tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8370156878695871242024-03-07T19:05:41.404-05:00Author's LogThe journal of David Earle, a writer looking to make a name for himself in the fiction business.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-49739733346712908792024-03-07T19:04:00.005-05:002024-03-07T19:04:38.944-05:00On Writing With AI<p> This post was written without AI, beyond maybe Google autocorrect.</p><p><br /></p><p>Doing this stream of consciousness. Need to answer the question: Why do people want to write with AI, is that evil, and is it ever justified?</p><p><br /></p><p>Start with the "why". Go back to my own experiences. Experience one: </p><p><br /></p><p>I'm a published author of multiple works under CURSED PEN NAMES REDACTED, but the one thing I take credit for is The Assassin's Dilemma, a Warhammer Fantasy short story in the Death & Dishonour collection. </p><p><br /></p><p>I do not plagiarize and I have never used AI, but if you happen to read that story and you're familiar with the old Warhammer fiction you might notice that I was heavily aping William King's style. Not ripping passages out or anything, just trying to channel the cowardly viciousness of the Skaven he wrote so well over multiple Gotrek & Felix books. This is something that's generally considered accepted practice while you're learning - Stephen King calls it out in On Writing, to name one example.</p><p><br /></p><p>Does this somehow make it acceptable to train an AI on the books of an author you like and use it for your own work? To my mind, no. In a legal sense, probably "fuck, no". Mimicking an author's style as a starting author is about gaining insights, like "Terry Pratchett doesn't spend a lot of time on character description and averages one joke per sentence". Having an AI play word scramble might provide some insights, but it's more likely to create non-actionable data analysis fodder like "Nathaniel Hawthorne frequently uses the word 'is'" (I have no idea if this is true).</p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, author self has ruled out AI. Moving to experience two. Brace for tangent:</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm currently building a top-down role playing video game based on Hansel & Gretel. (Everyone starts somewhere.) I am currently using RPG Maker MV. RPG Maker is a game engine where most of the features you need to build an RPG are baked in, including tile maps, character sprites, items, switches, rooms, enemies, combat mechanics, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>I originally started the game in GameMaker Studio. GameMaker has a lot of pre-built features for games, but they are non-specific, which means you need to build a lot of them yourself (see: everything I listed that RPG Maker has above). I got to the point where I had a game where a character could move between rooms using grid-based movement and have a second character follow them around, which is *pretty good* but I had a long way to go.</p><p><br /></p><p>Because this Hansel & Gretel game is me proving a point to myself and not my dream project, I elected to use RPG Maker instead and cut out a lot of the engine work I'd have to do to get things going with GameMaker. I am very conscious that when want to make a different style of game, I am going to have to abandon RPG Maker for something else, but it provides the tools I need for now.</p><p><br /></p><p>Which brings me back to the topic: RPG Maker is a tool to make games that ships with a bunch of pre-built assets for you to use. And you can use these assets and the tool as-is. But but BUT, the truth is that a game made with stock RPG Maker assets is going to be dismissed by most people because all those included tools and assets are pretty bland. The RPG Maker games that succeed are the ones that take the engine, replace all the stock assets, and bend the hell out of the defaults to create something unique, some new gaming experience.</p><p><br /></p><p>So one might argue: what if I prompt an AI to generate a book, based on my own ideas and characters, and then edit the hell out of it until it's something unique, a new reading experience?</p><p><br /></p><p>Hm.</p><p><br /></p><p>HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well. First, this doesn't solve the problem of AI being trained on content that the authors didn't consent to offer up for that purpose. That's one of the sticking points of the whole practice. But let's argue that someone creates an AI that's trained on public domain content *only*.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next problem is that writers are lazy stumblebums. (Or: I am a lazy stumblebum, and I am generalizing my inferiority complex to an entire profession.) If you're already using AI to write the first draft of your novel, what exactly is stopping you from leaving in great chunks of purely AI-generated content? I mean, it's not impossible that the AI came up with a really great sentence you wish you'd thought of. Who would know, right? (Probably everyone.)</p><p><br /></p><p>And that hints at the last problem, which is: writing is a learned, practiced skill. Using an AI to generate great swathes of text you revise does not teach you how to structure a story. It does not teach you how to write believable, sympathetic, hateable, hilarious characters. It does not teach you how to make people laugh, cry, shout, or just put the book down for a second and stare into space.</p><p><br /></p><p>An inexperienced writer using an AI to write their book is going to create garbage at worst (which to be fair is true with or without the AI), but at best it's going to be work that's like an RPG Maker game made with just the default assets. It will lack evidence of craft.</p><p><br /></p><p>An experienced writer using an AI to write their book... may write a good book. A great one? I don't know. I doubt it. But to my mind, any AI available now will just be a distracting addition to the writer's existing process.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm going to call Joanna Penn out a bit now just because she's the first author who tried to sell me on using AI in my writing through her mailing list. (I unsubscribed.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Her basic process for writing a short story as described on her website was: 1. write a basic story, 2. use a tool to expand on sensory descriptions and flesh out events, 3. incorporate the text into her story after heavy editing, 4. run the story through an online editor software, 5. run the story through a human editor, 6. use an AI to generate a book cover and 7. brainstorm a title.</p><p><br /></p><p>In line with my thoughts: 1 and 5 are obviously fine. 7 I don't really mind, it's like using a random word generator or a jar of word magnets for inspiration. (Disclaimer: I may use anagram generators for vampire names in some yet-to-be-published works.) And 4 seems reasonable given that it's suggestions on how to modify existing text, rather than writing it in full.</p><p><br /></p><p>But 2 and 3 run smack into the problems I see with trying to edit an AI's text - it's not yours, and the temptation is to leave more and more of it in, without learning what's good about it and what isn't. And 6, the book cover, is the poster child for content-stealing AI.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do get the temptation to delegate descriptive text to an AI. I'm shit at it myself. But it's a compromise. You can argue it's the same compromise a one-man-band game developer makes when they buy an asset pack or a sound library. Maybe that's a fair argument. But until AI can clean up its ethics issues, I don't think it's one that will win me over.</p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-14897588929724471622023-11-11T22:21:00.000-05:002023-11-11T22:21:07.447-05:00Dave Does Dev: Introduction<p> Welcome welcome welcome, thank you for coming to my humble blog. My name is David Earle and for the past few years this place has been... kind of deserted!</p><p><br /></p><p><i>sounds of wind rushing past, a screen door flapping</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>But prior to that this was a place I talked about my creative endeavors, sometimes politics, media, etc. I'd like to revive that and, for right now, the plan is to focus on my next big project:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Developing A Video Game</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p>Well, specifically:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Developing Three Video Games</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p>Or, to be more exact:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Developing Two Small Video Games And A Proof Of Concept For What Could Be A Full Video Game Sometime Far In The Future</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p>If this sounds ambitious to you: you're right! Any software development project you care to name is a months-long effort, and video games are more involved than most. You've got to create features, develop scripts for any plot or dialogue, create or buy game assets like art, sounds, fonts, etc., and then playtest, tune and revise whatever you end up making to ensure that it's actually, you know, fun!</p><p><br /></p><p>If you'll permit me the comparison, trying to create a game has a lot in common with trying to write a novel. You have to plan out a structure for the final product, you have to show amazing scenes and lovable/hateable characters, and you have to make sure the person taking it all in enjoys themselves to the very end. Also, there's a lot of revision and trying to figure out why things don't work!</p><p><br /></p><p>The main difference is that creating a game is a multidisciplinary effort (programming/art/sound) right from the get-go, whereas a novel is mostly a solo act - at least until you get to trying to publish the thing and have to deal with editors, marketing, cover art, etc. and remember that books require a team of people with different skills just as much as video games. So it's not really a difference so much as a shift in weight.</p><p><br /></p><p>But just like Amazon and other sites have opened up the world of self-publishing, indie game development is more accessible than it ever has been. Storefronts like Steam reward big commercial products, but indies still have a leg in, and even smaller less commercial projects can find a place on itch.io. Which also happens to be one of several great resources for free or low-cost art assets to help an indie game dev create their dream project.</p><p><br /></p><p>Maybe even a hobbyist like me.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some background: I went to college at Washington College in Chestertown, MD to take part in their Creative Writing program, which was and remains great. But I did consider that I'd need a way to make a living wage if writing didn't work out, so I took a wide selection of classes my freshman year. One of those classes was an introductory Java class, which included an assignment to draw a snowman using Java's built in graphics functionality.</p><p><br /></p><p>From that moment I was hooked. I'd always loved video games; the idea of creating one was irresistible. I ended up majoring in Computer Science, pushed my teachers for a 3D graphics class, and did my thesis on matrix math, submitting a little First Person Shooter demo as my final project.</p><p><br /></p><p>And then... I didn't do much. Which is to say I published a short story, and a non-fiction article under a pen name. Tried some self-publishing under a different pen name. I got a job in IT and stuck with it. I got married, got a dog and a house, had two great kids, even went to Disney World a few times.</p><p><br /></p><p>And for game development? I'd read a book on the subject, try the exercises. Then I'd pick up a different book, try those exercises out. And so on, until I had a very heavy stack of books and the realization that I was just going through exercises without trying to create anything on my own.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was that multidisciplinary weighting, in part. I had no idea how to create my own graphics, or get my own sounds together. And at the time game engines weren't as well-developed as they are now, so I kept trying to roll my own and falling into a trap of writing code for hours without anything to show for it. And most of that code was copied out of a book. So I set aside my ambition for nearly two decades.</p><p><br /></p><p>But recently, something - random chance, fate, the little butterflies of time and space - started dropping breadcrumbs in my path.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think it started with this video by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRIkWHo1SJY">Super Eyepatch Wolf</a>, on a game called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_%26_Hunger">Fear & Hunger</a>. It's very NSFW (think Berserk but grosser), but it piqued my interest.</p><p><br /></p><p>Around the same time <a href="https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/">RPG Maker</a>, a game engine I've poked at and left alone repeatedly over the years, had another sale on Steam. And somehow the fact that Fear & Hunger was made in that engine entered my consciousness.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you've seen an RPG Maker game you'll know the engine trends to very Japanese RPG stock art and gameplay, but somehow it had been used to make this chaotic hellscape of a game. I had to know how. So I got a copy of the game, found a decompiler for it, and opened it up in RPG Maker to see what made it tick.</p><p><br /></p><p>After that I started going through the tutorials for RPG Maker. I learned about tile maps, events, characters. Picked it all up in a week. And then I wanted to do something for myself. Just a small project, nothing ambitious - but as I said at the start, even a small project is pretty ambitious.</p><p><br /></p><p>So here and now, I write my goals, and sign them with my name:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. I will make a 2D RPG retelling the story of Hansel and Gretel - a project that could very easily be done with the stock assets and features of RPG Maker.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. I will make a Pokemon clone proof of concept - mostly for something my son can enjoy. This has also been done in RPG Maker but is substantially more involved as a project, and would require implementing features the base engine doesn't have.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. I will create a 2D turn-based strategy game in the style of the Shining Force Sega Genesis series. To start with, just two battles, but with an eye to something more - maybe.</p><p><br /></p><p><i><b>David Earle, 11 November 2023</b></i></p><p><i><b><br /></b></i></p><p>And so it will be done. But whether it will be done in RPG Maker... that's a whole different question, and one for another post.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>-Dave</i></p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-50546299284930751042023-05-27T11:36:00.001-04:002023-05-27T11:36:20.202-04:00Modern Civics<p>Well hello there! Would you like to know how the United States works? I knew you would!</p><p>Okay, so, if you live in the United States you are what they call a citizen. (The United States of America is called a country.) As a citizen you pay a subscription fee, called taxes, that is based on how much money you made in the past year. In return for your subscription you get benefits such as well-maintained roads, clean air, a functional legal system, and a chance to vote periodically for the country's leadership.</p><p>(If you are not a documented citizen, you may be here on a trial period (refugee). If you do not pay taxes you are either a pirate (criminal) or a VIP on a complementary membership (wealthy). Oddly enough the people on the trial period are considered the most problematic by half the country's leadership.)