#yup funny satirical countries!!!

[thequeenoffishburrito]

So I was scrolling through YouTube shorts (and frankly hating myself for doing so) when I scrolled and saw this accursed video

https://youtube.com/shorts/FGkDkxAYwu0?si=r7eGScRRY5HYF00R

I have never gotten whiplash harder in my life. The words "which is a" describing hetalia to an audience like none of them know what it is and if they dont know what it is then GOOD. GOOD. DONT BRIBG IT UP.

WE DONT SPEAK OF HETALIA ANYMORE

[365days365movies]

April 4, 2021: The Great Dictator (1940)(Part Two)

I thought this film was more “Prince and the Pauper”.

Not that I’m complaining AT ALL, mind you. It’s still a fantastic movie, and I’m having a wonderful time with it. As an early satire, I’m not surprised at how on the nose this is, but I am surprised on how on point it is. Gotta say, it predicted some events of the next 5 years that I don’t think anybody say coming.

I understand why this film is so well-loved, but as for it being a masterpiece...well, I know why that is as well, but that hasn’t happened yet. That’ll be coming at the end of this film, I know that much. So, until then, let’s keep going, full speed ahead! First part’s right here!

Recap (2/2)

In an eerie forecast of the tragedies to come, the stormtroopers assault the ghetto and its people. However, still believing Schultz’ orders to be in place, they spare the Barber and his section of the ghetto. But the news quickly passes down, and the stormtroopers go for the Barber once and for all, destroying his shop. And as we hear the sound of breaking glass, and see the shop and the ghetto on fire...it’s eerie, is all I’m saying. Haunting.

On the roof, Hannah and the Barber watch the shop burn. Hannah tries to convince the Barber to go with her to neighboring Osterlich, a free country where they can settle down and farm. They stay on the roof until nightfall, when they receive news that Schultz has escaped the camp, and his hiding down below. In a meeting with some of the men of the ghetto, the Barber included, he tries to convince the men that they must assassinate Hynkel. 

However, one of them must die in the effort. Because he’s too well-known, Schultz can’t do it. Convenient, huh? The men use a complicated cake-based system to choose. There are coins baked in the cakes, and whoever gets the coin is chosen assassin. In the process, the Barber eats three of them. It’s very funny. Turns out EVERYBODY had a coin, which was executed by Hannah to convince the group that this is a terrible idea. They agree, and retire for the evening.

Fellow villager Mr. Mann (Bernard Gorcey), comes to warn them the next morning about the stormtroopers, who suspect that Schultz is there in the ghetto. They go to warn him, and attempt to hide him on the roof. But that quickly fails, and both Schultz and the Barber are arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, Hannah and some of the other residents flee to Osterlitz, where life is far better and quieter.

But not for long, as Hynkel announces to his inner cabinet that they will soon be ready to march on Osterlich, which they’ve been planning for a while. And they aren’t the only ones! Neighboring country Bacteria, led by Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie), is also intending to invade Bacteria. In response, Hynkel declares war on Bacteria as well. This is IMMEDIATELY preceding a phone call, during which they invite him to see their military might. War is also undeclared by Hynkel.

Napaloni, a rotund dictator who comes in on a train and speaks in pseudo-Italian (YUP), arrives there with his wife, Madame Napaloni (Grace Hayle), and Hynkel gives the two a welcome to the country. Also, WOW, didn’t realize that that shitty stereotypical fake Italian accent that people still put on when joking (which is pretty offensive, in and of itself) was THAT OLD. It was in Duck Soup, too!

Anyway, they plan to psychologically manipulate him into doing what they want him to do, which immediately fails. The two decide upon getting a quick cut at the palace’s barber shop, and compete with each other using the chairs there. After this, they witness a show of Tomania’s military might, and it’s all...it’s all very funny, even given the goddamn CONTEXT. 

