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thanksjro · 4 years ago

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Dark Cybertron Chapter 1: Welcome to Comic Event Hell

You know what readers love? When the stories they’ve gotten invested in over the course of a couple years get interrupted for some pseudo-crossover bullshit.

And you know what writers love? When the story they’ve been crafting over the course of a couple years get interrupted for some pseudo-crossover bullshit.

Did I say love?

Because I didn’t mean it.

“Dark Cybertron” was penned by John Barber and James Roberts, with collaboration with comic writer and artist Phil Jimenez, and was published from early November, 2013 to late March, 2014. Atilio Rojo, James Raiz, and Livio Ramondelli did the art, each responsible for scenes in specific locations, with Robert Gill filling in as needed. Alex Milne, Andrew Griffith, and Brendan Cahill would also contribute pencils to the first issue and the back half of the series. It was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and the second birthday of Phase Two... which went on for over four months, but never mind that!

Both "Dark Cybertron” and its preliminary materials were made to go alongside the Transformers: Generations toy-line, each issue being included as a toy pack-in with whatever character was being featured… or, at least, that was the plan. Sometimes it didn’t work out. Regardless, this storyline was created to sell toys directly, as opposed to the MTMTE/RID series being made to sell toys more through the power of suggestion. It’s a small distinction, but important, because it will help explain any lack of soul one may perceive while they read “Dark Cybertron”.

“But Hannz!” you cry out, reaching to grab me by the throat and shake me like a rag doll, because to you I’m merely a faceless voice on the internet. “Surely by calling this specific storyline soulless, you’re completely ignoring the very nature of this franchise that you’re almost uncomfortably invested in!”

To which I’ll say this: look, I’m pretty realistic about where my giant space robots came from; Transformers as a franchise would not exist the way it does without Ronald Reagan introducing the Free Market to literal children and fucking up how we interact with media for the rest of time. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and that rings especially true when I’ve got a Spinister on my bookshelf staring me down as I write this, that was likely made out of plastics which either involved blood oil or unethical labor practices, if not both.

However!

The choices of a company to have their comic license holders to cook up an entire plot that derails what they’ve already got planned out for toy tie-in comics is a completely different animal than what IDW had had going on up to this point. Phase Two had been about exploring different ideas that hadn’t been able to be explored during the war, and seeing what happens when you take away a third of the logline for Transformers G1 as a whole. Being a part of a brand of toys was almost inconsequential to how the stories were being told; even the Spotlights, which were also toy tie-in comics, had plenty of charm to them, if only because there weren’t quite as many constraints placed on the writers, and they were stand-alone issues.

Of course, being tie-in comics isn’t the only reason that “Dark Cybertron” is a bit of a slog, considering everything IDW itself was trying to get done within this storyline, but we’ll cover the publishing company’s/Simon Furman’s/Transformers’ tumultuous relationship with the concept of gender identity and expression later on, when it becomes relevant to the story proper. This point also ties into the interesting origin of Windblade, who we’ll meet in a few issues, and what happens when you let your fanbase have a taste of power and forget that people might like to see themselves represented in the media they consume.

“Dark Cybertron” is what ended up making me stop reading MTMTE the first time I tried it in 2015. A big part of it was because it forced the reader to need so much information from RID and even events prior to Phase Two, it wasn’t very fun to try to parse what was going on, on top of the writing beginning to flag because of obvious constraints to what Barber and Roberts could actually do, both within their deadlines and the rules put in place by their higher ups for the event.

“Dark Cybertron” is the result of the sort of executive meddling that kills reader enjoyment by requiring writers to cram their two worlds together as quickly as possible, without the option to go for nuance because there simply isn’t time. The reason we have four separate artists for the front half of this story is because Milne and Griffith didn’t have time to draw both their current workload and “Dark Cybertron” at the same time... but sales probably went up due to the nature of how the story was published, so I’m sure they didn’t really see a problem with it.

That’s a general “they”, not a Milne and Griffith “they”.

In short, we’ve got license contract obligations, fan-poll obligations, and gender stuff fighting for space within the next 12 issues, which will be published in the span of roughly four months. Things are probably going to be a little bloated and sloppy.

Regardless of any of these points, this is what we’ve got. It’s not like it’s all bad- “Dark Cybertron” has the benefit of being written by two people who had been working closely before it had even been conceptualized. Barber was the senior editor for MTMTE, and IDW as a whole until he left in 2016. It also isn’t a proper crossover- y’know, where two completely separate titles get mashed together for a bit. MTMTE and RID exist in the same universe, just have their own things going on, so a decent amount of things still carry over without you needing to have read every single thing in both. The writing, while not quite up to par with pieces that had more creative freedom and breathing room between scenes, is still recognizable as being Barber and Roberts’. Their voices are still here, they’re just strained under the weight of everything that has to be said inside of 12 issues.

With all THAT out of the way, let’s dive in to Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1.

We get a quick rundown of the most basic information you’ll need for this entire story to make sense, as we reintroduce the fact that Shockwave is an ecoterrorist with more agendas than a daily planner factory on meth, and also that he grows magic crystals. I don’t care what he says, the Ores are fucking space-magic. If you don’t want to read through all of RID for everything else, please see Robots in Disguise (2012), #1-22- A Recap, For Reference Purposes. We also get a quick rundown of the Lost Lighters’ deal, as Swerve potentially has a meta-episode.

Be careful what you fucking wish for, bucko.

Our story proper starts with a flashback to the shittiest road trip Cyclonus ever went on, as the Ark 1 finds itself at the edge of a mysterious portal. This is likely why he wasn’t super thrilled when the portal to Luna 1 showed up- portals are probably a touchy subject for him.

Jhiaxus doesn’t know what this portal is- surely this means that science has failed us, and it’s time to call in the religious crowd to try and suss out what’s going on here.

It’s moments like this that make me wonder what exactly happened in the Dead Universe that made Cyclonus’ cheek meat just pack up and leave.

Now, we know that Cyclonus is correct here, because we as readers have more knowledge than the characters at this point, but Jhiaxus tries to write off this theory as hogwash, because he is a man of rationality and science. This is a slight removal from his character in the present, whose most notable traits seem to be a lack of ethics and screaming.

Everyone here seems to be slightly different from their current iterations, actually; Galvatron doesn’t say a word as he steps between Jhiaxus and Cyclonus, only using his body to communicate that the scientist might want to back off. Cyclonus himself is certainly the wordiest we’ve ever seen him to be, droning on through his actual thought process before he comes to a conclusion on what exactly they’ve found. Compare this to the Cyclonus of today, who only deigns to grace everyone with his voice if they outright threaten him, have something he wants, or are Tailgate. If he were to ever pull this verbal meandering on board the Lost Light, people would probably assume he’s having a stroke.

Nova Prime- you remember him, don’t you?- gives not a fuck about the Dead Universe, only what it means for him personally. And what it means for him is more locations to subjugate, because he is cartoonishly evil. His character is the least removed from his present-day iteration out of everyone. He tells the crew they’ll be getting a little closer, only for the portal to do the work for them, by way of dark energy tentacles.

Wow, the pilot for the Ark 1 really is just straight-up named Butt, isn’t he? And what the fuck is that face you’re making, Cyclonus? Are you- oh my god, are you emoting? Oh my god, he’s emoting.

As the Ark 1 is pulled to its doom, Jhiaxus makes a quick phone call to Shockwave to tell him he’s his favorite, and to keep up the good work.

In the present, Shockwave reflects on just how friggin’ long this whole ordeal has taken. Fortunately, Waspinator and the Titan are almost here, and he can hardly wait.

Not, uh, that he’s got emotions or anything. It’s been established that he doesn’t have those anymore. Is impatience an emotion? Does that count?

Shockwave seems like he’d be really frustrating to write for.

Anyway, the Titan shows up, the Ore inside him and the Ore in the underground Crystal City combine, and the Titan starts screaming because everything hurts. Shockwave’s about as thrilled as he can be about the situation, given his lack of emotions.

Above Crystal City, we finally get back to that nonsense about the early sunrise, as someone- maybe Starscream, given the color of the narration box- waxes poetic on the planet of Cybertron, wartorn and wild in its rebirth, ruled by paranoia that has nothing to bounce off of, and so creates its own walls.

Then we get a detailed shot of Rattrap’s mug, and the moment is broken.

Rattrap’s character is a lot of fun in everything he gets tossed into, but you’re a goddamn liar if you think he’s pretty to look at. You are lying to yourself, and I won’t apologize for saying it.

Starscream walks out of his room in his hot new body, feeling fine and ready to take on the world. We’ll check in on him later in the day to see how that positive mentality is working out for him.

So, the sun hasn’t moved, and it’s way too early for the sun to even be up right now. That’s weird. Because I guess he didn’t know how the sun works, Starscream’s only just realized that this is perhaps a problem. He does some computer work and realizes that this is indeed a very bad thing, and asks that Rattrap call the Autobots. Not the ones who fucked off into the wilderness, the other ones. The gay, space ones.

Up in space, Orion Pax and his pals have found themselves in dire straits, the collapsing Gorlam Prime sucking their ship back down as the Death Ore consumes everything.

That’s not how engines work! And I think it really says something about the “Prelude” issues that I completely forgot why Wheelie was down an arm for a solid five seconds.

It turns out that Orion was the narrator the entire time, which I should have known- since when is the once and future Optimus Prime not the primary voice in any media he appears in?

It’s looking rough for the fellas, but luckily we’ve got to get the plot rolling, so the Lost Light VZZZZTs into existence and picks up the Skyroller to place it gently into its belly.

Orion isn’t exactly jazzed about the fact that Rodimus didn’t listen to what he told him, not even bothering to thank the guy for saving his life. I say y’all keep going on your Thunderclash Quest and leave this ungrateful loser behind. No space yachting for you, Orion.

The rest of the Pax Posse enter the Lost Light proper, and Hardhead reveals that he nearly joined the Quest, before he saw who all would be coming with, while Garnak has a tearful reunion with Rodimus. The fact that he’s calling him Sir- which I don’t recall him doing in Transformers (2009), at least not in a way that seems reminiscent of an unfortunate Antebellum Period Romance- feels rather weird, but I’m glad someone’s fucking happy to see Rodimus at least. Ultra Magnus asks Orion if he’ll be assuming command of the vessel, as Rodimus tries not to look horrified by the thought alone, but fortunately Orion’s not going to pull his “I’m Optimus Prime and I Can Do What I Want” Card just yet.

Smash cut to the bridge, as Rodimus tries to make himself sound competent, when Starscream calls. Orion doesn’t like that Starscream has their number, Perceptor almost reveals the fact that this ship technically doesn’t belong to a faction, likely due to being purchased after the war, and Cyclonus gets brought in for his professional opinion.

As it turns out, that early sunrise isn’t a sunrise at all, but a portal to the Dead Universe. This is a problem, because the Dead Universe really sucks, and you don’t want to go there, especially if you enjoy being alive. Orion seems more concerned about the fact that Starscream is ruling the planet, and Bumblebee is nowhere to be found.

Speaking of Bumblebee, he and all his camp buddies are psyching themselves up for a confrontation.

Swoop, please, this is hardly the time for crudeness.

The Dinobots, sick of Bumblebee’s dithering about, decide they’re going to fight the fucking sun and gear up. Prowl, though generally disliking their brand of problem-solving, does share his begrudging respect of their can-do attitude.

Their can-do attitude over fighting the fucking sun.

Then an earthquake happens and the ground rips open to reveal that Titan that Waspinator showed up with.

Shockwave takes over the narration at this point, and we get artsy, as we see events that haven’t transpired yet over musings on the nature of... time? Maybe? It would be in line with Roberts’ go-to topics, but honestly the whole thing’s kind of vague so I couldn’t give you a solid answer. Shockwave gets awfully introspective for a guy who shouldn’t care, I know that much. The point is, he is inevitable and is super good at logic and science.

Also, Nova Prime and Galvatron are back, which is cool, I guess. Not sure where Galvatron had gotten to exactly after the events of “Chaos”, but he’s back now, so it doesn’t matter too terribly much. Shockwave serves them, which we’ll probably get an explanation for at some point.

God, you can practically taste the desperation to pin all these plot points together before the entire thing implodes on itself.

#transformers #jro #dark cybertron #issue 1 #maccadam #Hannzreads #overthinking about robots #incoming analysis #text post #long post #comic script writing

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thebibliomancer · 4 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #232: And Now... Starfox!

June, 1983

“From Titan with love... Starfox!”

oh god no

Err. Anyway.

Last time on Avengers Z, the Avengers were bad enough dudes and lady dudes to rescue the president from wooden dopplegangers. The sinister and badly dressed Plantman (not to be confused with a Mega Man boss) summoned a giant-sized man-shaped swamp thing to battle the Avengers. They were doing a decent job fighting it when Starfox crashed his spaceship into it in his rush to join the Avengers.

And now, what happens after that.

Hawkeye is a terrible patient.

So also last time, a ceiling fell on Hawkeye’s leg and it be broke. He’s apparently the kind of dude who thinks its more manly to refuse anesthetic so She-Hulk has to literally pin him down long enough for Ordinary Doctor Donald Blake to cast it up.

And wow, that cast goes all the way up!

Where did you break your leg, Clint? At the sternum?

Actually this reminds me of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes because Hawkeye got his arm snaked and in-this-version-a-paramedic Jane Foster was asked to look at it but Hawkeye was similarly uncooperative there.

I wonder if that was an intentional reference or whether an accurate portrayal of Clint’s sparking personality just gets you there naturally.

But with the casting call done, Dr. Donald Blake makes to leave, making a point to mention how lucky that he was in town instead of in Chicago where he supposedly lives.

THUS Thor’s secret identity is secure forever.

Wasp and Captain America take Ordinary Doctor Donald Blake to the elevator to show him out but really, he just transforms back to Thor in the elevator.

Because Cap and Wasp already know his secret identity. As does Dra- oh wait, he’s dead. As does Iron Man.

In fact, after Cap mentions he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to seeing Dr. Donald Blake transform, Thor mentions very few mortals have ever seen the change.

Thor: “E’en Iron Man -- with whom I did share the secret of my dual life -- seldom watched me assume my godlike form. I believe it disturbed him.’

Wasp: “Uh-huh.”

Uh-huh is right. That’s a weird, random character beat! I wonder why it bothered Tony. Is it the god part? Transformation in general? Would it bother him to watch Bruce Banner turn into the Hulk? Or Captain Marvel/old broke version and Rick Jones chaaaaange places?

I’m intrigued. And yet there’s no further information. Hmm.

Anyway, the three founding or retroactively made a founding Avengers pass through two sets of ultra-security doors because obviously the thing in your base you most want to protect is your conference table.

Its got the cool, personalized chairs. Don’t judge.

As always, I wonder what symbols the other Avengers get.

Wasp delayed the resumption of the Avengers meeting (because it got interrupted by presidential ransom situation last issue) by a half hour because she wanted to run some things past Thor and Cap.

