#synth!spot doesn't care; she's going places

[my-timing-is-digital]

Despite the late (or early, depending on one's preferred interpretation of time) hour, Data explored the station's vicinity. An electric storm was bellowing in the distance; dark clouds shrouded the ridges of barren mountains that had been discernible minutes ago. Coppelius had some interesting weather patterns; the condition of the sky overhead was pristine and littered with billions of stars, starkly contrasting the violence rampaging in the mountains.

After sauntering around the facility for more than 30 minutes, and evaluating on all the events that had proceeded his reactivation, the android caught his mind drifting off to his daughter. Instinctively, his gaze lifted up to the unostentatious establishment, genuinely wondering whether she had successfully managed to render herself in a state of unconsciousness, or that she was still struggling to rest. They had had extensive conversations regarding the incidents that had transpired, and he was aware that these incidents would pester her for many nights to come. A superficial furrow grazed his forehead in a contemplative manner. Perhaps Soji was still awake, unable to fall asleep? Would she appreciate his company? But what if she was asleep? He did not wish to rouse her from the rest she so desperately required... But what if she was haunted by nightmares? He had experienced nightmares, and he had not been particularly fond of those either... He could check up on her, quietly. Just to confirm that she was alright.

Deftly, he ascended the stairs to the station's ground floor and continued to climb up, utilising another staircase in the hallway. When he arrived on the landing and crossed the stretch of grey concrete to her room, a glance outside informed him that the storm was drawing near. Although it was a fascinating sight to behold, he did not linger to observe the natural phenomenon and proceeded to Soji's room. However, the door to her room stood ajar and, upon closer investigation, the room itself was empty, apart from the furniture — not even Spot had taken the liberty to remain unified with the pillows... Curious...

A moment of deep rumination passed. He could, of course, search the entire station for her, or he could try to extrapolate her whereabouts on the basis of her personality and customs. However, activating his infrared sensors would prove to be much more efficient and beneficial. Within a fraction of a second, Data switched to infrared and commenced scanning the floor for residual traces of thermal inconsistencies. He found footprints originating from two sources (three if he included his own). Infinitesimal flecks of discolouration indicated the light tread of a small, four-legged creature — Spot, no doubt. Another pair of feet, indicated by an elongated, yet structured smudge, occasionally intertwined with the much smaller flecks, and were distinctly android. Both had ventured downstairs.

Data followed the virtually transparent footprints, which eventually led him to the kitchen. He emerged out of the scarcely illuminated hallway and entered the kitchen, his arrival coinciding with a dramatic rumble of thunder. At the sight of his daughter reaching for a discarded spoon, and her subsequent response to her perceiving him, eventuated in a habitual tilt of the head. Several chapters of confusion meandered across his pearlescent features, prior to determining that curiosity would be the most accurate one to employ.

'It was not my intention to startle you, Soji, apologies. Are you alright? Perhaps I should have... cleared my throat to announce my impending arrival,' he said softly, his yellow eyes analysing the scene before him — she had been here for some time, judging by the semi-frozen ice cream she had replicated. Then, his eyes landed on the discarded spoon and he squatted down to pick it up, completing Soji's failed objective. 'I assumed you were asleep, but when I went to check on you, your room was unoccupied and I — would you like me to replicate another spoon for you?' he interpolated himself, holding the metal utensil in-between thumb and index finger, scrutinising it. 'This one has... cat hair on it.'

Speaking of cats, when his gaze fell on her again, he noticed a fluffy, orange blob lingering in his peripheral vision; Spot had invited herself to their impromptu midnight meeting and was indulging herself in the vestiges of Soji's melted sustenance.

'Spot, that is not for you,' he lectured the feline, but Spot did not care — she even opted not to raise her furry face and glare at him. She ignored him, deliberately, and proceeded to feast on the bowl's contents, which, had she been an organic cat, would have caused serious complications with respect to her health.

A sigh of disapproval escaped him while he watched her, defeated.

'Cats...' he eventually muttered, shaking his head. 'May I enquire after the reason why you are here?' he added inquisitively, addressing Soji now. 'Were you unable to sleep?'

Sleeping awake.

