hunt as Mike Nelson, the role played by Lloyd Bridges in the original series.

In the 1990s, Ely's roles included a retired alternate universe variant of Superman in the Superboy episode "The Road to Hell", and hunter Gordon Shaw in the Tarzán episode "Tarzan the Hunted". Until about 2001, Ely made appearances on such television shows as Sheena and Renegade.

Ely retired from acting in 2001, but he returned to acting with an appearance in the television film Expecting Amish (2014). (Wikipedia)

IMDb Listing

#Ron Ely #TV #Obit #Obituary #O2024 #Tarzan #Sea Hunt #The Aquanauts #Fantasy Island #Face the Music #Expecting Amish

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ryttu3k · 7 months ago

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Thoughts on Doctor Who - Rogue, which is largely theorising on who the character is! (Yes, yes, I'm a truther for that theory.)

So we got: 1) Kylie and Lady Gaga (and Billie Eilish which I didn't recognise), 2) Dungeons and Dragons (roll for initiative), 3) Libertango!, 4) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 5) cosplay, 6) Bridgerton (which, not my thing but pretty important overall), 7) a Shalka reference?? and 8) gay longing.

Oh yeah we're back.

Shades of the Family of Blood with the Doctor wanting revenge for Ruby's apparent death. Dude trapping someone for centuries in an empty barren dimension is worse. That's worse, right? Doctor, babe, you see how this is worse, right?

Love the foreshadowing with Ruby's earrings.

Rogue mentions a new boss and paperwork. I wonder if this is the same new boss that Beep the Meep mentions?

Spent the entire episode trying to work out why the Duchess looked familiar. Took me until the credits to see it was Indira Varma. Welcome back, Suzie Costello!

Who is Rogue?

Fuck it I'm a Master!Rogue truther. The evidence, as I see it:

The name. The Rogue seems quite appropriate for a notorious renegade!

lbr setting up an intrigue involving cosplaying bird aliens for Doctor Enrichment 100% feels like a Master thing to do.

The Kylie. The Master is a Known Pop Music Enjoyer (see: Rogue Traders, Scissor Sisters). Also 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' is hilariously on the nose for the Master's… everything.

The ship, complete with TARDIS-esque central column and also being a mess.

He lost someone. The ship was made for more than one, and he lost someone.

The Master, gaming, and crit fails.

The TARDIS got grumbly. She, of course, has a history with the Master.

Rogue has to be a time traveller instead of just a human-looking alien from the same time period because. D&D and Kylie weren't around in 1813.

The ring! The ring! Come on!

Arguing across the stars.

So apparently it wasn't just Libertango they were dancing to. At least one site makes mention of the fact that given the rest of the contemporary music in the episode, it was most likely the 1981 Grace Jones song that heavily makes use of Libertango - called I've Seen That Face Before.

Okay so one major thing against him being the Master - more or less sacrificing himself to save Ruby. And that's where I keep coming back to the ring. What if it's something like a chameleon arch? It literally wouldn't be the first time an arched Master became generally more altruistic and caring, it happened in his first story back. Which was, needless to say, written by RTD! (I realise this one was not but he's still showrunner and lbr if he told me, "Hey, do you want to write a Doctor Who episode that references D&D, cosplay, and the return of the Master?" I'd be jumping up and down saying, "UM, YES?" at quite a volume.)

Not necessarily the Master specifically, but 'the one who waits' could be an apt description for someone whose last words to the Doctor were, "Find me."

Like yes there are 100% Jack vibes but also. Look. Look…

Continuity

Another Susan Twist appearance, this time in painting form. We'll be getting the payoff for that next week, looks like!

Ruby mentions some of her past, including the snow, which feels like a significant thing to mention.

Absolutely playing with the stories are real theme here, with cosplayers taking things entirely too seriously, and Rogue's entire Thing being based on D&D.