That night, there’s a grand dinner and ball, and the two dictators finally come head-to-head when disputing who will invade Austerlich. This leads to an argument, and that eventually leads to both of them eating too much “English mustard”, which is quite spicy, and then just turns into a straight-up food fight. ut eventually, Hynkel decides to sign a treaty that will cause Napolini to take his troops off the border. This will allow Hynkel to break the conditions of that treaty and invade, without losing a man. The next day, this is exactly what he does, disguising the invasion as armed guards watching him as he goes duck hunting on the border. 

At the same time, Schultz and the Barber have escaped, having stolen guard uniforms from the camp. Guards from the camp are looking for them, and find HYNKEL, who’s fallen out of his boat while duck hunting. Mistaking him for the Barber, they knock him out and drag him to the camp! The Barber, meanwhile, is being mistaken for Hynkel, and they meet the troops at the Osterlich border who’ve been waiting for Hynkel to arrive to begin the invasion. Schultz, realizing what’s going on, tells the Barber to go along with the whole thing, and the troops assault the country and its people, including Hannah and Mr. Jaeckel.

Eventually, the Barber winds up on stage, and must speak to the people in a live broadcast, or be caught alongside Schultz. And he does. And...well...it’s the most iconic scene in the film. And arguably, the greatest speech in all of film.

Chaplin resisted speaking in his films for so long. For SO LONG, he resisted delivering intent through words rather than actions. And so, when he finally does so...he excels. This is an absolutely beautiful speech. It’s painfully relevant, and the best speech I’ve ever seen in a film. And...there’s no need for anything else, really. Hannah hears the speech as well, the last part of which is addressed to her, directing her to look up, into the light of hope. And to her friends and fellow Jews, she simply says...

Listen.

See you in the Review.

[xoxoemynn]

I see you reblogging crazy ex girlfriend all the time and it looks like a show I might like, can you tell me a little bit of what's it about? I trust your judgement cause you have A+ taste in shows (:

I appreciate how you said “reblogging all the time” and not “have utterly spammed my dash with this absurd-looking show, what the hell, Em?” and I thank you for the kindness.

The Netflix summary of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is “Still pining for Josh, the boy who dumped her ages ago, whip-smart lawyer Rebecca jettisons her New York life and moves to California to win him back.” Yeah, not exactly appealing. And also not really what the show is about. But I can forgive them, since it’s pretty hard to encapsulate what this show is in a brief sentence. Because yes, surface-level, it is a dark-ish comedy musical satire about a lawyer who quits her job literally just as she’s about to be made junior partner after a chance encounter with her ex and moves across the country to be with him and finally find true happiness, but it’s about so much more.

It’s about deconstructing tropes, particularly those found in romantic comedies, including, you guessed it, the “crazy ex-girlfriend,” and examining how said tropes normalize irrational, harmful behaviors and actions in the name of love, which, PS, is no guarantee of real happiness. Tropes and stereotypes get subverted and blown apart and shredded and it is fascinating because you never know quite what to expect. 

It’s about a woman who literally sees her life as a series of musical numbers, especially when her emotions are running high, which leads to pastiches of pretty much any musical genre you can think of. Boy bands? Done. Fred and Ginger? You got it. Big Broadway send ups? Yup! And no topic is off limits! In just two short seasons, we’ve covered the horrors women go through to get ready for a date, romanticized depictions of depression, celebrating being bisexual, falling for your sex buddy, intrusive thoughts, that self-loathing feeling when you fuck EVERYTHING up, the truth about having big boobs, and the more joyful side of UTI’s. And that’s (literally) not even the half of it. 

It’s about people dealing with mental illness in a way that is brutally honest and sensitive but also funny at the same time. It makes the content approachable without diminishing the seriousness of the condition. (Speaking as someone who struggles with mental illness herself, I find these songs in particular to be both painfully accurate and remarkably reassuring.) And it’s about the long-term ramifications of growing up with emotionally abusive and neglectful parents. 

