#this casting is done with my limited knowledge of actors and their race

[random-musical-dreamcasts]

The Emperor’s New Groove

requested by @awaywardplantagenet​

Kuzco: Anthony Ramos

Yzma: Amber Gray

Pacha: Christopher Jackson

Kronk: Kyle Scatliffe

Chicha: Samantha Pauly

#the emperor's new groove #Emperor's New Groove #request #dreamcast #anthony ramos #amber gray #christopher jackson #Kyle Scatliffe #samantha pauly #this cast has all poc in it #but not necessarily the right race for the movie #this casting is done with my limited knowledge of actors and their race #so i do think that the cast should have people of the same race as the characters #that being said i think these people would rock these roles #awaywardplantagenet #im trying very hard to catch up on requests

[trippmitchellblr]

Archive

Inside the Outside

“The embroiling algorithm of happiness may leave many people bewildered or lost in translation while they snubbingly fall back on the smartphone, as a shield against intrusions from the outer world. (“Even if the world goes down, my mobile will save me”)” ― Erik Pevernagie

The Allegory of Plato’s Cave

“Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them. These prisoners have been there since birth and have never been outside of the cave. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway. People outside the cave walk along the walkway carrying thigs on their head including animals, plants, wood and stone.

So imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything behind or to the side of you. You must look at the wall in front of you. When people walk along the walkway, you can see the shadows of the objects they are carrying cast on the wall. If you had never seen the real objects ever before, you would believe that the shadows of objects were “real”.

Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a “game” of guessing which shadow would appear next. If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as clever and say that he were a master of nature.

One of the prisoners the escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave. He is shocked at the world he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be real. As he becomes used to his surroundings, he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong. He begins to understand his new world, and he sees that the Sun is the source of life and he goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning. He sees that his former life, and the guessing game they played is useless.

The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his findings. They do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free”.

Although there are many interpretations of this story, most have settled on the theory that the “cave” represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world- empirical evidence.  The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a cave of misunderstanding. The “shadows” represent the perceptions of those who believe empirical evidence ensures knowledge. If you believe what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely a shadow of truth. The “game” represents how people believe that one person can be the “master” when they have knowledge of the empirical world. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know the truth, and is suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this. The “escape” represents the prisoner’s intellectual journey when finding truth and wisdom.

We are taught as children into adulthood to think and orient our behavior based on existing data. It is the safe, comfortable bet. Some of the most respected people within the world are pedigreed people who have built a “knowledge” base out of intellectual lethargy. Free thinkers (and actors) from the beginning of time have operated in the paradigm of creating empirical information, not responding to it. There is always a new way, a new path that has yet to be discovered. Knowledge without application is useless. Experience without action? Also useless. You do not need years of preparation, whatever has led you to where you are today is good enough to launch you to where you need to go next. You do not need paperwork. Paperwork includes degrees, certificates, referrals, endorsements licenses, and recommendations and so on. You do not need a mentor. No one will be as invested in yourself as you. You cannot outsource the responsibility of planning the course of your life. It is not that these things are unhelpful; it is that they are unnecessary. You do not need them to do anything. What do you really need? You need passion. You have to be absolutely passionate about what you believe in. This comes from within not from outside influencers who largely live their lives chained to their own empirical limited beliefs.

Posted by

dbcooper1996

April 27, 2020

Posted in

Uncategorized

Leave a comment on Inside the Outside

Edit Inside the Outside

Minding the Gap

                       “Thoughts make for an excellent servant, but they are tyrant as a master”

The Flywheel Effect

“Picture a huge, heavy flywheel—a massive metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle, about 30 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick, and weighing about 5,000 pounds. Now imagine that your task is to get the flywheel rotating on the axle as fast and long as possible. 

Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn.

You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You keep pushing in a consistent direction.  Three turns … four … five … six … the flywheel builds up speed … seven … eight … you keep pushing … nine … ten … it builds momentum … eleven … twelve … moving faster with each turn … twenty … thirty … fifty … a hundred.

Then, at some point—breakthrough!  The momentum of the thing kicks in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward, turn after turn … whoosh! … it’s own heavy weight working for you. You’re pushing no harder than during the first rotation, but the flywheel goes faster and faster.  Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of effort. A thousand times faster, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand. The huge heavy disk flies forward, with almost unstoppable momentum”. – Jim Collins “Good to Great”

The idea of setting a goal suggests a destination and a conscious process. Outcomes are different. They set a direction. For instance, I might say I want to reach a point where I am financially secure in my life. I may never reach that goal, but as an outcome, it organizes my choices regarding my investments and directs how I spend my money every day without conscious thought. Knowing we live in a world of abundance (we do as it is our own limiting beliefs that create a bias for scarcity), how do we facilitate this? Moving from a current state to a desired state requires an individual to develop well -formed outcomes.

Well-formed outcomes should always be stated in positive terms.

Negative experiences can dominate our thinking and we focus more on what we do not want than what we actually do want. This can create a hindrance in moving forward. My most recent endurance event was a classic example of this. Although to varying degrees, I had been able to overcome the two physical and mental disasters that I experienced in the jungles of Nicaragua, I still think of them. The transition is as such. I am now able to allow those negative thoughts to come and go without reserving them for contemplation. Those thoughts are not reality and have no bearing on my present-state. If they have no bearing on my present- state, then how can they have any influence on my future-state? I created a new reality by not controlling my thoughts but allowing them to freely flow in and out of my conscience. I cannot control the thoughts, but I can control the response.

Well-formed outcomes are based on things that we can influence.

I absolutely could influence my training preparation, my nutrition and my planning. At the start of the event, my nephew (who was crewing me throughout the race) asked me “well how do think you’re going to do?” My response was “I trust in my training and preparation”. I knew that everything I did, every decision I made relative to preparing for that race had been based on how I envisioned the outcome, not the goal. In fact, throughout my preparation I never focused on the 100-mile distance, I focused on the incremental steps needed to get to the outcome. The outcome was not achieving 100 miles, it was the feeling of fulfillment I knew I would have upon completion.

Well-formed outcomes are sensory based.

Always envision what you will see, hear and feel when you achieve your desired outcome. Imagine that you have already achieved the outcome and what it would be like. Consider your greatest life experiences. How did you feel within the moment? In most cases reaching the goal, if people are honest with themselves, was not the defining experience it was the joy and sense of closure that he or she felt. Outcome based thinking focuses on those feelings not the end goal itself.

Well-formed outcomes are sequenced and bite sized.

Outcomes can be overwhelming if not broken down into bite-sized chunks. For example, buying a house or owning a successful business can be overwhelming. Framing the big chunks like this can cause us to become defeated before we have even begun. It seems like such a considerable amount of time, effort, and sacrifice to do what it takes to achieve the outcome. On the other hand taking small steps every day builds momentum and increases our motivation. By reducing the frame into more manageable bite sized chunks, we immediately reduce the challenge. The space between present state and future state is the “crisis zone”. The interesting thing is the “crisis zone’s” genesis is within our own minds. It reveals itself when we move beyond our comfort level without developing sequence and incrementalism. Recall that we think linearly and by developing a sequenced framework within diminishes those overwhelming thoughts.

What resources are needed?

Sometimes we are limited in the progress we can make towards our outcomes because we do not have the resources we need. It is easy to get out ahead of ourselves without considering if our outcome is timely and we are in a position to go for it now. This does not mean we cannot be working toward this outcome, but we need to consider what the relevant sub goals are that we can set first. For instance, someone may say.” I want to learn a new language, but I don’t have the ability to attend a class with my work commitments”. Sometimes we use our limitations as excuses to hinder any progress towards our outcome at all. “I can’t get X because I don’t have Y. Most often, the resources are available to us, and all we have to do is to give a little consideration to how we can put in place the things we need to move forward. Never forget we live in a world of abundance one just needs to be willing to step out of their internal limiting bias.

In what contexts do you want this outcome?

When, where and with whom do you want this outcome? Well-formed outcomes are situation specific. If we do not set boundaries, we then tend to generalize. By setting specific outcomes, it is then easier for us to assess when we achieved them. Establishing a specific context for a particular behavior anchors the response.

How will you know when you have fulfilled your outcome?

Specific, measurable sensory outcomes create more of a sense of direction in our minds. How will you know when you have achieved a specific outcome? It is unique to you. One person’s idea what of what it means to be confident might be different from another person’s idea. People will often say, “I want to be successful in business”. What does success mean for you? How can you measure this outcome? This could be measured in financial terms, the number of awards received, or the number of promotions. If we are vague in setting outcomes, then we will be vague in our direction. For example, an outcome might be to be in a “stable relationship,” but what does a stable relationship look like? On the other hand, your outcome might be “to become more assertive,” but what does assertiveness look like? How will you know when you have it?

Well-formed outcomes are compelling.

Compelling goals are motivating.  You most likely started a project at some point, became bored and moved on to something else. How can you set your outcomes in a way that propels you toward them? What do you find motivating? By taking the time to get a clear vision of what it is you would like to achieve you will increase your motivation towards it. Imagine yourself having accomplished a project and the fulfillment, hearing the excitement of other’s voices when they recognize what you have accomplished.

Well-formed outcomes are ecological.

Our outcomes must fit in with the rest of our lives. We have other people to consider, other priorities and important values. Does this outcome fit your core values as a person and how you see yourself? Consider in what ways the outcome might not be right for you? Are there any contexts where this outcome would not work?  If it is ecological than outcome directed thought is commensurate with priming a flywheel. It starts with a spark, becomes a fire and eventually turns into a blaze.

Posted by

dbcooper1996

April 23, 2020

Posted in

Uncategorized

Leave a comment on Minding the Gap

Edit Minding the Gap

Big Mind, Little Mind

In Buddhism the words “heart and mind” are one in the same. When Asian Buddhists refer to mind, in fact they point to the heart. Mind in this sense is not thinking mind, but rather a larger quality of presence and awareness that is intrinsically open to the world. The mind that is one with the heart is a larger presence of being that responds to the world in a wide open way. Centuries of meditators have found that this big mind, this openness to what is, is much more central to human nature than the thinking mind.

