#this is the most blatant example since the 'Stop filming me' video

[ingravinoveritas]

"He should be used to this by now."

Maybe, just maybe, this shouldn't be something that he has to get used to. Because you would think that if he even once expressed that he wasn’t comfortable being filmed, that would be enough to make her stop. The fact that it isn’t and hasn’t been up until now is not okay.

She is doing more than just annoying him here--she is humiliating him. A "love language" implies something shared and spoken by both people, and this feels entirely one-sided at this point. If you genuinely love someone, you don't repeatedly violate their trust and then laugh/brag about "breaking" them for others to see.

I shudder to think what the reaction would be if the situation was reversed. The outrage that would occur if he was filming her when she didn't want to be filmed, and the dramatic shift in reaction to the camera. It would not at all be seen as acceptable.

And yet, here we are...

[idw-sonic-fan-blog]

The Mandates

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the pro-ported mandates because they cast a shadow on this comic.

“Game characters cannot have relatives unless they were estabilished in the game canon, i.e. Cream and her mother.”

This one is understandable and you can blame Penders for this. Mind you that most licensed comics of gaming franchises don’t actually delve too much in personal family relationships or expand on them. So this is expected and honestly Sega should have put the screws on Archie decades ago about this.

“Game characters can not die. There are workarounds for this, such as being Mistaken for Dying or "Mistaken For Dead”

Again. Yes. Not a big deal.

“Game characters cannot have wardrobe changes unless approved. Chao Races and Badnik Bases has some characters (mainly the female game characters) wear different clothes for extreme conditions. Male characters remain the same.”

This is a useless rule but whatever. I mean Sega, you are the ones putting bad wardrobe choices on the characters so again it’s whatever.

“Sonic can't be shown getting too emotional (i.e;cry)”

This is one that it complained about because it really wouldn’t matter unless it is called attention to. A lot of superheroes don’t cry. But that doesn’t prohibit them from expressing themselves. IDW Sonic has been sad. He has been pissed. He has been furious.

Is this not too emotional?

Is he not expressing himself appropriately?

I don’t even know why this is brought up. When in this comic has Sonic not been expressive or displaying the appropriate amount of emotion? When did Sonic needing to cry be necessary?

“Game characters cannot enter in a relationship.”

Oh GOD YES. Don’t threaten me with a good time.

“All major Character Development must be approved by SEGA.”

Yeah, of course. Let me remind you that Penders and Archie ruined any strand of trust Sega could have in comic media. They played loose at first and all of the sudden, they are involved in a lawsuit about characters in a Sonic comic that they didn’t even know about. They probably lost a video game business relationship because of it. If they want to be involved in the comics, fine. That means that they are now forced to World Build. They have to invest in it now and not just be like Lucas Films and let anybody do anything with their flagship title.

“Much like the post-reboot of the Archie comic, the words "Mobius" is banned—the planet is simply called "Sonic's World". Unlike the Post-Boot, which allowed the names "Mobian" and "Mobini", anything related to Mobius is banned in this comic.”

…Of course but how about you throw the writer’s a bone and I don’t know, name the fucking planet. If it is not Earth, give it a name.

“Sonic must always win at the end. Even if he and his friends are at the losing end in an overarching story (the Metal Virus arc, for example), they must come out on top when it concludes.”

I don’t even get this rule and the knee jerk hatred for it. Why even have it? Why even share the existence of this rule? Archie Sonic didn’t really lose too bad. It’s more on how you frame a victory. The fact of the matter is that Eggman is still actively trying to conquer the planet. Sonic stops him but Eggman still has control of land and has military installations all over.

This rule is offset by this. While Sonic can’t lose, Sonic can’t completely win.

“Characters and material from other licensed properties (Sonic the Comic, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)', Sonic Underground, the OVA, Sonic X and the Paramount films cannot be used. This rule extends to characters and redesigns done by the current writers. The only exception is Sticks from Sonic Boom, and that's because she was created by SEGA themselves and showed up in non-Boom media, but any ideas regarding her use still need to be okayed by SEGA.”

First off I am glad that Sticks was spared by this rule and I look forward to her eventual inclusion. Second, again, this is not much of a big deal as it was expected. Sorry Freedom Fighter fans but honestly deal.

“Male characters, sans Eggman, can't wear pants, which was also a thing in the Post-Reboot, albeit never explicitly stated. The inverse is also true; female characters have to have some form of lower clothing.”

Okay this is a pedantic rule. It is so weird with how precise it is. Like…huh?

“Classic characters such as Mighty, Ray, Nack/Fang, Bean, and Bark won't appear in non-Classic issues, as Sega doesn't want Classic and Modern Sonic to mix.”

One of the most bullshit mandates fueled by the nostalgia boner fans created. Like this is stupid because Archie Modern Sonic has added more character and depth to all of these mentioned characters than any of the Sega Sonic games they appeared in which only amounts to 1 or 2 at most. Why neuter your own potential stories with this stupid limitation?

“According to Ian Flynn, a specific incident involving Shadow's characterization when he's exposed to the Zombot infection was written in a specific way because of Sega mandating that he be written as an "overconfident asshole rival" character, similar to Vegeta. He later followed up with an explanation that out of every character, Shadow has the most mandates and notes attached to how he's portrayed. According to the podcast, Sega says that Team Dark is no longer a thing. The three members are not a team and they have never worked for G.U.N.; Shadow also doesn't even consider them friends.”

This is my opinion is the worst rule. First it’s contradictory to the character Sega introduced us to. Stop trying to be like Dragon Ball for once and actually be your own thing. It’s one thing if we are changing it because Shadow was unpopular because of his personality. But no one likes this Shadow. People miss the somber but reserved Hedgehog that continued to fight in spite of the world betraying him. Hothead Shadow is a cheap Knuckles. And I don’t even understand why Shadow even has so many mandates when he wasn’t the most egregious offender. Knuckles was.

Also, Team Dark aren’t a thing and Shadow doesn’t even consider them to be his friends. First off that doesn’t even fly in your own games. Who outside of Sonic does Shadow interact the most? Rouge. They have teamed up and were a packaged duo since their inception. When Shadow appeared, Rouge appeared right next to him. If Rouge was in a game, so was Shadow.

Team Dark or just Rouge has fought alongside Shadow in every game they appeared in. Who else does Shadow talk to if not Rouge?

“Sega has stated to Flynn that only male hedgehogs are allowed to go Super with the Chaos Emeralds.”

Except in Sonic Mania.

“Ian isn't allowed to directly reference a game, since the comic is supposed to be its own thing.”

Okay. Not only is this rule stupid. But it’s untrue.

This references the end of Sonic Forces.

The first page of comic.

It has referenced Sonic Adventure, SA2, Sonic Generations , and Sonic Unleashed.

This referencing Shadow the Hedgehog.

I don’t believe this rule exists and even if it did, it is dumbest rule since the whole point of this comic is to base it off the games more. The dumbest rule.

“Knuckles is not allowed to leave Angel Island unless he has a very good reason to.”

For decades, people have complained that Knuckles routinely leaves the island. For decades. Now does this mean Sega is going to 1. Use Knuckles and 2. Amplify the importance of Angel Island and the Master Emerald? No. Again, this criticism should be levied at Sega because they often conveniently forget Knuckles purpose and just hand wave it instead of giving Knuckles more to do on the island like I don’t know, have other entities invested in attacking him.

In summary, here is what I think is going on. Do I think most of these mandates are real? Yes. Given what happened to Archie, I do think Sega is doing some brand alignment. I think they got the clamps on.

But what I think is going on is a Japanese cultural thing called Power Harassment. It is normalized abuse of power. Sega of Japan is normally laxxed about their brands. They don’t mind blatant rip-offs of their mascot nor do they get stiff about fandom creations or mods. The comic division, however, is getting tough love because not only did it cost them a publishing deal, but ruined a relationship with a high end developer. So the IDW writers and staff are being subjected to intentionally hypocritical rules and strict mandates that they know don’t make sense until they’ve shown to be obedient.

A lot of the mandates aren’t strict. But some are so asinine that I don’t think they aren’t aware with how stupid they sound imposing those rules. Like Shadow is the most narratively complete Sonic character and yet, Sega puts this tight mandate as if Archie Shadow was the most egregious thing. Archie Shadow was overpowered. He wasn’t out of character like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were. They can’t be that stupid or be that intentionally dense. So they want to see if the writing crew can follow orders. That’s it.

But that’s just my take.

