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kingofthewilderwest · 6 years

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FMA 2003 Anime First Runthrough Thoughts

So people saw, in the last few weeks, me liveblogging my first runthrough of the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime. I still have yet to finish the story by watching Conqueror of Shamballa, but before I do so and before I forget to do so, I’m going to post some of my thoughts - more coherently - about the 2003 series.

There are lots of angles I could look at, both pros and cons, and certainly all have points to talk about in length. I’m not going to go into everything now, though. What I’m writing here are some of the biggest first impressions I take from the 2003. Here I’ll mainly write a list of analytical qualifications of how FMA 2003′s storytelling structure differs from Arakawa’s - and consequently how the 2003 anime comes across (to me) as less effective. None of this is in disrespectful criticism of the 2003, which I did end up enjoying enough I’ll potentially do a rewatch (and some episodes I adore so much I actively recommend them to others, too). This is just for me to reflect, in fascination, at how 2003′s different writing choices create some different results and effects.

My response would be better nuanced and FAR more accurate with a second watch through, of course. So don’t take everything I say as a concrete, flawless handling of the topic. We don’t catch everything structurally and informationally the first time watching something, and a story feels different the second time through. However, these are points I take from a first run through regarding (what I feel to be) the odd, limited efficacy of the 2003:

FMA 2003 has an overall grimmer take on reality and achievement. How events unfold and how characters respond in the 2003 show a different level of cynicism versus motivational optimism than in FMAB / the manga. What moral lessons are expounded upon and taken away from has a huge effect on mood. Furthermore, to what extent characters achieve their goals, and feel satisfied with that, and how much characters receive a happy ending... plays into this overall mood difference between 2003 and 2009 / the manga.

FMA 2003′s pacing doesn’t have as much drive. This is due to several factors, like how much time is spent focusing on equivalent materials (ex: one versus two episodes in Liore with Father Cornello), how many filler episodes there are, and how pacing is weighted. FMA 2003 and FMAB have opposite pacing weights. The 2003 anime has a slow start and a faster end, whereas FMAB has a fast jump start but is climax heavy at the end. All of this results in FMAB having a much smoother flow and exciting build, whereas FMA struggles with momentum.

Arakawa is extremely solid for logical clarity, explanations, and follow-through - be it in why events happen in the story, or how clear the story feels to us audience members. Explanations, clarity, and follow-through of various points is more convoluted and inconsistent in the 2003.

So, to talk about it in more detail:

I have downright adored Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist storyline for almost a decade now and believe she has captured one of the most brilliant stories ever told. With the 2003 anime, it’s interesting to see creators take material just from the start of her writing and attempt to finish that story separately from her. There are some cool elements to it - the idea of the homunculi being created from failed human transmutation experiments is rather clever, for instance. But there are also some things which make the anime’s story less clean, directed, and powerful as what Arakawa does.

The writers don’t handle explanations and follow-through as well in FMA 2003. By “follow-through” I mean continuing storyline elements forward or using details from past episodes to build material in future episodes. So, if someone completely forgets to follow through on information, then plot threads are left hanging. FMA 2003 doesn’t usually leave threads hanging, but it’s like the story neglects to braid threads together evenly. This results in story threads feeling like a machine spurting on and off, material being less explained, story arcs being awkwardly handled, and the plot as a whole containing more logic holes.

It’s easy to talk about this with some examples. For instance:

Mustang assassinated the Fuhrer in an overt enough manner to be accused, and even if he and Hawkeye had managed to kill all nearby security, reports would have made it to other military personnel. In fact, reports of the event were how Archer got onto the scene to try to halt Mustang. At the LEAST, Roy would be obviously suspected of killing Bradley due to heavy lacerations across his body (plus wouldn’t an ambulance show up at Bradley’s location to take him to the hospital, showing where Mustang was at the time of the event??). And there would be other manners in which Mustang could be put in a position to be incriminated.

Edward said that Mustang could never be a leader again because he couldn’t get people behind him. Bradley himself said Mustang could never again hold a leadership position after assassination. And yet not only does Mustang have no seen dirt on him at the end of the anime, but he retains his high military rank - not even a demotion for disobeying orders, subverting northern troops, and killing the nation’s leader.

(Note: I know he drops in rank in Shamballa, but I hear that’s due to choice, not repercussions of the assassination - by the end of 2003 when he’s recovering, he’s still got his high rank. He gets off clean for literally murdering the country’s most powerful individual).

In fact, you have to wonder how everyone gets off the hook. It’s not like I’d expect them to pin down Havoc specifically impersonated Mustang, but higher-ranking officers like Alex Armstrong led troops to attack Central and that can’t be denied. Why is Alex stepping off free? For all this story focuses on the concept of equivalent exchange and unpleasant consequences, this story sometimes drops odd logic holes on the responsibility front.

Did you even notice Ed accepts Hohenheim as his father at the end... without obviously emotionally working through all the grits of Hohenheim’s backstory and information regarding Philosopher’s Stone creation? There might have been something here to explore the consequences of. It’s like Ed almost accepts his father more effortlessly in London after hearing Hohenheim’s worst side and past... than he does at the start of the story reuniting with Hohenheim.

The truth is that follow-through throughout the anime is uneven. The strangeness of the Elric brothers’ missing father gets hit hard in the starting episodes, gets dropped completely off the radar, then at once cumbersomely, in full force, is relevant again. That plot thread is neither paced nor juggled well. There’s a difference between hitting key moments to progress and build a plotline throughout, versus jumping in and out of the concept to the point it feels sporadically addressed. Many things get turned on and off like light switches. Mustang’s trauma with the past is something that gets hit heavy, dropped, and feels like it’s an on-off light switch several times... until the end where they retroactively discuss some (though not all) of the issue. Even things as major as the Ishvalans’ plight just disappear after Liore. What happens to the Liore refugees upon escaping? With Amestris still being an aggressive military power in a state of widespread racial discrimination, who decides to reverse Ishvalan policies? Why? There is no development, explanation, resolution - just a quick, vague comment at the end of the anime giving an unexplained positive nationwide social turn.

And these sorts of starts and stops and off-balanced jugglings of plots happen all too frequently in 2003. Interweaving of ideas doesn’t feel well-braided... more like a braid with uneven strands, some thin, some fat, some loosely pulled together, some clumps forgotten, some tightly cinched together. Things are connected in FMA 2003, yes, and sometimes in cool ways, but the presentation can be imbalanced.

This sense of uneven content distribution and execution ties into plot pacing.

FMAB starts with unashamed alacrity - not rushed, but nevertheless boldly throwing viewers into the fray. It has a quicker start but focuses on a longass, heavy, high-intensity climax lasting many episodes. Materials build up from the start into increasing stakes for an amazing end. Furthermore, the distribution of episodes in FMAB cleanly follow Arakawa’s three act structure - the East and Central, the North, and the Promised Day arc.

I don’t get the same sense of cleanliness in 2003. Maybe with a rewatch I’ll get the scaffolding, but in a first watch... not so clean. Opposite to FMAB, there is a very slow start, with beginning adventures feeling almost like small, segmented, episodic, low-stakes quests rather than some tension-building gestalt. And the climax, instead of being drawn out and grand for full effect, is proportionally short to the anime - with no time spread for a full denouement either.

So what’s the result? A complete contrast to FMAB. FMAB starts fast and draws out the climax, while FMA 2003 starts slow and shortly squeezes in a climax... which is a great way to stagnate momentum.

And as for the middling section... well. In 2003, there don’t feel to be as cleanly demarcated arcs proportionally. I feel like there is a lot of stop-go motion in the middle, too. Nothing builds to its full capacity and the other events don’t piggyback off well enough to keep momentum flowing throughout. There are a fair number of fillers. The excitement doesn’t vamp up near as much, nor feel as long sustained, nor make one event pull you grippingly into the next as well. Now, it’s true I could feel differently with a second rewatch and catch more of the flow. But I think it’s undeniable that there are different effects between how 2003 and 2009 are scaffolded - and goes to show how 2009 makes the much cleaner, more momentum-building plot building choices.

The 2003 series might also have felt more intense if they had created a greater range of character dynamics. More emotional range is effective, but 2003 doesn’t give us near as full a range as 2009. FMAB both gives us higher, more thrilling heroics... and worse pits of vulnerability.

In 2003 we talk more conceptually about Mustang’s grief over Hughes than show it; he is stable mentally even when he takes his boldest move on that front, assassinating Bradley. And in that scene, we never quite get the feeling “This is for Hughes.” Earlier, when Mustang works to rise his rank (and we barely see any of that), we don’t get much sense “This is for Hughes” either. Frankly, if people didn’t directly say it in dialogue, you almost wouldn’t have known.