Big mind is the larger, formless ground of awareness that is prior to the “small mind” of conceptual thinking. Before we can even think about something, we first have to let it into awareness, let it touch us or affect us in some way. Sometimes it is possible to touch big mind in silent spaces between thoughts, or when  powerful experience suddenly stops thought and we find ourselves suddenly facing it. When we respond to things from this open, non conceptual awareness, rather from our ideas about things, a full encounter and exchange with reality becomes possible.

Consider the practice of meditation and mindfulness. You just sit in the moment, without doing anything, without holding on to anything, without singular concentration. You let your thoughts come and go using your breadth as an anchor keeping you focused on the moment. Normally we do everything that we can to avoid just being. When we don’t have a project to work on we get nervous, we judge ourselves and initiate activity to satisfy the inner critic. We put conditions on ourselves. Through mindful meditation you realize that your basic well-being is not conditional upon being good or doing something good in any particular way. Your intrinsic self sanity exists to matter what you do. You are basically good for no other reason than that you are awake, responsive, and open to life.

We create our individual experience of reality via the vehicle of thought. Thought is the missing link between the formless world of pure potentiality ( Big Mind) and the created world of form ( Little Mind). Leaving behind, even for a moment, the man in the mirror Big Mind can be achieved and human potential can be unleashed.

Posted by

dbcooper1996

April 19, 2020

Posted in

Uncategorized

Leave a comment on Big Mind, Little Mind

Edit Big Mind, Little Mind

Why Am I Here?

It is not an existential question. Within this framework, the question isn’t driven by religion or a cultural belief mechanism. I mean why am I here doing what I am doing at this very moment? We as human beings tend to think linearly. When we think of the past, we do so in terms of time.  When many people discuss something good or bad that might have happened to them in the past, they often turn their head to look back to illustrate that it was a historical occurrence. If we were looking at a timeline and marking off life experiences on that line, our experiences would be clear, some good and some not so good. They are steadfastly there for us to observe and contemplate. As human beings, it is important to learn from ones mistakes, but consider that many people are perpetually looking back forever grounded on the negative end of that line. As those were real experiences, they are easier to see and therefore influence our current behavior. The Merriam Webster Dictionary characterizes Identification as establishing or indicating who or what (someone or something) is. It characterizes Definition as determining the essential qualities or meaning of. In short, as we look back we identify our experiences as they are, however we have the power to determine the definition and that gives us a basis to influence our own behavior.

Knowing that we think linearly, now consider for a moment what it looks like ahead. Is it as clear? For most, it is not. Many people set goals and expectations for themselves, however the challenge becomes the steps and processes needed to get to where they want to go. If that linear line were a railroad track, they would be the ties that attach each incremental link within the track. When you look out ahead, do you see those links or the outcome? Do you see the outcome at all? Now imagine hovering above that time line. You now have a clear sight line to your experiences. Reach down and pull those negative experiences off the track. Discard them. Now look out ahead to your goal or goals. What will that experience look like? What will it feel like when achieved? Reach down and pick up those positive outcomes. Lay them down at your feet and start building your links. The definition to a future outcome is established.

Posted by

dbcooper1996

April 19, 2020

Posted in

Uncategorized

Leave a comment on Why Am I Here?

Edit Why Am I Here?

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND June 28, 2019  -  YESTERDAY, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, MAIDEN

I’m going to do things a little different again this week, because while I normally would begin with the bigger movie of the weekend, I actually have a lot of stuff about ANNABELLE COMES HOME (New Line/WB) over at The Beat, as you can see below, so instead, I’m going to put a little more focus on Danny Boyle’s YESTERDAY (Universal), because... well, read on...

It’s not often a movie comes along that combines all of my favorite things into a completely unexpected movie that works, but Yesterday, written by Love, Actually’s Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle, does just that. It takes a fairly high concept premise of a world without knowledge of the Beatles and their music and turns it into a hilarious comedy about fame and love and plenty of other things.  Maybe that’s to be expected when it comes from a writer who has helped define British comedy and one of my favorite directors, but that doesn’t always mean that it will always work.

We meet Himesh Patel’s Jack Malik as he’s doing his regular busking around Sussex at any gig his best friend and manager Ellie (Lily James) can get for him, but it’s not going well and Jack is ready to give up. One night, after coming back from one such bad gig, the lights go out across the globe for 12 seconds and in that 12 seconds, Jack’s bike is hit by a bus. He ends up in the hospital with two missing teeth but when he gets out he starts playing “Yesterday” on an acoustic guitar bought for him as a gift by Ellie, and realizes that none of his friends realize who the Beatles are. Jack immediately realizes that it’s up to him to preserve the songs so he tries to remember them and incorporates them into his shows, at which point he suddenly starts getting more attention.

The first thing about Yesterday that’s immediately apparent is the talent and charm of Himesh Patel who really carries the film and has you constantly rooting for him. I’ve long been a fan of Lily James, especially after her turn in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, but I feel like the role of Ellie allows her to be more of herself than some of her other ones.

There are quite a few other levels to the humor, the first one being when Ed Sheeran, played by the real Ed Sheeran, contacts Jack Malik about his music and becomes involved in his story. The next level is when Kate McKinnon enters the picture as Sheeran’s manager who wants to turn Jack into a money-making superstar ala Sheeran. Sheeran ably makes fun of himself and his own talent as a singer/songwriter, but McKinnon takes her character so far into the world of sleaze that she’s hysterical (especially to someone who has worked in the music biz and has seen this first-hand). It’s also good to mention Joel Fry as Jack’s bumbleheaded friend/roadie Rocky and Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal as his parents, all who bring even more laughs to the movie.

Probably the most interesting turn is when Ellie is ready to say bye to Jack as he heads off to L.A., and she suddenly realizes that she’s in love with him though those feelings aren’t reciprocated. As Jack tries to navigate the music business with his sleazy new manager, he realizes that he has to go to Liverpool if he wants to remember the last of the Beatles songs, and once there, he reconnects with Ellie as they try to sort out their feelings.

That’s all I’m going to say because the last act is so full of surprises that really helps bring the whole thing home. And then on top of all that, you have the music of the Beatles, which still gives me goosebumps as performed by the talented Patel. (Once I buy this soundtrack, it will be the second record this year I’ve bought of an actor performing classic pop/rock songs and selling them as well as the original artist(s).)

I don’t think you have to be a Beatles fan to appreciate what Curtis and Boyle done with this premise, and maybe it’s because I’ve been in Ellie’s shoes, falling in love with a friend who just sees me as a friend that I really connected with the romantic angle of the film, one that really pays off.

Yesterday is just wonderful, and it’s easily one of my favorite movies of the year.

Rating: 9/10

Interview with Writer Richard Curtis over at The Beat

Getting back to Annabelle Comes Home, I’m sure that New Line’s latest entry into the ConjuringVerse is going to prove popular, especially with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Larraine and Ed Warren. It’s screenwriter Gary Dauberman’s directorial debut and it stars the amazing McKenna Grace (Gifted) as the Warrens’ daughter Judy, as it shows what happens when the Annabelle doll is released in the artifact room, drawing a gaggle of malevolent spirits to the Warren home as Judy and her babysitter (and friends) fight them off and try to figure out how to stop them.

My Review over at The Beat

Interview with Writer/Director Gary Dauberman at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

Another movie I’m really excited for people to finally see, one which I saw way back in January around when it premiered at Sundance is Alex Holmes’ doc MAIDEN (Sony Pictures Classics), which tells the amazing story about how Tracy Edwards put together an all-woman sailing team to race in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race despite all the odds against them. I loved this movie, not only because it’s an amazing story but also I’m a sailing enthusiast who sadly has not been able to get out and go sailing as much as I’ve hoped. But Edwards’ story and what she and hew crew 

Over a year since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley stars as OPHELIA (IFC Films) in Claire McCarthy’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamletwith Ophelia taking center stage as the lady-in-waiting to Queen Gertrude, played by Naomi Watts. George MacKay from Captain Fantastic plays Prince Hamlet, and the movie will open at the IFC Center as well as select theaters across the country.

Also opening at the IFC Center on Friday (and then in L.A. on July 12) is Jan Zabelle’s Three Peaks (Greenwich Entertainment), starring Alexander Fehling and Bérénice Bejo (The Artist). Fehling plays Aaron who wants to be a family with his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in the Italian Dolomites, but has trouble gaining the boy’s acceptance.

Opening in select cities is Mitch Davis’ THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN 2: FIRE OF FAITH (Artaffects), a sequel to the 2001 faith-based film which grossed $4.7 million.  Christopher Gorman returns as the missionary John H. Grober who returns to Tonga with his wife and five daughters, where they have a sixth child who is suffering an illness.

Opening at New York’s Film Forum is Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, set in a deluxe Mexico City hotel where chambermaid Eva spends her days making beds and dealing with needy clients, partially inspired by Sophie Calle’s The Hotel.

Opening at Film at Lincoln Center is James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir’s experimental film The Plagiarists (KimStim) starring Lucy Kaminsky and Eamon Monaghan as a couple stranded by a snowstorm while visiting a friend in upstate New York and are put up for the night by a strange guy named Clip (Michael Payne from Parliament) only to discover that his hospitality was not what it seems. The filmmakers will be on hand for QnAs after the screenings Friday and Saturday night.

Opening at the Quad Friday is Eddie Mensore’s Mine 9 (EmphatiCinema/Levey Distribution)about nine coal miners in West Virginia trapped underground after a methane explosion.

Also opening at the Quad (and at the JCC Manhattan) is Avi Nesher’s Israeli film The Other Story (Strand Releasing) about two rebellious young women from Jerusalem who clash in unexpected ways.