[opinated-user]

Heres some LO gossip. It was in one of her livestreams back in the day, like maybe 2018 or 2019, so its been deleted as all of them are, so take my word for it, but the discussion revolved issues around final fantasy, and I commented about how i found a specific character design to be racist. LO told me to cease the discussion altogether, and I guess I didnt answer in time, because then everyone in the chat hounded me for daring to voice this opinion and Lily said nothing while it happened. I, a black woman, was ridiculed in her chat for saying a character design was racist, and she sat back and did not care. I was called stupid and overdramatic and to shut up because it was bothering LO (my opinion was in one message). I stopped joining the streams after that - i used to be quite the regular. LO would add in things to her script directly taken from my chat messages, quite a few I can recall in the disney roundup series. Tarzan, Lilo and Stich, and Hunchback. I would also correct her a lot on very simple facts, like a certain show belonging to a specific network, or what animators worked on which films. She'd swiftly delete my replies correcting her after editing her scripts/posts. Once I asked her twice, maybe three times, why she claimed Treasure Planet failed financially due to bad writing in one review, but then praised Treasure Planet for its amazing writing in a later review, and she ignored me. I suspect its because its a blatant example of her showing her dumb ass. From these interactions, I realized how disingenious LO is when it concerns racism, how ignorant she is, how unoriginal she is, how little care she puts into research for her work and how cult-like her following is and how much she loves that, she cultivated it. As LO would say, she's a fake and a grifter.

anon, i can't testify about everything else but i vaguely remember someone doing a comment like that during one of the streams. was it a character from kingdom hearts by any chance? if it was then i was there too and it surprised the ease she had to just ignore it after creating so many videos about how everyone else should do their best to learn to be better allie. at the time i still wasn't totally convinced about the extent of LO's actual indifference towards other people and their issues so somehow i kept giving her chances to prove everyone else wrong. that was one of those moments in which she didn't. i don't find hard at all to believe you on everything else because she has done the same thing to other people. on her video about SU (you know the one) a black non binary person that LO quoted on her video called her out on her enbyphobic attitudes. did LO ever adressed that, apoligized or tried to do it better? no. and now the exact same mistake she did back then (that non binary people are "inherently interesting") is the exact same one that she does with black people (that hunter would be "inherently more interesting" if he were black). she never learns anything, she just changes the how she's wrong about things. since that video multiple have called her out for many mistakes on that video and she dismissed them all as reactionaries, even when they were the most polite and respectful anyone could ever be when pointing out a mistake.

i'm sorry that you were treated like that, anon. you didn't deserve to be ignored like that by anyone, but especially not someone that had you convinced that they cared.

[thevindicativevordan]

On Supergirl

Figured I should put up my thoughts about Kara in the wake of her first film appearance being announced, and the final season of her TV show fast approaching. Short version is: Kara is very cool and DC needs to stop messing with her. 

My Introduction to Kara

I was introduced to Kara the way most millennials/Gen Zers were I imagine, via the Loeb Superman/Batman arc which brought the traditional Kara Zor-El Supergirl take into Post-Crisis continuity, after years of DC attempting to have a “Supergirl” without violating the editorial mandate that Kal needed to be the literal “Last Son of Krypton” (an example of one of the dumb ways DC fucked Kara over). Story goes that one day Dan Didio was in line at the Superman ride at Six Flags (I love that ride even though it’s stolen my glasses every time I’ve ridden it, even when I left them in a locker!). The ride had signs that talked about various Superman characters. Didio was reading the entry for Supergirl where it talked about her not being Clark’s cousin but instead some weird merge of alien shapeshifter, angel, and human girl, and he realized how fucking stupid that was, and he went back to the office and told Loeb to bring Kara back. 

Years later I would also be standing in line at the Six Flags Superman ride (probably at a different park location but who knows?) as a youngster and would read the new Supergirl sign that trumpeted that Superman had a cousin who shared all his powers, an update reflecting the new Loeb origin. I thought she sounded pretty cool, made a note to see if my library had any Supergirl stories next time I visited, then got on the Superman ride and promptly lost my glasses like an idiot because I wanted to take them off while I was riding and pretend I was changing from my “disguise” into Superman mid flight. My dad grounded me for this afterwards, but it gave me a funny story to tell at family get togethers and isn’t that what Six Flags is all about?

A month later (and with spiffy new glasses), my mom dropped me off at a new library next to where she worked, and they had one of the best Superman collections I’ve ever seen to this day. I was in heaven and while reading every Superman book I could find (I couldn’t check them out because I didn’t have a card, my mom’s card didn’t cover the area the library was in, and my mom wouldn’t have checked them out anyway since comics were “too violent”), I found the trade collecting Kara’s new origin. I read it and I thought both she and Superman were really cool, and Batman was a  punk who had to beat Darkseid by cheating, the loser. Turner’s art to my young eyes was the best I had ever seen, and the panels got engraved into my brain. 

I still get downright nostalgic whenever I see Turner Superman or Supergirl stuff. I also got my parents to rent the animated movie adaption of the Superman/Batman arc from Blockbuster (remember those?), and that sealed the deal. Seeing Kara hold her own against Darkseid convinced me she was as cool as her cousin. Next time my mom dropped me off at the library next to her workplace, I went looking for Supergirl stuff to read. I found the first volume of her new volume by Joe Kelly taking place after the Loeb arc and dove in.

It was... weird. 5 years later I might have enjoyed it but at the time I was majorly put off. Kara took a secret identity for a day and then ditched it because it was “stupid” and the kids bullied her. She was always getting into fights with Kal, and there was this weird plot that I couldn’t follow about how her dad had sent her to kill Kal, maybe or maybe not? Also she could grow crystals which I thought was dumb, and said she was stronger than her cousin which I couldn’t buy for a second given he looked like he was carved out of marble, and she looked like she relied on sunlight instead of food. I put the volume back on the shelf and kinda gave up on reading the character after that for a while. 

I followed her via the DC wiki updates just like I did Superman, and everything I read seemed dumb and convoluted. She was split in two, moped around a lot, made out with an alternate version of her cousin, and basically just flopped about the same way the rest of the Superfamily did during the 00s. Nothing made me think I had made a mistake dropping Kara until I read the latest update to her wiki page.

I was super into what I was reading about the Busiek/Johns era of Superman online. Lex was back and making a big revenge scheme that involved all the other Rogues! Old Superman Rogues were getting revamped and made cool again! Johns reintroduced Brainiac and made him a big threat, with Kal and Kara teaming up to fight him! Busiek was revamping Prankster and telling big ambitious Superman stories! For the first time in a long while, the consensus on the Internet was that Superman was good again. My “home” library had zero Marvel books and no Superman or Batman books, all their DC stuff was Flash or Green Lantern, mainly written by Johns. Insane to think back on now. My hopes that because Johns was involved with Superman, Superman books would show up at my library were fulfilled. They started bringing in Busiek and Johns collections, and someone there also ordered Sterling Gates’ first volume of Supergirl, and I checked everything out since I was old enough to have my own library card, and my parents were worried more about the violent video games I was playing rather than comics.

I read everything and loved it. I also really liked Gates’ take on Kara. She was still an imperfect teenager but she wasn’t insufferably angsty or constantly fighting with Kal. She was going to give the secret identity another try and Lana had “adopted” her. It’s funny remembering how I enjoyed all that given my current thoughts on how Kara should work, but it was great at the time. I liked Gates introducing new foes for Kara, some classic Superman Rogues adapted for her like Bizzarogirl, others crafted specifically for her like Reactron. Gates’ basically rekindled my enjoyment of Kara the same way Busiek & Johns rekindled my enjoyment of Superman.

Of course it ended terribly like everything Superman-related seems to.

I’ve got a whole post I want to do about New Krypton and what came after. In short that is the most blatant example of “hitting the reset button” that I’ve ever seen. All the potential got wasted, and afterwards everything except Lex’s Action Comics stuff just didn’t appeal to me. Gates got booted off Kara for Nick Spencer who ended up leaving himself later, a promising Teen Titans line-up with Kara on it didn’t happen, and the last proper Pre-Flashpoint Superfamily story was a crappy team-up with Doomsday against Bigger Doomsday (thank God for Cornell’s final Luthor/Superman confrontation at least). When news of the reboot arrived, I was honestly happy. The Superline needed an enema.

Controversial opinion time: I liked New 52 Supergirl. It’s weird because a lot of the stuff I hated about Kelly’s run was here, and a lot of the stuff I loved about the Gates’ run was not. This was angry, moody, emotional Kara again, fighting with Kal and not fond of Earth. But I was in my teens at this point, and I didn’t want happy go-lucky Superman or Supergirl. I wanted my heroes angry, scared of the future, ready to go out there and smash some cars. Morrison’s Action Comics was 100% my jam (still is once I really understood the deeper meaning beneath the work) and this Kara felt like a natural fit for this universe. Plus we got Asrar on art and that guy made it damn pretty to look at, lots of cool science fiction stuff going on, even with the dumb H’el storyline.

I loved all the new Rogues Kara got. I loved her new Fortress under the ocean. I loved how traumatized she was by the loss of Krypton, that she wanted more than anything to go home, that her cousin was like a stranger to her since they had been apart for so long. I found all of that incredibly relatable. A lot of the New 52 Supergirl stories might have been schlock but it was my type of schlock damnit, and I enjoyed it!