Contrast this with Arakawa’s manga and the 2009 anime, in which something so small as Roy taking initiative (to ask every homunculi if they were Maes’ killer) gives us ongoing, lasting understanding Roy hurts. Then, once Flame of Vengeance and Beyond the Inferno happen, Mustang’s reaction is far, far, far more emotional and vulnerable. He goes to emotional levels 2003 doesn’t give him. We see Roy not just cry at a funeral one time, but here completely break down into a vengeful monster. Arakawa pulls Roy into downright VULNERABILITY and HUGE emotional failings, and because of that, we audience members take away so much more about his care for Hughes. We take away so much more emotion-wise ourselves!

So. We see Mustang at a far more extreme emotional low in 2009. (He breaks down three times in three distinct ways during the Promised Day arc!) AND. We also see him at more extreme moments of greatness. Fighting Bradley is undoubtedly Roy’s best, most dramatic moment in 2003, and while I enjoyed it immensely, there’s something to be said that Roy’s easily more badass in FMAB by episode nineteen. Death of the Undying is a powerful, jaw-dropping, eye-widening, fist-pumping, ultimate badass moment for Roy... and he hasn’t even hit his greatest OP strides. FMAB builds the heroes up to greater, longer, more intense battles that make you root for them and shout. There’s rarely even a single shout out “Yyyeees!!!” moment for our main characters in the 2003. It’s literally not until the last episode I felt any thrill for Roy fighting.

You know how much more emotional and amazing stories are when you give us these greater highs and lows???

And that’s just ONE example. List any character, and you’ll see the same pattern. Which feels more momentous? Ed punching Envy in 2003, or Ed whaling on Father in 2009? Sure, Ed might defeat more homunculi in 2003, but don’t the fights feel so much more epic and victorious in the manga? And which Riza makes you cry more: the woman who makes one (admittedly rather agonizing!) scream for Roy, or the woman who flips out in a gun firing spree when she thinks Roy is dead, guides a blinded Mustang after getting her throat slit, and declares at one point she’ll commit suicide after executing her commanding officer? Riza’s got many more cracks, depth, vulnerability, and badass heroicism in 2009.

Our big moments are bigger in 2009. Our low moments are lower in 2009. Our casualties hurt greater. Our successes feel more monumental. This range of emotion is critical to making story dynamic. Many ideas in 2003 don’t dig out their full potential because they restrict dynamic range. We NEED our characters to be vulnerable. We feel AMAZING when they’re big damn heroes. You walk away with so much more then.

Now, part of the 2003 not having anyone be big damn heroes is because of the grimmer take. Both FMA and FMAB tackle extremely serious topics with depth. But their takeaways are different. 2003 is a lot more about how life has problems; 2009 is a lot more about how life has solutions. Both stories have problems and rewards, but there’s a skewing in how the animes handle each.

For instance, FMA 2003 digs in deep with the Ishvalan people. There is a great amount of content and interesting, nuanced material showing a minority people suffering at the hands of an unsympathetic military state. I appreciate that significantly. The story does a great job calling out the military and questioning the state for their wrong actions. The story does a great job showing what injustices a people group can undergo, and how emotionally they are going to respond to such injustices. In another part of my liveblog, I described the sense of this plot arc as, “The military is shit. They destroyed us. We have the right to be angry. You can argue we have the right to fight back.”

There’s a lot of truth to what 2003 says. It’s a grim concept but quite true in the workings of the world. However, while 2009 also shows us how horrifying Ishval is and how terrible the workings of the world can be, it doesn’t stop at this grim perspective. FMAB also calls out the Amestrians for baselessly killing Ishvalans; Riza points out that even if upper command gave orders and Envy started the war, she and her fellow Amestrians carried out the bloodshed with their own hands. But. FMA 2003 says, “This is bad shit and people can be shit.” FMAB 2009 says, “This is bad shit. We should fix it.”

2009′s message states, “The military is shit. They destroyed us. We have the right to be angry. But that DOESN’T mean we have the right fight back. What we need to do is work to fix the horrors of this work.”

That wraps into one of Arakawa’s biggest, most widespread message throughout all of her manga, from start to end: All humans are important. All souls deserve to be treated with the utmost respect as human beings. It doesn’t matter if you’re a suit in armor. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pig chimera. It doesn’t matter what your race is. It doesn’t matter who started the bloodshed… you should be the one to end it. You are a human, human is good, and the best thing we can do is help each other. FMAB is about breaking out of the cycle of “an eye for an eye.” In 2003, Scar dies carrying out acts against the military. He doesn’t break the cycle. We understand why he responds the way he does, but it’s in 2009 that Scar and his brother become the damndest heroes in FMAB. Scar goes from someone with vengeful purpose for what the military has done to him… to trying to be the better person, the HERO, who fights back and gives back when no one else would before.

In the end, 2009 gives the Ishvalans new hope, too. It’s a lot more balanced in coming, especially as we see characters like Scar work through themselves... changing from a man taking vengeance for Ishval’s destruction, to someone working to rebuild Ishval. The Ishvalans’ return to their homeland is built up with good reason, hope, and moral messages. 2003 shows attention to the grimmer realities in how Scar’s life ends. 2009 gives us the greater perspective of growth and solutions in how Scar’s life moves forward.

How most characters’ goals are met - or not met - is another series of instances in which 2003 comes out less optimistically. Edward Elric and Roy Mustang have an entire conversation near the end of the 2003 anime about how both of them cannot achieve their goals in the way they initially intended. Mustang planned to rise to Fuhrer by distinguishing himself in military leadership. Ed planned to find his body by working as a State Alchemist. Both of these characters abandon their plans, Mustang commenting, “Both of us are like children, trying to be faithful in living out our dreams.” There’s a good lesson to be learned in this - don’t swallow evil into your plans, but purge it, even if it means stepping away from that initial dream - but it’s also got a lot more of the less pleasant grits of reality to it, than does FMAB in its messages.

For in the end of 2003, Roy Mustang never becomes Fuhrer, is not brought up any further up in military command to seem he could achieve that goal in the future, and is in fact set further behind his goal’s progression because of his injury. He wanted to become Fuhrer “for Hughes,” decided instead to kill Bradley “for Hughes” - but the result is a battle he barely wins, an encounter with Archer that makes him lose an eye, and a scenario in which he collapses unconscious in pools of blood from his injuries. Conqueror of Shamballa may of course change this state, but currently, by the end of FMA 2003, Roy Mustang’s life position is no great momentum forward. There are some good things about what’s become of his choices. He seems to be thankful to have Riza Hawkeye around him as he’s recovering. Still. It’s a more grim reality with grim results.

FMAB and the manga show a more positive future for Mustang. It’s also not ideal, but it’s a more optimistic angle. He’s going to regain his vision - the big injury he sustained during his final encounters with the enemy. Mustang is promoted to Brigadier General fairly quickly after the Promised Day arc. Only a few years down the road from that, he’s the second most powerful man in the country. The final photograph of him at the end of Chapter 108 shows us an esteemed General Mustang. And the way Grumman talks suggests he’ll be giving the Fuhrership to Roy down the road. Instead of Roy throwing away his goal’s hard work because it was imperfect, and instead of finding himself no noticeably further in life by the end of the story, Arakawa gives us a much brighter ending for Mustang.

Even if Conqueror of Shamballa may give Mustang a little bit more of a step forward, how Edward and Al regain their bodies still hits my point hard that how characters achieve their goals, and to what extent, is grittier in the 2003. It’s more imperfect in how life goes down. Al actually uses the Philosopher’s Stone inside him in the 2003; he and Ed sacrifice their well-being for each other to try to help one another; Al returns as a ten-year-old boy with lost memories; he and Ed find themselves in different worlds; and on and on. There are a ton of unideal angles in how Ed and Al return to their initial bodies in the 2003. You’re not celebrating a great, hard-earned victory. It’s CERTAINLYy not the same sort of exciting, fist-pumping achievement we get in FMAB when Ed finds a way to outsmart Truth and carry his brother home, arms wrapped around one another’s shoulders.

The way I like to phrase the end of FMAB is that most characters achieve 85% of their goal. There are some things that aren’t going to be ideal, and Arakawa acknowledges life isn’t ideal. Al gets Ed’s arm back but Ed will always have an automail leg. Edward Elric has to give up his alchemical abilities to return Al home. Roy Mustang has more years of work ahead of him before he can reach his goal. Ling Yao becomes Emperor, but doesn’t carry home with him an exactly immortal body. Mei Chang doesn’t become Empress, though she earns what she most wished to accomplish: secure the well-being of her clan. Winry, Ed, Al, and Mei all have wonderful relationships to grow through, too. Even though they don’t get every aspect of their goal achieved, that’s okay! It’s still the case that these characters earn through very hard work their own happy endings. These endings are more satisfying, and feel like a greater sense of accomplishment and resolution to their original goals.