From China comes Derek Tsang’s thriller Better Days (Well GO USA), opening Thursday in select cities, about a female student preparing for the important “gaokao” college entrance exam tests, who teams with a small-time criminal named Bei when she’s being bullied over a classmate who committed suicide. (NOTE: I just read that Better Days was pulled from Chinese release a few days ago, so I’m wondering if maybe it’s U.S. release will be delayed accordingly, as well.)

Alicia Vikander and Eva Green star in Swedish filmmaker Lisa Langseth’s English-language debut Euphoria (Freestyle Releasing) as two sisters travelling to a mystery destination in Europe. It also stars Charles Dance and Charlotte Rampling and opens in select cities.

Last, there’s Martin Owen’s Killers Anonymous (Grindstone Entertainment) about a support group for killers, which stars Gary Oldman, Jessica Alba and Suki Waterhouse. This is probably a mostly VOD movie that might be released into a few theaters.s

LOCAL FESTIVALS

I had to omit this section last week due to time constraints, but this weekend begins one of my favorite annual New York film festivals, and that is the New York Asian Film Festival, mostly taking place at Film at Lincoln Center and then the SVA Theater.  This is the 18thannual festival, dubbed “Still Too Young to Die,” and I have to admit that over the past few years, I’ve been somewhat neglect in my attendance and coverage of the festival. I hope to change that as there are definitely some things I’m hoping to catch. You have to remember that many of the films that play this festival NEVER receive U.S. distribution so NYAFF is the only chance to see some of them.

This year’s festival opens with Bernard Rose’s Samurai Marathon, a period piece set in the 1850s with an all-star cast and a Philip Glass score. This year’s centerpiece is

Eguchi Kan’s The Fable, adapting the Manga about a Yakuza hit man trying to lead a “normal life.” For a third year in a row, NYAFF has a competition for the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film with seven films from different Asian countries in competition, many having their North American premieres:  Moon Sung-ho’s 5 Million Dollar Life, Kim Yoon-seok’s Another Child, Huang Chao-liang’s Han Dan, Nojiri Katsumi’s Lying to Mom, Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s Ma, Yi Ok-seop’s Maggie and Wu Nan’s Push and Shove.

Legendary martial arts choreographer and director Yuen Woo-ping will be receiving the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award, and they should be showing some of his best work at this year’s festival including Donnie Yen’s Iron Monkey, The Miracle Fighters and more.

This year’s festival will run until July 14, although the Closing Night film has yet to be announced.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix starting Friday is Paul Thomas Anderson’s musical short Anima, starring and scored by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. 

REPERTORY

Before we get to the individual theaters, be aware that Spike Lee’s all-time classic Do the Right Thing will be receiving a 30th anniversary rerelease both in a new 4k digital restoration and in some cases, on an archival 35mm print. Check your local theaters to see if it’s playing near you, and if you haven’t seen it yet after 30 years, then you have no excuse not to go see it this week.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

When it comes to music docs, Les Blank is one of the pioneers and thankfully, Les Blank Films (along with Argot Pictures) is issuing two restorations of the ‘70s films he was involved with including Chulas Fronteras  (1976) and Del Mero Corazon  (1979) that look into the amazing music crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. Chulas, translated as “Beautiful Borders,” is a fascinating hour-long film that uses the music as a backdrop to show the everyday lives of those who live on the boarder. Del Mero (“Straight from the Heart”), co-directed with Maureen Gosling (who will be on hand Friday and Saturday night), Guillermo Hernandez & Chris Strachwitz is a shorter film mostly about the romantic songs from Mexico. Honestly, as someone who frequently has to listen to Mexican “mariachi” music on the subway while I’m trying to relax and listen to my own music, I wasn’t sure whether and if I’d connect with either film and while Chulas is definitely a stronger overall film, they both offer some great insights into the Tex-Mex music and musicians that have paved the way for others.

The Metrograph joins other New York arthouse in closing off Pride Month with Films of Pride and Protest: Stonewall at 50 with two series of films by various filmmakers documenting the groundbreaking rallies and protests that have helped the LGBTQ movement get to where it is today.

This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph  screening is the Safdie Brothers’ Heaven Knows What  (2015) while the Playtime: Family Matinees  offering is Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921) in 35mm!

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

This week’s Weds. matinee is Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz from 1969 – I guess the new Bev is still going through the movies of the late ‘60s, a running theme the last couple weeks. Weds and Thursday’s double feature is Krakatoa, East of Java and The Boston Strangler (from 1969 and 1968, continuing that theme); Friday and Saturday sees a double feature of Steve McQueen’s Bullitt (1968) and George Sheppard’s Pendulum (1969); and then the Sunday/Monday double feature is Liza Minnelli’s The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) with 3 in the Attic (1968; in 16mm, no less!). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is another Steve McQueen movie, The Reivers, also from 1969, and then the midnight movies are Tarantion’s Inglourious Basterds on Friday night and Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant(1969) on Saturday night. Chris Nolan’s Inception (not from 1968 or 1969!) will screen as a matinee on Monday and then next Wednesday’s matinee is the James Bond film From Russia With Love  (1963).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

On Friday, the Film Forum begins screening the Coen Brothers’ 1998 comedy classic The Big Lebowski for a week for no particular reason… but who needs a reason to catch up with Jeff Bridges’ The Dude and friends? It will also screen Elaine May’s classic bomb Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, again for no particular reason. Maybe because it’s summer? This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1982 John Huston musical Annie, and then on Sunday, the Forum will screen Otto Preminger’s 1954 film  Carmen Jones, introduced by Donald Goble.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cinematic Void presents a double feature of Ti West’s The House of the Devil(2009) and Wolf’s Hole (1987) on Thursday and then on Friday, the Egyptian goes further into the Czech New Wave with The Anarchic Cinema of Vera Chytilova, a double feature of Daisies (1966) and Fruit of Paradise (1970) as well as a couple shorts by the Czech director. The series continues on Sunday with a double feature of Panelstory and The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun. I honestly don’t know much about the Czech New Wave (or actually, nothing) but it certainly seems to be back in style. Also Sunday is a Barbara Stanwyk double feature as part of The Style of Sin, showing Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Baby Face (1933).

AERO  (LA):

Thursday, there’s a screening of the new The Doors: The Final Cutwith director Oliver Stone and Val Kilmer in person, and it isn’t sold out, as of this writing! Friday is a screening of Charles Shyer’s Irreconcilable Differences (1984) with special guests and then the weekend is all about one of my favorite filmmakers, Lynn Shelton! After a preview of her excellent new movie Sword of Trust on Saturday, there’s a TRIPLE feature of Your Sister’s Sister (2011) on 35mm, Touchy Feely (2013) and We Go Way Back (2006) on Saturday and then a triple feature of Humpday (2009) on 35mm and 2017’s Outside In.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues to show its 2k restoration of Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg’s Before Stonewall (1984) through the weekend

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

On Wednesday, the Roxy is screening Humphrey Bogart’s classic Casablanca on a 35mm print, then Thursday, it’s showing the 2002 dark comedy The Rules of Attraction. Getting into the Pride spirit, Saturday sees a 35mm screening of the 2000 lesbian comedy But I’m a Cheerleader, presented in conjunction with Flaming Classics, as well as a 35mm print of the 1969 doc Portrait of Jason about black, gay sex worker Jason Holliday, which will screen one time on Saturday and Sunday.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance wraps up with Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie (1976), Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata (1978) while the Late Night Favorites: Spring concludes with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). The IFC Center will be one of the theaters showing Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing on an archival 35mm print, but only for the 7pm showtimes for the next week. Also in celebration of Stonewall (just a few blocks away), the IFC Center is premiering a 4k restoration of Frank Simon’s 1968 film The Queen (a Cannes selection), which looks at the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, organized by LGBTQ icon Flawless Sabrina with judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers and Terry Southern. It will be shown with the 1967 short Queens at Heart.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

On Thursday, BAM and FAB Flicks will show the 1961 musical classic West Side Story outdoors at the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center. On Friday, BAM joins the celebration of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with a 30thanniversary rerelease. The Beyond the Canon series continues on Saturday with a double feature of Dibril Diop Mambety’s 1973 film Touki Bouki with Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960)

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

Astoria, Queens’ premiere arthouse continues its Grit and Glitter: Before and After Stonewall series this weekend with John Waters’ Multiple Maniacs (1970) on Friday, Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon (1975)and Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) on Saturday. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2004 film Tropical Malady will screen on 35mm on both Saturday and Sunday. The See it Big! Action series will screen Pam Grier’s Coffy (1973) in 35mm on Saturday and Sunday.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Lincoln Center’s 50thanniversary celebration continues with 50th Mixtape: Free Double Features with Agnes Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) and Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996) on Thursday night.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This Friday’s midnight movie is Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997)… subtitled!

Next week, it’s the extended 4thof July weekend and Sony’s seventh Spider-Man movie Spider-Man: Far from Home will go up against Ari Aster’s sophomore effort, Midsommar.

#Yesterday AnnabelleCOmesHome Maiden Movies Reviews WhatToWatchThisWeekend TheWeekendWarrior

[steal-this-idea]

Babylon 5 rewatch continues...

Now with a LINK to the original post that I had let grow to unreasonable length instead of forcing the two people who will see this scroll through ever last piece of dumb shit I’ve had to say first!

JUMP TO ORIGINAL LONG POST HERE

(Learning Curve)

I’ve taken the talk on meditation to heart (the “anyone can meditate in silence” bit) to the point where I think I can become impatient or even annoyed by those who insist upon quiet to do so (think especially for certain sports like golf and tennis...like, if you’re to the point where you’re a professional, some asshole in the stands should be able to neither faze you nor distract you)

If garlic stinks then what’s saffron? (the meal where Garibaldi starts laying into Lochley’s past and Zack is obliquely commenting on it, asking if anyone thinks the food tastes funny, suggesting saffron when it starts getting awkward and concluding garlic after Lochley puts Garibaldi in his place)

Continuing my Takashima just disappeared rant: N’grath, our season 1 praying mantis gangster, gets a mention in this episode but Lt.Cmdr. Takashima? Who’s she?