I kept with her New 52 series all the way through the Red Daughter Saga (which I loved). As someone who grew up on Johns GL (since that was the only comics my home library had), seeing a Supercharacter join a Lantern Corp was the hypest thing ever. I loved the finale about Kara finally letting go of her anger and losing the ring while smashing her foe into the sun, it was incredibly cathartic for me as an angry teen myself. I finally stopped following her series sometime after since I was no longer enjoying the Superline or really DC as a whole. It wasn’t until I heard that New 52 Superman died and the “old” Superman was back, that I checked back into DC.

DC Rebirth & How I Think Kara Should Work

I did not enjoy Supergirl Rebirth, and I think I’ll talk about my problems with it alongside how I think Kara as a character should work since the two are related. A pet peeve of mine that has formed over the years is this: I don’t like it when Superfamily members get turned into Clark clones. Kon wearing glasses and going to Smallville High. Kara going to high school and being involved in journalism. Jon more or less being written as a copy of his dad personality-wise. I hate that kind of stuff because it’s boring. What’s the point of a Superfamily if everyone is just copying Clark? It also doesn’t fit the characters especially in Kara’s case. Why the hell does she want to be a journalist? Were there journalists on Krypton? I don’t remember ever seeing one! Shouldn’t she want to be, I dunno, a scientist? That seems to have been the El family tradition, wouldn’t she have been groomed for that?

This one-off by Shea is honestly the only acceptable outcome for Kara going into journalism for me. She realizes she’s just copying her cousin and switches to something she wants to do. So Orlando copying the show, which already basically turned Kara into an expy of her cousin, just did not appeal to me at all. What had worked for me under Gates way back when was not clicking for me this time. I wanted to see Kara embody the principles of the S-shield in a different way than her cousin did. So I really enjoyed when Rebirth ended and we moved into the Bendis era with Andrekyo relaunching the title as Kara in space.

Kara in space has always felt like a good fit for me. Unlike Kal I’ve come to believe that Kara really shouldn’t be all that fond of Earth. For him it’s home, but for her it’s just where she ended up after her real home got destroyed. I think Kara works well as a sort of nomad, occasionally making stops back home to Earth to check on her cousin, but otherwise? She’s more comfortable out in space than she could ever be on Earth. Out in space she can be Kryptonian (which is what she should think of herself as in contrast to Clark being torn between his Kryptonian biology and human upbringing, and Jon/Kon identifying as human), be her true self, not have to pretend to be human to fit in. Kara founding a moon refuge was one of the best ideas for her that I’ve seen, I would love if DC made her Future State refugee center on the moon canon. I’m excited for more Kara adventures in space with the upcoming Tom King story.

Also love that her and Krypto are getting tied together, if they don’t want to use Krypto in Superman’s stuff, let her have him! Bring on cosmic adventurer Supergirl!

Personality & Other Traits

Kara to me should be more hot-tempered than her cousin. All the Superfamily members should have a temper in my opinion, I see that as the “Deadly Sin” of Superman and his family. But while Kal is like a simmering pot that will explode if it’s left cooking for too long, Kara is like dynamite. Light her fuse at your own peril because she will go off on you.

I also like the idea of Kara being rash. Kal’s got a maturity that came from over a decade of having to live with Lex Luthor constantly getting away with all his evil schemes. He’s patient because he’s been forced to be. Kara? If you ask for her help she’ll give it, but beware because she doesn’t really care about the long term impacts of her decisions. She’s an invulnerable teenager after all.

Really liked that Venditti Annual where Kara got tutored in history by a reincarnation of Hawkman. Kara having a passion for history is a neat trait, would be nice to see her teach Kal or Jon some Kryptonian lore, or have her lead a Kryptonian holiday celebration for the Superfamily because she’s the only one who remembers how to do it. 

Sexuality wise I know a lot of people ship Kara and Lena on account of the chemistry between the two in the show. I haven’t watched the show myself but I’m fine with making Kara bisexual, the Superfamily could use some LGBT+ rep, and Lena hasn’t done anything of worth as a villain, so undo that and throw the two together. If we’re letting Harley and Ivy get away with murder I think we can let Lena off the hook too, undo the Ultrawoman weirdness and put the two together. Could be fun seeing the two building that moon refuge together.

All in all I think Kara is a great character who is a stronger embodiment of the immigrant experience than even her cousin in some ways. I hope King does a good job with her, she’s treated better than her cousin on the film side, and that overall the 20s are a better decade for Supergirl than the 10s were.

[insanely-creative-things]

Everything wrong with Karmi and why its a problem

Never thought I would do this thing, but as of now… I’ve kept this to myself for a long time since the beginning of the show, and I want to say that this is not recent, this is not a response to every fan that likes this character. This is to share why I find Karmi as an awful character in full detail and the fact that it’s being portrayed positively rather troubling.

(This is just a small disclaimer put to put it shortly: Jelly pig’s actions were inexcusable. She can hate Karmi all she wants and should not be forced to like her. However, sending threats and going out of their way to put nasty comments on other’s piece of work is not a healthy way to express your distaste for a character. At most, they should have just filtered their tags so that they don’t see any Karmi related work on their dash. And Jelly/pig or whatever your name is now if you’re reading this: I want to let you know that you can hate Karmi all you want, but again, sending death threats is not a way to get others to listen to you. And I get what you were trying to do, trying to say that Karmi’s existence is worse than COVID. While I get what you’re saying if you seriously think this way then you need to reevaluate yourself and your choice of words. Karmi is a bad character but there are far worse things to worry about. I do genuinely hope you change your behavior and express your opinions in a healthy manner, that you are getting better, but again, death threats will get you nowhere. In other words: think before you run your mouth.)

I am a fan of Disney, and I especially adore the show Big Hero 6: The Series. However, it has come to my attention that a certain character is a harmful presence in the show that is being portrayed in a positive light when their actions had clearly been damaging. In Big Hero 6: The Series, there is a character named Karmi, who is a Biotech student. From what I can understand, she is portrayed as a rival to Hiro Hamada to which her actions are endearing, and is set up as a love interest to the main character, with the added charm being that she is a fanfiction writer who is enamored with Hiro's superhero identity. However, upon further inspection and research, it becomes clear that Karmi, the character, is not a positive character who should be presented as such. In fact, what her actions and behavior actually are is that of a bully, an antagonist. While it is nothing new to have a bully character to be an antagonist, it appears that the writers and executive producers of Big Hero 6: The Series are unaware of/ignorant of how Karmi appears in the show and genuinely believe that Karmi's character is endearing. Here is the following evidence to display Karmi's actions and why it is not justified.

In her first appearance of the show, Issue 188, she is introduced to Hiro as to ‘help him’ socialize better by Professor Granville, and yet her behavior/actions to Hiro, when the professor is not around, is demeaning and antagonistic; One particular scene near the end where Karmi is experimenting on a dangerous virus, a virus that requires her to be in a biohazard suit, and yet doesn't tell Hiro to wear a biohazard suit himself. This becomes more concerning since the virus is compromised and could have possibly escaped, with the chance of it infecting Hiro yet she expresses no concern over his well-being and that she could have gotten him killed via said virus. Even if this is played for comedy, no biotech major or scientist would even think of replicating Karmi's actions. Especially virology majors and biotech scientists because it is the most irresponsible and negligent thing to do. Then later, we learn that it’s not Hiro that has a problem socializing, it was Karmi the whole time. Helping others socialize is nothing new, and while that is a start... later in the series we see Karmi having no problem talking to others around her, and can easily approach Liv to steal Hiro’s attention to present her invention(More on that later.) So immediately, it shows that Karmi’s problem isn’t social, it’s behavioral, she has gotten in trouble for her behavior before.

Now, I got to say this: at the beginning, I genuinely wanted to give Karmi a chance as a character, reasoning myself that it’s only her first episode. I was not expecting a 180, I only want her to be at least decent to Hiro. I could tolerate a sarcastic line or two... but Failure Mode had ultimately destroyed any sort of sympathy I could have had for her since then, the one to make me shout ‘WHAT. A. BITCH!’ and make me absolutely hate her.

During the episode of Failure Mode, her second appearance in the show, Hiro Hamada's first attempt at his project has been a failure; to which her first reaction to doing so is to film the blundered presentation and post it online for all to see. Her action during that moment is in fact, cyberbullying; an act to which the bully will post slander or humiliating moments of their victims' actions online to further humiliate them. The fact that Professor Granville, a professor/Dean of the school, who was teaching that class, in particular, does not reprimand Karmi for her blatant bullying here is disgraceful as no other teacher in authority would allow such a vile act happen in their classroom. 