Season ranking

As of s40e06:

73 Yards

Rogue

The Devil's Chord

Dot and Bubble

The Church on Ruby Road

Space Babies

Boom

#doctor who #dw spoilers

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13eyond13 · 1 year ago

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Do you have any non-manga book recs? I would like to read more too, any genre

Sure! Here are 30 books I enjoyed reading sometime within the past decade or so, in order of date originally published: BOOKS TO READ (or not, 's entirely up to you):

Pride and Prejudice (1813) Jane Austen Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Bronte Crime and Punishment (1866) Fyodor Dostoevsky The Time Machine (1895) H.G. Wells The Metamorphosis (1915) Franz Kafka The Hobbit (1937) J.R.R. Tolkien Rebecca (1938) Daphne Du Maurier Confessions of a Mask (1949) Yukio Mishima Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) George Orwell Lord of the Flies (1954) William Golding The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) Patricia Highsmith Rabbit, Run (1960) John Updike We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) Shirley Jackson In Cold Blood (1966) Truman Capote Interview with the Vampire (1976) Anne Rice The Mosquito Coast (1981) Paul Theroux Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1985) Patrick Suskind Misery (1987) Stephen King The Silence of the Lambs (1988) Thomas Harris The Midwife's Apprentice (1991) Karen Cushman Middlesex (2002) Jeffrey Eugenides Oryx and Crake (2003) Margaret Atwood The Road (2006) Cormac McCarthy Heart-Shaped Box (2007) Joe Hill The Hunger Games (2008) Suzanne Collins Gone Girl (2012) Gillian Flynn Annihilation (2014) Jeff VanderMeer The Fisherman (2016) John Langan The Marrow Thieves (2017) Cherie Dimaline Paradise Rot (2018) Jenny Hval

#books #book recs #reccs #ask #anon #p

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tygerbug · 2 years ago

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For better or worse, the 2023 Super Mario Bros movie very accurately translates the Nintendo video games to the big screen, offering fun and references but few surprises.

Some have defended the quirky 1993 Super Mario Bros movie by saying that the original games aren't cinematic, and aren't possible to adapt into a film. "What, do you want a movie where Mario jumps on some blocks in a raccoon suit and says Wahoo, it's-a-me, Mario?" Well, this is a movie where Mario jumps on some blocks in a raccoon suit and says "Wahoo, it's-a-me, Mario."

Will Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach be able to save the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser, king of the Koopas? Will Mario eat some mushrooms, kick some shells, and jump on some blocks? Will fire flowers and invincibility stars provide a temporary boost in power? Will Mario drive a go-kart down a rainbow road? Will Donkey Kong throw some barrels? Is water wet? Does two plus two equal four?

It's been forty years since the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) hit shelves in Japan, and thirty years since the 1993 movie, made by an older generation that didn't understand the appeal of Nintendo's video games. This time round, everyone involved understands the assignment and plays it safe. I'm glad we're at that point where everyone is on the same page, even if no risks are taken with the material. There are similarities to the 1993 film but mostly it feels like you're watching one of Mario's recent video games, but as a movie. Which raises the question of what this film has to offer that a game doesn't.

For one thing, there's the character relationships. Mario doesn't have much to say in the games, but here is serviceably if blandly played by Chris Pratt, who somehow hasn't been fully cancelled yet. (See also: Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong.) We somehow get a fair amount of bonding between Mario and Seth Rogen's amusing Donkey Kong. Incidentally the events of Donkey Kong (1981) are fictional in this movie, but the events of Wrecking Crew (1984) are not.

The standout is Jack Black, giving a very Jack Black performance as the lovestruck villain Bowser, king of the Koopas. He mostly interacts with Kevin Michael Richardson, spot-on as Kamek the Magikoopa. Keegan-Michael Key plays an adventure-seeking Toad, whose part in the adventure feels underdeveloped. Charlie Day doesn't get enough to do as Luigi, mostly just looking scared in true Luigi fashion, but does well enough with what he has.