I do love that the Minbari are an advanced race but not an impassionate one...which honestly makes them scarier, as the Earth-Minbari War shown to us throughout “In the Beginning” demonstrated...

Meaning does not exist independently... I wonder if this episode is where I got that idea from?

(Strange Relations)

I don’t hate the ex-wife of Sheridan revelation of Capt. Lochley. If anything, it kinda complements how Cmdr. Sinclair got appointed to run Babylon 5. I assume, like with the Minbari when the station first came online, Sheridan insisted on veto power over anyone EarthGov might select to run Babylon 5. I wonder if Capt. Lochley was far down the list too?

Zip ties: Still good enough for the 23½ century :-)

The bottle tossing Hyach is at it again...

(Secrets of the Soul)

I do like Season 5 being like a mirror of Season 1 and giving us more standalone type episodes which allows us to be given closer looks at members of the (former) League of Non-Aligned Worlds. This episode, the Hyach; the next episode, the Brakir; and the one after that, the Drazi.

And I have to say this again. Even when he’s cheesy, I don’t hate Byron.

I think Lyta made me love bangs :-)

I liked the detail of the Drazi record not being in English

Also, why didn’t we learn Byron’s secrets too? While, yes, dramatic effect for the later episode, sure...why not? I suppose also Lyta’s walls coming down during her intimacy may have simply flooded everything else out too. Hard to say. I also wonder why Lyta’s eyes went black during their lovemaking when, since this is a Vorlon-influenced memory, they should’ve glowed white? Again, I’m sure it had something to do with dramatic effect...

(Day of the Dead)

I love that Capt. Lochley hates Rebo & Zooty. It’s like, ugh...these hacks :-)

And I also love Delenn’s reaction to one of their jokes. I wonder what Mira Furlan was thinking about to get herself to laugh so heartily and convincingly?

Nice that the guest spots got end credits billing and not upfront so as not to spoil the surprise (unlike what happened with Anna Sheridan). I wonder if that cost TNT a fine with the Screen Actors Guild? I know Lucas always had to pay a fine to get out of putting traditional title screen credits over the start of each Star Wars film.

I presume there is plenty of A.U. fiction out there about who the other characters would have met had they been on the other side of the line?

Do you think Kosh would have appeared in its encounter suit to Sheridan had he been there or would it have been more open like in the death dream sequence (or even in its true squid-like form)?

(In the Kingdom of the Blind)

The Centauri are ultra racist. That dude’s not even attempting discretion: he’s gonna talk shit about Narns right in front of a Narn with not even a hint of concern that G’Kar might understand what he’s saying or be capable of feeling hurt by it.

As much as I hate what Byron did after learning how telepaths came to be and what they were intended for, I also can’t imagine an equivalent shock that could so forcefully shake the very foundations of my world and thus how I would react to such knowledge...

Would the Drakh have worked better if they didn’t have visible sclera? I just can’t help but feel if their eyes were entirely black or red instead of looking human, if it would have increased their visual menace or just made them look goofy?

But that lighting on the Drakh’s reveal though...magnificent

Isn’t that a Brakiri warship? How could it have been unarmed? I’m not in any way justifying the attack on them but, like, of *all* the ships you could’ve used to illustrate an attack on a commercial transport...

(A Tragedy of Telepaths)

I’ll admit I’ve tried using the “There’s No Bomb” technique in my desperate attempts to quell my allergies. Trying to tell my itchy, runny nose that, despite its objections, there’s no need to sneeze. There’s. No need. To sneeze...

Can’t say it ever worked though...

Byron just dropping that some worlds developed telepaths naturally which seems strange because I thought I recalled JMS mentioning that if a species were to develop telepathy they’d never advance to civilization. Being a telepath would just be another technique a predator could use to snare prey and/or a technique a prey animal could use to avoid being eaten.

Still, if I’m going to grant him this, I wonder if the Soul Hunters were an example of natural telepaths? The behavior of the two we meet in the show’s second episode is reminiscent of telepath behavior we witness in later episodes (like Byron sensing that man’s impending death and the Soul Hunter being able to pick up on Delenn’s secrets as the machine she was hooked up to slowly killed her). Were Soul Hunters like vultures originally? Always feeling for the impending death of an animal so they could eat that night? But that particular ability wouldn’t necessarily have prevented the kind of generalization necessary for the development of language, tools, and technology so the ability served them rather than limited them and as they developed and went to the stars, the idea of preserving special souls became of paramount importance to their raison d’être. Comments? Concerns? Good idea? Poorly thought out idea?

G’KAR: Would you like some jala? It’s cold.

LONDO: Get that away from me. Jala needs to be hot. It takes heat to cultivate its flavor. To consume cold jala is to insult a Centauri. I don’t even know where you got it.

G’KAR: I saw it on a tray heading into the south end of the palace. I assumed no one would mind if I took it.

LONDO: That’s right. Only Narns can stomach it cold.

It would be interesting to have a culture which marks the peaces rather than the wars. I don’t even know if that would be so far-fetched to imagine such a people given the Incas made “constellations” out of the dark parts of the sky as well as its luminous parts.

Byron’s demand for compensation is SOOO much more reasonable than his threat of blackmail. It’s a shame he didn’t think of it first...

Is the Interstellar Alliance basically the Minbari Empire? Minbar’s going to be the home office of the ISA. After the White Star fleet (which really cannot be rebuilt), the Minbari military is the strongest in the known galaxy and I have to assume it is their fleet the ISA would lean on in the event of a major war between powers. I don’t know. I just think of it like if we were to form an EarthGov right now and it actually had real power, its power would almost certainly be heavily reliant on U.S. military might, making an EarthGov like a de facto U.S. empire, no? It’s outside the scope of Babylon 5, but I wonder if such a thing will come up in the ISA’s future?

Babylon 5 did for me with telepaths what Buffy the Vampire Slayer did for vampires. I can no longer accept any alternative :-)

(Phoenix Rising)

I wonder how this telepath colony plot would have unfolded differently had Byron had the foresight to have some non-human telepaths among them so they wouldn’t be wholly under Earth’s jurisdiction?

Do you think Bester spoke to his underlings at the briefing because he *had* to or was it solely for our, the viewer’s, benefit? I just think back to when Bester first met with Sinclair...

Regarding Bester’s “How stupid do you think I am?” speech: I’m so glad JMS didn’t pad the scene by going to commercial as the music climaxed with Garibaldi holding a PPG to him. That immediate release of dramatic tension because there never was any there to begin with; that subversion of expectations, was an effective choice.

I don’t drink but after that scene, I’d probably start drinking too...

Peter’s telekinesis seems underwhelming. I suppose I could blame it on the show’s ability to do that special effect (the ring Eilerson fires in that episode of Crusade was an effect done well). But how hard was he casting those objects? I feel like I could throw harder and more accurately; like his telekinesis was really an inefficient way to go about things, y’know?

I know from reading around that had Claudia Christian remained on the show, she would’ve been the one to fall for Byron and I have to admit it’s still hard imagining Ivanova in that role. I think I’m glad she didn’t not because it would be unbelievable but just that it would be yet another tragic love and broken trust story for her and it’s like, damn, give this woman a break already...hasn’t she suffered enough?

Did Byron program his followers with that hymn? The way they gather around him before he immolates them is practically instinctual. I suppose it’s not so far-fetched. Byron *is* a strong P12 and more than once he desperately tried to get back to his people in order to calm them down suggesting his hold over them may not have been charisma alone. I don’t know...

(The Ragged Edge)

The Drazi with the vomit bag on the shuttle, haha. I love those touches they put into the show :-)

Is it my imagination or is G’Kar’s room less red?

#babylon 5 #rewatch #b5 #spoiler alert #byron #lyta alexander #delenn #sheridan #kosh #lochley #garibaldi #londo #g'kar #minbari #centauri #narn #vorlon #drakh #hyach #brakiri #drazi #season 5 #telepaths #bester #ivanova #spoo #jala #buffy the vampire slayer #soul hunters #day of the dead

[nightqueendany]

Another submission today:

No one is saying that you should think that they’re the best writers. I think that their work pretty much speaks for itself. Y'all called 7x06 trash and it won an award for best direction. Same with season 7. Won the biggest Emmy for the year. People who claim Emilia can’t act were bitter because she won some prestigious award for acting. Not saying you do these things, but the same people who shit on D&D also shit on the actors.

You can criticize without being nasty. The “Dumb and Dumber” thing is juvenile or calling them hacks or whatever vitriolic shit that people feel the need to spew. Fyi, Benioff is a great writer. He’s written critically acclaimed shit. Google it.

They are the middle men between the HBO execs and the fans. HBO wanted to extend the show to 10 seasons, but D&D stopped that because they know that quality is better than quantity. So many of the things that they’re criticised for are actually shitty because people like to focus on pendatic shit. For example the so called time travel has been there since day one. Catelyn travelled from KL to the Vale in one episode. A raven was sent to Stannis and it got to him in the next scene. Their biggest crime is overestimating some of their audience and thinking that they’ll appreciate the “show don’t tell” approach. 

So they made some changes. So what? It’s only the book readers who care about that shit and considering that many of those book readers swore with all their heart and Daenerys isn’t Jon’s type, they’re not the type of company that you should be proud of keeping. They’re clueless fucks who circlejerk to uncovering the mysteries of a fictional story and then end up being wrong years later. They’re the same people who claim that Jon is stealing Stannis’ plot.

David and Dan have the same bugdet that friends had almost two decades ago and look what they’re delivering to our screens. 

Fyi, they’ve been criticized since the very beginning of the show for not sticking to George’s vision only for George to come out this year and say that most of what happened in S7 was what he planned. Some so called mistakes and plotholes aren’t that at all. Like the chains for Viserion. If people weren’t blind with nerd rage, they would have seen that the Night King shot him down close to a dock that was buried in snow and that dock had chains. The time it took Dany to arrive was ambiguous. They put in a lot of time and effort to make it as close to perfect as possible. It’s not their fault that GRRM couldn’t keep his word and finish the books on time.

