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deltaengineering · 10 months ago

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Fall Anime 2023: A Fallful of Fail

you will be shocked at what happens at the end

horse_ebooks S3

Umamusume S3 is bad. Not that that should be a surprise to anyone – the anime was never beyond decent and even then mostly just the price of admission to a galaxy of fanart. And looked at from the outside it is simply shaped liked itself: nothing more (or given the context, rather nothing less) than a fat and lazy gacha franchise advert.

The question is why S1 and S2 apparently were not when they were materially barely any different, and the answer to that is simple: S1 had the novelty and S2 apparently brought the best material Umamusume can realistically offer – which already wasn't that much. If you just want the quick take, S3 is very much like the boring first half of S2, and then just keeps rolling like that until episode 12. However, since it drops all the distractions and embellishments and just presents itself naked and at the most basic level, S3 works as exactly one thing: A case study why Umamusume was never good, will never be good, can never be good and is fundamentally just a bad idea.

It's a confluence of things that are each on their own questionable, but each of them boosts each other's shortcomings in such a profound way that it's hard to say what the "core issue" even is: It is obsessed with a "sport" that is so simple that all events are short and indistinguishable, and winning just comes down to whether you decide to go fast that day. It values gambling results from decades ago over having a structured story. It wants to pick protagonists that are popular, and horses are popular when they win. It needs to have a vast yet simplistic character roster where having two personality traits makes you Rice Shower, the deepest character in the franchise. It plays it so safe that there shall be no villains or even adversity – having injuries in S2 was apparently already too spicy so we just don't do that anymore. It despises continuity, which means that Gold Ship can get a random episode about ending her career and this making no difference whatsoever to her presence, which remains exactly the same as it has been since the first episode of season one. And yet, it thinks it can have all of these and tell a character-focused underdog sports story, because that's what you do when you hear "racing".

The end result of this is that we have a two-episode loop that is intensely centered on one unbelievably shallow protagonist with the personality of "everyone loves her", who constantly keeps winning unless she gets sad, and then people tell her she is popular to cheer her up, and then she wins again, and then we do this 5 times in a row, and this being framed as some epic triumph over adversity. And none of this is new, it's just really apparent when your protagonist is "Teio, but worse", your sidekick is "McQueen, but worse", and your supporting cast is "you liked these characters last season and they like Kita-chan, maybe you should too". Intellectually, it's astonishingly awful and yes, I'm mad.

But with high production values and a bunch of cute hors doing cute things, it's still nothing more (or given the context, rather nothing less) than a fat and lazy gacha franchise advert. Just don't ever consider turning on your brain while watching it because that shit hurts. 4/10

Tearmoon Empire

I'm probably only putting this one over Umamusume out of spite, because while Umamusume did pretty much everything wrong on a high level for interesting(?) reasons, Tearmoon is just a bottom-shelf product and that's the the long and short of it. To be fair, it starts out as a pretty good one of those, with a decent twist on the "I read the script" style of story that these always are, and watching trash princess Mia stumble around trying to save her head from getting lopped off with inexplicably positive results for everyone involved is a decent, if easy, laugh. This already doesn't ever reach its full potential, because it's ultimately bland and one-note and there's nothing else (apart from a very funny OP). Tearmoon was cursed by amateurish light novel writing from the start, but what really does it in is Volume One syndrome: That plot is resolved about two thirds in, and what follows is just staggeringly uninteresting political machinations in a thoroughly dull universe. The beginning was weak, yes, but it was followed up by stuff I could not possibly care any less about. In a way it's a positive that nothing comes together, because then the show's single biggest lategame misstep by far (guess what, nothing was Mia's fault after all!) would total the show's thematic core. If it had managed to establish it. Which it didn't. 4/10

Bullbuster

I'll give Bullbuster one thing: It at least feels like a show anyone wanted to make. And while "robots, but realistic and working class" is not a new angle, doing a mecha show through the lens of workplace laws and corporate policies instead of technology is a pretty good starting point. It's just that things went wrong when developing this into an actual story – something with this grounded a concept should not stumble around for weeks until it eventually ends up with the "twist" that the local Umbrella Corp experimental biotech plant is the source of these weird mutations, for example. The characters also just aren't strong enough to keep this weird mess of a plot together on their own either. It also notably has some of the worst monster CG in recent memory, and as an action show (something it isn't, to be clear) it would have been a laughable failure. This is not at all surprising coming from the Deca-Dence studio, but everyone somehow gave that show a pass while I don't think this one will be on anyone's hidden gem list in a hurry. In any case, "could have been good, but isn't" is all that really needs to be said about Bullbuster. Sometimes an anime isn't good for no other reason than simply lacking in quality. 5/10

16bit Sensation

I was always going to watch 16bit Sensation due to personal interest in the subject matter, and honestly the best I can say about it is that "it gets better". Not that that means much because it starts out badly, with just a bunch of uninspired 90s vndev references and anecdotes that the people who were there probably find very relatable. That said, the show notably improves once it starts going down some weirder parallel timelines & moefag aliens paths – but it has so far to go that that really isn't enough either. Unlike its simpatico Animegataris, 16bit Sensation doesn't go to really weird places and also completely lacks bite because eventually it just wants to be like, about the power of creativity, maaaan, which drives it more into "Eizouken without the production value" territory, and logically very little of it makes sense. Admittedly it doesn't strictly have to, but it's not very funny or insightful either. In any case, the real loadbearing part of this show is the character of Konoha anyway, and she's a mixed bag. Her goofiness is endearing, but it's also hard to deny that her character mostly consists of Aoi Koga's voice performance, and that is in turn mostly just consists of "the wacky bits from Kaguya-sama but extra hard and all the time". It's certainly something, but whether it's a selling point is a deeply personal decision for every viewer. Unlike the undisputably crappy opening song performance by Shokotan of all people, what the hell. 5/10

Under Ninja

Under Ninja has one thing going for it, and that is that it's unlike anything else (well, I hear that all the other mangas by this author are exactly like it, but in animated from at least). It's a weird mess of an absurd Metal Gear plot presented with all the ambiance of a 4chan greentext story, which gives it an unusually deadpan sense of humor similar to something like Burn After Reading. If nothing else, it's an experience... but I still don't like it very much. For starters, this show looks like absolute butt, and only half of that can be attributed to intentionally grimy stylistic suck. No-budget James Bond might be a joke, but at the end of the day you still have to watch it, and there is far too much action in the show for it to look this crappy. Characterwise, it starts with exploring the more sympathetic sides of unlikeable losers, towards the end it just keeps spamming more unlikeable losers because... funny? Also, the story is wilfully obtuse but appears to take itself increasingly seriously as it goes on, which makes it eventually cross over from "shaggy dog" to outright "just a prank bro". Now, I will say that this is more than just random nonsense. I think that it does try to say something about Japanese society – I'm just not sure what that actually is. Instead the intense cynicism gets the better of the the show and it just disappears up its own ass, and I don't think that is particularly hilarious. 5/10

Otona Precure

I can't hate Otona Precure. It's just exactly what it says on the tin, a basic-ass Precure show with mildly adult topics while everything else remains as generic as it it gets, production included. This was never going to be extraordinary or subversive (and if it attempted that, it would probably have gone badly), so I'll just take things like razor thin characters, baby-level takes on environmentalism and egregious reuse of 20 year old stock footage as a charming part of the package. In fact, if it was less rudimentary it would not be watchable for someone like me who doesn't care to explore the 100+ episodes of old assembly line magical girl anime that this ostensibly a sequel to – I get it just fine from context clues, thank you very much. It's very much a slim novelty, but enough of a novelty that it can just about sustain 12 episodes and that is it. 6/10

Overtake!

Overtake is, to put it simply, thoroughly competent, as expected from Ei Aoki – a small-scale, vaguely bromantic character drama with a moderately novel setting that can take full advantage of its traditional underdog sports story trappings. It certainly won't blow anyone's socks off but compared to all the questionable jank above it does feel like a breath of fresh air when something just works, and I really can't stress this enough – I did not particularly care about Overtake and its characters at first but godammit if it didn't put in the work and skill to make me care. The characters are fleshed out and fun, the plot is well paced and goes to some less predictable places, and it looks really appealing without coming across as living above its means. I had a genuinely good time all the way through but ultimately wasn't invested enough to consider it a classic, and that's fine. It's an "exceptional midcard" type of show, and I wish there was more of this tier between the cheap trash and the ultra-premium crowdpleaser.

And I cannot keep myself from saying this, but this tangentially-about-racing character drama just so happens to utterly clown on Umamusume in regards to making racing exciting, without even trying very hard (Redline it is not), via groundbreaking additions such as left turns and actual strategy. And that is before it's actually a good show with characters and a story worth caring about. Imagine that. 7/10

but consider the following:

In all honesty, this was a pretty good season and almost all the reasons for that are not on the above list. Yes, the premium material on top of the rankings did actually deliver hard this season, which is to say that both Frieren and Apothecary Diaries would be easy AOTY contenders had I not learned my lesson regarding continuing shows with Ranking of Kings. Both were great but face some rough road ahead – Frieren is heading into a Shounen Exam Arc™ while Apothecary Diaries is starting to show signs of classic shoujo romance pitfalls, so I'll hope for the best and give them their due once they end. And there's also Undead Unluck, which is simply the Fire Force that Weekly Jump has at home, and by that I mean that it's two thirds delightfully unhinged psychedelia and one third Jump brand "I should really drop this" pablum, a ratio that is highly unlikely to improve. Besides that, I'm quite a ways into Pluto but haven't finished it yet because it is indeed Naoki Urasawa's Award-Winning Masterpiece Pluto – expertly made and decently meaningful but also bloated with self-importance past the point of flatulence. We'll see.