When I first watched it I was staring in horror at such a blatant act of bullying. I actually stopped the video I was watching because I couldn't stomach watching any more of it and it took me a solid week until I could watch the rest of the episode. And even then, she didn’t stop there: She does it again when Hiro’s second presentation inadvertently destroying the other student’s projects to which Karmi(and a group of students standing behind her) taking pictures of the whole ordeal. The next scene shows Granville and Hiro having a moment discussing how Hiro shouldn’t be discouraged and that he shouldn’t call himself a failure… to which Karmi barges in with her project and asks Granville point black to let Hiro call himself a failure many more times,(curiously the next scene cuts off to the gang before it gets to Granville’s reaction so we never see if Karmi was scolded for this.) Then, when Hiro presents his project a third time, Karmi has her phone out expecting it to fail a third time! That’s three times Karmi had done in a span of an episode with the intent to humiliate Hiro online and even wanting Hiro to call himself a failure! Could you imagine a child watching that episode, someone who might be bullied at school, watching such an act go by, and for laughs?? That’s just downright terrifying and horrific for anyone in that situation.

In Small Hiro One, Karmi is clearly demeaning to Hiro as she makes fun of him not joining the other students to a seminar of a student-alumni due to his age. Even when they had a moment to talk, Karmi originally came up to Hiro to humiliate him for being around a 'fake scientist' that made 'fake volcanoes' for a kid's show. So even that sweet moment is soured when you realized she came up to him to insult him to make herself feel better for being the first student to be kicked out of the seminar. Even Hiro, in his super suit, tells Karmi to be nicer to other people! But even then it doesn’t work and Karmi still continues her malicious behavior.

Fan Friction is a more infamous example. While it is true that people write fanfiction of their beloved celebrities and actors there has to be a line. In Hiro Hamada's view, he is clearly uncomfortable with Karmi's writing of his superhero self being portrayed in a romantic relationship when, as previously stated before, her prior actions towards him are antagonistic. He is a person, a person that had been antagonized by Karmi. He had every right to be upset about this, but the others around him basically chalk it up to being embarrassed by Karmi's infatuation with Hiro's alter ego rather than the fact that the fanfiction is written by someone who despises him.

Do you remember the episode Big Hero 7? The plot being that Fred inadvertently exposed his superhero identity to Mole which lead to Mole blackmailing the team to which they had to give in to his demands that ultimately failed because Mole still made that appointment with bluff dunder to expose their identities? That all started because Fred saw that Mole forged an autograph of Fred's superhero self, where he claimed they(The team) go apple picking and are close friends, which leads to Fred’s outburst and the reveal. Fred did it because a person who despises him and does everything he can to upset/torment him made an autograph that says they are friends when they’re clearly not as Mole tormented him for laughs. So, how come Fred has the right to be upset about Mole's autograph forgery, and yet Hiro can't be upset with Karmi's fanfic? I bet you that Fred would have been just as upset at the fanfic if it was written by mole as a self-insert, and  Gogo would be just as upset if Mole also included writing herself as his GF like Karmi writing Super Hiro as her boyfriend. And here's a kicker: if the fanfic was literally written by anybody else, then Hiro wouldn't have been so upset about it. Why? Cause it was a stranger that wrote it, someone he never met and could care less about. He would have probably shared the sentiment the others had. Except it wasn't written by some stranger, it was by Karmi, who had routinely bullied him and belittled him from day one all because he’s a younger student than her.

Karmi’s self-insert fanfic even backfired when Momakase literally thought that Karmi was in fact Hiro’s girlfriend and kidnapped her. To which brings up this thought: Why would Momakase think that a self-insert about a student be real? Is it because Obake thought it was real? I highly doubt it since he had been spying on the team for a long time and would have known everything about them, hell he made a replica of Hiro’s room in the previous episode Rivalry Weak! He would have been long aware of Hiro’s true relationship with Karmi and realized that Karmi is not involved with the team in any way. Its actually my head-cannon that Obake placed that fanfic in his sources as a joke, as a way to test Momakase to see if she could tell the difference between real info and fanfiction, to which she failed... and then he proceeded to laugh at her when he told her the truth after the fact.

In the episode Big Problem, it starts off with the introduction of Liv Amara who is going towards to see Hiro Hamda for work on Baymax. While they had waited for Liv Amara to arrive, Karmi comes in uninvited to get Liv Amara's attention. Then Liv Amara pushes away Hiro because it was Tadashi who made Baymax; there was no explanation as to why Liv Amara disregarded Hiro because it was Tadashi's invention,( is it because she had a run-in with Tadashi before that lead to some bad blood between them? We never learned anything about it). To which Karmi steps in and takes Liv Amara's attention. Hiro Hamada is clearly upset that he was snuffed for his invention not being his own, to which the others around him basically say that he is jealous of Karmi attracting Liv Amara's attention. That is a false assessment from the supporting characters and from the writers. Karmi had no right to be there when it was clearly Hiro's interview with Liv Amara. If Liv was so impressed with Karmi that she chose to spend the day with her, fund her project, and give her an internship in season 2...  then why didn't she go to Karmi in the first place? If they wanted to have Hiro jealous it should be that Granville tells the students that Liv is going to see Karmi because of her invention. That would make Hiro’s jealousy believable, but instead, Hiro’s supposed jealousy is out of anger that Baymax, his brother’s invention, was snuffed by Liv Amara  (who has the power to distribute Baymax to the public to help people like Tadashi wanted) with no explanation why and only to have Karmi, who had no right to be there, take her attention.

The episode Intern-about showcases most of Karmi's negative interactions with Hiro here as he is bothered by Karmi's high and mighty personality to which he goes to get an internship with Krei Tech. When Karmi sees that Hiro is being used for ordinary errands she insults him and laughs away like a bitch. Nothing more, not even an ‘I’m sorry’.

Prey Date has Karmi calling him an idiot. Of course, she does ask Super Hiro how Hiro is and a lot of people find that endearing. Except that was the bare minimum of decency anyone could ask. Fred asked if Mole was OK after their battle with High Voltage and not much is said about that. Even then, why didn’t Karmi ask Hiro herself? Why didn’t she look for Hiro and ask how he was, and what Orso Knox did? She didn’t. It could have happened off-screen except that’s not good enough. If it doesn’t appear in the show than that never happened, which means Karmi’s concern for Hiro by asking him in person did not happen.

Something Fluffy also has Karmi being an idiot considering she exploded at Hiro for even suggesting that Liv was behind the monster attacks and that he had no evidence to prove it. Except he does. He has Karmi’s sticker patch that he got from Ned Ludd, the hybagon. It is literally Karmi’s invention found on a person, that transformed him into a monster, and she says that it wasn’t Liv? That is more than enough evidence to show that Liv is behind the attacks because last we checked, Liv funded Karmi’s project, making it part of Sycorax. There is literally no reason for her to doubt or attack Hiro on this. Karmi could be forgiven if the patch itself was redesigned without her knowledge by Liv and Chris, but it’s an exact match which means Karmi should have known better.

On a side note: The Mayoi being a Fungus is true: however, fungi are not plants, not even close. They are in the class of Animalia because of their eukaryotic cells, they lack the ability to photosynthesize so they get their energy by absorption of other plant life, and the fact that their cell walls are made of a carbohydrate polymer called chitin, which is also found in insects as their exoskeletons. There’s even a species of fungi called the cordyceps that infect insects like ants, to which they plant themselves into the head, control the hosts’ bodies to an environment to spread their spores, to which the host dies as the fungus consumes it. What the mayoi are is just an evolved form of the fungus (thankfully not the cordyceps strain of fungi otherwise it would be far more terrifying in the show) given legs and eyes instead of a plant being given an animals’ characteristics and biology. Even the science Karmi uses isn’t correct, misdiagnosing the mayoi as plants.

There are plenty of more instances that had shown Karmi behave at her worst and I had no love for her to even care about her at this point. 

For more details about Karmi’s actions, I recommend this post, https://galaxiesinadot.tumblr.com/post/187608576016/big-hero-6-season-2 as it goes more in detail about everything Karmi’s interactions with Hiro and how it was antagonistic.. 

But then, a particular moment during the episode, City of Monsters had me once again staring in shock to which it made me realize just how malicious and ego-driven this character is and made me wonder why the writers and executive producers think this was acceptable. Now, beforehand, her blatant bullying behavior could have been done out of ignorance simply because she doesn't know who exactly Hiro Hamada is because to her, he was simply a younger student that took up the title of the youngest student in SFIT. Not a good excuse but it would explain it. But what she revealed showed that all her previous aggression towards Hiro Hamada was out of genuine malice, nothing was accidental. The insults, wanting Hiro to call himself a failure, the cyberbullying, the purposeful attempt to get Liv Amara’s attention, every aggression towards Hiro was all on purpose; the story reveals that Karmi does, in fact, know who Tadashi Hamada is and that she had admired him at school, something she confesses to Hiro... She had known from the start that Tadashi Hamada is Hiro's older brother, and therefore would have known what had happened to Hiro and Callaghan's theft of his microbots. This means that she had chosen to harass Hiro Hamada, she had chosen to call him names. She had chosen to belittle him in any way possible because of her wounded pride in being the youngest genius at school. It was not a misunderstanding, it wasn’t a miscommunication problem. Karmi deliberately chose to behave this way towards Hiro despite knowing who Tadashi is. And even after their time at the lab where they worked at the cure, all Karmi had to say about Hiro is that he was useful…

Not ‘’He’s not so bad to talk to’

Not ‘He’s actually OK.’’