Anya Taylor-Joy plays the sweet and fiercely determined Princess Peach, who is very much a playable character here, as an overcorrection for her passive nature in most of the games. The result has Lego Movie syndrome, where it's not clear why this hyper-capable, overqualified character gets to do nothing, compared to a man with zero experience or skills. The Lego Movie also starred Chris Pratt, and both come uncomfortably close to the bigot's dream that "the best of them is lower than the worst of us." This is, at least, in line with the games, where Luigi and sometimes Peach and Toad are just as playable as Mario is, but are also not your first choice of character. But there's no reason given in the film to choose Mario over Peach, and even Peach's interest in keeping Mario around is somehow less romantic than the quick kiss he'd get at the end of a game. The film does often find things for Peach to do, including fighting Bowser herself. It also puts her in the passive role of watching Mario do something, while portraying her as overpowered compared to him, which almost feels sarcastic.

The predictable plot is not unlike the 1993 movie and 1989's The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, whose theme song is used here. Actually a lot of theme songs are used here, with the score constantly referencing themes from the games, almost at random. (In a real dick movie, Grant Kirkhope is not credited for writing the Donkey Kong Rap, with a blank space credited instead.) As in the 1993 film, the Brooklyn plumbers Luigi and Mario Mario journey into the sewers and are warped via pipe into another world, the Mushroom Kingdom, and menaced by the evil King Koopa. I'm pretty sure this has never been the actual storyline according to Nintendo of Japan (who sometimes claim that Mario is from the Mushroom Kingdom himself), but it's a key factor in American adaptations.

Otherwise this is stuff you've probably seen before in over forty years worth of video games. The attention to detail is laudable, but it's also just protecting Nintendo's corporate branding at a time when they've been doing this for over four decades, and are now expanding into theme parks. It would be an idiot move, at this point, to deliver anything that's unlike the video games. This movie would have felt like a miracle in the 80s or 90s, when anti-Japanese paranoia was still rampant among the older generations, and video games were written off as rotting kids' brains.

But coming at this with a Millennial and Gen X attitude, we know exactly who Mario is, and what he does. This is a Mario movie where you expect the expected. Of course it could have been a lot worse. The film feels a little too simple, but doesn't do anything actively wrong or bad. They had a chance here to lend a little more depth to Mario, who is barely a character, and that chance is not taken. The film zips by without much time for character development. Kids may find poetry in that, and be able to fill in the blanks, as if hours passed in these scenes rather than seconds. Adults will simply get what they paid for - a movie that feels like the Super Mario Bros video games. In particular, the New Super Mario Bros series, which upgraded the adventure to new hardware while staying very close to the old 80s formula.

Here's another metaphor for you. The Mario game series got more experimental with Super Mario RPG and the first Paper Mario, as well as the Mario & Luigi (Superstar Saga) RPG games. These introduced many unusual new characters, but the Paper Mario sequels have been progressively less experimental, presenting us instead with a lot of similar Toads and Koopas. That's also what we get in this movie - a sea of Koopas and Toads. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, credited as producer here, prefers it that way.

The scenes set in Brooklyn are a little stranger, filled with easter eggs and characters we don't learn much about. It's too cartoony to pass for the "real world," and is full of stuff Illumination are making up for this movie, rather than taking from the games.

I was surprised, somehow, that some animated version of Dennis Hopper's Koopa didn't show up. I think that might have been an improvement.

Not long ago, I edited an extended version of the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, intended for an official Blu-Ray release which never happened. That film had a famously troubled production, and has some real problems with a mismatch in tone. The directors had created the cyberpunk TV series "Max Headroom" and wanted this to be a similar cyberpunk dystopia for older teenagers, while the studio heads at Disney were dismissing Mario as something for very young children. The shooting was a messy and unhappy affair, and something was lost in the edit. Meanwhile no one involved seemed to know or care very much about the actual property, which seemed impossible to translate into live action anyway. It's fanciful and cartoony, and the things Mario does in the games are things he does because it's a video game. There's no reason for him, in a movie, to be jumping on blocks and saying "Wahoo!"