2003 moreso undercuts what the characters want. What they achieve and how they achieve it is much less a sense of accomplishment, and focuses even more on the imperfections of the world around them. Ed and Al getting their bodies back isn’t a time to celebrate. It’s just another point in their long journey of trying to figure out how to make their life okay.

And we can continue looking at many more instances to see the pattern 2003 has a less optimistic spin on events. Both stories show imperfections in life, but 2003 hits that sense of imperfection harder and with less payoff to characters. Equivalent exchange and the suffering we endure in life - that’s definitely more positively spun in Arakawa’s tale than the first anime.

Even the ending words of the two anime, while both being similar in their idea, give a sense of the differing levels of focus between imperfection and inspiration:

FMA 2003: Man must pay an equal price in order to obtain anything. That is the Law of Equivalent Exchange. At the time, we believed that to be the true way of the world. But the real world is imperfect, and there was no law that could explain everything. It’s the same with the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Even so, we believe that man cannot obtain anything without paying a price. The pain that we received must have been the price we paid to obtain something. And, by paying the price of effort, everyone will certainly be able to obtain something. Equivalent Exchange is not the law of the world. That’s the promise Brother and I made to each other until the day we meet again.

FMA 2009: There’s no point to lessons that don’t bring with them pain. People can’t gain anything without sacrificing something, after all. But once you’ve successfully endured that pain, you gain a heart that is stout enough not to become overcome by anything. Yeah, a heart made of fullmetal.

Both of these endings acknowledge that we gain something when we go through pain. But in 2003, Al says that the world is imperfect and what he and his brother believed about equivalent exchange was imperfect. Al also is trying to say that he wants to step beyond the imperfect and incomplete Law of Equivalent Exchange and through that find a way to reunite with his brother. There’s a lot more focus on imperfection and the fact that life continues to bring imperfection to him. In the 2009, stating that we gain something through pain is given a more positive spin: once you do that, you can overcome everything. It’s not just that paying the price of pain will gain you a mediocre “something” - it’s that it will turn you into someone with a steel-strong heart that can overcome anything. Mentioning the Law of Equivalent Exchange in FMAB isn’t to talk about how the world is imperfect, but here it’s to say that the experiences we undergo give us a great end result. Hardcomings build our character and give us a happy ending.

There’s certainly a difference in mood between these two closing monologues, similar as they are in conceptual content. FMAB is far more inspirational.

Now. Don’t let this long analysis suggest that I think FMA lacks good quality. There are some extremely cool topics that FMA 2003 discusses in depth, especially regarding our responsibilities in war. And typically I tend to enjoy stories that acknowledge the imperfections of our experiences, and how situations never resolve in the glittery manner we imagine. However, in the case of FMA versus FMAB, I have to say that Arakawa’s story is by far more successfully emotional, satisfying, and inspirational. There has to be some payoff for characters to undergo their challenges. The way FMA 2003 is written, there is less payoff and less inspiration.

These are just some of my thoughts about how FMA 2003 is framed, and how that makes it feel in comparison to FMAB. I’ve had a hoard of fun watching the older series, and I could certainly talk about its positive sides, too. However, I think that’s enough yakking for now. These were my biggest impressions of the series before heading off to Conqueror of Shamballa.

#long post #non-dragons #fma #Fullmetal Alchemist #Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood #FMAB #Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood #analysis #my analysis

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victoriousscarf · 7 years

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for the meme: Jason Todd and Slade Wilson

Jason: First impression

Okay I’m reaching back to 2008 for this but I’m pretty sure the first time I ran into Jason was Hush because I read Hush really early. I remember it being my introduction to a lot of characters (including Dick as Nightwing) which is both great because it covers like Batman’s entire rouge gallery and crew but is also awful because it covers everyone and that gets confusing fast hah.

So my introduction to him was Bruce’s overwhelming guilt and rage over his death. That’s a pretty strong impression. I also know I read Under the Red Hood fairly early and liked it enough to get the animated movie the instant it came out. But I don’t remember really LOVING Jason at that stage. Like I liked him but he wasn’t someone I was so into. I’m pretty sure the first time I ever wrote him was Find the Sun. I had Dick and Tim in the first story I ever wrote but I’m pretty sure Jason wasn’t in it.

Impression now

God I can not with this compassionate broken and angry child. He’s brash yet kind, too messed up by his own tenderness and driven to extremes by his anger. Someone hug this boy.Favorite moment

Damn I don’t know. I mean the end of Under the Red Hood when Bludhaven is nuked and he fights Bruce anyway creates this really interesting triangle between Bruce Jason and Dick and tho Dick isn’t there he’s still so much a presence of the screen, the favored son vs the one who messed up and died and Bruce’s panic while finally facing this ghost. I don’t know if I can say it’s my favorite but it fucks me up to this day. I also like him fucking with Black Mask that always gives me a kick. And I really love him first meeting Dick back as Robin (the post zero hour one, not Nightwing Year One).Idea for a storyI’m sure variations have been done but I’d love more about him dealing with the Lazarus pit and how that continues to effect him. Unpopular opinionI really don’t like new 52? Like I’m all for Jason having actual friends and there’s some good in Red Hood and the Outlaws but like that’s never where i go first. Like Roy and Kor almost always are Dicks friends first. I wish Jason had been allowed to keep growing in the pre 52 with maybe some more links to Donna and Kyle and building a life post all the things he had done instead of scrapping the slate back and making him WAY less angry or brutal. Like, I’m glad new 52 reframes his compassion but I really like his compassion held in tenuous balance with his rage. (I feel starved for truly angry characters okay that aren’t just assholes). Pre 52 had some major issues with him too but tbh I’m more in Under the Red Hood territory than Red Hood and the Outlaws. Favorite relationshipYou gonna make me say it??? Really? Okay fine I’m totally into him and Dick. And I don’t just mean I really like making them kiss: I am so fascinated by the possibilities of their relationship in canon: favored son vs second son, and how Jason’s idolization of Dick turns to rage contrasted with Dicks behavior toward Jason starting as Robin, changing to his guilt and missing Jason so much turning to complete disregard for Jason when he comes back which directly contradicts Dicks entire reaction the whole time Jason was dead. Dreaming about him, getting into fights with Bruce, and perhaps most importantly beating the Joker to death with a crowbar when he mocks him about not remembering Jason’s name. (Sure it got fixed almost instantly but like mocking Jason’s death drove Dick, guilt complex almost fell apart when he let someone else kill Blockbuster Dick, to actually /kill the Joker/ which makes him the only member of the batfam who actually avenged his murder at any point??? Does Jason even /know/?) Add on legacy issues (when Dick disappears for a year Jason takes up the Nightwing suit too) and like yeah I’m fucking here man. I mean I love Bruce and Jason and the pain between them, and Jason and Tim starting with rage and moving to actually being friends but like the miasma of whatever the fuck is between Dick and Jason keeps dragging me back. (Come home brother is the only page I want to keep from Battle for the Cowl)

Favorite headcanon

Jason is acting president of all Robin’s have a crush on Dick Grayson club. They’re still trying to figure out where Duke lands but Steph is a member, tho she got the least of it since her stint as Robin covered Dicks mental breakdown era.

Slade:First impression

Damn I don’t remember. I’m fairly certain I ran into him in the teen Titans before anywhere else and he’s always interested me but I can’t quite remember which issue I found him in first. I know I spent a lot of time tracking down Judas Contract since it was out of print at the time and I have like a really early printing tpb from the 80s as a result. And even more time finding the issue where he just strolls into Dicks apartment to tell him he’s in Bludhaven because that issue never was collected in trade, so I was checking every comic store I could find and their back issues.

Impression now

I’m really disappointed he’s become more of a generic villain in a lot of DCs media. Like I loved him under Wolfram, when he was a Merc with an honor code and snarky outlook who was as likely to tutor the Titans as attack them. He almost became an ally a few times. And like I haven’t dug into his post new 52 comics that much but he just seems so bland and like oh ho ho he’s such a badass and that’s all that matters!!! So like I’m still attached to the character I just haven’t paid much attention to his recent canon.

Favorite moment

Hmmm… I mean I really like the time he allies with the Titans and the old squad was just side eying him the whole time while the newcomers where sorta more like eh? Is he so bad? And then Dick rode a goddamn nuke because why not.

But honestly it’s probably him and Dick standing outside the abondoned Titans tower, fighting over their guilt over Joeys death. It’s showcases both of their emotional pain, Dicks temper, and Slade’s strange capacity for compassion.