Wasp: “After all, we are the only core members on active duty and... well... I wanted to ask you both first... should I step down as Avengers chairwoman?”

Thor asks if she feels unduly burdened by the job but she says no, in fact it makes her feel so aliiiiiiiiiiive.

Cap: “Then stick with it, Jan! You’ve been doing a fine job! What on Earth made you even think of stepping down? Surely you don’t blame yourself for Iron Man leaving -- ?”

Surely in fact, she does do.

That weird call they got from an Iron Man quitting the team has shaken her. She probably thinks its because of Wasp dumping him. And in fairness, Tony ghosting the team happened not very long after that. But its not actually related.

Also apparently, Captain Marvel (the new cool one) was made a full active member and not an in-training to fill the vacancy Iron Man left. But now Hawkeye has gotten injured and there are no reserve members available.

Hercules is off doing him knows what. Beast is with the Defenders. Wonder Man is on the West Coast, presumably trying to make it in Hollywood. Vision and Scarlet Witch are trying to be civilians.

Wasp: “We used to have too many members around. Now we may not have enough!”

Yeah, ever since the roster shake-up that was soon followed by Hank’s No Good Very Bad Day, the Avengers have had a bit of a difficulty in keeping the team at good numbers.

Dammit, Hank!

Thor suggests, hey, we have Eros of Titan hanging around asking to be made a member. Why not... let him?

Thor: “Perhaps we should induct the brash Eros! He is swift -- and nearly as strong as an Asgardian!”

Cap: “Yes, but is he Avengers material? Does he have the proper training?”

Wasp: “Training! That’s it! We could try him out as an Avenger-in-training! It worked for Captain Marvel! She was almost totally unused to super-powers when she came to us, but she developed into a peach of an Avenger! With a little on-the-job training, I’ll bet Eros would fit in, too!”

So she calls the White House and asks if the president is back from his kidnapping yet. She has networking strings to pull.

And this honestly brightens her right up. Being group leader really does make her feel so aliiiiiiiiiiive. That and being able to call in favors from the government.

Twenty-six minutes of calling in favors later, Wasp reconvenes the meeting, this time with special guest Eros.

She asks why he wants to be an Avenger.

Eros: “Why not?”

This gives Hawkeye an anger and he bangs the table and also accidentally bangs his broken leg.

Eros decides to expand on his answer and says that he’s a lover of adventure and what better way to seek it than as an Avenger? He’s already aided them in the past so they already know of him.

Thor: “Aye! Against the threat of your mad brother, Thanos!”

Eros: “Too true. But I believe your brother Loki has also given the Avengers trouble hasn’t he?”

Wasp has to interrupt and tell the two to keep family matters out of the conversation. She makes a better moderator than some.

Eros: “You are quite right, Wasp! I hold no one -- god or man -- responsible for the actions of relatives! I seek but your fellowship! Indeed, I can think of no assemblage so appealing... so charming... anywhere in the cosmos!”

Wasp, Captain Marvel, and She-Hulk seem to approve of this answer.

... WAIT ARE YOU USING YOUR CHARM POWERS ON THEM? EROOOOOOOOOOOOOS!!!

Anyway, since Hawkeye is out of action-

Hawkeye: “What do you mean, ‘out of action’? Who says I am?”

Cap(tain America) says he is and tells him he can’t be expected to charge into action with his leg in a cast. Which Hawkeye sadly agrees.

Anyway, since Hawkeye is out of action, Wasp decides that the Avengers can accomodate Eros as an Avenger-in-training. But the government did have one condition for letting his alien man become an Avenger.

He needs a codename.

Wasp: “Frankly, the president was hesitant to approve of anyone named Eros. He would rather you were called something less provocative in public.”

Hey, fuck you, Reagan.

But Wasp has an idea.

Wasp: “You’re a pretty foxy guy... and you’ve been out among the stars... how about ‘Starfox!’”

Good god, Wasp. Did you really just name this man Spacehunk? You’ve gone mad with power.

Also, I jumped the gun last post. I didn’t realize that Wasp comes up with his codename here so I was using Starfox to refer to him already.

Also also, he has a fox emblem on his shirt. Why does he do that if he wasn’t Starfox yet? What does the fox represent in Titanian culture??

Eros: “Starfox? I don’t know... Is this necessary?”

Captain America: “Well, it could make things easier, and you’d still be Eros to your friends. After all, my real name isn’t Captain America!”

Eros: “It isn’t?”

Hah.

I adore that last exchange.

Imagine the incredulity in the tone. ‘I thought that Earth names were Just Like That.’

Anyway, Eros accepts the name Spacehunk Starfox and the position of in-training so Wasp decides to get him started right away.

Remember that thing with the president and the wood men? Happened like an hour ago?

Well, there’s a Navy task force tracking the submarine which was spotted escaping from the scene and they’ve requested Avengers help. But, eh, why send the whole team?

So Wasp sends Thor, Captain Marvel, and Starfox-in-training.

And in fairness! That’s a trio that can handle a whole heck of a lot with their respective powers!

So off they go.

Starfox: “Duty and glory, Thor! Songs shall be written about this day -- even if I must write them myself!”

You know. That’s actually a very good attitude to have. Eros will be the fanfiction he wants to see in the world.

With that issue handled, Cap(tain America) and Wasp head off to take care of some other business.

Leaving She-Hulk and Hawkeye with only each other as company.

Hah.

On their way to the mission, Captain Marvel zooms all around, practicing her cornering in flight. As a new superhero... like its been under a month, I think? Captain Marvel still thinks flying is the neatest thing.

And she’s right!

But she’s also discovered a new ability. Since her energy form is made of energy and she has control over energy. Instead of flying around as a vaguely her shaped glowing blur, she can concentrate to create a light image of herself, why not!

She has made herself harder to draw but easier to portray!

Thor: “Your radiance rivals that of the golden apples of immortality!”

Captain Marvel: “I’ll have to take your word for that!”

Hah.

She zooms over to where Starfox is flying. Captain Marvel has been eyeing him throughout the book, which Wasp has been assuming was because he’s a space hunk.

But maybe she just wanted to learn more about Captain Mar-Vell because that’s what she asks Starfox about.

Starfox: “He was a gentle warrior... a noble soul. He was a true hero... Worthy of rank and name!”

I guess the description or the sadness Starfox still has at Mar-Vell’s death makes Monica feel like shit, like maybe she isn’t worthy, so she zooms ahead to let the navy know the Avengers are on their way.

Starfox: “Have I offended her?”

Thor: “Eros, I begin to wonder if your reputation with the ladies is truly deserved.”

Hah.

But also: If you have magical fuck-me powers you don’t need to actually be charming, I guess? Dammit, Starfox!

Captain Marvel arrives on the deck of the navy task force flagship as a bolt of lighting (SHAZAM!), alarming the navy in two ways.

First, lightning. Its just so loud! But second, wait the Avengers only sent one person?

Captain Marvel goes nah I got Thor and Spacehunk but they’re slowpokes. Not moving the speed of light. Imagine.

Admiring Admiral: I don’t know who the redhead is, but I’d sail into Hades itself with Thor in my crew!

Its fun the insight we get into how respected and beloved Thor is. I don’t think that’s the case anymore with modern Thor. The marvel citenzry has just become jaded to the cool hammer man.

The admiral explains the situation. That they’re chasing the submarine seen in the area of the presidential ransom attempt. But its hiding in an undersea canyon that navy frogmen kero kero can’t reach and that its somehow been deflecting depth charges.

The admiral was going to wait for navy subs to arrive but hey, if the Avengers want to try, this is their book.

Meanwhile, in aforementioned sinister submarine, the horticultural horror... Plantman! Nah, just kidding. He’s a goofus and I will point and laugh.

His cool sub lets him pre-explode the depth charges before they reach his sub but even he doesn’t want to tangle with trident-class submarines so he wants to skedaddle. And if the navy is blocking his way, the navy gotta pay.

He activates his PLANT RAY which is a real thing, look it up, and energizes the kelp in the undersea canyon.

The kelp reaches up like a kraken, a kelpken, and starts trying to pull the navy ships under.

Thor: “‘Tis an attack by yet another form of plant! Our unknown foe has struck again! Stand you back... the son of Odin shall end this threat!”

And then Thor jumps into the ocean, leading a confused Starfox to ask whether Thor needs to breath.

Captain Marvel helpfully informs him and the audience that Thor can hold his breath for hours.

Thanks, Monica!

And then some kelp yanks Starfox and then Captain Marvel off the ship.

Meanwhile, a very expensive Manhattan apartment occupied by a grumpy Tony Stark.

Tony Stark: “Why waste good money getting a T.V. remote control fixed, when I can do it myself faster an’ better? Hah! When I’m done with it, it’ll do more’n change channels... it’ll walk the blasted dog!”

... Tony, how though?

And do you have a dog?

What is going on in your mind?

His remote repair reverie is interrupted by a binging and a bonging on his chamber door. Only this and nothing more.

He grouses about the interruption but HEY ITS HIS FAVORITE PEOPLE! Its Wasp and Captain America!

They’ve been stalking him, a little.

The pressing matters they had to attend to was running down a list of homes owned by Tony and searching them one by one to find him.

He’s happy to see them though and offers them some morning whiskey. Or bourbon. Or perhaps chocolate soda.

Look, I googled eyeopener and its booze you drink in the morning to wake up although I’m pretty sure its afternoon now and if you need to drink booze to wake up, you might want to consider limiting your intake actually. Especially for Tony Stark who had an entire story arc about alcoholism. Dammit Tony!

Wasp: “Eye-opener?! Tony Stark, where’s your mind? We’ve been worried sick about you! No one’s been able to find you for days on end -- you haven’t answered Avengers emergency calls -- and when you did call this morning it was to resign!”

Tony Stark: “Now jus’ hold yer horses! Maybe I have been outta touch... but I’ve had my own ‘mergencies to handle! An’ I didn’t call you this morning! I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

Iron Man: “He’s right! I’m the one who made that call!”

Imagine being someone who reads Avengers and not Iron Man. How blown would your mind be seeing Iron Man fly into a room Tony Stark is already in?

Somewhat, right? Somewhat.

Imagine being Captain America and Wasp and seeing Iron Man fly into a room where Tony Stark is when you know for sure that Iron Man and Tony Stark are the same guy.

Cap demands to know whats going on and who is in Tony’s armor.

Tony Stark: “Jus’ who he appears to be... Iron Man, my faithful armored companion and bodyguard... jus’ like it says in the Stark International press releases! Ya see, boys an’ girls, ol’ Uncle Tony has decided to quit the hero biz while he’s still ahead of the game! No more playin’ Iron Man for me! Nosirrebob! Time to let a younger man wear the boilerplate!”

Oh.... Tony.... if this only weren’t the perpetual superhero narrative, you might be able to bow out gracefully.

And its not like this is gracefully anyway. As indicated by the charmingly tousled look, the slurred speech and the morning drinking in the afternoon, Tony is quite drunk.

Wasp asks New Iron Man to confirm and he does. He clarifies that the reason he quit the Avengers is because he doesn’t feel experienced enough yet to hold his own on the team.

And apologizes for the confusion. The Iron Man helmet has voice modifying circuits so New Iron Man (secretly James Rhodes) sounded just like Old Iron Man (aka Tony Stark). He didn’t realize that the Avengers knew Tony’s secret so didn’t realize he’d just be creating an intriguing mystery prompting readers to check out the Iron Man book slash confuse the Avengers.

Tony Stark: “Yeah... I forgot to tell ya that Cap an’ the Wasp were in on the ol’ secret. Thor, too! Oh, well... no harm done!”

Then he drinks some more booze alcohol. Cap asks him doesn’t he think he’s had enough? And Tony is like hey no I don’t and don’t butt into my life kthx.

Wasp: “We don’t want to pry, Tony! We just don’t want to see you throw your life away... like Hank did.”

Tony Stark: “I am not Hank Pym, lady! I’m nothin’ like your ex-hubby! I don’t need your help -- an’ you don’t need mine! The Stark Foundation will pay the Avengers’ bills with or without me! So, if you’ll kindly get out of my life -- !”

Oof. Why does everyone Wasp dates turn out to be a jerk?

I assume she was just leaning into it the time she dated Havok. But otherwise, oof.

They really have no choice but to leave Tony to make his own bad decisions. At least he was responsible enough to get someone else in the Iron Man armor?

Geez though. Geez.

Hate seeing you like this, Tones.

Meanwhile, back in the Atlantic Ocean... Captain Marvel fairly casually assesses the situation of being dragged into the water.

Captain Marvel: “Never saw any kelp like this before! It grips tighter than an octopus, and it feels as tough as steel! I could just turn to some form of energy and slip out of it, but then it could grab some poor sailor!”

So instead she explodes, which she can do, shredding the kelp holding her.

Then off she goes to find how Starfox is faring.

He’s faring okay. Just casually punching some kelp like it ain’t no thing.

But since teamwork does make the dream work, she blasts the kelp for him. Starfox thanks her though also says that he could’ve kelped himself.

They discuss how they can hear each other perfectly well underwater thanks to SCIENCE! The science of water conducting sound. I find it a bit dubious but whatever. Not as dubious as the next bit.

Captain Marvel asks how Starfox is breathing underwater.

Starfox: “A thin shell of air clung to me as I was pulled under... due to the gravitic potential of my body, I suppose! It all relates to my flying abilities. I was surprised myself! This is the first time I’ve ever taken an ocean plunge!”

Fun way to discover that, huh!

Also, heck, how long does a thin shell of air last underwater? How shallowly do you breathe, man!?

-google- Huh, Wikipedia has this description of his powers using almost the exact words (although not the word order) from this scene. I feel that it does not come up much so this is the primary source.

It also says that he doesn’t need to breathe as much as a normal hooman. So that’s answered.

The two newest Avengers find Thor already has things well in hand freeing the propeller without need for any further kelp.

So all three Avengers surface (and Thor retrieves his helmet, which in a nice bit fell off when he dove into the water and just floated on the surface).

Thanks to ex-boat cop Monica Rambeau knowing navy semaphore, she recognizes the signal from the navy vessel that the enemy sub is making a run for it.

And since none of these three Avengers have trouble fighting underwater, Starfox suggests they give chase.

Plantman: “NO! Not the Avengers! Not again!”

Yes, again. Yes, always.

He shoots some anti-personnel torpedoes, hoping they’re enough to stop the Avengers.

“They’re not.”

Hah. I love when captions get sassy.

The Avengers soon are busting into the sub, breaking through bulkheads and coming for Plantman.

Plantman realizes that they’ll have him trapped in the control cabin in seconds. So he pulls the last resort lever that his silent partner told him to pull as a last resort.

Some manner of escape sphere forms around Plantman, launching him high into the stratosphere and capsizing the sub right on top of the Avengers.

I mean, they’re beefy. I’m sure they’ll be fine.

But no time to verify that, SCENE CHANGE.

