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#at the very end of the show when (according to forums i found at the time) everyone collectively hivemind stopped voting for him bc they
not-supernatural · 5 months
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okay so. when i was reading the 2005 supernatural forums there was a bit of talk about phone numbers and voicemails that i didn't really pay attention to until this morning when i found something more
right after 'phantom traveler' ended, people started talking about dean's phone number that john gave in his voicemail
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but i watched that moment and went, where are they getting this completely different number from? on bluray john gives the number as 785-555-0179
and then i see this
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so at some point, the producers went back and overdubbed the number john gives with a different number, but the people who were watching it live heard 866-907-3235. and they called it. and this is the voicemail they got (youtube recording of it)
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so, the first time dean's phone is given out on the show, the viewers are prompted to call it and get a voicemail. 11-2-83 is the night mary died.
the next time dean's phone is said on the show, in 'home', they're also prompted to call it.
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and they find out that the voicemail changed
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(i couldn't find a recording of this voicemail)
since dean gives out john's full email address in this voicemail, people start writing it too. and the day before 'asylum' airs, they get a reply
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so now they have a day's head start on figuring out what this connects to. and this person gets it
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dean does, in fact, get a similar message as them in 'asylum'
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i don't know, seeing people this engaged with the show from the very beginning is just cool
before the season 2 premiere they got one more e-mail, this time jo's
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if you wrote her, she would write back "Do I know you? Aren't you a friend of Ash?"
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according to the spn wiki, this message was automated up until s05e10 'abandon all hope', after which the e-mail no longer responded. :(
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thealmightyemprex · 1 year
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Sci Fi Month Review 8: Lost in Space Follow the Leader
For this review we are going to look at a classic of TV Sci Fi ,Lost In Space ,in particalur one I saw on a few forums considered the best
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So before I go into what the episode is about,I'm gonna talk about the series
The series premise is that the Jupiter 2 ,due to machinations of saboteur Dr Smith (Johnathan Harris ) is marooned on an alien planet.Now the Robinson family ,Smith ,the pilot Don West (Mark Goddard ) and their robot (Physically played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld ) encounter many strange things as they try to fix their ship and get back home
Now while I am familiar with Lost in Space .....I have only seen a handful of episodes of the show .My biggest knowledge of the franchise is I grew up on the 1998 movie ,which to this day is a guilty pleasure (In fact according to my dad it was the first film he took me to cinema to see ).I have always wanted to check out more of the series but it hasnt happened ,so am delighted to check out this episode
The plot of this episode the spirit of an alien warrior Canto (voiced by Gregory Morton ) possesses Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams) planning to steal the ship
Yeah this is a good episode.A common thing I heard said about Lost in Space is despite Guy Williams being the lead of the series ,he kind of got overshadowed by Smith ,the Robot and Bill Mummy as Will Robinson ,but I think this episode is a good showcase of Guy Williams talents .He gets a rather heartwarming monologue about regreting bringing his young son Will into space ,gets some fun action scenes ,get to protray the inner conflict between John and the evil entity and gets to be a villain when posessed by the entity (And as a huge fan of Disneys Zorro ,its fun to see Zorro go bad) .Bill Mummy is fantastic as Will Robinson ,my favorite moment being near the end where Canto lures Will into a trap.....And Will bluntly says something like "I know your not taking me to my family ,your taking me here to kill me ",thats legit good acting .Johnathan Harris is so fun as Doctor Smith .Its funny that Smith was originally concieved as a malicious villain ,and in modern protrayals that tends to be the direction they take the character (Heck in the 1998 film he is CERTAINLY a villain )....But Harris kind of moved the character away from being a villain (Mainly cause he didnt want to be killed of ) so while not a great guy and almost certainly a spinless coward ,he does have a more nobler moments,like here he is fully prepared to take care of and being a parent figure for the younger Robinsons when everyone goes missing,I dunno I found that sweet
I do have issues with the episode,the way Canto is dealt with is VERY convenient and.....The robot straight up tells the family John is posessed half way through.....But everyone acts like that scene never happened
Overall ,I had a lot of fun with this ,might check out more Lost in Space
@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @angelixgutz @amalthea9 @filmcityworld1 @goodanswerfoxmonster @princesssarisa
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ljones41 · 10 months
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“LOST”:  “The Wrong Promise”
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“LOST”:  “THE WRONG PROMISE”
While going over old "LOST" articles and forums, I had come across a post that asked members how they would have ended "LOST". After reading several other sites and articles about the series, I had posted my answer.  
There was one thing that I wish showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had not added into the script for the series finale, (6.17)"The End".  I wish they had not allowed Kate Austen to promise Claire Littleton that she would help raise the latter's three-year-old son Aaron after reaching civilization, while the pair was making their departure with a handful of other survivors aboard the patched-up Ajira 316.
I realize that Kate was trying to assure an agitated Claire that everything would be all right, once the latter was reunited with Aaron. Especially since Claire had been stuck on the island for three years and had not seen her son.  But in the end, Kate's promise to help raise Aaron struck me as the wrong one to make. Why? It was not possible for her to meet this promise.
When she had departed Los Angeles on the Ajira Flight 316 in (5.06) "316", Kate had broken her plea deal from (4.04) "Eggtown".  She would have to remain in California for a ten-year probation.  When she had left California and the United States in (5.06) "316", Kate broke the terms of her probation.  According to the show's canon, the period between "316" and "The End" was roughly two weeks.  Chances are, Kate had left the country under an assumed name.  And since Ajira Flight 316 had been missing for two weeks, I suspect a great deal of publicity would have generated from its return to civilization.  I would not be surprised if the moment she returned to civilization after the plane's departure from the Island, Kate ended up in prison for breaking her probation.  That would have left Carole Littleton to help daughter Claire raise Aaron.
One might consider the possibility of Kate moving to Australia after serving time in prison for breaking her probation.  That is a possibility I do not see happening.  I doubt very much that the Australian government would have allowed Kate to re-enter the country. Three years earlier, Kate had entered under a false name and as a fugitive from the law.  Which mean that she had entered the country illegally.  I just cannot see them allowing her to set foot on Australian soil again.
Why would Claire need Kate's help?  The latter had left Aaron in custody of the former's mother, Carole Littleton, a day before boarding Ajira 316.  Ms. Littleton had custody of Aaron by the end of the series.  And to be honest, she would be the best person to serve as Aaron's guardian, considering the tenuous nature of Claire's mental state in the series finale.   Considering Claire's mental state, I cannot see Ms. Littleton would have allowed Kate, a criminal who had deliberately kept her grandson away from her for nearly three years, near Aaron while he was a minor.  In fact, I do not even see Claire allowing Kate to be anywhere near Aaron.  Hell, I would never allow a child kidnapper with a series of crimes hovering around her, near my offspring again . . . even if that person helped me get off the island.
All I can say is . . . what were Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof thinking, when they had allowed Kate to make that promise to Claire in "The End"?  They could have found another way for the fugitive to ease the young Australian woman's fears.  And for the past thirteen years, fans automatically believe that Kate had helped Claire raise Aaron. Without Carole Littleton's help.  Even to this day.
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fahrni · 10 months
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Saturday Morning Coffee
Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️
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We’ve been home for a week now and it’s been really nice to sleep in our own bed!
Now, if we could get Cocoa to sleep past 5:30AM I’d be thrilled. 😃
I hope you have a nice cup of coffee or tea ready and I hope you enjoy the links.
CNN
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has refused to surrender, and called Vladimir Putin “deeply mistaken” following the Russian president’s address describing his actions as betrayal.
I heard about this as I was crawling in bed. I hope the Wagner Group is able to destabilize Putin and end the war in Ukraine.
Probably too much to hope for. 🙁
iamthatis • Reddit
I wanted to address Reddit’s continued, provably false statements, as well as answer some questions from the community, and also just say thanks.
I love this openness from Christian Selig. If folks don’t know, Christian tapes his conversations with Reddit folks. It’s been very interesting to read bit the transcript he’s shared. It’s clear they have lied.
I just wish Christian had posted this all to a weblog so it would have a more permanent home. Who knows what’s going to happen with his subreddit.
Platformer
After a bruising week of protests and locked-down forums, things started to get back to normal Tuesday on Reddit, as — oh wait, what’s this?
Subreddit moderators are doing all they can to screw things up on Reddit. I applaud their effort.
Polygon
If you want to watch pop culture eat itself, go see The Flash, a movie that starts out as a sprightly superhero adventure, then dissolves into a self-referential requiem for the DC Universe.
I’m torn about seeing this movie given all the hubbub surrounding Ezra Miller but I really want to see Michael Keatons older Batman!
Trisha Gee
These days, distributed version control systems like Git have “won the war” of version control. One of the arguments I used to hear when DVCSs were gaining traction was around how easy it is to branch and merge with a VCS like Git. However, I’m a big fan of Trunk-Based Development (TBD), and I want to tell you why.
I’d imagine most folks I work with today have no clue how we used to work. I didn’t use git for version control full time until around 2014 I’d imagine? I found it terribly frustrating to work with at first but know I’m fine with it.
Anywho, up until 2014 I’d worked with so many different version control systems. I’d imagine I worked with CVS the longest and we had one main branch — trunk — and everyone committed directly to it. Yes, breaking the build was definitely frowned upon so you had to be very careful about your commits!
LA Weekly
When North Carolina Gov. Patrick McCrory signed House Bill 2 into law, I wonder if he was thinking long-range about what the result might be. I can’t see him and his staff wondering out loud if their thick-skulled, cracker logic might result in Bruce Springsteen not only canceling his upcoming show in Greensboro, depriving the state of revenue and its residents of a Springsteen concert, but inspiring Mr. Boss to issue a press release that more people have read than will ever peruse House Bill 2.
Henry Rollins seems to be a really great dude. Part punk, part philosopher, always interesting to listen to or read.
The Guardian
Seven years after the Brexit referendum, the proportion of Britons who want to rejoin the EU has climbed to its highest levels since 2016, according to a new survey.
I mean, duh! The British version of MAGA didn’t work out so well. It’s been terrible for so many. I hope they rejoin the EU.
Hendrick Motorsports
The NASCAR Next Gen Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was a hit from day one in Le Mans, among fans, media and even other competitors. And it was fast on track, consistently putting down lap times that bettered cars in the GT class. The car ran near the top of the GT field for more than 20 hours until a drive line issue sidelined the team for more than an hour. Overall, the car was running at the finish, completed 285 laps on the 8.4-mile circuit and finished 39th in the 62-car field.
This car is an absolute beast and looked out of place at Le Mans. It would also look out of place on a NASCAR track. It is a beautiful car with some really excellent engineering. Oh, yeah, and it is super fast! Good old American V8 horsepower under the hood.
I kind of wish I’d been more of a car guy when I was younger. My Dad certainly is and has built some beautiful cars in his time. His ‘37 Chevy Coup Street Rod is stunning and he used to drag race a 454 powered ‘51 Anglia.
I had the opportunity to learn a lot but didn’t. If I could do it today I’d love to be a mechanic or engineer for a NASCAR, IndyCar, or F1 team. I’d love to specialize in engines. I do find them fascinating and would love to rebuild one again. I rebuilt a Chevy small block in High School my senior year. Yeah, I took auto shop because I wanted to do something “easy.” 😃
Cadillac Racing
After 21 years, Cadillac Racing marked our return to the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 10—11 with our highest finish ever in front of a record audience of 325,000 spectators. Our No. 2 V-Series.R led laps for the first time in Cadillac history and finished on the podium in 3rd, with the No. 3 just behind in 4th, and the No. 311 fighting back for 10th in class.
There’s an article on Jalopnik that includes a video of one of these cars doing a bump start and it sounds mean. It instantly made me think of the Batmobile for some reason.
Now, let’s get more American manufacturers back in NASCAR. Cadillac would be a super interesting entry! I think Dodge is an obvious entry for NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Truck series given their history of legendary cars like the Challenger and their RAM trucks.
Cadillac would be super cool to see in NASCAR Cup racing but it may be too lowbrow for them? 🤣
Traveler Dreams
Renting an RV and embarking on a road trip across America can seem like more of a fantasy trip than a real thing you actually do. But you can truly make it a reality. And if you do, it can turn into a thrilling and liberating experience that will leave you with unforgettable memories. Here’s why you should take the plunge.
This is something I dream about all the time but I can’t quite get Kim convinced we need to sell everything and go all in on the RV lifestyle.
As a compromise we’d like to acquire a smaller RV and do some two week to one month excursions to see if we like it. It would also be great for week long camping trips with the entire family.
Maybe someday it’ll be a reality? 🤞🏼
Business Insider
When former NBC Universal executive Linda Yaccarino was named Twitter’s next CEO last month, advertisers breathed a sigh of relief.
I don’t expect Ms. Yaccarino to last very long at Twitter. I think my original quesstimate was six months but I could see it lasting as long as a year.
Musk is too much of a control freak. The kind of boss I’d hate working for.
The best piece of advice I ever got from my VP of Engineering and CTO at Pelco was “You have to convince people your vision is the right way to go so they follow. You won’t get their best work if you’re a tyrant.” It was something like that. Basically be a leader, not a bully.
Teri Kanefield
This blog post is meant to be read in order. Later answers are shorter because they rely on the information presented in the earlier answers.
This is a really nice piece if you’re following along with the TFG Top Secret documents prosecution. Dude is such a knucklehead and honestly believes he has magical powers to declassify things with his mind. Dumbass.
The New York Times
The engineers reminded him of their commutes. The working parents reminded him of school pickup times. Mr. Medina replied with arguments he has delineated so often that they have come to feel like personal mantras: Being near each other makes the work better. Mr. Medina approached three years of mushy remote-plus-office work as an experiment. His takeaway was that ideas bubble up more organically in the clamor of the office.
I believe with all my heart CEO’s like this are real control freaks and must have the adoration of their people surrounding them at all times. I can have these ah-ha moments, Slack someone, and fire up a zoom call to have the same conversations. It’s just not face to face in a building I have to commute to.
If our company demanded everyone come to the office, of course I’d comply, but I really don’t believe it’s necessary.
Just my horrible opinion.
Assigned Media
A federal court heard both sides during a trial where trans youth, their parents, and their doctors challenged a law banning gender affirming care in Arkansas. The court found that the law violated the right to due process and to equal treatment under the constitution, and ordered the law struck down because Arkansas failed to demonstrate a compelling state interest justifying the unequal treatment.
We really need the courts to continue overturning these idiotic and dangerous laws.
You cannot force people to be someone they are not and denying them healthcare because they’re different than you is barbaric.
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Apparently Meta’s Project 92 is going to federate with a limited set of Mastodon instances, pay them, and allow them to display Meta ads in exchange for a cut.
Embrace and extend. Amirite?
Let’s see how this plays out.
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monkeyandelf · 2 years
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Oneironauts and lucid dreaming: can a person control sleep and travel between parallel worlds?
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What is a dream? Since ancient times, people have been trying to understand what it is: another dimension, a parallel world or an alternative reality? Or maybe it is the "cosmic part of ourselves", which has become a receptacle of fantasy, fears and hopes? A dream is equally capable of frightening and bewitching. There, completely new worlds open up before us. While our own personality seems to stand aside, in a dream we grow invisible wings that take us to places that cannot be imagined in the real world. There is such a strange phenomenon as dream control, and those who know how to do it are called oneironauts.
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As they say, the oneironaut's ability to control sleep is almost limitless, and he can change the dream as he pleases. The very word "oneironaut" sounds like the name of some kind of alien race, taken from a science fiction movie, but, in fact, these are the most ordinary people, just like you and me. With one small difference - they have a special technique that allows them to control their dreams. But how do they do it? Oneironauts and Lucid Dreaming The first descriptions of this phenomenon are found in ancient Greek texts. Now the term "oneironaut" can be found in some areas of psychology and in the New Age movement. On the Internet you can find a number of communities and forums where people share their experiences and techniques in achieving one goal: to learn to control their dreams. The path to this lies through lucid dreams - a state when a person realizes that he is sleeping. Surely, this has happened to each of you: you fall asleep and suddenly begin to realize that you are in a dream and you can control the images and your experiences.
