Reyturner

I'll admit that my view of the prequels is heavily influenced by the reviews / heavy sack beatings the Red Letter Media guys inflicted on them but it's my understanding that the problems the prequels had were far beyond heavy use of green screens. Or, rather it wasn't that they were used so much as why: because it was easier. The RLM guys make a pretty good case for the movies, despite being the result of thousands of people working thousands of hours on them, ultimately being the product of a lazy, washed up hack with a weak vision, but total control none the less, who didn't really care that much about what went up on screen so long as it meant he didn't have to get up out of his chair too many times to put it there. There are so many shots of George, surrounded by staff, making half hearted pronouncements about his vision while everyone around him forces themselves to smile while making vague agreement noises in a vain attempt to make him look good. So many super cuts of boring, easy compositions of people having boring conversations in stead of doing things. But nobody in Hollywood wants to throw a guy like George Lucas under the bus, or at least don't want to publicly, and so the market department needed to find a way to signal to the smarks in the audience that the sequel trilogy wouldn't be treated the same way Lucas treated the prequels. I think "practical effects", as it is used in the promo videos for VII, is the code they settled on to mean "these movies are being made by people who give a damn". I know it's just a reel of marking pap, but it does look like the people in that video are at least having fun.

I saw Man of Steel for the the first time (it's on Netflix) and what a piece of shit. It's like a Superman movie that Lex Luthor would make: Superman is a dangerous, inconsistent idiot who's only good for punching other idiots in the face while the rest of the world burns around him. It's like a "What if..." issue where, in the alternate world, Clark Kent's parents are small minded cowardly assholes who teach Superman to doubt others and let people die because its dangerous to be too good. It gets EVERYTHING that can be interesting about Superman wrong. Something that's dawned on me in recent weeks is that the interesting thing about Superman is that he is a hero who is post masculine fragility. He has NOTHING to prove. He doesn't have to settle for cynicism or sarcasm. He can afford to be emotionally vulnerable and trust people who don't deserve it and give people second chances because he doesn't have to be afraid for himself. The lower case 'n' nice guy "boy scout" aspect of Superman that typically just gets played for laughs to contrast him from "cool, edgy" heroes like Batman is the type of guy people should hope to like but which ingrained concepts of masculinity actively reject for fear of looking stupid. General Zod is the most boring villain you can put Supes up against, especially as his first big threat. He's a dark reflection of Superman, but that's only interesting if you have any idea who Superman is supposed to be. In Man of Steel, Zod is a genocidal madman, to offset Superman's apathetic butt head. On the other hand, Lex Luthor is an interesting arch-nemesis for Superman, not because he's all brains while Supes is all brawn, but because he hates Superman for being stronger, more power and therefore, in Luthor's mind, better than him. Superman's existence shames Luthor. He wants to tear down Superman to make himself feel better about himself. He is masculine fragility. I guess I'm going to have to just forever re-read All-Star Superman which, as far as I know, is the only Superman story that focuses entirely on these themes. This concludes my 2 years too late hot(?) take of a shitty movie everyone already knows is shitty.

How to watch? VoDs? Streams?

Is that the hidden meaning of the Ninjas in Pajamas logo??????

Donald Glover for Lando!

Something that I missed in the first episode is that Ani's full name is Antigone (her dad calls her by that when she goes to talk to him). Like her sister Athena, Antigone is a name that pops up all over Greek mythology, including the name of the daughter of Oedipus (like the complex) and his mother, Jocasta. Makes you wonder why Ani's mom walked into a river. I guess if you're going to crib your ideas from other authors, it's safer that they be dead for a couple thousand years (wakka wakka). Also, the name Antigone means "against birth". As it so happens, the brand of Rust's pessimism is known as Antinatalism which mean... against birth.

Action Half-Life

I think I finally understand fashion now.