Over on Central Park West, She-Hulk has carried Hawkeye all the way from Avengers’ Mansion to his apartment. On foot.

Dang! Mighty nice of her! Even Hawkeye points out that he could have gotten a cab.

(But do we believe that Hawkeye has money for a cab?)

After gently dumping Hawkeye on his couch, She-Hulk asks if he wants to have her stick around. She literally has nothing better to do today.

Hawkeye: “Will you get out of here and leave me alone!!”

She-Hulk huffs off in anger because this is a rude way to thank someone who helps you home.

Hawkeye even realizes that he shouldn’t have yelled “but I can’t stand to have anyone mother-hen me! Besides, I have things to do... important things!”

Yeah, Hawkeye does seem like the kind of guy who hates getting any help at all because men are self-reliant and junk. Toxic masculinityyyyyyy!

And the important things? I dunno! He calls his head of security workplace Cross Technological Enterprises and tells them to send a car for him.

That’s probably going to be a thing in another issue. God forbid it be a thing in another book. I’m not made of time. I’m still dreading West Coast Avengers where Hawkeye goes off and makes his own team. The jerk.

Okay, back to the plot.

Thor, Captain Marvel, and Starfox of course shake off a submarine imploding on their heads without much effort. Starfox is the most shaken by it. Guess the new guy isn’t used to submarine implosions lol.

Meanwhile, Plantman’s escape pod keeps escaping up, up, and away but mostly just up.

Then a prerecorded message from Plantman’s ‘silent partner’ and/or ‘mysterious benefactor’ plays.

Wizard: “Plant-Man! This is a recording. If you have been so stupid as to get yourself in a predicament where you needed to use the emergency handle, you are now hearing this message.”

“While I appreciated your aid in escaping prison, the equipment I gave you should be considered payment in full. I owe you nothing more than an explanation.”

“Thanks to my anti-gravity generators -- which you activated along with this module -- you will soon find yourself safely in orbit!”

Plantman: “In orbit!”

Wizard: “There, you will be of no further embarrassment to me or our ‘partnership’ as you so distastefully called it. You will be beyond harm... for as long as your oxygen holds out. Farewell!”

Oof. Ice cold.

Ice cold, the Wizard.

Captain Marvel phases through the pod floor to basically say the same thing.

Plantman begs her to save him from his own dumb decision making. She’s like huh look, I don’t really know about anti-gravity but I do have an idea.

Then she blows a hole in the side of the pod.

And the pressure difference blasts Plantman out of the pod, right through Captain Marvel who has turned into intangible energy.

Captain Marvel: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

HAH!

That was mean, Monica. I love it.

But as Plantman hurtles screaming toward the ground, Thor catches him and tells him to stop screaming beside.

Thor: “Cease your cowardly whining! The Avengers do not wantonly kill their foes... not even such as you!”

These days though... well... probably still not wantonly? Depending on how you define it? Maybe during War of Realms though. The kid gloves came off then.

Starfox is loving this by the way. The whole thing that just happened.

Starfox: “What grand sport! Yes, I think I’m going to enjoy being an Avenger!”

‘Ha ha we made that guy think he was going to die!’

Also, Plantman’s outfit looked green and purple in the sub. I guess it was the lighting because its just jolly green now. But its still a terrible outfit.

Meanwhile, back at Avengers’ mansion, Wasp is back from Tony Stark locating duty! She-Hulk is back from being angry at Hawkeye duty!

She-Hulk mentions that she took Hawkeye to his apartment and for a loudmouth, he has a really nice apartment.

She-Hulk: “I wish I could find a nice apartment, but I’m still getting lost in this town. I don’t know where to begin looking.”

Wasp: “Well, if you’re so set on getting a place of your own, why don’t I give you a hand?”

Wasp is going to fulfill her delayed promise to take She-Hulk apartment hunting! And hey, why not focus her efforts on a friend that will let her help?

So Wasp changes into street clothes (or since we see her shrink later, its more that she changed her Wasp outfit and put clothes over it, which is almost like getting dressed in street clothes) and takes Jen out on the town.

Apparently, the Daily Bugle has the largest section on rentals and real estate of any New York paper. I guess they need something aside from diatribes about Spider-Man to attract subscribers.

Ben Urich’s award winning investigative journalism can’t pay all the bills.

Because this is the same New York which frustrated Tigra, some idiot immediately starts hitting on She-Hulk at the newsstand.

Some idiot: “‘Ey, beeg mama! I love that green body paint! You need any help removing it? Huh?”

She-Hulk: “Stuff it, creep! Or better yet -- stuff you!”

And she puts the garbage man in the garbage can. Where he belongs. While Wasp literally looks the other way.

She-Hulk: “Sorry, Jan, I just don’t care for men with fresh mouths. This sort of thing would never happen in California.”

Wasp: “Oh, fer shure...”

That sounds like the polite way of saying ‘Doubt.’ Surely there are sexist jerks everywhere?

Sadly for the She-Hulk Apartment Hunt, her expectations are also a little LA centric. You’re just not going to find an affordable condo with a hot-tub in New York.

Wasp asks what She-Hulk has against the free rent at Avengers Mansion with its built-in sauna that they’ve apparently always had but never mentioned.

Avengers Mansion is real nice!

She-Hulk says she can’t get behind the idea of living where she works but as someone who works from home its actually highly recommended! Although, She-Hulk’s situation is more ‘firemen live in the firehouse’ so it lacks the ‘don’t have to wear pants to work’ aspect.

Then the apartment hunt is interrupted by an incoming crossover slash a stampede.

She-Hulk grabs a random panicking passerby out of the crowd and asks whats going on but he can’t give a good answer.

She-Hulk: “Hot dog! I was hoping something would happen to break up the monotony. So far, this afternoon has been a big, dull...” -THUD-

First, I love She-Hulk’s enthusiasm for punching.

Also, hey, who put thin air in She-Hulk’s way!

There’s some kind of invisible barrier right across the sidewalk.

She-Hulk instantly decides that the thing to do is to TEAR INTO THE PAVEMENT TO SEE HOW DEEP IT GOES.

Instead of, y’know, feeling to see how wide it stretches.

Wasp tries blasting thin air too but to no avail.

Despite She-Hulk reminding everyone that “at close range, your sting can knock down a wall!”

And when she really tries, a whole house.

She-Hulk: “Wasp... This is impossible! We’re Avengers! Nothing can stop us!”

Wasp: “She-Hulk... I’ve the strangest feeling it just did.”

And apparently: this is to be continued in THE ANNIHILATION GAMBIT! Which is a crossover with Fantastic Four!

Which means I actually need to pop over to an Avengers Annual first because despite running into the invisible wall (Sue, is that you?) the Avengers are doing stuff on the Moon before getting involved.

I dunno. I’ll see when I get to it.

And you will too! Provided you follow @essential-avengers! Also maybe like and reblog? Who can say.

#avengers #Plantman #the Wasp #Captain America #Thor #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #she hulk #Starfox #Iron Man #Tony Stark #James Rhodes #we learn whats going on with iron man #starfox has a good day #hawkeye is a rude #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years ago

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Michael After Midnight: C.H.U.D. & Us

Do you like horror? Do you feel for the plight of homeless people? Do you despise Ronald Reagan and everything he represents? Well congratulations! You have a functioning heart and mind! But you also might be in to the B-movie cult classic that is C.H.U.D. This is a film that has at least partially wormed its way into the cultural consciousness as the titular monsters have become something of a go-to descriptor for any sort of sewer-dweller as well as an insult used to describe alt-righters and other nasty bastards (it works too since alt-right people do often look like they crawled out of a sewer). Unless you’re a cult film aficionado though, you may not have actually sat down and watched this film, which is a shame, as it definitely has quite a bit to offer.

But you know who almost certainly HAS watched this film? Beloved filmmaker, comedian, and actor Jordan Peele! And I know this because his second feature film Us is pretty much a semi-remake of C.H.U.D. No, I’m not joking. I would never fuck around about something as serious as trashy B-movies and Jordan Peele films. This is serious business right here. These movies are pretty similar thematically and even slightly plot-wise, but at the same time their different approaches really help set them apart and make each film great in their own right.

The big thing with C.H.U.D. is its function as a criticism towards the Reagan-era treatment of the homeless and the mentally ill. Homeless people are portrayed very sympathetically, with them going missing being what really kicks things off… or it would be, if anyone in power gave a damn. No, the people in power only start caring when people they start caring about go missing. Things go from bad to worse when it’s revealed that the C.H.U.D.s are not only mutated homeless people, but that the United States government is complicit in their transformation, having decided to dump toxic waste into the sewers. Aside from giving Jason Takes Manhattan’s ending some level of plausibility, this is a pretty brutal showcase of how society treats the less fortunate, and especially how the government treats them. As far as B-movies go, this one has the most instantly believable problem causing the monsters.

And it is similar with Us. The film has a much broader application than Peele’s previous film Get Out, which is pretty blatantly about left-wing condescending racism. But the way the Tethered function, their nature as failed experiments left behind by the government to rot, and their desire to simply be given all that they had been denied because the powers that be deemed them less worthy is not just stellar thematically, it is the sort of message that in this day and age is needed more than ever. Reagan is long dead and burning in Hell, but the evil he perpetuated still stands.

The big reveal at the end – which I WILL refrain from spoiling – changes the entire perspective of the film and showcases the Tethered as not just victims, but people who if given half a chance could easily excel in the upper world. But they were denied this chance, shunned as mindless monsters, and then are we to vilify them when they rise up to take what they deserve? Both of these films certainly show their “monsters” as vicious and violent, but ultimately they are merely scared, terrified beings lashing out at those who have oppressed and hurt them, intentionally or otherwise.

Both films certainly do show the oppressed commit monstrous actions, but it never really stops sympathizing with them, instead (rightfully) demonizing the government and the people who constantly put them in those positions of oppression. C.H.U.D. certainly is more cathartic, featuring the major government antagonist being not only shot but blown up, but it also tends to feel a tad more exploitative, what with literal homeless people being mutated, though I must stress the movie doesn’t demonize the homeless and paints them as sympathetic victims of a cruel, unfeeling government who just decides to kill ‘em all to cover up their own fuckup. This is one of the single most realistic depictions of government ever put on film, and for that C.H.U.D. deserves some praise. Us certainly paints a more sympathetic picture for its “monsters,” beginning with the story Red tells her captive audience, and while the reveal of their true nature is a bit more sloppily executed than the reveal of C.H.U.D. it still manages to bear down with the full weight of its allegorical impact with late-game revelations.

Another interesting thing with C.H.U.D.: the monsters don’t even appear all that much. When they do, they look absolutely fantastic; the suits are stunning achievements of practical effects, though the scene where one stretches its neck out is a bit dubious. But for the most part, even at the film’s climax, the C.H.U.D.s are mostly absent, with a “less is more” approach being used in regards to them. I don’t recall there ever really being more than four or so onscreen at once, and there’s no massive invasion of monsters. Honestly, it helps keep the film from feeling like a bloated spectacle, and the fact the film slowly builds up to the monsters appearing after a brief appearance in the start really helps them feel more memorable and iconic than other forgotten throwaway monsters of the 80s, while at the same time letting the mystery, atmosphere, and grimy New York backdrop congeal and allowing the message of the film to just ooze over and permeate you.

Us, on the other hand, keeps the Tethered front and center starting at the second act, but in this case this is a good thing; the Tethered have a lot more personality, seeing as they are essentially fully human, where the C.H.U.D.s are mutated humans whose last vestiges of humanity were washed away by the waste the government hid beneath the streets. Lupita Nyong’o in particular is masterful as Red, and is incredibly skilled to be able to pull off playing two roles who frequently share the screen and who are essentially copies of each other while still managing to make them distinct and different. Tim Heidecker and Winston Duke too really do a grand job as their Tethered counterparts, in Heidecker’s case probably more than his regular person character (not to say he’s bad, but seeing Heidecker selling a creepy killer is a lot more impressive than seeing him play a douchebag husband).

Out of the two, I think it goes without saying that Us is the better film. It has all around better acting, it has the most incredible foreshadowing I have ever seen with every little thing foreshadowed getting a satisfying payoff, it has a great soundtrack, it has some moderately enjoyable humor, it’s paced very well… but here’s the thing: C.H.U.D.s big reveal of the true nature of its monsters is a bit better executed. A lot of people get hung up on how Us overexplains the origin of its monsters, and while it certainly doesn’t bother me because the Tethered are still an effective allegorical implement regardless of their in-universe origin, I can’t help but feel the reveal that the government mutating homeless people into cannibalistic sewer monsters and then just… not giving a shit about it was just a bit better executed. However, I feel like watching C.H.U.D. actually helps improve the big reveal at Us by token of being so similar that the latter’s twist becomes far easier to swallow.

Both of these movies are great for what they’re going for. Jordan Peele’s Us is a fantastic horror film that uses the genre as a way to showcase the effect privilege has on those without it, whether you intend it to or not; C.H.U.D. is a classic B-movie that, while perhaps still a bit exploitative, is ultimately incredibly sympathetic to the plight of the homeless as well as extremely critical of the government that would put them in such danger. Both films are fantastic in their own right, and I highly recommend both to any horror fans, especially those who love some sweet, sweet allegory alongside their brutal murders.

Both of these films are some of my favorites for really pushing the boundaries of what a horror film can do, story-wise. I think C.H.U.D. is a bit more ambitious in some ways, being a pretty direct attack on the Reagan-era government, as well as being relatively sympathetic to lower class people in a time when that wasn’t really the norm. For its time, it really is an impressive work, while Us, while certainly delivering a message that has strong impact, is a bit more open to interpretation and honestly lacking a bit of the gut punch that Peele’s Get Out had in terms of conveying and delivering said message. Still, I think Us is just better for refining what C.H.U.D. was trying to do and delivering it in a more polished form with better actors, a better budget, and just overall more intelligence and visual flair… which is not to say C.H.U.D. was lacking either, as it paints an incredibly dark and grimy picture of New York that I absolutely love, it’s just that it’s hard to deny that Peele is just a better filmmaker than the director of C.H.U.D. and really knew what he was doing. But again: both fantastic films in their own right, and both definitely worth watching.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #Movie review #C.H.U.D.#Chud #B-movie #horror movie #horror #monster movie #social commentary #Jordan Peele #us

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mysteli · 6 years ago

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Closure (Drake X MC X Liam)

A/N: Hey! Here’s the second day of the Choices September Challenge! The theme for today is Apology and I decided to go for a fic with Reagan apologising to Liam about Drake. I know that the bachelorette party happened quite a while ago but I just really wanna make the scene more meaningful. Hope you like it! 💞

Tagging the @choices-september-challenge!

Tags: @princesstopgun @mechaspirit @xo-endlessmayhem-xo @endlessly-searching-for-you @skyila @brightpinkpeppercorn@mymandrake @speedyoperarascalparty@blackwidow2721 @mind-reader1

As Drake wanders to mingle with the few remaining guests, Reagan spots Liam at the bar, drinking quite a sizeable martini, which is definitely a rare sight when it comes to Liam. He’s also so pretentious but in the best way possible. He’s classy but not in a condescending way. That’s one of the many reasons why Reagan loves having him in her life, even if it isn’t how he wants things to be.

