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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Justice League: In Blackest Night Review: A Case Study in Why John Stewart is Awesome

Hello my Green Lantern Corps and happy black history month! And happy 40th Anniversary Year to John Stewart. And let’s get this out of the way now not the one replaced by trevor noah who handed Tucker Carlson his ass on television and got his show canceled, please do it again John i’d be greatful, and has a weird obession with how Pizza should be. No i’m of course talking about the Green Lantern, the third from earth and the second to headline the book itself, John Stewart. But to me.. he was my first Green Lantern and one that gave me a deep and abiding love of the Corps since all thanks to this very episode. It’s thanks to John I’m the green lantern loving nerd I am today and without him I probably wouldn’t of found Guy, Jessica, Simon, Alan, and Kyle not to mention got into the varoius other corps. It’s thanks to this episode I wanted to seek out these wonderful characters eventaully and in part why I got into JLI, one of my faviorite teams, among many ohter great things and books.

So quite obviously both this episode, which I haven’t seen in probably a decade, and John have a great place in my heart. And thus it warms said heart to FINALLY see John getting the recogntion he deserves: he’s going to be one of the starring roles in the upcoming HBO Max series, he was on Scott Snyder’s justice league, and he’s now going to be headlniing the main Green Lantern book going forward under writer Geoffry Throne, who like me was VERY sick of the Hal Jordan show the Green Lantern franchise could become at times, and also like me gave out about it a LOT. The fact DC hired him despite a very public and easily accesable record of him slagging of their use of Hal instead of him ESPECAILLY in the new 52 reboot aka why Cyborg is in the Justice League movie as Geoff kinda shoved hal in there despite John being a more sensible pick and doing so not only shoving the Martain Manhunter, who this show also gave me a deep lasting love for, out of the team but forcing Cyborg onto the team despite fitting with the titans better and, AGAIN there being a black green lantern and given the New 52 kept the history of there being multiple lanterns, no reason Hal could’ve been SECOND instead other than DanDiDio’s bitchy habit of EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH that poisoined the company for a good decade before recently.

And yes I felt the need to rant about that, yes Green Lantern the animated series is still good mind you, I just got tired of bland white guy over “Really awesome, really layred especailly thanks to this series black guy”, “stubborn asshole white guy whose hilarious and has a heart underneath the layers of douchebag”, “creative and imaginative white guy who has as personality and really uses the ring in fun ways”, and more recently “A muslim superhero struggling with his past who’se also really energetic and fun and has an intresting family life” and “Latnix superheroine who struggles with anxiety and actually struggles with constructs and once she gets past that has very unique ones”. In other words, yeah I’m bitter because everyone else was more intresting than Hal, and it’s only in recent years with Jessica gaining promience and John regaining it that DC’s finally broke out of that and is actually using the intresting ones, and again without John I wouldn’t be a fan, so they had no real excuse to barely use him outside of the comics if at at all after a while.

So yeah as you can tell by that rant and by how specific it got for each lantern, this is one of my faviorite franchises, as said this episode is responsible and so for Black History Month I felt i’d be a huge mistake on my part if I DIDN’T cover my boy John and this episode and see how it held up. The fact it’s his 40th anniversary wasn’t something I was aware of, but now I am, expect more Johncentric episodes from Justice League sprinkled throughout the year to celebrate one of my first and possibly best GL.

Naturally before we get to the episode we have to get to the series itself. The series was launched as Batman Beyond was winding down. Bruce Timm wanted to keep the crew together, something I could empathize with since Owen Dennis and JG Quintel have ran into that same problem lately, with most of their crews drifting off during the gaps in production and Owen desperate to get the show renewed before he lost everybody. A good crew isn’t had to find in animation but KEEPING them for multiple shows or seasons can be. And there was one project the fans wanted more than anything: The Justice League. After all BOTH Batman and Superman had had tons of guest stars, especailly the latter, with Batman having Zantana show up and Superman having the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Aquaman all show up. There were seeds there.. but Timm was relcutant as he had trouble ballancing 2 or 3 heroes in a fight scene, wanting to keep them al lin focus so fans didn’t wonder where they were and they didnt’ have to cut back and forth, the idea of juggling 7 was daunting. So as Beyond was finishing production a few things happened: The first is that they did the episode The Call, focusing on a future version of the League, and while only a two parter, it showed Timm his crew might be able to juggle a team of heroes after all, and second was the pitches Timm made BEFORE justice league. Since Kids WB had been hteir partner for a while now they tried pitching both a batman anime, he did not provide many details, and in his own words a “Kidified” justice league, basically the justice leagued mashed with the titans including a female version of cyborg. It was the latter pitch, which was rejected by Kids WB, that finally convinced Timm they could do this, but if they did it couldn’t be half assed or having compromises. it had to be what it SHOULD be. So they went to somewhere new, if in the same family and asked cartoon network, who said...

And here we are. They took their time to work out the characters, apparently taking a lot of delbiration, mostly on which GL to go with, and if they were going to do a hawk wether to go for hawkman or hawkgirl. In the end the roster was the iconic big 7 one, in large part thanks to Grant Morrison taking that concept and reviving it in his run on the team, but shaking it up slightly: Barry was naturally replaced with Wally West flash as he was THE flash in the comics, gave a slightly younger member for the others to play off of, and was more popular.. something Dan DiDio plugged his ears and went LALALALALALAL about for a decade before FINALLY leaving the company so he could stop screwing with a character he hated for reasons that can be summed up as ‘MY FLASH IS BETTER. YOU’LL LIKE MY FLASH.. YOU’LL SEE I JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE A MASS MURDERER.. THAT’LL SHOW YOU FOR NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE”... I still have maybe a smidge of lingering issues over how wally was treated the last few years after his return. I do not apologize for htem or for doing a little dance when I found out Didio was gone.

Point is it wasn’t the only subsitution as Hal Jordan was replaced by John, obviously and rather than use Aquaman, they went with Hawkgirl, though Arthur still got an episode focusing on him fairly early into the series which has the iconic moment of him cutting his hand off to save his son. I dare you to find something more badass. Bruce both liked her deisgn better and felt it helped with the gender ballance.

So with all that set and with some growing pains to get through they had their show so join me under the cut to see how it turned out. Spoilers: It good.

We open INNNNNN SPACCCEEEEEEE, as a coaltion of neat looking aliens wants justice and has gone to a space court lead by three weird alien faces, likely inspiried by the kryptoian tribunal in the donnerverse superman movies, with their prosecutor sending a group of mysterious robots known as the Manhunters to go fetch the accused for a trial: John Stewart. Given he’s voiced by Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith, i’m very surpised he didn’t order them to also put their foots up his ass. Maybe he’s saving it for the trial.

After the titles we cut to John himself whose in shades and trenchant for reasons.. I mean it looks neat, but he’s in his old neighborhood not hunting down his exes killer or trying to hide the fact he’s a ninja turtle. Why is he all disguised. I mean sure WE know people are coming from him and given what he thinks he did he knows.. but he has no intention of running from what he did. It’s just a weird stylistic choice. That said we do get a cool sequence when while casually walking he notices a robbery, and stops it simply by first stopping the wheel then levitating the car.. and while he does get a little showy shaking the guy upside down to return the money.. it’s all very controlled. It shows off how John works. While we’ve seen him at work as Green Lantern before this this small sequence says volumes about john in the span of a few minutes, showing that shilw he HAS immense power, he only uses the amount he needs, knows when to hold back, and only shows off a tiny bit, and even then he’s likely still keeping the theif absolutely safe. It also provides excellent foreshadowing for later as to why the League takes his side even when he refuses to defend himself, as it shows that John really is a professional true and true.

He runs by a basketball court and fails to make a basket when throwing a ball back to a kid before meeting his old gym teacher, who turns out to be the kids uncle or something like that, and invites John to join them as they go to the barber shop. The kid wants John’s haircut, his granpa says the usual and i’m wondering why as John’s haircut isn’t that radical: it’s a miltiary style cut, belying the fact that for this series, while it dosen’t come up in the plot here, John was a former marine instead of an architect. Honestly.. this wasn’t a bad change, giving us the deciated and measured john we know, to the point the comics gladly retconned it in. Not that it’s really a huge deal given it meelrly adds shades to the guy and dosen’t prevent him from being an architect. It just adds lairs by giving a reaosn he’s so focused and driven. He had it drilled into him and carried it with him.

Meanwhile on the watchtower The Flash clumisly tries to get to know Hawkgirl better and maunver into asking her out, though it’s clear sh’es not intrested. Still even if he can’t help flirting, and it sometimes gets creepily obnoxious, it’s still better than I expected remembering this running subplot, as he DOES try to get to know her and what she does in her off time, even if it’s to set up asking her out, and is trying to ask her out instead of just hitting on her or doing anything far more creeptacular. It’s still not great mind you and hasn’t aged well at all.. but for the time it’s not TERRIBLE and again it goes away pretty quickly in favor of the much more intresting John and Shierya relationship.

Flash accidently shoots himself in the foot.. conversationally though given how Wally is at this point in the series I wouldn’t be suprised, by asking the Martian Manhunter, who gives Hakwgirl an easy exit if he’s ever felt alone.. you know the guy whose entire race including his wife and child died horribly. He quickly apologizes though and John understands he just stuck his foot in his mouth at lighting speed. And it’s not the MOST insensitive he’s been about Jonn’s dead wife.

But things are soon interupted as Jonn notes “We have an incursion!”

But the Avengers are dealing with all of that so they can instead focus on the Manhunters shooting toward earth. I really like this as the primary reason Batman set up this station was to monitor for alien threats, it just because the Leagues base because superman had the idea to stay as a team and it was a good un, and given earth JUST had an invasion, as this likely isn’t too long after that given it’s only the second set of episodes, it’s understandable they’d be on high alert.

So our heroes move to intercept. As the first episode after the pilot this one also sets up a recurring part of the show and a necessary one: only a handful of Leaguers would feature in each two-parter, as the episodes for the first two seasons were essentially one hourlong story split into two episodes. The only exceptions were the three part premire, the three part finales for each season, and the sole solo episode comfort and joy which is fucking awesome and my faviorite christmas episode period. But even with the extended run time the crew simply felt i’td be unwiedly to juggle 7 characters eveyr episode, feeling it’d eventually get to original series star trek leevels of having one just manning a console or something. So rather than try and cram them all into every episode, they choose who they needed and gave valid excuses for the rest when necessary. In this case Batman and Wonder Woman have solo missions their busy with , as does Superman whose adressing an earthquake. Our heroes try talking to the Manhunters.. who refuse to talk to them and then also say their coming for John, and aren’t explaning why. So naturally a brawl breaks out as the League SHOCKINGLY dosen’t want their friend who as far as they know has done nothing wrong taken by a brutish paramilitary force who won’t actual talk to the citzens their policing or try and be coporative. More on this in a second. The fight itself is pretty awesome as our heroes fight as evenly as they can.. but it’s clear their outgunned outplanned outnumbered and outmanned, as while their you know the justice league and do their best and Jonn is in Superman’s weight class the battle makes it VERY clear their barely holding in there and that the blast from the manhunters rods are just too potent for them to stand up against.