Idea for a story

Can I have another 80 stories set in Flashpoint with him as a pirate???

Honestly I’d be really here for an actual nuanced story exploring his relationship with his kids. Too often it gets reduced to hate or them being too much like their father and that’s not what I want.

Or! Considering I have no idea what the fuck is happening with DC right now but I just read that Superman and Lois from pre and post new 52 just got combined and have memories from both universes combined Slade dealing with his kids and Dick and sure throw Ollie in here too. The fact he’s both not met Grayson and has spend years intimately knowing Dick and the workings of his mind would be a trip and could be fun, plus his more complicated relationship with Joey and Rose pre new 52. Also Ollie would have a shit of a time figuring out his two lives (as he’s a set of characters that changed by far the most with the new 52) and why not throw Slade at him again too for old times sake? (Hey asshole remember when I crashed your wedding? I’m not even–actually yeah yeah I do you ASSHOLE)

Unpopular opinion

I have no idea??? I honestly don’t know what’s popular and what isn’t with him. So far no one’s bitched at me with anything to do with Slade.

Favorite relationship

While I’m totally here for the respectful turned to hateful rivalry between Slade and Dick (and honestly that’s another relationship that’s been stripped from Dick that drives me MAD) my favorite is actually Slade’s relationship with his kids. He’s distant, moves on a scale as simply a neglectful and not great dad to full on abusive and using his kids for his own ends (like for sure sticking kryptonite in Roses eye is a great idea!!!! But that was also at the height of Slade loosing his morals and mind). But as much as he wasn’t there for Grant, it was Grant’s foolish death and Slade’s pride that sent him on a collision course with the Titans. His guilt over Joey, first with his muteness and later for killing his own son, the fact that as terrible as he was to Rose he wants the person he respects possibly the most (Dick) to take care of his kids, especially her. The fact that when he looks at Rose the emotion the black lanterns see is love. The fact his entire plot in Flashpoint was his quest to save his daughter as the world goes pear shaped into apocalypse. Slade loves his kids he’s just a terrible fucking father and I love it.

Favorite headcanon

He still respects Dick despite everything they’ve done to each other.

#this is a dcu town #VS does a meme #just think guys if you ask me questions you get rambling answers like this

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ivfclinicsinindia · 4 years

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Best Surrogacy Centre in Patna

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Best IVF Centres in Patna

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Rush Limbaugh Explains -> Franken Resignation Is About Roy Moore, Not Decency

rush-limbaugh @ Old Guard Audio

Sexual Harassment – It just depends. at HoaxAndChange.com

Dec 7, 2017

RUSH: I got tell you, folks, I’m stunned, I’m surprised, I’m shocked. I thought that Al Franken would try to hang in there for another week. I thought he would try to make it past December 12th because that’s the key date. I told Snerdley that I was all ready for Franken to continue to stay in the Senate, not resign, defy his party. I told Snerdley, I told Snerdley before the program, just to get it on record, why I thought Franken would do that. Turns out I was wrong.

Greetings. Great to have you. Rush Limbaugh and broadcast excellence yet again at 800-282-2882 and the email address, [email protected].

Okay. So Franken buckled to the pressure of his own party. Even a personal plea from Fauxcahontas, Elizabeth Warren, for Franken to step aside. Now, here’s the thing about this, folks. Yeah, we had a seventh and an eighth woman surface this week with explicit claims and details about the mistreatment they experienced at the hand and mouth of Al Franken. But I don’t believe that all of these — what’s the number up to now, 38 Democrats demanding — I don’t think it’s about him.

I don’t think the Democrat Party standing up now in so-called righteous indignation, this sudden demand that Franken leave and get out of town as fast as he can, I don’t think it has anything to do with the Democrat Party and decency and justice. I don’t think it has anything to do with female senators and their power or any of that. This is all about one thing, and it’s why I thought that Al Franken would hang on. This is all about Roy Moore.

This is all about the Democrats’ desperate effort to contrast the way they handled the Franken thing and the way the Republicans are handling the Roy Moore thing, and then in an ancillary way, the way Republicans are not dealing with the Trump thing. It is clear that the Democrats looked at the Franken, all this talk about he was a potential presidential candidate in 2020, an upcoming Democrat star, all of that obviously total BS, because they’re happy to get rid of him because they’re not losing a seat!

There’s a Democrat governor in Minnesota that’s gonna name Franken’s replacement. I don’t know if it’s gonna be John Conyers’ son. (laughing) Keith Ellison is the name that’s being bandied about. Regardless, the Democrats are gonna hold the seat. So Franken became expendable. Franken became a pawn. Franken became a nonentity. Franken became a nobody to them. At the end of the day, they didn’t care about Al Franken. At the end of the day, they don’t care about individuals.

They never let Al Franken face his accusers. You know, Franken wanted to go to the Ethics Committee. He wanted these allegations examined. He claimed all along that he would be found innocent. But they weren’t gonna let that happen. No Ethics Committee, no Franken being allowed to hold on. No, Al Franken not allowed to face his accusers. Al Franken gone. See you later, Al. Maybe you could call Lorne Michaels at Saturday Night Live and get a gig there again. Just tossed Franken aside.

It was a groundswell that happened in the last couple of days. And I’m telling you, it isn’t about any newfound decency on the part of the Democrat Party or newfound morality. It is all about Roy Moore. Because the polling data that’s out there in Alabama, they are convinced that Moore’s gonna win. So now they’re gonna try to turn what they think is going to be a Roy Moore victory into an albatross around the Republicans’ necks. And it began today by telling Al Franken to take a hike.

Look at this story. This is the Washington Post. “White Women in Alabama Have Made Up Their Minds About Roy Moore.” This headline is filled with spite, spittle, and disgust. The Washington Post is livid. White women, probably Christians and a bunch of racists, have already made up their minds about Roy Moore. And the Washington Post is livid that white women in Alabama are not listening to them. And it was a Washington Post poll. It shows that nearly six in 10 white women in Alabama are likely to vote for Roy Moore.

“After the 2016 presidential election, women on the left called out the 53 percent of white women who helped elect Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. … Last spring, actress Tina Fey warned white, college-educated women who had supported Trump that their votes would have negative consequences for them.”

Why does anybody care what a TV comedian thinks about any of this? Why the hell should anybody care what some TV actress has to say about anything? This is no different than taking public opinion from Twitter and assigning it automatic credibility.

So, anyway, you white women in Alabama, you have become the enemy. You’re idiots, you’re racists, and probably sexists, and you’re blindly — What these people in the media don’t understand, if they would have just shut up, if the media would have just reported this 10% of the way they did, there might be a whole different take going on in Alabama. But the media, in so many parts of this country is so distrusted and so despised and so disliked that they create a backlash against themselves to the point whatever they want is the exact opposite of what people do.

Now, it could be that the media is playing a psych game here, knows that full well, and wants Roy Moore elected. I don’t think so. I think the media wants to be able to claim they got his scalp. I think the media would love to be able to say they defeated Roy Moore with their coverage, and their coverage is being ignored here, and white women say they’re gonna vote for Moore anyway, and I think it ticks ’em off.

So, anyway, they’re planning on Moore winning. That means Franken has to go. Conyers had to go. That meant Franken had to go. You can’t kick out the octogenarian black guy and leave in the pencil IQ senator white guy from Minnesota. You can’t do that. Not on the Democrat side where identity politics is everything. This is also about I think Kirsten Gillibrand. She’s serious about being in the race for the Democrat presidential nomination 2020. And I think a public position here on the reprobate Al Franken, how he’s gotta go, is all part of that.

But I told Snerdley, and Snerdley can confirm this on Twitter where he hangs out, I told him, if Franken could just hang on to December 12th, when the election happened, whatever happened, Moore wins, Moore loses, it doesn’t matter, when the election’s over, the Democrat braying against Franken would go away. Because that’s all this is about now. (interruption) No, no, no. I don’t have any sympathy for Franken.

But I’ll tell you what. It is noteworthy, I believe, that this party — Republicans have been known to do this for a long time — but it’s noteworthy here the Democrats, I mean, they didn’t even have a second thought to anything approaching due process. The word of these women was automatically accepted.

Franken was not allowed to challenge ’em directly, he was not allowed to have them present their evidence via the Ethics Committee, ’cause they wanted him gone because they don’t care about him. That’s what this all boils down to. They care about the seat. They’re gonna hold on to the seat ’cause it comes from Minnesota with a Democrat governor. So Franken became expendable in the furtherance of other Democrat Party agenda items.