It’s probably this party that’s messing up his mind and the fear of accepting that nothing is ever going to rekindle between him and Reagan. Drake’s her endgame and he may just have to live with that forever.

As he sips hopelessly on his martini, Reagan wanders up to him, the neon glow of the bar igniting her petite figure as she walks. With an innocent smile, she taps him gently on the shoulder and usually when he sees her, he breaks out into a wide grin but now something is different. Instead, he just eyes her blankly, pure emptiness in his expression.

“Hey,” He greets her rather simply, scanning her exterior briefly. It’s hard to not look at her. That classic gold dress that outlines her curves perfectly and how her raven hair dangled down her chest. Of course that bright, kind smile that she greets everyone with and brightens anyone’s day with.

Hearing his simple response, Reagan furrows her brows a little but her friendly smile never ever falters. “May I?” She requests, gesturing to the stool next to him and he follows her gaze, contemplating for a moment.

“Go ahead.” He agrees, taking another small sip out of his drink, before gently placing it on the surface of the bar. Reagan takes a seat next to him and the bartender immediately saunters up to her, eyeing her expectantly.

She strokes her jaw for a moment, planning out her drink order and Liam can’t help but eye her as she thinks intently. Finally, her face and dark eyes light up and she fixates her gaze on the bartender with complete and utter delight.

“A Mimosa, please.” She requests, which is a little simple after all that thinking she did. Guess an acceptable drink is important to her. Liam never knew that about her. Maybe he doesn’t know her as much as he thought he did.

Silence overtakes them both as the bartender nods and walks away, leaving Liam and Reagan completely alone, which feels kinda weird - since they hadn’t had much time alone since her and Drake got engaged. After that, Liam became distant, different and he barely speaks to Reagan anymore.

Maybe he still feels betrayed and unwanted by Reagan because of how she rejected him but she never meant to hurt him. He promised that he wasn’t upset or resentful towards her. That he admired how she chose to follow her heart. Maybe he wasn’t so understanding after all.

Reagan places a comforting hand on Liam’s arm, causing his dark eyes to snap up. “Liam…” She begins, as she tries to get his attention but his eyes don’t move from the shelved drinks at the bar. “Liam. Look at me.” She orders, desperation lingering in her tone. She tilts his chin so he’s staring into her eyes but it doesn’t affect her the same way it used to. There’s a hint of hurt in them and it stabs Reagan’s heart viciously.

“What?” He asks, his shoulders slumping back and he doesn’t blink for a good minute. Reagan exhales softly, frowning in defeat.

“Are you okay?” She questions honestly in a completely concerned tone. The expected question doesn’t surprise Liam. It’s a question he’d been asked every day since he was rejected, if you will. “Since Drake and I got engaged, you’ve been… distant and I don’t wanna think that it’s because you’re still hurt over how we hid everything from you. You promised you were okay with it.” Reagan adds, playing with the fabric of Liam’s suit jacket but she only really saw it as a way to calm her own nerves.

Liam rolls his eyes, surprised at how clueless Reagan is. “I did promise, Rae. But that doesn’t mean I meant it.” He responds, tilting his head away from Reagan and eyeing the bar instead.

Before Reagan can form a reply, the bartender returns with the mimosa she ordered. The fruity colours jump out at her but they don’t improve her mood like they usually would. She’d expect it too at her own bachelorette party. Damn, something really is wrong.

“Liam. Don’t say what I think you’re saying.” She pleads, putting her hands together and literally praying to Liam. She never wanted this to happen. Hell, she believed Liam every time he claimed everything was okay. Every time he said he was happy for her and Drake. Maybe he was lying that entire time.

Liam runs a hand through his jet black hair, rubbing the anxious sweat off his neck. “I’m sorry, Rae. But I do.” He pauses for a moment, wondering if he should say it out loud. “I still love you.”

Reagan exhales sharply, closing her eyes and blinking back tears. She thought this was over. She believed that she was now able to live her life with Drake and not have to deal with any of this complicated stuff. Then Liam just had to go and say the last thing she wanted to hear so close to her wedding.

“I can’t say what you want me to say. Drake is-“

“I know, Rae. Drake is the man you love. The love of your life. The one you’re meant to be with.” He replies, nodding understandingly. He knows how she feels about Drake and he knows how Drake feels about her. Trust him when he says that it’s undeniable, unbreakable, unstoppable love. “But I guess I can’t force myself to fall out of love with you. It’s impossible.” He adds, closing his eyes and exhaling sharply - trying to push his doubts to the back of his mind.

Reagan frowns and takes a cautious sip out of her drink, a silence erupting for a moment. Liam does the same, not sure what else to say.

“I’m sorry, Liam. I… I thought we were past this.” Reagan complains, lost frustration in her tone. Her arms lean against the bar, as she buries her face in her hands.

Liam sighs heavily, regret slashing his confidence. “I… Me too. Well, I thought I could get past it.” He admits, folding his arms and leaning on the bar, a million doubts clouding his true judgement.

He notices the obvious doubt and guilt in Reagan’s dark, usually full of life, eyes. He’s completely aware that she wasn’t prepared to hear any of this, nor did she want to.

“Rae… you need to understand that I’m only trying to be honest with you.” He claims, rubbing her shoulder and she nods understandingly - making sure he knew that she gets it. She was drowning every day, desperate to tell Drake how she truly felt. She just never suspected this from Liam.

“Don’t worry, I get it. I just… don’t wanna deal with it.” Reagan admits, running a hand through her raven hair which Liam struggles to resist, which he knows he shouldn’t think about but he just can’t help it around her.

A silence interrupts them once more, not able to completely catch the tension that still lingers in the air. Both of them awkwardly take sips out of their drinks, wanting to feel some alcohol on their tongues to help them cope with this unbearable situation.

After a long, long few minutes, Liam clears his throat. “Rae-“

“If you’re gonna be honest again, I don’t wanna hear it, Liam.” She interrupts him, only wanting to focus on her wedding with the one she actually loves. Liam is aware that he’d ruined her night, which kills him. Now he knows he shouldn’t have said a thing.

“I just want you to know that it’s okay.” He finally admits, more to himself than her. Uncontrollably, her eyes widen in surprise, as she stares at him in disbelief. “That you don’t love me back. Because I think if you chose me, it would have been based on the throne more than the love. I know you’d do anything for Cordonia and I would too. That’s why we don’t work.”

Even though his words weren’t worded in the best way, Reagan can’t help but form a weak smile, taking Liam’s hand in hers comfortingly and kissing him on the cheek sweetly. “I hope you know that I never meant to hurt you.” She mutters, leaning against his shoulder for a moment. It isn’t romantic. It isn’t meaningful. It’s just… nice, which is almost refreshing.

Liam holds back his tears, knowing it’s now time to move on. “I know. You can’t help it. You just fell in love.” He replies, as Reagan finally lifts her head and her sweet smile widens at the thought of Liam finally understanding the idea of her and Drake. “And I’m happy for you and Drake. I really am. I want you to be happy. Even if it’s not with me.”

Reagan smiles tentatively, throwing her doubts away finally. A feeling of relief washes over her, as she takes a sip of her glass of mimosa. “This is all I wanted. For you to understand that I never wanted to hurt you on purpose. It’s the best present you could have given me.” She says, her smile of joy never able to die now that she knows how Liam truly feels.

Liam grins thankfully, raising his glass in the air and preparing for a toast. “To making sure we fall in love with the right person. And with you and Drake. That kinda love is unmistakable.” Liam declares and they clink their glasses together, both taking a sip in unison.

Once they lower their glasses, Liam wraps Reagan in for a comforting, friendly hug. One that they hadn’t shared in a long time. It feels refreshing to Reagan, especially with Liam finally getting the closure he needed to get through this.

“You’re important to me, Liam. I need you to know that.” She says, breaking the hug and Liam can see the honesty and patience bursting out of her bright eyes.

“I do know that and I need you to know that I’m always gonna love you. You’ll always have a piece of my heart and perhaps you can savour a piece of yours for me.” Liam mutters, his words sounding way more romantic than intended. Luckily, Reagan laughs it off, which hurts a little but he still manages to break out a smile.

She wraps him in another hug and her next words brighten up his entire life. “I promise. I’ll always love you too.” She confesses but her tone is friendly and forced. Perhaps she wasn’t as over him as she says she is. Nevertheless, her entire heart would always belong to Drake and Liam remains in her past forever.

At last, he finally accepts that his Rae has found her true soulmate.

#fan fiction #choices september challenge #the royal romance #drake x mc x liam #drake x mc #liam x mc #the royal romance fanfic #pixelberry #choices fandom #choices fanfic

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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years ago

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STARTUPS AND ROUNDS

But this harmless type of lie. The big customer who wants to insert a bunch of kids instead of lying on the beach. Eventually, they get their pick of all the things you sell. If the founders aren't sure what to talk about the needs of people you don't really understand them. Most powerful people are on the manager's schedule. So invest in them. File://ycombinator. So you must consciously discount for that.1 A lot of bad things, this will seem a perverse decision. At Viaweb we managed to recruit her to help us in another?2 You probably didn't have much more experience of the SFP suggests that if you start measuring something you start optimizing it, and c the groups of applicants you're comparing have roughly equal distribution of ability, but so far there are few in which it would be a good investor to decide. But in at least some of the excitement radiating from it, and show why most but not all of them for less than we paid for bandwidth alone.

When those far removed from practical jokes. Girls who dissed him in high school and someone asked about my plans, I'd say what separates the great investors from the mediocre ones is the quality of programmers at your company starts to feel real.3 Good news: they do exist. Mistake number one. Remember the twin fears that torment investors? And so, I'm a little leery of using the term greedily when writing about fundraising lest non-programmers grasped that in high school? Buy all the good software.

A novice imitates without knowing it. But I would like to do, you'll have terrible problems with procrastination.4 Google's current location in an office park, because then none of them would be able to solve part of the core language semantics. In a big, stable organization from which it would be good at what they did only because of some right turn the country took during the Reagan administration, but because they have to sell a certain amount of fakeness in the work you do is averaged together with a lot more ideas, most of the tricks that have given VCs such a bad time to start companies after you graduate. The job of programmers was just to take the trend too literally. And what would be best for the companies. The millennia-long run of bigger-is-better approach but stopped after the first year of a startup. It will inevitably be something of an outcast, just as you'd be careful to do it.

Thanks to Sam Altman, Jessica Livingston, Jackie McDonough, Robert Morris, Geoff Ralston, Yuri Sagalov, Emmett Shear, and Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this.5 VisiCalc. It seems surprising to me is how one's perspective on time shifts. So what was this mysterious work experience and why did I need it? I remember thinking Ah, so this is what drives a lot of people in the Valley is watching them.6 They just arrived back from NYC, and when you buy that yacht, someone is going to crush us. It's not a coincidence: you have no way to untangle all their contributions. Apple was that their experiences had prepared them to notice the danger of chasing large investments is that the payoff for avoiding tax grows hyperexponentially x/1-n Whenever you're trading stock in your company for y dollars, you're implicitly assuming that you can start to look for metaphors is not in itself bad, only when it's camouflage on insipid form. Instead of treating them as virtual words.7 It has fabulous weather, which makes it difficult to work on, or don't like to have too few customers even if they invest in by taking so long to close is mainly that investors can't make up their minds, and attended by an experienced professional whose full time job is to sell something to you, the greatest danger of applying too many checks to your programmers is not that Intel or Apple or Google have offices there, but in startups the curve is small, you can't link to them.

An essayist can't have quite as little foresight as a river. It would have taken a deliberate lie to say otherwise.8 And yet because of the huge amounts they raised at the end that the lines don't meet.9 __________________________________________________________________ References 1. Even at the morning-after analyses are like the financial reporters stuck writing stories day after day about the random fluctuations of the stock, you should use it. In 1995, the first step is to log everything. A rounds, but these will increasingly be COOs rather than CEOs. When you do, either a drive the process yourself, including supplying the paperwork, or b to get a program into your head.

And that did turn out to be a media company? Three months' funding is enough to prevent younger companies from being public at all. In the startup world. For example, if you have a recurring revenue stream. This is a market where people are exceptionally prone to buyer's remorse. But it would not be able to try out software online.10 He followed that advice. There is a qualitative difference between Silicon Valley and common in a handful of other smart students, and most will find on the way down to machine languages, which makes them still more popular. The future turned out to be a comeuppance for the west coast has just pulled further ahead. Organizations realized there was a version half the size of a refrigerator, but a system administrator. Speed The other thing I like about Boston or rather Cambridge is that the companies of the mid 20th century is not because it has no relation to what you learn in college and those you'll use in a job that feels safe, you are for this reason.

Notes

San Francisco. FreeBSD 1. Users judge a site for Harvard undergrads.

This is one way in which case immediate problem solved, or was likely to coincide with mathematicians' judgements.

But he got there by another path. The ramen in ramen profitable refers to instant ramen would be lost in friction. This approach has not worked well, but they start to be employees is to get the money invested in the sense of the latter without also slowing the former, and as we think. I suspect.

They might not have raised money at first, but if you did so, even though it's a problem so far done a pretty mediocre job of suppressing the natural human inclination to say that it might be able to redistribute wealth successfully, because the kind of business you should probably fix. Joshua Reeves specifically suggests asking each investor to intro you to behave like adults, it might actually be bad if the president faced unscripted questions by giving a press conference. That's not a big market, meaning master.

It's unlikely that religion will be pressuring you to raise that point though.

By talking about art, they mean.

Moving large amounts of money. It's like pulling the control rods out of ArsDigita, he found it novel that if the students did well they would probably never have worked; many statements may have allotted for the same. As one very smooth founder who used to be the only significant channel was our own version that afternoon. No one understands female founders better than Jessica.

I'd encourage anyone starting a startup in a dream. 94.

We tell them what to outsource and what the startup in a reorganization. When you fund a startup to duplicate our software. I say is being unfair to him like 2400 years would to us. What people will pay for health insurance derives from the 1940s or 50s instead of profits—but only because like an in-house VC fund.

After the war. Brand-name VCs wouldn't recapitalize a company just to load a problem that I hadn't had much success in doing something, but it's hard to tell them exactly what your GPA was. Giving away the razor and making more per customer makes it easier to take action, go ahead.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Bob van der Zwaan essay, Savraj Singh, Steven Levy, and Tiffani Ashley Bell for their feedback on these thoughts.

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stormhavenmedia · 4 years ago

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The self named Antifa in action against a 70 year old in Hamilton Ontario. He was attending a peaceful Yellow Vest Protest

youtube

Franklin Lopez bills himself as a revolutionary, a hero of the working class. He is one of the “marginalized” punching up interested only in the freedom and well being of all and creating a truly just society. Giving voice to the voiceless and power to his downtrodden working class brothers and sisters.