But help and hope arrives and things get a bit less lopsided when Superman shows up! Unfortunately it’s season 1 superman, and something a lot of fans noticed but I as a kid didn’t and the crew themslves did not until it was too late to course correct for the season, was that Superman came off as a bit of a wimp in this series. See they had the good intention of having him struck down to show a threat’s serious, something TV Tropes calls the “The Worf effect” after the fact that Worf on Star Trek TNG would get knocked on his ass a lot for the same reason, but it has the side effect of making a character look like their made of paper mache if done too often. To the crew’s credit they realized this and not only made sure this didn’t happen as much in season 2, but dedicated the first episode of Season 2, twilight, to showing Superman as a badass by having him try and cave Darkseid’s skull in. Granted they overcompensated in places in that episode, but that’s a story for another day. Point is he had a habit of getting knocked around and it varied between really effective and overselling it. Here it works as the manhunters had already knocked Jonn around a bit, knocking him into some poor kid’s apartment whose really wondering what the fuck just happened too much to enjoy meeting the martian manhunter, so him not being too on top of them simply sells this threat is equal, and possibly past the League.

Meanwhile John is talking to his former teacher who says the kid reminds him of John... it’s not only a nice bit of depth to show the restrained John used to be a bit of a hellraiser before the Marines.. but also shows John’s guilt as he hopes not.. but before he can unload, he notices the fight and suits up to his old mentors shock and the kids joy, I mean I would too if a guy suddenly because a green lantern in front of me, and dashes off.. to surrender and break up the fight, handing over his ring and going with them and telling the League not to interfere. Their response can be summed up thusly.

To John, he’s peacefully surrendering for a crime he comitted to a bruitsh and unfair police force but one who is duly deputized and as an officer himself, for the unaware the Green Lanterns are space cops and given the reason rightfuly reconing on the police I will certainly be discussing this as we go, is trying to coparate and prevent any collateral. While LIKELY Bruce pays for any that happens, as beneath his batdick demanour at times he’s a very good man and if he has the pockets for a space station, space craft, commuincators and all the good stuff a superhero team has on hand, he probably has a dedicated fund set up to paying for collateral since insurance might not cover it, and not only that would likely give any impacted extra to do any upgrades they coudln’t before because he’s a philanorphist .. one who dresses up like a bat to punch people in the face, but that itself is still philathophy in a way.

But to the League? Their friend was taken by a bunch of shady paramilitary robots who didn’t bother talking to them, is trying to keep them out of it and for all they know only surrendered to prevent a fight, and even if he had valid reasons, as his friends-ish and teammates, they have a right to answers. So while John sits in his cell completlating his apparent crimes.. the JL have taken off in the Javelin, the spaceship I mentioned batman funding. And of course Batman has both spaceship money and had a design for one so ready it likely took a month at most for him to get it up and running, if not less, and only didn’t have one in the batcave because he hadn’t neededed it yet and likely didn’t want to embezle more money than he has to from his company. Jonn uses the stars John saw, say that three times fast I dare you, to find a location and our heroes head there. Our heroes arrive.. and are attacked by the local security despite Superman geninely trying to hail them, the Javelin not firing back and our heros only going out to intercpet personally so they don’t die, and even then making careful certainty not to attack. So we get another thrilling battle, with our three flying heroes all pitching in, and the flash realizing he dosen’t know how to fly the thing and me cursing out bruce in my head for you know, not either forcing flash to learn the stuff, or having the forsight to put a manual on board for any members who forgot something, aka so when Wally inteivibly goofs off and eats candy instead of reading it the first time, he can speed read it and at least retain it long enough to land the thing in a crisis. If it were anyone else i’d be understanding but this is the guy who again, either had spaceship plans lying around or could get one together in the span of a month or so and while not thinking of the ship in terms of a team, still also paid for and likely created the commuincators they used, so he’d know his team well enough to know he needs this.

My nitpicking aside, our heroes land, make quick work of the locals, and then crash in on John’s trial after he’s escorted in, passing his fellow lanterns who rightfully treat him with disdain.. but for the wrong reasons as we’ll see. John gives groaning “oh no” , like he’s embarassed. When REALLY..

Seriously John, again you were as far as they knew kidnapped, and the way the manhunters acted, they had no reason to think they were legitamate, and you didn’t take five minutes to tell them, “They have every reason to be takning me” or “I blew up a planet I deserve this” . They still would’ve came mind you, they just might of realized this wasn’t a traditional rescue mission and actually tried to use some subtly. You also COULD have told the manhunters they might show up so the security wouldn’t attack them. They probably woudln’t o LISTEND or attacked themselves, so i’ts a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but you still did absolutely nothing. It’s the one mistep with John here and even then it has the justification of his self loathing at the moment being so high, he assumed they’d rightfully write him off without question.. not to mention given the team is mostly white guys, two aliens and a princess who woudln’t know better, he probably assumed like most white dumbasses they’d assume the police were correct and not give him the benifit of a doubt. To their credit, especially since you know one of them’s superman and the other one’s a professional dumbass, they didn’t think that for a second. Some would not be such a good person.

But Prosecutor Forman and the big giant heads aren’t much better than the manhunters, so Prosecutor Forman sends some orange guys to put foots up their asses.. and since unlike the manhunters their just... some ambigiously gendered aliens with no powers, they go down quick and before the manhunters enter, superman RIGHTFULLY calls them out, as he points out they just wanted to know what the hell was going on, didn’t throw the first punch, and have been under attack since, and the heads admit this IS a public trial, and they kinda overreacted so as long as the superfriends don’t do any other antics and watch like anyone else, their good. Superman has his team play it safe for now as they really don’t know what’s going on and given they could only stalemate the manhunters on even footing, they know they can’t take them on their home turf.

The trial is soon underway, and Prosecutor Forman calls the witnsees.. Kanjar Ro, also voiced by Smith. This is neat little bit as Ro was one of the first foes the League fought in the comics, a space pirate, and while he originally was just going to be some random asshole, someone brought up the idea of him being Ro and the crew really loved it. It’s a nice nod to the comics and honestly if you have a vast superhero universe with decades of continuity to draw from for your show, why NOT make the secondary villian of the episode be someone from the comics.

Ro is, like the comics, a pirate and seemingly came forward because what John did was so bad even he can’t stomach it and has to say something. So we FINALLY find out what John did.. well okay the audience as a whole does I remember this from being a kid. He and Ro had a routine cop and robber interaction, Ro was smuggling shit, and John was doing his job as GL of Sector 2814 and stopping him and cut out his engine.. but seemingly said engine drifted off, and destroyed a planet as result via chain reaction, and thus the debris right outside the planet John’s being tried on are apparently thsoe of the planet he accidently killed. The court takes a break and while the League, understandably, assume that the obviously shady man was lying John ends part one by confirming that no he did it. And this is why I put a pin in things... because the episode being about a space cop being arrested by worse space cops and dealing with his friends in the badge turning on him while some of his other friends try to prove he’s innocent, and the man in question being an african american... tackles some very loaded issues that, givent he writer and most of the staff, Dwayne McDuffie accepted, were very much white, i’m thinking they just kind of fell backward into and it only came out as good as it did either do to McDuffie or just blind luck that it didn’t turn out entirely awful in hindsight.

And if anyone is complaning: “Wait you dont’ need to get political leave politics out of this”.. please leave my fucking blog. For one, the recknoing with the police was long overdue, I feel ashamed for not having it sink in how fundementally broken the police were and not realizing it for my whole fucking life, I knew some cops were bad but I hadn’t realized the institution was inherently racist and bad and feel so much deep and lasting shame for that, and for another again it’s a story that at it’s core is a black police officer being arrested for doing something wrong, taking full responsiblity for his actions like a police officer SHOULD, and having friends of his try and prove he didn’t really do it, while his fellow officers, rather than find the act itself abohhrent, come out as either being loyal to john no matter what (kilowog) because fellow officer, or assholes who ONLY are upset because it makes them look bad, and are ONLY distancing themselves because of that, and not because you know JOHN MAY OF CAUSED A GENOCIDE BY INCOMPETNECE. So yeah, i’m not ignoring the real world implications, I couldn’t and wouldn’t if I wanted to, and i feel if done right ANY medium, animation, comics, what have you, for kids or not, can tackle such issues and should be able to.

So i’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, and as we get into part 2 we get the good and bad of this in full: Superman feels something’s off about this whole thing, a hunch admitely but given an engine falling in a crater seems a bit too convinent, he has a right to investigate and takes MM to do so, while he leaves Flash and Hakwgirl to stall. Both take diffrent approaches: Flash signs on as GL’s lawyer.. and it’s an awesome scene as we find out, in your standard evil lawyer joke, that the tribunal of faces solved this by simply having the lawyer share the punishment.. but it also shows Flash’s loyalty and faith that his friend did not do this and something worse is at work, as he still agrees after learning he’ll probably die if his other friends don’t fix this.

And now we have full context i can get into where this episode really does the issue justice for the most part: John is presented as the model of both what the GL Corps and what police should be: He’s professional, uses minimal force despite having a weapon that can do anything, and when he THINKS he did something horrible, he dosen’t run from his crime: the most he does is go back home to see it once last time, simply waiting for someone to come and get him for what it did wether it be his own brothers in arms or as we saw the manhunters and he doesn’t defend himself because he dosen’t feel he should as he screwed up, got an entire planet killed, and rightly thinks he should pay for it. He’s likely, as a black man in the early 2000′s, been falsely accused, pulueld over and fucked over by police and seen people in his community he knewe and care about die because of shit like this so when given the chance to take responsibility, even from a clearly broken system, he does. Because in the same situation a lot of officers back at home would not and would walk away clean and that’s not who John Stewart is, how he was raised, or what he or the corps stands for.