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"Oneironaut". To some, this will seem strange and even impossible, but, in fact, this phenomenon has even been documented and confirmed by science. In 1975, a series of experiments by Alan Worthy in England and Stephen LaBerge in California, who worked independently, showed that all this was indeed possible. Worthy and LaBerge presented experimental evidence for the existence of lucid dreams (which, in fact, is mostly based on theses), showing the general public that dreams can be controlled consciously and can be influenced while we sleep. Journey through dreams Here is how the oneironauts explain it, considering, for example, a nightmare. Immediately after a bad dream or at the moment of its end, a person usually has a feeling of relief. At this time, we say to ourselves: "Thank God, it was a dream." That is, we are still in a dream and yet we are aware that the nightmare is not real. This is the perfect time to take the wheel into your own hands.
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"In the World of Dreams". More experienced oneironauts do it differently, preparing for their dream journey while still awake. It turns out that they fall into a dream, still remaining conscious. In other words, the oneironaut falls asleep with the thought of what dream he wants to have, and ends up there. Oneironaut Techniques The most popular way to take control of a dream is to "catch" the borderline state, when you have a distant feeling that the dream is unreal. At this moment, as practitioners say, it is easiest to realize a dream. The main thing is not to think about awakening, because it will immediately destroy this fragile state. Access to lucid dreams for most people opens in those morning hours when we are still sleeping, but we feel that we are about to wake up. At this very moment in time, we must say to ourselves: "Now I would like to dream about ...". According to most oneironauts, a beginner can start with this.
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"Fantastic worlds that appear in dreams". If you are interested in the topic of lucid dreaming, then you should know that there are at least a dozen techniques with which you can learn to dominate your dreams. Their description can be easily found on the Web. It happens that only one technique is suitable for someone, for another - a combination of techniques. But, as a rule, one cannot do without long experiments. If you don’t succeed, then you shouldn’t be upset, some even for decades fail to become a oneironaut, because not everyone has a tendency to such an ability. What are oneironauts looking for? For oneironauts, dreams are not only an opportunity to explore a new reality, but also another dimension filled with limitless knowledge. Just remember that in dreams there are no frames, they are limited only by our imagination. Someone might think that a person who knows how to travel in dreams appreciates the "fabulous dream world" more than the real one, and he probably has an uninteresting life. But the oneironaut will answer that this is not so, and add that everything is just the opposite.
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"Flying in a dream". For them, it is a way of personal growth. Some do yoga, others go to the gym, and still others do Pilates. Why shouldn't people also practice lucid dreaming to become a "great oneironaut"? You call it a way of knowing our reality from a non-standard point of view. In a way that develops sensitivity and self-control on a completely different level. The person becomes more receptive and at the same time more creative. Types of oneironauts There are several classifications by which oneironauts can be divided. Here is one of them: - Congenital oneironauts: This group includes all those who have an innate ability to lucid dream and to explore the "sleepy realm". They say that these individuals have the rarest ability to remember everything they dream about. - Oneironaut Mystics (or Oneironautics Gurus): These are people who view lucid dreams from a near-mystical perspective. That is, as a way of internal self-knowledge, bringing them closer, for example, to the astral world and to higher spirituality. They strive to improve themselves, learn new techniques, and teach them to others. - Oneironaut Practitioners: They view the management of the "dream world" from a scientific point of view. Such people do not look for fantasy in dreams, but rather study the nature of this phenomenon in order to better understand their body, their brain and their sensations through it. - Beginning oneironauts: These are people who are just discovering lucid dreaming. In fact, they do not have any previous experience, but only want to learn how to control dreams. Have you ever experienced lucid dreams or oneironauting? Read the full article
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travissimblr · 3 years
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Sims 3 Performance Guide
Lately I have found the direction of The Sims 4 to be rather lackluster.  Let’s face it.  The game is boring.  Still looking for that “Sims Fix” I found myself going back to playing The Sims 3.  The Sims 3 can be tricky to get running correctly on modern computers so I figured I would share what I learned over the years.  I made this guide a few years ago for another forum so I’m always open to new suggestions/edits etc.  Some things may work well for others while some may not make a difference at all.  I have applied all of these fixes in my own game and I still experience lag so this is by no means a guide to completely eliminate the lag in the game but a guide to perhaps help your game run a little bit smoother.  All of these tips have been gathered from all over the internet and also some things I have picked up on my own over the years.  I own a legit copy of the Sims 3 and have never owned a pirated version so I can't say whether or not these settings will work with a pirated version of the game.  I also only have a PC so I don't know if any of these settings will effect the Mac version of the game.  If anything I hope this guide brings people back to The Sims 3 or allows people to give the game another chance.  The guide will be pretty extensive and I take no responsibility if you mess up your game  :P
Limit Game FPS - This one has been a godsend.  I was experiencing major lag especially in build/Buy mode.  My computer is way over spec for this game much like most computers today.  What would happen is that while in Build/Buy Mode my FPS would spike into the 200's!  During these spikes the game would almost be un-playable.
To fix this issue:
Download this file:  https://rd.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34]https://rd.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34
 I know it says it's for Skyrim but it will also work for The Sims 3.  After downloading it unzip the antilag.cfg and d3d9.dll into  X: > Program Files (x86) > Origin Games > The Sims 3 > Game > Bin if using Origin.   If you have the steam version of the game use :   X: > Program Files (x86) > Steam > steamapps > common > The Sims 3 > Game > Bin .  By default it is set to limit the game to 30FPS.  I have been using this and it works fine.  You can change it to 60FPS if you want by opening the antilag.cfg using notepad.  I haven't had a chance to test the game at 60FPS but its not like The Sims 3 is a First person shooter or anything so IMO its probably not necessary.  Run the game and your FPS should be capped at 30.  
Alternately you can try turning on Vsync in either Nvidia Control Panel or AMD Catalyst software however I wasn't able to get it working.  I'm using a Geforce 1080 and the latest Nvidia drivers.  When I turned it on in the control panel it did nothing in the game.
After installing this fix I no longer experience massive lag spikes while in Build/Buy Mode the whole game also seems to be running a little bit smoother as well.  Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about EA's terrible coding of the game so there will still be lag but this one has helped my game more then any of the other fixes as of yet.
**It also must be noted that FPS fix uses the same file as Reshade, d3d9.dll.  I haven’t tested if this works using the d3d9.dll file from Reshade but I can assume it probably doesn’t.  I do however believe there is a frame limiter built into reshade which should accomplish this same thing as this mod.
In Game Settings
1. Graphics
Resolution - You should always play at the native resolution for your monitor.  Most monitors today use a native resolution of 1680x1050 or 1920x1080.  If your game is struggling at this resolution you should always lower the graphics settings not the resolution.
Windowed? or Fullscreen? - This one is something that you will have to test.  Some people say that the game runs better for them in Fullscreen and some say it runs better in Windowed Mode.  My personal game runs better in Windowed Mode.
Object Hiding -  Enabling this can help to increase performance especially if you have a large house.  Essentially what this does is that the game renders every object on the lot you are in even if you aren't on that floor.  So if you are playing on the first floor the game is using resources to render the items on the second/third floor etc.
Reflection Quality - Setting it to Mirrors and Water will work well for most people but adjusting this lower can offer a slight performance increase.
Edge Smoothing - I personally have not noticed much of a difference in performance adjusting this setting but this is the Anti Aliasing settings for the game.  Try lowering it and see if it makes a difference in your game.
Visual Effects - According to the game "Controls the quality of particle effects on objects, Sims, and the town"   Medium would be the recommended setting for Visual effects.  It offers a happy medium between performance and visual quality.
Lighting and Shadows - Adjusts the shadow quality in the game.  I run this on high in my game as there isn't a noticeable difference in performance between medium and high settings.  Turning it to low will give a slight boost in performance but the shadows will be ugly.
Tree Detail - Keep this setting on high as there really is no difference in performance between settings.  All you end up with are some ugly trees and no real boost in performance.
Enable Animation Smoothing & Enable Advanced Rendering - Both of these items should always be checked.  Enable Animation smoothing makes no difference in performance and Turning off Enable Advanced Rendering can actually decrease performance.
Draw Distance - Keep this on high as it does not effect performance.
High Detailed Lots - With this turned up all the way I noticed a fair bit of stuttering in my game.  I have mine set to 4 lots but this is a setting that should be tested to see what works for you.
Texture Detail and Sim Detail - Most computers should be able to handle both of these settings maxed for a small boost in performance you can lower the texture detail to medium.  Sim Detail should always be set at Very High as lower this setting has only a very small boost in performance that probably wouldn't even be noticeable.
2. General Settings
Enable Shop Mode - This will disable the Sims 3 Shop from In-Game.  Turning this off can help with stuttering.
Enable Lessons - Turning this off can possibly help with performance.  I haven't noticed a difference but at this point we all know how to play The Sims.
Memories - Disabling Memories can offer a boost to performance and reduce in game stuttering.
**Alternately you can try using this mod if you don’t want to completely disable the memory system in The Sims 3
No (or fewer) automatic memories by velocitygrass on Mod The Sims
https://modthesims.info/d/446281
Enable Interactive Loading Screens - Turning this off has been said to reduce some in game stuttering.  Besides nobody wants to play that stupid game anyway.
3. Online
Keep Me Logged In & Enable Online Notifications - Turning off both of these settings will help game performance and reduce stuttering.
4. Advanced Demographics Options
Enable Story Progression - Turning this off will reduce stuttering in the game.  If you like this setting you can use the NRASS Story Progression explained further in this guide.
Advanced Settings
I will try to guide as best as I can with these but always MAKE BACKUPS of every file modified in this section.
In order to make this process easier be sure that "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked in the Windows Folder Options.  In Windows 10   Click on View > Options > Change folder and search options.  Switch to the view tab and under Files and Folders uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
Edit GraphicsRules.sgr - This setting will help the game run smoother and make for faster clothing changes.
1. Got to X:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin
2. Copy the GraphicsRules.sgr file and back it up in either in a safe location or even in the same directory just name it GraphicsRules.sgr.orig.  Click yes when prompted with the rename.
3.  Now Open GraphicsRules.sgr with notepad (not the copied version)
4.  You will see four lines that look like this: seti cpuLevelUber 4
seti cpuLevelHigh 3
seti cpuLevelMedium 2
seti cpuLevelLow 1
5. Change the four lines to this: seti cpuLevelUber 4
seti cpuLevelHigh 3
seti cpuLevelMedium 3
seti cpuLevelLow 3
6. Save in Notepad and close Notepad.
Edit Sims3.ini - This is how you force the game to use more then 2GB of RAM.  I noticed a massive improvement in both CAS and Build/Buy mode with this.  Clothing,Objects etc load almost instantly when this is changed.  The Origin version of the game has already been patched to use 4GB of RAM  however adjusting this value to reflect your systems total ram amount if above 4GB can be beneficial.  If you currently have 4GB total of RAM and are using the Origin version of the game you can skip this step.  It’s questionable whether or not this makes a difference in the game as The Sims 3 is a 32 bit game that only uses 4GB to begin with but it seems to actually make a difference in my own game.
1. Go to X:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (same as GraphicsRules.sgr)
2. Backup the Sims3.ini in the same method as the GraphicsRules.sgr
3. Open Sims3.ini in Notepad
4. Under [ResourceSystem] you will see this:
MemoryUsageLimit = 20000000 (  10000000 for legacy/disc versions)
5.  Ignoring the zeros this is showing that the Sims 3 is only using 4GB of ram (2gb for Legacy/Disc versions of the game).  Depending on the amount of ram in your system you should change it to half of your total amount of ram. Examples:
8GB Total Ram  MemoryUsageLimit = 40000000
16GB Total Ram MemoryUsageLimit = 80000000
32GB Total Ram MemoryUsageLimit = 16000000
**Be Sure to only change the first number not any zeros.  For 32GB+ its the first 2 numbers.  Putting this too high could cause your system lock up or crash and possibly do damage**
Modding
First go here and follow the instructions on this page to set up your Mods folder: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=9187.0
1.  Must Have Mods - Even if you don't plan on putting any CC in your game these Mod is highly recommended if not needed in order to keep the game running Smoothly.
NRAAS Master Controller - 
https://www.nraas.net/community/MasterController
This mod is a must have.  It fixes many of the errors in the game and helps immensely with game lag and stuttering.
Under Modules Download: (Not Required but useful)
MasterController Cheats - Adds "cheaty" functions to Master Controller.
MasterController Expanded Tatttoo - Expands the number of locations provided in Tattoo CAS
MasterController Progression - This mod adds progression related interactions to the "Master Controller" menu.   Addition to Story Progression (below)
MasterController Integration -  (Must have if you install a lot of sliders)  This mod replaces all the CAS interactions in the game with the one managed by MasterController, including the "Create-A-Sim" button in "Edit Town".
Now go to this Page and download these other “Must Have Mods” by NRAAS
https://www.nraas.net/community/Mods-List
Overwatch - (Important) Contains error correction and periodic game maintenance/clean up to reduce issues and improve game longevity.
Error Trap - (Important) Core-Mod that performs save-game corruption cleanup, while catching and reporting unhandled script errors.
Traffic- (Important) Controls autonomous vehicular traffic such as the Food/Ice Cream Trucks, and provides some minor vehicle routing settings.
Saver - (Important) Adds autosave function to the game.
Register -  (Important) Replaces the EA Role Manager with a custom version that corrects several bugs and allows for greater flexibility.
Other Useful Mods at NRAAS (Optional) Same page as above:
Story Progression - Basically a less buggy, less performance heavy replacement for the EA story progression in the game.  Be sure to tick off “Story Progression” in the In Game options as stated above.  (Install all the optional modules as well)
Decensor - We all know what this does
Dresser - Adds automated outfit control for inactive sims, adding accessories, and restricting CAS parts.
WooHooer - Alters the romance and woohoo interactions, provides greater flexibility and attraction scoring.
Retuner - Provides fine tuning of many settings in game like autonomous settings, pricing etc.  This one can seem daunting at first but there are plenty of Returner settings to be found out there and its really isn’t that difficult to change the settings in game albeit time consuming. 
Be sure to look over the other mods if you see something you like download it.  Any of these mods should be safe to add to your game with little to no performance impact.
After that extract the files you just downloaded into \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages\Overrides If you don't have an Overrides folder create one.  The “Overrides Folder”  is essentially a priority folder.  Mods put into this folder will be loaded before any other package files you may add to the game.
In-Game NRASS Settings 
These are just some settings to change to improve game stability.  This is by far not comprehensive.  For Retuner settings I would suggest a Google search of other users settings or consulting the NRASS help section for explanations of how to use this mod.
Click on the Town Hall in Map View Under NRASS
Traffic
Ice Cream Truck - I hate that creepy Ice cream truck so I change everything to false and set Max Ice Cream Trucks to 0.  If you like having it around still change the Max Ice Cream Trucks to 1
Routing
Allow Performance Career Limos - False (Limos create a lot of lag in the game)
Allow Use of Cars During General Routing - True (if disabled your sims will only use cars when you tell them to)
Always Use Taxis for Inactives Lacking Vehicles - False (Townies will no longer use Taxis)
Register
Allow Immigration - False (Random Townies wont move into your town keeping the population down and helping to keep performance from decreasing as sims move in.
Animal Control - Change the settings below for a performance boost
Maximum Deer - 2
Maximum Raccoon - 2
Maximum Stray Cats - 3
Maximum Stray Dogs - 3
Maximum Unicorns - 0  (Sorry Wild Horses and Unicorns add a good deal of lag to the game)
Maximum Horses - 0
Custom Content (CC)
Much like any other Sims game moderation is key.  The more CC you download and put in you game the slower your game will perform.  I'm not going to go into detail about how to install CC in The Sims 3 in this guide.  These are just a few important tips to take into account when installing CC,
Try to install Sims3Pack files as much as you can.  Sims 3 automatically merges these files and this leads to better game stability.
Merge you package files. Girl Meets Pixels made a great guide here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIZ2LdoT-HY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIZ2LdoT-HY
Keep an eye on the size of your Sims 3 Folder in /Documents.  It may seem crazy to imagine but massive CC shopping sprees can lead to a massive folder to the tune of 30GB+.  Skins and Hairs are a killer.  These files are usually rather large sometimes in excess of 80 - 100mb.  My suggestion would be to find a default skin you like and just use that.  Don’t install any non default skins.  Also go easy on the hair.  You don’t need 20 different variations of the same ponytail in the game.  Clothing is usually fine but pay attention to the size of the CC.  That cute dress you found on Tumblr that’s 65mb more then likely has way too high of a poly count and will just lag and be slow to render in the game.  Sure it looks great in screenshots but it wont be practical in game.  I’m not sure of the exact cut-off for CC but eventually the folder gets too large for the game to handle and it will lead to issues like save corruption or in some cases not being able to save the game at all because the game has run out of memory.   Sadly if  this happens there is no fix for this and you will lose all of your progress and possibly your save file as well.