He was simply ‘useful’ to her…

That is not a friendship blossoming. That is just Karmi using Hiro for her project.  which meant that she only mentioned Tadashi to emotionally manipulate Hiro to get him to help her. The fact that she said he was useful is the type of language that Liv literally has for anyone: even Karmi. It’s an antagonistic way of speaking of another person and this is considered their relationship being improved over the course of the show? And in the end, when she leaves she doesn’t bother to say goodbye to Hiro. Not even send him a text message to explain why she just up and leaves. That doesn’t sound like a friendship where you leave without another word, especially since this is where tech is super-advanced where sending a text wouldn’t a problem. Instead, Hiro gets nothing out of it.

Now, all of the previous actions and behavior Karmi had done would have been interesting if the writers had been aware and kept Karmi in the role of the antagonist at school. I would honestly enjoy having Karmi as a bully because not only would she be someone you love to hate because of her bitchy behavior, like Heather Chandler from Heathers, it would lead to Hiro’s rising above her and others rightfully verbally slapping her in the face because of her shitty behavior and foiled attempts to undermine Hiro. Except she isn’t: Instead she’s being praised for that bad behavior, and Hiro is the one who has to apologize and be the bigger person, never the other way around.

The way she had been portrayed and presented with Hiro Hamada is unsettling because this is not a relationship to even form in a healthy manner; this type of behavior, which has been documented over time, could evolve into an abusive relationship. Just like the stories where the woman abused their male partners and some people not giving a damn because they thought of it as charming. In fact, if Hiro was the girl and Karmi the boy in this dynamic, going through the exact same thing, a lot more people would point out just how careless the producers and writers are because they chose to portray this type of relationship as positive.

And this isn’t just me: There’s a review that specified Karmi being a major problem in the show.

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4915097/?ref_=tt_urv

The executive producers' Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, and any other previous writers involved don't seem to realize that this type of behavior should not be presented in a positive light as it could encourage young children to tolerate their bullies and even pursue a relationship with them, which then continues the cycle of bullying which would then evolve to an abusive relationship. It is best that they do not resume writing the character Karmi because she is not a positive influence for the intended audience because her behavior and actions are excused while Hiro is the victim and repeatedly written to just tolerate her abuse which in this time, is simply inexcusable and recklessly irresponsible to teach children.

Now, whenever I hear responses this sort of thing, a common defense I hear is that its a kids show, its fiction, it shouldn't be taken seriously as it has no impact on the real world.

Except... it really does.

Animal Farm? A critique and warning about Stalin Communism that is still used today.

20,000 leagues under the sea? The real-life Nautilus.

Star Wars in general? Lightsabers in the process of being built.

Harry Potter? Two real-life theme parks in Universal Studious that had gotten insanely popular since their grand opening.

Also, kids shows/movies have the power to show lessons and experiences that could speak to someone at any age. Big Hero 6 the movie itself is an example, considering that it has themes of grief and loss and how it could affect someone to progress positively (Hiro Hamada) or in a self-destructive path(Callaghan). It touches on REAL WORLD GRIEF, THE REALITY OF THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE. THE SAME LOSS THAT IS STILL PRESENT IN THE SHOW ITSELF.

How can people claim that a show/movie is so deep and meaningful that touches their hearts and influences them and yet turn around and say ‘it’s a kids show’ as a defense when people point out their flaws? Either small and minute or genuinely a large problem.

And here’s what I’ll say next: You are not a bad person for liking Karmi. If this made you uncomfortable to see all this then... I don’t know what to say. You can continue loving this type of character all you want... but don’t deny the reality of your favorite character being a toxic influence when other people call it out.

[introvertguide]

Famous Movie Goofs

Alfred Hitchcock was very well known for being a perfectionist and often liked to control all aspects of his movies. He would even personally hire and direct his extras. For his film North by Northwest (1959), however, he partnered with MGM and had less control than his standard. This was the only time that he would partner with the studio giant and some little things that escaped Hitchcock’s scrutiny can tell you that he did not enjoy the experience. Very famously, there is a scene where Eva Marie Saint’s character shoots at Cary Grant and you can tell she is going to shoot because the boy in blue on the right of the screen plugs his ears about 3 seconds before the gun goes off. This is in the theatrical release of the film and it is very unlike Alfred Hitchcock. It goes to show that Hitchcock wasn’t perfect, but it also made me think that it had to have happened in other big movies if it could happen to Hitch. Here are some examples:

Stormtrooper head bump in Star Wars (1977)

Check out that trooper on the right...did he just smack his head? Yes he did. This happened when the troopers break into the control room but most people did not notice it. I guess that it is a statement for the quality of the movie. Do take note that this trooper is particularly tall so they were not likely thinking of his height when shooting. It is kind of sad because it seems that the only thing that a stormtrooper can hit is a low overhang. 

Where did that drop come from in Jurassic Park (1993)

So I have seen many forums that explain how this could have possibly happened and also how this strange juxtaposition was explained in the book. This explanation was not in the film so I have to go by what is there. When the jeeps pull up next to the T-Rex paddock and stop, there are low trees and shrubs right next to the wall. Both cars were dead so they did not move much except by pushing of the dinosaur. However, when the dramatic escape occurs, they have to repel down a 50 foot drop. There was a goat and a T-Rex that were right next to the fence and there is no drop there. I guess it is a moat...but how did the T-Rex walk right up to the fence and break it if there was a giant moat there. I was so engrossed in the drama as a kid that I didn’t notice, but this seems pretty blatant looking back on it. 

Nice cowboy hat in Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)

In American football, there is constant movement of people coming on and off the field and there are many penalties for having people in the group that shouldn’t be there. The same can be said for movies with the crew, make-up, actors, and extras all constantly milling around. Unlike American football, the crew and the actors are not all wearing the same uniform and it is blatantly obvious when somebody is in shot that shouldn’t be. If you look to the left side of this shot from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, you will see a crew member with a white t-shirt, sunglasses, and a cowboy hat. That outfit does not seem very authentic. Somebody probably should have spotted that.

There is a cameraman at Hogwarts in Harry Potter (2002)

Far be it from be to judge others, but I would have thought that wizards would not have much use for movie cameras. Also, I know that they wanted to get video of the kids in their first wizarding duel, but you need permission to photograph or film children and I expect to see some permission slips. However you account for it, I don’t think this cameraman is supposed to be in the shot behind Tom Felton in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. All the students are wearing black robes making it hard to see and it is a very quick flash, but it is definitely there. It doesn’t make me love the movie any less, though. 

There are thousands of movies that are made up of millions (if not billions) of shots so there are bound to be mistakes. These are examples from famous films that have been viewed and scrutinized innumerable times and the mistakes that were left in the final cut are few...but they are still there. Imagine how many mistakes like this show up in B-movies since there is less concern for the final product? What are some of the best movie mistakes not mentioned above?

[keishiyaaa]

THE REVILLA POLITICAL DYNASTY

SUMMARY

The Revilla Political Dynasty started with Ramon Revilla Sr. (born José Acuña Bautista Sr.), who had previously made his way to fame as an actor in the country. One of the most notable bills implemented by Revilla was the “Revilla Bill” which states that: “The illegitimate children may use the surname of their father if their affiliation has been expressly recognized by the father through an admission in a public document or a private handwritten instrument made by the father”. Out of his estimated eighty children however, only seven of them seemed to desire following his footsteps in one or even both of the political and entertainment industries: Marlon becoming an actor and director, Rowena a councillor in the city of Bacoor, Bong an actor, TV presenter, and senator, Princess an actress and producer, Strike the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Andeng a film producer, actress, and mayor of Antipolo city, and Ram an actor. With only a monthly salary of P35,000 to P40,000, and investments of P 416,000 to P 2.12 M in his first 9 years of governance, Revilla Sr. managed to provide a monthly allowance of P26,000 (equating to an estimate of P25M a year) to each of his children, which has always been an area of suspicion for the public. There have also been many other issues involving this family, such as the infamous murder of late actor Ramgen “Ram” Revilla, who was allegedly killed by an intruder - his sisters (who were conversing as the crime took place) were also identified as suspects. Another notable controversy caused by the Revilla family was when Ramon Revilla Jr, commonly known as “Bong” Revilla, danced to budots for his new campaign video a few months after being acquitted of plunder charges and accused of pocketing P 224 M of his pork barrel fund during his time in office.