Franken’s speech in the Senate just now was a combination pathetic, sorrowful, pitiful. I think he thought he was Richard Nixon at times. He clearly thinks he’s a martyr. And he clearly has a very, very… Well, he’s deeply hurt personally by what people he thinks loved him have done here. And so he thinks he’s been martyred and he played that card up pretty well. He also drew some analogies.

He said (paraphrased), “It’s quite ironic that on the day I resign, a political party is fully endorsing a man who engaged, whatever, sexually with young girls in Alabama and a president who admitted to grabbing whatever.” Trump never admitted doing that. Trump was describing what powerful entertainers can do if they want to. But to try to parse that is a losing cause because people already think that Trump said that describing his own behavior. So we’ll never know. We’ll never know.

Well, maybe we will. What if the Roy Moore election happens, regardless of the outcome, and what if Franken — and, by the way, he’s entirely capable of this. After September 12th, the Roy Moore election; so forth and so on. If Roy Moore wins, I can see Franken saying, “You know what? You know what? After this, I’m not leaving. I retract my resignation. If the Senate’s gonna seat this clown, there’s no reason I should be quitting here. This is outrageous.” I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, a lot of you might have laughed when I said, “You know, Franken might change his mind and not resign.” Well, I want to play a couple of sound bites here for you from Senator Franken today, and you’ll see why I opined as I did. Here’s from his speech on the Senate floor about a half hour ago…

FRANKEN: Over the last few weeks, a number of women have come forward to talk about how they felt my actions had affected them.

RUSH: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait… Hold it just second. Let me… Where is the one I want? I’m looking… Well, go ahead. I guess it’s in this one. Go ahead. Keep playing it.

FRANKEN: I was upset. But in responding to their claims, I also wanted to be respectful of that broader conversation, because all women deserve to be heard —

RUSH: No, no. Stop it. Stop it. Here, I want to get sound bite 20. Time is of the essence on this program. I don’t have a lot of it. Grab sound bite 20. This is the point I want to make. Play it. Three… two… one… hit it!

FRANKEN: I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator — nothing — has brought dishonor on — on this institution. And I am confident that the Ethics Committee would agree. Nevertheless, today I am announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning as member of the United States Senate.

RUSH: Stop the tape! “In the coming weeks I will be resigning…” He has not resigned. He has stated his intention to resign “in the coming weeks.” This means that Franken will still be able to vote, for example, on legislation — say the government shutdown, say take the tax bill if it ever gets out of conference committee — and any other item that comes up. “In the coming weeks…” The Roy Moore election in Alabama is five days from now, for example.

So depending on how that goes and how people react to that, Al Franken could easily change his mind and say, “I just said I was going to resign in the coming weeks.” But until he submits the papers — and even then. It’s a long shot, I understand; but I think he’s leaving the door open, is the point here. He doesn’t want to go, folks. He does not want to go. He doesn’t want to go back to being a comedian. This made him, in his mind, somebody. You know, this made him a member of a club with only 100 members, and the last thing he wanted to do was go, and he still doesn’t want to go.

And he knows they’re not forcing him out because they’re really bothered by what he did, and that’s got to be eating him alive. They’re not asking him to leave because of what he did. I mean, ultimately, yeah, but they’re not offended by what he did, these women, these other Democrats. They’re not offended by that. They see Franken resigning as a political opportunity. I’m telling you, it’s all about Roy Moore, which then makes it all about Donald Trump. Grab audio sound bite number 21. This is close to the wrap-up.

FRANKEN: Let me be clear. I may be resigning my seat, but I’m not giving up my voice. I will continue to stand up for the things I believe in as a citizen and as an activist. But Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all her (sic) energy to addressing the challenges they face every day.

RUSH: Now, the polling data on the 2020 senatorial election in Minnesota at this stage, it doesn’t look good for Franken. There is no guarantee that he would win reelection right now because of this. In his remarks today, he alluded to the fact that really the mitigating factor here is the people of Minnesota and how much he treasures them and how much they mean to him and how honest and hardworking they are — and how, thus, they deserve an honest and hardworking representative and senator.

But this has caused problems for his reelection bid. It’s not automatic. But did you note here, “Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all HER energy on addressing the challenges they face every day.” Yeah. You have to think here that it’s gonna be a banner year for women in Democrat electoral politics. You can almost make book on the fact that the Democrat presidential nominee is gonna be a woman, and it’s gonna be either Kamala Harris, it’s gonna be Fauxcahontas, or it’s gonna be Kirsten Gillibrand.

Those are at least three. Now, there are gonna be some men, obviously, who will run, and it’s gonna be fascinating to me to watch how the Democrat Party treats those men, because when we get to 2020 — which will start next year. When we get to the presidential cycle of 2020, the Democrats have set the table here for the fact that they had better nominate a woman. It was gonna be Hillary in 2016, and it was. But she lost. She blew it.

And there are gonna be some Democrats thinking, “Hey, we’ve already done that. You know, we played the women card. We threw that down, and we’ve shown our diversity. We’ve shown our loyalty. We don’t have to set ourselves up and limit ourselves by requiring and demanding a woman be our nominee.” There’s gonna be some guys that want this gig, too, although it’d be hard to name them right now, but they will surface. So it’s gonna be…

And of course what happens in the 2018 midterms is going to hugely determinant here. It’s gonna be a big factor in what the Democrat presidential aspirations of 2020 look like. Because right now the Democrats think they own it. They think they’ve won the House back already. They do this all the time. They won the governorship election in Virginia. They kept the seat. There was nothing earth-shattering about it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This is Pat. Great to have you on the phone, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Yeah. Hi, Rush. Mega dittos. Yeah, the Al Franken situation, among everything else that’s wrong with Al there, it just gives me another example of how the Democrats will disregard an election result to serve their own needs. I mean, they haven’t even asked what the people of Minnesota want. I guess the comparison is that the Republicans are saying, “Hey, let the voters in Alabama see what they want to do with Roy Moore.”

RUSH: Well —

CALLER: I mean, what —

RUSH: That was a late arrival.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: The Republicans at first were fully prepared to deny the people of Alabama their choice.

CALLER: Oh, yes.

RUSH: But there’s polling data in Minnesota that doesn’t look good for Franken for 2020 when he’s up for reelection. So they do have that to consider. Franken even made a very roundabout reference to that. But, look, you’re right, basically. Democrats don’t care about Franken. All they care about is not losing the seat, and if they get rid of him, then they think they have the moral high ground going after Trump and Roy Moore, and they don’t lose a seat because Franken will be replaced by another reprobate Democrat.

CALLER: Right. Right.

RUSH: But you think Franken shouldn’t go? Is that where you’re going? The people of Minnesota are being denied the senator they elected here? Is that what your point is?

CALLER: Yeah, I don’t think he should go. In Franken’s situation, look, there’s no cigar; there’s no blue dress. I mean, we have a guy that was handsy at photo-ops. Now, he’s a creep, but they knew he was a creep when they elected him the first time.

RUSH: Well, wait, wait. Did they?

CALLER: Well, he had an admitted history of drugs and alcohol abuse, and he’s an entertainer from a late-night party show, Saturday Night Live.

RUSH: Those are all resume enhancements on the Democrat side.

CALLER: (laughing) Right. But, you know, I don’t see that there’s anything that is new here on Al Franken that people didn’t really know about him when they first elected him.

RUSH: Let me ask you this.

CALLER: What is this a new, shocking moment with Al Franken?

RUSH: Let me ask… I think the biggest argument against Al Franken is: Al Franken? Senate? Really? The idea just never made sense. I mean, if I were a Democrat, I’d have been embarrassed about it the moment they stole the 300 votes to give him the victory.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Let’s say that Franken would have told them to pound sand and said, “I’m not going! I’m staying, I’m saying, I’m staying.” They’ve got thirty-eight… Is that the latest count? What if thirty-eight Democrats told him to get out and he said, “No, no, I’m staying”? What do you think? If you want him to stand tall here and say, “I’m not denying the people that voted for me. They’re not getting a say in this and I’m not leaving until they tell me I’m out and they can’t do that ’til 2020. So Gillibrand and the rest of you, take it somewhere else”? What do you think would happen to the Democrat if Franken had stood his ground?

CALLER: Oh, I think they would start to implode, or they’d look weak backing off. But I think Franken’s problem is that he’s trying to think like a senator here and he’s stepping down. And if he was true to himself he’s come out, say, “Look. I was an idiot when you elected me and I was acting like an idiot. So I’m gonna stick around to be the idiot that you elected.”

RUSH: I think he may still because he said he’s gonna resign in the coming weeks. He still wants to vote on the tax bill, the government shutdown, and may. If he decided to stay… I don’t know. I just came with the question myself. I have to think about it. But if he decided to stay, he’d defy Schumer, because that’s who he’d be defying. He’d be defying Schumer and then whoever Schumer’s second in command is.