#anime #review #fall2023 #uma musume #tearmoon empire #bullbuster #16bit sensation #under ninja #otona precure #overtake

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grigori77 · 1 year ago

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Movies of 2023 - My Summer Rundown (Part 2)

10. HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE – it’s always nice when a sharp little indie banger sneaks in under the radar to place impressively high on one of my lists for the year, and this impressive critically acclaimed underdog thriller is definitely shaping up as one of this year’s most memorable examples. Treading very different ground from the likes of To Catch a Killer, this is a very low-fi, gritty down-and-dirty procedural slice-of-life thriller about a motley collection of eco-terrorists banding together to sabotage an oil pipeline in West Texas, focusing almost entirely on this core group of disillusioned youths played by eight uniformly EXCEPTIONAL actors each handing in genuine (ahem) dynamite performances. Ariele Barer (Marvel’s Runaways), The Revenant’s Forrest Goodluck, American Honey’s Sasha Lane and Marcus Scribner (probably best known as the voice of She-Ra & the Princesses of Power’s Bow) are the undeniable stand-outs here, but all of these kids are ON FIRE throughout, showing they’ve got truly BRIGHT futures ahead of them indeed, while Irene Bedard (Smoke Signals) also impresses in a supporting turn as Joanna, an FBI agent who may be onto their plans … the film bounces about between the varying points of view of the characters, gradually unveiling their motivations to commit a morally complex terrorist act through a series of scattered flashbacks punctuating the planning, execution and aftermath of the bombing itself, with writer-director Daniel Goldhaber (Cam, here co-adapting Andreas Maim’s incendiary non-fiction novel with Ariele Barer herself and Cam’s co-writer Jordan Sjol) weaving a suitably taut and atmospheric slowburn path throughout the flawlessly executed narrative, the film brilliantly building its wire-taut tension to a rewardingly cathartic climax which is as provocative as the film’s challenging subject matter. This is a film that asks some VERY BIG QUESTIONS and delivers some suitably complicated and rightfully TROUBLING answers, a razor sharp piece of indie cinema which definitely deserves the critical acclaim and guaranteed future cult hit status it’s already earning …

9. THE FLASH – oh boy … yeah, this one is gonna be a COMPLICATED talk, I just know it. This was one TROUBLED project from day one, from the major shake-ups surrounding the Joss Whedon-compromised Justice League film and the subsequent mess THAT unleashed, through the whole conflicting debate over Zack Snyder’s original vision for the DCEU, and then the eventual collapse of the Cinematic Universe itself, this film, originally entitled Flashpoint (which personally I like A WHOLE LOT more, actually, since it really does pay DIRECT reference to the actually storyline they went with) went through a whole collection of incarnations and reiterations and, for a while, it was starting to look like we might NEVER see it hit our cinema screens at all … and that’s without even mentioning star Ezra Miller’s ongoing legal troubles and essential CANCELLING after their continued outrageous, unacceptable off-set behaviour, which looked set to torpedo the film all on its own.

Honestly, I have to admit I was MYSELF a little wary going in, not because of these particular problems but more just the prospect of what I would actually do if, in spite of all this, I actually still LIKED IT … unfortunately for me, that was VERY MUCH the case, which is why we’re here in the first place. But I must forge on, and so I’m gonna just take this film on ITS OWN face value and ignore the external problems … at least until THE END of the review … because The Flash is, actually, pretty fucking GREAT. Barry Allen (Miller) is finally coming into his own as a fully-fledged member of the Justic League, even if this does frequently mean he’s kind of cleaning up the extreme messes that are left behind when Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) gets involved in a particularly BIG potential world-shattering event, as brilliantly illustrated in the film’s suitably SPECTACULAR opening set-piece, which does a BEAUTIFUL job of not only letting us know EXACTLY what this incarnation of the Flash is actually capable of, but also revealing Barry’s own distinctly unique, offbeat and, frankly, really rather ADORABLE personal style of superheroism. Then the plot itself kicks off when Barry’s father Henry (Ron Livingstone), serving life in prison for the wrongly-convicted murder of Barry’s mother Nora (Pan’s Labyrinth’s wonderful Maribel Verdu), sees his latest (and, it looks like, FINAL) appeal fall flat due to a crucial new piece of evidence turning out to be useless, and Barry decides he's had enough of ignoring a particularly potent aspect of his superpowers – the ability to run SO FAST that he can actually GO BACK IN TIME!!! So he races back to the day of his mother’s death and tweaks circumstances so that she survives, only for Barry to then get punted off track before he can return to the present by an unknown entity within “the Speedforce” which then lands him in 2013, just days before Earth’s invasion by the hostile Kryptonian forces of General Zod (Michael Shannon), as seen in Man of Steel. Still with us so far? Yeah, well it gets EVEN MORE complicated, cuz it turns out that, while his mum is now STILL ALIVE, Barry hasn’t got his powers in this universe, which means that he has to reform the Justice League himself in THIS timeline in order to defeat Zod. Except that there are FAR MORE consequences to messing with time than Barry ever took into account set to make things all but insurmountably complicated for him to succeed …

beyond this we’re getting into DANGEROUS spoiler territory, beyond the fact that these new developments give rise to whole fresh and very complicated ideas of alternative universes somewhat akin to what the MCU’s already started experimenting with (which is also, actually, something that the DC comics universe does ALL THE BLOODY TIME), which gives rise to whole new incarnations of beloved characters from the established DCEU, some of which HAVE already been revealed in the trailers and beyond, but others not so much, so … yeah, anyway, it’s a glorious MESS of a narrative, but somehow this film does a REALLY IMPRESSIVE job of navigating this jumble in an impressively coherent and breezy way that ultimately makes this a whole lot of fun to watch, actually. Of course, the lion’s share of the praise for this HAS TO go to screenwriter Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey & the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) for wrangling the UNHOLY MESS of development done for the previous incarnations into an actual WORKING script, which was then brought to life with suitably brave and adventurous SKILL by director Andy Muschietti (Mama and It Chapter One and Two), but the uniformly EXCEPTIONAL cast shoulder a good deal of that responsibility too – Miller may be problematic in real life, but there can be no denying that he is FUCKING BRILLIANT in the role here, crafting a hyperactive, ultra-awkward social misfit of a superhero that us various underdog kids just can’t help rooting for, while it is a MASSIVE pleasure to get to see MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE Batman return to the role as this AU’s altered version of Bruce Wayne, the legendary Michael Keaton himself finally getting to prove why he really is THE VERY BEST VERSION of the character out there (and I will accept NO ARGUMENT AT ALL about that, I swear you can all FIGHT ME on this particular hill upon which I am determined to DIE if I must), and Livingstone and Verdu bring an IMMENSE amount of pathos to their characters throughout which makes it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR why Barry tries SO HARD to save them both, and it’s also great fun getting to see Michael Shannon back as the Big Bad here again, I always really liked this spectacular scenery-chewing version of Zod.

For me, though, the biggest win here has to be The Young & the Restless’ Sasha Calle, making her big screen debut as the most impressive and DCEU-consistent incarnation of Kara Zor-El, aka SUPERGIRL, that we could ever have hoped for. She’s a truly AWESOME creation, EASILY as badass as Henry Cavill’s Supes but also a good deal more complex as a character too. Ultimately it’s a shame that circumstances mean that we likely won’t get to see more of her in future projects, much like Keaton’s returning Batman, as they’re definitely the unexpected heart and soul of the film, easily delivering in the most impressively iconic set-pieces and memorable character beats. Indeed, this is SO BLOODY BRILLIANT all round as a film – from its spectacular action sequences, through its frequent gleefully anarchic screwball humour, to a variety of impressively jaw-dropping game-changer twists in the narrative – that the fact that the DCEU itself is essentially over and all of this means PRECISELY ZERO in the face of where it’s all going in James Gunn’s incoming Cinematic Universe reboot makes this feel all the more ultimately pointless, which lends any viewing a bittersweet aftertaste no matter HOW enjoyable it all is. I mean granted, it’s NOT perfect (there is, famously, some pretty clunky CGI that ALMOST takes you out of the experience, especially in the late sequence when we see the timelines start to collide), but then very few of the DCEU movies HAVE BEEN anyway, and this one still essentially works just fine for what it is. So it may not have any actual VALUE for the series moving forward, but it’s still a really great movie that MORE THAN deserves to be seen for its own merits, and I highly recommend you give it a chance anyway. At least Gunn and co have seen the sense to keep Muschietti onboard for their reboot (namely helming the new DCU’s Batman reboot The Brave & the Bold), and if they’ve any more sense they’ll bring Christina Hodson back for more too …

8. THEY CLONED TYRONE – while cinemas may finally be properly getting back into the full swing of things now, with many of the big budget offerings that were long delayed by COVID finally emerging to fill up the year’s international moviegoing calendar, streaming services don’t seem to be letting that slow their own steam (granted, it’ll be interesting to see how things look in a year’s time, when the fallout from the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes really starts to hit, but I’m not about to get into THAT debate here), and Netflix is no exception, still leading the pack with their Original filmmaking offerings. BY FAR the most interesting, original and downright FIENDISHLY INGENIOUS offering they’ve landed so far this year HAS TO BE this thoroughly unique sci-fi satire from up-and-coming screenwriter Juel Taylor (Creed II, Space Jam: A New Legacy), who makes his feature directing debut here in truly BLINDING fashion. The concept itself is an absolute belter, although while the title may sound DECIDEDLY spoiler-heavy already, it’s actually just the very tip of the iceberg, and giving much of anything about the plot away would reveal some pretty key twists to anybody who didn’t already see the trailer. So if you DON’T wanna get spoiled, just rest assured this is a PHENOMENAL FILM and it really MUST BE SEEN, and just check it out good and cold … still here? Okay then … John Boyega continues to stretch his legs away from Star Wars as Fontaine, a mid-level drug dealer in a suburban ghetto simply known as The Glen who’s gunned down in a turf dispute, only to wake up unharmed the next day with no recollection of said events. As he investigates this uncanny twist, he ropes in the dubious help of two acquaintances – pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and hooker Yo-Yo (If Beale Street Could Talk and The Marvels’ Teyonah Parris) – only to discover a dark and twisted labyrinthine conspiracy that stretches far beyond the urban confines of their beleaguered neighbourhood.