Advanced
World Fixes EA left many routing issues in a lot of their worlds that are known to cause lag and often times crashing as Sims bunch up in broken routing areas on the map.
All the World Fixes can be found on Ellacharmed's Wordpress page.  Follow the instructions very carefully and install the fixes for all the worlds you have installed in your game.
https://ellacharmed.wordpress.com
Other Useful Tips
Delete your cache!!  This one can't be stressed enough.  I delete mine before every game play and never have issues starting the game up.  A guide can be found here: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_3_Delete_Cache_Files
Turn off Origin In Game - This will give a noticeable improvement.
Close all other programs running in the background.  
Turn on Game Mode or Silent Mode on your Antivirus
Useful Sims 3 Programs
s3pe http://www.simlogical.com/ContentUploadsRemote/uploads/189/
Sims 3 Dashboard Tool http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=387006]http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=387006
CC Magic http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=461888]http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=461888
Delphy's Sims 3 Pack Multi-Extractor http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=364038]http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=364038
Save Cleaner by Kuree http://www.simlogical.com/ContentUploadsRemote/uploads/1532/
638 notes · View notes
natromanxoff · 3 years
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Queen live at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, USA - September 15, 1982
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Photos supplied by: Bill Cordero
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This is the final concert Queen would ever play in North America. The tour was ultimately not nearly as successful as previous outings. Four nights at the LA Forum had become two. In a 1999 interview with Mojo magazine Roger Taylor recalled, "I remember suddenly realising that we weren't packing them in quite as much as we used to."
According to this review, Staying Power was played on the last night.
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Billy Squier, who has opened for Queen at every show on this tour, joins them in the encore during a one-off version of Jailhouse Rock, adding vocals. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is also played before Bohemian Rhapsody for the last night's sake.
A bit of video from this show exists. The band are seen going through the corridor to the stage to begin the concert, and Michael Jackson is with them (thanks to Julien Cohen for the link).
Currently, recordings commonly labelled as being from one or both of these Los Angeles dates are from one of the umpteen bootlegs of the Fukuoka '82 shows. Genuine audience tapes and even an 8mm film are rumoured to exist (most likely due to the historic nature of this show), but have never been confirmed.
The concert pictures, snapped by Robert Matheu, are from Phil Sutcliffe's excellent book, The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock.
Here are a few more pro pics: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Reflecting on this tour, Squier had some kind things to say about Freddie Mercury. "He loved to perform. I think all the words about how great a performer he was have been used up. I just used to stand and watch him every night thinking, 'How do you do that? Just how do you get away with it?' It was the onstage Freddie that was most fearless. He believed in what he and the band were doing so much. He never projected the slightest fear or self-doubt and that just swept the audience along with him. He just knew that the show was going to work. He was made for the stage. His sense of theatricality was the key, and it was a key which so very few other rock performers have at their disposal."
About a week after this show, Brian May was interviewed for the January 1983 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Here are some excerpts:
"We used to do the song 'Son and Daughter' on stage, and the solo section in the middle of that became what was in 'Brighton Rock'. After 'Brighton Rock' was recorded, that solo evolved a lot more. One facet of it was the way it is on the live album, but it's changed a lot since then. Sometimes we've dropped it because I felt I got stale. I don't like to do exactly the same thing two nights running. That should be a time when you can do something different. Now we don't do "Brighton Rock" anymore, so it's gone full circle. In the beginning, the solo was there and the song was around it. And now the song's gone and the solo's there.
"It's just a delay machine set on one delay rather than a multiple, so it's not a sort of echo effect. It's one line coming back at you. I have two delay machines, so I can do three-part harmonies with that: I can play alone - maybe two or three notes - and then it comes back and I can play along with it. And then it comes back again and there are three parts. The delays are mostly about one and a half seconds. A lot of things can happen: You can play in synch with what comes back and make the harmonies, or you can play chords and then single notes on top to get a playing-in-rhythm effect. You can also do various kind of counterpoints. Sometimes they work. It all depends on whether I can hear myself well. If it's a good night and I can really hear well, I can do things that demand very close timing. On this tour I've been experimenting with steps which are not exactly on the beat: so when it comes back at you, they are in a different place each time. I found I could do all sorts of strange things with that, just making them mesh in a different way.
"I've thought it was obsolete many times. We've thrown it out. We haven't done it every night on this tour. But somehow it seems to creep back in there. It's weird. I did it for years, and nobody would talk about it. And then when I threw it out, people said, "Hey! How could you do that?" On this tour we did some special things with the lights. We had t hose pods which can fly about, and I used to do a little battle with those. That gave it a new lease on life. People would tend to notice that. As opposed to not saying anything, they would say, "I like the lights in the solo [laughs]." I've found that people seem to appreciate long solos more on this tour than they did before. I think a lot of people thought our material was veering too far away from the heavy side, and they thought the solo stuff redressed the balance to a certain extent.
"I didn't feel that this tour was making me very happy. I've often felt that in the studio, but that's the first time I felt it on tour. I didn't feel happy until the last concert. The last night in L.A. I felt quite cheered up. I was prepared to think, "Well, I don't really want to do this anymore." Somehow when it got to the last one, Freddie was really on form and giving a million precent, and I felt that it was going well. So the end of the tour finished on a good note for me. I felt like I did want to be out there doing it again sometime. But we are going to have a long rest." [Of course, after the six shows in Japan next month.]
Back in 1977 Brian was quoted saying, "We've always thought it was wrong to regard a tour purely as a promotional exercise, because some people have done that, and gone out and slogged away at the hits and the new album, and I don't think that makes for good touring." Maybe that's at least partly the reason why he didn't enjoy himself this time around.
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meinkampfortzone · 3 years
Text
Who Was Hans-Joachim Marseille’s Fiancee?: An Opinion-Based Commentary, Part 2
(cont. from Part 1): 
HJM’s Family’s Attitude Toward Hanne-Lies
So one of the things I noticed when I first started getting curious about finding out who HJM’s fiancee was was the fact that she seemed so comfortable around his mom. That was, in fact, one of the first indicators to me that she was a bit older than him, other than her face. Had she been around his age, most of their interactions would have taken place outside of the house, away from his parents, so that they could make the most of their time alone together. That was, in fact, the norm among young people in the 40s, especially with the growing availability of cars which made getting around a lot easier and faster. When in the presence of each others’ parents, both parties had to act very reserved toward each other, and refrain from things such as holding hands or kissing, etc. (their parents would have been from the generation born in the 1800s, where doing things like that in public was inappropriate and prospective couples were meant to act with restraint when together). Therefore, the fact that 85% of the interactions between Hanne-Lies and HJM (except for the outing in Bad Saarow and their trip to Rome) took place at his parents’ apartment in Berlin was something that stood out to me. I took this to mean that Hanne-Lies was either a friend of the family or mature enough to want to spend time with and build a relationship with her future mother-in-law. As my research later proved, the latter ended up being true. 
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After Hans-Joachim Marseille’s death, Hanne-Lies was allowed to live in Bad Saarow in Charlotte Marseille’s summer house that she owned there. I found this strange because Hanne-Lies had only known HJM and subsequently his family for approximately 7 months (they met in March 1942; he died in September 1942), which was hardly a long enough time for Charlotte Marseille to get to trust her enough to give her her house and allow her to live in it. Hanne-Lies remained in that house, keeping it as her main residence, until she got married in 1944 to former LSSAH member Martin Stephani. This led me to think that perhaps, like her son, Charlotte Marseille saw something in Hanne-Lies that reminded her of her dead daughter Inge, and due to the fact that she had lost her daughter so recently, she built a good relationship with Hanne-Lies. After HJM died, I believe that Charlotte Marseille sort of saw Hanne-Lies as the last thing she had left of her deceased son, and decided to let her have the house and stay there for as long as she needed as a sort of gesture of goodwill.
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This is a picture of HJM at a bar in Berlin called the Regina Bar (between the two girls) and Hanne-Lies (at the other end of the table). This was taken during his leave in 1942, during which he met Hanne-Lies and became engaged to her. Notice that even in the presence of his fiancee HJM has no issue cozying up to other women. Judging by the look on her face, she doesn’t seem too pleased about it either. 
HJM’s Comrades/Contemporaries’ Attitudes/Opinions Concerning His Engagement
Another thing that I find sort of striking is the complete lack of commentary on the part of HJM’s comrades and friends concerning his engagement, or rather, his lack of commitment to his fiancee. According to Colin Heaton, the news of HJM’s engagement “shocked” those who knew him, only because of his playboy nature. However, once that shock subsided, and everyone saw HJM going back to his old ways and sleeping with various women, not one of his comrades thought to mention how they found it strange that he was engaged and yet having all of these publicized affairs. Although sex outside of marriage, etc. was common in the 1940s, it wasn’t until the 1980s that it became the norm. Up until then, infidelity and sexual promiscuity was kept carefully under wraps, more so for women than men. However, back in those days engagement was essentially a binding contract--the couple was considered married for all intents and purposes until they actually went and legally tied the knot. I found it strange that Marseille’s comrades and those who knew him, when interviewed about him, had no problem talking about his various sexual escapades but didn’t mention how he still did these things while he was engaged. I would have expected at least one of them to mention how it was strange that he continued to do this even after he was committed to one woman. It was almost as if the existence of Hanne-Lies in HJM’s life was unknown to them. This led me to believe that maybe HJM never bothered to tell anyone he was engaged or probably only mentioned it in passing and never really made a big deal about it, or perhaps his comrades knew that this was just part of his nature and that it was foolish to think that he could ever be faithful to one person. 
When asked to describe the nature of HJM and Hanne-Lies’ relationship, Hans-Rudolf Marseille (HJM’s half-brother) proceeded to talk about how he convinced her to go to Rome. 
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Of all the things he could have said that would demonstrate that they really loved each other and that there was something between them, he chose this anecdote, which really doesn’t demonstrate anything between them. 
Even the members of the Nazi high command who had interacted with Marseille, when interviewed by Colin Heaton, had no issue talking about how, when receiving a complaint from an Italian officer who stated that Marseille had “violated the family honor”, they all had a good laugh about it, and one of them even said, “Damn it, Marseille, have some shame, man.” However, none of them bothered to point out that this was going on while he was engaged, which was something he had even mentioned to Hermann Goering. Overall, none of the members of the high-ranking Nazi hierarchy seemed surprised at his behavior in the slightest.
Some Miscellaneous Points 
1- All of the people who were close to HJM gave interviews about him or attended events commemorating him and gave speeches/contributed to the event in some way, shape, or form. Many of the primary sources used in Colin Heaton’s book come from interviews conducted with many of Marseille’s comrades, such as Eduard Neumann, Ludwig Franzisket, and Emil Clade. Marseille’s mother, Charlotte, attended the premier of the 1957 film “Stern von Afrika”, and an article appeared in Der Spiegel featuring her and the actor who played her son, Joachim Hansen. In the article, she thanks Hansen for his stellar portrayal of her son. 
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Hans-Rudolf Marseille assisted authors and historians writing and researching about HJM, such as Franz Kurowski and Walter Wubbe, and also gave interviews, snippets of which were included in a 1999 documentary about HJM’s life. It was because of the efforts of Eduard Neumann and other airmen who had flown with Marseille that a set of Luftwaffe barracks in Appen were renamed the “Marseille Barracks” (Marseille-Kaserne in German). Even Marseille’s batman, Mathew “Matthias” Letulu, gave an eulogy for Marseille in Germany during a ceremony held at the monument for Marseille in the Egyptian desert. 
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The only person who had been closer to him than most of the people mentioned above, his ex-fiancee, was strangely absent from all of these efforts. Other than making an appearance at the 1967 Fighter Pilots’ Reunion event at Furstenfeldbruck, where she attended as a guest of honor with Charlotte Marseille (and this appearance isn’t even documented, as there are no photos of her at the event), she never gave any interviews about her ex-fiance, nor did she contribute to the efforts being made by those who knew him to keep his memory alive. 
2- During his interview, Hans-Rudolf Marseille showed a plethora of letters he had collected that had been sent by HJM to various members of his family--his mother, his sister, even his father. Some of these letters were reproduced and included in Walter Wubbe’s book “Hauptmann Marseille”. But with regards to any written correspondence between Hanne-Lies and HJM, there are absolutely no letters or anything whatsoever between them. Given the fact that they got engaged during one of HJM’s leaves, and they only saw each other once more after that when he was on vacation, it would make sense that they would be constantly writing to each other. Yet there doesn’t seem to be any sort of correspondence between them, at least as far as Hans-Rudolf Marseille’s cache of letters is concerned. The only testament to their relationship is the scarf that Hanne-Lies gave to HJM, and the photo she gave him of herself with “Ich habe dich sehr liebe!!” written on the back. 
3- When I read that Hanne-Lies had given HJM a picture of herself with “Ich habe dich sehr liebe” written on the back, I was curious because “Ich liebe dich” is “I love you” in German. Thus, I set out to find the difference in meaning between “Ich habe dich liebe” and “Ich liebe dich.” I found an answer to this on a German language learning forum that I’ll include below. 
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In Closing...
When I think of what Hans-Joachim Marseille’s love life should have looked like, I immediately think of the relationship between Alain Delon and Romy Schneider (not how it ended, Alain cheated on her with another woman and she refused to get back together with him, but just how aesthetically pleasing they were and how big of a power couple they were in the years they were together.)
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 I believe that he only got engaged to Hanne-Lies because of the emotional turmoil he was going through at the time. I think that even if they had gotten married, their marriage would have never lasted long. After all, grief isn’t forever, and eventually he would have realized that with that therapist aspect gone, there isn’t actually anything that binds him to Hanne-Lies at all. Hanne-Lies, too, would have had a hard time putting up with his infidelity and flighty personality, especially since she would have been reaching that age when she wants to have children and start a family and settle down (she was almost 30 when she got engaged to HJM). I honestly just wish that Inge Marseille wouldn’t have died so that HJM could have actually gone and found someone who had the personality and temperament to be his other half. I feel like, had he met someone like that, they would literally have been the power couple of the Third Reich. 
I’d love to hear your guys’ comments/opinions regarding this in the comments. Thanks for reading!
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eli-kittim · 3 years
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The Great Reset: The Coming of the Fourth Reich
By Psychologist & Author Eli Kittim
Globalists Use Nazi-like Tactics to Control the Masses Via Propaganda & Censorship
Isn’t it strange that on the 100th anniversary of the Nazi party’s founding the Fourth Industrial Revolution was set in motion? The Nazi party was founded on 24 February, 1920. As if to celebrate its anniversary, 100 years almost to the day since its founding, a global pandemic was unleashed, which was declared “a global health emergency” by the WHO on January 30, 2020, and “a global pandemic” on March 11th of the same year. You might say, what? I don’t see the connection with Nazi Germany. Be patient; you will!
Is it a coincidence that everyone who's anyone is in on it? From important heads of state, to the fake news media, to Big Pharma, to the global social networking Big Tech giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Google, everyone is not only in on it but carefully controlling and censoring the exchange of information so as to exclusively promote their agenda, while silencing the opposition. It’s essentially a globalist totalitarian ideology which does not tolerate any alternative points of view. Any alternative viewpoint is labeled as “misinformation,” and is therefore considered as a “false claim,” which is then banned or eliminated. That’s precisely why Twitter and Facebook suspended Donald Trump’s account: his agenda contradicted theirs. Any one who has recently watched any TV news-channel or social media platform will have noticed the nonstop commercials——which either employ scaremongering tactics or a barrage of pop-up ads——that are desperately trying to persuade the public to get vaccinated, even offering incentives for research participation (such as $100). As a rule, these Big Tech social media giants are invariably censoring, libeling, discrediting, or downplaying the legitimate scientific claims of credible virologists and doctors, belittling and ridiculing their work, while also dangerously curtailing and restricting people’s freedoms that are guaranteed by the first amendment, to wit, the freedom of speech and of the press. In some extreme cases (e.g. on LinkedIn) users are given *commands* as to what to say, when to say it, and how to generally conduct themselves via a series of prompts, such as “say thank you,” or “congratulate so and so on his anniversary,” or “do this,” “do that,” and so on. As a psychologist, I see this as a form of mind control.