There were three people who required sleep in Coppelius Station--four if she counted Spot II. Most of the androids had spaces they called their own, but almost none of them had anything resembling a bed. Arcana had helped her set up a room when she got there, and it was a perfectly acceptable, if unfamiliar, bedroom in the end. Spot II had even taken to sleeping on her pillows to make sure they were warm (probably).

The bed was fine, the blankets were fine, the room was removed enough that she could only hear the distant murmurs of all the other androids, but still she couldn't sleep. In fact, the longer she lie there just staring at the ceiling, the more wound up she felt. Soji pet Spot II to occupy herself. At least, until the synthetic cat grew tired of her keeping it awake and meandered out of the room. At that point, alone and unable to sleep Soji resigned herself to exhaustion, dragged herself out from under the covers, and headed downstairs. Her aimless wandering eventually carried her to the kitchen and she groggily debated the merits of a midnight snack. She wasn't particularly hungry or anything, but the replicator was right there. Peppermint ice cream wouldn't help her sleep, per se, but it couldn't hurt, so Soji clearily synthesized a bowl of it. She didn't bother turning on the lights once she had her snack, the replicator menu was bright enough to see by. She maneuvered through the room and dropped herself down at the table. She must have been more than half asleep because the moment she sat down, she drifted. As she sat there, idly prodding her ice cream, her eyelids were impossibly heavy, blinking became something of an endurance trial. She struggled keeping her eyes open and started losing little bits of time in between with only her ice-cream as reference. One moment it was all there, a nice little scoop of ice cream, the next there was a bite taken out and it was half melted. Her eyes drooped again as she had another spoonful. They were just closed for a second or two before a clap of thunder snapped her into the moment. The boom startled her awake so sharply that she dropped her spoon. When she bent to pick it up, she was unexpectedly confronted with a pair of feet and startled again knocking back into the table as she reeled away. Had she always been this jumpy? "Oh my god," Soji breathed and her eyes darted up. The sight of Data's face, even in the half-light of the replicator menu, put her instantly at ease. His pallor in the dim light made him look more than a little like a ghost, but his expression was all polite interest. Soji exhaled a sound like a laugh and leaned back in her seat, spoon forgotten.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Soji said, despite having the objectively best hearing of anyone in Coppelius. She hadn't heard him because she had been mostly asleep, ready to drop face-first into her melted ice cream.

@my-timing-is-digital

[in1-nutshell]

Hello!

This is something that suddenly struck me in the head AND I CANNOT SHUT IT UP!!

How do you think Maxima reacted to the time Optimus got Cybonic plague? Or when he got turned back to Orion?

And how might Lithia react to Ratchet of Sync Energon? Think she might do it with him or knew something is not right about this energon before he did?

(I know there are probably more moments with Umtra Magnus as well, but I havent watched TFP in a long while so I’m still catching up in Season 2 before Ultra Magnus joined. But I know about the hand incident) how did Maxima react to Ultra Magnus and his new hand? And maybe other moments that you can think of? I don’t mind spoilers at all.

*Inhales deeply* I LOVE THESE CONCEPTS!!!

These would each have to be in separate requests to give them proper justice.

So... I'll give a short response!

A nutshell summary, if you will.

Maxima reaction to Optimus getting infected

She is scared.

Point blank, just scared.

Would most likely end up being confide to the base trying to help Ratchet with anything instead of going out, not wanting the emotions get in the way.

She is constantly checking over her father's condition trying to keep calm.

Ratchet's the only one who notices her servos shaking.

When Optimus does get better, Maxima is watching her father's every move and insisting on doing many manual things for him for a couple of weeks before toning it down after a talk.

Maxima reacting to Orion Pax

Maxima doesn't meet Orion Pax when Optimus looses his memories.

She is confided to the base thanks to a pede injury caused by the explosion.

Maxima does hear about Orion making an appearance through Ratchet.

She feels selfish... but she really wanted to meet her dad one more time.

Maxima doesn't talk to anyone about this wish and no one will know.

Lithia reaction to Ratchet on Synth-En

Now, Lithia knows well that her father is not fueling properly. She does try and get him to fuel more but he is stubborn.

Too bad, because she is stubborn too and 'fasts' with him.

Ratchet makes sure that Lithia is out of sight when he does do the injection.

She is panicking when she hears Raf yell that Ratchet fell.

Does not approve at all of her father taking the untested substitute. She doesn't care for its 'benefits', she cares about what side effects and complications are going to come with this.