The results are one of the slickest and most brain-bakingly twisted chunks of speculative science fiction I’ve come across in a good long while, constantly throwing the viewer narrative curve balls while posing a dizzying series of moral and socially critical thematic quandaries, all the while presenting a brilliantly off-beat reimagining of classic “blaxploitation” tropes (indeed this is among the very best examples of this quirky little sub-genre I’ve EVER come across). It’s also got a LETHALLY devious sense of humour to it, beautifully subverting expectations to bring a delightfully skewed inner-city slice-of-life POV to proceedings which it then mines for the purest nuggets of comedy gold it can find. That being said, there are times it also gets pretty dark too – while it’s never particularly violent or harrowing (despite some of the obvious elements of its subject matter), the way the conspiracy itself unfolds as its monstrous nature is revealed gets truly existentially terrifying at times, and in the current political climate feels a little TOO possible … and then there’s the cast, who tie everything together PERFECTLY, the three leads in particular taking what could have been a joke set-up trio of the genre’s classic trope archetypes and invest them with genuine heart, soul and complex nuance – Boyega is endearingly vulnerable and effortlessly likeable as our sort-of hero, while Foxx brings both requisite quirky charisma and surprising deeply-hidden sympathy to what’s usually one of the most classically despicable character tropes out there, but the real STAR here is Parris, who effortlessly steals the film out from under her peers as a smart, plucky and brilliantly resourceful amateur sleuth who’s frequently miles ahead of everybody else as the mystery unfolds around them; meanwhile Kieffer Sutherland brings delightfully sleazy “cracker” energy as Nixon, the brutally amoral bureaucrat nominally in charge of this nefarious far-reaching plot. Taylor handles proceedings with admirable skill and an impressively artful visual flair while crafting one of the years most intriguing and thought-provoking films so far, and immediately marks himself as a clear rising star with a hell of a lot of one-to-watch potential for the future. I look forward to whatever it is he does next …

7. BLUE BEETLE – as for moving the big screen DCU moving forward, here’s a project that, apparently, is actually making the leap from old to new very much in one piece. Despite being long developed as a flagship film for the original DCEU, Gunn has folded this cinematic origin story for the second generation of one of the DC Universe’s lesser known (but still suitably iconic) superheroes into his new vision. Which basically means that THIS, right here, is our first real taste of what’s to come in the NEW vision … and, if I’m honest, if this IS a good indicator, then I’m actually all for it. Marking the big break of up-and-coming Puerto Rican filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto (who made a small but potent impact with his feature debut Charm City Kings), this is also EXTREMELY notable for being the first major studio movie about a Latino superhero, namely Jaime Reyes (Cobra Kai’s Xolo Mariduena), an impoverished young pre-law graduate from the fictional metropolis of Palmera City’s Edge Keys who finds himself essentially FORCED into taking up the long-vacated mantle of the new Blue Beetle after accidentally symbiotically bonding with a mysterious alien superweapon system simply known as the Scarab. Unfortunately, this device is being zealously sought by psychopathic weapons corporation CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who wants to use its unique programming as the basis for her world-changing OMAC weapon system, and she’ll do ANYTHING to get hold of it … that’s really all you need to know about the story, the film proving to be a welcomely lean and impressively streamlined classic archetypal hero’s journey original story which also EFFORTLESSLY sets up all we need to know moving forward into what are, I’m sure, gonna be some EVEN MORE impressive adventures once the DCU proper gets off the ground, and the end result makes for one of the year’s most genuinely ENJOYABLE superhero movies. Mariduena makes for an endearing young hero here, investing Jaime with wide-eyed innocence and precociously earnest charm that belie some pure steel when he has to learn to man up and get in the fight for real, and the rest of the Reyes clan are similarly well established here too, particularly wildly popular stand-up comedian George Lopez (who here shows he has ONE HELL of a high pitched scream) as conspiracy nut Uncle Rudy and Hocus Pocus 2’sBelissa Escobedo as Jaime’s sweet, acerbic and FANTASTICALLY sassy little sister Milagro, while almost IMPOSSIBLY beautiful Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine thoroughly impresses as Victoria’s granddaughter Jenny, the tough and resourceful daughter of original Blue Beetle Ted Kord. And then there’s the villains, and OH MY GODS does this film pay off BIG TIME by genuinely OUTPERFORMING when it comes to the all-important job of giving the hero suitably heavyweight antagonists by providing us with a pair of genuine STARS here – Sarandon is frequently downright CHILLING as a stony PSYCHOPATH who doesn’t care about ANYTHING but making her own twisted, perverse technological dream a reality, while Apocalypto’s very memorable Big Bad Raoul Max Trujillo handles the muscular side of things with consummate professionalism and brooding feral intensity as her pet special forces killer Ignacio Carapax, the recipient of the OMAC prototype and therefore, essentially, Jaime’s first nemesis.

There’s some INCREDIBLE action on offer here, the visual effects delivering magnificently to bring the Scarab AND OMAC’s versatile capabilities out in fine style, but for the most part this is a film which rides high on a glorious mixture of good old fashioned light-hearted humour and a massive dollop of emotional heft and pure HEART, delivering some genuinely POWERFUL heartbreaking character beats once things get REAL before finally paying off in a wonderfully cathartic old fashioned Hollywood happy ending. In many ways this film feels almost like a THROWBACK to simpler times, but it also paves the way impressively well for the future of the franchise if Gunn and co are INDEED intent on following this formula moving forward. Certainly this is a prime example of how to do a bright and cheerful primary coloured superhero movie WELL, and I look forward to plenty more of the Blue Beetle when they finally get their shit together again …

6. EXTRACTION 2 – back in 2020, when the Pandemic was really ramping up and not only the Summer but the whole year’s cinematic calendar looked like it was going in the toilet, the streaming services stepped up and took up the slack in fine style, and none carried more of the weight than Netflix with their Original Films. One of the year’s most impressive offerings was the fascinating team-up of MCU filmmaking heavyweights the Russo Brothers, who produced and co-wrote the first Extraction, an unadulterated two-hour adrenaline shot of an action movie that blew all our socks off and announced to the world that debuting stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrave was going to be a proper future star in his own right in the most demanding of cinematic genres. Needless to say Netflix was IMMEDIATELY clamouring for more, just like the rest of us, so Hargrave and co returning with this equally blistering non-stop thrill-ride of a follow-up was a genuine no-brainer. Thor himself Chris Hemsworth returns as former Australian special forces soldier-turned mercenary hostage extraction expert Tyler Rake, battling to recover from his near-death experience at the end of the first film in order to rescue Ketevan Radiani (Abigail’s Tinatin Dalakishvili), the sister of his ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurylenko), and her children from the brutal Georgian prison they’re trapped in alongside Ketevan’s monstrous husband, Davit (Tornike Bziava), who’s facing a ten year stretch for his crimes as a bigshot in the Georgian mafia. Except that during the breakout Tyler’s forced to kill Davit, which sets the whole mafia, led by his furious brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani), hot on their heels … like its predecessor, this is a film that, after taking a little time to set things up, hits the ground running with one INSANE action sequence on top of another and keeps going like that for pretty much the entirety of its remaining runtime, Hargrave and his RIDICULOUSLY hard-working and committed stunt teams delivering some of the year’s most spectacular set-pieces as they constantly up the ante on EVERYTHING they did in the first film.

Once again the absolute highlight is a genuinely INSANE unbroken single-shot sequence that takes at least twenty minutes all told to tell its mesmerising story, and this set piece alone really is the equal to anything we got in the John Wock movies. Hemsworth once again proves that he really IS the God of Thunder even when he ISN’T playing Thor, kicking arse and taking names like few other action heroes are capable of doing, but this time it's an absolute JOY to actually get to see returning co-stars Golshifteh Farahani (Body of Lies, Paterson, Invasion) and, in particular, Adam Bessa (The Blessed, Mosul, Harka) both get a MUCH bigger slice of the action themselves as brother and sister Nik and Yaz Khan, Tyler’s trusted mercenary partners, both proving as viciously lethal in action as our main protagonist; Gogrichiani, meanwhile, makes for an agreeably FERAL villain as a grieving butcher determined to get blood for blood no matter the cost, while Dalakshvili tugs hard on our heartstrings as a desperate mother willing to go to extraordinary lengths to keep her children safe. Altogether this is another undeniable POWERHOUSE action thriller, relentlessly effective and blissfully engaging from start to finish, and in many ways it’s EASILY an improvement on the first film. Needless to say a third film is ALREADY in development, and after this I’m SUPREMELY confident it should be just as much worth the wait …

5. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 – time for the obligatory MCU entry, then … but for once, this doesn’t feel like I’m trying to dress up a pig, either – YET AGAIN writer-director James Gunn has proven that he is, quite simply, THE BEST, most consistently ON-FUCKING-FIRE filmmaker working in the franchise, which perhaps makes the fact that he’s now OFFICIALLY jumping ship to permanently defect to DC particularly bittersweet, I guess. This is WITHOUT A DOUBT the very best MCU movie since Captain America: Civil War, and it couldn’t have come along at a better time since the series has been in SUCH a tough spot of late … anyway, the worst, least reliable, most unrepentantly despicable bunch of space-faring, for-hire A-HOLES in the entire galaxy are back, now set up full time in their base of operations in Knowhere and looking to get back to business now the Universe has finally gotten over all that unpleasant post-Thanos Snap fallout. But the crew themselves are still suffering some lingering after-effects from that shake-up, particularly Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt), who’s a pretty much permanently drunk, despondent, emotionally broken MESS since the Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who came back after Endgame ain’t HIS Gamora, which leaves Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Nebula (Karen Gillen) propping things up in his essential absence as the current nominal leaders of the crew. This shaky status quo is then torn asunder when an explosively violent encounter with the Sovereign’s new superpowered agent of vengeance Adam Warlock (The Maze Runner’s Will Poulter) leaves Knowhere in chaos and Rocket badly injured and in need of urgent emergency care due to a previously undiscovered proprietary kill-switch built into his cybernetic implants making it impossible for them to heal him without killing him, leading them to enter into an uneasy alliance with Gamora in order to steal an override code from Rocket’s creator, the High Evolutionary (Peacemaker’s Chukwudi Iwuji), a megalomaniacal evil genius obsessed with manufacturing a perfect race in order to populate his envisioned utopian civilisation. Not only is this one of the very best films in the entire MCU canon to date, but it’s EASILY the best in Gunn’s trilogy, essentially a pitch perfect shake-up reinvention of the classic overblown science fiction space opera archetype which also pays immense respect to the fascinating core group of characters it’s helped to introduce cinemagoing audiences to.