So, it turns out that this is not a free society after all. In fact, these are the exact same tactics that Nazis used to brainwash people into obeying their agenda. Josef Goebbels (the Minister of Propaganda), for example, controlled the media and the arts, feeding Germans with nonstop Nazi ideology while simultaneously censoring other information. That is precisely what’s happening today: mass control through propaganda and censorship!
By now, we know that many credible scientists, virologists, and doctors do not accept the data-manipulation and biased recommendations of government public health agencies, which are being dictated by the CDC, the WHO, and the globalists. These agencies themselves are sending mixed and contradictory messages. On the one hand, they are rigorously promoting vaccinations and emphasizing how safe they are. Yet, on the other hand, they themselves admit on their own websites the risks, side effects, and potential harm that these experimental vaccines pose to humanity: deaths, blood-clots, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, facial swelling & paralysis, myocarditis, severe anaphylaxis, and other medical concerns and complications that have put a halt to some vaccines, at least for a time. And even virology expert, Geert Vanden Bossche, PhD, who has previously worked with the B. & M. Gates Foundation and GAVI, and Michael Yeadon, former vice president and chief scientist at drugs giant Pfizer Inc., are both saying that healthy people shouldn’t be coerced into taking “experimental” vaccines. Especially since 99.9% of the population in the US survives COVID. So, the initial social media criticism——excoriating these credible scientists as conspiracy theorists——no longer works! These forced genetic-altering vaccines that maximize Big Tech/Big Pharma profitability, but which show little regard for human health, are reminiscent of the coerced & unethical genetic research “experiments” that were performed at the Auschwitz death camps by Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor❗️
That’s precisely what’s happening today: mass control through propaganda and censorship! The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire. The Second Reich was the German Empire. The Third Reich was Nazi Germany. Wiki characterizes the Fourth Reich as follows:
The Fourth Reich … is a hypothetical future
Nazi Reich that is the successor to Adolf
Hitler’s Third Reich (1933–1945). The term
has also been used to refer to possible
resurgence of Nazi ideas.
6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣
The Mark of the Beast
This scenario has already been prophesied in the Book of Revelation, chapter 13 verses 16-17 (KJV), in which a charismatic world leader will dominate the world, at the end of days, under a one-world government, and will not allow people to buy or sell, or hold a job, if they don’t have the χάραγμα (mark), which can be translated as a notch, slit, or cut:
he causeth all, both small and great, rich
and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark
in their right hand, . . . And that no man
might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark.
What, then, is the Fourth Reich? It’s the fourth industrial Revolution that commenced on the 100th anniversary of the Nazi party! Coincidence? I think not! It’s a plan by the new global elite to take over the world by coercive measures, just as Hitler did in Nazi Germany. During the lockdowns, the mass media deliberately doctored images and reported false information in order to instill fear and influence public opinion. Case in point, according to Fox News:
CBS News admits 'mistake' after airing
footage of overcrowded Italian hospital in
report about NYC.
Due to extreme censorship & coercion, the mass exodus from social networking giants like Twitter & Facebook is a testament to their growing unpopularity and the public’s discontent.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: The New World Order
In the long run, it’s not even about the vaccines. The forced vaccines are only a part of it. They are a means to an end. They are the first phase of fear and disinformation in order to control & manipulate the masses. But the end is something entirely different. So, what’s it all about? It’s all about the “the great reset”: the 4th industrial revolution❗️ Klaus Schwab, the *German* founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), admits that “the fourth industrial revolution will impact our lives completely.” It will not only change our currencies, our economies, our cities, how we live and communicate with each other, but it will also radically change our identity through nanotechnology, biology, and so on. This is all anticipated in his book “COVID-19: The Great Reset.”
See the YouTube video “What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?”: https://youtu.be/7xUk1F7dyvI
youtube
But this movement needs coercion, restriction, and manipulation of the masses in order to work. This is serious business, and it’s quite frightening❗️We’re talking about a global dictatorship that has been in the making since the founding of the Federal Reserve in the early part of the 20th century. It has been affectionately called by Henry Kissinger, George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, & Gordon Brown, among others, as “the new world order.” It’s not a conspiracy theory since many US presidents, British prime ministers, and high level officials have explicitly referred to it as an ideal future government that they are all working towards. This is no longer a conspiracy theory since this totalitarian world government——which has now reared its ugly head by censoring the masses through social media-driven panic, fake news, government lockdowns, and forced mask and passport mandates——is emerging before our very eyes. According to Wikipedia, an approximation of the phrase “new world order” is inscribed in Latin on the reverse side of the Great Seal as well as on the back of the US one-dollar bill:
The Latin phrase ‘novus ordo seclorum’,
appearing on the reverse side of the Great
Seal since 1782 and on the back of the U.S.
one-dollar bill since 1935, translates to
‘New Order of the Ages’ …. this is an allusion
to the ‘New World Order.’
Since the Great Reset was unveiled by the World Economic Forum & the UK’s Prince Charles, and is also embraced by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, it’s no longer deemed as a conspiracy theory. Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, has said repeatedly that capitalism has failed and has used Marxist terminology to instill his ideas. This is a socialist agenda (dare I say Red fascist?) in which we keep hearing the phrase, “you will own nothing, and you will be happy.” The high profile Davos regulars, such as Angela Merkel and Bill Gates, as well as the rest of the attendees, like the heads of Russia, Japan, Spain, Greece, Israel, Singapore, France, and so on, all know what is going on and exactly where we are headed. This reset has not caught anyone by surprise. But this form of communism, when enforced by a totalitarian government, ultimately becomes fascism❗️
The protests in France, Italy, and around the world, demonstrate that people are beginning to wake up. They realize that they’ve been lied to by politicians, government agencies, health agencies, the CDC, the WHO, and by the fake news media. Using critical thinking, they’re not buying the lies anymore. If you’re looking for “truth,” you’re not going to find it listening to Anthony Fauci or Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hence why the protests and the riots around the world have become more widespread. For years, left-wing totalitarian globalists have been infiltrating our education system, and especially academia, instilling a sense of hatred for our founding fathers, while inculcating anti-patriotism and applauding those who burn our flags or who disrespect our country in international sports events by turning their backs on the national anthem, and the like. They have divided our country with Marxist rhetoric, critical race theory, BLM, & the anti-statue movement, literally removing our greatest heroes from sight❗️
The Globalist Goal is to Abolish Personal Rights, Religion, Race, Ethnicity, Country, & National Identity
This is a well-planned maneuver that was conceived a long time ago to supposedly end all ethnic and racial heritage, to eliminate national identity, history and culture, to remove flags & national governments, to create a cashless society, to merge humans with machines (transhumanism), and so on and so forth. Mikhail Gorbachev had written about some of these themes a while back. The Vatican has also issued statements that demonstrate a sense of allegiance with this globalist movement. Most importantly, the global elite want to severely restrict the practice of religion, as in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and China, or to abolish it altogether, as Iceland tried to do when it passed legislation banning American televangelists. And they are all reiterating the exact same narrative, from prince Charles to George Soros. So, the global elite knew what was coming. There’s only one problem: they never told the people❗️
Now that I have your attention, Klaus Schwab wrote a book called “The Fourth Industrial Revolution,” in which he describes an age:
[of] technological revolution … that is
blurring the lines between the physical,
digital, and biological spheres.
The First Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain c. 1760. The second industrial revolution (mass production) took place in the late 1800s. The third industrial revolution (the digital revolution) happened in the second half of the 20th century (semiconductors/personal computers). The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by the notion of humans merging with technology and artificial intelligence. This is reminiscent of Ray Kurzweil’s technological singularity. If this is the case, innovators, investors, and shareholders——like Silicon Valley, Big Tech, & Big Pharma——will largely benefit from this endeavor. To this end, the COVID-19 pandemic was manufactured so as to begin the process of transhumanism and global economic & political control.
This war on society can be viewed as World War III. We are at war with those who want to abolish our freedoms and liberties, our rights to free speech and privacy, our rights to ownership, our rights to choose our political and economic systems, etc. Our bodies do not belong to the government. They belong to us. Ultimately, we have the right to make the choice of whether or not to stick a needle in our arm, without fear, threat of imprisonment, or legal ramifications. According to the Nuremberg Code of Ethics, there can be no form of coercion in human experimentation. Moreover, a mandatory vaccine with surveillance capability (nanotechnology) constitutes a violation of the 4th Amendment, namely, the right to a person’s privacy. The Great Reset will create a dystopian society where another Hitler (which the Bible calls “Antichrist”) will rise to power (cf. Rev. 13.16-17). The New World Order will control every aspect of life through artificial intelligence à la George Orwell’s 1984! The 2nd phase will probably involve military control of cities. In fact, some cities have already invoked martial law. The following abridged message was sent to me via Goodreads by a friend named James Morcan, who lives in Sydney, Australia:
Here in the biggest city in Australia we have
martial law masquerading as medical law …
with the army out on daily patrol on the streets
monitoring citizens to ensure everyone “follows
zee rules”… plus helicopters and drones
constantly flying overhead for the same purpose.
Masks are now mandatory everywhere, even if
you’re outside miles from anyone in public
parks. Citizens have to digitally sign-in everywhere
and many are being tracked 24/7 Chinese
communism-style. All forms of protesting in
public is now illegal here. … Whenever prisoners, I
mean citizens (sorry, my mistake), are briefly
allowed outside their homes they cannot go more
than 5 miles away and cannot see friends or
family…Sydney has been in this position for
months and it may continue until Christmas, and
neighbouring Melbourne has been locked down
for 8 of the last 12 months…Those who wish to
remain unvaccinated are also being stigmatized,
marginalized and are being punished by losing
their jobs, travel opportunities, and ability to
socialize. All that’s lacking is a Star of David-style
badge so everyone can identify the unvaccinated
in public. … At some point we all have to be honest
I think and consider that if it looks and feels like a
tyrannical, dystopian society, then it probably is...
James
See the YouTube video “Dangerous Marxist Leaders Call for the ‘Great Reset’ to Destroy Capitalism”: https://youtu.be/Se9rkxUK8zU
youtube
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lmanberg · 3 years
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Is Dream using a body double?
This post will include references to leaked images of both Dream and his brother and discussion of his old Reddit account, if you’re uncomfortable with that then do not read
TW/CW: weight & weight loss, dieting, eating disorder, scar mention, fatphobia, Dream’s ex (Sam), (verbal) abuse from a significant other
So before I get into it, I’m going to be talking about both a doxxing forum and Dream’s brother. I don’t want to say the name of either of them, so the forum will simply be called F and Dream’s brother will be called B.
There are five very different thought processes you can go through which will draw you to two very different conclusions, I’ll be talking about all of them and you can decide which you believe. I’d like to preface with the fact that I do not believe all of these theories and I’m just trying to explain all possibilities in this situation.
I will attach TLDRs at the end of every theory for convenience.
1. Dream is using his brother as a body double
So this is probably the theory you have seen discussed the most, but I’ll go into more detail as to why people believe this.
Firstly we start with Dream as a kid. We’ve already been shown an image of him by Dream:
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Now there’s also a leaked image of “him”, in which he’s fat, fatter than he is in the image above. However his facial structure, smile, and hair are all the same. We can tell that Dream is 16 in the Facebook post that the image was found on. In the caption of the photo, Dream is called “Clay” and his father is in the image with him.
If we follow the theory, this would lead you to assume that Dream is still fat, and is using his brother as a body double for his merch photos. But why his brother?
There have been photos of Dream’s brother from his Instagram leaked on F, in one of these he’s holding a gun. The hand holding the gun has the exact same markings and scar as the hands in the unboxing video.
To continue talking about the unboxing video, the way he holds the objects and moves them off camera is also very suspicious. Just the audio quality already is weird, but then the way he moves items off camera and almost seems like he’s handing it to someone next to him, not to mention the obscene amount of cuts in the ending, it all extremely damning.
It’s pretty much undeniable that B is the person in the unboxing video, the scar being the most damning evidence. But what about the merch photos?
Firstly I will say that in the “face reveal” photos, Dream has the same markings on his arms as B and as he does in the unboxing video. But we can also talk about the hands in general:
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As we can see, the hand in the bottom left has the same fingers as the one in the merch video, however the one in the bottom right (one of the more recent images of Dream) looks slightly different, in fact his hands look a lot more veiny and red. But we see his hand has similar veins in the image below, so it’s probably just lighting. The lack of tan is also to be expected, as the first image was pre-covid and the second was post, he hasn’t been able to see half as much sunlight as he used to.
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TLDR: Dream is still fat and is using his brother as a body double
2. Dream is using his brother as a body double (V2)
So this theory has a similar thought process but deviates slightly.
In this theory, we assume that the leaked photo of Dream at 16 is him, but also that he has actually lost the weight.
Now at first you may think that’s a very drastic weight loss, however his old Reddit account had multiple posts on r/keto and even now he talks about how he has a very strict diet. A new piece of evidence came out during the recent podcast with George on his Discord, where they discuss whether or not a food had carbs in it. Dream gets audibly uncomfortable and changes the subject, whether to avoid triggering listeners or himself, we don’t know.
If Dream lost all the weight, why would he be using a body double? This I can’t explain, however the evidence of the merch photos being him is undeniable at this point. It’s possible he was in the process of losing weight and didn’t want people to see his weight loss, or maybe he weighs a little more than he feels confident in and feels more comfortable having his brother pose as him, but the weight difference isn’t so drastic that people would point it out when he face reveals.
Speaking of the face reveal; Dream vehemently denies that the kid in the photo is him, but if it is him and he didn’t lose that weight, he will be proven as a liar whenever he face reveals. This is the biggest flaw of Theory 1 in my opinion. At first Dream vagued the situation but never explicitly stated whether that specific picture was him or not, but now he has. There’s no logical explanation for Dream to deny that the kid is him, even though it is without a doubt him, unless he looks nothing like him anymore.
TLDR: Dream is using his brother as a body double, however he has lost weight
3. Dream is using his brother as a body double (V3)
This theory is the weakest in my opinion and is similar to Theory 2, with one deviation. There is a picture of Dream out there, and it’s a merch photo. In this theory we actually assume that the red merch photos are Dream, however the rest are B. Why?
First of all, this is (I believe) the first image we’ve ever seen of Dream (if I’m incorrect this theory is most likely void and you can stop reading now). In it, Dream weighs a slight bit more than he does in current photos, something we can see mainly in his thighs/hips, which I’ll attach below.
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The date that the red merch photos released was 9/26/19, the date of his white merch photos was 7/21/20, and the release of the unboxing video was 6/4/20, giving Dream plenty of time to switch from taking the photos himself to then using his brother.
But why would he switch? We can guess it has something to do with Sam. According to Dream, Sam has tried to spread “false” info about him being obese before (which I would like to highlight, why obese? Why is that what she says, out of all insults? Most likely because he was, and just isn’t anymore).
This could have also intruded into their relationship as well as their breakup in the form of verbal abuse. Assuming that Dream was fat as a kid and later developed an unhealthy reliance on dieting and possible eating disorders to lose weight, it would make sense for him to be sensitive to rejection, especially from his girlfriend at the time, and stopped showing his body to the public.
We also know Dream and Sam’s relationship was very rocky in early 2020, therefore he may have had his brother pose for him on impulse to disprove the “slander” Sam was attempting to spread about his weight, and then decided that he preferred having B pose for him for one reason or another, most likely anonymity.
TLDR: Dream is using his brother as a body double in all photos except the red merch, he started using his brother after losing confidence in himself and his appearance.
4. Dream is NOT using a body double (V1)
From here on out, we become more critical of the images and information leaked by F. F is a forum known for their dislike of Dream. There are hundreds of people who use it for the sole purpose to hate Dream. The people in F are also generally homophobic, racist, sexist, etc., therefore it’s not a far reach to assume they’re fatphobic as well, and assumed that by spreading info that Dream is fat, they would cause him to lose support.
In this theory, we assume that the gun photo that I mentioned in Theory 1 is Dream, not B. We also assume that the photo of Dream at 16 is, in fact, Dream, but like Theory 2 states, he lost the weight.
By eliminating the hand evidence, there is almost no proof that the merch photos are not Dream. This would explain why Dream was so confident in denying that the kid in the photo was not him, because he looks nothing like him anymore.