But the episode gets to have it’s cake and eat it too, as the League does belivie John didn’t do this on purpose.. and the blind faith they especially superman did come off as wince inducing.. until I realized it’s not because of some “brotherhood of the badge” bullshit.. but because it’s Superman. He belivies in the good of most people. In this very series despite Lex Luthor having tried to kill him dozens of times at this point, he STILL shows the guy empathy when he finds out Lex is dying of cancer. Lex spits at the notion of course and dosen’t take it seroiusly.. but Superman is just that good a person, so if he has a hunch somethings’ wrong.. it probably is. And even if he and Jonn found nothing... it’s the right thing to do. A crime should ALWAYS be properly investigated to make sure someone dosen’t hang for something they did not do. This is what I meant by have it’s cake and eat it too: the episode tackles police brutality.. but the accused is also the victim, and it thus tackles the unfairness in the us courts, how black people are often assumed guilty when that’s horribly racist and biased as fuck and how Police are assumed correct. Our heroes are assuming john is right based on optisim but are not wrong for wanting him to at LEAST get a fair trial and full investigation that clearly was not done. It also covers, again probably intetioanlly, how some are often not able to get proper representatin, with this court outright getting rid of it, which is wrong and bad, and the flash being the best John can do and not very good at it, mostly stalling for time. It shows the system’s brokena nd soemtimes you have to directly fight iht and can’t just take it , and even if your convinced your guilty and want to rightfuly take the blame for something your sure you did... you still deserve a fair trial and a compitent one.

It’s not all good: as said the gl’s are portrayed as bad for not wanting anything to do with john, and in order to make them unsympathetic they care more about their rep than the fact a friend may of comited genocide and kilowog showing up and providing character witness is seen as a good thing, even if he provides no actual character evidence other than “Johnny’s a good guy” and that’s not ideal. It’s not perfect and again it was writtne by an old white guy so of course it isn’t but the fact it gets so much right the more you dig in despitei t’s awwkardness and being written and aired 20 years ago... that is nothing to sneeze at.

We have more to dig into here too with the manhunters but first moreof the plot: While the other stuff mentioned happens, Superman and Jonn investigate as said.. and we find out WHY superman was supscious: while it was part hunch.. he did in fact have valid reason to suspect something was off, and as we saw actually heard the case against his friend first, and only went against it because the evidence was off.. in that the MOON of the planet is still there and should’ve flown off. He and Jonn soon find a MASSIVE device that John identifies as a bigger version of a toy he had as a kid, something that created images... and again shows whya PROPER investigation was needed. Had the court actually looked into it instead of presuming John guilty, they would’ve found this thing too. Naturally though Kanjar Ro has followed them and wants to kill them.. but with her subplot wrapped up Hawkgirl went to seei f they needed backup, stealing one of the guard ships which given they attacked people on ap lanet iwth a PUBLIC TRIAL going on without haling them yeah don’t blame her, and kicks his ass. Our heroes find out the truth as I mentioned earlier: Ro was paid to lie and be in on things for an assload of money.. byt he Manhutners.. who at the moment are plotting to strike while Oa, the home of the green lanterns is weak, as the Guardians who created them and monitor them mostly left to go to the trial.

As we catch up with them, THe guardians speak on each lantern being trusted with the ring and given little oversight.. because they pick wisely. The prosecutor just wants John to hang, calls for a sentence, which is death and John and Flash nearly die, in case you thought I was pulling those parallels out of my ass. But Superman rushes in, and in a small, subtle gag he and Jonn do so thorugh a small pain of glass put over where they enterted last time, fight off security and save them, and before prosecutor foot in the ass can harumph about it more.. Superman claims jonn’s innocent..a nd has Shiera smash the generator, showing he indeed is, getting John aquitted. John also attacks Ro, who they brought along as a witness, rightfully so, but the League get him to stop as they don’t have time for that: the Guardians are strangely leaving after that, the manhunters are clearly doing something given their asbent, so John retakes his ring, restored to who he was now knowing he truly WAS innocent and was simply set up.. and he wants to find out why.

We soon get the why as the Guardians explain the manhunters after the League won’t let them just.. brush by after they aburbtly tried to leave. They AREN’T behind the current attack.. but did create them, feeling robots would be better policeman. They were wrong, with the manhunters lacking empathy, being far too military in their job, and generally not being up for it so they simply gave them smaller jobs as bounty hunters, court balifs that sort of thing ans assumed they were fine because they didn’t say anything. As John puts it perfectly “Not outloud. “ And this itself is the other thing that makes the episode work as an allegory, if a very unteitonal one: The Manhunters are the police as they are now, violent brutes with way too much power, no restraint in using it and no ounce of mercy or sympathy for those they protect. And the Guardians rightfully removed this system, and replaced it with the corps. And while the Corps STILL have a lot of leway and power, being free to investigate on their own provided OA dosen’t call them to do someting specific, and given a ring that can do anything within corps guidelines, which basically means “don’t kill” and “don’t be a dick with it”, the guardians still watch them, do not interfere in trials and choose very wisely. not only that ther’es only one officer per sector, each sector being galaxies wide.. but that’s because that’s only what’s NEEDED. One Lantern with the power to take on entire fleets if needed, which is a fair amount of power given the scope of the job, and come in as requested by the people themselves, honestly isn’t a bad system. Granted the corps is wonky from time to time in the comics as are the guaridans depending on the writer, but at it’s core the corps really sounds like a more responsible versoin of the police: given just the gear necessary, the men necessary, and only called in when truly needed or if they spot a crime in process. THat’s what the people protecting us should be like and that’s why this episode still works.

Obviously though I was aware of none of this as a kid, and the real reason I loved this episode is this climax. The League arrives on Oa just in time to provide backup. Presumibly the guardians there and incoming with the league simply dont have the power to spare to call for reinforcments. Which is weird but fair enough drama wise and our heroes storm the planet , with the corpsmen from before all showing up to pitch in. But John gets there too late as the head manhunter drains the central power battery, the source of the lantern’s powers, and declares I AM THE POWER, refusing to accept he’s out of date.

And this, folks is the moment that made me love the lanterns for life. John is outgunned, the wise old wrinkled blue men who gave him his powers drained of there, starring down a massive monster planning to subjigate the universe... and he does not blink. See lanterns are picked for their willpower, their abliity to stare down things like this, and fight anyway, their very rings controlled by this, by their own force of personhood. It’s another reason besides logistics why theires only one per sector: it’s that hard to find one. Earth is so remarkable because , even if it’s simply so we could have more stars in the books over time in real world, we produced not ONE person capable of this.. but 7.. Alan Scott whose not in the corps but whose powers stll work on will and could probably use a regular corps ring very much included. John was chosen because he simply won’t give up. He gave up before.. but it was the right thing to do and ultimately biding his timea nd accepting his trial.. gave his friends time to aquit him and prove he was framed.

But now is not the time to back down.. now’s the time to stand.. so how does John win? By USING his will, by using the reason he was chosen coupled with ihs own personal dedication and concentration, he grabs his ring as it floats toward the guy, takes it back.. and starts reciting the lantern oath. And since the Manhunter is indeed “The power”.. it means he too can be controlled like any lantern energy. and thus with every bit of willpower he has, struggling all the while but not moving a damn inch, John recites his oath and shoves the monster that framed him, and the power he stole, back into the battery, all while saying an oath so badass it has been etched into my head since thanks to this episode. Say it with me now..

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night No Evil Shall Escape My Sight Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might BEWARE MY POWER, GREEN LANTERN’S LIGHT!

And the credit goes to phil lamarr, who delivers the oath with all the gravitas and awesomeness it’s first delivery in this continuty it deserves. It was this that made me a lifelong fan: one man with the power of anytihng using PURE MENTAL STRENGTH AND DETERMiINATION TO SHOVE AN EVIL ENERGY BEING IN A GIANT LANTERN WHILE RECITING A BADASS AND AWE INSPIRING OATH. And if that dosen’t sell you on the Green Lantern’s being awesome I can’t help you and don’t know why your here.

So wrapup time: The Guardians genuinely thank john, saying they choose well, and John brushes off his fellows corpspersons as they should’ve belivied him and thanks the League for having faith in him even when he didn’t. And while the former part has some.. bad implications we’ve gotten into already, I also can’t entirely blame him given they did it not because he might’ve killed someone but again, because

Precisley. So our heroes prepare to head home, cue the credits.

Final Thoughts:

So how does this episode hold up 20 years later? As should be obvious, damn well. It’s a good introduction for the corps, if showing them to be kinda assholes in places, and a good spotlight episdoe for John showing who he is what he stands for and again how TRULY MONUMENTALLY BADASS the man is. And lest you think the comics versoin is any LESS badass, he once got into a sniper duel in with Bedovian, a member of the Sinestro Corps and a crab person.. who was as I forgot till looking it up, THREE SECTORS, which i’ll remind you can comprise entire galaxies, away, with a ring made sniper rifle. In one shot no less. Point is even with some.. wonkier aspects, and ones that aren’t intetnional, it still works and is a shockingly relevant episode 19 years later and the fight scenes, as are standard for the series, are overwhelmingly awesome. Check this one out, and the series as a whole. With its great animation, character work and general badassery this one’s worth a few watches. And obviously given my love of this seires, and it’s 20th anniversay next year, and my love of John, check back here for more John-centric episodes throughout the year as we celebrate the guy. And I will also celebrate the green lantern NAMED guy eventually too, and jessica.. and all of them ebcause I love them all. Yes.. even Hal. As for which John episode i’m doing next? Easy, one that intorduces me to a character I love who dosen’t get used near enough, Metamorphisis. The when I can’t say QUITE yet as my March schedule is full and most of my ongoing projects are on the backburner so I can tackle two arcs of ducktales, which coincidentally happened to be in time for the finale. That wasn’t planned AT ALL mind you, it just ended up working out really well that way. For now though tommorow I begin my coverage of the final 4 episodes of ducktales with “Beaks in the Shell” and later this week finish up black history month with blacksad, continue my Lena retrospective with a money shark and some pr work, cover the second season of close enough, celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday and also celebrate the new Tom and Jerry movie.. with the OLD tom and jerry movie. Until then, see you next rainbow.

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desdealgunlugardelsur · 3 years

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Harrison Ford: 2020 summary

A year like no other, as you must have heard countless times. The pandemic changed almost everybody´s life on this planet and Harrison wasn´t an exception. Our lil´ bean is strong and healthy but also has to be safe at home, so this year didn´t deliver many news about Harrison. Still, we had a new Harrison movie, The Call of the Wild, released in February, and a few other events before the lockdown. 2020 was also marked by the death of 3 former Harrison´s costars: Chadwick Boseman, Sean Connery and David Prowse. May all of them rest on peace on Heaven.

A new year begins, and we all wish Harrison (and everyone by the way) a productive, happy and healthy 2021. Stay safe!

JANUARY

Early January: Harrison Ford enjoying his holidays in the caribbean island of Bonaire

25th: Harrison Ford with singer Carole Bayer Sager in a dinner in support of US Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg

28th: The Call of the Wild “Adventure Companions” Featurette. Harrison Ford talks about dogs and companionship in The Call of the Wild’s “Adventure Companions” featurette.