</p><p>Now, you may notice that the roads are not very well maintained and the air is kind of smelly and overheated. That's because for the past forty years (at least), around half of the country's leadership (the same ones against trial periods) have insisted on a subscription plan where the majority of the country pays at the highest tier, but the people with the most money get complementary memberships. And despite the accountants pointing out this doesn't work and isn't good business (governance), this faction insists on sticking with it and lowering subscription fees.</p><p>Why are they doing this? Well part of it is they tend to have the most money, and so do their friends. But also, they want the country to get in enough trouble that they can convince the subscribers (citizens) to vote them into total control. Once that happens they can change the subscriber rules so the subscribers don't get to vote at all, and chance their benefits to what they think citizens should have (rights based on being white, male and wealthy), and all the members who disagree with them can be removed from the service (deported/arrested/executed).</p><p>Does it seem like they should be allowed to do this? That's right, it doesn't! But we let them because a lot of subscribers get told by marketing (the press) that this is a good thing for them and a bad thing for people they don't like. And the people who aren't trying to get the country in trouble, don't want to admit to the subscribers that a good part of the leadership wants to tear the service down - it's bad P.R.</p><p>So why is this important? Well, a while back the leadership passed a rule that if the country built up a certain amount of debt, they would stop paying their bills. There wasn't an actual requirement to do this, but leadership thought it was a good idea and assumed everyone would stick to it.</p><p>Anyway, next week we might hit that limit, and the anti-trial period faction would be very happy if the country stopped paying its bills so they can blame the CEO (President) and have him voted out. So they're forcing the rest of leadership to agree to a bunch of changes that will also hurt the country, but not as obviously.</p><p>So what can you do? Not much! The main thing is to vote against the people trying to wreck the service, but that system is heavily weighted in their favor so it's not easy. You also need to vote for people who are trying to fix the service, but again, that's an uphill battle. Still, try your best!</p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-21242142483169080792023-04-10T19:00:00.000-04:002023-04-10T19:00:18.903-04:00Resident Evil 4, Microtransactions, and Paying for Cheat CodesFair warning, this post is not on-brand, I'm working through my feelings on a video game so just bear with me.<div><br /></div><div>Anyway. Resident Evil 4 Remake! Played it. Finished it, on standard difficulty, once. Great game. I've been playing Resident Evil games since the series began and haven't missed a mainline game yet (if you don't count Code: Veronica), and this one is up to standards.</div><div><br /></div><div>Normally after beating a Resident Evil game I would, per tradition, unlock the Rocket Launcher with infinite ammo and go on a vengeful spree through the game, destroying my fear of the various monstrous enemies by blowing them into pixelated chunks. Capcom has, as of last week, decided to make that a <i>question of moral difficulty</i> so now I'm blogging instead.</div><div><br /></div><div>Background: the infinite Rocket Launcher typically unlocks after beating the game with a sufficiently high rank, usually S, which used to mean doing a speed run. Resident Evil 2 Remake tweaked that a bit by requiring a speed run on Hardcore difficulty, and then Resident Evil 3 Remake and Resident Evil 8 introduced bonus stores where you could unlock and purchase the weapon after doing some challenges. </div><div><br /></div><div>So far, so good, except RE2Remake also provided an option to just buy the infinite Rocket Launcher for five bucks. This flew under the radar because the option took about a year to come out and by that point no one really noticed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fast forward to now, and RE4Remake, which has more weapon upgrades but has added microtransactions to the mix, in the form of "exclusive tickets" you can buy for $3 a pop in real money. These let you unlock high-end weapon upgrades that you'd otherwise have to do multiple playthroughs of the game to earn.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is the infinite Rocket Launcher locked behind this? Oddly enough, no, you can't use a ticket to get that, probably because it would break the game's hardest difficulty in half. But, you can get a Handcannon (Magnum) with infinite ammo using the tickets, which has kind of the same effect. And that's something you can't do by just grinding out in-game money, at least if you want to go for the trophy tied to beating the hardest difficulty with infinite ammo on your side.</div><div><br /></div><div>In short (too late), Capcom is charging three bucks for what used to be a cheat code.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is this a good thing? No. I miss cheat codes. Bring them back.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is this evil then? Also no, at least not in comparison to some of the truly predatory microtransactions out there. At most I think you can spend $10-$25 on these tickets. And the game is single-player so it's not a thing where you're paying to beat other people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Am I going to buy these things?</div><div><br /></div><div>...Maybe?</div><div><br /></div><div>I confess, I prefer to cheat my way through games whenever possible. I am time-limited for gaming, but I do like to see as much of the games I like as I can, and I like unlocking the trophies. So if $3 saves me a couple of hours of grinding I consider that worth it. (And this is why I need to avoid anything with pay to win mechanics.)</div><div><br /></div><div>With that said: Capcom's been getting more and more willing to load up microtransactions in their big franchises, and this is the first time where they've done it in a way that the game may have suffered for it. The weapon unlocks in RE4Remake are weird and grindy in a way that's not been the case in most any previous game. They aren't quite at the point where I think open greed influenced the game design... but they're close.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's been some muted backlash over the tickets already, but not a lot. As I said, these aren't egregious next to stuff like Diablo: Immortal. But if Capcom decides to keep pushing their luck on this sort of thing going forward, it could get ugly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Probably right in time to screw up a Resident Evil 6 remake, if one happens. Wouldn't <i>that</i> be funny.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Dave</div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-52192840728073122652022-12-31T17:42:00.001-05:002022-12-31T17:42:23.752-05:00What Comes After<p> Megatron was in Trypticon's command hub, studying the various maps that laid out the coming campaign, when Starscream returned. He left his back to the door - an unsubtle dare they both understood. Starscream didn't rise to the bait.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Report."</p><p><br /></p><p>"As you commanded, mighty Megatron," Starscream said, bowing ironically. "The Combaticons will be with us for the assault on Earth."</p><p><br /></p><p>Megatron grunted acknowledgment, not taking his eyes from the maps. "I have never understood why such fractious soldiers agree to follow you."</p><p><br /></p><p>"I make Onslaught laugh."</p><p><br /></p><p>Now Megatron gave Starscream his attenton. "What?"</p><p><br /></p><p>Starscream shrugged. "Oh, not the only reason I suppose... Swindle considers me a good customer, and I've certainly kept quiet about some of his more ambitious dealings. Brawl hates me, but he can't touch me, and that amuses Vortex and Blast-Off."</p><p><br /></p><p>"So you're their jester," said Megatron.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Perhaps. But they also recognize one of their own. We're well aligned in how much we hate you."</p><p><br /></p><p>Megatron might have scowled. At other times he might have simply blasted Starscream into the hub's armored wall plating. This time, he just narrowed his optics.</p><p><br /></p><p>"That is remarkably candid of you."</p><p><br /></p><p>"I think you and I are past the point where deception's useful, you and I." Starscream grinned. "Despite the name."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Then if I might take advantage of this mood," Megatron said, "let me ask: why follow me?"</p><p><br /></p><p>"The Combaticons are no friends of the Autobots, or Primes," Starscream said. "They're aligned with your goals, they've just been used too many times as blunt instruments and disposable tools to ever admit it. My... reputation... makes me a useful go-between, as I'm sure you already know."</p><p><br /></p><p>"True enough. But I was asking about you."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Really?" Up to now Starscream's tone had been light, but now there was a bitter edge to it. "You actually have to ask?"</p><p><br /></p><p>The Air Commander fell silent for long moments. Megatron waited.</p><p><br /></p><p>"My reasons for following you have never changed, Megatron," Starscream said at length. "I fight with you so I can shape the new Cybertron we all seek to create."</p><p><br /></p><p>"And yet you betray me. Constantly."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Because I grow impatient," Starscream snapped. "Do you recall what I was when I joined your uprising? I was the Senate's chief science aide."</p><p><br /></p><p>"An ambitious one, as I recall," Megatron said dismissively.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Of course. The unambitious never made it to the halls of power I walked." Starscream sounded almost wistful. "My dream was to use my influence to bring about needed reforms. Of course the Senate was so gear-locked that became obviously impossible. Which is where you came in."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Implacable problems require unstoppable force." Megatron folded his arms.</p><p><br /></p><p>"And the Senate certainly isn't a problem anymore," said Starscream. "But this was drags on down through the millennia. And as long as it does, there's no room to better our species. My goals wither on the vine, as the Earthlings say. Forever unmet."</p><p><br /></p><p>Megatron made a sound Starscream barely recognized. The Decepticon leader chuckled. "Your ambition is to be a politician," he said unbelievingly.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Don't treat it like some joke," Starscream warned. "You've fought this war for ages. How often have you considered what comes after? There will be a need to rebuild Cybertron, to put the bots who are sick of fighting to some useful purpose. You'll need leaders, administrators, at all levels if you want to have a functional people to rule."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Really," Megatron said, his voice a low growl of threat. "You think I overthrew Cybertron's labyrinthine bureaucracy of oppression just to rebuild the same system?"</p><p><br /></p><p>"Of course not," said Starscream. "But did you think you'd be issuing edicts like some fleshling king? Or a Prime, Matrix help us?"</p><p><br /></p><p>"So long as I remain the one with the will to see our people rise."</p><p><br /></p><p>Starscream snorted, a burst of static. "Of course. Still, even you understand chain of command and delegation. There will be room for me to pursue my ambitions."</p><p><br /></p><p>"Then why undermine me at every turn?" Megatron growled.</p><p><br /></p><p>"I've said it already, Megatron. To end the war."</p><p><br /></p><p>Starscream saw the telltale flash of Megatron's optics, the red glare of Energon flaring brighter, and his combat protocols readied. Then it faded.</p><p><br /></p><p>"You would never surrender the Decepticons to Prime..." Megatron said slowly.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Of course not," Starscream sneered. "But as you said, we serve at your will. If you were to perish, there would be room for negotiation. Armistice. A chance to build for a while, instead of destroy."</p><p><br /></p><p>Megatron was silent for a time, his gaze never leaving Starscream's face. "I see," he said at last, turning back to the campaign map. "You are dismissed, Air Commander."</p><p><br /></p><p>"That's it?" Starscream had trouble believing it. Megatron didn't reply. He considered blasting his leader in the back, just on principle, but decided it wasn't worth the beating that would follow.</p><p><br /></p><p>As he opened the door to the command hub, Megatron spoke.</p><p><br /></p><p>"I've considered it, you know."</p><p><br /></p><p>Starscream turned. Megatron's habitual growl was absent, his voice softened.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Sue for peace. Surrender myself to Prime's justice. I've thought of it more than once, down the cycles. Do you know what stops me?"</p><p><br /></p><p>"What?"</p><p><br /></p><p>"Because if I admit I was wrong to do what I've done, that will be it. The Autobots will rebuild what was. Maybe it will be better for a time, but the old abuses will rise again."</p><p><br /></p><p>Megatron turned again, and the earnest expression on his face was so unexpected that Starscream had to stifle a cry.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Keep to your treacheries, Starscream. I will never stop fighting for the cause, and I will not allow you to win... but if you do, I wish you well."</p><p><br /></p><p>Starscream didn't know what to say. Thankfully Megatron did not wait for a response, turning back to his war. The Decepticon left him to it, his mind churning, considering fresh possibilities.</p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-6683740414720534622022-11-23T10:48:00.002-05:002022-11-23T10:48:47.364-05:00A Conversation With My Son This Morning<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"Dad, why can't people litter?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because it hurts animals and plants and messes up the environment."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"I want to litter."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"No, we have enough litter at home."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because you two don't clean up your messes and Mommy and Daddy work too much to handle it all."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because Mommy and Daddy both need to work to make money."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"Because the economy is a shambles."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because people don't vote right."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because civics lessons aren't focused on."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So people won't know how to vote."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So bad people can stay in power."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because there's a lot of money to be made."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because people don't vote right."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because civics lessons aren't focused on."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So people won't know how to vote."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So bad people can stay in power."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because there's a lot of money to be made."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because people don't vote right."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because civics lessons aren't focused on."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So people won't know how to vote."