CONCLUSIONS

Apolonio, Ghierin:

I don’t really pay much attention to politics. The Revilla family gave us some positives and some negatives. They gave us the “Revilla bill” where the illegitimate can use their father’s last name. They are also accused of pocketing money from the government. Although for some people they appreciate the Revilla family, while for some they do not like the Revilla family. While we were doing the research about Revilla family, I was feeling mixed emotions. I think they implemented that law because Ramon Revilla Sr had an estimated 80 childrens. Most of them when to the politics maybe in order to continue for their last name to be known.  For the Revilla bill, I think for some it is a good thing while for others it is a bad thing. I think for those people who are against they think that it is okay to have a child outside marriage.

In my own opinion the “Revilla bill” is useful for the illegitimate children for their documentation purposes. But if the Father has an outside marriage children, I think it isn’t good for the family that is legal. It’s like they are promoting for fathers to have an illegitimate child.

Gamboa, Keisha:

As the number of political dynasties and power-hungry officials continue to rise in the country, the importance of using our rights and duties as responsible citizens of the Philippines to further improve our decision-making skills and thoroughly contemplate our choices also increases, especially towards something as important as appointing candidates into influential positions. Incompetence is incompetence. Yes, everyone can make mistakes, but this common flaw shouldn’t be used as a free pass for those failures - we should hold people accountable. When politicians commit practices of graft and corruption, no matter how untrue or unintentional they claim these crimes to be, there will always be those at the receiving end of these harmful actions - the people.

The most disadvantaged of these citizens are those that (sadly) make up a big part of our population: the lower class, the poor, the less privileged, those who cannot afford necessities such as sufficient income, profitable jobs, ample food, proper shelter, and high quality medical attention because the money they had to give to the country (the government) went to projects that only benefited the wealthier class instead - or even perhaps directly to the banks of people whose luxurious lifestyles show just how much they didn’t actually need the said funds. How do you think the victims would feel seeing other, more privileged and powerful people, continue to defend and turn a blind eye to both their undeserving struggles and the blatant wrongdoings of their abusers?

Sizing up potential leaders based off of the background and history of those around them rather than their ethics and leadership skills as individuals is just ridiculous. Furthermore, do people even consider the contributions of these related people to the constitution along with their positions? How did the “Revilla Bill” positively impact our society? Doesn’t this just enable - promote, even - having extramarital affairs and abandoning one’s paternal responsibilities? Also, why are we letting political dynasties who have blatantly abused their power continue to run for even higher positions? Lastly, when are we going to realize that the amount of pesos these people have in their banks wouldn’t and shouldn’t be as high as they are if no corruption was really present?

The practice of giving influential positions to people solely because of their filial relations is far too rampant in the Philippines. Obviously, not everyone is competent enough to serve as a public official of the country, and - even more disappointingly - not everyone is educated enough to notice this either. As responsible citizens and those who are privileged to receive higher education, resources, and influence, we should stop blindly following these groups/clans/families because of what they said they would do and instead evaluate and look at what they have actually done for the Philippines prior to making these promises. These politicians were appointed by us citizens: we also hold some degree of responsibility for whether or not they repair or impair our country.

Kim, Yumin “Eillie”:

I did not study for political histories, senators, or issues of the Philippines before, and it was my first time to hear about the Revilla family too. I think I should know what is happening or has happened in this country from now on, at least until I stay here. The issues I have searched were quite shocking to me because of the cultural differences. Nowadays, most of the people raise only 2 to 3 babies or sometimes 4 in Korea, but Ramon Revilla had around 81 childrens that I cannot understand with my notions, and we are forbidden to have guns like in America or Philippines. It was a good opportunity for me to learn more about the Philippines, and I want the place or country I am staying at to be stable, developed, intelligent and safe.

Tugonon, Marc:

I used to despise the Revilla family, and I still do. I don’t think there will ever be a time or a reason my perspective will change about them. Though Ramon Revilla Sr. was a remarkable senator who served two terms, he may had notable legislative achievements, had an exemplary performance during his regime, does not mean their family should be praised already or to be put on a pedestal, because the name “Revilla” does not only apply to and represent Ramon Revilla Sr. only. It applies to all his children and grandchildren whose minds are strikingly corrupted. Take Bong Revilla as an example. He ruined his name, his whole family’s reputation by being a plunderer involved in the pork barrel scam. He was also the senator who danced budots for his campaign to get the votes of the poor so he can steal from them. The moral lesson here is to widen and really open your minds to different prejudice because it’s for the better of the whole country. If you let yourself explore, research, and thoroughly understand the people you idolize, you’re not just the one benefiting here, but the society as a whole. You can use all the knowledge you acquired and help spread awareness to those who are in favor of the evil and you could possibly change their stand and actually do the right thing; To revere those who are benevolent and have the capabilities to make change in the country.

Despite all the accusations, incompetence, and allegations against their name, their family remains nonchalant, and constantly deliberately taking advantage of what’s happening around them because they think they can somehow manipulate the natives, which is actually working, especially the poor, and it is actually very concerning. This just abundantly proves that nepotism does not do any good in politics. Those who are gifted with such a platform are just going to stand there and be pretentious with no any kind of knowledge on bettering or running the country. It is very disappointing how our country tolerates this kind of behavior. If we keep acting like we’re all blind, there will be no future for our country. Inflation, debts, poverty, abuse and many more will continue to rise. From now on, we must not support these kinds of families in the country, whether it’s in politics or showbiz or families in general who are a disgrace in the country that are constantly participating in such unlawful actions. This is for the better of us all and we shall keep fighting for justice. Velasco, James:

For me I don’t pay much attention to politics nor care about it but i'm surprised to hear Ramon Revilla, a politician, has 80 or more children and still hasn't gone bankrupt. Though Ramon Revilla may have been a great senator and a great actor, it all went down when Bong Revilla came. Accused of pocketing PHP 224 million in his Pork Barrel fund, Bong Revilla was hated and criticized by the people for plundering and corruption. Though I'm not surprised since there are many corruptions happening in the Philippines and there's nothing we can do about it. Let this be a lesson to not vote for someone just because they belong in a political or rich family and be wise to vote for the ones that will lead us to a better place to live here in the Philippines.

sources:

Guzman, N. D. (2018, October 16). The unsolved murder of Ramgen, Ramon Revilla's son. Esquiremag.ph. https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/the-unsolved-murder-of-ramgen-ramon-revilla-s-son-a1729-20181016-lfrm2

Guzman, N. D. (2018, October 16). The unsolved murder of Ramgen, Ramon Revilla's son. Esquiremag.ph. https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/the-unsolved-murder-of-ramgen-ramon-revilla-s-son-a1729-20181016-lfrm2

List of political families in the Philippines. (2009, May 30). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_Philippines

Political families in the Philippines: Where are they now? (2012, March 15). The Asia Foundation. https://asiafoundation.org/2012/03/14/political-families-in-the-philippines-where-are-they-now/

Ramon Revilla SR. (2007, January 12). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Revilla_Sr

Ramos, C. M. (2020, September 4). Bong Revilla: My quarantine is done. INQUIRER.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1331145/fwd-bong-revilla-my-quarantine-is-done

Sen. Revilla's family asks for prayers, remains mum over his condition – The Manila Times. (2020, August 19). The Manila Times. https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/08/19/news/latest-stories/sen-revillas-family-asks-for-prayers-remains-mum-over-his-condition/757576/

The wealth of the old man Revilla. (2013, November 5). Rappler. https://r3.rappler.com/newsbreak/42959-wealth-old-man-revilla

[constructofculture-blog]

It is the Force that Shapes all of Us

It’s looming in every corner of the modernized world, and unless you are immune to stimulation of your senses, you’ve already been shaped by it. Of course the “it” being discussed is largely considered a major benefit of modern society, allowing us to enjoy ourselves, relate with others in regard to discourse around popular topics in this sphere, and be totally consumed by our particularly unique choices of consumption. “Totally consumed” doesn’t sound very enticing, does it? After all, it is basic human nature to be almost hyperaware of our surroundings and what we involve ourselves in. Every place we go and everyone we talk to will receive a brief but thorough analysis of safety and utility upon first encounter, with each encounter following receiving less and less of this treatment until we are comfortable with said interaction. It is at this point we lose focus on the things in the interaction that may harm us, but rather shift attention to the main attraction. Think of walking into a new friend’s house, everything is taken in upon first introduction, after about 5 visitations or so, you focus less on how the house is not yours, and more on the people and activities within the house. This level of comfort is key to building good friendships and relationships with people, because if you remain uncomfortable people will pick up on it and dub you overly aloof or... the unappealing weird. Lets retract our scope again, and think about this “it” that I have yet to give an identity. Every video you’ve ever watched, .gif you’ve ever laughed at, literary masterpiece you hated reading but had to because it was required by your professor, every play you’ve ever enjoyed, and mostly everything you do for fun can be labeled under Popular Culture. That’s the nefarious “it” that has been shaping you from the day you could comprehend the alphabet. 