When Ratchet goes rogue on that one Decepticon miner, she is trying to get him to see reason with Optimus.

Does not tolerate him bringing up Elita-One in front of Optimus.

But things change when he goes after her.

By now, most of the team wants to put this smug Ratchet in his place after what he said to Lithia and Optimus.

Arcee is so close on doing it, but Lithia tells her not to.

(Can't spoil everything can I?)

Maxima reaction to Ultra Magnus's new servo

To put it simple...

Pure and utter RAGE.

Its not often to see Maxima snap and this is definitely one of those times.

Her rage can go from a full out screaming battle cry to silence.

The screaming ones are hard to get her to calm down. Its a team effort to get her to take things down a couple of notches.

But everyone knows sort of how to spot those signs.

The silent ones are a different story.

Its the silent ones that are the scariest ones because Maxima will be planning several plans on how to get revenge and several back up plans in case they don't work out.

And NO ONE knows when to spot those signs. To them, they will happen and they won't know until there is a slip up. Spoiler: They rarely happen.

That's all I can say without giving too many details and/or spoilers for anything in the future.

[movienotesbyzawmer]

April 10: Rocky II

(previous notes: Rocky)

When this movie came out I was a little kid living in Northern California, and we used to go to huge drive-in movie complexes that had like six screens. No matter what movie you were watching, you could see other movies from your lot. I don't remember which movie we were watching at the time, but I remember being distracted by a nearby screen showing Rocky II. I totally watched the ending in suspense. It was eventually on cable a lot so I was able to see it for real, but still like 40 years ago.

Anyway, I wonder if this movie will have the effect of dulling the charm of how the first movie ended, so climactically and with appealing suddenness.

Also, is this the only one of the first four movies that doesn't have a rollicking hit song emerging from its soundtrack?

Stallone famously wrote each of these movies all by himself, and starting with this one he is the director of a bunch of them as well.

Same kind of intro with the fanfare, except the music sounds very clearly, to me at least, to not be playing on real horns. I think it's synths. "Modern".

We're now just watching the end of the first movie. We get to relive the intense experience of seeing Adrian's face in closeup closing her eyes for one and a half seconds. The drama.

The whole first five minutes is the whole last five minutes of the first movie. That's weak. Cheap.

Then the whole opening credits follows, and it's following the ambulance that's taking Rocky to the hospital because of all the punchplay. Not a good use of this time. But more importantly: are they going to address the eyelid situation.

Rocky and Apollo confront each other in wheelchairs in front of the press at the hospital. They're still fired up.

After Rocky gets out of the hospital he rambles a lot and it's like an amateur improv scene where he's figuring out on the spot some things to say about where they are. He gets the idea to have Rocky propose to Adrian, then when she accepts he does a Tarzan wail. What a cheeky clown that Rocky is.

His eye seems fine now.

0:18:20 - the a cappela street musicians are still at it, still not very complex with the harmonies. Isn't Sylvester Stallone's brother a singer named Frank, and does he look like the guy in this scene? I bet it's him.

I'm pretty bored of this movie so far. It's like the people were clamoring for an answer to the question, "what happened after the fight", and Stallone's enthusiastic answer was "just regular stuff like you'd guess!!!!!"

Oh my. It's their wedding night and they talk like dumb, uninspired newlyweds and then kiss, and it's like the director, who remember is Stallone, directed the two of them, one of whom is also Stallone, to perform slow, exotic lip dancing and no one told him that's a thing called kissing which is normal and common.

Rocky has some money now so he and Adrian are looking at buying a house. The realtor is all "this whole place is supported by solid steel" and Rocky is all "yo Adrian that would be a great spot for a radio". It's like porn stars that have been told to ad lib for a few minutes in the beginning of the scene. Except that we aren't about to be rewarded with porno.

0:28:05 - Adrian is pregnant! They talk about it. They talk about it in small talk. "What if it's a girl" "Oh a girl I didn't think about that can you imagine".

So one of the adventures of post-the-first-movie Rocky is that he gets to do a commercial. They show the filming of that and that it doesn't go well because of his Rocky personality. And the next scene he has realized that he needs a white collar job so he's at an employment agency office and asks for a job where he gets to sit. But he's not a good fit there. So he goes and gets a job at a butcher place. He promised Adrian he was done with boxing so now we have this boring part of the movie which isn't short enough.