I don’t even know. Who’s the deputy leader in the Democrats? (interruption) That’s right, it’s Durbin. It’s “Dick Turban.” That’s right. So he’d be defying Schumer and Durbin and he would also be defying Fauxcahontas and Mazie Hirono (the Hawaiian senator) and Gillibrand and McCaskill. She might have gotten on the family private plane and buzzed his house in Minnesota. I don’t know. It’s fascinating. If he refused to go…? Well, they would have to come up with some strategy. It would be…

I think if they’re true to why they want him to leave, it’s clear the decks so that they can — from a moral high ground — attack Trump and Roy Moore. Then they have to continue attacking him. They have to continue putting pressure on him until he does leave, and it would be ugly. Well, somebody got to him. I mean, you’re right. If he was really thinking… Well, on second thought, citing Clinton would have been great. But the problem with that is the media has now gone become and revisited Clinton, and the media has said, “We blew it.

“We should have told Clinton to resign back then.” So if he would have cited Clinton, the media would have been forced to treat Franken like they’re now treating Clinton and say, “No, you’ve gotta go. We made a mistake then; we’re not gonna compound it by supporting you.” It would have been fun to watch, which is kind of why I was hoping he would hang on. I was hoping he would hang on until at least after the Roy Moore election, which is just five days from now.

I’m still telling you, he hasn’t resigned. Not technically. What he announced was his intention to resign in the coming weeks. I’m telling you, this guy has left himself an out. So the Roy Moore election’s gonna be the determinant here. If Roy Moore loses, then Franken says, “Okay, I gotta quit.” But if Roy Moore wins…? He set the table for this today. (paraphrased) “It’s ironic that I’m resigning when the Republican Party’s prepared to elect a child molester.” He set the table for not leaving today, depending on that election. You mark my words.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This is Kevin in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. Great to have you. How are you doing?

CALLER: Thanks, Rush. An honor to talk to you. I think… Remember when Nancy Pelosi was singing the praises of Conyers and Al Franken and Conyers was an icon, and two days later she just totally flipped? I think that Chuck Schumer must have called her or got her behind closed doors — and who knows what happened there? I don’t even want to think about that. But I think that because he felt that he was gonna lose this tax plan —

RUSH: Wait a minute. Did you just try to create a picture of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi behind closed doors?

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: I must be a little slow on the uptake today, ’cause I just started envisioning this.

CALLER: (laughing) I apologize. (laughing)

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: (laughing) It’s an ugly thought. (laughing) Anyway —

RUSH: Some people might call that sexual harassment just creating the thought.

CALLER: Exactly. It’s fitting to the story, but that’s beside the point. I think that Schumer has realized he’s lost this tax plan bill, and he’s starting to target… That’s the wrong word to use. He’s trying to now go after the women’s vote for 2018. He’s given up on the tax bill, and now he’s trying to strategize how to get the women’s vote for 2018 by dumping these people who have had accusations made against them.

RUSH: Well, I have just a slightly different take. It’s one of degrees. I think the Democrats think they own the women’s vote, and they’re trying not to lose it. I think they’re looking at Roy Moore as an opportunity to shore up the women’s vote even more.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: You have Pelosi. See, Pelosi’s instincts are vividly on display here. Franken and Conyers… Well, let’s talk Conyers ’cause he’s in the House. Conyers gets in trouble. Pelosi’s natural instinct as a political warrior is to defend the guy no matter what because over her dead body are the Republicans gonna be able to take one of her people out. It doesn’t matter what he did, doesn’t matter who he is. The Republicans aren’t gonna take him out. That’s her natural instinct, and it’s every Democrat’s natural instinct.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: They will defend no matter what it is rather than allow the Republicans to take any of their people out. They’re gonna take ’em out if they’re gonna be taken out, not the Republicans. So then maybe you’re right. Schumer calls her; they have a conference, and he reads her the Riot Act and details the long-form strategy. She’s not in the best of shape in the House, either. There are a lot of people who want her gone simply because she’s Jurassic Park —

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: — and they want more youthful leadership because the Millennial vote is important to them and old people get moved out. You know, the 18-49 demographic, once you’re out of there… How old are you?

CALLER: I’m 66.

RUSH: Okay. So you and I don’t count anymore. You know, once you’re past the 14-49 demographic, they don’t care about you anymore.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Advertisers, politics, all of that. They just assume that you’re who you are; they can count on you.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: But they’re given trying to persuade you. The 18-49, that’s what they focus on. Pelosi’s long past 49. So the business about defending Conyers and two days later deciding to throw him overboard is probably the result of what you say. Schumer sits her down and says, “Look, we can’t defend this given everything else that we’ve been trying to do with Trump,” and she sees the light; Conyers has to go. They forgot to factor in the Congressional Black Caucasians. They goofed this up in any number of ways.

CALLER: Just to kind of back up what I was saying, though, this morning I saw on Fox a poll: 77% of Democrats are in favor of ousting these people being accused of sexual harassment, and 51% of Republicans are in favor of that. I think they’re gonna run with this narrative throughout the whole next year right up until Election Day.

RUSH: I don’t doubt it. But that 77% of Democrats, there’s a reason for that. The Democrats have made this an issue. Feminism, pro-choice and all this, they’ve made it an issue. So 77% of Democrats just being loyal.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: They’re kind of getting hoisted on their own petard here. They never… I’ll guarantee you, they never expected this Weinstein stuff to drop or this Matt Lauer stuff to drop. They thought they’d be able to protect that, even while they zeroed in on Trump and Roy Moore.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: They think they’ve got the women’s vote and they’re trying to not to lose it, which is why you can bank on the fact that they’re gonna pull out all the stops to make sure their presidential nominee in 2020 is yet again a woman, particularly if Trump decides to run again. But I think they’re making a bunch of assumptions that are wrong. And they’re making these assumptions way too soon.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: There’s a couple more observations of Al Franken real quick to buttress my theory that his resignation hasn’t happened yet. He took that floor in the United States Senate and he spent the bulk of his time building himself up and talking about what a champion for women he is and has been, what a great guy he is and what he’s learned and how much he cares about representing people in Minnesota, selfless warrior, he described himself.

There was no apology. No apology. He didn’t acknowledge that one thing these women were saying is true. He questioned the memories of these women’s stories. He claimed to be a champion of women and women’s rights. He said, “Some of these things are just flatly untrue, and the others I just don’t remember them that way.” So that’s essentially calling them liars. That speech of his was to repair damage to him. Whether he resigns or not, that’s what its purpose was.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Well, it depends on how you want to look at it. I mean, you could say that the Republicans, by opposing Roy Moore at the outset, were prepared to make a political sacrifice. I mean, by opposing Roy Moore, they were basically ceding the Senate election in Alabama to the Democrat, at first. You could say that was a show of principle. But that’s not their position now, is it?

The position now is it’s up to the people of Alabama to decide, and we, meaning Mitch McConnell and guys, we’re gonna back off and we’re gonna let Steve Bannon determine what happens down there. And whatever that is, we’ll live with it. And if Moore gets elected, his first stop’s gonna be the Ethics Committee, where we’re gonna harangue this guy so long he’ll never have a chance to be sworn in. Isn’t that pretty much the official Republican — I mean, that’s what they’re saying. Well, okay, not the official, but isn’t Mitch McConnell quoted as referencing the fact that Moore’s gonna have to go before the Ethics Committee?

The likelihood, if he wins — I’m talking about an email. I got an email in the break at the top of the hour that the Democrats are trying to get away with occupying the moral high ground when they’re not losing anything by getting rid of these guys. They’re not losing anything by getting rid of Franken. They’re not losing anything by getting rid of Conyers. But the Republicans, according to the email, were willing to lose a Senate seat to maintain their morality by opposing Roy Moore.

And the emailer says, “You need to point this out. Republicans deserve credit. The Democrats are a bunch of phonies.” Well, look, I think the Republicans should be happy that there’s anybody out there that wants to look at ’em that way, in this. But why are you frowning? Is something not registering with you on this? (interruption) What was stupid? What was the stupid political play? Oh, throwing away the Senate. You mean it was stupid to stand on the high moral pedestal and say, “We don’t want you, Roy Moore. We’re not gonna let you in here. Who do you think you are? We don’t want you.” That was a phony baloney, stupid mistake to make, given we’re at war with the Democrats. All right. Well, we’ll see.

There’s some interesting stuff about Alabama here today.

By the way, greetings, and welcome back. Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.