                                                            What

Now how does the human capacity to achieve comfort in a situation relate to popular culture at all? Well it’s the main reason why we have been able to be shaped like putty by massive multinational consumerist corporations since as far back as we can remember. Everyone remembers their favorite childhood cereal, and how they argued Frosted Flakes were better than literally everything else. (Read: They are) This is the point of branding. Is it more appealing to feel like you’re eating Frosted Flakes over sugar coated corn flake breakfast cereal with milk. Brands are good. Branding gives notoriety to items people can relate to and talk about, which can even make friendships! However, we are now comfortable with how we are being shaped daily by constructs of popular culture, which can lead to some very awful subliminal messaging and continuation of social taboos that, put lightly, are just unacceptable anymore in our stage of ethics. (i.e. racism, classism) Let me ask you this, how many movies or shows have you seen that portray a minority as a lead, empowering role? The answer is not many, because there aren’t many to begin with. In 2014, 12.9% of major film roles were cast by minorities, with a remarkably low 8.1% on the other side of the coin in television shows. (Grazien 2017, P. 62) Even more troubling is that these roles are cast based on the stereotype of the specific gender. Remember, because we are now comfortable with being influenced by popular culture, this level of blatant racism is seen as okay and defendable, because everyone can relate to it! If it is okay for the nation’s favorite movies and TV shows to cast a laughably low level of minorities, and even stereotype them on top of that, of course it is okay for a typical white male to do it in his everyday life, and internalize that value, right? This is why the construct of racism has continued for so long, because the popular culture we consume every day is perpetuating the idea of it and making it seem acceptable. 

Of course the molding doesn’t stop there, after all popular culture affects almost every aspect of our lives, and we are comfortable with it’s influential arms of manipulation because we’ve been exposed to it for so long. The influence of branding has made everything that can have a brand attached to it, also bring to the table a competition, like competition of cheap beers, such as Miller and Busch, sure they taste a little different but at the end of the day that’s all they are, cheap beers. I’m sure there have been numerous bar fights in regards to which brew is better when in reality all cheap beers are awful and are just downed for the express purpose of getting drunk. A branding war in which the minds of adolescents are jeopardized is the branding of clothing. Middle school is the beginning of a lot of things, class changes, puberty for most people, and of course battle of brands. If you are not wearing what is socially acceptable as “cool” apparel, you are instantly labeled poor, and of lower overall status than people wearing these “cool” items, without even an inkling of your intellect, personality, or skills. Being a social outcast is very damaging to the young mind, as acceptance issues from both peers and parents can cause lasting mental damage to a person’s psyche, making them wonder for an indefinite period of time if they will be good enough. This causes massive blows to self confidence which can have a slew of side effects in every day life. But the actual backing for this harsh mistreatment is a farce, the higher level brands that are assumed to be of higher quality are usually either exactly the same as their generic counterparts, or minorly altered in a way that doesn’t affect actual functionality. Examples of this are everywhere, like McDonald’s caffeinated beverages beating out the much higher priced Starbucks in a blind taste test, Apple’s iPhone being exorbitantly priced when there are phones on the market offering similar performance for much less money, and generic painkiller medicine versus Tylenol brand painkillers, which both usually have the exact same amount of acetaminophen, the active anti-inflammatory. (Grazien 2017, P. 67-68)

Yes, popular culture has a role in raising every single one of us. Yes, popular culture is responsible for a child getting bullied in school. Yes, popular culture has perpetuated and even furthered the institutions of racism and sexism. And yes, popular culture continues to do these things unchecked. The things you think make you unique can all be grouped under the singular label of popular culture, which has meticulously brainwashed and standardized the people of modern society almost unnoticed and extremely effectively. Congratulations, we are little cogs in this massive, thoroughly interconnected machine that governs all of us, dare to rebel and you’ll be labeled a social idiot who is uncultured and can’t comprehend what is “cool”.

Get turning. 

[tortuga-aak]

America will survive Trump, but it won't ever be the same

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Donald Trump has not carried most of the promises from his campaign.

Even if he wants to achieve more of his agenda, he doesn't know how to do it.

His unethical administration is either staffed by people who were have since resigned or who try to contain him.

Trump has exacerbated the already divided United States by continuing to use class resentments, racism, and xenophobia.

  When I walked into the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this summer, I was struck by the glowering portrait hanging in the lobby. Donald Trump is president? It seems like something out of a dystopian film. But it's not science fiction; it's reality. Exactly a year ago, the voters of America, in their dubious wisdom, choose the reality TV star and real estate mogul as our 45th chief executive.

I, like most people — including probably Trump himself — was shocked by the outcome. Actually "shocked" is far too mild a word for what I felt. Poleaxed is more like it. I went to bed late on the evening of Nov. 8, 2016, in a daze, incredulous that my fellow citizens could elect a man so unqualified for the presidency and fearful of what he would do in office. The past year has been both better and worse than I anticipated.

It has been better in that Trump has not actually carried out most of his lunatic campaign rhetoric. He has not ordered the torture of terrorist suspects. He has not pulled out troops from Japan, South Korea, or Germany even though those countries have not increased their subsidies for U.S. protection. He has not launched a trade war with China even though our trade deficit with China has only grown over the past year. He has not tried seriously to get Mexico to pay for his border wall; even Congress is unlikely to fund it. He has not lifted sanctions on Russia or reached a grand bargain with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has not "locked up" Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. He has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris climate accord, and he decertified the Iranian nuclear deal, but NAFTA is still standing — for now.

He has moved us closer to war with Iran and North Korea, but the bombs haven't started falling — yet.

Trump supporters can argue that he is more moderate in practice than his rhetoric would suggest. There's an element of truth in this, but the more compelling explanation for his failure to make good on his promises is threefold.

First, Trump doesn't really believe in much beyond his own awesomeness. He didn't run for office to get anything done; he ran to stoke his own ego and pad his own bank account by increasing his visibility. Thus he would say outrageous stuff on the campaign trail, contradict himself 30 seconds later, and immediately segue to some non sequitur. He didn't mean a lot of what he said — it was just something to rouse the rubes at rallies.

Carlos Barria/Reuters

Second, Trump has been utterly incompetent. Even if he wants to achieve more of his agenda, he doesn't know how to do it. As Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star puts it, he "talks like a strongman" but governs like a "weak man." Maybe tax reform will get done — maybe — but so far he hasn't signed a single major piece of legislation. Actually that's not quite true: Congress did pass a law strengthening sanctions against Russia over the administration's protests. Aside from a Supreme Court appointment, the only things Trump has succeeded in accomplishing are those he can do by executive order, thus doing on a far larger scale what he once criticized Obama for.

The third reason why Trump has gotten so little done is that he's surrounded by people who, by and large, don't share his xenophobic, isolationist, protectionist "America First" outlook. Most of those who did — Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka — have been forced out because they were incompetent crackpots. Lacking any interest in ideas, Trump has staffed his administration with people based largely on superficial criteria such as appearance. That helps to explain why most of his senior appointees, including Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, and now Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman, look as if they are straight out of central casting. It also explains why former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton didn't snare a job: Trump was said not to like his mustache. As a result, Trump is surrounded by aides who view him as a screwball to be contained, not a sage to be followed.

So does that mean Trump's presidency has been just swell, as his fans claim? Not at all. In important respects, Trump has been worse than I imagined. If the past year has done anything, it has dispelled naive hopes that he would grow in office or become more presidential. He's the same old Trump that he was for the previous 70 years: ignorant, petulant, unethical, avaricious, conspiratorial, nasty, shameless, bullying, egomaniacal.

One of the salient features of his presidency has been its lack of ethics. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been indicted on charges of money laundering, and former national security advisor Michael Flynn is said to be on the verge of indictment for acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Many of the president's men, and even the president himself, had undisclosed business dealings with Russia, ranging from Trump's attempts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the campaign to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's continuing investment in a shipping firm closely tied to the Kremlin. Trump and his aides, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have also consistently lied about their dealings with Russia. Former Trump foreign-policy advisor George Papadopoulos pled guilty to deceiving the FBI about his Kremlin ties; others may follow.

Russia aside, Trump uses his office to promote his own properties in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. He has refused to disclose his tax returns as every president has done more than 40 years. And while private-sector figures from Harvey Weinstein to Michael Oreskes are being fired for sexual harassment, the president remains in office despite credible accusations of misconduct from at least 16 women. Trump himself basically admitted to the allegations in his infamous "grab ‘em by the pussy" video, but now the White House press secretary shamefully labels his accusers as liars. The real liar, of course, is Trump himself. According to the Washington Post, during his first 263 days in office, he made 1,318 false or misleading claims. That's an average of five falsehoods a day.