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So bad people can stay in power."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because there's a lot of money to be made."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because people don't vote right."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Because civics lessons aren't focused on!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"Why?!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />"So people won't know how to vote!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><i>cackling, daughter joins in unison</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> "Why?!"</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>"So bad people can stay in power!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><i>"Why?!"</i></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i>"Because there's a lot of money to be made!"</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><i>more cackling "Why?!"</i></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i><i>"Because people don't vote right!"</i></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i><i>"Why?!"</i></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i>And then, mercifully, the car trip ended.</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />-Dave</div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-20341476201125137382022-11-12T13:22:00.002-05:002022-11-12T13:22:46.454-05:00I, David Earle, Have A DreamThat one day I will publish a book with my name on the cover.<div><br /></div><div>That one day I will have enough money that I can stop worrying about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>That one day my house will be clean.</div><div><br /></div><div>That there will come a week I can relax without guilt or consequences.</div><div><br /></div><div>That I won't have to interrupt this blog post to go rescue my dog from a downstairs cabinet because she tried to jump up to the oven and steal my son's chicken sandwich and she got one of her nails stuck in a cabinet hinge.</div><div><br /></div><div>That is my dream!</div><div><br /></div><div>(The dog is fine.)</div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-40143187594189317642022-11-10T14:45:00.001-05:002022-11-10T14:45:09.110-05:00With Twitter Collapsing It Occurs To Me<p>I don't actually need to make my blog nothing but long-form content.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I want to post random nonsense I can do it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="354" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VoUzpe8QdYA" width="551" youtube-src-id="VoUzpe8QdYA"></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p>Hmm.</p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-87999848244592255642022-04-25T19:00:00.003-04:002022-04-25T19:00:39.506-04:00Apropos of Nothing, My Blog<p>This is my blog. There are many like it but this one is mine.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have not blogged for many a year (almost three), but the writing bug is upon me again so I may resume. I am certainly not writing this in response to someone buying Twitter. Assuredly not! As this platform is at the sufferance of Google so it's not like it's <i>better</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway: if you're worried you'll miss my presence on the Interwebs at some point in the near future, the contact thingie on the right still works. Mebbe. Or you can leave a comment - I know that works because that's where the spambots live. So... yeah.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p><br /></p><p>Speaking of the writing bug.</p><p><br /></p><p>I recently watched one SuperEyepatchWolf's retrospective/celebration/memorial for Kentaro Miura, author of Berserk, recently passed. And there was a bit that <strike>stuck with me</strike> punched me in the throat, in the last ten minutes, where he talks about putting one's happiness before one's dreams. I won't try to summarize or quote it, <a href="https://youtu.be/UBrUVqZ_pO8">watch the video</a> it's well worth your time.</p><p><br /></p><p>And what hit me was not an epiphany about overwork, because when it comes to writing I'm very much the opposite, writing in fits and starts over years and, very rarely, finishing the things I start.</p><p><br /></p><p>What hit me was, after doing this for... let's go with twenty-five years, because that's a nice round number that encompasses wee Davey getting started with a six page short story in high school...</p><p><br /></p><p>After doing this for twenty-five years, I finally got hit with the big question: Why?</p><p><br /></p><p>Why am I doing this.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why am I writing.</p><p><br /></p><p>Does this make me happy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Because if writing is my big, shining, Griffith-like dream then I've been deferring it for a lot of years so it sure seems like maybe I'm not all that keen on it after all.</p><p><br /></p><p>But. <i>But.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>There's a world where the crossing between life and death got broken a long time ago, ruled by a tyrant in black armor whose body will never stop burning. And in that world there's a boy who just picked up a jewel that could fix the world, or break it apart.</p><p><br /></p><p>And then there's a bar in Washington where the fair folk work a woman half to death, not knowing that inside her is a knight sharpening silver knives. Across town her brother studies magic under the tutelage of a pixie of mysterious motives. And in a hospital nearby a golem sits by her husband's bedside, comforting a man she's loved for eighty years through his last days.</p><p><br /></p><p>And in southern Maryland, a brother and sister are wandering the woods behind their house, hoping the Antlered King can guide them to a cure for their sick mother before the Widow Queen wraps her in thick webs and devours their home.</p><p><br /></p><p>And there's a kid with his pet cyberdemon rocketing towards fallen Earth to reclaim the world, and there's a rogue landing on a planet-sized engine with a plan to steal it, and there's a beast with flaming orange hair that used to be a human running on all fours through the grass as her flesh and muscle warp into horrifying new forms, and there's a man trying to troubleshoot a Teams call late at night as the shadows in his office building creep closer and closer, and, and...</p><p><br /></p><p>And I don't really know how to cope with a head full of too many ideas, except to try and write them down.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I'm going to keep trying that. And I think this year, I might try a little harder.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>-Dave</i></p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-6166238187799411542019-12-27T19:44:00.000-05:002019-12-27T19:44:19.318-05:00What I Loved About The Rise of Skywalker... And The Other StuffSPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS WHY DID YOU CLICK ON THIS LINK IF YOU DIDN"T EXPECT SPOILERS<br />
<br />
Okay, that's done...<br />
<br />
I really hate that going to see The Rise of Skywalker felt like a chore. The amount of negative press and online comments about it over the course of a week (I guess two weeks counting the leak time) had me bummed out about it well in advance, and I was well aware I could go see Knives Out instead.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, my expectations were so lowered that I had a good time watching it where I maybe wouldn't have. Who's to say? And this is The Last Star Wars Movie Until The Next One, how could I possibly resist?<br />
<br />
So here's the stuff I liked:<br />
<br />
<h3>
Paging Papa Palpatine</h3>
<br />
Much like in Revenge of the Sith, Ian McDiarmid was an absolute treat reprising his role as Emperor Palpatine. He was creepy, evil, and creepy evil in all the right ways, effortlessly subverting Kylo Ren's mastery over the First Order to reassert his rule as the absolute Lord of All Evil in the Star Wars universe. And he did all this while he was basically a dangling corpse on a stick!<br />
<br />
The movie also retroactively clears up Palpatine's one big moment of stupidity, namely his attempt to corrupt Luke Skywalker to his side. Originally this wasn't obviously effective - Palpatine basically seemed to be goading Luke into killing him, on the basis that once he was on the Dark Side the Emperor would somehow be able to bend him to his will. Now, it's clear that Palpatine's goal was to fill Luke's heart with enough hate that he'd be able to body snatch him at the moment Luke struck him down - the same goal he has with Rey. From now on, Palpatine's <i>only</i> flaw will be that he's a bit too happy with the Force lightning, and honestly, wouldn't you be?<br />
<br />
<h3>
Eff Hux</h3>
<br />
Did anyone else get hype when the Senior Nazi shot this little weasel? Remember kids, Nazis eat their own as readily as anyone else, and no one is immune. Goodbye Hux, hope the door hit your ass on the way down.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Final Order</h3>
<br />
Palpatine's private army can come off as incredibly stupid ("He built this whole thing in secret? <i>All</i> the Star Destroyers have planet-killer guns?"), but I honestly loved it because it's exactly the sort of insane evil secretive thing Palpatine's been known for through the Clone Wars and two Death Stars. And the shots of all those ships floating in a nightmare void outside of normal space were, well, chilling. It's a shame they ended up being a bit of wasted potential (we'll get to that).<br />
<br />
The other cool thing was that we finally got to see the Sith front and center in a main Star Wars film. The Sith have always been one of the coolest things about the Expanded Universe, old and new - a cult of evil fallen Jedi and wizards out to overthrow and supplant the established order. The Rise of Skywalker is the first film that makes the Sith as a force beyond just Palpatine feel like the nightmarish horror they <i>should</i> be, and it was great to see.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Ben Solo</h3>
<br />
Make that Ben <i>freaking</i> Solo. Once Kylo Ren throws off the Dark Side he starts doing what comes naturally, and it turns out Han Solo's son actually inherited a lot of his father's charm, roguish fighting style and intermittently bad luck. (Ow.) Adam Driver absolutely nailed the transition and even though it was brief (<span style="color: red;">we'll get to that</span>) it was a lot of fun to see Ben come out to play.<br />
<br />
<h3>
And Then There's The Rest</h3>
<br />
With those pluses acknowledged, I've got to admit The Rise of Skywalker is not the best movie in the Star Wars series and is probably the worst of the current trilogy, although that doesn't make it the worst Star Wars movie either (which is a subjective thing and some might disagree). There are and will continue to be many takes on what's wrong with the film - that's Star Wars fandom - but as far as what stood out to me:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The pacing is completely shot, jumping from scene to scene like the editor was high on meth. They packed a million things into this film and focused on none of it, which is fine for Disney and the EU going forward but makes watching the movie feel like a roller coaster ride, and not in a good way.</li>
<li>It's hard to argue J.J. Abrams didn't just toss The Last Jedi in the trash entirely when he came on for the third movie. Rose is a wasted character, Poe has to relearn the lesson he spent all of TLJ learning (except not as well), Finn's reduced to chasing after Rey the whole film and is maybe Force sensitive for no good reason, Rey's back to being a child of destiny to the film's detriment, Snoke loses what little character he had - the fans of TLJ are pissed for a reason, is what I'm saying.</li>
<li>Poe Dameron's character does another complete swerve in this movie for no good reason. This has been a problem for Poe, period, but on the third movie it sticks out really badly and doesn't add anything to him.</li>
<li>We didn't need Jon Favreau's scene. At all.</li>
<li>How do you completely <i>miss</i> a second transport ship?</li>
<li>The stakes of the combat never seemed high, except for stopping Palpatine. Everything else came off as a distraction, which is bad when you're fighting a full-blown apocalyptic army.</li>
</ul>
<br />
And then there's the death of Ben Solo, which came out of nowhere, served no Goddamn purpose and seems like it was done just because the production was over time and over budget and couldn't figure out how to get Ben off Escargot and said "fuck it". And as far as I'm concerned he's <i>not</i> dead, Leia or the Force just snatched him away to give him a chance at redemption without getting shot or thrown into a dark hole by the Resistance, because FFS what else do you do with Kylo Ren at this point? But even if Ben's irredeemable (and that's a whole separate post I'm not going to write), he's a character who still deserved a chance to shine in the EU. The choice to just wave a hand and end that was horrible, and fans of Reylo are quite justifiably furious. I fully expect Ben to return in the books at some point soon, although whether his story will continue forward is an open question, and I'm not optimistic. But it absolutely should.<br />
<br />
So, yeah. Flawed film, I've seen worse, there were certainly some good bits, and it certainly brought things to an ending. Not a final one, though.<br />
<br />
Bring back Ben Solo.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-2366971111717740702018-10-08T10:43:00.003-04:002018-10-08T10:43:22.563-04:00State of the Union, October 2016We are currently governed by a Congress where the party in power won a bare majority in the House by 1.1% of the popular vote, and lost the popular vote in the Senate. The President lost the popular vote, and may have been involved in foreign efforts to influence the election in his favor. That's ignoring the party's ongoing campaign of voter suppression in key states.<br />
<br />
This party, which came to power without a popular mandate, has now installed a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court, including 4 Justices appointed by a President who lost the popular vote and 2 with credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault against them.<br />
<br />
The open cruelty of this party has been on display since January 2017, as they've pursued a policy of non-violent ethnic cleansing that has sundered families, and seen asylum seekers and their children indefinitely detained in tent camps. They've insisted that massive cuts need to be made to programs that support the poor, even as they force through massive cuts to taxes for the rich. They've insisted on destroying the Affordable Care Act without any meaningful plan to replace it.<br />
<br />
The party has openly worked to sabotage the proper functioning of our government at every turn. They have insulted our allies and sought the support of our enemies, even as those same enemies commit crimes with impunity, confident no response is coming from the United States. They have allowed the President and his cronies to openly flout ethics laws and profit massively from their positions, without lifting a finger to investigate.<br />
<br />
And most recently, they listed to a survivor of sexual assault, denigrated her, ignored her, ignored anyone who would speak in support of her, ignored any evidence that backed her up, and made yet another naked grab for power. Brett Kavanaugh will be on the Supreme Court tomorrow. Dr. Blasey Ford remains in hiding.<br />
<br />
And now, this weekend, we are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/climate/ipcc-climate-report-2040.html">seeing a report</a> that describes a climate crisis that could hit us as soon as 2040. The report describes worsening food shortages, increased wildfires, massive coral die-off, and a rise in temperatures of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit worldwide.