The 1993 Super Mario Bros movie is very weird. The 2023 Super Mario Bros movie is a cartoon where Mario jumps on some blocks and says "Wahoo!" The latter is, obviously, much more accurate to the game. In a weird way, I think both approaches were valid. Older people actually know who Super Mario is now, so this is the movie we get. It's a kids movie, for those kids who've been playing Mario games for the past forty plus years. It's no better or worse than that. There's no false advertising here - it is exactly what it claims to be.

I can't imagine that anyone will be thrilled by a post-credits sequence teasing Yoshi, whose species already appears in the film. That's about the least surprising reveal possible, in a movie that's already devoid of surprises. A set of toys for this movie came out at McDonald's, and this is really the McDonald's hamburger of movies. Something for kids that adults can just about choke down. Well, I've got all those McDonald's toys on my desk, and if they keep making movies like this I'll probably keep watching them. I'll watch a movie with Yoshi in it, or Rosalina or Wario or whoever they add for a sequel. I just won't pretend like it's something I haven't seen before.

Rating: Fresh / Recommended

(Seen in theaters)

#nintendo #super mario bros #super mario bros movie #illumination #chris pratt #anya taylor joy #jack black #mario #super mario

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 2 months ago

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Given Warner Bros. Pictures Animation's recent presentations at Lightbox Expo, it seems their slate is...

THE CAT IN THE HAT (3/6/2026)

BAD FAIRIES (7/23/2027)

MARGIE CLAUS (11/05/2027)

MEET THE FLINTSTONES (TBD, possibly 2026/27)

DYNAMIC DUO (TBD, possibly 2028)

UNTITLED LOONEY TUNES FILM (TBD, possibly 2028)

THE LUNAR CHRONICLES (TBD)

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO (TBD)

THING ONE AND THING TWO (TBD)

MEERKAT MANOR (TBD)

And some of those TBD films might be closer than not?

They all have directors, for starters. Some films had finished footage, others had reels and such. Sometimes just logos. Nothing from MEERKAT MANOR was shown other than the title.

Those who attended the presentation have reportedly seen footage from MEET THE FLINTSTONES, THE LUNAR CHRONICLES, and OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! (Which now has two people attached, Jill Culton as director and Jon M. Chu.) The reports on FLINTSTONES indicates that it's particularly farther along, as it and its crew were announced quite some time ago. I can imagine Warner slotting it somewhere in later 2026, as their only 2026 release right now is the spring slotted CAT IN THE HAT. (Whoever blinks in that chicken game will be interesting, as CAT currently sits next to Pixar's HOPPERS.)

While it's nice to see Warner building a seemingly robust slate of different animated films, some based on their long-standing IPs and some relatively new stuff (like BAD FAIRIES), I'm still not over David Zaslav opting to lock COYOTE VS. ACME and SCOOB! HOLIDAY HAUNT away. Usually in a merger, when a leader hasn't much regard for stuff put into production before they came to the place, it's decided to quietly get that project out and move onto the next thing.

Like they were ripping a band-aid or something. When MGM acquired United Artists in 1981, the new brass seemingly saw little use for the in-production THE SECRET OF NIMH and just kinda dumped it. THE BLACK CAULDRON and THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE got similar treatment from the then-new Eisner brigade at Disney. Turner Animation's CATS DON'T DANCE got left out in the cold after Turner got folded into Warner Bros.

A very "we didn't make it, it doesn't fit our agenda going forward" mindset...

But the Zas cranked that up to 11, and just straight up said "Nope, you can't even SEE these movies."

This 2028 "Super Secret" Looney Tunes movie is basically Zaslav-Warner's way of saying "This is OUR Looney Tunes initiative going forward, and ACME, DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, and BYE BYE BUNNY! didn't fit that." You coulda still at least released them, though.

I'll still support a new Looney Tunes movie, as I would hate for this film to also get scrapped towards the end of its completion and made into an unreleasable "tax write-off". I extend that to any Warner movie, given how the Zas just straight up did that to not only two Warner animated movies, but also BATGIRL, and a TV show like FINAL SPACE... And it seemed like the new SALEM'S LOT almost got black-holed, too, but miraculously made it out alive. It just feels weird, because it didn't have to go down that way at all.