In fact, this would also explain the weight loss between the red merch photos and the most recent photos of Dream. Dream was still dieting (or more) and therefore still losing weight. We all saw how much weight Sapnap lost by living with him for only a handful of months. Dream at 16 and Dream at 21 has a lot of weight to cover in only five years, it’s not unreasonable to assume that he was still in the process of losing weight in 2019 only to reach his current weight in 2021.
TLDR: Dream isn’t using a body double, F lied about the gun picture and it’s actually Dream
5. Dream is NOT using a body double (V2)
I will preface this by saying this is the theory I believe is most likely as of right now.
This theory is basically Theory 4 word for word, except we assume the white merch photos are not Dream and in fact B. Even before there were any body double theories, stans didn’t believe those pictures were Dream at first, mainly because of how much scrawnier he looks as well as his hair (not wavy OR blond).
An anon also claimed that when the photos first dropped, both George and Sapnap were streaming. Most people were watching George because Dream was in vc on that stream. In George’s stream Dream was repeating to chat that it is him and that chat is being dumb for saying it’s not. However, in Sapnap’s stream, Sapnap says that it’s not Dream. Sapnap is one of the only people who have seen Dream’s face (allegedly), and if Dream was fat or had already used his brother as a body double in merch photos (the red photos were released before the white) then he would know not to say anything.
But why would Dream lie? Most likely, his brother wanted to be in a merch photo and Dream just assumed that his fans would think it’s him. However they instantly began to call him out, and in order to protect his brother’s identity, he impulsively lied and said it was him. At that point he had gone too far and couldn’t back down without admitting he had lied.
TLDR: Dream isn’t using a body double, F lied about the gun photo and it’s actually Dream, however the white merch photos are B
And that’s it!
I probably won’t answer asks about this post because I really wore myself out writing it. I’d appreciate if anyone with a visible blog/on mcytblr didn’t reblog this and please do not repost this on any sites.
ALSO: This was written before the Sam photos leaked, some info may be outdated and I scrapped Theory 6 because of it
#.
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agentxthirteen · 3 years
Link
SAM WILSON aka The Falcon is a former U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper turned Avenger who was Steve Rogers’ right hand man. When Sam finds himself tangled in an international conflict that is more personal than he could have ever imagined, his only shot at overcoming this trial will be to team up with his least favorite 106-year-old: Bucky Barnes. Anthony Mackie, who returns as Sam/Falcon, welcomed the opportunity to dive deeper into the character. “I feel like with this series, we've been able to show you why Sam and Bucky are who they are and why they believe in what they believe,” he says. “You get to meet and get to know them as three-dimensional characters. You get to see them as people. It's funny because usually in a movie forum, you only have two hours to tell the beginning, middle and ending of a story. But we have six episodes to tell the entire scope of where these characters have been, how they feel about the world they're in, and where they're going once this series is over.”Upon returning from the Blip, Sam joins his sister Sarah in Louisiana in an effort to help save the family business. It’s complicated and he struggles. “Sam became a hero because of where he’s from—he saw that the world was not fair,” explains head writer Malcolm Spellman. “He ran off to save the world by joining the military. But he’s always worried if joining the military was really about running away from problems at home—they seemed so insurmountable, it'd be easier to save the world.”But it’s not the only thing on his mind. The future of the shield and the role Sam plays is not as clear as Steve Rogers anticipated. Says Spellman, “He truly believes that there’s an argument to be made that red, white and blue—stars and stripes—inherently represents oppression.”Adds Mackie, “Sam considers the shield a representation of the country that we live in. There's a lot of trepidation as far as how does a Black man represent a country that does not represent him?”
BUCKY BARNES was Steve Rogers’ best friend and a WWII veteran who was brainwashed by Hydra to become the Winter Soldier—a deadly and ruthless assassin who would stop at nothing to achieve his assigned mission. As revealed in the post-credit sequence of “Black Panther,” Bucky’s mind was healed by the Wakandans, and he later joins the Avengers to heroically battle and ultimately defeat Thanos. But now that Bucky has been thrust back into the real world, he must figure out how to become James Barnes again—all while facing the demons from his past. Sebastian Stan portrays the eternally troubled Bucky/Winter Soldier. “He is trying to embrace his new life—but he’s pretty lost and having an identity crisis again,” says Stan. “He's doing his best, finding his own path after Steve, after all those events. It feels like this is the first time he's finally free, so to speak, to look after himself. But it's not easy. “How does this character now function in the world?” continues Stan. “What's his life going back to Brooklyn? How is he meeting people? How is he interacting at coffee 5shops? Is he dating? Is he thinking about another career? Is he in therapy? There were all these questions about where we could take this character. There were a lot of fun and exciting things that came out of that exploration.”Co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout adds that for the first time, Bucky is making a concerted effort to take charge of his life—and that includes making some difficult amends. “He is working to unburden himself from the trauma of being the Winter Soldier,” she says. “He believes that will get him closer to knowing what he wants.”Stan asserts, however, that Bucky’s past is there to stay. “Look, there's always going to be a darker side of this character, which I’ve always loved—it’s what makes him more interesting and complex,” he says. “I feel like that doesn’t go away. It's still there deep down. He's just learning how to deal with it a little bit better.”
JOHN WALKER is one of the highest-ranking soldiers in the U.S. military. He is patriotic, strong, good-intentioned, and every bit of him will be put to the test as he tries to team up with Sam and Bucky to protect the world from a new threat. Wyatt Russell was called on to portray the dedicated soldier. “We thought Wyatt was an interesting choice because a lot of his work before had him playing the slacker with long hair and a beard,” says executive producer Nate Moore. “But we found this unique energyin him that neither Sam Wilson nor Bucky Barnes has, and we felt that was important so that John Walker stood apart from these two characters.”But, says Russell, Walker’s journey is not without complication. “I gravitate towards characters who need to make difficult decisions,” he says. “His dichotomies are what attracted me to him, and I’ve been allowed the leeway to shape him a little because we’ve never met this character before.”
SHARON CARTER, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who went on the run after breaking the Sokovia Accords, knows that if she stepped foot in the United States, she’d be arrested. But life underground has taken its toll on Sharon, who’s become somewhat jaded while fending for herself since the events of “Captain America: Civil War.” But heroism runs in her blood, and she finds herself tangled in Sam and Bucky’s global fight.Emily VanCamp, who returns to the MCU as Sharon Carter, says the character has changed since we last saw her. “Listen, when we find Sharon, she’s in a pretty dark place,” says VanCamp. “When we first see her, there’s a little bit of anger. She’s tougher, a little raw and rough around the edges—a totally different version of Sharon than what we’ve seen in the films. That’s really interesting to explore.”Adds Nagelhout, “We never really heard from Sharon after she put herself out there for Cap, Sam and Bucky, so we felt it was important to tell her story—to see what’s she’s been going through after throwing her career away to do what she felt was right. She’s that kind of person.”
ZEMO, the Sokovian special forces officer who targeted the Avengers after he lost his family in the battle of Sokovia, has been rotting in a German prison since we last saw him in “Captain America: Civil War.” But Zemo isabout to be reignited with a new ferocity. “I kind of fell in love with Zemo,” says director Kari Skogland. “He’s a man who’s struggling with this desire for revenge. But his story is a slippery slope of trying to make something right, but going about it all wrong. So, when we meet him, he’s paying for his crimes. He’s lost everything. He’s in a very sad place. I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of sympathy for him.” DanielBrühl, whoreturns as Zemo, feels similarly about the character. “In ‘Civil War,’ I was fascinated by the fact that Zemo is a multi-layered villain,” he says. “He’s not just a sinister bad guy. But there was not that much time to explore different facets of him, so it was great to be given the opportunity to revisit this character.”
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pluraldeepdive · 3 years
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The (Communal) History of System, Multiple, & Multiplicity
Introduction
In the fields of psychology and psychiatry, the terms system, multiple, and multiplicity have been used to describe DID/OSDD patients since the beginning of these disorders’ existence. In older academic papers, this kind of terminology was actually encouraged to describe DID/OSDD in particular, especially by Ralph B. Allison, Bennett G. Braun, and Richard Kluft, who helped pioneer this sort of language within dissociative research and treatment.
Despite that, it was most likely people with DID/OSDD who brought this clinical lingo to society’s awareness. The 1980’s to 2010’s saw many publications created by people with DID/OSDD, about DID/OSDD, and usually for other people with DID/OSDD. With the introduction of the world wide web, this verbiage only increased in popularity. While that may not seem very surprising, this provides valuable insight into the early dissociative community and how it evolved over time.
Early DID/OSDD Publications
During my deep dive, I stumbled across several early publications, such as newsletters, magazines, and books created by the early DID/OSDD community. The ones below seemed to be the most noteworthy because they were often mentioned in the archives I looked at. I will also be sharing an excerpt from each work to demonstrate what early community lingo was like.
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When Rabbit Howls (1987): Truddi Chase’s “When Rabbit Howls” is an autobiography on her personal experiences with DID and surviving childhood abuse. This was one of the first few publications by a person with DID that did not push for unification (complete integration of all alters). You can find it on Amazon here. 
(TW for abuse) p. 140
“When Putnam was researching schizophrenia, he discovered that the term didn’t fit all the patients he encountered. That led him to research the multiple personality cases recorded since the early 1800s. His final documented conclusion was that ninety-eight percent of the multiples on record involved repeated and severe incidents of child sexual and physical abuse. Incest seems to head the list, culprit-wise. For better or for worse, multiplicity may not be as rare as we think--only misdiagnosed..”
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Many Voices (1989-2012): One of the oldest and longest running publications I could find was the DID/OSDD newsletter called Many Voices that ran from 1989 to 2012. This newsletter became such a hit that it eventually became a non-profit and is now owned by the ISSTD. According to the wishes of the founder of Many Voices, who has sadly passed away, the magazines are now freely available and you can read them here.
If you don’t mind discourse, I also highly recommend checking out @justanothersyscourse​​ who occasionally shares memorable parts of the magazines.
What is a “true” multiple? (Many Voices, October 1989)
“I cringe when I hear people (therapists, clients, or lay-people) use the term ‘true’ multiple. What does that mean? If it means ‘SALS-She Ain’t Like Sybil,’ or ‘SALE-She Ain’t Like Eve’ (to quote the eminent Dr. Kluft,) then one could (and would) quite easily overlook or misdiagnose the majority of MPD patients. Again, to quote Dr. Kluft, only 3% to 4% of the MPD population flagrantly presents the symptoms of their MPD. The rest (if they’re even aware of being MPD) work very hard to hide it. 
It is true that some multiples are more ‘split’ or separate than others. […] I believe that MPD lies on a continuum. The more severe and violent the abuse, […] the more separate and complex the system[…] Other factors which I feel influence the numbers of alters and the functionality of the system are 1) the personality or temperament of the family the MPD individual was born into and 2) the innate strength or weakness of each individual.”
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Multiple Personality Gift (1991): While not a newsletter, a MPD/DID workbook called Multiple Personality Gift by Jacklyn Pia was published in September 1991. Back then, several diagnosed individuals choose to see their DID as a gift because it was what helped them survive childhood abuse. Jacklyn Pia, a ritual abuse survivor, described DID as a gift because they felt like it saved their life. You can read an archive of the book here.
Am I A Multiple? (Multiple Personality Gift, September 1991)
“Because a multiple has the presence of two or more distinct and recognizable personalities within, a variety of inside and outside happenings are present in his/her life that are not present in the lives of ‘singletons’ (a non-multiple person). […] In the following paragraph, are a number of inside and outside happenings commonly reported by people with the gift of multiplicity.”
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Divided Hearts Newsletter (1996-?): Another older newsletter I found began publication in 1996 by a DID support website & forum called Divided Hearts. You can read the archived list here.
Some Facts about MPD/DID (Divided Hearts, September 1996)
“A multiple may have as few as two and as many as hundreds of personalities. The average number of alter personalities in a multiple is 8-13, although super-multiples may have more than 100 alternates.”
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Collective Consciousness (?-1997) & Rainbow’s End (1998-Now): Collective Consciousness was a DID magazine but I’m unsure how long it ran for. I could not find much information on it. In July 1997, it ceased publication but was luckily picked back up by some folks who later formed the DID non-profit organization, First Person Plural. The new newsletter would be called “The First Person Plural Newsletter” up until 2002, when it was renamed to “Rainbow’s End.”
Rainbow’s End started in 1998 and is still running in present day. It’s freely available and you can read the magazines here.
A note on terminology (Rainbow End, April 1998)
“Multiplicity; Multiple Personality Disorder; Dissociative Identity Disorder; MPD; DID; DDNOS; Multie; Dissociator; Multiple Personality Gift; Host; Core; System; Alters; Parts; Ego States; Switching; Fusion; Integration; Out Front; Gone Deep; Co-conscious; In the background … etc etc
The language used to describe the dissociative experience is various and individualistic. First Person Plural retains the terms preferred by each contributor. Consequently throughout the newsletter different terms may be used for similar concepts.”
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First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple (1999): An autobiographical book written by Cameron West about his personal experiences with DID. You can look at the Wikipedia page for the book here. Cameron West’s website can also be found here. (I have not read the book so I can’t give any quotes but I think the title speaks for itself.)
Myths & Corroborating Evidence
Ever since I joined the dissociative community online, I have seen many, many myths floating around regarding these particular terms and their relation to dissociative disorders. The three myths I want to address are:
Myth #1 -- System, multiple, and multiplicity have no significance to the DID/OSDD community.
Myth #2 -- These terms were popularized by non-dissociative plurality groups (such as endogenic, natural, etc.) instead of the DID/OSDD community.
Myth #3 -- These terms were created by non-dissociative plurality groups.
Obviously, from the publications listed above (which is not an exhaustive list!), we know that myth #1 is just not true at all. Myth #2 & #3 can be fact-checked by this as well. The intermixing of DID/OSDD concepts with non-dissociative concepts emerged more in the late 1990s on the Internet, and it was certainly not very widespread at first. More information can be viewed here. And also here!
During my deep dive, I found that even the earliest online speakers on non-dissociative plurality, such as Astraea’s Web, have corroborated that system, multiple, and multiplicity originated from early DID/OSDD academia and publications. These publications can also be found all over archives of these earlier websites, too. Here are some archives that show that.
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Joel Silver, The Ruthless Producer (But He Wouldn’t Allow Logan To Be Killed)
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This blog talks a lot about Joel Silver and his influence on pop culture (especially his role in Veronica Mars). He is well known as one of the “Bosses From Hell” in Hollywood and yet he is the lesser evil from other producers like Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin. Which is not a compliment whatsoever. But he is known as very protective with his assets such as his TV shows.
It is surprising that we hardly heard about sexual misconduct allegations against women/men (yet) especially during this decade alone. According to many, he is not interested that much in sexual hedonism as he is more concerned with being on top of the food chain. He is a married flamboyant producer who is deeply serious about his investments. He is always at the movie/tv set, watching everything like a hawk, making sure that everything is working accordingly. He dislikes unprofessional behavior from actors or showrunners, and most of the time, he just loathes writers. “Writers sometimes don’t know what works and what’s not. I don’t care if you are a brilliant writer, but I know better than anyone else in this business.”
That is the young Joel Silver, playing a frustrated director named Raoul in the movie 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. According to interviews, Raoul was based on himself but more tamer.
Joel Silver was a type of producer who likes to change a lot of the source materials, to the chagrin of the creators. Many just saw him as this tough guy producer who is very meticulous and wants the job done properly. Sources said that he liked to yell a lot, but hardly physical towards his employees (unlike Scott Rudin).
This is why it was so shocking that he and Rob Thomas had a fistfight argument at the Veronica Mars set. Rob must’ve pissed him off so bad that he resolved to a fistfight. According to a TVGuide interview, Rob said that Joel wanted to have Tara Reid as Trina Echolls and Paris Hilton to be put in the show as a guest star while promoting the House of Wax movie. Rob hated the idea and Joel didn’t take it lightly. Their brawl was reported to many blogs and forums back then.
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Joel was frustrated and furious that Rob was adamant about his vision, citing that he knows more about what works and what’s not in the industry, and that includes casting and storylines. Rob insisted that Veronica should be with the love of her life, which was Duncan Kane. Both Joel and Rob head-butted about this because Joel knew that Logan was more a compatible and popular character than Duncan. Not liking the idea of being blackballed all the time, Rob wrote Logan as insufferable in season 2, hoping that fans would turn against the character.