This story’s from the Montgomery, Alabama, Advertiser. “An anti-Roy Moore ad is misinforming Alabama voters about their anonymity in the voting booth, Secretary of State John Merrill says. Merrill’s office on Tuesday released a statement on an ad representing a ‘targeted effort to misinform and confuse voters.’ The ad spot features a voiceover and a ‘Stand Against Roy Moore’ graphic.

“The ad is financed by political action committee Highway 31, a pro-Doug Jones PAC, and is unaffiliated with either campaign. ‘Your vote is public record, and your community will know whether or not you helped stop Roy Moore,’ the online ad says.” Well, now, that’s flat-out BS. Your vote is not public. Your vote is private. Now, they can tell whether you voted or not. But they can’t legally go in there and find out how you voted. You have to tell them.

So an ad was run, it was a shaming attempt. It’s kind of along the lines of people lying to pollsters because they’re afraid the pollsters will find out what they really think. Look at Trump in the presidential race. “I’m voting for Trump, but everybody in the media thinks I’m stupid and it’s embarrassing, so I’ll lie and I’ll say I’m voting for Hillary.” Don’t want the pollsters to think and don’t want the media to think you’re stupid.

In this case, it’s the reverse shaming effort. The Doug Jones PAC is running an ad telling Alabama voters that if they vote for Moore, that everybody’s gonna know about it! And likewise, if they don’t vote for Moore, everybody’s gonna know about it, and everybody’s gonna love them and everybody’s gonna praise everybody that doesn’t vote for Moore.

The Secretary of State made it clear that, “No individual voting record is made available to anyone at anytime, including the voter who cast the ballot. When voters cast a ballot the State of Alabama’s voter registration system is updated to document the election that a voter participated in but no record is ever made documenting the candidate for whom the ballot was cast.”

Your name is not on the ballot. Have you ever noticed this? The people of Alabama might not have thought that far ahead. And then we have this story that I mentioned earlier from the Washington Post: “White Women in Alabama Have Made Up Their Minds About Roy Moore.” This is a despicable story.

This is a story that just impugns white women as a bunch of racist Klans people. White women have already made up their minds, meaning your minds are closed and you’re for a bigot and a sexual abuser and you don’t care whether it’s happening to people like you, other women. You’re probably Christian, so you’re dumb, you’re stupid, you’re a hayseed and a hick, and you’re dangerous. And that’s essentially the Washington Post story. There’s a tie with the Al Franken resignation, the threatened resignation and the Roy Moore vote.

Rush Limbaugh Explains -> Franken Resignation Is About Roy Moore, Not Decency Rush Limbaugh Explains -> Franken Resignation Is About Roy Moore, Not Decency Dec 7, 2017 RUSH: I got tell you, folks, I’m stunned, I’m surprised, I’m shocked.

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vernicle · 7 years

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7 Best Car Accident Songs

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Vehicles are a well-known theme for music, in particular in the 50s and 60s when audio mirrored the frame of mind of young adults that owning a car or truck was unequivocal freedom, pride, and exhilaration. The most widespread car or truck music emphasized the freedom and power of cars, from "Exciting, Exciting, Exciting" by the Beach front Boys to "Hey, Minor Cobra" by the Rip Chords. But it wasn't very long just before the potential risks of cars turned apparent as car or truck incident fatalities have been escalating drastically, and young adults have been the most widespread victims. To reflect this, the car or truck incident track was born, and persists to this day as a unique subgenre of pop audio.

Right here are the 7 best car or truck incident music, some well-known, some additional obscure.

#7 Detroit Rock Metropolis by KISS is a rock ballad dedicated to a supporter who died in a truck incident on his way to a concert in Detroit. The youthful male is driving challenging to make it to a midnight clearly show when he rear-ends a large truck and is killed. Like all KISS music, it really is huge on conquer and modest on lyrics, and the precise incident occurs in just a couple seconds with no authentic lead-up or comply with-up.

#6 Ballad of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum is a track so wealthy in narrative they built a film around it, just like "Convoy." A hooch runner whose souped-up engine roars so loud it appears like thunder is the hero of the track and movie. Total of vintage strains "There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil's thirst / The law they swore they'd get him but the Satan obtained him very first," and "The mountain boy took roads that even Angels feared to tread." A little slim content for a film, but wealthy for a track, and, like Jim Croce's "Fast Roy the Stock-Motor vehicle Boy," it reminds us that NASCAR was born of law-defying moonshiners who have been folk heroes of folks who proudly promote them selves as hicks, hillbillies, and yokels.

#five: Dead Man's Curve by Jan and Dean. This vintage from the heyday of incredibly hot rod hits is a moralistic tale of what occurs if you ignore parental advice and engage in unsafe road racing. The track is whole of the standard language for the genre of car or truck music. Like "Hey, Minor Cobra," it names the unique cars (the narrator drives a Stingray and his opponent a Jaguar XKE) and revels in the enjoyment of the techniques of racing and the power of the car or truck, whose "mill's managing great," but just just before the race ends, it cuts to the aftermath of the race, when the narrator recounts the fatal car or truck incident that took the lifestyle of the Jaguar driver.

#4: Proper Profile by the Clash focuses on the aftermath of Montgomery Clift's around-fatal incident in 1956. The incident was the beginning of what has been explained as "the longest suicide in Hollywood history." Clift was a climbing star with two Oscar nominations, one particular for his starring job opposite Elizabeth Taylor in A Put in the Sun. Soon after leaving a get together thrown by Taylor, he veered off the winding highway and ran into a telephone pole. His face was smashed by the incident. He experienced a broken jaw, a broken nose, and two lacking teeth (one particular of which, in a graphic if likely apocryphal account, was taken out from his tongue by Taylor). Following his incident, he experienced plastic surgical treatment, but an alleged dependancy to ache medication and self-consciousness about his "deformity" meant he would never ever be the exact, which the Clash vividly captures in a lively, stuttering ululation toward the stop of the track.

#3 Incident on 3rd Road by Al Stewart is a characteristically lyrical and somber questioning of life's this means right after a friend is killed by a drunk driver. The service occurs on a wet day and usually takes just 50 percent an hour, conducted by a mumbling preacher. When he seems in courtroom, the driver is explained as "the variety of person even Joan Baez wouldn't really feel nonviolent toward." Though our narrator is informed that it is not ours to rationale why, he describes it as "remaining like a black hole in room a philosophy useless but profound." Ominously, the narrator seeks to drown his sorrow in alcoholic beverages to be just like the driver, and "somewhere out on the highway tonight, the drunken engines roar."

#2 Times of Graduation by the Push-By Truckers is the lead-off track to the group's two-disc Magnum Opus Southern Rock Opera. Most likely additional a narrative delivered in excess of guitar-and-bass underlay, it tells the story of when Bobby's "442" went off the highway the day just before graduation. Its graphic description of the incident, the accidents, and its fruits in the folkloric retelling that "Free of charge Fowl" was however actively playing on the radio when paramedics arrived powerfully sets off the themes of the album: cars, girls, liquor, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

#one Last Kiss by Wayne Cochran but popularized by J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers is the canonical car or truck incident track. In contrast to the moralizing "Dead Man's Curve," "Last Kiss" notes that even innocent young adults die in car or truck incidents. The narrator and his "child" have been out for a push. Like "Dead Man's Curve," which it likely influenced, the track functions its way up to the incident, then cuts to the aftermath. As explicit as it is in its theme, it powerfully understates some of its imagery with the paratactic phrases describing the incident: "The crying tires, the busting glass, the distressing scream that I listened to previous," and the trace that right after the incident our narrator awakes with "a thing heat managing in my eyes."

Lots of of these music are older because they reflect a different era. Currently, car or truck incident music are additional apt to be metaphorical like Matt Nathanson's 2007 "Motor vehicle Crash," which euphemistically upholds a car or truck crash as an apotheosis of sensation that would enable the narrator to escape the numbing tedium of day-to-day lifestyle. This transition is partly owing to the lowering prices of car or truck incident fatalities owing to improvements in car or truck basic safety and seat belt use.

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canvaswolfdoll · 7 years

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CanvasWatches: Young Justice (Seasons 1&2)

As previously established, I have an atypical relationship with superheroes. More involved than the theatrical releases, but not to the point of actually reading the comics (with but one exception[1]).

I tend to prefer animated series when it comes to experiencing superheroes.

So I’ve been meaning to catch up with Young Justice, the slightly more mature spiritual successor of the Teen Titans cartoon. Teen Titans stands as one of my favorite shows, beyond genre and without hesitation.

Comparing the two may seem unfair but… well, I refuse not to. Because the two happen to make a good exercise in comparing and contrast, share elements and characters, and one of them is following the other.[2]

Young Justice opens well, just casually tossing the audience into the thick of things. The well-known characters (Superman, Batman and Company, and so forth) are treated as previously established, while the more uncommon heroes are given light introductions so that the show can just go.