There’s no difference between some of y'all and the star wars fans who shit on Kathleen Kennedy for making some changes on the movies. Entitled, bratty, ungrateful fans. Thank God it’s almost over. Unfortunately, the prequels are here and the pretentious book readers are already complaining because of the casting descriptions.

Also, being a woman doesn’t excuse you from being a decent human being. Most of Daenerys’ thoughts are in her head in the book. Unless you wanted a voice over, there’s no way that they would have been able to convey her thoughts. Even with her thoughts, pov and other POVs of her character where people see how great she is, she was one of the most hated characters amongst book readers so you can’t blame D&D for that. Watching reaction videos should tell you all you need to know about how people see her. Even without reading about her compassion, viewers are drawn to her.

Finally, Daenerys is a fictional character no matter how wonderful and amazing she is, she’s not real. The people who work on the show are. It is messed up to focus on what you perceive to be their fuck ups. If people did that to you, you’d never grow

I’m so confused, Dan Weiss, is that you?? I’m half convinced this is Dan Weiss.

1) I’m not a pedantic book reader. I’ve said many times I started with Season 1 of the show, then read the books, then continued with the show as it aired. I’ve never pretended to be a book-expert. There are many of them here and on Reddit and Westeros.org and in the comments sections of Geroge’s Not a Blog but I’ve always admitted my knowledge of the entire WOIAF is limited to a once through read of the books and the show. I’ve certainly never pretended to know the series any better than anyone else.

2) I’ve stuck up for decisions made by D&D PLENTY of times. I got a lot of shit in inbox from anons when I wrote a post defending (or suspending judgement) on their choice to have Sansa replace Jeyne Poole in the Ramsay-Winterfell-rape plot which is decidedly their most controversial decision that was not a matter that wasn’t out of their hands, like network things.

And I’ve defended other storylines from them as well - the wight hunt mission, I’ve talked extensively about how it would have happened any way you slice the story so it wasn’t a “dumb” D&D idea, I’ve talked about their filming & casting limitations and how it’s a result of location and availability and not anything to do with the actual race of the extras in scenes, I’ve talked about how I definitely think Dany will burn the Khals in the books, just as she did in the show, defending that plot, I’ve talked about things I love in terms of book vs show - Battle of Blackwater, Robb&Talisa, how Season 6 is unarguably the best season of Game of Thrones and it’s the one that had to go completely off books because they had surpassed what George had already written, I’ve talked about how I’m glad they left Lady Stoneheart out of the story because I thought it would have cheapened Catelyn’s death and the impact of Jon’s resurrection, I’ve talked about how I like that they changed scenes like Dany’s wedding night and the Jaime/Cersei sex scene next to Joffrey’s body in the Sept because in the books the nature of the ambiguity of “consent” is ridiculous and D&D choosing to present those scenes as rape made it easier for the audience to see what was actually going on vs the books which leave it open to question whether the victims are actually victims, I’ve talked about how I like they aged Missandei up so that Daenerys could have an actual friend as opposed to young Missandei in the books who’s dependent on her and sees her as a mother figure, I’ve praised the show for making Dany more mature when it comes to her relationship with Daario, I’ve talked about how I love Shae and Sansa’s relationship in the show and how they humanized Shae and made her a more lovable character, I’ve praised the show for setting Tyrion and Dany together sooner than in the books because the Tyrion ruling Meereen in Dany’s absence plot worked really well, I’ve defended their depiction of the Jonerys romance to Jonsa and Jonerys shippers alike who say it was rushed or poorly done and praised the way they so closely stuck to both Jon and Dany’s character....so many others, I forget them all.

3) I’ve never called D&D “Dumb and Dumber” or any other rude names and I usually refrain from using insults like that on my entire blog. I also usually refrain from reblogging posts that contain language like that because it’s childish and really insulting.

4) Just because someone’s writing or something is “critically acclaimed” doesn’t mean really anything. Critics nowadays are widely acknowledged as being “out of touch” with the times and the nature of story-telling as a whole and many industry people also admit this - Why do you think the Oscars wanted to include that “Outstanding Popular Film” category for the coming year? So not sure what David Benioff’s critically acclaimed other work has to do with anything.

5) I’ve never really criticized D&D for their plot lines or storytelling as a whole. I think I’ve only pointed out plot holes only twice - once about Jon receiving Tyrion’s raven before Sam’s even though Sam’s was sent an entire episode before Tyrion’s and once about Jon telling Tormund Dany would only fight beside them if he bent the knee when the entire Wight Hunt mission was so Dany could fight beside them and he hadn’t bent the knee.

Aside from that, I’ve never criticized their story choices as they deviate from GRRM.

I’ve criticized their portrayal of women - especially Dany but really women as a whole - throughout the story and I don’t think I need to defend my criticism for that. It’s a HUGE deal.

Because here’s the thing - story changes made by D&D...don’t really matter. They’ve said plenty of times the show will end just as the books will end so I’m happy to tag along with their journey because I know they’ll stay faithful to George’s vision in that respect and I’ve defended them to other fans in this regards.

But when they CONTINUALLY make decisions that cast female characters in a much harsher light than their book counterparts and cast male characters in much better light than their book counterparts, I’m not going to defend that! I’m not going to sit idly by and just pretend I’m okay with that.

If it were one or two isolated incidences, it would be nothing. But that’s not the case. This is a pattern repeated time and time again throughout the entire series. This isn’t a network thing, this isn’t even about “you can’t please everyone.” This is blatant sexism, regardless of whether that was their intention or not.

Just now looking at the IMDB page for GOT, I noticed they’ve only had TWO women work in writing aspects for the show for a total of 4 episodes. The rest were written exclusively by men. Also, only ONE female director has directed a total of 4 episodes throughout the series.

Now I know, as someone who is a film minor and one day wants to work in the industry, that the film and television industry as a whole, is very lacking when it comes to representing women and that’s unfortunate. So it’s not entirely their fault. They just fell into the pattern of the industry.

But again, when it comes to sticking to George’s original dialogue or creating their own, the times they’ve opted to create their own frequently results negatively for female characters...or when a female character’s lines are given to a male character making the man appear the brilliant one in the scene.

I’m really curious to know if this anon is a man or woman...or Dan Weiss. Not that it changes anything but perhaps it’s the reason you’ve yet to either notice the sexism in the writing or just don’t see it as such a big deal.

Yes, these are all fictional characters and the people behind the show are real people.

But the people who watch the show are real people too. And while again, I know there is no possible way for D&D to please every single member of their audience, the least they could do is approach their writing from a more neutral standpoint or, you know, just fucking hire a full-time woman to co-write episodes with.

However, it’s too late for that. The show is finished. There’s no changing what’s already been made.

So I will be here, continuing to defend a female character that wouldn’t need nearly as much defending, had she been translated onto the screen properly and not through a biased lens.

[erydiel-art]

(ENDED)CASTING CALL FOR: Voice Actors/Music Artists!!! Multiple Roles Available!

DEADLINE MARCH 31ST, 2018!!!

Hello everyone! I’m Erydiel, and I need your help! This is a long post, so beware!

I am currently working on my own anime called “Changing Fate.” To not give away too many spoilers, the anime is in a modern setting with fantasy-like elements, and involves romance, action, angst, etc. You can think of something like Naruto/Bleach, but closer to a Sailor Moon-type style. It’s a little weird of an explanation, but I hope that I’ve grabbed your attention! If you’re interested, read more below!

Now, here’s the deal: this project of mine is a one-man team. I make the story, the script, and do all of the artwork and putting everything together. Since I’m the only person doing this, it takes time to finish all of it. At this point, I will most likely release 1 episode at a time, OR finish all of the episodes and release them once a week. I’m still not sure what to decide yet, which is why I’m doing a casting call now.

Right now, this casting call is for both voice actors and music artists! To prepare you on what you’re getting into, Changing Fate will have:

- 15 episodes of various lengths

- 2 OVAs

- a trailer for the anime

- an anime intro/outro song

- a character reveal trailer

All episodes will be released on Youtube (and Vimeo, possibly). Now, I am a college student on a very limited budget, so I cannot pay you for your hard work. However, you will receive credit on every episode/video that’s released that you’re on, and you can absolutely add this series to your resume. (I’m sure that employers would love to see that you’ve worked on a long-term project, right? I know I would!) I WILL attempt at making a kickstarter to raise funds, so if it is at all successful I will be able to pay you then depending on the work you’ve done. Of course, this is something that will be discussed when we get closer to that time.

So, are you still interested? Wonderful! Here are the requirements in order to apply:

VOICE ACTORS:

1) Must have a good microphone, and/or be able to remove any background noise/static/etc. from the file before sending it to me.

2) Send files in either a .mp3 or .WAV file format

3) Be able to work with me in making sure that voice files are correct, and if needed re-do a line if the tone of a scene needs to change.

4) You will also need to be okay with scenes that either include or imply: torture, blood, death, pain, etc. Torture scenes will only be for 1 episode or so, but the situation is implied multiple times in the anime. DO NOT apply if you are NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THIS. I do not want to accidentally hurt you. I may not know you personally, but I always try to make sure that everyone is okay before moving forward.

MUSIC ARTISTS:

1) Be able to create several tracks (if needed) to fit various scenes in the anime.

2) If you can sing, or know someone who can sing, and be able to get them to sing the intro/outro song for you in the music file.

3) Send the files in a .mp3 or .WAV file

4) Be okay with certain scenes as stated in the Voice Actors Section above.

5) If you can do an intro/outro song but can’t create certain tracks, etc. (and vice versa) that’s OKAY. I don’t expect for only 1 person to do everything: I know different artists can create different genres of songs/tracks, so I’ll be expecting to hire more than 1 person. Just be you when applying!

6) Be okay and patient enough to be able to make any tweaks or changes to a song/track if needed. This may happen multiple times.