Trump presides over what is easily the least ethical administration since Nixon's — and in all likelihood "Don the Con" will be judged by history to be a great deal worse than "Tricky Dick." The major difference between them? Nixon sought to subvert the rule of law in private. Trump does it out in the open for all to see.

It has become routine for the president to demand criminal investigations of his political opponents based on, so to speak, trumped-up charges (Donald Trump Jr. even accuses the Clintons of murder); to call for the broadcast licenses of critical media outlets to be revoked; to attack the special counsel investigating him; to impugn the FBI, the judiciary, and the Justice Department; and to suggest that his own attorney general should resign for not doing his political bidding. Granted, most of these threats have been empty ones — but not all. Trump did fire FBI Director James Comey in a blatant attempt to obstruct justice. Moreover, his very words — coming from the man charged with ensuring "that the laws be faithfully executed" — corrode trust in our legal system.

When Trump is not undermining the rule of law, he is demeaning the presidency and embarrassing the country. Trump uses Twitter to carry out unseemly vendettas against Gold Star parents, the mayors of London and San Juan, lawmakers from "Liddle" Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to "Pocahontas" Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), journalists from those at the "failing New York Times" to "Crazy" Mika Brzezinski, and an endless array of other targets, many of them women and minorities. Trump's tweets are frequently vituperative and full of errors in spelling and grammar. They sound as if they are coming from a mental institution, not from the White House.

What most troubles me about Trump's presidency is the extent to which he is dividing Americans by race and ethnicity in service to his own political ambitions. Having won with overwhelming support among white, working-class voters, Trump notoriously hesitates to criticize white supremacists: He thought there were "very fine people" on both sides at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and he has defended Confederate statues as part of "our heritage." When white killers go on a rampage, as they did recently in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, Trump labels it a tragedy about which there is little to be done beyond "thoughts and prayers."

Brian Snyder/Reuters

By contrast, he exploits every terrorist act committed by a Muslim, such as the Halloween attack in New York, labeling the perpetrators "animals" and calling for Draconian immigration restrictions. He has gone on an extended tirade against the African-American football players who kneel when the national anthem is played to protest police brutality. He has pardoned racist former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. And he has revoked the executive order that former President Barack Obama used to protect "Dreamers" — immigrants brought to America illegally as children — from deportation. Sadly, other Republican office-seekers, such as gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie in Virginia and Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama, have imitated Trump's noxious example by seeking to rally white voters with blatantly racial appeals. Gillespie failed, but that won't stop other Trump imitators from trying their luck.

Trump took a divided nation and instead of trying to heal those divisions, he has exacerbated them. A Boston Globe reporter who traveled to York County, Pennsylvania, an area that Trump won, found that "the class resentments, racism, and xenophobia that became flashpoints during the election have hardened, not healed."

And that's what Trump has done in just the year since he won the presidency. Imagine what the next three years — or, God forbid, the next seven years — will hold. The United States will survive Trump, but we won't be the same nation after him. The very fact that much of his misconduct is now so routine that it's hardly noteworthy indicates his success in, as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) put it, "defining deviancy down." Far from making America "great again," he is reducing a once-great country to his tawdry level.

NOW WATCH: Here's what losing weight does to your body and brain

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[asemgirlpower]

The Male Gaze: I am More Than a Slice of Meat

    From Lil Wayne to early Beyonce the male gaze is all over music videos and has been since their creation. The male gaze manages to exist in some way shape or form in nearly every form of media we consume. Often we are left brainwashed by it, feeling that the sexualization of women’s bodies is normal. We are bombarded with the male gaze everywhere we go, on nearly any screen or billboard we look at, but one of the most dominant places for females bodies being sexualized through the male gaze is music videos. It seems like a constant an unstoppable trend that has swept the music industry. 

    Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory looks specifically at the male gaze in film and how women are viewed from the perspective of heterosexual men, often being seen as passive, fragile, or solely objects of desire, lacking complexity and dimension as characters. In countless music videos there is the typical male gaze which turns women into objects that serve the purpose of being sexual bodies on screen and flaunting themselves for the men or the “star” of the video. Videos that do this are female’s as well as male’s music videos. An example of this blatant objectification is Pussy by Pusha T and Big Sean, which spends most of the video zooming in on the woman in the video with severe focus on her hips, butt, and chest. Another very classic example is Lil’ Wayne’s Lollipop which includes a weak plot of Lil’ Wayne and his entourage of scantily clad women making there way through Vegas in a limo.

      A very specific, different, and quite honestly more vulgar representation of the male gaze in music video’s is Maroon 5’s Animals music video. In the video the main characters are Adam Levine, the singer, and the love interest Behati Prinsloo who is also Adam Levine’s wife in real life. Both characters are highly sexualized, but Behati becomes what can be considered a victim. The lyrics such as “hunt you down eat you alive” and “Maybe you think that you can hide, I can smell your scent for miles” may to Maroon 5 have in some way seemed romantic but truly imply that the “love interest” is being stalked. Throughout the video Behati is actually directly compared to a large slice of meat (since Devine works as a butcher.) The video flashes between images of Behati’s nearly naked body and Devine covering himself in blood inside a butcher shop. 

      The Animal music video manages to glorify stalking within the male gaze while also sexualizing the female body as a piece of meet, a dimensionless being. The singer in the video is also a photographer and the video is to no ones surprise, shot from his perspective. At countless moments the video shows Devine photographing the model from afar and later following her home and to a club. In one scene the singer follows her into a club and attempts to glorify the situation that is a woman shutting a man down at a bar, with Devine being persistent, Behati shows continuous discomfort in his presence. During scenes in which Devine is in the models bed, she is depicted as a sleep in almost a sleeping beauty-like trance. Behati is unable to be awoken, creating her characters existence as so passive that she doesn’t even awaken at the presence of an uninvited stranger touching her in her bed. The video goes on to depict the two in a nude sexual scene having blood poured over their bodies. This video proves that it is operating very much within the male gaze when the ending scene allows the viewer to realize that the singer has been depicting his deepest desires and this whole video was produced within his mind.

      While in some moments the male gaze has become stronger and more aggressive, there seems to be hope for new representation within music videos produced by women. After Miley Cyrus’s 2013 VMA breakout, much controversy followed her, maybe due to her breaking perceptions of girlhood and out of her Hannah Montana role. In 2015 Miley came out with the music video BB Talk which almost directly critiques women being treated as fragile passive objects, being the equivalent to babies and talked to by men in voices that would be considered “baby talk.” Much of the video is Cyrus speaking rather than singing, telling a story of a relationship and her dislike of her boyfriend saying “you put me in these fucking situations where I look like a dumbass bitch and I’m not a fucking dumbass bitch.” These lines are some of the most prominent and most uncomfortable lyrics for the audience because of her anger and use of language. While dressed as a baby Miley is screaming profanities, quite purposely making the audience uncomfortable. The fact that Miley is dressed as a baby for the entire video makes a comment on the use of baby talk towards women as well as women being seen as maternal and passive objects. 

     The BB Talk video pulls strongly away from the male gaze, almost poking fun at the oddness of women being so sexualize and almost fetishized as baby-like objects. The speaking and singing is from the perspective of a woman speaking freely on her relationship, one where she took control on speaking up, making her the opposite of passive. At another point Miley is able to make a critique on the societal expectation for women to not talk about sex and not want it. Miley says, “your baby talk is creeping me out, fuck me so you’ll stop baby talking.” In this statement (while still dressed as a baby) Miley speaks on her want for sex, possibly that she likes sex and does not like being spoken to and treated like a baby.

      Other critiques of the male gaze that often call it out in music videos exist and maybe one day they will not all be created by women. FKA Twigs produced an entire visual album, M3LL155X that included multiple comments on the male gaze, specifically in I’m Your Doll, where FKA Twigs compares herself to a doll with a single male figure watches her, the doll, and performs sexual acts on the doll. Amy Schumer directly calls out the male gaze and the recent obsession with women’s butt’s in her music video for, Milk Milk Lemonade. In the video she refers to the butt as a “fudge machine” and “where my poop comes out” adding a comedic aspect to the reality of the society obsession with butts. So the male gaze may still be in full affect but women seem to be making steps to call it out either by making fun of it or showing the damage that it does.

[ingravinoveritas]

fandom-chameleon23 replied to your post “"He should be used to this by now." Maybe, just…”

If it was a joke he’d smile or laugh after the glare, but he just looks so angry. It made my heart sink just watching.

@fandom-chameleon23 Likewise. He looks angry, and almost...disappointed. Like he was giving her a chance to just be normal around him, and she couldn't do it. And as you said, had there been that smile or laugh after the glare, that would change the tone of the video drastically...but he stormed off instead. The immediacy with which his expression and body language changed and how he couldn't move away quickly enough as soon as he realized she was recording him said it all...