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28th: not sure where these pics were taken. Probably in Wyoming? (pics from Rich Elali)

FEBRUARY

3rd: Verizon Super Bowl Ad Features Harrison Ford And New Pearl Jam Song

Kathleen Kennedy Says Harrison Ford Is Still On For ‘Indiana Jones 5’

Early-mid February: the national and international promotion of The Call of the Wild begins

5th: In Mexico City:

Harrison Ford: America Has Lost Its Moral Leadership And Credibility: The “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” star calls out U.S. policy on immigration and climate.

11th: On the Jimmy Kimmel Show:

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More here

13th: Harrison Ford, actor and watch designer. Newly adapted from Jack London’s literary classic, “The Call of the Wild” transports us to the snowy expanses of Alaska in the 1890s, with Harrison Ford as prospector John Thornton. The actor talks about climate activism, technology and why mechanical watches beat smartwatches every time.

14th: Indiana Jones 5 Starts Shooting In Two Months Says Harrison Ford : The long delayed fifth Indiana Jones film is finally about to get underway, as Harrison Ford reveals that he will begin shooting in two months. (that was what they were planning before COVID-19 hit the world...)

14th: Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones 5 Will “See Part of His History Resolved”

17th: “A Force ghost? I don’t know what a Force ghost is…I have no idea what a Force ghost is. And I don’t care!“. Legend.

21st: The Call of the Wild is released in cinemas

At the movie premiere in Los Angeles:

BRING ON THE PUPPIES:

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More videos:

Call of the Wild Survival Tips!

SNACK??? (Kudos to that girl)

Find epic stories at your library!

More news:

Of Course Harrison Ford Did His Own Call Of The Wild Stunts And 'Wore Out' The Stunt Team

Harrison Ford's shirtless chest is that buff (at 77) for his 'Call of the Wild' swim scene

26th: Steven Spielberg Won’t Direct ‘Indiana Jones 5,’ James Mangold in Talks to Replace

27th: Harrison Ford Breaks Down His Career, from 'Star Wars' to 'Indiana Jones' (Vanity Fair)

Late February: Harrison Ford visits Google´s offices in San Francisco to test the company´s self-driving car. [x] [x] [x] [x]

MARCH

14th: Harrison spotted in South Hadley, Massachusetts [x]. Apparently Harrison and Calista went to Massachusetts to pick up their son Liam after college shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

MARCH

...

APRIL

3rd: Disney delay multiple release dates including Jungle Cruise, The French Dispatch, and Indiana Jones 5

(…) Another big reveal is that Indiana Jones 5 – which will reportedly be directed by James Mangold – is being pushed back a year, from July 9, 2021 to July 29, 2022.

29th: Harrison Ford under FAA investigation after making a mistake while operating an airplane on the runway

According to the audio obtained by TMZ, Ford, 77, did not follow the direction of a tower operator to “keep short” on the runway because of “traffic”. It seems that the actor did not hear the direction. He nevertheless started to cross the runway, which prompted the operator to reprimand him for not following his instructions.

“Cross this trail now!” I told you to keep it short! You have to listen, “said the operator.

“Excuse me, sir, I thought exactly the opposite. I’m really sorry, ”said Ford immediately.

TMZ said there was no risk of an accident. The other aircraft was allegedly 3600 feet from Ford’s aircraft.

MAY

6th: Lucasfilm Reportedly Wants Harrison Ford To Return For Han And Chewie Star Wars Spinoff (Note: this hasn´t been officially confirmed by Lucasfilm)

15th: No news but I think this is cute:

From twitter.com/siikasele

21st: The Empire Strikes Back 40th anniversary. 40 years ago, TESB was released on theaters the 21st of May of 1980.

27th: James Mangold Confirmed To Direct Indiana Jones 5. Producer Frank Marshall confirms James Mangold is directing Indiana Jones 5 and says he's only just begun to work on his own script for the movie.

28th: James Mangold plans to take Indiana Jones franchise 'someplace new'.

Indiana Jones Writer on How Pandemic Will Affect Film's Script

JUNE

Nothing happens but look at this

You are welcome.

JULY

13th: Happy birthday king!

AUGUST

23rd: Harrison Ford dropping off his son Liam at College with wife Calista Flockhart via private plane (from tinyrebelstuff)

28th: Chadwick Boseman dies of cancer at the age of 43

Harrison Ford Calls Chadwick Boseman "As Much a Hero as Any He Played"

“Chadwick Boseman was as compelling, powerful and truthful as the characters he chose to play,” Ford said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “His intelligence, personal dignity and deep commitment inspired his colleagues and elevated the stories he told. He is as much a hero as any he played. He is loved and will be deeply missed.”

SEPTEMBER

24th: Harrison Ford Cleared by FAA in Runway Investigation. "The FAA has closed the case involving the pilot who crossed a Hawthorne Municipal Airport runway without authorization on April 24, 2020. The FAA required the pilot to take a remedial runway incursion training course. When the pilot successfully completed the course, the FAA closed the case with no additional action," the FAA said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

OCTOBER

19th: Harrison Ford & Ed Helms To Star In STX Seafaring Comedy ‘Adventures Of Burt Squire’

22nd: Actor and Pilot Harrison Ford Becomes Airlink Spokesperson. Video here

31st: Sean Connery dies at 90.

Sean Connery: Harrison Ford pays tribute to his Indiana Jones father and 'dear friend'

"He was my father... not in life... but in Indy 3," he said.

"You don't know pleasure until someone pays you to take Sean Connery for a ride in the sidecar of a Russian motorcycle bouncing along a bumpy, twisty mountain trail and getting to watch him squirm.

"God, we had fun - if he's in heaven, I hope they have golf courses.

"Rest in peace, dear friend."

NOVEMBER

2nd: Harrison Ford And Lincoln Project Back Anthony Fauci, Advocate Firing Donald Trump

In the waning hours of the 2020 presidential election, the Lincoln Project has enlisted Harrison Ford to narrate a new ad that plays up President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he will fire Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The spot features a scene from a Trump rally on Sunday in which supporters began chanting “Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!” and the president responded, “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait til a little bit after the election.”

Ford then says, “Tomorrow, you can fire only one of them. The choice is yours.”

3rd: Harrison Ford and Bloomberg on Biden 2020

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7th: Destiel becomes canon. Harrison doesn´t give a single fuck.

Also Joe Biden wins the US elections. Trump is defeated. Harrison, we know you hate Donald Trump. Congratulations.

21st: Harrison Ford back in Boston, Massachusetts, to pick up his son Liam for Thanksgiving Day.

28th: David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original trilogy, dies at the age of 85. Sorry, I didn´t find any words from Harrison on his memory... it seems they weren´t so close. Also, Jeremy Bulloch, the original Boba Fett, dies at 75 the 17th of december.

DECEMBER

10th: Indiana Jones: James Mangold, Harrison Ford Team to Close Out the Character

Harrison Ford and James Mangold's Indiana Jones 5 will serve as the final chapter for the iconic character.

Disney changed the Indiana Jones logotype. I have a bad feeling about this.

15th: Rare, behind-the-scenes look at 'The Empire Strikes Back'

Including this jewel:

Gif from the @theorganasolo

31st: And just at the very last day of this weird and strange year...

Disney Reportedly Wants Harrison Ford For Indiana Jones Streaming Show

Thankfully, then, it seems that the fifth (Indiana Jones) outing may not be the last we see of the actor in the role, as insider Daniel Richtman claims that Disney wants Ford to appear in a series that’s being developed for their streaming service. Further details are unclear and the tipster doesn’t say if it’s an all-new show or a reboot of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, but as one of the Mouse House’s most valuable assets, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they wanted to continue mining the property once Indiana Jones 5 wraps up the big screen stories for good.

Thanks everyone! Hopefully in 2021 the pandemic will fade and the world will return to normalcy. Luckily the production of Indiana Jones V will start this spring, as well as other Harrison projects such the tv show The Staircase and the movie starring with Ed Elms. Fingers crossed for a year full of (good) news about Harrison. Have a happy and safe 2021.

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canonskyrissian · 3 years

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2020 Gifs in Review

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work!

I was tagged by @rise-of-ahsoka, thanks sweetie ♥♥♥

1. The Return of Hope, fic - okay so I started this in 2018 but I finished it this year and this is honestly the best fic I’ve written so far and I have such fond memories of it. I was happy to finally finish it but... it was really hard to let go. but the finished result is awesome if I may say so myself^^

2. star wars poc positivity project favorite slash ship + favorite rarepair, edit - and exactly no one is surprised that this is skyrissian xD this was one of those edits where I had a clear concept from the beginning and I really love how it turned out

3. The Epic Love Story of Lando Calrissian and Luke Skywalker, fic - my star wars big bang fic for this year. it was supposed to be the epic adventures initially (as per the throwaway line in tros) but there turned out to be more love story and less adventure so... yeah xD it was a fun fic to write, even if I did procrastinate with it a lot for various reasons (my beta @ahsokastars was a saint and super patient, thank you so much!!!)

4. Galaxy's best babysitters, fic - also known as post-tcw s7 therapy fic. what’s better than aunt ‘soka and uncle rex babysitting the wondertwins? well, aunt ‘soka and uncle rex getting to babysit han and lando in addition to the wondertwins! easily one of my crackiest ideas ever but it was super therapeutic, and I really hope I get more ideas for this au^^

5. tesb 40th anniversary edit featuring lando - I made this because none of the other edits and gifsets had lando and it pissed me off so much. this was also my first edit where I used 4k screencaps so the quality gets a big boost, which is nice^^ and I’m really happy with the filters I used. this is probably my nicest edit to the date

6. because I trust you, fic - @crystalfoxfics sent me several prompts (I still have a couple to write) and this was the first one I did. it’s based on my icon (the black and white one that is made of a screencap of a deleted rotj scene, not this icon) and I had a lot of fun writing the unresolved romantic tension^^

7. we had each other. that’s how we won, edit - tros was garbage but this line. this line. it’s gonna stay with me forever BECAUSE DFGFDSGDSGFHGDH THEY HAD EACH OTHER AND THAT’S HOW THEY WON I’M?????? SO MAD THE ORIGINAL SQUAD DIDN’T GET TO INTERACT AT ALL FUCK YOU SEQUELS anyway this is another edit where I had a clear concept and I’m happy how it turned out

8. Maybe it's luck, fic - I wrote this for this year’s rarepair exchange and had a lot of fun with it^^ it’s very much a typical fic that I’d write, with the twist that this was the first time I properly wrote a polyamorous relationship and my first time properly writing wedge. my original idea was a lot more slice of life-y (lando, luke, and wedge were supposed to play truth or dare) but qi’ra said hi and then it turned into a mission fic, and I don’t mind, it’s a lot better this way^^

tagging @kvberhearts @barissoffee @arwenevenstar @alkaysaniyusuf and anyone who wants to do this, just say I tagged you^^

#about me #my fics #myedit #tagging game #i really made only star wars stuff this year #oh well since it's my main fandom atm

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practicegallerynyc · 4 years

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ICP Lab: Queering the Collection

March 25, 2018, 3-5:30pm, ICP Museum, 250 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

Artist Christopher Clary hosts a show-and-tell workshop for the ICP Library series Queering the Collection. Ten artists and collectives will present works that range from a zine project that documents the death of nine men at a 1970s gay bathhouse to a journal that promotes critical engagement with contemporary art and politics from artists, writers, and thinkers who work outside of mainstream discourses. Join the conversation to define and complicate the very notion of what it means to queer through insights from the ICP Library’s collection.