Steps could have been taken to avoid this decades ago. They weren't. Steps need to be taken immediately to prevent this now. They won't be. We are trapped under absolute minority rule by a party that still insists that climate change is a hoax, and will do anything necessary to prevent meaningful action against the coming crisis.<br />
<br />
Our children - my children - will grow up in the hell we leave behind.<br />
<br />
So as this party goes on the news and bemoans the lack of civility in our politics - as they complain they can't go to dinner without being harassed, as they attempt to paint the opposition as somehow radical and dangerous: remember that this party has been working for decades to destroy our government, our balance of powers, and our ability to simply live on our own planet.<br />
<br />
Remember that, <b><a href="https://vote.gov/">and fucking vote.</a></b>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-69851835477140652482018-08-05T23:11:00.000-04:002018-08-05T23:11:50.560-04:00The Doom Coming To Trumpland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS5EpT_xQNXzJW0cO6Y0oVX1c-m_uYImRcMuA4OO3Nvnt5HR3i2O_EybgILnu3z9x1nNeqCDDU0YiKaLx8R34NlFqJudmg1Nj5fe5iC1CTk2BMSKZ1PNBxLGLy7jXZwiBWGLt1codPC8lJ/s1600/trump-his-eyes-bleeding-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="900" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS5EpT_xQNXzJW0cO6Y0oVX1c-m_uYImRcMuA4OO3Nvnt5HR3i2O_EybgILnu3z9x1nNeqCDDU0YiKaLx8R34NlFqJudmg1Nj5fe5iC1CTk2BMSKZ1PNBxLGLy7jXZwiBWGLt1codPC8lJ/s200/trump-his-eyes-bleeding-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
So shit happened today, as it does every day since the election of 2016. But this shit may be significant. It may mark the End Times in Trumpland, the time when the red moon plunges from the sky and the ground trembles with the fearful shaking of the dreaming MAGAts. A rent has been torn in the throne of the Fool's Gold God, and the tweeting of a thousand thousand pundits drowns the air as the blue-winged flock takes flight...<br />
<br />
Fuck. Sorry. Let me begin again.<br />
<br />
(Black Library, would you like a haunted house story?)<br />
<br />
Today Donald Trump tweeted this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1CEVzwCo-HUHtxqSLEx4TXkjGTYtPD0z_7hOmJe5sAkUoaKpIm9UXrXcMzoHkyWg4Fij3Gu-6DU7m_toGhDCHAxgUwvfD1I3DpAZnRig6v5VXrcvCswo21TGdNHDxXKaI2_8rKIjSmzs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-08-05+at+10.27.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="603" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1CEVzwCo-HUHtxqSLEx4TXkjGTYtPD0z_7hOmJe5sAkUoaKpIm9UXrXcMzoHkyWg4Fij3Gu-6DU7m_toGhDCHAxgUwvfD1I3DpAZnRig6v5VXrcvCswo21TGdNHDxXKaI2_8rKIjSmzs/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-08-05+at+10.27.43+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In essence: Donald Trump admitted the meeting his son had with a Russian attorney during the campaign was to get dirt on his opponent, Hillary Clinton; claimed the whole thing was legal and went nowhere; and denies knowing anything about it.<br />
<br />
Take a moment to let the idiocy of denying knowing about a "totally legal" meeting sink in. Took me all day. Good? Okay, let's move on.<br />
<br />
Donald Trump is admitting that his son met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with close ties to the Russian government, to get information on Hillary Clinton. This is, to my knowledge, the first time he's acknowledged that, although it's been known for months that the original stated purpose of the meeting was false. (Said purpose being to discuss adoption in Russia, a story apparently concocted personally by Donald Trump on behalf of his son.)<br />
<br />
This alone is problematic, since <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/41593/hiding-plain-sight-federal-campaign-finance-law-trump-campaign-collusion-russia-trump/">it's illegal for a campaign to accept "anything of value" from a foreign national</a>. The Trumps claim nothing of value came from this meeting, which might be believable except for a few things:<br />
<br />
1. the Democratic National Committee's servers were hacked,<br />
<br />
2. those servers contained damaging material in email that was subsequently released to the public, influencing the election,<br />
<br />
3. those servers also contained election analytics data, which was not released to the public, but which the Trump campaign appears to have acted on during the election,<br />
<br />
4. Donald Trump has subsequently done everything feasible to end any investigation into these points, and<br />
<br />
5. Donald Trump has lied to the American people around 4,500 times just since he took office.<br />
<br />
So it's possible Trump's tweet is an admission that his campaign was seeking information of value from a foreign national. Collusion is not a technical crime, but that is collusion. It is also a crime, if anything of value was provided.<br />
<br />
And Trumpland continues to shake, because what sparked Trump's admission were rumors that he was concerned his son, Donald Jr., is in legal jeopardy. Because Donald Trump Jr. testified to Congress, under oath, that his father had no knowledge of this meeting. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/politics/trump-tower-meeting-timeline/index.html">Which, to be clear, took place <i>in Trump Tower</i>, which Donald Trump was <i>in</i> at the time.</a><br />
<br />
So the statement was already hard to believe, but now it appears that Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer, is ready to state that Donald Trump was aware of the meeting in advance and approved it. Which means Donald Trump Jr. may have lied under oath to Congress. Which is a felony. That also means Donald Trump was fully aware his campaign was reaching out to a foreign national for information of value.<br />
<br />
And now the doom becomes clear: Trump may have committed a felony during his campaign by colluding with a Russian national.* If so, his defense hinges of denying any knowledge of it. But that defense hinges on 1. Michael Cohen not having any evidence to the contrary, and 2. every other party with knowledge of the meeting backing Trump.<br />
<br />
One of those parties is Trump Jr., but he may have committed a felony of his own in lying to Congress, if Trump did have knowledge of the meeting. And so the Trumps find themselves under a pile of horrors:<br />
<br />
1. If Trump Jr. is found to have lied under oath, he faces felony charges.<br />
<br />
2. If Trump Jr. is prosecuted, Trump can pardon him - but accepting the pardon means Trump Jr. must admit guilt, which means he has to state affirmatively that his father had advance knowledge of the meeting in Trump Tower.<br />
<br />
Which puts Donald Trump in the position of potentially having to convince his own son to go to prison for a felony in order to save his own skin.<br />
<br />
And this is one of the <i>better</i> scenarios Trump is facing. If Michael Cohen produces evidence, or evidence is obtained elsewhere, that Trump knew about the meeting, he ends up in significantly greater legal jeopardy, and his son still faces prosecution for lying plus whatever charges Trump gets hit with.<br />
<br />
This is not necessarily the end game for Trump, mind. He's unlikely to be prosecuted in office, and a compliant GOP Congress might be willing to accept a President who's committed felony election fraud. But it might be less likely to let that same President pardon his son for the same crime.<br />
<br />
*I'm ignoring the potential felony payoffs of multiple sex workers. And the potential host of felonies laundering Russian money. And the potential violations of the emoluments clause. And the child rape accusation. And the spousal rape accusation. Just like the Republican Party.<br />
<br />
<i>Image courtesy of BoingBoing.</i>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-31867049242417364412018-03-17T15:00:00.004-04:002018-03-17T15:00:46.611-04:00On Andrew McCabeSo, Andrew McCabe.<br />
<br />
As best I can work out from the news, Andrew McCabe authorized the release of some information about the investigation into Hillary Clinton during the election. This was, apparently, something he had authority to do. He then reportedly showed "lack of candor" during the subsequent investigation by the Inspector General, which was what led to his firing yesterday.<br />
<br />
The firing might have been justified, it might not have been. It's impossible to say without seeing the IG's report, which hasn't been released.<br />
<br />
What can be said is that Donald Trump has had a hard-on for McCabe for months now, 1. because McCabe corroborated James Comey's damaging statements on Donald Trump in the obstruction investigation in front of the House Intel Committee, and 2. because Trump apparently believes McCabe is a pro-Clinton plant, due to his wife running for office as a Democrat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflXqV4KVQuEasnRU77k3E16qUkDhkXx8_2tXfh3SO_hmgZNBPAg-q9MkAIVZLN3wKMvvDMk78Qrm17agmFdRYmTY5kO0CTkRgzMIzlsZq1PSeKEIgCKCuWgi3eg4C07xCaF5oMKyov2ck/s1600/2018-03-17+10.50.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflXqV4KVQuEasnRU77k3E16qUkDhkXx8_2tXfh3SO_hmgZNBPAg-q9MkAIVZLN3wKMvvDMk78Qrm17agmFdRYmTY5kO0CTkRgzMIzlsZq1PSeKEIgCKCuWgi3eg4C07xCaF5oMKyov2ck/s400/2018-03-17+10.50.11.png" width="225" /></a></div>
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What can also be said is that Andrew McCabe was fired for lack of honesty, by an Attorney General who perjured himself in front of Congress, under the apparent direction of a President who lies to the American people on average four times a day. He has been denied his pension while Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI while he was part of the Trump administration, continues to draw his.<br />
<br />
McCabe's firing came on the same day that House Democrats revealed letters from a whistleblower alleging an effort by Trump administration officials to purge the State Department of career employees out of fear that they were secret Obama loyalists.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcTKvezd-8imCOkvsjggSUJieP18ZCJrjcYUbKpUJy3SeeshqIv-a5jAWaC4gegdmFJCUOH-Fhz-WZSEWE7JwQkqZqrsi0ympNPb4jtHBQF9AYH25li3lIBtTUMFVGTYNnqaQLLU1FkeCg/s1600/2018-03-16+23.17.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="885" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcTKvezd-8imCOkvsjggSUJieP18ZCJrjcYUbKpUJy3SeeshqIv-a5jAWaC4gegdmFJCUOH-Fhz-WZSEWE7JwQkqZqrsi0ympNPb4jtHBQF9AYH25li3lIBtTUMFVGTYNnqaQLLU1FkeCg/s640/2018-03-16+23.17.21.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And it has been followed by statements from Trump which just about confirm that McCabe's firing was retaliation for his statements supporting Comey's testimony.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjnzdTx0GWCGFiKMj320oRA8IBDI_0hOzpqTeeA-G-ZttlfggdVYXQMBcxEXODVKne7yvYVlp0vPI8_WtBRh5E9I6Oel47tuTQ_HghuSfgU7g5bQUi5WaZ50dY2V0el69pzGZkcbzuytW/s1600/2018-03-17+00.12.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1314" data-original-width="1125" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVjnzdTx0GWCGFiKMj320oRA8IBDI_0hOzpqTeeA-G-ZttlfggdVYXQMBcxEXODVKne7yvYVlp0vPI8_WtBRh5E9I6Oel47tuTQ_HghuSfgU7g5bQUi5WaZ50dY2V0el69pzGZkcbzuytW/s320/2018-03-17+00.12.28.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf4GpSMJIx2a82DLlrbSjDBIzJYSSPAuPkSEzxelwD-zEmGZ9lhRT89NqIv-u-0GC3FqVF9Xrk6uH2GBN6yWPCHCZpDqdT-I4TUVs69sVUPMvHEwYead-vtLu5bMSlc78zzn00wi299w3M/s1600/2018-03-17+13.54.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf4GpSMJIx2a82DLlrbSjDBIzJYSSPAuPkSEzxelwD-zEmGZ9lhRT89NqIv-u-0GC3FqVF9Xrk6uH2GBN6yWPCHCZpDqdT-I4TUVs69sVUPMvHEwYead-vtLu5bMSlc78zzn00wi299w3M/s400/2018-03-17+13.54.27.png" width="225" /></a></div>
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And that has been followed by Trump's lawyer, on behalf of the White House (until it wasn't), <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyer-its-time-to-fire-robert-mueller">calling for an end to Robert Mueller's probe into Russian collusion</a>, obstruction of justice, and God knows what other crimes.<br />
<br />
Regardless of whether McCabe deserved to be fired fast enough to deny a 21 year FBI veteran his pension, after what by all accounts were years of distinguished service, is almost beside the point when the sitting President is so grossly, obviously attacking a witness in a case that puts that same President in legal jeopardy.<br />
<br />
Donald Trump is unfit for office. And I hope yesterday's naked cruelty is part of what finally brings him down.<br />
<br />