It’s also a film expressly about ROCKET himself, even though he doesn’t actually have all that much screentime here, spending much of the film fighting for his life in the sick bay, but we’re treated to extensive flashbacks to his origin story as he was created, refined and essentially brought up by the High Evolutionary, and found his first makeshift found family among his fellow pieced-together cyber-augmented animals, sweet and gentle otter Lyla (Linda Cardellini), wheeled goofball walrus Teefs (Click & Collect’s Asim Chaudry) and spider-limbed bundle of hyperactivity rabbit Floor (The Suicide Squad’s Mikaela Hoover), who are the cutest bunch of anthropomorphic critters you could possibly imagine and, as a result, responsible for some of the biggest feels (and BY FAR the most thoroughly devastating emotion sledgehammer moments) in the entire movie. Needless to say Cooper is on top form throughout, as are the rest of the eclectic, irreverent and absolutely TOP DRAWER cast – while you may still be making unfair jokes about him being “the Worst Chris”, I think this is the best performance Pratt has EVER put in, he’s an absolute REVELATION in this one, plumbing previously unfathomed depths of raw intensity and naked vulnerability as Quill is forced to get over his shit in order to save his best friend, Saldana gets to bring a much darker and more edgy, unhinged take to Gamora to the one we’re previously used to, Gillen finally completes Nebula’s redemption arc to bring her fully into the realm of true HERO, and Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff, as Drax and Mantis, continue to be THE ABSOLUTE FUNNIEST, most full-on unapologetically HILARIOUS agents of chaos in this entire trilogy, all while getting to further expand and develop their own characters too … and, of course, Vin Diesel once again brings a hell of a lot of range to just three words as walking talking tree Groot; meanwhile it’s also nice to see other returning faces get plenty to do again, such as Sean Gunn’s endearingly prickly former Ravager Kraglin, Elizabeth Debicki’s bitchy Sovereign despot Aisha, the GOTG Holiday Special’s fan favourite Cosmo the Space Dog (again adorably voiced by Bodies Bodies Bodies and Fairyland’s Maria Bakalova), and even Sylvester Stallone, returning from GOTG 2 as mighty Ravager hero Stakar Ogord. Then of course, there are the series newcomers, who bring their own brands of intriguing new charm to proceedings, particularly Poulter, who does a fantastic job of taking a truly badass, virtually unstoppable supreme being like Adam Warlock and then essentially makes him a thoroughly clueless, emotionally immature man-baby who largely doesn’t have a clue what’s going on half the time, Gunn-regular Nathan Fillion, stealing every one of his scenes in another brilliantly arch comedic cameo, and, of course, Iwuji, who brings us what HAS TO BE the trilogy’s VERY BEST villain, investing the High Evolutionary with a supremely entitled sense of moral superiority and truly monstrous ego while simultaneously managing to make him a genuinely credible intellectual THREAT to our heroes. Needless to say, this amazing cast are just part of the precisely concocted recipe that’s brought this franchise highlight to such exquisite life, Gunn and co creating a pitch perfect sci-fi adventure chock full of action, suspense, thrills, wonderfully weird new extra-terrestrial locales, yet another gold calibre eclectic soundtrack, a TRULY MASSIVE amount of winning humour and a genuinely humongous dollop of pure, unadulterated FEELS. Congratulations James Gunn, you made me cry again. TWICE, damn you. And I love you for it …

4. NIMONA – we almost didn’t get this year’s most important animated feature. When Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox and everything went tits up for its various affiliates, animation house Blue Sky Studios bit the dust just as this long-awaited adaptation of influential She-Ra & the Princesses of Power showrunner ND Stevenson’s beloved fantastical graphic novel from Spies In Disguise directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quaine was nearing completion, and it looked like it might never see the light of day … at least until Annapurna Pictures and Netflix swooped in to the rescue, snapping it up, funding its completion and getting it out on streaming to the delight of all of us who’d thought it was essentially LOST. The end result is just about THE VERY BEST movie I’ve ever seen about the struggles being non-binary and not conforming to any set gender identity in modern society, viewed through the fantasy prism of a shapeshifting “teenage girl” who effortlessly steals her own film. Chloe Grace Moretz is perfectly cast as the voice of the titular misfit anarchist troublemaker supernatural being, who finds an opportunity for some fresh chaos by joining forces with Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a newly-knighted commoner who becomes public enemy number one after being viciously framed for the murder of the queen of a futuristic medieval society built around chivalry and the righteous smiting of monsters. Ballister’s determined to prove his innocence, while Nimona just wants to create havoc, while they’re both being hunted by his former fellow knights, led by his ex-boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang of The Try Guys), a direct descendent of the Kingdom’s legendary original monster slaying heroine Gloreth. It’s a gloriously original piece of work, the animation presented in a truly GORGEOUS brightly coloured 2-dimensional 3D graphic style that at once riffs on the ingenious visual inventiveness of the Spider-Verse movies while also creating something COMPLETELY NEW but also simultaneously lovably reminiscent of the classic Blue Sky cartoony look, while the frequently chaotic action is just as infectiously anarchic as the lead character herself. It’s also fiendishly brilliant in its subversive message and twisty logic, making the viewer question what being a monster REALLY means, and if what we see someone as REALLY IS their true identity. Needless to say, Moretz THOROUGHLY runs away with the whole film, while the character of Nimona herself is a truly ENCHANTING and thoroughly inspiring creation that’s destined to become an iconic hero for non-binary and trans kids around the world, but Ahmed and Yang are also both clearly having a great time here too, as is Frances Conroy as the Director of the Kingdom’s knights, clearly having a blast bringing icy menace to her deliciously duplicitous villainous turn. It’s an incredibly FUN movie, shot through with a rich and rewardingly infectious sense of humour, taking classic fantasy tropes and turning them on their head in new and wonderfully inventive ways, but it knows JUST when to get serious too, and there are some truly powerful moments when it takes hold of your heart and just DESTROYS YOU emotionally, especially in the incredibly evocative climax.

Ultimately this ISN’T an overly faithful adaptation of Stevenson’s original graphic novel – he was in a darker place when he wrote and drew it, going through his own complicated struggle with his gender identity before finally making his personal transition last year – but it certainly is rewardingly true to the book’s spirit and deep-down message of inclusion, positivity and being true to your core identity, which makes it one of the most important animated films to be made in a very long time indeed. I’m so happy this film’s receiving the TRULY MASSIVE amount of attention and LOVE it’s being garnering since its release, and I thank Netflix and everybody else who made the effort to get this movie out after all when Disney seemed so reluctant to take a chance on it after all. This deserves to be seen, it NEEDS to be seen, and I urge you to check it out.

3. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – the most exciting animated feature of the last DECADE getting a sequel was pretty much a no-brainer, but it didn’t make the wait any easier, and after COVID put a dent in so many of the big releases coming forward this was definitely one of the most painful delays for me. Finally getting to see it was, therefore, ONE HELL of a cathartic release of tension, so much that even later discovering that not everything was exactly GOOD in the production studios at the time (namely the animators being crunched LIKE CRAZY by the ever-shifting nature of the vision they were being asked to realise, leading to a toxic working environment for many, which is NEVER cool) still didn’t dent my truly AWED appreciation for the finished film. Seriously, this is THE BEST animated feature we’ve seen this year, ARE LIKELY TO SEE this year, and ALREADY a strong candidate for the best animated feature of this decade (although that’s likely to change if the incoming sequel turns out to be as good, if not BETTER, which it probability WILL). Honestly, I could end the review right here just with that recommendation, it’s GENUINELY THAT GOOD, people. But I still got a job to do here, so … once again, Miles Morales (Dope’s Shameik Moore), the new Spider-Man in his world, is at the centre of a whirlwind of narrative chaos as a new arch-nemesis he never knew he had emerges to hold him to account for what he did when he destroyed the Kingpin’s interdimensionally destructive supercollider in the first film – the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a former scientist at Alchemax who got turned into a walking mass of unstable wormholes when he got hit with the full brunt of all that quantum energy. As he embarks on his quest to take his misguided revenge on Miles, his interdimensional spree of carnage leads our Spider-Man to become connected with a Multiverse-spanning cadre of Spider-People, led by the spectacularly stern Spider-Man of Earth 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), who police the various Earths in order to combat and remove “anomalies” that arise to threaten them … and the Spot is a BIG ONE of those. Oh, and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), the Spider-Woman Miles most definitely fell for in the first film, has started working with them too after her own father, police Captain George Stacy (Shea Wigham), who’s had it in for their Spider-Woman after she was mistakenly framed for the death of their Earth’s Peter Parker, discovered her secret identity and made her run from her own dimension as a result …