Queering the Collection is a series of exhibitions and events originally conceived by Emily Dunne of the ICP Library and Brett Erich Suemnicht of GenderFail as an intervention in the library. GenderFail is a publishing and programming initiative featuring the perspectives of queer and trans people and people of color. The project looks to build up, reinforce, and open opportunities for creative projects. The hope at ICP Library is to present work of and outside the collection as a way to excavate and acquire new material as well as to expand the voices of artists in the collection.

Participants:

Practice began as an independent, not-for-profit gallery run by Philip Tomaru in the Lower East Side of New York City. The limits and contextualization of self-publishing within contemporary artistic practices was a particular emphasis area, as seen through several projects realized in the space including Visible Scene, Conversations in Print, and Poster, a collaborative experimental publishing project involving over a dozen artists. After a year of programming, the gallery is now nomadic without a public space and renamed Private Practice. Most recently, Shelves, Cabinets, Closets was exhibited in a small Paris residential apartment for one evening that coincided with the Paris Ass Book Fair at the Palais de Tokyo.

Aaron Krach is an artist and writer based in New York City. He works with people, books, rocks, text, vodka, and frogs to make books, sculptures, prints, and installations. He exhibits in galleries, book fairs, and public spaces in cities large (Sao Paulo and New York City) and small (Lake Ohrid, Macedonia). He once hired a hustler to make paintings with a frog. Krach has also collaborated with American soldiers in Afghanistan to ship useless stones from Kabul to New York City. Often his work is distributed through newspapers, email, t-shirts, and bookstores. Recent books include, Almost Everything (Dark Pools), about the dark side of Mies Van der Rohe, and Richard Prince Cowboy, Chris, and Jennifer, which underline and undermine the star system. Recently he reconstructed a 25,000-image archive into a set of 10 encyclopedic image books. Aaron is a two-time recipient of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Grant for Public Art. His first novel, Half-Life, was published by Alyson Books.

Alice O’Malley is a New York photographer whose portraits comprise an archive of downtown’s most notorious artists, performers, and muses. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including PS1/MOMA, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the ICP Museum, agnes b. galerie du jour, and Participant, Inc. She has contributed editorial work for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Vogue, and the New Yorker. O’Malley teaches in the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism program at the International Center of Photography.

Anthony Malone is an artist based in New York City (Lower East Side). Hailing originally from Winesburg, Ohio, Malone moved to the east coast to attend Yale University. He then went abroad to the University of Stockholm for graduate work in shipping and banking law. He currently feels a strong repulsion and disconnect with his academic career, so he focuses instead on what makes him happy, his art practice. In 2013, Malone started working on a multi-disciplinary project inspired by the 1977 fire at the Everard Baths. He has published a series of zines (For Everard) and artist books and has exhibited his publications internationally at art book fairs, small galleries, and private spaces. In 2017, on the 40th anniversary of the fire at the Everard Baths, Malone conceived and executed a performance to honor the memory of the nine victims of the Everard tragedy.

Linda LaBeija is a multidisciplinary artist, organizer, and curator from Bronx, New York. Her work explores the complexities of living as a transgender woman of color in today’s America. With origins in both Black America and the English/Spanish-speaking Caribbean, Linda’s transnational experience of living at the intersection of embodied, social, and national borders hones in on the critiques of hegemonic power. Born out of the Iconic House of LaBeija in the underground New York City Vogue Ballroom scene, Linda’s pursuit of spoken word infused music sound has been featured in articles in both Afropunk and The Fader. She has performed in various theaters and venues including the Cherrylane Theater, the National Black Theater of Harlem, and El Teatro of Museo Del Barrio. She has performed with wonderful voices and writers such as StaceyAnn Chin and Me’shell Ndegeoecello. She can also be seen in the feature film Pariah directed by Dee Rees.

Christopher Clary is an artist, author, and curator exploring queer communication through poor media. He was a 2017 Eyebeam Resident finalist for his research of safe space in networked culture that was realized as an online platform for The Wrong digital art biennial. His porn, novella commission for Rhizome at the New Museum was honored by Hyperallergic and acquired by the libraries at ICP, MoMA, the Whitney, and the Walker. His photography was exhibited for the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles in France. In March 2018, he exhibited and performed for the Paris Ass Book Fair at the Palais de Tokyo.

Molly Soda (b. 1989) is a visual artist based in Brooklyn. She works across a variety of digital platforms, producing videos, GIFs, zines, and web-based performance art, which can be found both online and in physical installations. Her recent solo shows includeI’m Just Happy to Be Here at 315 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2017; Thanks For the Add! at Leiminspace, Los Angeles, CA, 2017; and Comfort Zone at Annka Kultys Gallery, London, UK, 2016.

Patricia Silva is a Lisbon-born, New York–based photo and video artist. Silva’s films have been screened in film festivals and screening series at MIT List Visual Arts Center, USA (2017); Contemporary Center of Art Glasgow, UK (2017); IFC Theater, USA (2016); MoMA PS1 Theater, USA (2016); British Film Institute, UK (2016); and Colorado Photographic Arts Center, USA (2016). Her photo books have been exhibited in group shows at the Benaki Museum, Greece (2017); Phoenix Museum of Art, USA (2016-17); Ateliê da Imagem, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015–16). Her photographs have been exhibited in group shows at Flux Factory, USA, (2017); the International Center of Photography, New York, USA (2013); Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany (2012); and were recently published in Der Grief, Number 10, the 10th Anniversary Issue, and are currently on their way to an exhibition in South America.

Shiv Kotecha is a writer, artist, and scholar living in Brooklyn. He is most recently the author of a chapbook, Unlovable (Troll Thread, 2016), and Extrigue (Make Now, 2015), a shot-by-shot poetic rendering of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity. His first solo-show, a multimedia installation, Looking for Richard, was displayed at Ginerva Gambino (Cologne, Germany) in 2015. Other work can be found online on GaussPDF, Jacket2, Social Text, and elsewhere. He is also a PhD candidate at New York Univeristy, finishing a dissertation titled The Bait and the Switch: Durational Writing from E. A. Poe to AIDS.

unbag is a semi-annual magazine that promotes critical engagement with contemporary art and politics. Commissioning artists, writers, and thinkers who work outside of mainstream discourses, unbag functions as a space to explore ideas through discussion and exchange. Andy Wentz handles operations and productions for unbag. Mylo Mendez is an unbag editor and also works with the zine distro We’re Hir We’re Queer.

Photos: installation views of Visible Scene and Conversations in Print.

#practicegallerynyc #icplibrary #queeringthecollection

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crdenhart · 5 years

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10 Movies You Should Watch This Halloween 2019

Another Halloween, another chance to check out some classic and unique movies perfect for the season! Halloween is my favorite holiday season with the most ideal weather, cool costumes and decorations, and the perfect time for scary movies. So grab some candy and enjoy these ten cinematic spooks (presented in chronological order):

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

“To a new world of gods and monsters!”

I first saw this movie years ago as a kid when I received a Frankenstein DVD collection as a Christmas gift from my grandparents. I recently rewatched the film and now as an adult, I realize how brilliantly crafted the movie is especially for the 1930s and how way ahead of its time it is in its subtexts with characters and scenes having deeper meanings related to religion and sexuality. The best of the classic Universal horror movies!

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

“I’m telling you, Brother, it’s a frightful sight for what goes on Halloween night.”

This little gem is usually forgotten about in the canon of Disney Animation but everyone surely remembers the iconic scene in which Ichabod Crane is pursued by the frightening Headless Horseman, which has become a Halloween season staple. The film also celebrates its 70th anniversary this year so perfect time to watch it if you haven’t seen it (in a while).

Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream.”

Ridley Scott’s horror sci-fi movie masterpiece just celebrated its 40th anniversary and recently was rereleased in a new 4K remaster so the film looks sharper and scarier than ever! The film is like a haunted house in outer space, and the Alien creature effects seem so realistic it has me to believe that aliens do exist in reality. There are few sci-fi movie that get as scary as Alien.

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

“Listen. The children of the night make their music.”

This movie is a remake of the 1922 classic Nosferatu but the 1979 stands on its own as a master-class vampire movie. I had dinner with the film’s director Werner Herzog in Fall 2012. I was in production on my horror short film “The Masked Phantom” (you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/n_zFhMqHHao) and he gave me wonderful advice on how to craft a good scary movie and really frighten audiences. One of my favorite film career memories!

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

“Michael, go home!”

This entry in the franchise often gets overlooked as “the one with Tina and the clown cops,” but Revenge is definitely the scariest the series ever gets after the first two films. The scenes with Michael in the woods and the laundry chute scene are among the scariest in the series and still give me chills whenever I watch it. I also really like the dark “smokey”-looking cinematography and the emphasis on the Halloween holiday setting itself with heavier use of costumes and decorations compared to most of the other films so it feels like it actually takes place on Halloween.

American Psycho (2000)

“I have to return some videotapes.”

Christian Bale may have won best actor this past year at the Golden Globes for his role as Dick Cheney in Vice but his performance as the menacing bank-exec-by-day/serial-killer-by-night Patrick Bateman is his finest performance. The film perfectly recreates the look and feel of 1980s New York. Christian Bale is scary and psychotic, especially in the scenes where he murders people and tries to hide his crimes! My favorite sequence however is when all the rich guys are in a meeting and get jealous of each others’ business cards even though they all look seemingly identical.

Fun Size (2012)

“My mom is going to kill me.”

This Nickelodeon movie is a fun Halloween film for the entire family. It reminds me a lot of Snow Day, which is my favorite non-Christmas winter movie. Love the Halloween atmosphere with all the costumes and candy and decorations throughout the film. Adults can enjoy it just as much as kids.

Mother (2017)

“Get out!”

I first saw this film in theaters a couple years ago and has since become one of my favorite scary movies. Jennifer Lawrence (my favorite modern actress) gives an incredible performance as do Javier Bardem and the rest of the cast. The film is rich in biblical symbolism which I love because I’m currently enrolled in a Bible study class. Some very scary and disturbing scenes that will tug right at your soul!