<i>Below: Andrew McCabe's statement on his firing.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL2JvkMxKpFaYmczo1XoYKDFFO4wHfU0av8kYGsT1CH_JBpfKEYFAzQD4BuA4c5sOAedOjqaiXWwO48_2V6BU-vtHBNEtZGn2AQbCL3nFrdUR9TckCEnAsYEmv_PcTNQ1W5XbJ_JaaXBfl/s1600/2018-03-16+23.09.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1120" height="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL2JvkMxKpFaYmczo1XoYKDFFO4wHfU0av8kYGsT1CH_JBpfKEYFAzQD4BuA4c5sOAedOjqaiXWwO48_2V6BU-vtHBNEtZGn2AQbCL3nFrdUR9TckCEnAsYEmv_PcTNQ1W5XbJ_JaaXBfl/s640/2018-03-16+23.09.34.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-19924248259398563002018-02-27T09:57:00.000-05:002018-02-27T09:57:23.060-05:00After Ragnarok (Spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok)Hela awoke in pain.<br /><br />The right side of her body was in agony, every nerve and muscle screaming in torment. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to sit up. That simple movement nearly caused her to lose consciousness, but she was Hela, and her will was strong.<br /><br />She looked down, and a hiss escaped her teeth at what she saw. The half of her had been burned to the bone, and what was left of her flesh and muscle looked like cooked meat. She raised her right arm, forcing near-skeletal fingers to flex and form a closed fist. Satisfied, she called a sword and used it to prop herself up onto her feet.<br /><br />She looked around for the first time, taking stock of her surroundings. The landscape was blasted and filled with a sulfurous reek. A poor showing for Asgard, she thought.<br /><br />She remembered Surtur driving his blade down, the last attempt to dodge the enormous flaming sword as it bit home. Obviously less than successful, but that was of no consequence. She lived, and she was Hela, and she stood on Asgardian soil. That would be enough.<br /><br />Hela closed her eyes and drew upon Asgard's power, willing herself whole again.<br /><br />Her eyes flew open when nothing happened.<br /><br />This was not Asgard!<br /><br />She sought around herself, and now the landscape became clearer. A blasted wasteland, yes, and a very familiar one.<br /><br />She was back. Back in the hell that Allfather Odin had banished her to, so many millennia ago.<br /><br />She reached out instinctively, her senses questing for the weak point that she had found, that had granted her her freedom, her kingdom, her empire, everything that was rightfully hers... and found nothing.<br /><br />Was she too weak? Or was that door simply gone, as if it had never been? Impossible to tell.<br /><br />Hela raged. She screamed, cursing all the gods, her family most of all. She struck the ground, splintered sword after sword. And when she had nothing left she fell to her knees.<br /><br />All of her rage was futile. Nothing she did had the slightest effect.<br /><br />Of course not.<br /><br />She was Hela, but she did not live.<br /><br />And this was no Valhalla.<br /><br />For the first time in her long existence, Hela suffered a single tear to fall from her eye.<br /><br />Behind her, something chuffed.<br /><br />Hela turned her head and felt a hot breath on her healthy skin as Fenris Wolf licked her face. She reached up and stroked the great wolf's muzzle, joy and astonishment lightening the weight of her despair. It looked at her with its old eyes, the glint of the Eternal Flame no longer present.<br /><br />She rose to her feet again, and looked behind Fenris. Ranks of soldiers stood there, soldiers she recognized. The Einharjar of her youth, the warriors who had pledged to her above all others and followed her in defiance of the Allfather. They were dead, as she was dead, but their swords were sharp and their armor was strong.<br /><br />As one, they put their fists to their breasts, and bowed to her.<br /><br />Hela stood in the reeking waste and she smiled.<br /><br />This was no Valhalla.<br /><br />But perhaps it could be better.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-84220124777353046312018-02-10T12:01:00.001-05:002018-02-10T12:01:57.806-05:00Excuse Me While I Rage The Fuck OutI'm angry this morning, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm angry because after two of his White House staff were forced to resign their positions for <i>beating their wives</i>, Donald Trump, who is President of the United States, posted this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzx64COmuLS-UYeXtoKsxu7lTiIdr7tCkuhhgBiS9EEXuLVjX7W2SBK2MCjoEPhvZpXnmHnzerOxBpVLocrRQ1mzbs8g7tFjTN2Ybo3fy7iHFI520IWse_grCpAfRMUhuc04ekC98B2L54/s1600/2018-02-10+11.38.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzx64COmuLS-UYeXtoKsxu7lTiIdr7tCkuhhgBiS9EEXuLVjX7W2SBK2MCjoEPhvZpXnmHnzerOxBpVLocrRQ1mzbs8g7tFjTN2Ybo3fy7iHFI520IWse_grCpAfRMUhuc04ekC98B2L54/s640/2018-02-10+11.38.14.png" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ignore Assange's bullshit please.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you don't know why I'm pissed let me recap real quick:<br />
<br />
- Donald Trump's first wife testified under oath that he raped her.<br />
<br />
- Donald Trump has been accused of sexual assault by over a dozen women.<br />
<br />
- Multiple witnesses confirm Donald Trump made a habit of walking in on underage girls in their changing rooms when he ran beauty pageants.<br />
<br />
- A woman sued Donald Trump for raping her <i>at the age of 13</i>. And this lawsuit was brought <i>during Donald Trump's presidential campaign</i>.<br />
<br />
It's bad enough that Donald Trump is taking the side of men who abused their wives, one of which there is photographic evidence of. But for this festering orange shitgibbon to complain about <i>due process</i> and <i>ruined careers</i> after he's not only avoided any culpability for his <i>own</i> crimes, but managed to get elected to the highest office in the land, makes me so Goddamn mad that I don't have the words to process it.<br />
<br />And to anyone who voted for him: don't pretend you didn't know. Everyone knew this fucker is a sexual predator. And you decided you were okay with that as long as he got rid of the immigrants and pissed off the Democrats. So fuck you.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-55284805687305504512018-01-17T12:26:00.001-05:002018-01-17T12:26:30.349-05:00Stopgap<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/shutdown-fears-rise-as-lawmakers-clash-on-capitol-hill/2018/01/16/fb49f828-fae7-11e7-ad8c-ecbb62019393_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.974d327d8951&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1">Read the news this morning</a>, gotta blog.<br />
<br />
So a government shutdown is pending. No one wants it. Republicans know they'll get blamed for it, regardless of their bluster, and Democrats just generally don't like shutting the government down.<br />
<br />
Maybe Trump wants it, but who can trust what he says?<br />
<br />
So there's a deal the Republican leadership has in place to kick the can down the road again for a month. The deal includes funding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for 6 years, and delays some taxes in ACA that aren't particularly popular.<br />
<br />
Now normally this would not be a terrible deal. It cuts taxes for awhile and funds a key, popular program past the point where Trump can possibly fuck it up. But we do not live in normal times.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of Republican factions that hate the deal. Defense hawks are adamant that Congress can't keep the military on continuing resolution (CR) spending (read: month to month) and are opposed to any short-term deal. The Freedom Caucus is demanding more tax cuts and are being dicks as usual. So there's a fair chance that Paul Ryan might not be able to pass a bill without Democratic support.<br />
<br />
On the Democrat side, there's a lot of pressure to address DREAMers in a spending bill. Right now, they have a lot of leverage to get that done, but that might not be the case in February. And it's tricky for them to oppose a CR that funds CHIP.<br />
<br />
So the first hurdle is if the House Republicans can pass the CR on their own. If they can't, it's not clear Pelosi will be able to hold her caucus to oppose it - it'll probably depend on the margin Ryan needs to push it through.<br />
<br />
Either way, Democrats will have to help pass the CR through the Senate with 9 votes. And there are enough Democrats in red states to make shutting the government down over DREAMers a dicey proposition.<br />
<br />
And Trump could blow the whole thing up, of course.<br />
<br />
So, my take:<br />
<br />
Most likely the CR will pass with both sides declaring a small win and lambasting the other for playing politics. CHIP is a big sweetener.<br />
<br />
But, that assumes Ryan can get his team together. House Republican politics are ugly and averse to compromise, and Ryan knows he'll get shitcanned out of the Speaker slot in short order if he starts going to the minority for help. If he doesn't, I give 50/50 odds Pelosi refuses to bail him out without significant payment, and Ryan definitely won't go that route.<br />
<br />
If the CR makes it to the Senate, I have no doubt it will pass. And if it goes to Trump's desk for signature I don't doubt he'll sign it; or if he doesn't, the Democrats might vote to override him out of sheer pique.<br />
<br />
All of this of course overlooks the fact nothing being debated here should be controversial in a sane and rational society. But we've got what we've got. God knows what February (or the debt ceiling!) will bring.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-91458824631171432602017-09-27T23:12:00.002-04:002017-09-27T23:12:27.637-04:00Frank Drowns In His Own Blood<i>This synopsis is a coping method for oral surgery I have coming up at the end of the week, also an excuse for Danny DeVito or a willing impersonator to swallow more fake blood than is probably good for them. It is available for sale to anyone who wants to produce something with it. Very reasonable rates, not even Green Man rates. Just use the contact form and keep it short because that #$!@ing form screws up everything.</i><br />
<br />
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA<br />
<br />
Paddy's Pub<br />
8:01 a.m.<br />
On a Tuesday<br />
<br />
The Gang is back on their bullshit when Frank enters and immediately starts taking shots. Under questioning he explains that he's got to go to the dentist and he needs to get good and wasted first. Charlie warns Frank away from dentistry in general, claiming it's all a scam and that dentists murder their patients. Mac reminds him about the time Charlie started pulling his own teeth out "like Goddam popcorn kernels" but Charlie's adamant, and the Tooth Fairy gave him five bucks a pop. Dennis wants to explore that but Charlie blows him off to tell Frank not to go to the dentist. Frank admonishes him, it's a routine cleaning, what could go wrong?<br />
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TITLE CARD: Frank Drowns In His Own Blood<br />
<br />
Later, in the pub. Frank is gone. Sweet Dee enters the bar excitedly and shows the Gang an open audition for models for a dental advertisement. Dennis wonders how a giant bird with no teeth can make the audition. Mac reminds Dee that she's a crackhead and her teeth have to be terrible, which Dee and Dennis both take offense to. Mac stands by his argument and opines that his "superior dentition" would make him the perfect candidate.<br />
<br />
Dentist's office. Frank's getting examined by a hot dentist because of course he found one. He hits on her, she hooks the shit out of his gums, notices that he still has his wisdom teeth. "Of course I kept them, they're mine. I should give them to some little shit in Somalia?" The dentist lets that pass but informs Frank that all four of the teeth are cracked and impacted. He's gonna need surgery.<br />
<br />
A pharmacy. Dee and Dennis are looking for whitening products and anything else to make their teeth look good, to put Mac in his place. They bullshit over the various options and ask the pharmacist what they should use. The pharmacist, who has no time for them at all, recommends a bleach rinse. Dee tells her to piss off but Dennis tells her to reconsider, saying that if a respected chemist is recommending it it might have merit.<br />
<br />
Charlie's apartment. Frank comes in ready to bunk in for the night and tells Charlie about his surgery tomorrow. Charlie freaks out and begs Frank not to do it, he'll die! But Frank blows him off and hits the shitter. Charlie whispers to himself "I won't let you die Dad. Frank."<br />
<br />
COMMERCIAL BREAK<br />
<br />
Charlie's apartment the next morning. Frank wakes up spewing blood all over the bed and freaks out thinking he's dying. Charlie wakes up and explains that he did Frank a favor by yanking his teeth out in the middle of the night. Frank goes off between spit tanks, especially when Charlie shows him the teeth. They're not even close to the right ones.<br />
<br />