Yeah, it sounds pretty complicated, but this whole twisted labyrinth is, nonetheless, unveiled in the exact same super-slick, viewer-friendly way the first film pulled off its own exposition, which just makes more room for all the FUN as we get to follow our old favourites and a whole host of fascinating NEW incarnations of our favourite arachnid-themed superhero on their various insane adventures. This is JUST AS SPECTACULAR in terms of action, character work, pure invention and sheer, unrivalled SPECTACLE as its predecessor, in many places upping the wow factor SIGNIFICANTLY (particularly during a particularly colourful visit to the distinctly Indian-flavoured alternative version of New York called Mumbattan, which is the stomping ground of one of the film’s most memorable new Spider-folk, the irrepressibly chipper Pavitr Prabhakar, voiced by Deadpool’s thoroughly brilliant Karan Soni). Indeed, the most fun we have throughout this movie is definitely getting to hang out not only with our old friends but all these newcomers too, with Pavitr being joined by the fascinating likes of the very coolest Spider-Woman after Gwen, Jess Drew (Awkward Black Girl’s Issa Rae), digital avatar Margo Kess/Spider-Byte (The Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg), overly-angsty living Todd McFarlane comic panel Ben Reily/Scarlet Spider (the incomparable Andy Samberg) and even Mayday Parker, the impossibly adorable new baby daughter of Jake Johnson’s welcome returning big fan-favourite OG Peter Parker (and, of course, Miles’ original mentor from the first movie), who’s ALREADY got her spider-powers, while Miguel is a FANTASTIC character, brooding like a champ and sometimes proving to be as much of an EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE villain in the story as the Spot, especially once his beef with Miles is revealed … but at the end of the day, ALL of these new arrivals thoroughly PALE in comparison to one of this film’s BEST secret weapons, Hobie Brown/Spider Punk (Daniel Kaluuya getting to use his normal accent for once), a misfit non-conformist anarchist JOY with one hell of a problem with authority (Miguel’s IN PARTICULAR) who effortlessly steals our hearts just as much as EVERY SINGLE SCENE he’s in. That being said, it really is SO GREAT having our old crew back – Miles and Gwen are SO SWEET, their chemistry is just OFF THE BLOODY CHARTS without them even trying, and I adore every single scene of them together, never mind their own individual storylines (it’s PARTICULARLY great getting to see Gwen herself get a SIGNIFICANTLY enlarged narrative presence this time round, becoming JUST as important in this story as Miles himself), while any time we get to spend with Johnson’s Peter is pure gold, and we get to spend even more time with Miles’ wonderful, loving, hard-working parents Jeff and Rio Morales (Brian Tyree Henry and Lauren Velez), which is ALWAYS a plus. Needless to say, this is a whole LOAD of fun, shot through with the same classic winning humour, wild invention, visionary experimentation, thematic resonance and pure geeky in-joke easter egg-packing FAN SERVICE that made the first film such a winner, but it also comes through BIG TIME with more of those wicked FEELS, this time ramping things up FAR MORE with the serious emotional HEFT as we’re presented with some truly DEVASTATING character arcs whose after effects are gonna be felt for A VERY LONG TIME after. The fact that this is just the first half of a two-part SAGA, with Beyond the Spider-Verse currently in the works, means that we can look forward to PLENTY MORE, although here’s hoping that this time they give their animators a little more BREATHING ROOM to get it done right WITHOUT having to break their backs in the process, yeah? Then again, with the writers AND actors on strike right now, the likelihood of THAT is pretty strong …

2. OPPENHEIMER – really, is there ANY SURPRISE over this placing so high? You know what a MASSIVE Christopher Nolan fan I am, and him making a proper EPIC historical biopic examining the career and achievements of the father of nuclear power was GUARANTEED to not only grab my attention but also thoroughly please the serious high-brow cinema appreciator buried inside me under all that action junkie, superhero fanboy and sci-fi-nut stuff … but yeah, this was ALWAYS gonna be a fucking amazing film, wasn’t it? Nolan’s most regular acting collaborator (outside of Michael Caine, anyway), Cillian Murphy, stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project which led to the creation of the very first viable nuclear weapons which were then used by the American military to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and end the Second World War. On the surface he seems like a driven, visionary man with a real fascination for the science he’s pioneering, but also a cool pragmatism which makes him the ideal man to usher in this astounding technological achievement, but as the film unfolds in Nolan’s typical non-linear narrative fashion we discover a far more complex man than we first supposed, Murphy unveiling Oppenheimer’s deep-seeded fears about the frighteningly real dangers his Project could give birth to. After all, he may have been the father of the Modern World, but this particular creation also gave rise to a century of technological horrors and a whole new, long lasting Cold War.

Anyway, this is UNDENIABLY the greatest performance of Murphy’s career, if he doesn’t at least get an Oscar nod for this there’s no justice in the world, while, in typical Nolan fashion, the rest of his rich ensemble cast is a genuine embarrassment of riches, from Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s long-suffering wife Kitty and Florence Pugh as his ill-fated Communist mistress Jean Tatlock to Matt Damon as his nominal “boss”, Gen. Leslie Groves, Kenneth Brannagh as his mentor and idol Niels Bohr, the mighty Tom Conti as the even MORE awesome Albert Einstein and even Robert Downey Jr. in a particularly KEY role as Oppenheimer’s one-time colleague and later rival, Atomic Energy commissioner Lewis Strauss, who dominates the parallel narrative throughline presented over the course of the film as his own efforts to discredit and destroy the great man ultimately end up coming back to bite his own political ambitions. To a man, they’re all as MAGNIFICENT as the rest of the film, which is a fascinating journey into the dark heart of one of the greatest but also most historically and socially destructive scientific achievements in the history of the world, the man who ushered it in, and the hell he then went through afterwards when he then tried to make sure we didn’t make it SO MUCH WORSE once we had the power to destroy ourselves. It’s a film that raises extremely tough questions, and what answers we ARE able to come to are every bit as terrifying as any of the consequences that are either seen or suggested here. Nolan is, as always, A MASTER in the director’s chair as much as in the screenwriter’s corner, bringing his usual visionary flair and artistic brilliance to craft yet more of his trademark IMAX-rocking BEAUTY and opulence, while his sneaky, snaky narrative shenanigans once again frame things in ingenious, challenging and sometimes emotionally DEVASTATING ways before we’re brought to the bittersweet denouement. Tenet composer Ludwig Goransson’s expansive, evocative score is, ultimately, just the icing on the cake, making an already amazing film even more noteworthy. If this film isn’t the toast of the Awards Season then they really ain’t paying attention …

1. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE – really, there should be NO SURPRISE that this has topped off my list for the summer. I may have grown up with James Bond, and I LOVE the Jason Bourne movies too, but Tom Cruise’s cinematic adaptation of the classic TV spy show has been MY ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE espionage-based film franchise ever since JJ Abrams established the tried-and-tested formula for the series with 2006’s seminal classic third entry. That being said, the franchise didn’t find its strongest voice until Cruise brought his Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun) on board for the dynamite fifth instalment, Rogue Nation, which was so fucking brilliant and well received by both critics AND audiences that Paramount saw fit to retain his services on the EVEN BETTER follow-up, Fallout, which came DAMN CLOSE to equalling the heights of Sam Mendes’ Bond masterpiece Skyfall … so of course it was a NO-BRAINER for him to return once again for this two-part intended send-off for Cruise’s seemingly immortal superspy, Ethan Hunt, as he not only faces his deadliest foes to date, but also some very dark ghosts from his own past. As with its predecessor, this is another spy flick where knowing as little as possible going in works best for your enjoyment, suffice to say that this time Ethan and his loyal friends, master hacker Luther Stickel (the legendary Ving Rhames), tech wizard Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and former MI6 spook Ilsa Faust (Dune’s Rebecca Ferguson), really have their work cut out for them when they’re forced to go rogue yet again in order to track down and deactivate a supermassive AI program known as the Entity which has become fully self-aware, broken free of its constraints and is now wreaking havoc throughout the internet and beyond.

Unfortunately this seemingly unstoppable digital force has enlisted the aid of a particularly dangerous “avatar” to represent its concerns in the real world, a mysterious terrorist known as Gabriel (Ozark’s Esai Morales) from Ethan’s pre-IMF days who seems to be following a dark agenda of his own. The ensuing race against time takes in a grand tour of impressively picturesque locales, a collection of winningly well-written characters and a series of knuckle-whitening, visually arresting action sequences that have long since proven to be McQuarrie’s bread-and-butter just as much as his ingeniously twisty labyrinthine plots and sparky, sharp-witted quickfire dialogue, again showing that he really is THE VERY BEST filmmaker that Cruise and Paramount could EVER have found for this franchise. Needless to say, Cruise is as spectacular as ever in what really has become the very best role he’s EVER HAD, by this point basically just INHABITING Ethan’s easy charm, admirably solid, unswerving moral principles and truly INCREDIBLE physical prowess, delivering equally well in the truly insane stunt-work which WE KNOW FULL WELL IS ALL HIM as he does in the acting stakes; meanwhile Rhames, Pegg and Ferguson once again shine bright in their now comfortably well-established roles while still managing to bring fresh depths and interesting new arcs to their well-worn characters, we get a lot more of The Crown-star Vanessa Kirby’s intriguing notorious second-generation arms dealer Alanna Mitsopoulis/the White Widow, and it’s an IMMENSE pleasure to finally welcome back the first film’s prickly yet verbose antagonist Eugene Kitteridge (Henry Czerny), Ethan and Luther’s former boss in the IMF, in a far much expansive role this time round. Meanwhile the franchise newcomers all impress as well, Morales easily proving to be the series’ VERY BEST VILLAIN to date as he menaces, seduces and murders his way through the story, brutally tearing our heroes’ lives apart as he pursues his mysterious master’s nefarious ends, while we get a brand new series heroine in the form of Grace (the MCU’s own Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell), a sly and duplicitous professional thief who essentially stumbles into the thick of the action before becoming Ethan’s EXTREMELY unwilling accomplice; meanwhile there’s strong support from Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis (who previously worked with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick) as Briggs and Degas, a pair of US Intelligence agents sent to chase down the rogue IMF crew, and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, a particularly duplicitous US Director of National Intelligence. And then there’s Paris … ah Paris, my sweet, psychotic demon child. Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff actually gets to be FRENCH again as Gabriel’s unpredictably lethal pet killer, and she’s an absolute JOY throughout, so delightfully unhinged that she makes every second of her screentime an undeniable pleasure, and as a result she’s BY FAR my favourite character in this. Altogether, this is about as perfect as spy cinema gets, McQuarrie and his cast and crew working tirelessly to deliver not only the very best film in the series to date, but also the best film I’ve seen this summer, very nearly my action cinema highlight of the whole year (so far, anyway), and one of the VERY BEST spy movies I have EVER SEEN. Given the state of the Strikes it’s not clear if we’re REALLY gonna get to see Dead Reckoning Part Two when it’s been set to release next summer, but whenever it DOES finally arrives, I KNOW it’ll be worth the wait … it just has to be bloody INCREDIBLE to be better than THIS ONE …

... By the way, I am SUPREMELY pissed off with tumblr about their suddenly blocking big blocks of text for making me chop up my reviews just to allow this shit to post in the first place. Shame on them ...