Seriously though, the most(?) charitable reading I can give this is that GG understands very well how ill-equipped law enforcement is for dealing with the type of harassment they gg trades in and how poorly it understandings the internet and the thought is that, if they mention Harper's name and work in relation to ISIS enough times, it'll trigger some kind of NSA scrutiny to... you know, harass her.

source

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the "autoblocker tech" just comparing one list of names to another list of names and then sending an API call that blocks the overlap?

I'm 99% sure it's a ravern vs.

When Ani raid's the porn studio her sister Athena* works at, Athena calls Ani a prude of all things. When the creepy shrink asks Ani what happened to the other kids who were at the commune she implies she attributes her sister's choices to growing up there and her own choice to become a cop to her rejection of their values (which I bet had a lot to do with free love). That coupled with all the weapons and her choice of reading material shown in the first episode makes me think she has some kind of Freudian thanatos complex (speaking of Freud, that ecig tho, not to mention Ray's commentary re: robot dicks in case it was subtle). From her choice in porn and the way she freaked out her boyfriend, I get the impression her rejection of her dad's hippy values has manifested in a taste for rough sex. I don't think she hates men at all. If anything, I think she's looking for a man who will help her explore those urges. When she freaks out her boyfriend in the first episode, she seems disappointed in him more than she's ashamed of herself. Maybe that's why she's so weirdly open with Ray? Also, I think her being so heavily armed has everything to do with her death fetish and that she uses her dangerous job to justify it to others. Maybe that's why Ani reads as a man hating lesbian in relation to how other writers write other tough lesbians; they conflate homosexuality with a rejection of "normal" sex. A rejection of love and life (Eros) in favour of death (Thanatos) characterizes Paul and Ray as well; Paul attempts suicide immediately after forcing himself to sleep with his girl friend and Ray has given up on sex after his wife's rape (something that seems to have damaged him more than it damaged her). Franks the only one of the four main characters who is actually trying to build something for the future. His greatest fear is the nihilism the rest of the show wallows in. *Interesting note, the Raven (ie: the mask the killer is wearing) is linked to Pallas Athena in Greek mythology. Specifically, the Raven was her companion and a symbol of wisdom but was terrible at keeping secrets. When it revealed too many secrets, Apollo punished it by turning its feathers black and the Owl replaces the Raven at Athena's side. There's also a passage in the bible that specifically mentions that when ravens kill lambs, they peck out the eyes first.

I hope it reverts her to her horrifying true form.

My brain says Secret, but my heart says EG.

Cara Ellison's Embed With Games will be released on July 6th and is available for preorder.

Listening to the There's No Such Thing as a Fish podcast, they mention the fact that "power poses" (ie: standing like Superman) and posture in general boost confidence and projects an air of authority and strength that feeds back into itself. This reenforces my belief that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is, indeed, a documentary.

You Must Build a Boat and Sproggiwood have been serving me well for quick sessions. 10,000,000 and Threes before that.

I'm fairly certain the harder difficulties give you an instant game over when you're seen.

Just started it and I'm about 2 hours in. At one point a hologram appeared of a another robot and runs screaming at you like the headless suicide guys in Serious Sam and I had a genuine panic reaction Also, realizing the puzzle rooms can interact with each other was really cool.

We don't need another Heeeeeroes.

So I don't know if this is the Western Book of the Dead referenced by the title of the episode, but it seems thematically relevant. It seems like the logical next step of Rust's philosophy; if Rust was a man in the midst of Chapter IX, Season 2 seems to be dealing with the despairing refugees described in Chapter XI. When Ani is introduced, there's a lingering shot on a copy of Hagakure, The Book of the Samurai, who's thesis is that bushido (the way of the warrior) is to live as though already dead, willing to die at any time. Ray is disappearing into a bottle. Paul is desperate to cling to his post on the highway, which gives him peace. And all around them: absurd New Art, nonsense is worshipped and the Manipulators try to build Utopia, content to treat the human beings in the way like ants. I'm a weirdo who dug Rust's bleak pessimism, and I'm happy Season 2 seems to be willing to continue to wallow in that existential misery.