Dee's apartment. Dee's getting ready to try the bleach rinse idea. Dennis hypes her up for it. Dee slugs the bleach and immediately spews it out cursing. Dennis laughs, saying he knew it wouldn't work but he wanted to see if Dee would do it. Dee chews him out. Dennis suggests a great way he knows to improve their dental hygiene, because it makes their teeth feel all tingly and leaves them grinning tightly: crack. Dee's on board.<br />
<br />
Outside Charlie's apartment. Mac pulls up in his car wearing ridiculous dental headgear. Charlie asks for a ride to the hospital as Frank continues spitting up blood, which is why they can't get a cab. Mac's not cool with the idea and asks why they can't call an ambulance. Charlie explains they won't come out anymore because Frank called too many times for rat bites. Mac forces Frank to lay his shirt on the seat before he gets in.<br />
<br />
The audition office. Dennis and Dee are loaded on crack and wearing crazed fixed grins. They try to sell themselves as new talent but the guy running things explains that he's looking for people to get dental X-rays for a class. After a beat Dennis and Dee ask how much it pays - $50 a head. Dennis and Dee declare that's beneath them and storm out, haranguing the poor guy for lying.<br />
<br />
The hospital. Dennis and Dee are walking out, admitting that it did seem odd the audition was being held in a hospital. Frank staggers into the shot and falls to the floor, screaming that he's drowning in his own blood. The Gang regards him in the spreading pool of blood - nobody wants to touch him and they're in a hospital, right? Might as well bail, he'll be fine. Dennis, Dee and Mac exit, Dee asks what the hell Mac is wearing. Charlie lingers while Frank begs for help. "Yeah Frank you know I'm gonna go find someone to pick you up I'll be right back" and Charlie leaves to put Frank's teeth down for the Tooth Fairy.<br />
<br />
ROLL CREDITSDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-63923362333877651722017-06-01T23:55:00.001-04:002017-06-01T23:55:17.307-04:00Potomac DreamI've dreamed of the future since elementary school. For the record, it's a useless talent. When your days tend to blur together, dreaming of the future normally amounts to a faint sense of déjà vu when real life catches up to the dream. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu#Dream-based_explanation">This is not uncommon.</a>)<br />
<br />
Dreams are fleeting things, experiences that fade in the light of the morning sun. But a recent dream rather seared itself onto my consciousness.<br />
<br />
I sat next to a bridge in Washington, D.C. on the edge of the Potomac. The ground was green with grass. A podium was set up with the river behind it, early in the morning. It's Inauguration Day.<br />
<br />
I sat in the second row of a children's choir. I was full-grown so I have no idea why. Richard Nixon was sitting next to me. I knew it was 2017 and Nixon looked as old as he would have been if he'd lived this long.<br />
<br />
The Rock got up to speak, and went on a rant about the evils of Obamacare. (Is Dwayne Johnson a conservative? Has he spoken on the ACA? I have no idea.) I saw Paul Ryan standing in the background. His eyes were a pure black, save for yellow pinprick pupils.<br />
<br />
The Rock finished speaking and Nixon stood up to accept the Presidency. He turned to me then, and shook his head before he walked to the podium. He spoke for a bit, stated that he was resigning effective immediately, and walked away. Then I woke up filled with a certainty that Donald Trump would not finish out his term.<br />
<br />
I'm not a skilled oneiromancer and, let's face it, this is all probably conjecture based on a bad Chipotle dinner. But this was a couple months before the Rock started joking about politics, and I don't trust Paul Ryan one bit. There's some new bit of nastiness coming from that man, mark my words.<br />
<br />
But the main thing is it was a hopeful dream, in its way, and hope is a precious thing. Maybe it'll amount of nothing. But maybe, just this once, the tide will end up sweeping the big monster away before it can do too much damage.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-7550578376785037792017-05-09T23:41:00.000-04:002017-05-09T23:41:44.417-04:00On The Firing of James Comey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Current mood: Makoto Niijima</i><br />
<br />
I didn't plan to resurrect this blog for a political post, but I need a place to go over the last 48 hours in long form so I can get all the madness straight in my head.<br />
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Yesterday President Trump started his day by demanding Congress ask Sally Yates, under oath, how classified information was leaked to the press after she discussed it with White House counsel (sic). He did this with both his personal and official POTUS Twitter accounts, after reported attempts by his staff to pressure the Senate to cancel her appearance before a judiciary subcommittee. Trump’s tweets alone could be considered tampering with a federal witness testifying against him.<br />
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Sally Yates did testify and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/08/5-things-we-learned-from-sally-yatess-testimony-on-what-the-white-house-knew-about-michael-flynn/?utm_term=.d55262e11a8b">confirmed</a> that she warned the Trump administration that Michael Flynn, who was Trump’s national security adviser, was lying to them about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador and that he could be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russian government. In short, he was compromised.<br />
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A report by NBC News the same day revealed that <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-warned-trump-against-hiring-mike-flynn-say-officials-n756316">President Obama had also personally warned Donald Trump not to hire Michael Flynn</a>. President Obama had previously fired Flynn from his post as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.<br />
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Former DNI James Clapper also testified before the Senate on Monday, and <a href="http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/sally-yates-clapper-russia-trump-hearing-michael-flynn">stated he was unaware</a> of the FBI’a investigation into contacts between Donald Trump and the Russian government during the 2016 election. His prior statement that there was no evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russian government was rendered invalid. Despite that, President Trump repeatedly asserted Monday that Clapper testified again that there was no evidence of collusion. This was a lie.<br />
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Republicans on the subcommittee did not concern themselves with the fact that the Trump administration was directly warned that Flynn was compromised and refused to fire him for two weeks, and only after this fact was revealed to the press. Instead they questioned Ms. Yates on the leaks that led to Michael Flynn being fired, and her refusal to defend Trump’s travel ban as acting Attorney General, for which she was removed from her post. <a href="http://theslot.jezebel.com/we-have-confirmation-that-sally-yates-rules-1795031533">Ms. Yates acquitted herself well.</a><br />
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That was Monday. Today, Tuesday, President Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/james-comey-fired-fbi.html?_r=0">fired</a> FBI Director James Comey, who was in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation.<br />
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He did so on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had previously recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation because of his own ties to the Trump campaign and conversations with the Russian Ambassador. Today he recommended firing the man leading the Trump-Russia investigation, an act that has almost no precedent in American history. (The last FBI director to be fired was fired <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-last-fbi-director-to-get-fired-before-1494368709-htmlstory.html">for multiple ethics violations</a>, and was the first FBI Director to be fired in U.S. history.)<br />
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President Trump <i>claims</i> Comey was fired* because of his aggressive handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails, an action he previously claimed was being "soft" on Clinton and which he had previously praised Comey for.<br />
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What it actually looks like is that President Trump, after attempting to quash Ms. Yates’s testimony, is firing Director Comey to replace him with a surrogate who will end the Trump-Russia investigation. This amid breaking reports that <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politics/grand-jury-fbi-russia/index.html">grand jury subpoenas have been issued</a> regarding Michael Flynn's business records, and with Director Comey scheduled to testify in a closed session of Congress on Thursday.<br />
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This sort of thing has happened before.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS4iVExKje9eHmFTc_fEyEe8aKeSfsIrEND3jivpbX_m2pcdxxN4fvsvXUk_dDqMJlRQ1eOjfAttBQjYB-dg3O2W_oZ56ge-7w_nSkydZfCVx27LmscfQm1Y7sf67QQid36iqk_HFr2JKd/s1600/watergate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS4iVExKje9eHmFTc_fEyEe8aKeSfsIrEND3jivpbX_m2pcdxxN4fvsvXUk_dDqMJlRQ1eOjfAttBQjYB-dg3O2W_oZ56ge-7w_nSkydZfCVx27LmscfQm1Y7sf67QQid36iqk_HFr2JKd/s640/watergate.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Trump's actions today are a blatantly impeachable offense, the latest in a long list of offenses against decency, honesty, and reason by the Trump administration. This is an unacceptable abuse of the President’s power, and <i>it must end.</i><br />
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I will be calling my Senators and my Congressman tomorrow morning to request the following:<br />
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<b>1. That they demand an independent commission to investigate President Trump's ties to Russia.</b><br />
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<b>2. That they refuse to confirm any nominee to replace Director Comey who will not pledge to recuse themselves from the Trump-Russia investigation and appoint an independent investigator to complete it.</b><br />
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<b>3. That they demand the immediate resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions for violating his recusal and interfering with the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign.</b><br />
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<b>4. That they draw up articles of impeachment against President Trump for interfering in an ongoing investigation into his own campaign.</b><br />
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I strongly encourage all those reading this to do the same, and to continue to pressure Congress to act until we no longer have an Administration that abuses its power at every turn for its own benefit. As much as this was ever a question of party, President Trump has pushed us beyond that point today. He must be held to account.<br />
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This is going to get worse before it gets better. But we have to keep working to make sure that it <i>does</i> get better.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCC1Zya17xkkKk7sU2QM39A4EzMaoFgr1-KckZAZABSzMfjx29KE8m-HKGdCzZszJBEzEmozX6Je8Y8rzn0KW3qTRKX-uFArV-ifUaJf7rLJtgEdqQSG3aieDOQzL6ZpeNbqKl-hwWHgWp/s1600/2017-05-09+20.34.06.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCC1Zya17xkkKk7sU2QM39A4EzMaoFgr1-KckZAZABSzMfjx29KE8m-HKGdCzZszJBEzEmozX6Je8Y8rzn0KW3qTRKX-uFArV-ifUaJf7rLJtgEdqQSG3aieDOQzL6ZpeNbqKl-hwWHgWp/s640/2017-05-09+20.34.06.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One day, if we don't weaken.</td></tr>
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*Fox News reports Comey resigned, which he obviously did not. Thank you Fox News.<br />
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<br />Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-9236624962062794892017-01-02T21:18:00.003-05:002017-01-02T21:20:14.775-05:00GOP Pigs At The Trough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwi6OpztB6iW39rTxfPnDsg-OfR12luq2P_0QnORGQZ5lc6lMYKzt3PmIdoJvmVyTqkfYxhhzTAD2RQemQ0SHE5eNNKvZvL5nVfU3HvT-SxcqGmmcFvQgt08pqP_XSzZn62kT0teB2yTQ/s1600/pig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwi6OpztB6iW39rTxfPnDsg-OfR12luq2P_0QnORGQZ5lc6lMYKzt3PmIdoJvmVyTqkfYxhhzTAD2RQemQ0SHE5eNNKvZvL5nVfU3HvT-SxcqGmmcFvQgt08pqP_XSzZn62kT0teB2yTQ/s1600/pig.jpg" /></a></div>