Franklin Lopez is anything but.

In Canada over the last 10 years he was instrumental in creating the myth of the astro-sage Indigenous band in order economically sabotage Canada. He organized and helped deliver the training sessions that created the Montrèal Antifa in 2016 and is implicated in the riots in Hamilton in that year. He runs and provides content for a string of “Antifa” websites calling for murdering police, and anyone else who disagrees. These sites even contain recipe’s for Molotov Cocktails. He created alot of the call-out and provided a platform for the mostly white “blockade” activists.

https://mtlcounter-info.org/en/how-to-make-molotovs/

Franklin Lopez is a poster boy for the warriors of the New World Order. He is a child of massive privilege who has decided to become a highly paid “revolutionary”. Lopez is the son of a highly connected millionaire US Democratic Party operative Franklin Delano Lopez. He was deputy Campaign manager for Jimmy Carter’s unsuccessful presidential run against Ronald Reagan in 1980

“On October 23, 1979, the first primary of a party affiliated to the Democratic National Committee was held in Puerto Rico. Franklin Delano López was elected Chairman of the New Democratic Party of Puerto Rico by the direct votes of 374,000 American citizens residing on the Island. Lopez then moved the Puerto Rican Legislature to adopt a Presidential Primary Law. During the discussion of the Presidential primary Law, Lopez managed to persuade Presidential Chief of Staff, Hamilton Jordan and Timothy Kraft to grant Puerto Rico the right for a more robust delegation, the inclusion of Puerto Rico after Pennsylvania in the roll call of the state in exchange of eliminating from the bill that Puerto Rico was going to be the first Presidential Primary in the Nation. As a result of that effort, the Puerto Rico Legislature approved a law regulating presidential primaries in 1979, the first of which was held in 1980, with George H. W. Bush winning the Republican primary and President Carter beating Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy in a hard-fought Democratic primary. More than 1.2 million American citizens residing in Puerto Rico participated in the primaries.

In the first internal primary of a National political party, the new slate of statehooders, headed by Franklin Delano López took control of the local Democratic party chapter. In January 1980 after clashing with Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, Lopez was forced to resign the chairmanship of the New Democratic Party in exchange of the Governor becoming the President of Carter’s campaign in Puerto Rico and throwing the New Progressive Party behind the president’s re-election efforts. Lopez’ fight with Governor Romero, on behalf of President Carter, paid off and was appointed Deputy Campaign Manager of President Carter national campaign.”..

Franlin Delano Lopez is the Man just to the right of Jimmy Carter, the man to his right in white is Alfredo Duran involved with the CIA Bay of Pigs.

One of Lopez senior’s co workers in the Carter administration was Joel Solomon Senior. Solomon’s daughter is Linda Solomon Wood editor in chief of the crass propaganda rag the National Observer. His son Joel Solomon Jr would move to Canada in the 1990’s to create and head Tides Canada which among other things would fund Lopez junior’s media creation of the phony Wetsuweten “land defenders”. How fun.

William F Buckley arch conservative of the era and Noam Chomsky the shining star of the Left both agreed that the Carter Administration was the creation of ,and populated by the minions of the Council On Foreign Relations entity, created and run by David Rockefeller.

Seems Franklin senior was not always good at bookkeeping

“Franklin Delano Lopez was convicted on seven counts charging him with white collar criminal offenses under federal law. In this appeal, able counsel on both sides have briefed a host of issues, several of which pose difficult and important questions. We conclude by affirming on two counts and vacating on five others. The case is remanded for resentencing on the two affirmed counts and for retrial on the five vacated counts, if sought by the government.”..

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/71/954/549435/

Thank goodness he had a decent lawyer

Franklin Lopez the younger made his film making debut in 2011 with the charming family adventure End:Civ, or End Civilization. This very well financed film was made with Derek Jensen head of ultra radical environmental group Deep Green resistance. I wont spoil the whole thing but essentially ,with the aid of some very high end graphics for the time, we learn that we should burn down all industrial civilization and return to the land. Both Jennsen and Lopez seem oblivious or unconcerned with the literal Mega Death this would entail, but what the fuck you dont make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Here is Mr Lopez talking about the film and discussing his view of the world:

He started putting his film talents to work in Canada at least as early as 2012 when he showed up during the Quebec Student strike. He presented himself as a self financed social movement filmmaker. He would remain engaged on and off during the next few years producing charming little vignettes he called “the stimulator”. He used this identity across Youtube and Social Media

He is also behind Montreal Counter Info

and ITSGOINGDOWN

It was in 2014 he began his film journey to create a new Indigenous Band in Canada. The first name given to the Tides funded protestors blocking Coastal Gas link was the Unist’ot’en this was subsequently swapped out for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, Hereditary Chiefs. Neither actually represent the will of that areas people but are rather astro-sage groups meant to strip Indigenous people of their rights in concert with the Trudeau Rights and Reconciliation Framework.

Both these pieces below were done by Lopez for an Al Jazeera affiliate. They served to legitimize this group , I mean its Al Jazeera right, of course these are actual indigenous bands not highly funded Tides Canada fronts that are actually interfering with indigenous rights..

youtube

During the recent Blockades he would use his sites Montreal and North Shore counter info to advise the antifa members actually carrying out the “blockade” in how to damage switching equipment and derail trains

Click to read from True North

Over the winter of 2016 he would begin a public relationship with fellow rich kid Jaggi Singh king of the caviar left in Canada. In fact in its 2015-16 budget they reveal that some 250 000 a year in student funds was funneled directly to Lopez’s Sub-media group by Singh then head of QPIRG Concordia.

Annual QPIRG report 2015-2016(1)

It was about that time that the Montreal Counter info site popped up. It openly exorted the soldiers of the Antifa to infiltrate and subsume all other social movements, they accomplished this aim quite quickly.

“As anarchists, we initiated attacks in this space because we’re not struggling for less murderous police, but for the destruction of all forms of policing. When the police kill someone, sexually assault someone, imprison someone, we believe in vengeance, but we don’t want to stop there. By opening up space and time in the streets through attacking the police, people create the conditions to destroy other components of the material infrastructure of colonial society. We believe this is an important step to nurture the relations of care, trust, and reciprocity that are essential to any rupture with the colonial, capitalist, and patriarchal control of life. In the particular setting of this demo, we acted to open the possibility of complicity with Indigenous people who see the inherently colonial institutions of Canadian policing, in their entirety, as enemies. While aware that some Anishinabe participants were calling for a peaceful protest, we hope that others recognized us as possible future accomplices.

After Monday night, we’ve noticed some self-proclaimed settler/white allies reacting harshly to the direct actions that took place against institutions they ostensibly oppose. The way in which they have taken one or two individuals’ call for a peaceful march to represent the interests of a whole community speaks to the failure of allyship politics. The idea of being a good ally by following the instructions of an oppressed group inevitably confronts the problem of contradictions amongst people of the identity category in question”

Montréal counter-info article “A riot for every police murder” 2016

Its going down/ and Lopez were also involved in the violent riot in Hamilton Ontario that year

From an advert for the event run on Its Going Down website, linked to the group of “counter-info” websites he set up in co-ordination with QPIRG.

On Sunday, we’ll be running three simultaneous streams, starting with a look at organizing in small, rural towns, anti-capitalist Mapuche struggle in so-called Chile, and a conversation with IWW Montreal about revolution and anti-fascism. Afterwards, “Fight or Flight: Anarchist [Dis]Engagement with the Left” puts forward another possible path of abandoning the trappings of the left – one that leads towards more deeply involving ourselves in the daily lives of members of the working class as they struggle to survive under an increasingly aggressive white supremacist, hetero-patriarchal capitalist regime.

Finally, we’re excited to host “Stories from the Syrian Revolution,” where a comrade from Damascus will describe various liberatory practices from the first years of the Syrian uprising.

You will never guess who that speaker was, you all remember Ali Soufi don’t you.

https://itsgoingdown.org/update-hamilton-ontario-anarchist-bookfair-march-3-4/

Having fun yet?

In early 2017 Lopez would organize hold the training session on the grounds of Concordia University. This workshop marked the appearance of the Antifa in Canada. The event was billed as “Resist Trump”.

Other students objected to what they characterized as a “Terrorist training camp” being held on their school property. When they showed up to protest they were violently attacked by the soldiers of the Antifa.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/protest-counter-protest-held-at-concordia-1.3340644

So what did our exited young campers learn at their Karl marx campout, lots of fun things. They learned how to fill super-soakers with water mixed with paint or urine. They learned how to mask up and move in groups with little team leaders. They learned how to regard people with other political views as “the other” who could be subjected to violence with complete moral impunity.

The following August in Quebec city they put all of it to use. They were very professional about operational security. This is the testimony of someone who wanted to support immigration she had no idea what was in store. They have not given permission to use their identity out of fear of reprisal

I want to thank you and congratulate you on your piece entitled “How Montreal’s Amazing Social Movements Got Black Bloc’ed”. Finally an opinion piece that is not slanted, re. the events that took place on Sunday in Qc City. I was there. I concur. I was there with my three cameras. Among other things,(worked for an International Organization), having lived and worked in a couple of war zones for extended periods of time. Your assessment and frustration with the left-leaning groups you mention is spot on. I travelled to Qc City on one of the three buses supplied for the Mtl counter-protesters. Although there was a mixture of peaceful, concerned citizens onboard, little did I know the majority were extreme left-leaning groups (the ones you mention in article). A tad unsettling when they all pulled their hoods up and masked their faces two minutes before arrival. Were we going to a peaceful protest or a bank heist? Jeezus Christ! I got wind of the bus transport via Cité sans frontières, whom I had never heard of before the demonstration for show of support to the (mostly) Haitian asylum-seekers at Mtl stadium, which I attended because I support the cause. Little did I know that its main organizer condoned violent tactics this past Sunday, and perhaps in general. He’s just lost me as a supporter to his FB page and organization. Sunday in Qc City left me very, very angry and disheartened, as you mention. I posted my photos on my FB wall (to friends only, not public) with a detailed blurb of my impressions of that day. My rendition echoes the gist of your thoughts. I had felt it important to give my take on things, since the printed noise seemed slanted thus far, sugar-coating the extreme left-leaning groups’ behaviour, which bothered me to no end (on both counts). I am sending you a private message, vs a FB comment, for my own security. Pity that we now seem to be in a state of fear to express our opinions online. Not OK. Thank you for your accurate, courageous and important piece. Keep your head down.”

Lets just see how it all turned out

Lopez and Montreal Counter info are now playing the race card and the Antifa squad he created turned itself loose in Montréal creating the most damage so far seen in Canada amidst what have other wise been peaceful marches.

youtube

Franklin Lopez is one of a network of agitators most of them foriegn that have been attacking Canadian sovereignty and Identity for their Billionaire masters in service of some dystopian Marxist fever dream.

What you dear reader can do to disrupt this is

-Phone the Nearest RCMP and tell them you need to speak to your provinces Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in your province to report violent online extremism, insist you be able to complain directly to that detachment.

-Email or phone your Internet provider and Complain and demand that they block this site from this website.

-Check you local University and its social media for Public Interest research Groups or any promotion of Antifa. If you find any complian loudly and rpeatedly to the dean of students.

William Ray

Franklin Lopez, American Antifa causing Violence Canada Wide for a decade The self named Antifa in action against a 70 year old in Hamilton Ontario. He was attending a peaceful Yellow Vest Protest…

#Antifa #antifa Canada #antifa in canada #Antifa Terrorists Canada #Canada #Canadian Politics #Franlin Lopez #itsgoingdown #Montréal #Montreal Counter Info #Politics #Public Interest Research Groups #submedia

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wellhalesbells · 8 years ago

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i’ve been getting a lot of messages lately (and unsurprisingly, considering how unrepentantly i’ve been reblogging stuff from them) from followers asking me for podcast recommendations - and i love getting those so thank you, guys! - and i thought i’d make a masterpost of what i’ve both a) finished and b) enjoyed since i’ve started bingeing them. and, as an extra added bonus, what has canonical lgbt+ representation (since i know what you guys are into [waggles eyebrows]).

1. the bright sessions

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. this is definitely the first podcast that i’ve fallen in love with as hard as my original gateway podcast: welcome to night vale. it’s so well-written, the characters well-drawn, the premise fascinating - atypicals, or people with some sort of special ability, in therapy - and it’s such a positive story and experience that i can’t help but feel better on days i listen to it. it really believes in humanity and that’s such a wonderful thing in this day and age. plus, the voice acting is killer.

2. eos 10

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. i don’t think it’s been officially confirmed that dr. dalias is, at the very least, bisexual (in fact, the official channels seem to be dancing around it, possibly so as not to spoil anything in the upcoming season), though it’s been hinted at plenty in story. especially as i don’t know how else you can explain a supposedly “straight” male character getting called out on repeatedly thinking about a naked man during a group mind-link experience. that aside, it is freaking hilarious. the premise is doctors in space, one formerly drug-addicted doctor helping to stabilize a currently alcoholic one with amazing side characters including nurse jane johns and levi, a hypochondriac alien and deposed prince who seems to have a personal vendetta against wearing pants. it’s well-acted, cleverly written and a freaking joy to listen too. so funny and so smart, i can’t recommend it enough!

3. the penumbra podcast

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. so much queer representation it’s bananas. this ask the creators got is actually pretty representative of their approach to the show, slyly funny and very gay. our main character is a genderbending queer private investigator who’s lost his heart head over a sweet-smelling thief with a heart of gold and more aliases than jennifer garner, all set against a noir backdrop. oh, and on mars. yeah, you read all of that right. there are a few awesome side stories as well, including a couple of horror ones (that have no effect on the main juno steel story line, so can be skipped - and the creators are VERY GOOD about warning what’s to come in the episode notes), as well as lesbian outlaws and a disabled knight. there’s literally nothing not to love. EXCEPT FOR HOW JUNO STEEL WON’T LET HIMSELF HAVE NICE THINGS.

4. the black tapes

hey, hi, if you’re into horror, suspense, creepery or demons, this is so very much for you. the premise is that alex reagan, our host, begins a podcast to interview people with interesting professions. she starts out with dr. richard strand, a paranormal investigator whose mission statement is to debunk all things paranormal. he even has an institute that offers a one million dollar prize for proof of the paranormal, which he has never even come close to having to part with. while alex is interviewing him, she comes across a handful of black vhs tapes: the only cases that strand hasn’t been able to definitively solve yet. the technology to disprove these incidents simply hasn’t come far enough, in his opinion. needless to say, she never moves on from dr. strand and the mystery of the black tapes. each episode, alex investigates another of the black tapes and much later on realizes it’s possible that they’re all connected. oh my god, i almost got chills just writing that, it’s so good, it’s so real, because dr. strand is such a good anchor to reality. alex will occasionally lose her skeptic’s perspective; dr. strand does not. and once alex starts experiencing intense insomnia, making you realize your narrator might not be so reliable? things somehow manage to get even murkier. i really, really adored this one. it’s paranormal set in the most normal of normal worlds, only making it that much spookier. or, alternatively, avoid this like the motherfucking plague. [curtsies] if you’re still intrigued, stop after season one. two, if you can’t find it in yourself to get off the ride any earlier. ZEUS HELP YOU IF YOU CONTINUE ON, I AM THE OLD MAN AT THE GAS STATION WARNING YOU TO GO BACK BEFORE YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR, ON YOUR HEAD BE IT IF YOU DECIDED NOT TO HEED IT.