Halloween Cat (2018)

My animated short film has been making the short film circuit recently. It’s about a cat in search for candy on Halloween night and comes across a haunted house where spooky things happen. I’m really proud of the work by my filmmaking crew and hope this film will continue to be enjoyed every Halloween season. You can check it out here: https://vimeo.com/277177988

The Fanatic (2019)

“Moose is in the house!”

This new thriller starring John Travolta as a crazed horror-movie fan is by no means a great film, but it is so much fun to watch with Travolta’s terribly cheesy and over-the-top performance. It also makes several scary movie references that horror fans will pick up on. Most hilariously bad movie in recent years!

Happy Halloween 2019 everyone!

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scifigeneration · 6 years

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Why is it fun to be frightened?

by Margee Kerr

Visiting an extreme haunted house can be delightfully terrifying. AP Photo/John Minchillo

John Carpenter’s iconic horror film “Halloween” celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Few horror movies have achieved similar notoriety, and it’s credited with kicking off the steady stream of slasher flicks that followed.

Audiences flocked to theaters to witness the seemingly random murder and mayhem a masked man brought to a small suburban town, reminding them that picket fences and manicured lawns cannot protect us from the unjust, the unknown or the uncertainty that awaits us all in both life and death. The film offers no justice for the victims in the end, no rebalancing of good and evil.

Why, then, would anyone want to spend their time and money to watch such macabre scenes filled with depressing reminders of just how unfair and scary our world can be?

I’ve spent the past 10 years investigating just this question, finding the typical answer of “Because I like it! It’s fun!” incredibly unsatisfying. I’ve long been convinced there’s more to it than the “natural high” or adrenaline rush many describe – and indeed, the body does kick into “go” mode when you’re startled or scared, amping up not only adrenaline but a multitude of chemicals that ensure your body is fueled and ready to respond. This “fight or flight” response to threat has helped keep humans alive for millennia.

That still doesn’t explain why people would want to intentionally scare themselves, though. As a sociologist, I’ve kept asking “But, why?” After two years collecting data in a haunted attraction with my colleague Greg Siegle, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh, we’ve found the gains from thrills and chills can go further than the natural high.

Around Halloween, some people love to head to haunted attractions like this one in an old Cincinnati schoolhouse. AP Photo/John Minchillo

Studying fear at a terrifying attraction

To capture in real time what makes fear fun, what motivates people to pay to be scared out of their skin and what they experience when engaging with this material, we needed to gather data in the field. In this case, that meant setting up a mobile lab in the basement of an extreme haunted attraction outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This adults-only extreme attraction went beyond the typical startling lights and sounds and animated characters found in a family-friendly haunted house. Over the course of about 35 minutes, visitors experienced a series of intense scenarios where, in addition to unsettling characters and special effects, they were touched by the actors, restrained and exposed to electricity. It was not for the faint of heart.

For our study, we recruited 262 guests who had already purchased tickets. Before they entered the attraction, each completed a survey about their expectations and how they were feeling. We had them answer questions again about how they were feeling once they had gone through the attraction.

We also used mobile EEG technology to compare 100 participants’ brainwave activity as they sat through 15 minutes of various cognitive and emotional tasks before and after the attraction.

Guests reported significantly higher mood, and felt less anxious and tired, directly after their trip through the haunted attraction. The more terrifying the better: Feeling happy afterward was related to rating the experience as highly intense and scary. This set of volunteers also reported feeling that they’d challenged their personal fears and learned about themselves.

Analysis of the EEG data revealed widespread decreases in brain reactivity from before to after among those whose mood improved. In other words, highly intense and scary activities – at least in a controlled environment like this haunted attraction – may “shut down” the brain to an extent, and that in turn is associated with feeling better. Studies of those who practice mindfulness meditation have made a similar observation.

Coming out stronger on the other side

Together our findings suggest that going through an extreme haunted attraction provides gains similar to choosing to run a 5K race or tackling a difficult climbing wall. There’s a sense of uncertainty, physical exertion, a challenge to push yourself – and eventually achievement when it’s over and done with.

Fun-scary experiences could serve as an in-the-moment recalibration of what registers as stressful and even provide a kind of confidence boost. After watching a scary movie or going through a haunted attraction, maybe everything else seems like no big deal in comparison. You rationally understand that the actors in a haunted house aren’t real, but when you suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to become immersed in the experience, the fear certainly can feel real, as does the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment when you make it through. As I experienced myself after all kinds of scary adventures in Japan, Colombia and all over the U.S., confronting a horde of zombies can actually make you feel pretty invincible.

Movies like “Halloween” allow people to tackle the big, existential fears we all have, like why bad things happen without reason, through the protective frame of entertainment. Choosing to do fun, scary activities may also serve as a way to practice being scared, building greater self-knowledge and resilience, similar to rough-and-tumble play. It’s an opportunity to engage with fear on your own terms, in environments where you can push your boundaries, safely. Because you’re not in real danger, and thus not occupied with survival, you can choose to observe your reactions and how your body changes, gaining greater insight to yourself.

Friends stuck together in a ‘Gates of Hell’ haunted house. AP Photo/John Locher

What it takes to be safely scared

While there are countless differences in the nature, content, intensity and overall quality of haunted attractions, horror movies and other forms of scary entertainment, they all share a few critical components that help pave the way for a fun scary time.

First and foremost, you have to make the choice to engage – don’t drag your best friend with you unless she is also on board. But do try to gather some friends when you’re ready. When you engage in activities with other people, even just watching a movie, your own emotional experience is intensified. Doing intense, exciting and thrilling things together can make them more fun and help create rewarding social bonds. Emotions can be contagious, so when you see your friend scream and laugh, you may feel compelled to do the same.

No matter the potential benefits, horror movies and scary entertainment are not for everyone, and that’s OK. While the fight-or-flight response is universal, there are important differences between individuals – for example, in genetic expressions, environment and personal history – that help explain why some loathe and others love thrills and chills.

Regardless of your taste (or distaste) for all things horror or thrill-related, an adventurous and curious mindset can benefit everyone. After all, we’re the descendants of those who were adventurous and curious enough to explore the new and novel, but also quick and smart enough to run or fight when danger appeared. This Halloween, maybe challenge yourself to at least one fun scary experience and prepare to unleash your inner superhero.

About The Author:

Margee Kerr is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh.

This article is republished from our content partners, The Conversation, under a Creative Commons license.

#psychology #sociology #halloween #movies #haloween movies #also horror #fear #adrenaline #horror movies #scary movies

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erhiem · 3 years

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One of the most talked about award shows of the year is back – and we’ve got you covered!

The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards has officially begun in NYC — and it sure has everyone talking on social media.

Following last year’s socially distanced ceremony, which featured entirely Lady Gaga, Sunday night’s awards show – hosted by Doja Cat – is being held in person and broadcast live from Barclays Center Is.

Entering the show, Justin Bieber led the pack with a total of seven nominations, including Artist of the Year. Behind her is Megan Thi Stallion, who is up for six awards, four of which are for her “WAP” collaboration with Cardi B. Meanwhile, BTS, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Drake, Givon, Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo are all there. Nominated for five awards.

Like previous years, this cast list is nothing less than a legend. Hitters on stage include Doja Cat, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Chloe, Lil Nas X, Alicia Keys, Casey Musgraves, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, who will be performing at the awards show for the first time in six years. years. Meanwhile, Machine Gun Kelly and Olivia Rodrigo will be working on the VMAs stage for a while. In addition, the Foo Fighters are also set to perform and will be honored with the first Global Icon Award.

In the days before the show, Lorde canceled her performance while Normani was announced as a last-minute extra after a viral fan petition. Nicki Minaj too tweeted on Thursday that he “pulled out” from the planned performance. But let’s be real, it wouldn’t be the VMAs without a little drama!

TooFab will be updating this post throughout the night — see the most viral performances and moments below!

Madonna opens the show

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Who better to start things off for MTV’s 40th birthday, but Madonna, who’s been there since the beginning?

In a premade video showing her driving in a taxi around New York City, the Queen of Pop talks about her four-decade-long journey in the industry and how her rise with the network happened. “We found each other and formed a bond that changed my life, changed music and created a whole new art form,” she declared, “so there’s only one place to be tonight.”

The camera then cut inside Barclays, where the 63-year-old pop star took to the stage in a black leather Dominatrix getup and proudly declared: “They said we won’t last, but we’re still here mom—rs.” Happy 40th MTV!”

She then just turned and left, showing her notoriety behind. With this, Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi began the first performance of the night.

Wonder! NS #vma Begin with an introduction to the one and only @ Madonna pic.twitter.com/YmWtjabVJ7

— MTV News (@MTVNEWS) September 13, 2021 @mtvnews

.@ Madonna I was the first artist #vma History to win 20 awards.

— chart data (@chartdata) September 13, 2021 @ chartdata

who is the fucking damn queen?? she is madonna pic.twitter.com/E3ZR23oCEr

— Gnome (@Gnomodesaturno) September 13, 2021 @Gnomodesaturno

Madonna.

— glad (@glaad) September 13, 2021 @ glade

was doing the thang of madonna #vma pic.twitter.com/mGm3HZooGd

— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) September 13, 2021 @TheShadeRoom

Olivia Rodrigo Makes Her VMA Debut

2021 was a huge year for “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” star Olivia Rodrigo, who hit three big singles — “Drivers License,” “Deja Vu” and “Good 4 U” — before dropping her album. left. “Tart.”

She walked into the night with five nominations and received her first television award of the night for Song of the Year for “Driver’s License” following her first performance at the VMAs. She has already won Push Artist during the pre-show.

.@Olivia_Rodrigo just took her to another home #vma for the night for song of the year #Driver’s license: “It’s so crazy” pic.twitter.com/ShYO6ZJBUU

— MTV News (@MTVNEWS) September 13, 2021 @mtvnews

Olivia. mad. Rodrigo. #vma

– Video Music Awards (@vmas) September 13, 2021 @vmas

Get emotional seeing Olivia get a VMAs she’s watched since she played Grace in American Girl pic.twitter.com/swvPJFK3Da

— Dark (@aerifuI) September 13, 2021 @aerifuI

Olivia Rodrigo breaks the screen like how she breaks the charts @LivesHQ #vma very proud of that pic.twitter.com/RN6oueHM4X

— jen ★彡 proud of liv (@400liv) September 13, 2021 @400live

can’t wait for the picture @Olivia_Rodrigo with all her VMA awards

— Kimberly McCullough (@whitewatercrew) September 12, 2021 @whitewatercrew

J.Lo Stuns…But Billie Eilish Seems Unaffected

*JLO entered the room*

Billie Eilish: I#vma pic.twitter.com/KAEq6Fl0Lq

— siobhan (@summer0001) September 13, 2021 @summer0001

Jennifer Lopez was ready to announce the first awards of the night — receiving a standing ovation from most of the audience when she took the stage.