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The plan backfired as the fans at the time rejected Duncan instead. Diane Ruggiero even admitted that they were reading the feedbacks especially from Television Without Pity and she said that they didn’t have a choice but to get rid of Duncan. At the time, they also didn’t know whether the show was going to be renewed or not in season 3, especially during the merger between UPN and WB to form The CW. The fans’ voice was clear: they wanted LoVe (Logan & Veronica) to be together. This didn’t bode well with Rob, but the fans (and Joel) have spoken. He finally got rid of Duncan by sending him off to Australia with his baby. And that was it, the end. Logan and Veronica got back together.
But season three came, and another obstacle came in a form of Dawn Ostroff (the president of CW) who wanted some changes in the show for the network to be more teen-friendly. Gone the whole Noir and mystery style, they focused more on the white teen drama and a love triangle. At this moment, Joel decided to stay behind the scene. He was no longer hovering, he had other projects, other money to pursue. He still co-owned Veronica Mars. But he was no longer involved much.
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When Veronica Mars was canceled, Joel immediately snatched Jason Dohring - he approached Jason "out of the blue” and said, “There's a role, and I'm making it younger". Joel offered the main role of the CBS vampire procedural series Twilight to Jason before it was changed into Moonlight. Jason read two pages of the script featuring Josef Kostan and was interested in the character's "dark" and "sharp" personality. Jason had to go through the normal audition process and was not sure he would have gotten the role without Joel Silver, who had "pushed it through to the end". Joel noticed very early that Jason had a main protagonist charisma so he fought for him to be cast as Josef Kostan. Jason’s performance was praised by many critics and fans alike as this sarcastic manipulative vampire. Unfortunately, the writing of the show was atrocious and the rating was abysmal because of the Writers Guild strike and they had to hire ghostwriters to keep going. After one season, Moonlight was canceled and it was another money down the drain for Joel.
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When the idea of a movie was pitched, Joel said the movie would NEVER HAPPEN. “There are no fans for this market. Sales of DVDs and merchandise are nonexistent.” Joel was thinking as a producer; no sales for the merchandise = no fans, which is wrong, obviously. But that was the way many producers thinking at the time, and still are. After his company severing ties with the Warner Brothers, Joel was no longer interested in any mention of the Veronica Mars movie. Knowing that Joel would not approve of the Kickstarter, Rob and KBell decided to go straight to Warner Bros head honcho Kevin Tsujihara and asked for a chance to get a Veronica Mars movie funded by the fans. The movie then was made, and Joel was proven wrong for this particular moment.
Sharks however started to circling Veronica Mars movie - a lot of producers started to take an interest in the Kickstarter when they found out that it became successful and a phenomenon — notorious producer Harvey Weinstein wanted to grab the rights of Veronica Mars and he boasted that he could make it more successful under his Miramax banner. But his rival, Joel Silver, wouldn’t have any of it. Joel might not be responsible with the Kickstarter, but he sure the hell would burn a swimming pool first before Miramax steals VMars.
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Rob and Joel have a “good work” relationship - they definitely aren't friends in real life, but most of the time they avoid each other except in public events and red carpets. Their relationship is mostly being tolerant of each other. Joel didn't even bother to come to the Veronica Mars movie red carpet even though he was the executive producer of the movie and this franchise was a part of his life. Many thoughts for him not attending the red carpet were to avoid any embarrassment because he said that there were no fans of Veronica Mars. If it was allowed, Rob would say ‘fuck you’ to Joel as he strutted on the red carpet during the premiere of the Veronica Mars movie at the Chinese Theater.
However, when HULU took an interest in a VMars miniseries, Rob asked Joel for a favor, which is to get Kristen Bell to work around NBC The Good Place contract. As HULU is a part of Viacom and also an umbrella company for CBS and CW where VMars reside, technically she couldn't and was not allowed to be working with a rival company. So Joel helped Rob by calling the NBC president Noah Oppenheim to lend Kristen Bell to HULU temporarily. No words or interview about how Joel thinks about season 4 and how they killed off Logan Echolls; a character he protected during his reign back then. It is obvious if he was in charge of Veronica Mars season 4, he would scold Rob Thomas for killing the Golden Goose or maybe already stopping him before it happened. He might have a soft spot for Jason Dohring himself, calling him a “talented actor but too quiet for this industry”.
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Joel Silver seems to have moved on from Veronica Mars and its tumultuous relationship within. He has a bigger problem than handling a franchise that has crashed and burned because it flew too close to the sun; namely being sued for the death of an assistant and the fact that he was kicked out from his own company (Silver Pictures) by the company CFO Daryl Katz, and also he is a bit struggling with financial means. But no matter what, Joel Silver was a part of Veronica Mars with its complicated history. And he definitely has no problem keeping going - after all, he is one of the notorious bosses in Hollywood.
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hizashis-lil-bunbun · 3 years
Text
Like a Moth to a Flame Pt. 3
Back at it again and this chapter was fun! Next one we’ll be getting into some more juicy bits but I needed a setup for the scene. So enjoy my friendly little deviants!
Mild TW: mentions of blood, violence, attempted assault, and (very) minor character death
As always, I thank/blame @miscellaneous-bnha for the inspo
Part 1 Part 2
•••••
You feel numb walking down the darkened sidewalk towards home, shock and frustration making it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. It had been several weeks since you last saw Mirio, and there hadn’t been any reports of strange, paranormal activity in any other part of town. At least, not according to the papers. Even after the landlord had coughed up the money to replace the ruined fire escape, you’d yet to catch another glimpse of the golden mothman. Night after night you’d put out bowls of sugar water, stayed up late, even pulled a few strings of old Christmas lights out of storage to decorate your portion of the new railing. But come morning, you always found the bait untouched and it left you feeling drained and disappointed. You knew your nightly routine was starting to feel unhealthy, obsessive really, and that your performance at work had been gradually slipping as a result. But it wasn’t until today, when your boss called you in after your shift ended and handed you that soul-crushing pink slip, that you realized just how far it had fallen. And on top of all that, you’d missed the last bus home, forcing you to take a literal walk of shame back to your apartment.
“What am I gonna do?” You breathe into the crisp night air, unconsciously reaching into the pocket of your coat to fish out your phone. Without even looking at the screen, you unlock the device and open your camera roll, tapping on a folder marked “Moth” before finally looking down. There was only one picture on file, but you’d seen it so many times it was practically burned into your retinas. The image was grainy and blurred (not to mention overexposed beyond the point of recognition due to the flash), but you couldn’t give a damn about any of that. The only clear part of the image, the only part you cared about, was the pair of bright blue eyes staring back at you. For some unknown reason, the camera hadn’t distorted them, perfectly capturing their glassy, sapphire hue and wide-eyed expression of curiosity.
And you had spent countless hours poring over it.
In the beginning, you’d convinced yourself it was nothing more than a piece of evidence, proof of your sanity and a confirmation of his existence. But as the days passed, you’d come to take comfort in it, more often than not allowing your mind to wander freely back to the memory of his voice in your ear and the warm weight of his head on your shoulder. You hadn’t even posted it to any of the online forums, jealously hoarding it the same way a dragon protects its treasure.
“Mirio.” You exhale softly, thumb absentmindedly brushing over the cracked surface of your phone screen. “I wish I could fly away from my problems like you. Must be nice having wings…”
“Hey there, baby!”
A gruff, slurring voice abruptly snaps you back to reality, head whipping up to see a trio of men leaning against a rundown building across the street. Their faces are indistinguishable, partially obscured by shadows thrown from a lone street lamp shining over their heads. But you can clearly make out the brown paper bags they have clutched in their fists, the material crumpled and molded into the tell-tale shape of liquor bottles as they continue to heckle you.
“Why dontcha come over here and hang out with us?” The biggest brute calls out, beckons you closer with a crook of his finger. “We’ll show ya a good time.”
“Yeah, a real good time.” The man to his left cackles. His lewd remark earns him a few snickers from his seedy friends while a wave of revulsion courses down your spine. Catcalling wasn’t exactly foreign to you; in this part of town, it was practically expected. But their drunken words and leering eyes make you acutely aware of just how empty the streets are right now, devoid of other people or passing cars to offer protection (or witnesses) should they decide to take things too far. Still, you straighten your spine and snap your eyes forward, long-since trained to know it’s best to ignore their booze-fueled jeers and keep walking.
“Awww, don’t be like that, baby!” You hear one of them call from your right, “We just wanna have some fun!”
You keep your gaze trained on the looming silhouette of your apartment complex, soles of your shoes clicking against the cold pavement as you grip the phone in your hand even more tightly. You’re close enough to see some of the lights are still on your neighbors windows, probably cleaning up from dinner or settling in for a smoke and a drink. With the promise of safety so close at hand, you cast a quick glance over your shoulder….
And feel your blood run cold as you see the men casually strolling across the empty street to fall in line behind you. They’re whispering amongst themselves as they take a few more swigs from their bottles, their shuffling gait and longer legs quickly closing the gap between you. You pick up your own pace in turn, walking much more briskly now and earning a reproachful growl from the men behind you.
“Hey! I’m talkin’ to you!” One of them snarls, “Didn’t your mama ever teach you it’s rude to ignore people?”
You don’t respond to his jab, too afraid to speak regardless, and set off at a jog, determined to put as much distance between yourself and these morons as possible. But that action proves itself to be a grave mistake, as you hear the footsteps behind you pick up in speed. Before you can fully register what’s happening, one of the men appears over your right shoulder, laughing maniacally as he gives you a rough shove and sends you careening off course and into an adjacent alleyway. The unexpected move knocks you off balance, sending you sprawling to the ground and knocking your head into the concrete with enough force to set your teeth rattling. Even worse, you lose your grip on your phone, hearing it skitter off into the darkness as the men crowd into the alley after you.
“I think she could use a lesson in manners! Ain’t that right, boys?” Their leader asks mockingly, seconds before he grabs you by the hair and roughly hauls you back onto your feet.
“Please!” You yelp, both from fear and the pain shooting throughout your scalp, “I-I have money. You can take whatever you want!”
“Whatever we want, huh?” He says with a sneer, his face close enough you can smell the sour aroma of cheap bourbon and old cigarettes on his breath.
“Then gimme a kiss, sweetheart.”
His mouth is on yours in an instant, his free arm wrapping itself around your waist to keep you in place as he tries to force his tongue past your sealed lips and down your throat. Your screams for help are muffled by the kiss, and it’s all you can do to push against his chest and thrash wildly in his hold. His companions stand faithfully behind him, egging him on with bouts of derisive laughter intermingled with hoots to “hurry up and get on with it” so they can have their turn. After a few moments he pulls away for air, arm leaving your waist and clapping the hand that was tangled in your hair over your mouth. Meanwhile, his buddies move to either side of you to grab you by the shoulders and force down on your knees.
“Since you didn’t feel like talkin’…” He growls dangerously, free hand toying with the buckle of his belt. “Let’s see if that pretty little mouth is good for somethin’ else.”
Your eyes widen as his belt comes undone with a soft clink, tears pricking at the corners as he leers down at you. Instinct takes over as he attempts to undo his fly, and before he can move his hand you jerk your head back to partially free your mouth. Then you bite down. Hard.
“Fuck!”
He hastily wrenches his hand from your mouth before you can do any more damage while you take in a desperate lungful of fresh air. A quick glance at his hand shows you’d successfully broken the skin, leaving a perfect, crescent-shaped indent that was quickly beading up with fresh blood.
“Help! Somebody help! Rape! RA-!”
You’re abruptly silenced by a quick blow to your right cheek, delivered by one of the men still holding you down. Throbbing pain radiates out from the point of impact, making your vision white out and earning a cruel laugh from your captors.
“You little bitch!” The injured man spits at you, “Think you’re so tough, huh?”
A small click forces your eyes to open, only to be met with a glint of metal in the light of the full moon: a switchblade.
“Let’s see how tough you are when I slice up that pretty face of yours. Starting with that fuckin’ mouth.”
With a twirl of the blade, he advances towards you, relishing in your helpless state as greedy eyes roam the plane of your terrified face. You’re too scared to scream anymore, eyes squeezing shut as you brace yourself for the first cut. But instead of searing pain, there’s an odd rustling noise, followed by a colossal thump that seems to shake the very earth beneath you. The men holding your shoulders abruptly release you, backing away amidst a slew of bewildered curses. Slowly, you crack one eye open to find a new, dark figure standing in front of you, blotting out the moon itself and effectively shielding you from your would-be rapist.
“M-Mirio?” You gasp, voice wavering from disbelief and shock. The golden cryptid looks over his shoulder at you, only giving a chittering cry at the sound of your voice.
“What the fuck!?” The man behind him screeches, “The fuck is that thing?!”
Mirio’s head snaps around to face the terrified thug, wings slowly raising in a show of strength and dominance as he lets out a low, menacing growl.
“Y/N…” He snarls, taking a short step forward and shifting into a crouch. “Mine.”
“S-stay back!” The man stammers, jabbing the switchblade into the empty air in front of him like a puny saber. “I’m warning you!”
Mirio gives a low hiss in response, wings fully extended as he lowers himself to place one hand on the ground. You’re frozen on the spot, hardly daring to breathe as you sense the slightest movement could set him off. For a moment, everything is still. And then, spurred on by loyalty, liquid courage or a combination of the two, the other thugs charge Mirio from behind. Moving faster than you could comprehend, Mirio whips around with a high-pitched shriek, landing a powerful swipe to the center of one man’s chest and sending him crashing to the pavement beside you. The other one was luckier, successfully jumping onto the monster’s back and causing Mirio to rear up on his back legs once more. The attacker then attempts to wrap his arms around Mirio’s neck, perhaps hoping to cut off his air supply or at least distract him long enough for the third man to join the fray.
But Mirio was obviously stronger and smarter than he was expecting.
Clawed hands scratch at the attacker’s face and shoulders before the winged behemoth suddenly flops onto his back, bringing his full weight down on the foolhardy attacker with a sickening crunch. Rolling back onto all fours, the man is left gasping for air on the ground, possibly with a punctured lung or (at the very least) a few broken ribs. Undeterred by his pitiful cries for mercy, Mirio looses an unearthly roar before grabbing the man by the front of his sweat-soaked shirt, rising to his full height, and tossing him towards the empty street like he weighed no more than a ragdoll.
“MINE!” He bellows, “MIIIIIIINE!”
“Fuck you!” The remaining man screams in return, rushing towards the towering beast with his switchblade held aloft. “Die, you fuckin’ freak!”
Mirio shifts back into a fighting stance, his back to you as he lets out another spine-chilling howl and rushes forward to greet the oncoming attack. At the same time, the moon moves behind a cloud, throwing the alleyway into inky darkness as you shriek and cover your head with your hands. With your eyes screwed shut, all you can hear is the man’s incensed grunts and yells, overshadowed by Mirio’s own enraged roars and the scratch of his nails on the dirty concrete. After a few seconds of struggle, Mirio gives a piercing cry, followed by the wet sound of tearing flesh and a strangled, gurgling noise. The fight ends as suddenly as it started, the only sounds now coming from your own terrified whimpers and the clatter of the switchblade falling to the ground.
Peeking out from between your fingers, you find the sky has started to lighten once more, the moon reappearing from behind the clouds and washing the bizarre scene in an unsettling, ethereal hue. The scrawniest attacker is still sprawled out next to you, unconscious but mercifully alive given the force of his impact. Mirio stands facing towards you, breathing heavily as the wings on his back shiver and shake. And at his feet, eyes wide and lifeless, is the leader’s body, his face covered in deep claw marks and a puddle of blood seeping out from underneath him like an oil slick.
“You… you killed him.” You breathe, “Mirio, h-he’s dead.”
Mirio doesn’t make any move to acknowledge your words, simply sinking to his knees with a rumbling groan. He seems almost sad, remorseful even, with the way he hangs his head and curls his bloodied hands into fists atop his knees. In this new light, you also notice something on the mothman’s left forearm: a clean, shallow gash. That must have been the cause for his shrieking earlier.
Slowly you stand once more, swallowing the lump in your throat to take a few tentative steps toward the creature.