It’s about relationships of all kinds -- romantic, familial, platonic. They’re complicated and messy at times, rewarding and emotionally fulfilling at others. And while yes, romance is a major plot point, we are constantly reminded that while yes, there’s romance and it’s a major plot point, the most important relationship in the show is between our lady protagonist and her female best friend. (Oh, but did I mention that the healthiest relationship on the show is between a bisexual man and a gay man? Because it is. And that there was a stretch of eps without a single straight white man? Because that happened.) 

It’s about an antiheroine who does objectively terrible things and who consistently makes awful life decisions, who’s impulsive and self-centered, but is still a good person just trying to find happiness, who is surrounded by similarly nuanced and beautifully flawed characters who are also at a crossroads in their lives and trying to figure out what steps they need to take to be happy. And while the situations they find themselves in may seem over the top, they’re also so relatable.

There’s a lot to unpack with this show. The content can be pretty heavy at times, and it can be painful to watch these people you come to love sabotage themselves and struggle so much with their dreams. But it’s also just such a smart comedy that thrives on taking risks, so trust me -- you’ll be laughing nearly the entire time. And it’s so fantastical and absurdist at times (dream ghosts, anybody?) that it makes for great escapist TV and is literally the only reason I’m still alive and thriving post January 20, 2017.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is honestly like nothing else on TV, and you may be in a bit of shock when you first start watching. (Literally, my first time I swear I kept pinching myself and asking “is this an ACTUAL show I am watching right now what is happening HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!”) But trust me -- there are so many reasons to watch this show and it took all my willpower to not just scream incoherently in this response for 10K+ words. So go on. Give it a shot. I bet before too long you’ll be falling in love and singing right along with the rest of ’em.

[vrheadsets]

Review: The American Dream

Gun culture can be a sensitive issue in some countries, with America well known for its stance, while other such as the UK and Australia have all but outright banned them due to shooting atrocities. Taking a darkly satirical look at the US’ love of guns is The American Dream by indie studio Samurai Puck, a virtual reality (VR) title that aims some cutting wit whilst providing some bizarre shooting gallery gameplay.

Set in the 1950’s during a World Fair, The American Dream takes you on a ride created by gun manufacturers to show you how awesome their weapons are, and how they can be used for everyday tasks. Set across individual rooms, each level encompasses a period of time in the idyllic life of an American Patriot. Starting as a baby you progress through childhood, adolescence, getting your first job, marriage, having kids and so on.

Yet this is a videogame about guns, and as such every interaction in the experience requires you to shoot something or at least hit it with a pistol. There’s no need to worry about ammo as the chair/cart that you’re sat in has an infinite amount of ammo. Once your gun is dry just hit the button on the arm rest and a slow motion sequence begins, firing a clip into the air for you to catch with the gun. It’s a novel mechanic that’s fun to begin with, but at certain points in the title when things get a little more frantic it can be slightly haphazard, missing clips if you don’t get the gun just so.

From your fixed on-rails position you’re tasked by a talking dog to complete various challenges to move on. Given the nature of The American Dream things are taken to ludicrous proportions, which range from the weird to downright funny. Cooking burgers, well a quick shot will flip them, or how about changing baby’s diaper, yup that requires a bullet to sort. Going fishing? Nobody uses a fishing rod, it’s all about your trusty bolt action rifle. And it’s like that for most of the videogame, which is great at first yet after an hour or so the repetition does start to grate a little.

Naturally there’s a mixture of guns, but nowhere near as many as you’d expect. Pistols are the standard weapon of choice, with certain levels allowing you to swap them out for a shotgun – that spits fire when pumped enough times – or the rifle for those distance shots. Each area is tailored to these guns so there’s no swapping weapons, this is very much a fixed ride where choice is limited.

And it’s that limited choice that can make The American Dream seem constrained, almost to the point of frustration that you can’t do more. Because what it does do is fantastic at points, the interwoven narrative, the stellar voice acting of Michael Dobson, and the wonderful graphical style all point towards a VR title expertly put together by Samurai Punk.