So yeah... Looks like they have a ton of stuff in the works now, and a clear road ahead. Hopefully. Some of this stuff sounds like it could be a lot of fun, especially DYNAMIC DUO and BAD FAIRIES.

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schlock-luster-video · 2 years ago

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On April 23, 1981 Road Games debuted in Canada.

Here's a new portrait of Stacy Keach to mark the occasion!

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docrotten · 3 months ago

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PROM NIGHT (1980) – Episode 268 – Decades of Horror 1980s

“The killer’s comin’! The killer’s gonna get you!” Ah, yes, the childhood game everyone played. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Crystal Cleveland, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr – as they discover who wins and loses in Prom Night (1980).

Decades of Horror 1980s Episode 268 – Prom Night (1980)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! Click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

Gruesome Magazine is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL (https://wickedhorrortv.com/) which now includes video episodes of Decades of Horror 1980s and is available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and its online website across all OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.

At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.

Directed by: Paul Lynch

Writing Credits: William Gray (screenplay); Robert Guza Jr. (from a story by)

Music by: Paul Zaza, Carl Zittrer

Cinematography by: Robert C. New (director of photography)

Selected Cast:

Leslie Nielsen as Mr. Hammond

Jamie Lee Curtis as Kimberly Hammond

Casey Stevens as Nick McBride

Anne-Marie Martin as Wendy Richards (as Eddie Benton)

Antoinette Bower as Mrs. Hammond

Michael Tough as Alex Hammond

Robert A. Silverman as Mr. Sykes (as Robert Silverman)

Pita Oliver as Vicki

David Mucci as Lou Farmer

Jeff Wincott as Drew Shinnick

Mary Beth Rubens as Kelly Lynch (as Marybeth Rubens)

George Touliatos as Lt. McBride

Melanie Morse MacQuarrie as Henri-Anne

David Gardner as Dr. Fairchild

Joy Thompson as Jude Cunningham

Sheldon Rybowski as Seymour ‘Slick’ Crane

Rob Garrison as Sayer

David Bolt as Weller

Beth Amos as Housekeeper

Sonia Zimmer as Melanie

Sylvia Martin as Mrs. Cunningham

Elizabeth M. Mason as Adele (as Liz Stalker-Mason)

Pam Henry as Car Hop

Ardon Bess as Teacher

Lee Wildgen as Gang Member

Brock Simpson as Young Nick

Leslie Scott as Young Wendy

Tammy Bourne as Young Robin

Dean Bosacki as Young Alex

Debbie Greenfield as Young Kim

Karen Forbes as Young Jude

Joyce Kite as Young Kelly

Prom Night (1980) is one of six horror films in which Jamie Lee Curtis appeared over a three-year span from 1978 to 1981 and the last covered by the Grue-Crew. Three John Carpenter films (Halloween, The Fog, Halloween II) and Prom Night are joined by Road Games and Terror Train.

Prom Night is not the best of Curtis’s 1978-1981 six-pack of horror movies (does that go without saying?), but is it the worst? Leslie Nielsen, soon to go through his transformation to a standout comedic actor, has little to do as Curtis’s character’s father and the school’s principal. There’s also the student body providing fodder for the killer, the creepy kids that set the whole thing in motion fifteen years earlier, and athe disco music and dancing. Don’t worry. The Grue Crew will give you the straight poop.

At the time of this writing, Prom Night is available to stream from Shudder, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Hoopla, Kanopy, Tubi, PlutoTV, and Freevee. It is also available on physical media as a Blu-ray formatted disc from Synapse Films.

Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Chad, will be Ghost Story (1981), based on Peter Straub’s 1979 novel! The Grue-Crew has been wanting to do this one for a long time! If you heard them announce Without Warning (1980) on the podcast, they apologize for the change, but it is on the schedule for November. Be patient, fellow babies.

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans – so leave them a message or comment on the Gruesome Magazine Youtube channel, on the Gruesome Magazine website, or email the Decades of Horror 1980s podcast hosts at [email protected].

Check out this episode!

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