“Are you… hurt?” You ask softly, noting the way he jolts and then shrinks away from you. You’re only a few feet away now, close enough to make out the faint stripes and eye-spot pattern on his wings. You nervously crouch down, balancing on the balls of your feet but keeping a safe distance should he turn aggressive. A chilly breeze blows through the alley, pushing against your back and making the creature raise his head up slightly, sniffing the air. His gaze locks on your face, glassy eyes wide as he slowly puts his palms on the ground and gets back on all fours. He moves one clawed hand closer to you and you start for a second, taking a quick step back before catching sight of the streaks of blood dripping from his forearm once more.
“Hurt?” You say again, pointing a shaky finger at the wound. His eyes follow to where you’re pointing and he lets out a chittering mewl, lifting up his injured arm. His long, slithering tongue snakes out from his mouth and he begins to lap at the blood, wincing at the taste. You’re unsure if this is real or an act. On the one hand, it’s hard to believe a creature so obviously powerful as him would be so concerned over little more than a scratch. Then again, you feel certain Mirio is too much of a gentle soul at heart to fake the whole “kicked-puppy” routine.
“No. Don’t do that.” You chide gently, tone forcing the monster to stop licking at himself and look up at you. Moving slowly so as to not startle him, you reach into the pocket of your coat and fish around until your fingers close around a crumpled, but thankfully unused, piece of tissue. When you pull it out of your pocket, Mirio’s eyes narrow into slits and he bares his teeth to let out a small, warning hiss.
“Easy, boy.” You say soothingly, “It can’t hurt you. See?”
You extend your free hand and pat the tissue against your own palm, demonstrating it’s benign nature. Mirio’s face gradually relaxes as he watches your display, eventually crawling over the corpse on the ground to get closer to you. You’re now practically nose-to-nose with the mothman, dropping your empty hand by your side and using the tissue to gesture at the cut on his arm.
“Let me help.”
Mirio gives a short blink before shifting into a squatting position similar to your own, carefully extending his injured arm towards you. Doing your best to not cause him any pain, you carefully start to dab at the areas around the cut, mopping up the spilled blood as the monster watches you work.
“Y/N.” He says softly, his voice causing you to look up from your task. Mirio raises his other hand to touch the right-hand side of your face, sending a bolt of prickly pain shooting through your skull and making you wince. You’d been so caught up in the chaos and adrenaline-fueled high that you’d forgotten about your own injuries. No doubt you’ve got a sizable bruise forming from where that thug had punched you earlier. Mirio’s stiffens up at the your response, brow furrowing in concern as he quickly pulls his hand away.
“H-hurt?”
“A little…” You mumble in response, “But I’ll be alright.”
He stills for a moment and you offer him a small, pained smile, hoping to reassure him. And the next thing you know he’s moving, clutching you to his chest in a protective embrace and nuzzling his face into your neck. You squeak a little at the unexpected move, body going rigid in fear of being attacked. But soon his sweet scent and warmth fully envelop your senses, causing you to relax in his hold.
“Hurt.” He whimpers in your ear, “Y/N hurt. My fault.”
You can feel your heart clench at his words. He sounds so guilty. Helpless even. Like a child crying to their mother for comfort. Before you can think better of it, you wrap your arms around him in return, worming your hands underneath his wings to rest on his well-defined shoulder blades.
“Oh, Mirio no! It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything to hurt me.”
His body begins to shake, his breathing turning into ragged gasps as he squeezes you even more tightly. One hand leaves your back to cradle your head, the sheer size of his fingers tangling in your hair making you feel like doll-like. The two of you stay locked together like this for a few minutes, holding onto each other in the moonlight as Mirio continues to tremble beneath your touch.
“Mirio. I-” You softly breathe, causing him to raise his golden head and look you in the eye. You have so many questions for him, so many things you like to say. But all that comes out is a quiet, “Thank you.”
He cocks his handsome head to one side before a smile begins to tug at the corners of his mouth, pearly teeth reappearing as he gives a short nod of understanding.
“Mirio… keep Y/N safe.”
“Yes. Yes, you did.” You say with a weak chuckle, reaching up one hand to brush an errant strand of blonde hair away from his face. “I’m safe now.”
Mirio coos as he presses his cheek into your palm, the same way he’d done outside your apartment complex all those weeks ago. His eyes close contentedly and you can’t help but smile at his blissful expression.
“Y/N. Mine.” He purrs.
You freeze at the bold statement, pulling your hand away and earning a disappointed mewl from Mirio.
“You said that before. Mirio, what do you mean–?”
“You there! Freeze!”
A familiar voice cuts off your question nanoseconds before a powerful flashlight is aimed directly at Mirio’s back. Even though you can’t see around his massive frame, you can tell it’s the same officer who caught you the last time Mirio visited you.
Only now, the cornered cryptid hadn’t had the chance to fly away.
“Hands where I can see them!” The officer demands, flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other. Mirio makes no such move. Instead, he rises to his feet, hooking one arm under your thighs and taking you up with him.
“Wait! Mirio, don’t!” You shriek, desperately grabbing at his chest and mane as he turns to face the officer. It’s a terrifying sight for the poor man: three bodies strewn across a bloody alley, a blue-eyed beast, and a helpless civilian seemingly taken captive.
“D-drop the hostage!” He stammers out. “Do it, or I’ll shoot!”
You can tell from the way the light wavers that he’s shaking and you suspect the only reason he hasn’t fired his weapon yet is because he doesn’t want to risk hitting you. Your eyes flit wildly between his and Mirio’s face, finding his fangs are bared as he lets out a warning hiss.
“Y/N.” Mirio snarls, wings slowly unfurling behind him as he bends his knees and tightens his grip on you. “Mine!”
With that final declaration, Mirio gives his wings a powerful flap and kicks off from the ground. You scream as you take flight, tiny fingers digging into the solid muscle of Mirio’s chest and neck for safety. Between the sound of rushing wind and your own heartbeat jackhammering in your ears, you can barely make out the officer’s voice telling him to stop, followed by a rogue gunshot. And then there’s nothing. Nothing save for the wind in your hair and Mirio’s howl of victory as he carries you ever higher into the starry night sky.
“Stop!” You shriek, cold air stinging your battered face and forcing your eyes closed. “Put me down! Mirio, let go!”
Mirio doesn’t respond to your demands, either unable or unwilling to hear you as he sets off over the rooftops. After a few minutes of careful flying, he abruptly changes course, veering off westward and heading for the woods that ring the city limits.
“Keep Y/N safe.” Mirio says resolvedly, his voice rumbling through his chest and directly in your ear.
“Y/N… mine.”
•••••
Tags: @middevil465 @delightfully-anonymous
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chelleblack · 3 years
Text
✖Unhealthy Hypersexualization: Draco Malfoy vs Fanfiction✖
This is an official complaint to all the random Harry Potter writers who have been savagely and ruthlessly destroying the essence of Draco Malfoy. For years, and they've been hiding behind: "He's a fictional character, he's not bad."
After reading so many fanfictions of Dramione / or Draco being the protagonist as such. And, apparently it has become a general rule when writing and bringing Draco Malfoy to life, being that it is not his canon in the first place, (although they defend themselves saying that they want to make it as real as possible, and that is why they have created and reproduced this horrifying image). Second; this is twisted and much more because we are talking about a teenager, not an adult. Without exaggeration, 80% of the fanfics that you find of Draco; he's a sex symbol, despite being a minor in most of those stories. And it's not okay that they want to cover this up just because he's a fictional character. It's still noisy, and troublesome.
The first story I found (and I won't say the name of the fic, or author) had this "trope", it surprised me because I had recently finished reading the HP saga, and the image of Draco, the real personality, was still fresh. So even though it disturbed me, I continued reading for a bit and then gave it up because I was annoyed by the hackneyed badboy cliché they imposed on it. And I thought, "Well, not everyone writes about Draco Malfoy like that, I just had a weird experience, and that didn't mean that everything I would get to see about the Slytherin boy would be like this."
So ... I venture into Fanfiction, I go to Ao3, I give Wattpad a spin, I have a look on Tumblr, I even get into a lot of potterfic forums, a lot of potterfic forums and blogs. And guess what?
It turns out that in an extremely terrifying way, the fandom has turned Draco Malfoy into fanfiction; into a sex symbol, and no one is complaining or even stopping this. What the hell?
Why are all the most famous fanfictions written have this trope? When the hell was Draco Lucius Malfoy Black in the JKR books a playboy? AT THE AGE OF 16!?
Because when it comes to developing a character as deep and complex as Draco: the most interesting and complex thing they do with him is to be a mediocre womanizer, and with a very bad sexual education, very worrying and alarming. I know that in the world of HP, there is machismo, I know that in the Slytherin house they didn't even let women play Quidditch. But still, where did this come from? And why has Draco been the worst hit victim in the fanfic genre? The boy literally never had a girlfriend in Hogwarts days, or talked dirty about women. The only girl in Hogwats who was next to him was Pansy, and although they refuse to accept it; Draco was really fond of her, and he never disrespected her, he seemed rather very reciprocal.
The only character who is constantly sexualizing and speaking macho about women is Ron. But hey, that's another topic.
The real Draco, is the complete opposite of the macho that they have established in the fanfics. Draco is a boy who comes from a strict family, with retrograde ideals, what is the most daring that we have seen of him in the Harry Potter saga? That is, with Hermione in the fourth book when the Death Eaters sabotaged Quidditch and injured several children of Muggle parents; Draco told Hermione that if they saw him they would cast a spell on her and her panties would be exposed as well, hinting at an event they were witnessing with a poor woman flying through the air.
But hey ... Because of that aforementioned scene with Hermione and the "Half-Blood Prince" wagon scene where Draco has his head resting on Pansy's lap and she's stroking his hair and he looks relaxed. They have been the reasonable enough reasons of some writers to create according to the "true personality of Draco Malfoy". I'm not exaggerating, when I discussed this on Reddit, these were the "strong justifications" they gave me.
It is completely ridiculous to claim that Draco is a misogynist because he practically warned Hermione to be careful because he could see her, and they would also blow her up in the air and show her panties, why is this alarming everyone? This is literally how the woman they bewitched looked like, Harry Potter describes her like that, Draco just made a comment on that. And about Pansy, it is already very degrading that they sexualize that scene in the wagon, very personal comments were taken very out of place from Harry. (Which should be noted that Harry always had very out of place comments about other people, but that didn't mean they were good or real)
So, back to the point of the issue of sexism and objectification.
Why didn't they act equally alarmed when Harry began to view Ginny too sexually? Or when Ron used Lavender just to calm his hormones? Where were you to point out the clear objectification of the woman's body? Where were you? They clearly existed hideously in regards to Lavender and Ginny.
However, hypocrites, is Draco alone the only moral and ethical target to escrack on?
In his life Draco Malfoy verbatim according to the books, he only dated more than two girls. His Malfoy-Black family is super traditional; They come from marriages arranged from an early age. Possibly Draco was raised in the most prim way possible. And as he got older, he had more important things to do than act like a hormonal jerk. He had manners and used all his neurons.
Is it very difficult to write about Draco like this? Is that the real boy, is he not a Don Juan, or did he have a long list of exes (and why does this seem strange to you? Draco just turned 18 at the end of the saga, they need to calm down wanting to see that the teens have more partners than the average adult in the first place, that's not normal). The real Draco hardly had any friends, he was an insecure and damaged boy who hid behind that rude and immature behavior that in the end paid dearly. I don't think it is very difficult to overexploit an insecure and complicated boy with too many things and responsibilities. It didn't cost JKR that much.
Or is it that writers find it difficult to write about a man who is not macho and super heteronormative? It's sad to see how they continue to reproduce this crap, and it's very hard to see that they don't hyper-sexualize with a teenager, because they've practically turned him into a bad boy sexual fetish on Fanfics.
They've done it, they've ruined Draco Malfoy. And they are demonizing it even more.
Draco, who is a completely intelligent boy, had one of the most powerful young minds of his generation, apart from Hermione Granger; since apparently they forget that he was for the second in class with her. It has a lot of potential to write a complete saga. And no, it is not necessary to hypersexualize it to develop it. It is not necessary to write about a man who has a fragile masculinity, or who is heteronormative. Although they do not believe it.
I know Draco's character has a very, very vague development in HP, he was missing his historical arc, we all know that. And everyone is free to turn it into a story, and whatever (even if it's annoying and boring to see its canonical image spoil). The problem here is that this type of "trope" is the one that abounds, and Draco is the one that is used the most, nor does he want to use other characters, they only do what they do with Draco, they just continue to idealize him in this way. And it's already reached a point where Fanfiction is making it canon in Fandom, something JKR never wrote, but you keep reaffirming. You random writers took things out of context, made guesses without concrete material. And it seems more like a wave of people hating this guy and looking for the need to make him more dirty, and they can only cope with it by sexualizing and dehumanizing him. They know he has a story with potential, but they hate him so much that they don't want to be nice or treat him like a human.
It is time to accept it.
Because you do that? Could you stop writing like this? It is practically decent. And writing about decent men, what Draco Malfoy really is like, is what it takes; because that's what it really is. Stop apologizing that he's just a character, show how much you need to stomp on him, and keep dehumanizing him.
If you hate him, you better not write about him, you are only causing that poor boy to be killed. And rather it would be very good for you a writer, because firstly, why do you write about someone you hate?
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dingoes8myrp · 3 years
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An Examination of Joss Whedon
On February 11th, Charisma Carpenter made a post on her Instagram account detailing mistreatment she experienced on the sets of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Carpenter worked on both shows from 1996 to 2004 and attributes this mistreatment to show creator Joss Whedon.
On the same day, I made a post on my Tumblr and my WordPress accounts regarding my stance on this topic. I felt it was important for me to post something quickly due to the large number of Buffyverse followers and mutuals on my Tumblr.
I was overwhelmed by the likes, reblogs, and comments this post received in less than twenty-four hours. I’m so glad so many people support Charisma Carpenter and others who are speaking out about their experiences.
Workplace mistreatment is insidious, and too often the systems in place to mediate these situations are designed to protect the employer rather than the person experiencing mistreatment. This happens everywhere in every industry. When people in the public eye draw attention to these issues it helps bring awareness to everyone and encourages societal change.
In today’s climate, social media moves faster than legal or internal HR systems. This means, more often than not, accusations spread, opinions form, and action is taken long before any investigation can occur. Because of this, it’s important for people to seek out the facts themselves in order to stay informed or make decisions about who in fandom they choose to support or not.
I’m going to go through various tid-bits I’ve seen over the past twenty-five years regarding Joss Whedon’s behavior, which prompted my quick response to Charisma Carpenter’s post. I feel it’s important to share this with those who may be new to the fandom, or those who doubt Charisma Carpenter’s claims and those of others.
The Bronze
Before there was Twitter, there was The Bronze.
The Bronze was the official online gathering place of Buffyverse fans. Joss Whedon and others involved with the shows occasionally popped in and posted, interacting with the fans. There was speculation about the trajectory of the show, discussion about lore, fan theories, and behind the scenes rumors.
I didn’t learn about these forums until I was in high school (from 2002 to 2006) and I never posted. I just read up on the fun factoids I could find. I wasn’t a heavy Internet user back then. We had one computer in my house and it was shared with my parents. I was only allowed on for so much time per day, yada yada.
I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the first shows – if not the first – to utilize this kind of creator/fan interaction. It wasn’t a regular thing back then.
The vibe of these forums was very laidback. When someone directly involved with Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel posted (known as a V.I.P.) it was with a very casual, unmoderated tone. There was no screenshotting every word to be saved for later. Someone from the media couldn’t grab a comment made and spread it across the Internet in real time. There were mailing lists – collections of email addresses for people who wanted updates on show spoilers or particular non-show activities of various actors. Fan letters were still a thing – actual snail mail letters you could send to actors and writers of the shows. Things moved slowly, and there wasn’t as much transparency as there is on the Internet today with sites like Instagram and Twitter.
In a series of posts made on November 6th, 2001, Joss Whedon reacted to the airing of the musical episode, “Once More with Feeling.” He called it “the biggest undertaking of my life,” but expressed his appreciation toward the UPN network, the cast, and crew – particularly Anthony Head, Amber Benson, and James Marsters. He calls Anthony Head “the golden throat” and writes of James Marsters, “And James, who always tells me to do everything I dream of, then brings that intense voice and those cheekbones along for the ride.”
All he writes about Amber Benson is, “Amber… just, you know… Amber….”
Alarmingly absent from his praise is star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who “went back and forth” over whether or not to sing in the episode. “I’m not a singer,” she told EW. She didn’t feel prepared enough and “didn’t feel confident.” As someone who broke out of her comfort zone and pulled off a wonderful leading performance, Gellar was certainly deserving of some acknowledgment.