#movies 2023 #2023 in movies #how to blow up a pipeline #the flash #the flash movie #they cloned tyrone #blue beetle #blue beetle movie #extraction 2 #guardians of the galaxy vol 3 #nimona #nimona movie #spider man across the spider verse #oppenheimer #oppenheimer movie #mission impossible dead reckoning part 1

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the-warlock-syndicate · 3 months ago

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I think you are missing the point a bit. WALLE is a story about environmentalism yes, but it is also a critique which focuses on systems. Nobody is morally evil in the story. Auto is the closest, but he is an AI, and not a sapient one either, he is more an anthropomorphic representation of the societal system represented by the ship.

The point they are making is that nobody needs to be evil, or a villain, in order to be shaped by the society around them. The systems shape behavior which shape outcomes. When broken out of that system, the actions people can take change drastically, and several human characters do this.

In short, the movie isn't trying to make fat people out to be evil or intrinsically lazy, and it is inaccurate to suggest it. A film that hates fat people can be written off as a bad film. What this film is doing, is a step more complex, and worthy of further analysis.

The fat people are visual shorthand. We have a central thesis, that societies are made up of sociological systems, and that people can be shaped, influenced by, or trapped within those systems without being morally evil. It pushes back against individualism which would paint the passengers as all individually culpable for being fat and morally evil for not slimming down.

However, in a story about environmentalism, which seeks to draw the connection between sociological systems trapping people in inaction, and the end result of inaction on the climate, it first needs to educate its viewers on systems in the first place. So let's show another sociological system which encourages inaction, and then depict a easy visual shorthand for the consequences. Hence the real concern of the conversation, system encourages inaction, inaction leads to fat people. The way that fat people are implicitly seen as the negative outcome to scare kids is the commentary on how society sees fat people, and subtly reinforces societal stigmas.

A couple notes. First off, there is kind of an interesting choice here. The station clearly has artificial gravity, and some degree of facilities which could be used for exercise in the pool. So visually, we can note that were it not for the sociological system in place keeping people inactive, the obesity wouldn't be a problem. But the film itself then tries to hedge that sentiment a bit, and states in the dialogue that extended exposure to space leads to bone loss, with a diagram showing bone structure diminishing in a cartoony way, and subsequent generations on board the space station getting more obese. Which indicates a bit of cognitive dissonance there. And introduces new questions. Why do you have bone loss when you have working artificial gravity? Why do you have hoverchairs to support the weight of people if you can simply turn down the gravity or turn it off? What is actually the source of the obesity, because it is implied to be a result of people's laziness, but then also have an environmental component by virtue of being in space, that nobody has control over any ways.

A strong Doyalist might suspect even that this is just a society with a different culture and values, and that in universe, fatness is just a fact of life that cannot be avoided anyways, and viewers of the movie are projecting moral judgements onto the characters which they likely don't see as worthy of consideration at all.

In the end though, consider that this is a movie for children. It is, by necessity, not that deep. Given a task to draw a comparison between social systems and environmentalism, and social systems and some other bad, yet easily recognized visual outcome that could stem from inaction, the writers chose obesity. Because it is the obvious choice, and the one that literal children are most likely to understand.

That it is the obvious choice says a lot about societal treatment of obese or disabled people, but honestly, it doesn't say anything we haven't already heard.

It is interesting though. I cannot really think of another way they could have done it, without scrapping the idea and going for a full rewrite. You have your central thesis, systems change peoples actions, and this societal system of inaction leads to poor environmental outcomes in the past. To allow viewers to understand the cause and effect, you then show an example of a current social system of inaction leading to poor outcomes in the present. The example should be easily visually recognizable, culturally linked associated with inaction, and also so simplistic and obvious that a child could understand, by virtue of being a children's movie. I honestly don't think there are a lot of other ways of doing that which fill those criteria.

Still troubling though.

it was kind of fucked up for wall-e to be that way about fat people now that im thinking about it

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naturalfuneralnz · 1 month ago

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How to Choose the Right Funeral Directors in Auckland

When it comes to farewelling a loved one, the choice of funeral directors Auckland plays a pivotal role in shaping that experience. From the moment I began looking for the right person to guide me through these difficult times, I realised just how important it was to select someone who genuinely understood my family’s needs. But with so many options, how do you ensure that the person guiding this emotional journey is compassionate, professional, and experienced?

Here’s what I learned through my own experience and research, which may help others in Auckland navigate the process of choosing the right funeral director for their loved one's final farewell.

Why Choosing the Right Funeral Director Matters

Your choice of funeral director will determine how smoothly things go on the day and in the weeks leading up to the service. A good funeral director provides emotional support, practical help, and expert advice during an already stressful time. They handle everything from the logistics of the service to paperwork, so you don’t have to worry about the small details.

In Auckland, the diversity of the city means that different funeral directors may cater to different communities, religious beliefs, and preferences. For instance, some families may want a traditional ceremony, while others might prefer more modern or eco-friendly options like direct cremation.

Key Factors to Consider When Selecting Funeral Directors in Auckland

When I first began searching for a funeral director, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. But over time, I narrowed down my options by focusing on a few key factors:

1. Reputation and Reviews

Start by researching funeral directors in Auckland online. Look for testimonials and reviews from families who have used their services. A strong reputation, especially in such a sensitive industry, is a good indicator of quality service. I found it helpful to read personal stories and reviews, as they provided insight into how each director handles different situations.

2. Experience and Expertise

Funeral services can involve a range of different traditions and cultural practices. It’s important to ensure that the funeral director you choose has experience in handling the specific type of service you need, whether it’s a religious funeral, cremation, or burial service. Additionally, understanding Auckland’s local regulations and legal requirements is crucial, and an experienced director will navigate this process seamlessly.

3. Compassion and Communication

During my search, I valued directors who took the time to listen and understand our family’s wishes. Having someone who communicates well and approaches everything with sensitivity is vital. Funerals in Auckland can be complex, involving coordination with cemeteries, venues, and other service providers, and you want someone who handles all these moving parts with care and respect.

4. Cost Transparency

Funerals can be expensive, and it’s important to choose a funeral director who provides clear and transparent pricing. I found that some directors were very upfront about the costs associated with the service, while others had hidden fees. It’s important to get an itemised quote and ensure you understand what’s included in the package.

5. Range of Services Offered

Funeral directors in Auckland offer a wide variety of funeral services, from traditional funerals to more modern options like direct cremation. Make sure the funeral director can provide the type of service you’re looking for, whether it’s a burial, cremation, or memorial service. Additionally, some directors offer personalised services such as eco-friendly funerals, which could align with your family's values.

Asking the Right Questions

During my selection process, I asked potential funeral directors a series of questions to better understand their approach:

How many years of experience do you have as a funeral director in Auckland?

What types of funerals do you specialise in?

Can you provide references or reviews from past clients?

What is your approach to personalising funeral services?

How do you handle unexpected changes or challenges during the funeral?

Making the Final Decision

In the end, it’s about finding someone who not only provides professional service but also understands the emotional weight of the occasion. Funeral directors should work alongside you, offering guidance while respecting your family’s wishes.

After meeting with a few funeral directors in Auckland, I found one that was a good fit for my family. They were compassionate, organised, and deeply respectful of our needs. This brought a sense of relief and helped us feel supported during such a difficult time.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right funeral director in Auckland isn’t just about the logistics of the funeral. It’s about finding someone who will support and guide you through one of life’s hardest moments. By focusing on reputation, experience, and compassion, you can feel confident that your loved one’s final farewell will be handled with the care and respect they deserve.

Whether you’re planning a traditional funeral or exploring options like direct cremation, finding the right funeral director can make all the difference. Ultimately, it’s about creating a meaningful tribute that honours the life of your loved one.

#funeral directors auckland

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tintactoes · 9 months ago

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What is up with Philippine Media? – The Adventure

Hey everyone, let's dive into the exciting world of Philippine media! Picture this: bustling streets, diverse cultures, and media buzzing with energy from Manila to the farthest corners of our beautiful archipelago. Today, we're going on a journey to explore the trends, challenges, and cool stuff happening in the world of Philippine media. So, buckle up, and let's get started!

First things first, let's talk about digital platforms. Remember when we only had newspapers and TV for news? Well, those days are long gone! Now, we've got a whole bunch of online platforms right at our fingertips. Think news websites, social media, streaming services, and podcasts. These digital channels are like open doors to a world of information and entertainment, giving everyone a chance to speak up and share their stories.

But, here's the catch – with all this power comes responsibility. Yep, you guessed it! We've got to be careful about what we read and share online. Fake news and misinformation are like sneaky monsters lurking around, trying to trick us. So, let's be smart media consumers and double-check our sources before hitting that share button!

Now, onto social media – the virtual hangout spot for all of us! Whether it's Facebook, X, or previously known as Twitter, or Instagram, these platforms are where we come together to chat, share ideas, and show off our latest selfies. Social media has given us the power to raise our voices and join important conversations. However, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. There's also cyberbullying and hate speech floating around. So, let's spread kindness and positivity online, okay? It's the least that we can do.

Of course, we can't forget about traditional media – the OGs of the media world! Newspapers, TV stations, and radio channels might seem old-school, but they're still super important. They dig deep into stories, keeping us up-to-date on what's happening around us. Sure, they've got their challenges in this digital age, but they're still our reliable sources of news and information.