FOR BOTH:

1) When applying, send all applications to [email protected]

2) The email subject heading should have either VA or MA, the character or track/song you wish to do, and what lines (for VAs only)

EXAMPLE:

Voice Actors:

VA (Accalia) Lines 1-5 Sample

or

VA (Accalia + more) Line Sample (Use this if applying for more than 1 character)

Music Artists:

MA (intro song) Sample

What I will be looking for in the emails:

Voice Actors: What character(s) you wish to apply for, plus the files that have the sample lines. EACH line (given below) MUST HAVE it’s own file, and named! For example, if you are doing Accalia’s sample lines, you would do: Accalia-Line 1 for the 1st sample, Accalia-Line 2 for the second sample, etc. Please make sure that you do this when sending emails!

Music Artists: Tell me what you wish to do: intro song, outro song, or background music. Then, I want you to include either a demo reel or examples of your work that either fit or are similar to the music that you wish to do for Changing Fate.

——–

Okay, now that all of that is done, time for the fun part! Voice Actors, this section is for you! Here are the Characters that you can apply for:

MAIN CAST:

Accalia Enelya (Ah-Kay-Lee-Ah Ee-Nel-Yah)

Gender: Female

Race: Nashoba (werewolf)

Accalia is one of THE main characters of the show. She will be one of the main focus in the anime, which also means she will have many, many lines. She is Tsundere to most people, but is heartwarming/acts normal to those that are the closest to her. She is a fierce protector who does not like Humans for the most part, but also knows that she is just a tool for their protection.

Lines:

1) “Humans…they disgust me.”

2) “Hey, get back here you scum!”

3) “It’s time to change.” (The line that’s spoken before a transformation scene occurs)

4) “I’m sorry…but I can’t. Not now, not ever.”

5) a file of a *sound of disgust* or a sound of “disapproval” (Similar to Cassandra from Dragon Age Inquisition)

Natsuki Arai (Naht-Su-Kee Ah-Rye)

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Natsuki is a soft-hearted man who is the love interest of Accalia. His voice is softer/feminine than most males, but NOT too feminine. You can clearly tell that he is a male, especially if his voice is raised in anger (which is quite rare). He is a gentleman at heart and tends to be the peacemaker in arguments.

Lines:

1) “Hello, my Lady.”

2) “I assure you that this must be wrong. Can we not resolve this another way?”

3) “Accalia, please, let me help you! You don’t have to do this alone!”

4) “All of this pain that you went through…I’m so sorry, my Love.”

5) a file or track of a *gasp* sound.

Paula Kisurugi (Paul-Ah Kiss-oo-ru-gee)

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Paula is Accalia’s best friend and closest ally. They have known each other for years, and will depend on each other if everyone else is against them. Paula is known to be a klutz, but she makes up for it with her sarcastic remarks and jokes. She will defend anyone who she is close with, although Accalia is most likely to protect her first.

Lines:

1) “Hey, get back here you jerk!”

2) “You know we gotta get them together, right?”

3) “Lia, you know you can trust me, right?”

4) *crying* “I can’t believe this…why did you have to suffer so much?!”

5) a file or clip of giggling or laughter. Be creative and feel free to send more than 1 file of this!

Cain Kazuhaya (Kayn Kah-zu-ha-yah)

Gender: Male

Race: Natissa (Vampire)

Cain is similar to Accalia in being Tsundere, but it’s not as strong. Instead, he’s almost like the classical annoying Jock that gets on everyone’s nerves. However, despite that persona he is a protector of his friends above all else, and is especially kind to Accalia because he owes her for saving his life long ago. He is also the love interest of Paula.

Lines:

1) “Yo.”

2) “Heh, hey Shortie. Did ya lose on the bet already?”

3) “Hey, back off!”

4) “They’re going to pay for this.”

5) a sound file of anger or yelling (like a battle-cry for a fight)

Damerick Bennett (Dah-Mer-Ick Ben-nett)

Gender: Male

Race: Nashoba

Damerick is known to be a Jack-of-all-Trades and makes constant jokes to make others laugh and be happy. He is an old friend of Accalia and Cain, and looks out for them often in times of need. Like Cain, he also is close with Accalia due to saving his life long ago, and wishes to pay her back for her sacrifice. If you ever feel down and need a pick-me-up, Damerick is the guy to go to.

Lines:

1) “Yo!”

2) “Dude, you gotta be kidding me!”

3) “Looks like it’s time to dance, yeah?”

4) “I don’t understand…why do we have to suffer like this?”

5) a sound file of a “WOO!!” or a yell of joy. Take your pick and be creative!

OTHER ROLES:

Sasha Anderson (Sah-sha An-der-son)

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Lines:

1) “Hey, what’s up?”

2) “…Really?”

Hampton Yamazaki (Hamp-ton Yah-Ma-Za-Kee)

Gender: Male

Race: Natissa

Lines:

1) “Huh?”

2) “…I don’t think we should be doing this…?”

DeAndre Parker (Dee-Ahn-Dre Par-ker)

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Lines:

1) “So…what do we do now?”

2) “Uh…what?”

Tran (Tr-Ann)

Gender: Female

Race: Human

*Vietnamese accent preferred, if able*

Lines:

1) “Hi.”

2) “…Thank you.”

Jordan Roan (Jor-dan Row-Ann)

Gender: Male

Race: Nashoba

Lines:

1) “Are we going to do this or not?”

2) “…Really?”

Various Female/Male Random voices/roles

*There are no lines here, just let me know if you can provide a voice for these smaller roles! They are of different ages, from children to old.

GODS/GODDESSES:

Zaman (Zah-Mahn)

Gender: Male

God of Time & Knowledge

Lines:

1) “Hello, my children.”

2) “My child, I’m afraid that it will only get worse from here.”

Xantara (Xan-Tear-Rah)

Gender: Female

Goddess of Earth

Lines: 

1) “I have failed you, my children. I…am sorry.”

2) “Do you think it was mere chance that you two are together? You two are together by fate!”

Araceli (Ah-Rah-Cel-Lee)

Gender: Female

Goddess of the Heavens

Lines:

1) “My child, do not look so down upon yourself. Your soul is too pure for such a sad look.”

2) “…I see. I have not thought of that before. You surprise me, my child.”

Asar (Ah-Sar)

Gender: Male

God of the Underworld

Aznil (Az-Nill)

Gender: Female

Race: Demon

Lines:

1) “Just give up already, Nashoba. We WILL rule over this world!“

2) “You don’t know what it is truly like to suffer. So, I will show you what it’s like myself!”

Aaaand that’s everything! Quite a long post, but it was necessary. If you all have any questions about this, please send in an ask! I will be happy to answer any questions or concerns.

Also, if you have no interest in this, please still reblog this! I need to get this reblogged everywhere so that others can see. Thank you SO MUCH if you do!!

DEADLINE IS MARCH 31ST, 2018

So please apply before it’s too late!

~Erydiel

#ad #advertising #va #voiceover #voice auditions #voice acting #voice actor #voice actress #looking for voice actors #help #anime #animation #music #music artist #singer #singer songwrtier #looking for music artists #music production #anime project #animation project #changing fate

[lbngaia]

D&D

This school year I am facing the challenge of having to choose the work for the D&D competition. Should I stay in my comfort zone and choose a kinetic typography-related theme in a style that best suits me (i.e. a Google brief) or choose a theme that concerns me more personally? Google typography based project would still be a challenge because, despite everything, the goal is to do your best and be judged on your ability to interpret and communicate. Teen Vogue brought forward a very interesting project I am allured by in many ways. At the same time the proposal itself comes from a company I have never identified myself with. Will I be able to represent who I am through this brief? This Teen Vogue challenge is getting to me. After all, last year, when I was in NYC, I didn't get a chance to work on the 16:9 project and I made a promise to myself that sooner or later I would make a short film - even at the cost of starting from scratch as for my competencies. Tonight I talked about the Teen Vogue project with Edoardo - a guy I often meet in LCC. Not only did I discover that I have a lot in common with him but I also realized how nice it is to discuss these matters with him. I started my research. I have been spending so many hours in the library / watching documentaries / reading and trying to get to know the subject. I have also been talking a lot with my friends about female sexual pleasure. I realized that for many of us there is a taboo on discussing such matters that is not easy to overcome. However, sincerity and confrontation prevail and soon enough you realize how nice it is to exchange thought also on this issue. Tonight Maddie Edo and I talked about the project again. Maddie's still confused about what she wants to do. It came natural to me to involve her in the project and ask for her cooperation. I think it is important to support our friends and I am sure Maddie can give further impact the content of the work. Everything will be fine. After 1 week Edo and I decided to break away from each other... I felt like I had to balance  the project and it is good for me to go on with my strength and with Maddie who is ever more involved. I have been spending my afternoons and evenings at the LCC library. I'm often up late at night constantly trying to find out what I really want to represents by the short film I want to produce. In the meantime I am reflecting and discussing with friends about all the elements I need in order to make a short film production – treatment, story board, location, casting, script, stylist, camera guys, equipment, a myriad of things to put together in less than 5 weeks. I am focusing on the visual part the most because it is essential for me to have a clear idea of the look and field. Maddie and I are going to put the pieces of the story together. She is now in charge of writing the dialogues that we reread and fine-tune in the evening. In my project, the number zero should be part of a short interactive series - each episode of which will deal with a different situation (obsolete virginity concept, orgasm gap, sexual orientation). We decided that the first episode would be about teasers At the same time I am trying to get in touch with my high-school actor friends to choose a casting that is aligned with the story I want to tell (mix race, different sexual orientation). I met Lorenzo who used to a schoolmate of mine and now plays at the Royal School of Acting. Not only is he an excellent actor but he also represents a turning point for me given his deep knowledge of the film industry and his contacts. Shooting starts. I only have one chance and I can't make any mistake, since my budget is limited and everything we shoot will have to be used and can't be redone. But it is also worth accepting this challenge, because experience is also made up of small mistakes and not by pursuing perfection. I am realizing that I am growing up. There are obviously some problems to deal with. Maddie felt sick on set / most of the audio is corrupted / the photography director's SIM card has magically disappeared. But all this is also a great opportunity for me to really understand what it means to be a director. You have to be able to put a lot of elements together and to balance things, to manage the situation and be friendly with everyone, to make sure you lead the team into being more involved and doing their best. We're now at the editing part. From a technical point of view, it's definitely a challenging stage and it takes weeks to be done - the colors are not super satisfying, but now that the work has taken shape I'm more and more proud of myself and the work I did with Maddie and all the people who got involved in this adventure.

