Verwüstung Krieg

"I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences to now come together, work together"- President Barack Obama, press conference with Donald Trump, November 10 2016. 

(National Security Advisor Henry) Kissinger: "we’ve got to break the back of this generation of Democratic leaders.
(President Richard) Nixon: Yeah.
 Kissinger: The [Cyrus] Vances, [Clark] Cliffords—
 Nixon: That’s right.
  Kissinger: —and company have to get out of public life. That is, the new ones, nowadays. We just don’t have all [unclear].
 Nixon: Well, the other thing, too, we’ve got to break, we’ve got to destroy the confidence of people in the American establishment, too." -A segment of a private conversation between Nixon, Kissinger and  H.R.  Haldeman, April 17 1971.

If Then: A Review of Westworld

Note: Although the second episode of Westworld has been released early, this review will only cover the pilot.

The Turing Test has been a staple of both science and science fiction for more then sixty years. Its weaknesses and strengths poured over and parodied. But, at its core its pretty simple. Can a computer trick a human into believing that its human?  The first episode of Westworld forces us into the judges' chair as we follow Teddy (James Marsden) as he seemingly enters the theme park of Westworld.  We watch as he turns down a sidequest,  and the advances of a saloon sex worker, before (re-meeting) Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) , the firey daughter of a rancher. Things go pear shaped however, with the intervention of the mysterious Man in Black (Ed Harris) (no, no that one, or that one) who kills Teddy,  revealing him to be an android.

Movies as Ideology (Part I)

In its domestic opening weekend Suicide Squad, the latest adventure in the DCEU, earned 135.1 million dollars. As of this writing the reboot Ghostbusters has earned an estimated 116.7 million domestic in 3.5 weeks of release. The two films Rotten Tomatoes critics scores are 73% for Ghostbusters and 26% for Suicide Squad respectively. In the realm of public opinion (as measured by IMDB user ratings) this trend is reversed.  Suicide Squad pulls in an weighted average score of 7.0 (median is 8.0) and Ghostbusters lags behind with a weighted average of 5.5 (median is 7.0). Why is there this difference in opinion?

Its Sexism Stupid.

Why Liberals Dismiss Donald Trump At Their Peril (And Why They Could Vote For Him)

Consider this meme:

Diversity & Science Fiction (Part II: A Case study of Star Wars)

(Via)

In July of 1977 the LA Times published an article entitled  "The Great White Void" by Raymond St. Jacques, a black actor and director. In it James critiqued the fact that while science fiction was supposed to be free "from worry about acceptive norms of our present racist society". But instead, popular science fiction films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Logan's Run and Star Wars were nearly devoid of African-American actors and actresses. In the weeks ahead the Times would publish letters to the editor in response of Jacques.  One of these was by a reader, Linda Buzzwell, who added on to Jacques observations, saying: "there are no women pilots, soldiers, or other professionals" in Star Wars.  Despite this, Buzzwell had seen the film five times. The same number, as it happens, as Jacques.

On Diversity & Science Fiction (Part I)

The first Star Wars: Rouge One trailer dropped today.  You should it see it. Go, right now. I don't mind.  Its awesome. In response to the film's main protagonist seemingly being a woman (played by Felicity Jones) conservative luminary John Podhoretz, film critic for the Weekly Standard  tweeted (and quickly deleted) this 'joke'

(Via)

Grappling With Vigilantism: A Review of Jessica Jones & Daredevil (Part II)

(Here be spoilers)

Fred punches me in the face and walks away. Do I: A -report Fred to the police and hope he is arrested for assault- or B -ask my my masked vigilante friend to beat him up? How one answers that question has important implications for the role of the state in your life.  To explain why, and how superheroes fit into all of this, you have to understand the idea of a "Monopoly on Force"

One Bad Day: A Review of Jessica Jones and Daredevil (Part I)

(Here be Spoliers for Jessica Jones and Daredevil)

Via

Early on in season two of Daredevil The Punisher and our titular hero have a discussion about morality. Matt's a Catholic, The Punisher used to be. Matt argues that his absolute prohibition on killing is justified because  "everyone deserves a chance at redemption".  The Punisher counters by saying that not all people can be redeemed, and that killing people before they have a chance to kill others is the utilitarian thing to do. The Punisher then sets up a twisted version of the Trolley Problem. Daredevil can kill the Punisher, and save who he was about to kill, or not kill the Punisher and allow him to kill.  Matt chooses a third option, but despite his best efforts someone still dies. During the confrontation the Punisher declares "One bad day and you'd be just like me!" He's wrong, Matthew Murdock has had bunch of bad days. From loosing his sight to losing his father, Matt has had more then his share of misery.

The Case for Bernie Part IV (on feminism and other concerns)

I could say more about Hillary's non progressive record (The Patriot Act! Sexual and reproductive health! a live and let live attitude towards Wall Street!) but there is really no point, Hillary is basically a moderate-to-conservative Democrat, and from a left wing policy position is bad.

The Case for Bernie (Part III, or: 1,846,850 Children)

Now, you may be be thinking,  Jacob, while that last section was certainly interesting, you seem to be conflating Hillary with her husband, isn't that pretty sexist? You're absolutely right, it would pretty sexist, Hillary is her own person after all!  The problem with this argument is that the Clintons were always a team. Hillary encouraged Bill's mind meld with the DLC, and is actually the more conservative of the two. A close friend of hers once noted "It’s not true that she is the liberal one... the idea is that you work for everything, she believes in personal responsibility" Therefore its totally valid for a critique of Hillary to include the skeletons of the first Clinton administration.