The camera cut for Billie Eilish in the audience, however, and there was no reaction when his brother Phineas was clapping for him.

Did you all see Billie Eilish’s face when JLo walked out? #vma pic.twitter.com/MTXdaBoMtq

— Cloud9ineDreams🌻 (@Cloud9ineDreams) September 13, 2021 @Cloud9ineDreams

Why is Billy looking disappointed when JLo comes out?

— why ride is better than (@AlecJulian_) September 13, 2021 @alecjulian_

Why was Billie Eilish making this face when JLo walked out? #vma pic.twitter.com/Ptfb6r83On

— Cloud9ineDreams🌻 (@Cloud9ineDreams) September 13, 2021 @Cloud9ineDreams

There’s a mood, Billy staring blankly ahead as JLo leaves. Next presenter pls.

– TDA. (@T Types) September 13, 2021 @T Types

billy when he saw jlo enter the stage #vma pic.twitter.com/7lqGp26JxF

— Omar #STREAMLALISA (@omarIoya) September 13, 2021 @marIoya

baby on Board!

During Twenty One Pilots’ performance of “Saturday,” singer Tyler Joseph announced some big news mid-song — he and his wife, Jenna, are expecting their second child together!

“My wife is pregnant with our second child,” he said during a musical pause in the track. “I didn’t want to message everyone, so I thought I’d let you know now.”

“Now you know. Now you can go to bed!” He said while ending the song. Fans were thrilled!

Why text the family about the fact that you’re expecting a second child with your wife when you can just leave it in the middle #vma Display? Congratulations @ twenty one pilots Lead singer Tyler Joseph and his wife Jenna!

— The Honey Pop⁷ (@thehoneypop) September 13, 2021 @thehoneypop

Tyler just announced at his VMAs performance that Jenna is pregnant!!!!

— Discord Click (@DiscordClick) September 13, 2021 @DiscordClique

Tyler gives a beautiful performance of a reimagined Saturday, using the VMAs performance as the moment to say “my wife is pregnant with our second child” and capping it with “you can go to bed now”. Huh.

adrenaline happening right now

holy crap

— Lua James (@poptivist) September 13, 2021 @poptivist

— The Honey Pop⁷ (@thehoneypop) September 13, 2021 @thehoneypop

Lil Nas X brings Montero State Prison to the stage

play video content

After a proud introduction to Billy Porter, Lil Nas X hit the VMAs in his pink prison uniform from his infamous “Industry Baby” music video. Surrounded by male makeup dancers, she performed the entire song with Jack Harlow, who joined her on stage in a very form-fitting black pleather dress.

The rapper then recreated the shower scene from the video – but changed the censored blur for bright pink boxer briefs – surrounded by more half-naked men. It was a pleasure.

I think we can all agree that Lil Nas X. #vma pic.twitter.com/8fytfk0xQk

– logo ️🌈 (@LogoTV) September 13, 2021 @logo tv

It fits chorio Display@LilNasX And @jackharlow Feather #vma

— mtv (@mtv) September 13, 2021 @ mtv

actual footage of @lilnasx And @jackharlow rn performance on “industry baby” #vma: https://t.co/BUSWxM7e2Q

– Video Music Awards (@vmas) September 13, 2021 @vmas

OK, But Billy Porter Announcing Lil N’S X Is A Sweet Moment #vamas

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) September 13, 2021 @RaquelWillis_

dont know how many times i see lil nas x perform… idk i’m always proud of him… plus he just gets it #vma pic.twitter.com/usWQcRHGOx

— Ahme (@7ArcsAndSins) September 13, 2021 @7ArcsAndSins

Ben Shapiro is busy writing his eerie, high-pitched response to that delightfully queer @LilNasX #vma Display pic.twitter.com/dITm01awm9

— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) September 13, 2021 @bjoewolf

lil nas x all up in the vma camera like pic.twitter.com/i63TOZ3tOO

— Zero (@posapologist) September 13, 2021 @posapologist

Check out more performances below:

Source

The post The Most Viral Moments of the Night appeared first on Spicy Celebrity News.

#IFTTT #WordPress

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kentonramsey · 3 years

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Is This Little Black Box The New Little Black Dress?

QR codes found success during the pandemic when little else did. They replaced paper menus, credit and loyalty cards, and even, guest books. And now, the scan-happy craze is coming for fashion. The little black box is the new little black dress.

Though fashion QR codes were around prior to that, they made news in September when Ganni announced a collaboration with Levi’s, for which the Danish brand reworked the heritage denim label’s signature 501s, among other denim items, and made them available for rent. The idea was that the pieces would get better with wear, with no two people ever getting the same pair of jeans — each one uniquely faded and worn down by the person who rented them last. To share each item’s story, the brands used Near-Field Communication — technology that allows you to transfer information from close distances, like QR codes — in partnership with connected-consumer agency SharpEnd to give renters (who chose to participate) the opportunity to see who’d worn the pieces before them and go behind the scenes.

“By tapping the signature Levi’s back patch with a smartphone, renters can unlock a connected universe of storytelling and information, including videos and exclusive content from the global campaign shoots, style inspiration from friends of the Ganni family, content from previous renters, and much more,” Nicolaj Reffstrup, the founder of Ganni, tells Refinery29. Renters also have the option to leave stories of their own for the next wearer, though it’s not a requirement of renting. Reffstrup, who worked in tech prior to entering the fashion sphere, thinks contactless technology is an essential tool for keeping people connected, especially during the pandemic: “It is an effective way to offer a unique experiential moment to connect with our community and directly link them to our universe.”

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A post shared by Michael Kors (@michaelkors)

Michael Kors seems to agree. For the New York-based designer’s 40th anniversary collection, which debuted in April, the brand reissued 16 iconic ensembles from its archives, worn on the runway by supermodels like Bella Hadid and Alek Wek. Every reissued piece comes fitted with a QR code on the tag, which, when scanned, takes customers back in time to when the piece was first designed and presented. For example, if you were to scan the code on the tag of Hadid’s patent leather red coat, you’d be taken to video footage of Cindy Crawford in the original red coat on the runway at Kors’s spring ‘99 show.

More often, though, designers are tapping into the power of QR codes to demystify the supply chain. “Through the use of innovative blockchain technology, we can share more on how and where our clothes are made,” Ganni’s Reffstrup says. Soon, he says, renters will be able to access detailed information about the lifecycle of their garments, as well as digital, 360-degree access to global stores and products, simply by tapping their phones on a Ganni item.

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A post shared by Reformation (@reformation)

Millennial favourite Reformation also jumped on board this year. The Los Angeles-based fashion brand recently teamed up with a blockchain platform called FibreTrace to increase transparency with their customers. Using QR technology, the brand is able to verify each and every step of a garment’s lifecycle. “The benefit of QR codes is that they allow us to easily, directly, and conveniently communicate key information to our customers about their clothing, so they can feel more informed and empowered about their purchasing decisions,” says Reformation’s Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Operations, Kathleen Talbot. “Using blockchain technology makes our supply chain assurance claims even more automatic and irrefutable, which we see as a huge value across the board.” Like Ganni, the brand initiated the technology with a denim collection. On each pair of jeans from the FibreTrace collection, customers can scan a QR code on the tag and gain full access to their denim’s lifecycle, from “farm to butt,” says Talbot.

“Our goal is to empower our customers to make the best possible choices.”

– PANGAIA COLLECTIVE

The ability to build trust between customers and a brand is what convinced PANGAIA to utilise QR codes in their recent Horizon collection. For the collection, the science-backed fashion collective partnered with EON, a products innovator, to develop Digital Passports for their signature sweatsuits. The QR codes, which are printed on each item’s care label, allow shoppers to unlock the entire lifecycle of their purchase, be it information about the distribution centre it was sent to post-production or tips on how to dispose of the item upon its eventual demise. The codes also function as portals to information on the product’s environmental impact, including data on the carbon and water usage needed to create it.

According to the brand, QR codes also allow them to update information in real-time; that way, as they develop better and more conscious technologies and products in the future, their customers can immediately be updated. “We are able to layer on information about resale and recycling as we move forward on our own circularity journey,” the collective tells Refinery29. “Our goal is to empower our customers to make the best possible choices.”

Given that we get so much of our information from QR codes these days, be it the appetizers list or our pre-vaccine forms, it only feels right that we’re starting to learn about our clothes from them, too. Welcome to the future.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Best Occasionwear To Rent This Wedding Season

Ganni x Ahluwalia Collab Is ‘90s-Inspired

Why People Are Still Renting Clothes

Is This Little Black Box The New Little Black Dress? published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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multipleservicelisting · 3 years

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San Francisco’s Tech Workers Make the Big Move

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Area struck a hard bargain with its tech workers.

Rent was astronomical. Taxes were high. Your neighbors didn’t like you. If you lived in San Francisco, you might have commuted an hour south to your job at Apple or Google or Facebook. Or if your office was in the city, maybe it was in a neighborhood with too much street crime, open drug use and $5 coffees.

But it was worth it. Living in the epicenter of a boom that was changing the world was what mattered. The city gave its workers a choice of interesting jobs and a chance at the brass ring.

That is, until the pandemic. Remote work offered a chance at residing for a few months in towns where life felt easier. Tech workers and their bosses realized they might not need all the perks and after-work schmooze events. But maybe they needed elbow room and a yard for the new puppy. A place to put the Peloton. A top public school.

They fled. They fled to tropical beach towns. They fled to more affordable places like Georgia. They fled to states without income taxes like Texas and Florida.

That’s where the story of the Bay Area’s latest tech era is ending for a growing crowd of tech workers and their companies. They have suddenly movable jobs and money in the bank — money that will go plenty further somewhere else.

But where? The No. 1 pick for people leaving San Francisco is Austin, Texas, with other winners including Seattle, New York and Chicago, according to moveBuddha, a site that compiles data on moving. Some cities have even set up recruiting programs to lure them to new homes. Miami’s mayor has even been inviting tech people to move there in his Twitter posts.

I talked to more than two dozen tech executives and workers who have left San Francisco for other parts of the country over the last year, like a young entrepreneur who moved home to Georgia and another who has created a community in Puerto Rico. Here are some of their stories.

Ah, the normal life

“I miss San Francisco. I miss the life I had there,” said John Gardner, 35, the founder and chief executive of Kickoff, a remote personal training start-up, who packed his things into storage and left in a camper van to wander America. “But right now it’s just like: What else can God and the world and government come up with to make the place less livable?”