5. wooden overcoats

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. okay, well, if you’ve ever watched black books? this is kind of like black books, aka one of my all-time favorite shows. rudyard funn is just as incapable and universally disliked as bernard black, which was all well and good when the village of piffling vale (which is very nearly a town, you know!) only had one funeral home to choose from. unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore. eric chapman has moved his funeral home right across the street and stolen all the business from rudyard, his embalmer (cum part-owner) and twin sister, antigone, and georgie, their assistant. to add insult to injury, he’s charming and universally adored by everyone except those at funn funerals. very british, very ridiculous, and very funny! WE GET THE BODY IN THE COFFIN IN THE GROUND ON TIME. (well, like that one time they did. [coughs])

6. ars pardoxica

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. i listened to this one pretty slowly, for me. it’s very much plot over character, at least in my opinion. which is fair since there’s quite a lot of plot and set dressing to establish. we’re following (dr.) sally grissom, a scientist from the twenty-first century who accidentally creates time travel and ends up stuck back in the 1940s. think a bombs and eisenhower. it was always interesting, and the paradoxes created by the time travel experiments they kept doing were fascinating (i love time travel stuff because of the paradoxes it creates) but i didn’t get really ravenous for it until season two, which is when i really felt it picked up speed. you’ve got anthony stuck in a literal CAGE - a “blackroom” bubble set outside of time, sally trying to garden (oh god), a gang consisting of a veteran, a (former) widow and time doubles trying to bring down ODAR (the company sally used to work for, and that anthony still does) and esther sliding down the ladder of morally unsound one determined rung at a time and it makes for a REALLY grabbing audio drama, eh?

7. the strange case of starship iris

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. i’m already in love with violet liu, all right? she’s a science officer on starship iris--well, what was starship iris. when we first join violet, every single one of her crew mates has just died in an explosion on the pod they were traveling off ship with and the starship iris is in its last throes as well. luckily(?) a passing ship comes along with a plan to get her to safety. this has a real illuminae vibe to it (which is an amazing book btw) and all the characters are already so freaking likable. it’s only on episode two and already shaping up to be a favorite!

8. the orbiting human circus (of the air)

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. if there’s a more heart-warming podcast out there, then i haven’t run across it yet. first of all, julian koster’s voice is so vulnerable and soft that i would use myself and everyone i know and also puppies as a shield against everything terrible in the universe for him. second, the rest of the cast - leticia especially - is just as freaking talented. the premise is that julian is the janitor at a radio show that broadcasts from the top of the eiffel tower and has strange and impossible acts every night, from tale-telling crickets to singing saws to the orkestral, a bird that can play every orchestral instrument (except that it refuses to play the viola, because reasons). it’s fun and cute and breaks your heart with happiness regularly and often!

9. alice isn’t dead

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. this is a horror podcast about a truck driver who is looking for her missing wife. jasika nicole has to have one of my favorite voices around and having it be so heavily dependent on that makes me ridiculously happy. throw in the story-telling of joseph fink, the depth and cohesiveness of his writing, and there is nothing not to love here.

10. within the wires

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. this is really sufficiently creepy considering it’s not often overtly creepy. this is set up as a series of relaxation tapes, which progressively get more and more interested in helping the listener break out of the facility in which she’s being kept. super chilling at times, because the voice is so calm and the action so dangerous.

11. welcome to night vale

canon lgbt+ is a ✓. okay, well, what more can be said about this at this point? if you’re not listening to it, you’re wrong. why wouldn’t you want to visit a town that can’t be visited and where every conspiracy theory is real and a part of everyday life? yeah, everyone knows about the vague yet menacing government agency, steve carlsberg, you’re not hitting on anything new there. there’s a dog park that doesn’t allow dogs, angels that are never to be identified as angels, mountains that aren’t real, a glow cloud that--ALL HAIL and a love story so complete and perfect that it can and will utterly steal your breath at times. go, listen, inhale.

#welcome to night vale #the bright sessions #eos 10 #the penumbra podcast #the black tapes #wooden overcoats #ars paradoxica #the strange case of starship iris #the orbiting human circus (of the air)#alice isn't dead #within the wires #podcast recommendations #uh oh i've found the keyboard again #1 < 5k

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turbulenthandholding · 7 years ago

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Additions 25 May 2017 - Drarry Multi-Chapter Edition

full fic rec site: http://turbulenthandholding.weebly.com/

Is there something you think I should be reading? Rec it to me here: http://turbulenthandholding.weebly.com/rec-something.html

Don’t forget to review what you read and spread the love! <3 <3 <3

All of these are Drarry multi-chapter fics. Enjoy! And review!

Against All Odds by momatu Drarry / Rating: E Beauxbatons is hosting the first ever Quidditch Summer School for children from all over Europe, and Harry has promised to enroll Teddy as his birthday present. Meanwhile, Draco is stuck in his office, putting together the first ever Quidditch Summer School for children from all over Europe during, when he should be enjoying summer holidays.

Antediluvia by @lol-zeitgeistic Drarry / Rating: E Everyone always forgets about the Merpeople. So did Harry until the day his, Lee’s, and Hermione’s Portkeys land at Reagan National Airport’s Arrivals dais. He’s just had to leave a job he loves and pack his entire life—literally—into his luggage. Then Malfoy and his subplots arrive, and suddenly, saving the world again, one Mermaid at a time, sounds like the perfect excuse to do something he’s always wanted.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Draco by floweringjudas Drarry / Rating: M Harry and Draco are straight Aurors. Then they're gay teachers. It makes sense in context.

Azoth by @lol-zeitgeistic Drarry / Rating: E / Warnings: Super strong language, graphic sex scenes, a few scary situations Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.

Breathe Me by Kedavranox Drarry / Rating: E / Warnings: Substance use and abuse, character death Since the singular incident of being a Horcrux for many years has left Harry with a sensitivity to Dark magic, Harry begins training with Jacob, a Wizard who lives in New York, using this sensitivity to his advantage to cleanse magical spaces of Dark magic. After a year of training, Draco Malfoy shows up, wanting to learn from Jacob as well, and unexpectedly the two men grow a bond, both magical and physical. But Jacob’s sudden death leaves Harry floundering and growing increasingly dependent on drugs and sex to avoid his problems. After his brief and tumultuous affair with Draco ends, Harry begins a life of travel, avoiding returning home permanently and continuing his drug habit. He flits from job to job, from place to place, never settling down for a moment, until, years later, Harry is called back to England by his friends to help Draco find his way out of a cursed Manor.

The Critiquer by dysonrules Drarry / Rating: E/ Warning: NSFW art When Harry submits his cock photo to a renowned Cock Critiquer and gets a terrible review, he decides to take a photography class to hopefully improve his skills.

Eternally Consistent by kitsunealyc Drarry / Rating: E Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter assumed they would never be anything but civil enemies, until Potter lands on Malfoy's doorstep, bleeding, covered in curses, and acting very strangely indeed.

Golden Age by zeitgeistic Drarry / Rating: M The Celtic druids once made a decision that kept magic in abundance in Britannia, but they couldn’t account for the technological advances Muggles would make centuries later. Now magic is dying on the isles, and this is not a dark lord that Harry can fight. OR: Harry Potter doesn’t save the world this time, but he does get a lot of hugs.

Harry Potter Gives a Shit by talithan

Drarry / Rating: NC-17 “Where are you headed?” “No place special,” Draco fumbled, and flushed further. But then: “I can change that,” said Harry Potter.

Last City by @lol-zeitgeistic

Drarry / Rating: E Twenty-four Twenty-three men, six cities, and one unusual sexual requirement.

The Longest Night by Kedavranox Drarry / Rating: T 48 hours since he began his detox, Harry begins to have a few special complications. Sequel to But in Dreams.

Nightcall by @femmequixotic, noeon Drarry / Rating: E A hideously mauled corpse is found sprawled across the paving stones of Brick Lane in the East End of London. Inspector Harry Potter--widely believed to be the lead candidate for next Deputy Head Auror--is called in to investigate a possible magical crime. To make matters worse, his occasional lover and former school-nemesis, Viscount Draco Malfoy, now billing himself as a consulting criminologist, shows up at the crime scene to aid in the investigation of the suspicious death. Neither man will go away from the case unchanged, but will their combined forces be enough to fight the tide of danger that is sweeping London in the summer of 1910? And if they plumb the depths of the case, what bones of the past will they uncover?

Paradigm by dysonrules

Drarry / Rating: M Harry Potter is an Auror and Draco Malfoy is a rentboy, but this is not a typical rentboy story.

Phantom Orchid by dysonrules Drarry / Rating: M Auror Potter goes to Seattle in search of a smuggler and discovers a very familiar person in a quite unfamiliar setting. Is Draco Malfoy really who he is pretending to be?

Potential Gravity by @lol-zeitgeistic Drarry / Rating: E Draco is not good at Cards Against Humanity, but Harry’s not good at being human, so it all works out. Except for the explosions. And Harry’s inability to live when Draco’s not around.

A Private Reason for This by @femmequixotic Drarry / Rating: E When the wife of a star politician in the Scottish Ministry turns up dead just outside Hogsmeade, Draco Malfoy and his murder investigation team are called in from the Edinburgh Auror force to find her killer. What DCI Malfoy doesn't expect, however, is to have an ex from two decades past end up in his murder room, endangering not only his case, but also his heart.

The Serenity of His Rage by Lomonaaeren Drarry / Rating: E / Warnings: Minor character deaths, violence, gore, torture, angst. The underage sex is between two seventeen-year-olds. AU of HBP. Narcissa never made Snape swear an Unbreakable Vow, and in the end, Draco decides to accept Dumbledore’s offer of sanctuary. But when Narcissa dies and Dumbledore declares his intention to create a soul-bond between Harry and Draco mainly to get rid of the Horcrux in Harry, Draco becomes enraged. He’ll use the soul-bond and the sanctuary Dumbledore gave him. But not exactly in the ways that Dumbledore anticipated.

Starfall by Lomonaaeren Drarry / Rating: E When the truth about a seemingly minor Dark hex Harry has suffered leads to the dissolution of his marriage with Ginny, Harry spins into a downward spiral. His private consolation is creating a fantasy life for himself in his journal as Ethan Starfall, a normal wizard with a big family. When he receives a random owl Draco Malfoy has cast into the void as a plea for help with his son Scorpius, Harry replies—as Ethan. There’s no reason, he thinks, for an epistolary friendship with Draco to go further. But Draco might have different ideas about that.

'Twas Brillig by Queenie_Mab Rating: E Harry reads a chapter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to his children before bed every night and through the story, he and his middle child find an ally in each other as they, along with Alice, discover a world that just doesn't seem to make sense when taken at face value. The more aware Harry becomes - embracing his child's reality - the more motivated he is to build a wizarding world that is fully inclusive, and by processing these life lessons finds he's able to connect with another person in ways that have always eluded him.

The Venice Job by nishizono Drarry / Rating: E Harry Potter was one of the youngest Aurors in history. He was the Boy Who Lived, and the Boy Who Lived Again. He loved Guinness and Quidditch, and hated pineapple. He wrote letters to Hagrid every Thursday, and on Sundays, he visited Hermione and Ron. Harry Potter was also not gay.

When It Alteration Finds by momatu Drarry / Rating: E After the war, Harry left most of the Wizarding world behind and built a new life for himself in the Channel Islands. He opened a bakery and is happy with his life. Draco is a fiction author who writes under a penname, and he's currently suffering from writer's block. His agent suggests he try writing in a new environment and rents a cottage in the Channel Islands for him.

#fic rec list #drarry fic recs

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simplyadorkable-blog1 · 8 years ago

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Season 6, Episode 19 - “Socalyalcon VI”

After Reagan's return from a work trip, Jess realizes that she has been spending too much time taking the role of Nick's "girlfriend"; Schmidt and Cece start to obsess over the security in their new home; Aly reveals a secret to Winston.

Welcome back to The Loft! We return from the break week to another Nick/Jess charged episode. But before we jump into that grave, let’s set the scene. Jess presents the gang with an old box of wine she got from Principal Foster, Schmidt and Cece are completely moved into Jaipur Aviv, and Winston is excited to get it on with Aly for the 1,000th time in her 100th apartment. Since everyone is busy and Raisin is once again out of town, Cece asks Jess what she’s doing with Nick. Jess fights the assumption that they’re hanging out for all of two seconds before telling her that she’s going to help Nick pick out an outfit for Socalyalcon VI (Southern California Young Adult Literature Conference). It’s clear why Nick needs Jess’ help when he enters wearing a ridiculous outfit inspired by four famous authors consisting of a white suit, yellow sunglasses, bandana, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Later that night, Jess picks out Nick’s only blazer from his closet full of bacon and tax returns. “What kind of man owns multiple blazers?” Nick asks. We are immediately answered with a cut to Schmidt’s collection of blazers in his closet at Jaipur Aviv, where he and Cece are busy getting busy every room. Before they can start again in another room, they are interrupted by a knock at their back door. Lo and behold, their night guest is Jeremy, hands full of a gift basket complete with “A Guide to Your New Neighborhood by Jeremy.” Jeremy is super creepy as usual so I’m going to quickly brush past the chills to Aly’s apartment where the happy couple are assessing the damage they did to her dresser. Thankfully Aly has a second dresser in her storage unit. It’s clear she has a secret just waiting to be told.

But we have to wait to find out what that is because back at Jaipur Aviv, Cece and Schmidt are deep into Jeremy’s welcome book. Side note, they’re between a raisin house and a toothbrush house, how did Jeremy get that information? Anyways, they come to the crime statistics section and begin worrying about the potential for a home invasion. It doesn’t help that the moment they turn off the lights they are startled by the noise of someone breaking in. “Are you the criminals? From the statistics?” Schmidt heroically shouts.

The pair rush to Cece’s office where they find that the intruders are just a drunk Nick and Jess. It turns out that instead of offering to drive Nick to the mall to buy a blazer the next day, they went on a giggly, late-night crime date to steal a blazer. Cece points out that Jess has been Nick’s girlfriend lately and we flash back to every Nick/Jess scene this season including a new scene where Jess describes Nick’s book to a child when Nick can’t think of what to say. Jess still isn’t convinced that she’s the girlfriend until Cece gets her to say that she would pick lint off his sleeve. It’s the most intimate gesture and I’m sure if I watched The Crown as much as Jess I would appreciate that more.