Seemingly realizing he neglected to mention Marti Noxon, Whedon tacked on, “Do you know anyone that hot who can run a show? Do you? I don’t think so. What a voice.” At the time, alongside comments about James Marsters’ cheekbones and being “a little gay” for Anthony Head, this seemed to be an attempt at an edgy complement (though a little cringey). Marti Noxon was a new showrunner for Buffy, taking over for Joss. Referring to her as hot rather than praising her work is a little demeaning, in my opinion, particularly when it was up to him to make sure she was respected and taken seriously in filling his shoes.
On May 22nd, 2002, Whedon posted about “the gay thing” – probably not for the first time. Regarding some fan reactions to the death of Tara Maclay, Joss wrote, “I knew some people would be angry with me for destroying the only gay couple on the show, but the idea that I COULDN’T kill Tara because she was gay is as offensive to me as the idea that I DID kill her because she was gay. Willow’s story was not about being gay. It was about weakness, addiction, loss… the way life hits you in the gut right when you think you’re back on your feet.”
Keep in mind, at the time, Willow was one of the first gay main characters – if not THE first – on a major primetime show in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Having a gay couple on a major show like this was not a regular thing, which made the shocking death of Tara and the dark turn of Willow particularly hard-hitting. While Whedon isn’t saying anything particularly inflammatory here, it does show a sort of crass attitude toward the removal of this representation from the show, which had become so important to so many fans – and still is now.
There’s not a lot of meaty information to be found that I could dig up, but I wanted to give people an idea of this landscape back in the day. I picked out those particular Joss Whedon posts because they show a very casual disregard for the women involved in the shows – an insidious and subtle thing, but it’s there.
Fighting with Buffy
Jeff Pruitt was a stunt coordinator on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997 to 2000. He also happened to be romantically involved with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stunt double, Sophia Crawford. Both would exit the show by its fifth season. According to Pruitt, it was not an amicable exit.
Pruitt claims he and Crawford were treated badly on the set, that Crawford was “one never ending injury” and she had “reached the end of her rope.” He said that they were threatened and blackballed when they made attempts to leave before the 100th episode. They got an opportunity to work on Dark Angel, but the people at Dark Angel supposedly received a phone call from “someone high up at their studio” and were told not to hire Pruitt and Crawford. He suspects this was to keep Sophia Crawford from leaving Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Their firing was unceremonious, according to Pruitt. “Sophia was told point blank that she was being fired because she knew too much about things,” he claimed. He said Joss Whedon and Jane Espenson threatened Crawford, saying if she spoke about what happened on set she’d “never work in this town again.”
Jeff Pruitt spoke about “sneaky politics” behind the scenes, saying “there was something weird going on” in the months leading up to his and Crawford’s exit. Pruitt claims Sarah Michelle Gellar was a “spoiled starlett” and that she was “out to get” him and Crawford. He attributes statements he made in private emails that were later read by Joss Whedon to his firing.
It’s worth noting that many people have stated that Sarah Michelle Gellar is undeserving of a “diva” label. When asked in 2004 what it was like working with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Julie Benz said, “She’s extremely talented and generous. Her reputation is just completely untrue. Unfortunately in Hollywood if you’re young and female and you have an opinion you get labeled a diva or something…else. Sarah’s an amazing talent, but she got labeled.”
In a 2013 interview on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Alyson Hannigan answered a series of rapid-fire questions about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When asked who was the most “annoyed” by the end of the show, she said, “Sarah,” referring to Sarah Michelle Gellar. When the audience booed, Hannigan clarified, “Well, she had a big career going, and it was a lot of work.” When asked when Gellar started to “hate” the show, Hannigan quickly said season three. In a later interview for Huffpost Live, Hannigan clarified her comments further. “[Sarah Michelle Gellar] worked her butt off,” she stated. “She worked eighteen-hour days for years.” Hannigan said she wouldn’t have classified Gellar as “annoyed,” saying, “she was super professional.”
Honestly, I’m Team Sarah on this one. I couldn’t find corroborating sources for Jeff Pruitt’s claims of her “diva” behavior, but I found several sources stating otherwise. Gellar did confirm during a cast reunion that she may have oversold her stunt experience, which ultimately would have meant more work for her stunt double and the stunt coordinator. It seems to me like this set everything on a bad foot with that team. But, the reasons Jeff Pruitt and Sophia Crawford gave for their exit had little-to-nothing to do with Gellar.
Vincent Kartheiser
Vincent Kartheiser played Connor on Angel, and he did a number of interviews talking about his experience on the show. I picked his interviews because I’ve always found him to be very candid and he doesn’t seem to shy away from uncomfortable answers to questions. A few of his answers provide a little insight into the mood on the set at times, and Charisma Carpenter’s attitude.
When Charisma Carpenter was pregnant on the show, she had a storyline that heavily involved Connor, so the two spent a lot of time working together on set. He was asked about her pregnancy and how it affected filming. In a 2003 interview for BBC Cult, Kartheiser said of Carpenter, “she was a great sport and would suck up the pain even though you could see that she was in it.”
In another interview for Angel Magazine from the same year, he said Carpenter had “an abundance of energy for a working, pregnant lady who, right in the heart of her pregnancy, they put her in so much.”
It’s worth noting Vincent Kartheiser had his own issues with the show. “What really made me interested in Angel was the idea that as a show, it changed so much and all the characters could change so much,” he told Angel Magazine. “It wasn’t that clichéd kind of ‘show up, do your thing, go home’ all the time.” Unfortunately, the potential that interested him never came to fruition for his character. “As the season went on, we never really got to deal with the relationship problems between me and David,” Kartheiser said, referring to David Boreanaz as Angel. “I never really got the opportunity to bond with any other characters.” He expressed a feeling that there was nowhere for his character to go and that Connor’s motivations seemed to change from week to week. “There were parts of the season I didn’t have the opportunity to stretch,” he explained, “that it felt like I was doing the same scene over and over.”
Vincent Kartheiser did a later interview with Giantmag.com where he reiterated some of these frustrations. For him, the character of Connor started to get stale early on. “Every week I’d show up and have a scene with Cordelia,” he said, “then Angel would show up and I’d have some sort of conflict with him. There’d be a couple of fight scenes where I’d fight with them even though I didn’t want to and then I would sulk and leave. That to me was every episode.” He felt the writers had written Connor “into a corner” and that fans responded poorly to him.
When comparing his experience on Angel to his experience playing Pete Campbell on Mad Men, Kartheiser expressed a lackluster feeling on the set of Angel. “There was a real sense on Angel that people were just doing a job,” Kartheiser said of the set. “The grips, the DP, even the directors would kind of just show up, do their job and go home.” This atmosphere is a direct contrast to what had attracted Vincent Kartheiser to the show in the first place. “On Mad Men we also have Matthew Weiner on set all the time whereas Joss [Whedon] was hardly ever on Angel,” Kartheiser explained. “I think Joss was doing Firefly at that point and was in love with his next project. I had a friend who filmed a few episodes in the first season of Angel and said everyone was invested and there was crazy energy, so maybe I just came into it late.”
Kartheiser also delved deeper into his frustrations over the direction (or lack thereof) of his character. “I let them know right off the bat that some of the choices they were making [about Conner] were wrong,” he said. “I showed up to play that character and I had a lot of ideas. And they didn’t like any of those ideas.” As a result, Kartheiser said he got “jaded” and “angry” at the show. “I felt like it wasn’t a collaboration, that the people I was working with didn’t care to take risks.”
In hindsight, he went on to say, “I was never a fan of Buffy, I’ll say it straight out. I was never a fan of Angel. I always found it hard to say Joss’ words.”
From all these comments, both from the beginning of Vincent Kartheiser’s journey as Connor, and from a few years after the show ended, it seems like he was excited for the opportunity, but ultimately disappointed with the overall experience. He also revealed how uncomfortable Charisma Carpenter had to be during filming while she was pregnant, but noted her energy and attitude were never a problem.
Farewell Cordelia
Prior to Charisma Carpenter’s official exit from Angel, her character arc had taken a very strange turn and Cordelia had been ominously left in a coma. Concern grew when Charisma Carpenter was not included in the cast of season 5. In a 2003 interview with TV Guide Online, Joss Whedon stated, “The Angel/Cordelia [love story] had gone pretty much as far as we wanted to take it” and that it wasn’t popular with the fans. “It just seemed like a good time for certain people to move on,” he continued. “Not completely, obviously. I’m hoping that we’ll get Charisma to do some episodes as Cordelia sometime during the year.”
TV Guide asked, “Isn’t that a disservice to fans who invested all those years in the character and her redemption? It seems an odd thing to do to the show’s leading lady.” Whedon responded, “That’s a fluctuating concept, the leading lady thing. And it is a little odd. Some choices are ultimately kind of controversial about who stays and who goes and who we focus on. But obviously, we had to have her out of a bunch of episodes toward the end of the year because she was having a baby… so what we had [leading] up to it wasn’t a dynamic I wanted to play out that much.” When asked if things were left on good terms with Charisma Carpenter, Joss Whedon stated he wouldn’t discuss that in an interview.
From Charisma Carpenter’s perspective, she was uncomfortable with Cordelia’s storyline prior to her coma and her death. “It was creepy,” she said of Cordelia’s relationship with Connor. “Connor was Angel’s son and half my age.” Carpenter stated it was important for her to return to wrap up the character’s storyline. “We didn’t want to just leave Cordelia in a coma,” she stated. “Whatever happens after this, I’m open. But it’s just best this story be [resolved] now. Otherwise, it’s a disservice to the fans of our show.” When pressed regarding whether or not she’d return to the show, Carpenter replied, “I don’t think it’ll be necessary. You never say never. However, at this point in time, I don’t see a future for her.” She continued with, “I feel like Joss feels – the Cordelia stories have been told. There were no other directions to go with her.”
Carpenter’s final appearance as Cordelia was an emotional experience. “We’ve been crying for the last two days,” she said in a behind-the-scenes interview. “I’m so physically drained.” She wasn’t the only one affected, either. “The director was crying, the crew was crying, we were crying,” she said. She called it a sad goodbye personally, professionally, and story-wise.
Working with Joss Whedon
Over the years, Joss Whedon gained a reputation for being unconventional to work with. Many actors from the Buffyverse have said they were unhappy with their characters’ creative paths. Sarah Michelle Gellar felt season six “betrayed” who Buffy was, saying she had to be “talked off a ledge” a number of times during filming.
Nicholas Brendon felt the character of Xander was “underrated,” particularly during season seven. “Joss did have a talk with Sarah and I because he was kind of contemplating the idea of Xander and Buffy ending up together at the end of season seven,” Brendon told AV Club. “We were both for it, but then that never came to fruition and I lost my eye.”
On an episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, James Marsters said he was “terrified” of Joss Whedon. “I wasn’t designed to be a romantic character,” he explained. “The audience reacted that way to it. And I remember [Joss Whedon] backed me up against a wall one day, and he was just like, ‘I don’t care how popular you are, kid. You’re dead! You hear me? You’re dead! Dead!” Rosenbaum asked, “Was he kidding around?” and Marsters replied, “No. Hell, no.” Marsters also said he had “open wounds” on his scalp from over-using bleach on his roots every eight days to keep the roots from growing out.
Multiple actors from Angel have talked about Whedon’s habit of making actors squirm. David Boreanaz spoke about how he learned about the Angel spinoff during a twentieth anniversary cast reunion. “I got a phone call that Joss wanted to talk to me,” Boreanaz recalled. “The only thing he said was, ‘I want you to come into my office tomorrow,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m fired.’” He described having a night of “angst” and spent the following day working on some flashback scenes. When he finally met with Whedon at lunch it took some time for Whedon to tell him his character was getting a spin-off. Alexis Denisof expressed a similar knee-jerk feeling of “uh-oh,” but had an idea the spin-off was filming. However, Amy Acker had a similar story to what Boreanaz experienced when she was told about her character Fred’s transformation into Illyria. “It seems to be an echo of, like, ‘Hey, can you meet me for coffee tomorrow?’ and I’m like, ‘Ohh, they’re firing me!’ And we sat down to coffee and he said, ‘I just wanted you to know I’m killing Fred.’ And he waited, like, really a long time.” Charisma Carpenter chimed in, “He likes to do that!” Acker was then informed she would still be on the show as Illyria.
Charisma Carpenter and Marti Noxon have shared their own stories about Joss’s “You’re fired, just kidding” stories. Seth Green quipped “He did that to me too, but it took.”
Whedon’s View of Women
While Joss Whedon considers his writing to be feminist, his portrayal of women as well as other statements he’s made contradict this. In 2013, he gave a speech for Equality Now about his dislike of the word “feminist.” While this speech earned him some acclaim, it also earned him some backlash from the feminist community. This was mainly because he claimed it’s natural for people to be equal, and to add “-ist” to the end of the word “feminist” implies that people’s natural state is to be unequal. This stance was seen as disrespectful to Feminism as a movement, for some.
Joss Whedon received wide criticism for his portrayal of women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One critic, Scott Mendelson, talked about Whedon’s portrayal of Scarlet Witch and Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron. “Scarlet Witch eventually has to be coaxed into bravery by one of the male heroes,” Mendelson writes of Elizabeth’s Olson’s character. Mendelson was even less thrilled with Scarlet Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. “Maybe I shouldn’t be annoyed that the only major female character’s primary arc is a theoretically unrequited pining for a nice guy with major anger issues,” he writes, “or that said character briefly gets captured by the villain in the second act and tossed in a cage for no reason other than to be rescued by her male compatriots.” Backlash over this film caused Whedon to quit Twitter. In an article for Gizmodo, writers Meredith Woerner and Katharine Trendacosta point out that Joss Whedon teased a “killer” backstory for Natasha Romanoff. “Instead of an assassin constantly struggling with finding moral lines she didn’t know existed, we got a woman who feels incomplete because she cannot have babies,” Woerner and Trendacosta concluded.
In 2017, Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole wrote a blog for The Wrap stating, “he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist.”
Cole alleges Whedon wrote her a letter in which he said, “When I was running ‘Buffy,’ I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women… As a guilty man I knew the only way to hide was to act as though I were righteous… In many ways I was the HEIGHT of normal, in this culture. We’re taught to be providers and companions and at the same time, to conquer and acquire — specifically sexually — and I was pulling off both!” At the end of her essay, Cole wrote, “I want the people who worship him to know he is human, and the organizations giving him awards for his feminist work, to think twice in the future about honoring a man who does not practice what he preaches.”
In response to Kai Cole’s letter, Laura M. Browning wrote in an AV Club article, “I was sad, but not shocked—maybe a little embarrassed I hadn’t looked more closely at some very clear problems in his work… His work has plenty of male gaze and women in refrigerators and some narratively pointless rape scenes—it’s all right there, in hundreds of hours of television and film—but boy, it sure is a lot more comfortable to listen to a guy tell you he’s a feminist than listen to a lot of women telling you he’s not.”
Whedon’s veneer of feminism has been cracking for several years.
Recent Allegations
Actor Ray Fisher claimed Joss Whedon behaved inappropriately on the set of Justice League, tweeting, “Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” Fisher also accused Geoff Johns and Jon Berg of enabling Whedon’s behavior. An investigation was done by Warner Brothers and co-stars Jason Mamoa and Kiersey Clemons publicly supported Fisher. Ultimately, the investigation concluded and “remedial action” was taken. The action taken has not been specified.
Shortly after, Joss Whedon exited the HBO series The Nevers, which Fisher attributes to his own claims.
Team Charisma
Those who have shown support to Charisma Carpenter include: Sarah Michelle Gellar Ray Fisher J. August Richards Michelle Trachtenberg Amber Benson Eliza Dushku Jose Molina Marti Noxon Emma Caulfield James Marsters Anthony Head Clare Kramer James C. Leary Sophia Crawford David Boreanaz Amy Acker Julie Benz Danny Strong Adam Busch Tom Lenk Nicholas Brendon Jeff Mariotte
Others who have written about Joss Whedon or come out to support those coming forward:
Courtney Enlow Nell Scovell Glen Mazzara
My Conclusion
As I stated in my previous post on this topic, I stand with Team Charisma. It is not okay for a person in a position of power over others in the workplace to misuse that power in an inappropriate or abusive manner. No matter how talented that person may be and how beloved the work may be.
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