A couple of months later, Mr. Gardner wrote: “Greetings from sunny Miami Beach! This is about the 40th place I’ve set up a temporary headquarters for Kickoff.”

Remote personal training happens to coincide well with remote life, but he said his start-up’s growth this past year was also due to his leaving the tech bubble and immersing himself in more normal communities, a few days at a time.

The biggest tech companies aren’t going anywhere, and tech stocks are still soaring. Apple’s flying-saucer-shaped campus is not going to zoom away. Google is still absorbing ever more office space in San Jose and San Francisco. New founders are still coming to town.

But the migration from the Bay Area appears real. Residential rents in San Francisco are down 27 percent from a year ago, and the office vacancy rate has spiked to 16.7 percent, a number not seen in a decade.

Though prices had dropped only slightly, Zillow reported more homes for sale in San Francisco than a year ago. For more than month last year, 90 percent of the searches involving San Francisco on moveBuddha were for people moving out.

Twitter, Yelp, Airbnb and Dropbox have tried to sublease some of their San Francisco office space. Pinterest, which has one of the most iconic offices in town, paid $90 million to break a lease for a site where it planned to expand. And companies like Twitter and Facebook have announced “work from home forever” plans.

“Moving into a $1.3 million house that we saw only on video for 20 minutes and said yes,” wrote Mike Rothermel, a designer at Cisco who moved from the Bay Area to Boulder, Colo., with his wife last summer. “It’s a mansion compared to SF for the same money.”

The amount of room they have felt surreal after various Bay Area apartments. He told me they have so much counter space, they can keep appliances like the food processor in the kitchen itself.

And then the people around them — neighbors — started doing something strange. They brought cinnamons rolls and handwritten welcome notes.

Wait, no income tax?

“We’re selling our house and moving out of SF. Where should we go and why?” Justin Kan, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Twitch, asked on Twitter in August.

Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir, which moved from Silicon Valley to Denver, wrote back: “Come to Austin with us. Growing tech ecosystem and Texas is the best place to make a stand together for a free society.”

Also: no state income taxes.

Austin, population one million and the Texas city most would say is closest in spirit to the Bay Area, has long had a healthy tech industry. The computer giant Dell is based nearby. The University of Texas is one of the top public colleges in the country. And the music scene is eclectic and creative.

Now the local tech industry is rapidly expanding. Apple is opening a $1 billion, 133-acre campus. Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook have all either expanded their footprints in Austin or have plans to. Elon Musk, the Tesla founder and one of the two richest men in the world, said he had moved to Texas. Start-up investor money is arriving, too: The investors at 8VC and Breyer Capital opened Austin offices last year.

Some of the favorite gurus of tech workers are already there, like Tim Ferriss, life-hacker, who left for Austin in 2017, and Ryan Holiday, whose writing about stoicism is influential among the start-up set.

Sahin Boydas, the founder of a remote-work start-up who had lived in San Francisco and its suburbs over the last decade, saw all of that. He looked at his wife and two young children, working and learning from home while crammed into a Cupertino rental that had seen better days. Much of the late summer, the air was full of smoke from wildfires. For days, electricity would go in and out at his house.

“You start to feel stupid,” said Mr. Boydas, who is 37. “I can understand the 1 percent rich people, the very top investors and entrepreneurs, they can be happy there.”

So he and his family moved to Austin. For the same price as their three-bedroom apartment in Cupertino, they have a five-bedroom home on an acre of land. For the first time, Mr. Boydas has outdoor space. He just acquired two rabbits for his children. Sure, it’s (very) hot, but he’s ready for it.

“We’re going to get a cat and a dog,” he said. “We could never do that before.”

And it’s not just the cost of rent that is lower — the water bill is lower; the trash bill is lower; the cost of a family dinner at a restaurant has fallen significantly. Mr. Boydas said he hadn’t even known about the taxes.

“I run payroll for myself, and when I saw zero, I called the accountant like there’s an error — there’s no tax line here,” he said. “And they were like, ‘Yeah there’s no tax.’”

“Ok guys hear me out, what if we move Silicon Valley to Miami,” tweeted Delian Asparouhov, a principal at Founders Fund, which invests in start-ups.

The mayor of Miami wrote back last month: “How can I help?”

Now there is a very vocal Miami faction, led by a few venture capital influencers, trying to tweet the city’s start-up world into existence.

The San Francisco exodus means the talent and money of newly remote tech workers are up for grabs. And it’s not just the mayor of Miami trying to lure them in.

Topeka, Kan., started Choose Topeka, which will reimburse new workers $10,000 for the first year of rent or $15,000 if they buy a home. Tulsa, Okla. will pay you $10,000 to move there. The nation of Estonia has a new residency program just for digital nomads.

A program in Savannah, Ga., will reimburse remote workers $2,000 for the move there, and the city has created various social activities to introduce the newcomers to one another and to locals.

“We try to make the transition easy,” said Jennifer Bonnett, vice president of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Savannah Economic Development Authority, whose program started in June.

Keyan Karimi, 29 and a start-up investor, took Savannah’s invitation to move there (though he didn’t ask for the reimbursement).

Seeing the inequality of billionaires in San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood and the homeless camps down the hill ground on him. So Mr. Karimi went home to his parents house in Atlanta to ride out some of the pandemic. Then he detected something strange. The city he thought was boring had gotten pretty interesting. Or maybe he had just never noticed before.

“I had no idea how much was going on here. I was sort of myopic,” he said, pausing and correcting himself: “No, I was arrogant.”

Mr. Karimi started looking at Zillow and studying the Southern cities he had ignored. He likes old houses and wants to fix one up. Savannah has a lot of those. So just a few months after leaving his $4,000-a-month one-bedroom in San Francisco, he’s working with the local business development group to put together a maritime innovation center in Savannah to invest in and guide shipping and logistics start-ups. He bought one of those old houses.

Savannah has one of the largest ports in the country. “No one knows that,” Mr. Karimi said. “I figure we can do something with that.”

The only downside is mosquitoes, he said. “I get eaten alive.”

There are 33,000 members in the Facebook group Leaving California and 51,000 in its sister group, Life After California. People post pictures of moving trucks and links to Zillow listings in new cities.

The founder of both groups, Terry Gilliam, is planning to take members on a house-hunting road trip through eastern Tennessee this spring with stops in popular post-S.F. destinations. One tour will be Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City.

“When people decide to leave San Francisco, they usually don’t know where they want to go, they just want to go,” Mr. Gilliam said.

Mr. Gilliam, who met his wife when they worked at a Bay Area Chili’s restaurant, said she wouldn’t let the family move yet. And so the Pied Piper of the California-bashing Facebook community is still in Fremont, on the eastern end of Silicon Valley.

The gang��s all … here now

“People always get pissed at me when they hear birds in my Zoom,” said Ed Zaydelman, a longtime leader in San Francisco’s Burning Man community (and former New York City club promoter), who is forming an entrepreneur community in Costa Rica. “And I say, ‘Come join.’”

If San Francisco of the 2010s proved anything, it’s the power of proximity. Entrepreneurs could find a dozen start-up pitch competitions every week within walking distance. If they left a big tech company, there were start-ups eager to hire, and if a start-up failed, there was always another.

They could live jammed into a rambling Victorian with fellow nerds who — thanks to the popularity of polyamory — were having a lot of sex. More money was made faster in the Bay Area by fewer people than at any other time in American history.

No one leaving the city is arguing that a culture of innovation is going to spring up over Zoom. So some are trying to recreate it. They are getting into property development, building luxury tiny-home compounds and taking over big, funky houses in old resort towns.

“All these people want to do is this live-on-the-land stuff, but it’s not as easy as people think,” Mr. Zaydelman said.

He calls his new development company Nookleo, and he is building five tiny-home communities for remote workers. The little houses cost between $30,000 and 40,000. Each compound has four to six homes, a small organic farm, a yoga deck, a swimming pool and a kitchen clubhouse. Two clusters are already underway in Costa Rica, with Mexico and Portugal next.

In Puerto Rico, Gillian Morris, the founder of the travel app Hitlist, is also recruiting. Her San Francisco breaking point came after her roommate was attacked on their street, and she did a sort of gut check of herself over whether the street scenes and feeling of danger were worth the high rent. She moved to San Juan in 2019, even though it also has a crime problem. But now she lives in a huge house in the middle of the city.

“I have 12 people leaving San Francisco over the next three months to join a co-living community I set up,” she said. “It’s amazing here.”

And for the Baja-leaning, there is Bear Kittay, a co-founder of Good Money, an online banking platform. Now Mr. Kittay, another longtime fixture of the Burning Man festival turned developer, is building a property for the new digital nomads.

“The things that make this city ill are not within my control to change,” he said of San Francisco. “A lot of people are choosing to go to places where there’s opportunity, and maybe it’s a place that is more conservative and there can be an integration of dialogue. Or a place where they can live closer to nature. That’s what we’re doing.”

Nikil Viswanathan, who co-founded the blockchain start-up Alchemy, recently fled San Francisco. He said that there was no reason anymore for him or his colleagues to be there, and that he had always wanted to live on the beach. So now he does, in San Diego.

But the expats still find one another. Not long ago, he stumbled on a cluster at a party.

“I knew it was an S.F. crew because when I walked in because they had the full dual monitor with the ergonomic keyboard on a standing desk,” Mr. Viswanathan said, adding that conversation revolved around the lower cost of living. “One of the S.F. guys was like: ‘I just had a burrito for $6. It was amazing.’”

The last burrito he had in San Francisco cost $15.

They won’t necessarily be missed

Longtime Bay Area residents may well say good riddance to people like Mr. Viswanathan. People who distrusted the young newcomers from the start will say this change is a good thing. Hasn’t this steep growth in wealth and population in a tiny geography always seemed unsustainable?

These tech workers came like a whirlwind. Virtually every community from San Jose in the south to Marin County in the north has fought the rise of new housing for the arrivals of the last decade. Maybe spreading the tech talent around America is smart.

Locals have also seen this play before. Moving trucks come to take a generation of tech ambition away, and a few years later moving trucks return with new dreamers and new ambitions.

After the dot-com bust in 2001, there were fallow years before the latest, long-lasting boom — just as there were fallow years after the PC industry consolidated a decade earlier. That led to the dot-com boom. It is the circle of life in the Bay Area.

And those who are staying are digging in. “When 12 friends left, it felt like powerlessness,” said Diana Helmuth, a 32-year-old writer and marketer in Oakland. “Like these forces were too big. The forces of the world felt too big.”

Now, though, she is hardening toward those who say life is better somewhere else and were in town only for a job. “I say, ‘Great, goodbye, have a great time somewhere else.’”

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