And what skeletons they were! The 1994 Crime bill . (Honesty forces me to point out that Sanders voted for it as a member of the House- but specifically because of its Violence Against Women provisions- and was opposed to most everything else) DADT, DOMA, Iraqi Sanctions, Economic Deregulation, but I want to focus more in depth on one aspect of the Clinton record: The 1996 Welfare Reform Act.

The Case for Bernie (Part II)

But its not just in land beyond our borders would a Hillary presidency cause more misery then a Bernie presidency, but at home as well. To see why we must travel back in time to the year 1992.
That year's top film was Aladdin, the Simpsons were airing seasons three and four, I was all of a year old, and a smooth talking saxophone playing probable rapist named Bill Clinton was running for President.

(This following section is indebted to two pieces: "Atari Democrats" By Lily Geismer and "The Clintons' War on Drugs: When Black Lives Didn't Matter" by Donna Murch.  I can not recommend them highly enough.  Assume that any information not otherwise cited comes from those writings.)

The Case for Bernie (Part I)

There is a Ta-Nehisi Coates tweet that I think about way too often:

 When America acts innocent people die. Now are some of those actions necessary? Sure. Allied bombing campaigns in the European Theater killed maybe 600,000 noncombatants during the Second World War.  But when your opponent murders over twelve million people, it is hard to say that we didn't take the right course.
 How often though is that really the case? Yes, we had to drive old Dixie down. Bosnia? Kosovo? I would argue in the affirmative. Other then that though...

Present At Creation: Star Wars, George Lucas & Me

            When I was younger I couldn’t read very well. In second grade I was put in a program for students who weren’t reading at grade level. If you know me now, you’ll find that very surprising, but it’s true. Now I can’t be sure why, but it’s most likely because of the cerebral palsy, which I’ve had since birth, playing haywire with my visual-spatial skills. I knew what the words meant; I just couldn’t make sense of them on the page. I had the same issue with comics until perhaps tenth grade, putting the images in proper order was something my brain just couldn’t handle.

The same, strangely enough, could not be said for film. Although it’s a very visual medium, I always “got it”, the story it was trying to tell, even the shot composition. It’s like going down a corridor of double-bolted doors and finding one that’s miraculously open.

Update

Hey All,

Sorry that I haven't posted anything for a few days, life just got in the way.
In non Star Wars related news I've been working on a short story that I hope will be complete soon, and I want to try and get it published this year.

In Star Wars related news, The Force Awakens is, sometime today, going to surpass Avatar at the domestic box office to become #1 all time (not adjusted for inflation.)
I don't have an immigrant story to tell, but, writing on her personal blog, Salon's television critic, Sonia Saraiya, really nails down the way Star Wars feels on a personal level, and why it matters. I'll probably have my own thoughts soon.
Finally, my defenitive rankings, so far, of the Star Wars films:

The Great Movies Tier:
The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
The Force Awakens

The Good Movies Tier:
Return of the Jedi

The Flawed but Decent Movies Tier:
Revenge of the Sith 

The Deeply Flawed But With Parts I Will Defend When Slightly Inebriated, and Oh God Natalie Portman is so Smart and Beautiful and Good at Acting and Hayden Christensen Couldn't Act His Way Out of a Cardboard Box Tier:
The Attack of the Clones

The Bad but the Fact That I Didn't Mind the Whole Tariffs Plot Totally Meant That I Was a Politics Nerd, And Liam Was Great and that Duel With Maul Was Pretty Cool, And The Movie Improves 100% When You Realize Padme Is the Actual Protagonist, But Everything Else Can Go Die In A Dumpster Fire Tier:
The Phantom Menace    

     

Star Wars: The Force Awakens- Review and Critique

 Star Wars is my sine qua non fandom, So I thought it would be a good first post

(Via SlashFilm)

Here be spoilers

            If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past month and aren’t just checking Facebook for the first time, (or are totally new to this blog, if so, welcome) you might be aware that I’m quite a fan of Star Wars. (If you have been living under a rock, congratulations! And Donald Trump is still surging in the polls.) As a Star Wars obsessive I really can’t review the film in a traditional manner. I’m Compromised. I would just be saying “OMFG it be the Star War! Squeee!” over and over again, like Jack Torrance in The Shining Only happier and without terrorizing Shelly Duval.

Greetings and Salutations

Hi Everyone,

No, my name is not Erin, but it is Jacob. And no, I am not of classical Irish extraction, I just liked the two historical puns. And, if you understood those two references (Hint: Name of Blog, and URL) and groaned, I'm sorry.

Anyway, I'm chronically underemployed and decided I would party like it's 2005 and start a blog! I have interests in history and SF&F, and everything in between. So expect a random assortment of things that catch my fancy. Some tidbits you should know about me: I have a superfun combination of cerebral palsy and nonverbal learning disorder, the CP limits me to about 20 words per minute, so it takes a bit longer to type things out. My grammar, as you might have guessed, isn't the greatest, but if errors are pointed out to me, I will do my best to correct.

Best Regards,

Jake