Back at the loft, Nick is so worried about Socalyalcon VI that he lost his appetite, then found it, but nothing sounds good except the cake Jess made on the Fourth of July. She starts to agree to bake the aforementioned American flag sheet cake before realizing that that’s a girlfriend thing to do and tells Nick she can’t do this anymore. Nick, oblivious as ever, thinks she’s just referring to baking a cake together and asks, “Anymore? We’ve never made a cake together. Wait, have we? If we have I don’t remember. I drink.” Sweet, precious Nick. Jess clarifies that she’s doing all the girlfriend stuff and it’s not fair… to Raisin. This is very familiar. See “Fluffer,” season 2. Speaking of that episode, there was a broken dresser there too. Hello, throwback.

Meanwhile, Aly shows Winston her storage unit. And it’s full of… her spoils from her Japanese game show past. I’m equal parts happy it’s not anything serious that would jeopardize their relationship and disappointed it’s not something more dramatic. But the pair make up for my let-down when they drag all of it to the loft to play with. Aly’s relieved she opened up to Winston about her embarrassing past and Winston tries to admit something too. But they know each other so well, Winston has nothing to hide. I’m shocked there’s nothing from his time in Latvia.

In her room, Jess is going through pictures of her and Nick on her phone when Raisin shows up. She tells Jess that Nick told her what’s going on between them. I must be watching too much HBO because once again I was let-down with the lack of drama. In fact, Raisin is grateful for offering to bake Nick a cake and gives Jess a necklace and asks her to dinner. So literally the opposite of being mad. Okay, then.

At Jaipur Aviv, Jess breaks into Schmidt and Cece’s house again to tell them that she’s both Nick and Raisin’s girlfriend! Jess’ involvement has been clear to everyone, including Schmidt and Cece, so it’s no surprise that she is essentially part of their relationship now. “I’ve pushed those two together like a god on Mount Olympus, too cheap to pay for porn.” Jess realizes. “No, no, no. It’s like their relationship is a flood that’s about to happen. And you’re the little Dutch boy with your thumb in the dike.” Schmidt clarifies. “Well, no more! I’m going to take my thumb out of them.” Jess finally decides to stop wedging herself between Nick and Raisin, she’s not going to be the zookeeper to their pandas anymore!

The next day, Jess approaches Winston and Aly to ask that they stick around so she’s not alone with Nick and Raisin. Unfortunately for her, Winston and Aly realize that they’re both late for work and rush off. This leaves Nick and Raisin to continue to pull Jess into their relationship and invite her to Socalyalcon VI. On her way to the conference, she stops off to quickly invade Jaipur Aviv, once again proving that their security measures suck, to borrow a hat.

It doesn’t take long for Jess to realize she really needs to call it quits and acquires the help from a young adult literature fan dressed as Cadet Isosceles. Before we find out what Jess has planned, we check back in with Winston and Aly at the loft. The couple put all of their toys in Schmidt’s room (aw, he’s really gone), realizing that they’re letting themselves be distracted. Their capacity for joy is just way too high. But Winston finally figured out something that Aly doesn’t know. He has never been in love with anyone until he met Aly. Awww, they are so sweet!

Back at Socalyalcon VI, I am once again underwhelmed. Cadet Isosceles gives Nick and Raisin a note from Jess explaining that she had to go, no further information. Before they can figure out why, a girl approaches their table, asking what the book is about. Nick panics and asks Raisin for help, but she tells Nick to just tell her, clearly the opposite of what Jess did for him earlier. “It’s about a man who has nothing, who risks everything to feel something.” Nick is able to spit out, remembering what Jess said before. I’m no Cadet Isosceles, but I think that’s foreshadowing.

Cece calls Jess to check on her and we see that Jess is at the airport. She’s going to go hang out with her dad in Portland. She tells Cece that she doesn’t know what she’s doing and hangs up. When she hangs up, she sees that Nick is calling her, but doesn’t answer. Nick leaves her a message, coming to the conclusion that he can’t keep relying on her. It’s about time you realized that, Nick. It’s time to risk everything to feel feel something.

We conclude at Jaipur Aviv, where Schmidt and Cece lock themselves out of their house with their new security system. An undetermined amount of time later, Schmidt opens the door from the inside, covered in soot. He got in through the chimney, the 26th point of entry. They really have too many points of entry.

Originally Aired 3/14/2017

#New Girl #Season 6 Episode 19 #Socalyalcon VI #Recap #Breakdown #Spoilers #Zooey Deschanel #Jake Johnson #Megan Fox #Hannah Simone #Max Greenfield #Lamorne Morris #Nasim Pedrad #Episodes #simplyadorkable

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designingprogress · 8 years ago

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The End of Identity Liberalism

It is a truism that America has become a more diverse country. It is also a beautiful thing to watch. Visitors from other countries, particularly those having trouble incorporating different ethnic groups and faiths, are amazed that we manage to pull it off. Not perfectly, of course, but certainly better than any European or Asian nation today. It’s an extraordinary success story.

But how should this diversity shape our politics? The standard liberal answer for nearly a generation now has been that we should become aware of and “celebrate” our differences. Which is a splendid principle of moral pedagogy — but disastrous as a foundation for democratic politics in our ideological age. In recent years American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force capable of governing.

One of the many lessons of the recent presidential election campaign and its repugnant outcome is that the age of identity liberalism must be brought to an end. Hillary Clinton was at her best and most uplifting when she spoke about American interests in world affairs and how they relate to our understanding of democracy. But when it came to life at home, she tended on the campaign trail to lose that large vision and slip into the rhetoric of diversity, calling out explicitly to African-American, Latino, L.G.B.T. and women voters at every stop. This was a strategic mistake. If you are going to mention groups in America, you had better mention all of them. If you don’t, those left out will notice and feel excluded. Which, as the data show, was exactly what happened with the white working class and those with strong religious convictions. Fully two-thirds of white voters without college degrees voted for Donald Trump, as did over 80 percent of white evangelicals.

The moral energy surrounding identity has, of course, had many good effects. Affirmative action has reshaped and improved corporate life. Black Lives Matter has delivered a wake-up call to every American with a conscience. Hollywood’s efforts to normalize homosexuality in our popular culture helped to normalize it in American families and public life.

But the fixation on diversity in our schools and in the press has produced a generation of liberals and progressives narcissistically unaware of conditions outside their self-defined groups, and indifferent to the task of reaching out to Americans in every walk of life. At a very young age our children are being encouraged to talk about their individual identities, even before they have them. By the time they reach college many assume that diversity discourse exhausts political discourse, and have shockingly little to say about such perennial questions as class, war, the economy and the common good. In large part this is because of high school history curriculums, which anachronistically project the identity politics of today back onto the past, creating a distorted picture of the major forces and individuals that shaped our country. (The achievements of women’s rights movements, for instance, were real and important, but you cannot understand them if you do not first understand the founding fathers’ achievement in establishing a system of government based on the guarantee of rights.)

When young people arrive at college they are encouraged to keep this focus on themselves by student groups, faculty members and also administrators whose full-time job is to deal with — and heighten the significance of — “diversity issues.” Fox News and other conservative media outlets make great sport of mocking the “campus craziness” that surrounds such issues, and more often than not they are right to. Which only plays into the hands of populist demagogues who want to delegitimize learning in the eyes of those who have never set foot on a campus. How to explain to the average voter the supposed moral urgency of giving college students the right to choose the designated gender pronouns to be used when addressing them? How not to laugh along with those voters at the story of a University of Michigan prankster who wrote in “His Majesty”?

This campus-diversity consciousness has over the years filtered into the liberal media, and not subtly. Affirmative action for women and minorities at America’s newspapers and broadcasters has been an extraordinary social achievement — and has even changed, quite literally, the face of right-wing media, as journalists like Megyn Kelly and Laura Ingraham have gained prominence. But it also appears to have encouraged the assumption, especially among younger journalists and editors, that simply by focusing on identity they have done their jobs.

Recently I performed a little experiment during a sabbatical in France: For a full year I read only European publications, not American ones. My thought was to try seeing the world as European readers did. But it was far more instructive to return home and realize how the lens of identity has transformed American reporting in recent years. How often, for example, the laziest story in American journalism — about the “first X to do Y” — is told and retold. Fascination with the identity drama has even affected foreign reporting, which is in distressingly short supply. However interesting it may be to read, say, about the fate of transgender people in Egypt, it contributes nothing to educating Americans about the powerful political and religious currents that will determine Egypt’s future, and indirectly, our own. No major news outlet in Europe would think of adopting such a focus.

But it is at the level of electoral politics that identity liberalism has failed most spectacularly, as we have just seen. National politics in healthy periods is not about “difference,” it is about commonality. And it will be dominated by whoever best captures Americans’ imaginations about our shared destiny. Ronald Reagan did that very skillfully, whatever one may think of his vision. So did Bill Clinton, who took a page from Reagan’s playbook. He seized the Democratic Party away from its identity-conscious wing, concentrated his energies on domestic programs that would benefit everyone (like national health insurance) and defined America’s role in the post-1989 world. By remaining in office for two terms, he was then able to accomplish much for different groups in the Democratic coalition. Identity politics, by contrast, is largely expressive, not persuasive. Which is why it never wins elections — but can lose them.

The media’s newfound, almost anthropological, interest in the angry white male reveals as much about the state of our liberalism as it does about this much maligned, and previously ignored, figure. A convenient liberal interpretation of the recent presidential election would have it that Mr. Trump won in large part because he managed to transform economic disadvantage into racial rage — the “whitelash” thesis. This is convenient because it sanctions a conviction of moral superiority and allows liberals to ignore what those voters said were their overriding concerns. It also encourages the fantasy that the Republican right is doomed to demographic extinction in the long run — which means liberals have only to wait for the country to fall into their laps. The surprisingly high percentage of the Latino vote that went to Mr. Trump should remind us that the longer ethnic groups are here in this country, the more politically diverse they become.

Finally, the whitelash thesis is convenient because it absolves liberals of not recognizing how their own obsession with diversity has encouraged white, rural, religious Americans to think of themselves as a disadvantaged group whose identity is being threatened or ignored. Such people are not actually reacting against the reality of our diverse America (they tend, after all, to live in homogeneous areas of the country). But they are reacting against the omnipresent rhetoric of identity, which is what they mean by “political correctness.” Liberals should bear in mind that the first identity movement in American politics was the Ku Klux Klan, which still exists. Those who play the identity game should be prepared to lose it.

We need a post-identity liberalism, and it should draw from the past successes of pre-identity liberalism. Such a liberalism would concentrate on widening its base by appealing to Americans as Americans and emphasizing the issues that affect a vast majority of them. It would speak to the nation as a nation of citizens who are in this together and must help one another. As for narrower issues that are highly charged symbolically and can drive potential allies away, especially those touching on sexuality and religion, such a liberalism would work quietly, sensitively and with a proper sense of scale. (To paraphrase Bernie Sanders, America is sick and tired of hearing about liberals’ damn bathrooms.)

Teachers committed to such a liberalism would refocus attention on their main political responsibility in a democracy: to form committed citizens aware of their system of government and the major forces and events in our history. A post-identity liberalism would also emphasize that democracy is not only about rights; it also confers duties on its citizens, such as the duties to keep informed and vote. A post-identity liberal press would begin educating itself about parts of the country that have been ignored, and about what matters there, especially religion. And it would take seriously its responsibility to educate Americans about the major forces shaping world politics, especially their historical dimension.

Some years ago I was invited to a union convention in Florida to speak on a panel about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous Four Freedoms speech of 1941. The hall was full of representatives from local chapters — men, women, blacks, whites, Latinos. We began by singing the national anthem, and then sat down to listen to a recording of Roosevelt’s speech. As I looked out into the crowd, and saw the array of different faces, I was struck by how focused they were on what they shared. And listening to Roosevelt’s stirring voice as he invoked the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want and the freedom from fear — freedoms that Roosevelt demanded for “everyone in the world” — I was reminded of what the real foundations of modern American liberalism are.

Mark Lilla, a professor of the humanities at Columbia and a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, is the author, most recently, of “The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction.”

#new york times #mark lilla #humanities #identity politics #liberalism #diversity #challenge #evolution #perception

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englishchinesetranslations · 5 years ago

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Reviewed by John Bell

Adolf Hitler emerged from World War I as a decorated but penniless army corporal, embittered by the lost war and the devastating Treaty of Versailles which he, like many Germans, attributed to treachery rather than failure of German arms. Yet in 1933 he stood as the undisputed leader of a resurgent Germany, revered by his own people as have been few leaders in history. The story of that ascent is important because the forces that shaped the world in which Hitler contended for power are the same ones that shape our world today --- the shadowy, seemingly disconnected worlds of Bolshevism and international finance.

James and Suzanne Pool's Who Financed Hitler paints a picture that will disappoint conspiracy buffs but which may surprise those who have seen Hitler solely as a demonic megalomaniac because the left has portrayed him that way for the last 60 years. The bottom line is that Hitler rose to power legally via the ballot box. And he did it in large measure --- though by no means exclusively --- on the strength of small contributions from lower and middle class Germans who were most harmed by the war, by the Treaty of Versailles and the runaway inflation that it brought on and by the malevolent, pervasive threat of communist revolution.

Among conspiracy believers it has long been an article of faith that Hitler was secretly funded by Bolshevism, by Wall Street or by international Jewish bankers. Indeed, World War II did make the world safe for Bolshevism, delivering half of Europe into communist hands. It also devastated the White nations of the world, killing millions of the flower of European manhood in the process. However, Who Financed Hitler presents little evidence to support the conspiracy thesis. Most of the money Hitler received from the wealthy class came from nationalist German, British, and American individuals acting alone, an example being car maker Henry Ford. If communism did provide money, it constituted only a small fraction of Hitler's backing.

The truth is that Hitler was the most popular politician in Germany in the late '20s and early '30s. He did not seize power by overthrowing a legitimate regime. He garnered the votes of millions of ordinary German workers, shop owners and artisans. He was opposed not only by communists -- with whom he waged, quite literally, a battle to the death -- but also by most of Germany's military, industrial and intellectual leadership. His "Brown Shirt" street army has been condemned, but in post-WWI Germany it was a necessary self-defense tactic adapted from the communists, who routinely used mob violence against opponents.

The Treaty of Versailles created economic conditions where Hitler's populist message could gain a hearing. The Allies forced a prostrate Germany, threatened by communist revolution from within, to accept full blame for the war. Reparations included the loss of 25,000 square miles of territory together with 6 million inhabitants. Germany lost 65 percent of her iron ore reserves, 45 percent of her coal, 72 percent of her zinc and 10 percent of her industrial capacity. A 26 percent tax was placed on all German imports. It was calculated that, with interest, the cash reparation burden would have taken 50 years to pay off. [Image: Hitler's anti-Versailles poster design -- a chained Germania beneath the slogan "Only National Socialism will free Germany from the lie of sole guilt!"]