Remember when we talked about "The Medium is the Message" by Marshall McLuhan? It was explained that "the medium" is an extension of our body, mind & senses which holds more value than the message itself. I believe that occurs today, especially in our country. Why? Nowadays, we watch vlogs or short-form videos that are not that relevant to our daily lives. We even tend to compare ourselves to others more because of this. We also recently talked about OliSUNvia's essay video which focuses on our relationship with new media that profoundly shapes our daily lives. These changes affect not only how we communicate but also the content, style, and context of our language usage. For instance, we discover new vocabularies, new perspectives, or even new household hacks we never knew we needed to know. This new media is pretty exciting, as people may say, but it's also somehow scary that it might lead to violence, pain, and depression too just like how Bo Burnham explained in his song, "Welcome to the Internet". It all comes down to the responsibility and awareness of the user.

As a student, young professionals, and future leaders, we've got the power to shape the future of Philippine media. By supporting ethical journalism and diverse voices, we can make sure our media landscape stays relevant and inclusive. Let's be media superheroes, fighting for truth and fairness!

So, what's next for Philippine media? Well, change is inevitable! With technology evolving and society shifting our media world will keep on transforming. But hey, that's the fun part! As long as we stick together, stay curious, and demand honesty and integrity, we'll make sure Philippine media keeps shining bright.

In conclusion, Philippine media is like a colorful tapestry, woven with stories from every corner of our amazing country. Whether it's online platforms or good old newspapers, each piece adds something special to the picture, keeping us informed and entertained. So, let's keep exploring, asking questions, and making our voices heard. Together, we can build a media landscape that reflects our values and makes the Philippines an even better place for everyone. Here's to the influence of media and the incredible adventures that lay ahead!

"Don't use it to impress people. Use it to help or impact people" - The Happiness Coach

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venomous-qwille · 2 years ago

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I start with a quick comp sketch ! This step is necessary because art is chaos and once you actually start painting you will be glad you have something to look at and remind yourself what the fuck you're doing. Once this sketch is done I line it and figure out the way the water is going to make shapes- I can use this water layer later (set to multiply) to instantly add depth:

Next is the underpainting layer- I come from a trad painting background and it's my fervent belief that this is the real secret sauce to lovely colour. Go ham: add as many bright, saturated colours as your little heart desires- the more textured the brush the better. Some artists who use this technique like to stick to complimentary colours, personally I prefer to live on the edge and make it up as I go. Follow your heart: (Extra tip- turn your line art into a mask and fill it with a very saturated colour- red, purple or blue etc- avoid black at all costs, we want to keep aaaall desaturated colours away from the early stages of our painting. Only add black at the very end- it will stop your colours getting muddy when you use the eyedropper tool)

Lol looks terrible right now, but don't feel bad. It's all worth it in the end.

Time to paint the rest of the owl. No really, smother all your beautiful vibrant hues in gross desaturated colours which are much closer to real life. Use a textured brush to block in the values/shapes and forms- you should still be able to see some of your bright underpainting peaking through! Once you have put down your more saturated block in you can start to play with fun things like blood and iridescence. Iridescence is all about contrasting desaturated/saturated hues which share a value- if you look at the below two pics and squint you will see that the tail stays the same 'value' in both- one just has flat colour, whereas the other has very saturated colour of the same value slapped on top. Your eyes will always read changes in value contrast first and colour second! As artists we can abuse this to great effect.

I always use HSB sliders to track the value & hue relationships on my work as I paint:

If I'm feeling extra powerful I will use the RGB sliders:

HSB sliders let you understand and make changes to the colours in your painting really fast! RGB sliders however allow you much MUCH more subtle control, and playing around with these will teach you a lot about hue/value relationships but learning to read them is a goddamn arcane art. If you can master RGB sliders you will essentially ascend to art godhood (I am just a novice). The down side is the RGB method is very very time consuming to use & learn. To get an iridescent effect e.g on Moon: use your colour panel (whether you are going RGB or HSB) as you paint to shift blue hues to purple and cyan while always keeping the value the same. Use these colours to pick out the highlights. Try to avoid using white/desaturated brights when attempting to make something look nacreous- you will just end up mucking up the value levels/exposure of your art and lose out on a bunch of colour opportunities. Speaking of colour opportunities.... if you are working on mers leverage the water- any opportunity to have light bounce around in your image is an opportunity to add more colour. I used it to add extra contrasting greens because why not.

Ok that was a bit of a tangent. As I rendered out the rest- eg the net and the fishy patterns I just focused on opportunities to add colour contrast wherever I could. For example- adding yellow to moons tail- even a tiny bit kinda helps the iridescent purple/blue pop a bit more. The goal is just to keep adding more and more colour until your brain melts and you're like fuck it I'm done.

Anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Shallow Water

#qwilledraws #i dont think i have much of a future as an art teacher #I hope someone finds this helpful #mermay #art tutorial #dca fandom

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vertical-elevation · 1 year ago

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Stronger Than Yesterday

Resilience. It’s one of the secrets to survival, both professionally and personally. It’s what’s gotten you to where you are, and it’s what will help define who you will become.

Looking back at some of the toughest situations you’ve endured, you may have felt there was no other choice. It was a natural instinct. And while it’s true that resilience can come innately, it’s also a learned skill.

Instead of leaving resilience up to chance, considering strengthening those muscles by choice. How can we lead a more resilient life, and lead a more resilient team, in the year to come?

A Core of Confidence

Everyone has an inner critic. Who do you compare yourself to, and why?

Although comparison can create competition and competition can fuel achievement, it’s a balancing act. While constructive criticism can deter certain behaviors in the short-term, positive reinforcement is generally better for shaping new and lasting behavior. It’s also at the core of creating confidence.

As a leader, recognize that criticism doesn’t increase competency. You are simply sharing what not to do, instead of what to do. Imagine a child learning how to ride a bicycle. Which environment shapes a more confident future cyclist: pointing out each time they fell down or pointing out what they did to stay up?

Confidence increases productivity and causes you to choose more challenging tasks, which make you stand out amongst your peers. You naturally create a more cohesive workplace environment; confident people celebrate the accomplishments of others as opposed to insecure individuals who try to steal the spotlight and criticize others in order to prove their worth. Speaking first and often (a sign of high self-esteem) makes others perceive you as a leader. In fact, over-confident people are more likely to be promoted than those who have actually accomplished more.

The fact that successful people tend to be delusional isn’t as bad as it sounds; our belief in our own eminence is what gives us confidence. Even though we are not as good as we believe we are, this confidence actually helps us become more than we would have otherwise.

A Fondness for Failure

Consider failures as beginnings, rather than endings. You’ve probably learned more from failures than any other source of wisdom. Teach yourself, and your team, to focus on the data and facts. Embrace failure’s value as a teacher, get curious about the information it provides, and be open to where it leads you next.

You may even find you fail less when you don’t fear it.

Failure is either redirecting or reaffirming. If failure caused you to take a different path, it’s because you saw it heading towards a dead-end. (Yay!) If failure caused you to get back up and keep going, it reaffirms you are committed to a goal and it’s worth fighting for. (Yay!)

The Power of Purpose

We have the freedom to choose our actions, our profession, our financial needs, and the path of our life. Each day is not about what we have to do. It’s about what we get to do. Strength can come from the recognition that there is a bigger purpose, a desire to make a difference, and a need to have a higher meaning behind the choices we make.

Spend time focusing on this for yourself personally, and with those you lead. Some points to ponder:

Who in my life do I care to impact the most? How specifically am I going to mentor and impact those individuals?

What are five things I would put on my bucket list, and with whom would I want to experience them?

What experiences am I most appreciative of in my life? How can I help others have that same experience?

What moment in your life are you most proud of? How can you duplicate more of those moments?

Look around. What, and who, am I thankful for today?

The Steps for Success

Teach the importance of:

Taking a deep breath.

Then taking another.

Then focusing on the next thing that needs to be done in order to keep going.

If you wake up suffocated by the list of things that need to get accomplished today, start with getting up and brushing your teeth. When you feel anxiety over an important deadline, make a list of things that need to be done and do just one of them. If your email inbox is exhausting, unsubscribe to a few distribution lists that you never signed up for. Stop longingly looking at pictures of other people’s photos on social media, and spend that time scrolling through your own pictures and cherished memories instead. Don’t focus on the big things; start with the littlest and decide where to go from there. Take an action, any action. Manufacture your own momentum.

Have an appreciation for your history. What are some of the toughest things you’ve experienced? How did you get through them? You probably already know quite a bit about being resilient, just haven’t stopped to admire it.

Remember: you’ve got this. The person who has gotten you through the toughest parts of your life? It’s you.

#business #leadership #growth #mindset #career #recruitment

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mi4011wagmigunawardana · 1 year ago

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Story Boards - Detailed Explanations.

The animation starts with a single line, paying homage to Emily's simple yet captivating art style. It glides across the screen and then seems to form something.

The line continues to form a man and a woman, these are Emily's parents, Faith and John Hubley, since there are not many characteristics that go into Emily's character in her own animations; I wanted to show that they're her parents through their hairstyles.

A few colorful bubbles appear and this represents their creativity and artistic talents.

As the water rises, parts of John and Faith Hubley's body start to turn into 4 fish representing their 4 children. Fish is a very frequent element in most of Emily's personal animations. She herself told me to use it if I thought it would be good for my animation.

John and Faith then both disassemble into various shapes and then slowly float into nothingness, while the four fish (children) swim around for a while.

The bubbles from earlier, go into these four fish, which represent John and Faith's creativity and talent being passed on to their children, two of whom are animators and one a musician. This sequence was shown because Emily's upbringing and childhood was a very important time in her life as most of her inspiration comes from back then. She values her parent's contribution to her artistic side as well as her siblings.

the camera then focuses on the main character of the story, Emily.

She slowly swims towards the top...

...but as she does, the camera rotates and flips her upside down, showing her jumping into the water rather than out of it, this is crucial to her depicting her life as this shows how she plunged into her creative side rather than being introduced to it, She herself said it took her 13 years to find the momentum in her art.

She then swims through a sea of shapes in various colours, depicting her journey in finding herself and getting in touch with her creative side, at first exploring different styles which didn't suit her (thus the sharp shapes)

But as she swims forward, she finds more organic and smooth shapes, this shows the evolution of her art style and how she grew as a person while finding herself and her style. She. got more comfortable with it and that's why it's more smooth and more organic.