Okay it's definitely going in a direction of not-boxing-is-sucky-for-Rocky, because he lost the butcher job and had to sell his car to Paulie. He said "it's a great car, buckle up for safety!" Do you think Stallone actually scripted that line or did he improvise it and the director, who you may recall is also Mr. Stallone, thought it was really good and kept it in

0:46:30 - He goes to visit Burgess Meredith at the gym. BM is not helping Rocky's morale, tells him he's washed up POI-manently. He begs for a job doing menial tasks at the gym and BM tells him everyone will think he's a loser but okay. Stallone does okay looking humble about that.

When he comes in to the gym everyone is laughing at a very stupid editorial cartoon in the local news publication, it shows Apollo doing harm upon Rocky-as-a-chicken with the ingenious caption "APOLLO CREED VS THE STALLION CHICKEN". It was clearly "STALLION CHICKEN". That does not make any sense.

BM was easily persuaded by Apollo's cockiness and so he then shows up at Rocky's nad easily persuades him to accept the rematch deal. Feels like movie formula but at least it's about to be less boring.

I like BM's voice.

They're doing a thing going back and forth between Rocky training and Apollo training. Apollo's is going better, partially because his facility is kind of luxuriously spacious. Then they stuck a scene in the middle of that of Adrian working at the pet store all preggo, but having trouble lugging a weighty thing and listen my friends, I think Talia Shire acting is not good acting.

We're in a long sequence that's about how Adrian had the baby prematurely and she slipped into a coma or something, and it's made clear that she had health problems because she was stressed out and overworked because of the heavy things at the pet shop and the husband who went back to boxing. Big old guilt trip taking up a lot of the middle of the movie. Adrian is in a coma. They don't show the baby. It's all just sadness about comatosity of Adrian.

But! She eventually wakes up! And after the first ever conversation they've ever had about what to name their newborn son, Adrian inexplicably changes her tune and tells Rocky she wants him to win. "Win!" That's what she tells him. Then she says it again. Stallone writing, Shire acting, what more could you want.

Now an upbeat training montage that's more hopeful and he's obviously high energy. He must be hitting the punching bags better because just look at how confident he looks.

1:29:35 - It is the sequel to the famous running montage from the first movie. The inspired updates include a new recording of that same song but with children singing "flying strong now" or whatever, and also children following him on his majestic dash to the steps of that municipal facility. Someone probably said "do the running scene again just exactly like in the first movie", but no. Stallone was not satisfied. "We will change it a little," he proclaimed. And lo.

Oh I hope there will be a sequel to the shot of Adrian closing her eyes for considerably longer than a blink. Do you think when people stop her on the street they're like "do the eye close thing do the eye close thing! My friends will all ask if you did the eye close thing and I need to tell them yes she did I saw it and it was even better in person"

We're at the fight now. It's about to start. It's all going as expected. I truly believe that everything will be okay.

Before it starts, Apollo tells Rocky, "you're going DOWN". So maybe it will NOT be okay after all…

Seems like the shots of this fight are not as varied or interesting this time, and they're relying more on the announcer commentary telling us what to think compared to the first movie.

Now the obligatory montage to show us the rounds moving forward and them still going at it. Not the same style as the first movie, but whatever it's working fine. I'd maybe watch a boxing match if it were shot and edited like this so that it's just ten minutes.

I swear I remember seeing this imagery from across the drive-in way back in the 70s, I don't care if you believe me or not it's the truth.

Look, I know I don't know nothin' 'bout boxin' but it seems like you're supposed to use your forearms as shields kind of, and Rocky doesn't do that like at all.

The dialogue is telling us that Rocky is maybe losing going into the final round. I wouldn't have thought so… thanks dialogue!

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN" repeats Creed. Such writing I tell you. Rocky II - A Film By Sylvester Stallone.

I will never forget the carefully choreographed climax of the movie. They both crumble onto the floor and the one-to-ten countdown all slow-like as they maybe try to get back up and Apollo doesn't and Rocky barely does so he is the new world champion. Then the last couple minutes of the movie is the same basic energy as the first movie. It's like the first movie's ending was a template and they just replaced a couple of things.

They kept making more of these movies! I'm going to keep watching them! I'm going to do this notes-about-them thing!

(next: Rocky III)