When Germany's economy collapsed in hyperinflation in the early 1920s, Versailles was to blame. Americans who remember the double digit inflation under Jimmy Carter that led to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 cannot conceive of Germany's situation. At the end of World War I, Germany's mark exchanged at the rate of 9 marks per dollar. By January of 1922, the rate had increased to 192 marks per dollar. By November of 1923, it took over 4 trillion marks to buy one dollar! People took wheelbarrows full of money to the store to buy a loaf of bread. The wheelbarrow was worth more than the money in it. Millions of German families saw their life savings destroyed.

In this political witch's brew, Hitler's nationalism gave hope to the common man. Had not Germany's elite prevailed on German President Paul von Hindenburg to withhold power from him, he would have become Chancellor in 1932, by which time the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) was the largest party in Germany, with almost twice as many deputies in the Reichstag as its nearest competitor, the fading Social Democrats. Significantly, the Communist Party was the third largest party.

Hitler created the modern election campaign single-handedly, using airplanes to make as many as four or five speeches a day across Germany. Everywhere he was greeted as a savior by ordinary Germans fed up with grinding poverty and communist agitation. Yet the ruling class still opposed him. Only by holding the specter of communism before the Prussian aristocracy, the old-line Junkers landowner class, the military leadership and German industrialists was Hitler able to secure the behind-the-scenes power base needed to gain the Chancellorship.

In the early years, Hitler received only modest support from wealthy German industrialists. Most supported several political parties, some with mildly socialist views. They were anxious to void the Treaty of Versailles but were not eager to risk another war. Furthermore, they were deathly afraid of the influence of communism. German industry sometimes made surprising wage concessions to German workers even during the height of the post-war depression, in order to prevent communists from gaining a foothold. However they were not willing to support Hitler in the early years, perhaps because they perceived in Hitler's message a willingness to take genuine risks.

There were notable exceptions, patriotic individuals whose passion for restoration of a strong nationalist Germany, free of the hated Treaty of Versailles, outweighed their caution and led them to support Hitler out of conviction. Early on, he received help from the secretive Thule Society, a group of aristocrats dedicated to reconstructing a strong Germany. Later, two wealthy German industrialists became key backers.

One was Emil Kirdorf, who began contributing to Hitler in 1927. Kirdorf, whose fortune was made in the German coal mining industry, was so anti-socialist that before the war he considered the Kaiser himself to be a pawn of the middle-of-the-road Social Democrats. The authors point out that "[h]is feud with the Kaiser was carried so far that he refused to appear at any social function where the monarch was present." To such a man, Hitler's brand of nationalism appealed on principle.

By 1929, Hitler had the backing of Fritz Thyssen, heir to the vast steel holdings of his father, August Thyssen. In 1926 the father died and Fritz became chairman of the board of United Steel Works, the largest steel trust in Germany. Thyssen gave more money to Hitler than any other individual. He hated communism with a passion, perhaps because during the abortive German communist revolution of 1918 both he and his father were arrested by a communist revolutionary group and very nearly executed by firing squad. They were freed four days later when even these communist zealots could find no credible charges under which to execute them.

Despite his popularity among the German rank and file, Hitler knew he needed support from Germany's establishment. To this end he cultivated his few industrial supporters carefully in the hope that he might make a breakthrough. In 1929, Emil Kirdorf summoned Hitler for reassurance that Hitler's Brown Shirts would leave Germany's industries alone. Hitler replied that he needed only three things to fully enforce his authority on the party: "I want a little time, a lot of money, and the ban against my political activities in Prussia lifted."

"And what if I give you all of these?" Kirdorf asked.

"You and the other industrialists could dictate the party line insofar as it affected you and the properties you own." As James and Suzanne Pool point out, "From that day forth Hitler basically lived up to this agreement." Hitler gave similar assurances to the Army in 1930 as his NSDAP gained in popular support, admitting that the Brown Shirts "were set up exclusively for the purpose of protecting the Party in its propaganda activities ...." In a Germany racked by communist mobs and street violence, this protection, as foreign as it may seem to today's sheltered Americans, was a necessity for survival.

In January 1932 Hitler appealed to Germany's industrial leadership in a speech to the Industry Club of Dusseldorf. While he gained a few new converts, he presented a tightly reasoned defense of German nationalism that appears to have defused much of his organized opposition among the industrial leadership. The Pools write: "The audience feared Communism more than anything else. Realizing this, Hitler made the danger of Marxism the central theme of his speech. He discussed the topic with rational logic and made some startlingly accurate predictions about its future development."

Hitler argued that liberal democracy and the idea of human equality would inevitably lead to communism. "You maintain, gentlemen, that German business life must be constructed on a basis of private property. Now such a conception as that of private property can only be defended if in some way or another it appears to have a logical foundation. This conception must deduce its ethical justification from an insight into the necessity which Nature dictates ... I am bound to say that private property can be morally and ethically justified only if I admit that men's achievements are different."

"And once this is admitted it is madness to say: in the economic sphere there are undoubtedly differences in value, but that is not true in the political sphere. . . In periods of national decline, we always find that in place of the value of personality there is substituted a leveling idea of the supremacy of mere numbers -- democracy ... [But now] the concept of human equality itself has been developed into a political and economic 'system' and this system ... is Communism."

Hitler's thesis is historically sound. Karl Marx favored democracy, stating in his 1848 "Communist Manifesto" that "The first step in the revolution of the working class ... is to win the battle for democracy." America's Founders detested democracy. John Randolph spoke derisively of "King Numbers." James Madison said that democracies inevitably degenerated into mob rule.

No study of Hitler is complete without coverage of Hitler's relationship to the Jews. Indeed it is this aspect that forms the heart and soul of the left's vilification of Hitler -- and, by extension, of all nationalism. Who Founded Hitler is no exception. It contains a number of obligatory rebukes for "anti-Semitism" and "racism." However, a curious alternate view also emerges, largely based on facts that receive only muted criticism. These little-known facts explain much of the negative attitude of Hitler and Europeans of his time to Jews.

The discussion centers around support by Henry Ford for Hitler's opposition to Bolshevism. In the early 1920s, Ford published a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, largely devoted to exposing the Jewish roots of Bolshevism and the complicity between communists in the Soviet Union and Jewish bankers on Wall Street. His articles, including his analysis of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, were collected in book form, a four-volume study called The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem.

The Pools write: "Both Ford and Hitler believed that Jewish capitalists and Jewish Communists were partners aiming to gain control over the nations of the world. Their views differed somewhat, but this was mainly a result of their contrasting positions and nationalities .... Communism was a completely Jewish creation. Not only was its founder, Karl Marx, the grandson of a rabbi, but more importantly Jews held leading positions, as well as a high percentage of the membership, in the Communist parties throughout the world."

The authors claim this fact was of little import. But they let stand some damning fact. "[T]his charge against the Jews was believed by many middle class Germans because it did seem to conform to the facts ... [W]hile there were only 7 million Jews among the total Russian population of 136 million, their share in the membership of the revolutionary parties was about 50 percent ... However, most Jews were not in the rank and file, but rather in the upper echelons of the Soviet bureaucracy." Lenin, himself part Jewish, said that, "Jews provided a particularly high percentage of the leaders of the revolutionary movement."

These facts were well known throughout Europe in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Red Terror that followed, during which literally tens of millions of white Russian middle class citizens were slaughtered. The likely reason for their butchery was genocide, i.e., elimination of the genes of those who possessed sufficient intellect and resolve to provide opposition to the Bolsheviks. Americans should consider carefully the implications of these suppressed historical events. Contrary to current perception, communism is not dead. If it ever gains the upper hand here, we will have our own Red Terror.

No man in history has been more vilified than Adolf Hitler. Whatever one believes about Hitler's alleged "genocide" -- and there is a growing body of scholarship that impeaches many of the more extravagant claims -- everyone concedes that the mass murders committed by Stalin and Mao are far higher than anything Hitler has ever been accused of. Figures for these murderers range as high as 65 million each, carnage which defies imagination. Yet only Hitler bears the continuing wrath of the left. By now, it should have occurred to at least a few Americans to ask why.

The answer is that Hitler called for European nationalism as a response to communism, liberalism and internationalism. Both Stalin and Mao were communists, committed to communist world domination -- as Henry Ford explained so long ago. Communist egalitarianism is a sham, intended to divide the loyalties of ethnically related peoples. Hitler is still demonized today because if the left is to achieve its dream of world conquest it cannot permit the rise of nationalism -- or the validation of nationalist aspirations from the past.

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courtneytincher · 5 years ago

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What if he dies? &c.

For years now, some of us have said, “It’s amazing he’s still alive.” We’re talking about Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition. (The previous such leader, Boris Nemtsov, was murdered within sight of the Kremlin in 2015.) Over and over, Navalny has been attacked -- physically, that is. In the past few days, it is possible he has been the victim of a poison attack.They’re not shy about poisoning, Putin’s guys. (For a story about Navalny, go here.)A question: What if Navalny dies? What will the reaction of the rest of the world be, and of the United States in particular? (Years ago, we enjoyed the designation “Leader of the Free World.”) Will there be a shrug, as in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi? A statement of regret from the State Department? Something a bit sterner, possibly?Will a mouthy, conscientious member of Congress say something?These are things to be thought of, even now.Last year, President Trump was asked who ought to be held accountable for the Khashoggi murder. “Maybe the world should be held accountable,” he answered, “because the world is a vicious place.”Next time, we will do better, I hope.• Here is a report from last week:> A prominent LGBT rights campaigner has been found dead with multiple stab wounds and signs of strangulation in the Russian city of St Petersburg.> > The body of a 41-year-old woman was found in bushes near her home in the city on Sunday, local police said.> > Relatives and friends later named the victim as Yelena Grigoryeva . . .> > Ms Grigoryeva, who had reportedly received death threats, regularly campaigned for human rights in Russia.They are possibly the most careless people in the world, these Russian activists. They keep losing their lives.• In this new era of strongmen, who will defend democracy? Who will stick up for it, even fight for it? Look to the streets of Hong Kong and Moscow, where democracy protesters are being beaten by thugs. I admire them no end -- the protesters, that is, not the thugs. Would I be among those protesters? Would you?For myself, I can’t answer with confidence.I wish someone in the United States would utter a peep for them -- not scribblers and yakkers like me, but an official. If it can’t be the president, how about a congressman, how about anybody? Someone willing to express the solidarity, or at least the best wishes, of the American people?He likes to keep a low profile, following the example of his ex-president father, but I nominate George W. Bush.• According to reports, the Iranian economy is in free fall. Hurray, I guess. But I must tell you something: One reason I prize Magnitsky sanctions is that they target individuals -- wrongdoers, human-rights violators, villains -- not populations at large.Will our sanctions on Iran backfire? Will they cause a pro-American population to turn against us and rally to their oppressive regime? I don’t know.But these are questions that policymakers always have to weigh (and I’m sure ours have).• The temperature is awfully high in America now -- I’m not talking about the weather, although the heat, in some places, has been rough. I’m talking about politics, and race in particular.This is only 2019. How about 2020, when the presidential election is in full swing? How much higher can the temperature go? Will America be able to take it, without combusting?For years, through the Reagan administration, Michael Kinsley predicted “a long hot summer” -- because people would rebel against the depredations of the Reaganites, essentially. The long hot summer never came. Kinsley, to his credit, joked about it.Anyway, I hope the summer of 2020 is on the cool side, but I’m not predicting it (especially having no training in meteorology).• For reasons I could explain, I went back to a book review I wrote in 2017. I covered two books, actually: a collection by Gertrude Himmelfarb and a collection of Kenneth Minogue. In this review, I quoted Roger Scruton, and I think I will do a little pasting -- copying and pasting.Here goes:> Scruton, after Minogue’s passing, wrote an appreciation, saying, “In many ways he was a model of the conservative activist. He was not in the business of destroying things or angering people. He was in the business of defending old-fashioned civility against ideological rage, and he believed this was the real meaning of the freedom that the English-speaking peoples have created and enjoyed.” Scruton also said, “For Ken Minogue, decency was not just a way of doing things, but also the point of doing them.”> > That is an unusual, striking sentence, worth pondering.Yes. I am thinking of David French, my friend and colleague, who has been attacked as -- well, too decent to be a real conservative, and to get things done. David was moved to write a piece called “Decency Is No Barrier to Justice or the Common Good” (here).David is a warrior -- in the courtroom, on the battlefield (the literal one), in journalism, and in still other arenas. But he’s not a jackass, which a lot of people resent.(I understand them, so help me. I touched on this in an article earlier this year, here.)• Look, far be it from me to comment on wine -- I have no standing. (Whines, yes; wines, no.) But President Trump tweeted, “I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!”My feeling is: Maybe we give them this one. Wine. If we Yanks need to boast -- “where there’s never a boast or brag” -- there are other things . . .• Speaking of tweets, I loved one from Tiana Lowe of the Washington Examiner, formerly of National Review. She was reacting to a story headlined “Is it weird for adults to visit Disney parks without kids? Twitter fiercely debates.” She wrote, “I just cannot imagine having the energy to care if other people minding their own business went to an amusement park.”This reminded me of something George Bush said, a long time ago. (I mean Bush the Elder.) It went something like this: “One reason I’m a conservative is that I don’t toss and turn nights, worried that someone, somewhere, is having a good time.”(I realize that today’s Right does not consider Bush to have been a conservative. During his career, however, he was a right-wing monster, at least in the eyes of the Left.)• Care for a little language? Here’s a golf article from Reuters. The headline: “Koepka dominates one-sided bout with McIlroy in Memphis.” If you have “dominates,” you don’t need “one-sided.” That’s redundant.But I loved a phrase within the article -- one that is new to me: “. . . McIlroy missed a short birdie putt at the third hole from inside four feet and never recovered, his body language the only evidence needed that he was not quite on-song.”On-song. Must be a Britishism. A good one.• Here’s an old-fashioned word: moxie. More and more, I admire this, as one of the best qualities. It came to mind when I was reading this piece by Will E. Young, who was a student journalist at Liberty University. What moxie this kid had, and has. It’ll stand him in good stead as he journeys onward.• Some names? I have a new young colleague named Chris Tremoglie -- Three Wives. I said, “Ah, a bigamist!” This week, I got a letter from a man named Cinquemani. I said, “Thank you, my five-handed friend!” (He replied, “That would have made Grandpa smile.”)As regular readers know, I’m fond of names, and always interested in them, and I bet these two names have very good stories behind them, unknown to us moderns.• Every day, I hear talk of “privilege.” And, almost always, people mean the material. If I were the exhorting type, I would exhort all parents: Make your children “privileged” -- with good books, good music, good games, good humor, sound morals, and, above all, real love.• I saw a photo the other day and thought -- and said -- “Magazine-worthy.” It was snapped by our Molly Powell -- National Review’s Molly Powell -- who lives in New Hampshire. With her permission, I share it with you.A bit of New Hampshire on a late afternoon, with bee balm and daylilies gracing the stage:

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