#dandad

[ml2338]

Wendy White

Wendy White, an American artist, is famous for producing aesthetically pleasing contemporary artworks with a hidden strong meanings.

During her lecture, she described her practice, influences, and interests by going through specific artworks she has done over the past years. When defining her artistic practice, she explains that she has a liberal idea of what art should be, in fact she claims that it is all about connotations of materials. She is taught that depiction was illustration and that there is a deeper meaning of combination of a materials, and to obsess over quality.

She describes her work as being positive however it has reasons for doubt and she tries to include that paradox in order to tell real stories occasionally being “tongue and cheek”. Her recent sculptures connote symbols of optimism presented as clean ideal gestures and she looks into symbols that resembles images found from weather apps to instagram buttons to emojis. Such as using black cloud icons, pixel hearts, and rainbows.

Additionally, she likes creating randomness like uninvited marks on the walls, and makes tweaks to her artworks over time. “I hate things ending, I want paintings to drift off into an illusion of space, to not end or finish abruptly” She prefers the Brooklyn bridge over the Manhattan bridge because it looks as if it is trailing off into the sky. She likes challenging space, because it doesn’t just have a defined space or end like shapes. This is inspiring because she has taught me to view things in a different way where things do not have to seem confined on materials I use like paper. She has changed my viewpoint on art by empowering me with the knowledge that art is like freedom, there is nothing holding it back, it doesn’t need a finishing point. This reminds me of the quote taken from the video on Edward Said called Framed: The Politics of Stereotypes in News: “How does it feel to be fixed, captured, framed?” The similarity is obvious between Said and White here, White doesn’t want to feel limited and trapped in her artworks and wants it to never end, it is the same concept when Said reminds us when we are reading the media. He suggest we make the implicit explicit and not be fooled from what the media feeds us and it is up to ourselves to discover the real truth. This also reinforces White’s idea of the use of symbols and materials with connotational meaning, in order to us to see the deep truth behind her artworks.

Car culture has always played a big influence in her theme of work for the last couple of years. According to her: “Cars themselves used to be time capsules” which links to how she got this interest and inspiration of cars from her father who was into them. When she was young she would experience her dad always working on car projects in the garage independently most of the time. She identified his work as “sculptures”. Also, she found retro stuff really trend based and she wanted to incorporate this gesture into her artworks. So she started looking at sticker use which she incorporated into her car interest. She would take series of photos of stickers stuck densely onto parts of cars most of the time on the windows, in order to produce a satisfaction of polarizing and personalizing the object and making her own personal story out of it. In her lecture she stated “women were always the prop or prize for car ownership but rarely the drivers”. Being a feminist with an obsession with cars, she incorporates these two inspiring stimulators which made her cut up sexist ads found in car magazines to make collages. She has a firm belief that “Men ruins things, and they make sure there are laws set in place for preventing women to do all the stuff they can do”. Therefore cars played a huge role into her retro phase and developing her feminist personality. This reminds me of Stuart Hall because he focused his interest into mass culture where he explored at the influence of mainstream media in gender, race, ethnicity, class, and religion. In the video he described one of the problems with mass culture is the male dominated society on gender’s ideas, he therefore went on about how although some people agree with these views, some were unsure, and others like Wendy White disagreed with these ideologies completely. Some people portrayed opposition to this through protests and bloggers on social media, and here White does it through her artworks. White, also interested in graffiti work which links to her retro style, is very similar to another feminist artist, Ana Mendieta, who was a part of the second-wave feminist movement where she created a graffiti artwork called: “Blood Writing” created with this dripping bright red paint resembling blood which showed this text: “SHE GOT LOVE”. This piece has a central focus on the violence issued on women. “Love” connotes the action of sex and the paint signifies the violence which dedicates this piece on rape culture. Like White, she incorporates texts and these symbols (fake blood) in order to convey the deep inner meaning of an artwork.

Taking on an interest in connotational materials, she uses symbols sometimes emoji-like to connote personal meanings through her artwork for example the black cloud. It was this emoji like symbol which came from her piece: Santa Cruz, which was made in summer 2016. The black cloud symbolizes escape, optimism and a longing for innocence. It was about the dark side (hence the color black) of the American small town life that she grew up in, teenage dreams and adult let downs. I find her use of materials to be very inspiring and clever in order to convey such a strong personal meaning through minimalistic and simplified symbols / objects. The video: Whitewashing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has got me pondering on where, why, how and who decided colors were set to their specific connotations. In the video, Oliver reinforces the idea of Hollywood Whitewashing and its existence in the modern day. For example, in 2016 the academy awards’ nominees were all very white for both men and women, some say this is due to the fact that Hollywood isn’t giving enough good roles to the darker skinned actors and actresses, others say the reason is because Hollywood prefers white over darker skin for example in the movie the Prince of Persia, a white actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, is playing the role of the Prince who should have darker skin, and a white blonde actress named Emma Stone casted into the movie Aloha, who played a character who is meant to be half asian. Both of these actors didn’t have any edits to their appearances to even make them look like their characters. This is similar to the CNN Concatenated video, where we see white reporters only for one of the most popular news reporting channels available. Not only has this been a modern problem but this has occurred over history on screen like in past movies such as in the Conquerer, John Wayne plays Genghis Khan and in West Side Story, Natalie Wood as Maria, etc. According to the site https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-black/ the color black connotes negativity, fear, death, evil, gloominess, etc. whereas white connotes positivity, purity, goodness, safety, cleanliness, perfection, innocence, etc. Therefore just from comparing these connotations, I can’t help but notice the similarity to racist stereotypes of skin color. Why is black chosen to be negative and white as positive? This brings into perspective of the Guardian’s article: There is no such thing as western civilisation, where the concept of the Golden Nugget is explained. It is where in the western culture, ideologies becomes the “norms” where it is the traditional views. These ideologies could incorporate race, nationality, religion, culture and gender. Every belief passed down from generations, which causes the labelling of people’s identities. This relates to the the black and white color connotations, because in the past of the western culture, white was the predominant color whereas black was the inferior one. Therefore these connotations seemed to be derived through the Golden Nugget concept.

By trying to be concrete but not literal, she decided to explore texts use. Texts became a way of architecture. She uses the word itself as both form and context. Several things that influenced her to display texts in her work is from the vibe of Chinatown, it’s signs and Steven Rendall’s book: Practice of Everyday Life Chapter of Walking in the City. Cities like Chinatown seem to have their own secrets, this fascinated her that she took pictures just to look at the signage signs and to explore and compare how they have developed or faded and what parts were town down or remained. Not only did the architecture excited her but also the body language of the people there, how they walked, posed and leaned on the exciting chinatown architecture. She goes on to explain the importance of body language by describing how boring Jackson Pollock’s work is unless there were people standing in front of it which made it seem alive and much more interesting.  This fascination of space of abstraction was activated by figures, humans with the essential to move around and that there was no such thing as scale so she thought about how architecture can be dominating and comforting at the same time like how on the street, pedestrians and building facades interact in the same way. This is what pushed her to realize that photographs themselves were the anchor to what she was looking for, she believes that it is the real thing that has its own set of perimeters that pushes paintings into another space, an atmosphere of tangible space that buildings occupy which lead her to create a series named Photobuilts.

[enouragement-blog]

The limitations of scientism and the need for persuasive argumentation

First, scientism is the belief that science is the purest form of knowledge, and only those things discovered through the scientific process have basis – even above and beyond reasoning. But the scientific observations are only profitable if some form of reasoning can be trusted. Also, science and the scientific process have their own obvious limitations. For instance, science can only observe physical, repeatable phenomenon, and even then, can only be understood through philosophical, religious, and psychological barriers. However, it is unprovable whether there is anything beyond the physical or not. There are possibilities, but not obvious facts. The belief that any individual has the mental capacity for all knowledge, immediate or distant, imminent or transcendent, is baseless. As the old philosophical argument goes, if someone believed shadows cast on the wall to be the substance of the shadows, they would be unaware of their own ignorance. Science clearly has limitations; limitations regarding truth, history, emotions, etc. Some phenomena leave unclear traces, and could be attributed to many causes. But science can only observe what is repeatable, and in the case of scientific analysis, such as evolution, the scientist is left with general observations with more or less likely outcomes. Most evolutionary theory and modern practice, however, is based on possibility, not on fact. It seems of greater reason to insist that public school teachers therefore rest in a more cautious pose – though they have become quite comfortable in their arrogance of the institution and the systematic dumbing down of an entire nation.

           To believe in science above other forms of knowledge is no more than a religion itself – with man and science as deity, regardless of the vast evidence against man holding captive all knowledge. To be sure, science is profitable – but not on its own, or without any check. The ignorant cattle, such as those graduating from the government controlled public school system, are taught not to ask questions, and to accept fact based on what is accepted knowledge and what is not. They are taught to trust the government, even though the government has mistreated Native Americans. They are taught that if everyone believes something, it has basis, such as evolution (though I am not discrediting evolution), but slavery was a widely accepted practice in years past. They are taught reason can establish truth, rather than truth being unable to change, by its own definition. They misrepresent the facts, teaching that the Civil War was for the sake of slaves, rather than the truth: Abraham Lincoln cared only for uniting the North and South into a stronger federal government – it just so happened that slaves earned their freedom through the process. Public schools hold our children captive all day, and if they don’t listen they are treated as outcasts and medicated. But a parent can’t stay home with their children either, because the expense of life in America requires for either two parents to work or for one parent to work and earn their living from government programs, thereby increasing the individual’s dependence on the government. All the while, media tells Americans what they must have – like iphones – which only further strain the American pocket and distract us from more ethical pursuits. Rather than realizing the threat, my generation has taken up the cause, declaring themselves to be owned by those who seek only to control them for the sake of ease and comfort. This they have done by means of industrialization, with the outcome of greater productivity and globalization.