Tonight Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R, VA) <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/house-republicans-gut-their-own-oversight-233111">introduced an amendment to the House rules package</a> that moves the Office of Congressional Ethics under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee. That means:<br />
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1. The Office of Congressional Ethics, now the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, is no longer a bipartisan, independent office. It is under GOP control.<br />
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2. The Office can no longer investigate anonymous tips against lawmakers.<br />
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3. The Office can no longer disclose any of its findings to the public or other government entities.<br />
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The Republican conference passed the amendment 119 to 74. It will be voted on by the full House tomorrow as part of the Rules package. It will pass.<br />
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It's not even the first day of this Congress, Trump is not even in office, and the GOP are already acting like pigs at a trough. If you agree this is a problem, give Rep. Goodlatte a call at (202) 225-5431, and maybe call Speaker Ryan at (202) 225-3031 and your own Representative, and let them know how you feel.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-11379343439712355852016-12-13T23:37:00.003-05:002016-12-13T23:37:31.870-05:00The Insanity of Donald Trump's 500 BusinessesI read some horrifying information today about just how bad Donald Trump's conflicts of interest are. You're welcome to take a look yourself: <a href="https://twitter.com/Trumpnado2016/status/808666484838952960">here's a Twitter thread</a> on Trump's business organization, and <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2016/12/23/donald-trump-foreign-business-deals-jeopardize-us-531140.html">here's a Newsweek article</a> on his conflicts of interest.<br />
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To sum up:<br />
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Donald Trump does not run a company. Donald Trump runs about 500 companies, all set up as either sole proprietorships or closely held partnerships. This means that all of them go on his personal tax return, not a business tax return. This lets him take advantage of massive tax breaks, and explains why his son claims his tax return runs to 10,000 pages.<br />
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Additionally, most of those businesses carry massive loads of debt from different banks. So he cannot afford to disentangle himself from his businesses. Even if the banks allowed him to sell, he can't afford the tax payments that would result. So no matter what he says, Donald Trump will never be able to divest himself of his businesses, and the conflicts of interest involved will remain a problem.<br />
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To date, those conflicts include:<br />
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Being $364M in debt to Deutsche Bank, which is currently fighting a $14B settlement being leveraged by the Justice Department for securities fraud in 2008.<br />
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Trump Tower, currently being built in the Philippines, which the Trump children stand to make millions of dollars from during Trump's presidency. That assumes the good graces of Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who has since rising to power massacred 4,500 Filipinos using vigilante death squads.<br />
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A Trump complex in Turkey, which was built in partnership with the local Dogan group and is providing Trump's children with, again, millions of dollars. President Erdogan of Turkey recently detained a senior executive of the group, sending its stock price plummeting, and has since Trump's election strenuously called for the extradition from the U.S. of Fethullah Gülen, a 77-year-old Muslim spiritual leader who has lived in Pennsylvania’s Poconos region for many years and was accused by Erdogan of inspiring the recent Turkish coup attempt. It's hard not to imagine a quid pro quo arrangement to trade Gülen for the Dogan group's welfare. In other words, blackmail of a U.S. President.<br />
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Roll on 2017. Either Congress impeaches Trump on his first day in office or we're all fucked.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-14300975461990831542016-08-09T23:06:00.001-04:002016-08-09T23:06:52.223-04:00Five Writing Lessons From Suicide Squad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PrhB92KOFK0kBIzzoa_tNyJgQKffcGBcPjWVTrKHQAZDR8rPFHcgsG-6Fdnboqo4uHhlN6Xyq9mJQywXksHYts7TCztsdZpNtrlLDUkTHe82IZiNBynMTSL8uA3VNQPJlqzCOCsAhHB9/s1600/harley_crazy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PrhB92KOFK0kBIzzoa_tNyJgQKffcGBcPjWVTrKHQAZDR8rPFHcgsG-6Fdnboqo4uHhlN6Xyq9mJQywXksHYts7TCztsdZpNtrlLDUkTHe82IZiNBynMTSL8uA3VNQPJlqzCOCsAhHB9/s320/harley_crazy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The wife and I went and saw <i>Suicide Squad</i> over the weekend. We didn't expect it to be a good movie, but we laughed all the way through <i>Batman vs. Superman</i>, so why not? And coming out of the theater we agreed that <i>Suicide Squad</i> was probably better in the sense that we weren't immediately mocking everything about it, so that's something. And it's a good movie if you enjoy looking at Cara Delevingne. Because holy shit, there's a lot of Cara Delevingne to look at in this movie. I mean <i>distracting amounts</i> of Cara Delevingne. Did anyone tell her Enchantress wears a literal robe and wizard hat in the comics?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LlEhdXg4ebBXCCQBeG8alt9tsacCqWx6Zc51WaOeYgG5r_DENcSvkR0yd06b_ESeT-mhw-5vR-JnYQleroI3jMZJ9jwRfA2INFTT-Ki7U_YXuhjM8VeAybDUdQlL3nyg91rrknYkAa1a/s1600/delevaigne.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LlEhdXg4ebBXCCQBeG8alt9tsacCqWx6Zc51WaOeYgG5r_DENcSvkR0yd06b_ESeT-mhw-5vR-JnYQleroI3jMZJ9jwRfA2INFTT-Ki7U_YXuhjM8VeAybDUdQlL3nyg91rrknYkAa1a/s640/delevaigne.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She wears<i> WHAT?!</i></td></tr>
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But never mind all that! Some things could have been done better, and my writer's mind has seized them in its rusty vice. And some things about the movie, actually did get done remarkable well. So let's have a look, shall we?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWO9AFXroNEbMH-g3EPcaA-T-Ckf0m8tQ8WxKsFGnqKSbf4ATjQvCiAjge8oN9iAo6vu48t75938X51C_NojjWzu1rSv3pFgAIDAoAWyghERxOAYVvpGymhKsFeMXOlu-YAbU0TuH-3oc/s1600/harley_bite.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWO9AFXroNEbMH-g3EPcaA-T-Ckf0m8tQ8WxKsFGnqKSbf4ATjQvCiAjge8oN9iAo6vu48t75938X51C_NojjWzu1rSv3pFgAIDAoAWyghERxOAYVvpGymhKsFeMXOlu-YAbU0TuH-3oc/s640/harley_bite.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>1. You Really Need To Watch Your Tone</b><br />
<br />
Not swearing - go ahead and fucking swear if you want, you fuck. I'm talking about the overall feel of your work, or your voice if you like. It's important for a single book to have a consistent tone throughout, or to have a tone that evolves in a natural progression from beginning to end. What you don't want is to ping-pong between like four different tones.<br />
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Suicide Squad ping-pongs between like four different tones. It opens in Gauntanamo Bay, Louisiana, then jumps to a bunch of flashbacks that go tense-political/standard-supervillainics/politics-again/WTF-Harley/more-politics/horror-movie/<i>back-to-politics</i>, and that's just like the first ten minutes! The soundtrack doesn't help because none of the songs stay on for any length of time - I'm not sure there even was a score, it was so lost in the rest.<br />
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If the movie had maintained a consistent tone (preferably not the darkest one), it could have been a hell of a lot better. So take a look at what you're writing/creating and make sure you're not bouncing around like Harley on a surprise meth injection.<br />
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<b>2. Don't Spare The Knife</b><br />
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Task Force X, the titular Suicide Squad, is a gang of criminals that get picked to do dirty jobs for the U.S. Government in return for reduced prison sentences. That's it. It's the Dirty Dozen with supervillains, something even the director acknowledges. And one of the traditions for that particular trope is that a fair portion of the people picked for the "Suicide Squad" are going to, um, die.<br />
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Unfortunately, probably because of sequel concerns, only <i>one</i> member of the Suicide Squad actually dies in the film. (Well, two if you count Enchantress, but she's the main villain and that's a whole different problem with superhero movies.)* It's a pretty decent death, done well, but it's kind of ridiculous how low the body count ends up being given the threat the Squad is facing. A few more Z-list villains getting offed might have made the threat more credible. (How do you get time for more villains? See point 3.)<br />
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*Yes, three if you count Slipknot. But who cares about Slipknot?<br />
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You have to be willing to kill your characters when the situation is so bad that nobody dying is absurd. Also...<br />
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<b>3. Kill Your Grinning Evil Darlings</b><br />
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For all the hype Jared Leto's Joker got he doesn't actually <i>do</i> a hell of a lot in the film. His only real contribution is to abduct Harley Quinn from the Squad briefly, but she ends up right back with the damn team anyway after his chopper gets shot down! Basically the Joker moves Harley from roof level to ground level. That's it.<br />
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Joker could have been left as a flashback character to tease an appearance in a later Batman film. Hell, let him have the stinger too. The rest of the time he used up would have been much better used to flesh out the Squad, patch a few plot holes, or just introduce a couple more warm supervillain bodies to off in creative ways. Instead we got Jared Leto being vaguely creepy, and a few thousand horror stories about working with him that will dog his career for the next decade.<br />
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Don't leave a character or a scene in the story that isn't necessary. Cut cut cut!<br />
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<b>4. Shoot The Damn Guard</b><br />
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You've heard that a gun placed on the mantel in Act One needs to go off by the end of Act Three, right? Well Suicide Squad loves putting guns on mantels, but it doesn't actually fire too many of them off by the end of the movie. The excepion is the neck bomb implants, which get fired off almost immediately. (Because nobody cares about Slipknot.)<br />
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A prime example is the abusive asshole Guantanamo guard early in the movie. Deadshot tells him flat out he's going to kill him. The rest of the Squad has reason to hate him. And then the Joker turns up and makes this guard his new best friend to try and spring Harley Quinn. (After killing the last guy who was his new best friend.) Yet <i>somehow</i> the movie forgets about this guard for the second and third act, and he remains alive by film's end. What the actual hell? Did Mindy Kaling pull some strings? (I did <i>not</i> recognize Ike Barinholtz from the Mindy Project but the guard is totally him.)<br />
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Do not set up a character to be obviously killed off and then fail to do it. Pick your guns off the mantel and pull the trigger.<br />
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<b>5. Don't Let Your Heroes Let Your Villains Win</b><br />
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In a lot of ways Suicide Squad is a disjointed mess of a plot, but I will give the movie credit in how it treats Enchantress, the main villainess. She's being forced to work for Amanda Waller under threat of death, but manages to escape briefly by playing on her minder Rick Flagg's emotions. She can't reclaim her captive heart, but she frees her brother, who immediately begins a killing spree. Waller sends Flagg and Enchantress in to deal with it, but Enchantress bails and gets her brother to protect her from Waller. She then immediately starts working a plan to end the entire planet.<br />