She then swims into a new scene, this time it's black and white, to show some of her other styles, some animations she done in black and white and I thought it would be wonderful to have this emotional scene in black and white.

The fish opens up and falls to the ground, unravelling...

the eyes of the fish slowly start to enlarge... (part of this is mainly because of Emily's surrealistic approach to transitioning from scene to scene. She deploys various methods that are abstract and unique to drive her narrative in an interesting and fun way.)

This shows the emotional part of Emily's life where she lost her mother to cancer. Same here, using size and hairstyles I could give the character some features and make them seem like mother and daughter. Faith floats away as Emily tries to keep holding on, but she has to let go in the end.

This is a learning moment for Emily, as she sheds tears for her mother. the black and white in the scene really depicts how I think she felt back then, being pulled from both sides.

As one of the eyes is pushed away from the frame, the water starts to rise back up, back into colour.

She is then again transformed back into a fish and still with colour. Shows that's shes healing from the experience and using it to her advantage to move on and become a better version of herself.

She then swims along with those same shapes lining the edges of the road. She's still finding herself and still growing, becoming a better person each day.

She finds the same shapes since she's not done finding who she is and what her art is. She's still going on a journey and isn't done yet. The end screen slowly fills the screen signaling the end of the animation.

The End! This is Emily Hubley's actual handwriting which I asked her to send to me for this animation alone. Im extremely grateful for her help with this animation and hope to make something that would make her proud!

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rg-notes · 2 years ago

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On Self-Awareness

"Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life." — Ray Dalio, macro investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates

In the last couple of years since reading [Dalio's book](https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1501124021#:~:text=In Principles%2C Dalio shares what,rules and understood like machines.), I've established a few of my own principles that have helped guide me through life. Among my most valuable principles is this:

Self-awareness is the foundation of all human potential.

Starting with definitions:

self-awareness :conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.

potential :having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.

To go anywhere, you must first understand where you are. But what does that understanding actually mean? How do you use that perspective to benefit your future? And once you have a clear perspective on yourself, and a clear perspective on how you're perceived by others — which is never accurate or complete — how do you use that to grow, to increase your potential? And finally, once you have a basic understanding of yourself, the real work begins to understand how you got there. What history of experiences shaped who you are today? These are some of the most difficult, most important questions you can spend the time to answer. The answers give you the keys to your life.

A lack of self-awareness is loud and easy to identify. We all know that person. They are constantly acting. Everything seems forced, fake, and even scripted. Their acting becomes obvious to others and the palpable inauthenticity pushes them, sadly, further and further away from connection and trust, and from quality relationships.

On the other hand, great self-awareness is quiet, calm, steady, and less obvious. Those with great self-awareness know their flaws, they embrace them, they are always learning, and are thus more humble. Humility typically makes them grounded, more open, trustworthy, and confident. They are real, and they don't need to oversell anything.

But what is the value of focusing on and embracing our internal truths and the challenges that come with gaining a greater sense of self?

Self-awareness is the "you are here" dot on the map. Without it, a map is cool, interesting, even beautiful, but functionally, it's useless. With it, the map becomes a key to unlock the world; it becomes a guide. That dot is clarity of relative positioning. When you know where, who, and what you are, you can direct yourself through life with purpose. You learn methods to get what you want, and critically, you learn with whom to engage.

Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses can show you what to work on and what to emphasize. You get a clear sense of how external factors affect you, how you learn, what and who you are influenced by. Self-awareness gives you a guide from the inside out about where you want to go and what paths to take. It gives you the ability to make a plan.

Knowing yourself starts with how you feel. The most challenging aspect of life to be honest about is your feelings — glad, sad, mad, afraid — the basics. In almost every situation and experience, you're likely to have one of these feelings as a reaction. When you increase your self-awareness to Yoda-levels, you turn these reactions into reflections. You're slowing down reactions and staying present and aware of what is going on inside, such that you reflect on what is happening and why in real-time, in the present. This allows you to observe without being affected. Your awareness of your feelings translates into self-control.

That said, I'm not sure one can ever know themself exactly. Maybe perfect self-awareness is admitting you won't ever completely know yourself? I say, embrace the unknown, and dive in with fearless intellectual and emotional curiosity. You're probably saying, "that sounds too tough, too confusing, and too complex." You're not wrong, but it's worth it. Over time, with hard work and internal honesty, you can gain an overwhelming clarity of self — which can empower you to reach new levels of achievement and accomplishment you never thought possible.

Sometime in my journey at Uber, I became very conscious of my age and lack of experience. It was my first rodeo and it became a damn big rodeo quickly. I was in a position to manage and lead professionals older and more experienced than I was by a decade. I feared a truth that was obvious to me and everyone else — until I embraced it completely.

I began to share my age, share my inexperience, and share the processes I was using to learn more, faster. I shared the books I was reading, the advice I was getting, and the fears that I had about big decisions or responsibilities. When I embraced my situation and became aware of these realities, they were no longer weaknesses, they were strengths. Nobody was putting in this kind of effort to learn. Nobody was this transparent and honest with the nerves that went along with the role. Nobody was this self-aware, this honest. (I realize how ridiculous it sounds to say nobody was this self-aware, but that’s how it felt. It felt like a huge discovery, and I was empowered!) My learning became my teaching.

Being this vulnerable became an example I could set, and others began to share their own insecurities and nerves with me. Others began to seek coaching or offer it, both were valuable. I found my own coaches in business mentors and even a therapist. I began to learn my own history and where those original insecurities were formed.

I learned how the experiences of my past shape my reactions today, and that was powerful. It enabled me to comfortably engage in even the toughest situations, and that comfort gave me newfound confidence to be myself without fear of exposure. Getting to these truths is difficult but not impossible, and often easier with a trained coach or therapist to help ask the right questions. That sense of self allows you to take control. Full control of your environment is an illusion, but self-control is a superpower.

With self-control and self-awareness you know “you are here” and with “you are here” you really can go anywhere.

Ryan Graves

#writing

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raeraesmentality · 8 months ago

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Quick answer:

adjusting the hue along with the value of a color when shading makes it look more natural, adds variation that makes it interesting and pleasant to look at, and establishes the type of lighting in an environment. This all has to do with how light and lack of light affect color in the real world.

First off, before getting into why and how this all works, a good rule of thumb to follow when you're not too familiar with color theory yet is that for highlights you want to shift colors a little bit towards yellow, and for shadows you want to shift colors towards purple. So assuming the color wheel is arranged roygbiv clockwise, for shadows, when using warm colors you want to use the color counterclockwise of the color you're shading and clockwise for cool colors. Reverse for highlights.

(You of course still want to go a bit darker with your shadow color and lighter with your highlights as well as changing the hue. the value is just as important to consider but I'm focusing more on hue here.)

So if your base color is orange you shade with red and highlight with yellow. If your base is red you shade with magenta and highlight with orange. With yellow or purple as the base you can go in either direction.

THE REAL, LONG ANSWER

To understand anything of color theory you need to know light=color and vice versa. So to understand shading we also need to understand how shadows work, which sounds pretty simple right? Shadows are just the absence of light. Except they're not! Not entirely.

Complete absence of light would be complete darkness, and in most situations, unless there's some really high contrast or very low lighting, you can still see stuff in shadows, so most shadows still have some amount of light bouncing around in them. Shadows are actually really complex and interesting once you start paying attention to them!

But for now all you need to know is: shadows have light, which means they have color.

And that color heavily depends on the color of the light source, the ambient light, the other objects around it, the color of those objects, how reflective the objects are, etc. Shadows are filled with color and light interacting in interesting ways! (Like I said, complex.)

But for these purposes we really only need two: The direct light source, for the highlights. And the ambient light, for the shadows.

For outdoors during the daylight, it's pretty simple. The direct light: the sun, yellow. And one of the biggest sources of ambient light there is: the sky, blue. Which lines up very close to the rule of thumb I mentioned earlier, and a reason it works so well.

Sometimes there isn't a dominant ambient light source, and they can be challenging to identify if you're not used to it. In those cases you can color the shadows towards the complimentary of the color of the direct light. So if the light is red the shadow will be green-ish, if the light is blue the shadow is orange-ish, etc.

And when in doubt our good friend the rule of thumb is there to help.

So you can't just make the same color darker to shade because... that's not how shadows work in real life. Even if it doesn't look like it, the color of a shadow is determined more by the color of the light that caused it than the color of the object it's on, even if that object's color is still dominant.

Another reason, outside the actual functions of light, is that it adds visual complexity. If you have a large area with no variety in any area it because dull to look at pretty quickly.

It's also a great way to make the shadows and highlight more distinct, which makes it easier for the eye to quickly make out the shape of an object. How a shadow falls on an object defines its shape just as much, or more, as lines do.

Another thing to consider is that hue, saturation, and value, while seperate things, all go hand in hand and affect each other.

A great example here is that hues have inherent values. If you put a bunch of different colors down, all at the same saturation and value settings, then turn it to greyscale, you'll see pretty quickly that yellow is always far lighter than the others, and purple is far darker.

This is another reason that rule of thumb works so well.

Using color and shading can seem pretty daunting and complex, especially when I just dumped an essay on you (sorry, I get really excited about color theory, it's one of my special interests), but it really just takes practice to build a sense for it.

And when it comes to art every rule has exceptions and it's all subjective so in the end follow what you think works best for your style.

Hope this helps!

Okay so i've been trying to learn how tf you are supposed to make a good color palette. the left was my original drawing and the colors i used, the right is a new version where i tried hue shifting the lighter colors to be yellowish and the darker ones to be more blueish. apparently this is supposed to look rly good but i don't see it anymore i'm so confused, why can't color theory be more easy???

if i think i want a dark green i just make the contrast darker and boom i have it, but apparently you can't do that??? i need some color guru to help me out.

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fozmeadows · 4 years ago

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race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.

#race #racism #c-drama #fandom #fan wank #fandom wank #microaggresions #culture #the untamed #bronies #whiteness #ficwriting #fanwriting #cultural bias #discourse

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