They have robbed us of our uniqueness (where convenient), and convinced us of our inability to work together so they can intervene and offer greater protection (where required). They entice our cooperation with free health care, greater societal safety, inflation (which they have instigated), potentially free college, and so on. This has created a generation of government dependent invalids, who care not for liberty and freedom nor truth, but only for mediocrity, further convinced through technology such as video games, cell phones, and other “entertainment” so prevalent in the American society. Not to say that the government is necessarily responsible for these things, but they have certainly taken hold of the opportunity to enslave where they can benefit. But the media has joined forces in purpose, further dividing Americans – with all their uniqueness and individuality – into Liberals and Conservatives who must hate one another and become engrossed with political matters. To this end, racism has been redefined; it no longer means the belief that one ethnic group is greater or less than others (race hate). Now it is a confused term, which is randomly thrown at others to mark them as a “racist”, and thereby win the argument. Sexism is no longer prejudice against the opposite sex. Instead, it is a man that has to leave his family to go to a job he hates. It is anytime that a husband asks his wife to make him a meal. It is anytime that a man depends on a woman for anything. It is the belief not in equality, but in over-correction. Does sexism and racism exist? Yes, but anything that is not guided by a desire for restoration is fruitless and further condones the pendulum swing of society. When actions are based off hate, bitterness, spite, and anger, they do not produce good results in the long term. They must be dealt with wisely to produce wise results. Rioting, wearing vaginas on the head, blocking highway traffic, and other such things are not going to move the country forward, but only produce more tension. President Obama, who devastated the American economy, was considered by many to be a great president, regardless of facts, simply because he was portrayed as a great president. President Trump, who began passing executive orders as soon as he was in office, was given a free-pass by the same conservatives who condemned President Obama for the same actions.  Of course desperate times call for desperate measures, but being ok with a single person wielding power over the many is not a comforting thought. And now America has become so ignorant that they have accepted unfounded ideas. Actors and athletes have become political advocates that people have actually begun listening to. We are taught that it is either/or in a world of extremes, but extremism hardly brings wisdom.

           What we are not taught is even more alarming. We aren’t taught how to effectively argue, adapt, and learn. We aren’t taught the truth about history – for instance, that Africans sold their own people to not just Americans but many other peoples: it was not a “white man” industry. Furthermore, we are told that it is racist if someone mistakes a Japanese person for a Chinese person, but not if white people are forced into a mold of “white/Caucasian” based on their skin color and not their ethnicity. Mexicans are called Hispanic or Latin, broad terms, even though there are many different types of “Hispanics” and being Mexican is not bad, only specific. Obviously, if someone does not have ancestry in Mexico, and are called Mexican, it would be incorrect, but not racist. It would be a confusion of nationality based off similar speaking patterns and skin tone which is hard to distinguish when someone doesn’t spend time with that ethnic group. However, calling someone racist based off their misunderstanding of Hispanic history is quite an over-reach. That would be equivalent to me, an American, being confused for a Canadian – not racist, just incorrect. We are told that black pride/power is ok, but white pride/power is not ok, even though both are fueled by the dictionary definition of racism. We aren’t taught the truth about math – that common core is more complicated and less efficient. We aren’t taught that our government is not our master, but we are theirs. We aren’t taught the truth about college – that it isn’t the best course of action for everyone. We aren’t taught the truth about real life – that you don’t get the summer off in a real job, and schools don’t teach how to do your laundry, file taxes, or live off a low income. We are taught to follow our dreams and do what we enjoy, rather than the truth – happiness will never come from work. We must instead find work, and choose to enjoy our lives. How stupid it is to encourage people to get degrees in the things they enjoy, when there is no market for such a thing. Why should anyone spend thousands of dollars – that they will have to pay for in years to come – just so they can get a piece of paper that says they have done this thing – a degree in something useless (such as art history) without a firm grasp of the job market? High school seniors are faced with much anxiety because they are taught that they have to do a job they will enjoy rather the job they qualify for. We are taught to put our money in a savings account, even though inflation is higher than the interest rates on those accounts.

           So what do I propose? First, that we no longer believe something because we want to, because it sounds good, or because everyone else believes it. We must gain our intelligence back. In a world that spelling skills are overlooked due to the progress of technology, learning seems pointless, but time will prove the benefits of wisdom. We must test and consider other possible beliefs or ideas. We must challenge ourselves to keep learning and growing.

           Second, we must not lose our calm. When conversing with others of different opinions, listen to what they are saying respectfully, consider what they have said, and find pros and cons to their argument. But when we become emotionally distraught at someone having a differing opinion, we close ourselves off from knowledge and become ignorant. We must acknowledge that the world is not perfect, and people will believe and act different than us. We must realize that humanity has progressed in some areas and went backwards in others. We must realize that just because we get mad doesn’t mean we are right, and just because we are passionate about something doesn’t mean it is good and everyone else should be passionate for it to. Nor should we get angry because a friend or the nation is angry at something. If you only observe thoughts of others through your own view rather than through theirs, you will never understand the world or others, and you will always be limited in your own abilities and potential. Of course truth is absolute, but I am not talking about truth – I am talking about perspective.

           Third, when arguing we must gather facts. Not what we want to be true or what we heard is true, but what we have studied and proven. Just because it is on the news, the internet, or in the mouth of someone you like doesn’t mean it is true or factual. You must realize that sometimes your enemies or those you look down on are right. Discoveries change over time too. Sometimes archaeologists, for instance, will believe one thing, only to find more data and discover that there are multiple possibilities.

           Fourth, we must abandon the lie of relative truth. It may seem easier to believe that “something is right for them but not for me”, but real truth never changes. Either slavery is or is not wrong. Either women are equal to men or they are not. If truth is relative then nothing really matters, and arguing a point is obsolete either way. If truth is relative, nothing can truly be known, and life doesn’t matter anyways. That means that detestable things like genocide, child molestation, abuse, and rape are all justifiable under certain conditions. Something sounding good doesn’t make it true. Just because we desire for truth to be relative, and learn by our culture that it is, doesn’t mean it is a logical or reasonable thought pattern. If there is absolute truth, then there is a basis for the absolute: God (a never changing, uncreated being), culture (a morally shifting being), individual (a culturally bound being), etc. Given the prospects, God seems the most likely standard of absolute, unchanging truth, and therefore the standard of right and wrong. Everything that can be studied has age, and therefore was created, which implies that God is again the most likely option. Furthermore, that means that God must be separate from the physical world, a metaphysical being. This means that Buddhism and Hinduism are less likely, and Christianity, Judaism and Islam are more likely. However, these all have varying ideas of God, so they can’t worship the same being. Allah is not YHWH – clearly. To narrow down who God is takes the example into the realm of philosophy, religion, and possibility, and therefore beyond my point.

           Fifth, we must realize the limitations of knowledge and the bias of our own cultures. Band-wagon is when everyone is doing it, so you should too. You become invested, involved, and passionate about something just because others are. But if you truly stop and ask what the basis is for such nonsense, you may think differently. For instance, atheism became a fad a few years ago, even though it is ridiculous. Basically, it claims that everything came into existence by nothing doing something perfectly. It strongly depends on scientism, and in many cases becomes cultic in worldview. However, once you get passed the argument pattern of atheism: make fun of dissenting views – especially faith oriented ones, rapidly fire straw-man fallacies, and over-sell/lie about data (or just depend on the bandwagon fallacy), you discover that atheism doesn’t have much proof or logic to it. Our problem is that, as people, we invest our emotions and insecurities into arguments, and become side-tracked.

           Sixth, we must stay on point with our argument. We don’t resort to red-herrings, band wagon, or other fallacies. We don’t blindly note statistics, but consider the limitations of the statistics. Statistics don’t lie, but they can be misunderstood and improperly read without consideration for loop-holes. A statistic got going in regards to divorce a few years back, which basically said that half of marriages end in divorce. However, they took the amount of divorces that year without pin-pointing what year the married peoples had gotten married. They also didn’t consider that the marriage rate had dropped, nor did they analyze differences between cultures, ethnic groups, or other key factors. They didn’t consider the ages of those people being divorced, and they didn’t consider what marriage it was (the first, the second, etc.). As you can tell, there was a lot of missing data, yet the theory still became widely believed. Statistics are often misused. Just because an argument sounds well-based doesn’t mean it is. There was an anti-Christian article I was recently reading which made many claims but had no references. You will notice that my paper doesn’t have references either. That’s because I have not made any bold claims, and am instead depending on American culture. I am sharing opinions, ethical considerations, and observations for the sake of breaking my society’s idiocy. We don’t make fun of the person we are arguing against, we combat ideas. Making fun of an idea does not prove or disprove it, and is pointless for the sake of a successful argument. You are not right just because it seems good, but because you have proven beyond a doubt your point. Calling someone a racist or sexist or other term does not win arguments either.

           Lastly, the key to winning arguments is to not be concerned with winning the argument. People are more than the opinions they hold. When we reduce life to winning, we miss the big picture of life itself. People are rarely persuaded at the time of the argument, or in any social media post, or on the fly. People are more often persuaded over time. But we must not let our purpose be to win, but to progress – even if that means we are proven wrong. Not everything has a clear answer, nor does it have a right or wrong. Much of life exists in uncomfortable grey areas. There is truth, but we have to enjoy the journey, and be ok with not having all the answers, even as we find answers.

           This sounds like the ravings of a mad man to those who have hardened their minds, but for those who desire understanding and have sought it through practice, it is a challenge.

#science #observation #analysis #consider #Christianity #scientism #critical #thinking