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At no point in all this do the villains, er "heroes", get an obvious chance to stop her that they screw up. Even Rick Flagg only knows she's done <i>something</i>, not what, and it goes bad so fast that there's no time to figure it out. Enchantress pretty much executes her plan perfectly from start to finish, and it's only because she doesn't know what the Squad's capable of that she loses in the end.<br />
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I've seen a lot of plots where the heroes screw up to advance the bad guy's plot. It's refreshing when the villain actually <i>is</i> just competent enough to be a major threat.<br />
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Anyway. Hope some of that was helpful, and now I'm going to tuck in. Sweet dreams...<br />
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-11668512145906054172016-05-17T00:35:00.002-04:002016-05-17T00:35:56.888-04:00The Fall of Saruman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, yet again, because it bears rereading. Over and over again, now and forever, I like Tolkien's stuff alright?!<br />
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Anyway. I got to the reveal that Saruman is a traitor. Which is his first appearance. And it strikes me.<br />
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Saruman is one of the Maiar. He's basically an angel sent to Middle Earth to guide Elves and Men as they overcome the terror of Sauron. But for whatever reason, they aren't allowed to use their full strength against Sauron, so they get put into the bodies of old men and told they can only advise, not pit strength against strength.<br />
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Fine. But. BUT.<br />
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Saruman declares that he and the rest of the White Council need to serve Sauron to try and guide his actions toward good. But maybe, if Gandalf and he take the Ring, they can overcome him and guide Men toward good with Sauron's power? Hint hint wink wink gimme the ring you old grey fuck.<br />
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And it's bullshit and Gandalf calls him out. But. Saruman should know, very well, that Gandalf would recognize his bullshit for what it is. Because they are both angels sent to Middle Earth to help Men and Elves save it from Sauron.<br />
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Saruman is not just an old man with magic hands. He is a heavenly being. <i>He knows better.</i><br />
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But he still joins with Sauron. Why?<br />
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Because he's forgotten what he is. Because he, at this point, thinks he's an old man with magic hands. Because he no longer believes in the Valar (gods). Because if he did, he'd know full well what the inevitable result of joining with Sauron would be.<br />
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So how responsible is Saruman for what he became? Because when he dies, his spirit looks back to the Valar, and all it can do is sigh as it is blown into the Darkness. Because only after death does he see how far he's fallen.<br />
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Is it his fault that, bereft of the knowledge of the Valar, he falls to Sauron? Is Saruman truly evil, or just a victim of the body he was condemned to?<br />
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And did Peter Jackson really need to cut Saruman's death from Return of the King? Seriously, man, Christopher Lee gave you the most realistic stabbing reaction military training could offer and you cut it. Thank God for extended editions.<br />
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<br />Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-45695568940831542652016-04-14T23:21:00.001-04:002016-04-14T23:21:56.838-04:00Five Writing Lessons From Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice<div>
Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman who gets the shit-tier billing even though she steals the big fight of the movie! <br />
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I went, I saw, I took some lessons from it. Thoroughly entertaining, but note none of these lessons qualify as "positives". Spoilers lie ahead, all ye of faint heart.</div>
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<b>1. Show, Don't Tell</b><br />
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<i>Batman vs Superman</i> starts 18 months after <i>Man of Steel</i>, and early on in the movie there's a lot of beats that feel like a laundry list of Zack Snyder addressing complaints about the first movie. Superman and Clark Kent are established in Metropolis, Superman is a beloved hero, he and Lois Lane are in a solid relationship.</div>
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And that's all great, but we never got to see any of it happen. It's easy to overlook that with the Lois/Clark relationship - that trend was established in the first movie - but we've never actually seen Superman do anything heroic at this point! The stuff he did in <i>Man of Steel</i> is explicitly treated as reasons <i>not</i> to trust Superman, and all we ever get is a montage of "saves" where Superman looks miserable as he rescues people we have no investment in.</div>
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The first Superman scene in the movie would have been a great place for Superman to actually save people we care about. I was completely expecting it, but it didn't happen because, for plot reasons, everyone there had to die to frame Superman for murder. (With guns.) It wouldn't have been hard to fix this scene to let Superman save everyone, and then have the evil mercenaries come in and wipe the camp out after he was gone. That way we could see Superman being super and gotten on board with him a whole lot faster. Alas.<br />
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Point being: don't just tell your reader things about a character and expect them to care. They need to see it!<br />
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<b>2. Suggest, Don't Show</b></div>
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Two examples of this, the first being Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot does an excellent job and Wonder Woman is a highlight of the movie, for the record. But part of her arc is that she's trying to get back a blackmail photo Lex Luthor has on her. Batman ends up finding a photo of her standing next to Chris Pine's cheekbones in 1918, looking just as young as she is in 2016 (or whenever).</div>
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All that's fine. The problem is that Diana is in full Wonder Woman garb in the photo, and it completely ruins her big entrance in the final fight scene! It would have been fantastic if that had been the first time we saw her in costume. And that would have been so easy, because there's no reason for her to be in costume in the photo - the scene works just fine if it's just Diana in a period dress, or a uniform.</div>
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You don't have to spell everything out for the audience immediately. Let them put some thought into things. They'll feel smart and the story will be better for it.</div>
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(Oh, right, second example. *ahem* MARRR-THAAAAAAA)</div>
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<b>3. OOC Needs To Be OOC</b></div>
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I'm referencing a trope known as <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OOCIsSeriousBusiness">Out of Context (OOC) is Serious Business</a>, which means a character starts acting... differently when things get serious. The pacifist starts kicking ass, the jokester gets deadly serious, the klutz becomes scary competent. It's a fine trope, I recommend it.</div>
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In <i>Batman vs Superman</i>, there's a flash-forward/dream sequence/vision of Batman in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, apparently ruled by a crazy evil Superman. (Actually ruled by another guy who's blindingly obvious if you read DC comics. Foreshadowing!) In this sequence Batman, who famously abhors guns, pulls a machine gun and just shoots the hell out of enemy soldiers.</div>
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The point, I think, is to demonstrate how bad things are by showing Batman shooting people. But he's also shooting people in the present! Hell, he runs over people, stabs people, he burns a guy alive in front of a middle-aged kidnapping victim... Who cares if he's shooting people in the Bad Future if he's already shooting people?</div>
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If you want to shock people by having a character go off his usual script, he actually has to be acting out of character. If there isn't a significant change in behavior, it won't work.</div>
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<b>4. Talking Is A Valid Action</b></div>
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Now, there are some circumstances where two people will get into a fight immediately without trying to talk things out first. Maybe it's a protagonist and a gang of disposable mooks. Maybe it's two soldiers on opposite sides of a battlefield. Maybe one guy is drunk. Stuff happens.</div>
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But, if you have two protagonists getting into a fight. And both are known for having codes against killing. And one of them is being blackmailed by the villain under threat of his mother being killed within thirty minutes. And the other one just had a good friend murdered by the same villain, and has spent years saving innocent people's lives. In <i>that</i> circumstance, you need to have a really good reason for the two protagonists not to at least try to talk things over for a minute before they try to murder each other.</div>
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There's a tradition in comic books for heroes to fight at the drop of a hat, but make sure they've got a good reason, and try to make sure that reason can't be resolved by four words, i.e. "Luthor has my mother".</div>
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<b>5. Make Your Villain's Schemes Internally Consistent</b></div>
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Crazy villains are great. Joker? A blast. Green Goblin? Superb. But even the most lunatic villains tend to at least make sense to themselves.</div>
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In <i>Batman vs Superman</i>, Lex Luthor hates Superman because he's a superpowered alien threat to the planet. And for the most part his solution (Batman + kryptonite) is appropriate to his mindset. But then for some reason, he decides he needs a backup plan and creates Doomsday: a superpowered alien threat to the planet.</div>
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Now, there's a fine tradition of villains hypocritically creating bigger threats in order to deal with the hero's perceived threat. J. Jonah Jameson sponsored the Scorpion to get rid of Spider-man, Movie General Ross helped create the Abomination to take out the Hulk. But in most of these cases, the bigger threat was intended to be something controllable that ends up getting completely out of hand and requires the hero to stop. In Batman vs Superman, Lex just flat out creates Doomsday without any restraints or controls, apparently believing a sample of his blood would be enough for him to control the creature. Nope! And even when Superman has to save him from getting splattered into meaty chunks, we never get a reaction from Lex to show that he realizes he screwed up. Yes he's crazy, but he's not stupid.<br />
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Make sure your villain has a reason for everything he does, even if that reason is only sane to him.</div>
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837015687869587124.post-41898689344787215322016-04-11T22:42:00.000-04:002016-04-12T07:30:40.057-04:00Damn You Santino FontanaAnd damn you, too, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8sqIPEhf8lqM2C8rTVfYg?nohtml5=False">Rachel Bloom</a>, by extension. Because some day soon my son is going to ask me to play the Frozen soundtrack in the car again, and I'm going to slip this in and tell him it's the missing Anna and Hans song. And then my wife is going to slap me until we run off the road and go up in a giant ball of flame, all because of a cheerful song about urinary tract infections.<br>
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Think of the children, you two, for shit's sake.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102070855499361322noreply@blogger.com0