There’s so much to like about The American Dream that it feels like nagging when pointing out its faults. Some of you will love its humour and points of view on guns, but many will notice there’s not a massive amount to do, with hidden stars on each stage the only real reason to give it another go. There’s no doubt that The American Dream’s commentary on American gun culture will rile some, particularly at this point in the political landscape, nevertheless as a VR experience it’s certain worth your consideration.

80%

Awesome

Verdict

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2pf2Nce

[papirouge]

Ok but real talk tho

I seriously think the reason so many people unapologetically racist and having no issue making fun of other crimes against humanity while being obsessively anti Communism is that they cannot other'ing this issue

Let me explain

For some White suburban dude, slavery does only affect the Blacks, the Holocaust, Jews, colonization only colored people™ from countries far abroad.....but communism? That shit hits right home. Unlike all the previous tragedies cited, they arevirtually threatened by communism, while all the other threat were mostly targeted at other demographics they don't feel remotely connected to, and thus, don't care about hurting their feeling when making light of tragic events that affected their community throughout History. Suddenly, Communism is not an issue reserved for others.

But God forbid someone gives them a tease of their medecine and start simp trolling about communism and then all hell breaks lose. Because communism can virtually hurt them (or already did), it's not that funny anymore. A bunch of European immigrants of the USA fled from Communism or had ancestors who died under Communism regime. That's why I totally understand the resentment of their descendants against this ideology or people romanticizing/glossing over the tragedy that has been Communism. But look how none of these anti Communism edgelords will EVER have the same caution when talking about other issues affecting other communities. Suddenly we're tOo sEnsItIve or we need to gEt oVer It. Why aren't yall "getting over communism", then....?🤔

Only the topics that could possibly hurt them or THEY think are bad enough to not be joked about should be held with respect to them. That arrogance is showing in the reaction that provoked this post. And that's why I adamantly refused to let the mask slip off and kept trolling them to let them display the hypocritical lacking any sense of nuance clowns they were.

I am 100% positive NONE OF THEM went out of their way to tone police the naziblr or the White supremacist scene EVER. And note how whenever I brought that up they ALWAYS deflected like "eNoUgh wItH THe wHat'AbOuTiSm" when that was not what aboutism. That was me pointing out their inconsticency of obsessively tone police people for one political extreme, while letting the other one slide for whatever reason. I can deal with consistent moral whiteknight, but not biased anti Communist rightoid edgelords.

They never denied what I said though so yup, I was right and that's why they kept losing their shit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Too bad the terminally online basement dwelling libertarians who have the capability of reading between the lines of a satire post below sea level cannot see it, but it's obvious these people never learnt to talk to people outside their ideological echo chambers and deal with people violently yet ironically challenging their outlook without going full on "uHgh dUuUr wHy sO cRinge MuH tRiEd sO hArd tO bE eDGy BuH yOu FailEd UrHgH dUrhg🤪🤪" which was......embarassing to witness to say the least.

Even today people are still angrily reacting to this post totally missing the trolling point (which wasn't that hard too grasp considering the few people with a brain on this hellsite did).

This post isn't mine anymore anyway. It's now a perfect experiment displaying the typical circle jerking mob mentality chaos of the contrarian community which is infamous for having the critical thinking skills of a doorknob. Case in point.

Some of you legit sound like "yeah I can excuse about the mass killing and invasion of foreign countries by European colonizers because of cultural superiority and ✨Catholicism✨" and joke about how based it is that White people™ oppressed other races for centuries but GOD FORBID someone finds Staline hot and then all hell break lose and yall start losing your shit, be like "HOW DARE YOU???!!!! cOmMuNisM kIlLed MilIoNsJXEKSLLDJXDJDIJD #FUCKCOMMUNISM" as if yall deadass weren't making fun of the genocide of entire civilizations a minute ago.