The sidekicks are given access to the Hall of Justice, but not any real place in terms of the Justice League. It’s a publicity stunt, and the sidekicks are quickly fed up with being shoved aside, and hijack a mission to prove themselves (and just have something to do). In the process, we introduce Superboy, Miss Martian, and Young Justice is established.

Though the group is only ever referred to as ‘The Team’ which I dislike. It just feels like the writers and staff are embarrassed by the moniker, and are avoiding acknowledging it, and I hate when superhero media try and pretend to be above such things. Just embrace it! It’ll make things a lot more fun! This show actually does a good job of good natured mockery of everything except the name.

So, I mostly enjoyed the first season. They build the characters and the world while developing a myth arc that operates in the corners of the story so each episode can still stand alone, narratively, but still all link together as a cohesive whole.

Even as new characters and team members are introduced, the central six are still prominent in every episode to anchor the audience, give us characters we know and are thrilled to see grow. New elements are well paced with their introduction, and my only criticism is that Zatanna and Rocket didn’t get quite enough screen time to grow on me (especially Rocket, who was a very late game addition).

There are plenty of episodes with inventive and interesting story ideas; my favorite being when magic separates adults and children into two worlds, and how the show then plays with the concept and answers many small questions while it happens.

They really make the most of being in a world where superheroes are a thing, and idolized. From small details like high schoolers unironically wearing t-shirts with superhero emblems on them,[4] and interesting conflict between the realms of Science and Magic, which you rarely see in stories that embrace Clarke’s Third Law as much as the DC World. Is Dr. Fate a sufficiently advanced Alien, or is Magic that unexplainable?[5]

Speaking of Dr. Fate, he had such a compelling sidestory throughout the first season! Introduced as a former hero, then we learn the true weight of putting on his helmet. From there, he becomes The Team’s plan of last resort, until it finally comes to a head and someone has to finally make the ultimate sacrifice!

It combines a few of my favorite tropes: Blue and Orange morality, great power carrying a heavy cost, and Legacy Characters!

The only episode of the first season that I didn’t really like was ‘Secrets,’ due to its trite villain for the evulz and the rather depressing twist at the end.

And you know what? Everyone acts so reasonably!

When a psychically produced simulation goes wrong, to a traumatizing extent, a psychologist is actually brought in!

Superman struggles with the sudden appearance of a clone, and Batman, he who adopts and raises all the children, steps up to tell Clark to get a hold of himself and help the boy.

No one ever forgets that they have Dr. Fate's Helmet on standby if needed!

Three of our characters are in compromising positions to select villains by the end of the season, and what do they do? They come clean, tell the details to the rest of the team, and all come together to make a plan!

There’s nothing I hate more than plots that can be solved in moments if people just bloody talked to one another. Plot-required mistrust and secrecy is such weak plot fodder, that I was happy the show decided to subvert it in the best possible way.

But then there’s the second season.

Oh man, is the second season… disappointing.

First of all, there’s the five year time skip. I have decided I don’t like how western media uses time skips.

Because, in most Anime, time skips are used to handwave away boring bits (IE: then Bob trained hard for two years and… now he’s back).

But when a western show does it, they do it to Up the Ante, introduce mysteries, and obfuscate all the fascinating things that might have happened. To make the audience go ‘Oh wait? What happened to So-and-so?’

It… just feels like a cheap trick to me. And a distracting one, because suddenly there’s a new batch of kids, but I don’t care about them because I’m waiting to hear what happened to the characters we already know and love!

And Young Justice does a particularly bad job, because the events that happened in the missed time period would have been fascinating to see pan out. The new characters would be exciting see introduced and inducted. Would it have taken time? Yes! But then these things would carry weight!

Heck, Zatanna and Rocket, who I was just complaining we didn’t get time to care about have both moved on from the Team! They barely get cameos. So they were just wasted additions in the last season.

Plus, they used it as an excuse to implant drama. The worst drama. Drama that also causes my two least favorite story techniques!

First, a lot of just telling the audience about character history, instead of letting us experience it. We are told Miss Martian has taken up Mind Breaking villains, and that’s bad and we should hate it. Except we don’t see it being the problem it is, just get told that it’s been a thing by Superboy and… eh? Besides Psimon (who, frankly, both deserves it and is able to recuperate), Miss Martian doesn’t do it on screen until the one time it’s the worst possible thing to do!

Which brings me to the second, and worse crime: no one tells anyone crucial information.

Because you remember when I was praising the first season for subverting that last season? How the original team came clean and told one another how they’re being blackmailed?

Yeah. They’re now doing the stupid thing. We have a season long plot where Aqualad’s a mole and… only a select few people know. Select people that excludes original team members, including the psychic mind-breaker and Superboy!

Egads, I understand not telling the new kids, but at no point should any member of the Season One team have been excluded from the circle of trust, Nightwing!

By the way, Robin is Tim Drake in season 2. Which means we missed an exciting arc of seeing Dick Grayson separating from Batman, and also skipped Jason Todd entirely! I would love to actually see what Jason Todd was like as a Robin for once, but he’s always skipped.

And yes, unlike Batman: The Animated Series, Jason Todd exists in the Young Justice narrative. We see the memorial hologram.

I mean, the second season wasn’t all bad. Blue Beetle was a strong addition to the cast, along with the compelling aspects he brought. Impulse is a good replacement for Kid Flash. Beast Boy was also pleasant to see, though he was ultimately underutilized[6] Static and his compatriots were also fun. However, from there, I don’t care about the rest of the new cast, as they never had any screen time to make me care about them. They existed for fight scenes and little else.

They weren’t introduced or given an origin, just dumped on us and demanded we muster a care. Which I couldn’t because… eh?

Ignoring the story surrounding Aqualad and dumb secrets, the Reach Invasion storyline was interesting, even catching me off guard in relation to Green Beetle, which is good writing!

The Light were less involved this time, mostly letting Lex Luthor carry the position of resident plotter.

Having not actually seen Luthor in action much, I did enjoy him as a villain. It’s actually fun to watch a villain who is very good at outthinking those around him and planning ahead, all while keeping his hands clean and his enemies managed. I kept expecting him to end up using both The Light and The Reach to reach his own, separate goals.

Roy Harper and his various clones did drag throughout both seasons. The grumpy pants vigilante with a chip on his shoulder was okay once. Not great, but adequate. But then Red Arrow faded away, replaced by Arsenal to just… do the story all over again? Only without the weird flirting with Cheshire.

I guess Lian would’ve been hard to get away with had they not done the time skip, but… actually, Lian added very little, so that’s not an excuse.

While I liked Artemis, I do wonder if the same basic story could’ve been done with Ravager instead, who has more of a history in the comics of working as a Good Guy than Artemis/Tigress did, and would’ve gotten Deathstroke in sooner.

Mostly I just think Sportsmaster is a silly character concept, and would’ve been happy to not have him.

You could even keep Cheshire, since comics Cheshire is unrelated to Sportsmaster and Artemis. It would’ve been so easy to pull off, and would’ve excited Teen Titans fans.

But that’s just me speculating based off the decisions I would’ve made. Maybe they were going to include Speedy initially, but realized they needed another girl for composition balance.

Then the second season ends with multiple loose ends, one dead character everyone liked, and a look to the future!

So of course the series is promptly cancelled. Whoopee!

So, first season was strong, second season felt like they were rushing things, skipping over rich and compelling material to get to a story they wanted to do.

Now Netflix is bringing forth (at least) a third season. I remain cautiously optimistic. On one hand, rumor says Tara Strong is coming in as Raven, bring us ever so closer to the Titans reunion everyone desperately wants.

On the other… well, the cast and roster is already pretty heavy, and viewpoint characters are few and far between. Focus will be split many ways, and I’m not sure they’ll be able to continue good character work if they don’t pick favorites and let them work. Plus, what if they do another timeskip?

Still, I liked it enough that I’ll watch the next season once it comes. But I’ll be critical.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Speaking of which, I’ve been considering checking out the recent run of Jughead comics. Thoughts? [2] We’ll ignore Teen Titans Go! because I haven’t watched much of it.[3] [3] Though Trigon Dad is still an amazingly inspired concept. [4] Though they never address the matter of royalties. Seriously, I would love to hear if Superman gets a paycheck. Or is them being public figures make their IP public domain? [5] I always disliked how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been so dismissive of magic. Why does Thor have to be an alien from a distant culture? Why can’t he just be a god without the snide remarks? Let me have my magic. [6] I will admit that the departure from the Teen Titans interpretation of the character clouded my judgement. But, then again, that’s my definitive version of the guy.

#CanvasWrites #young justice #CanvasReviews

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