Jace, Extat

Right on. Right on. Well deployed.

That is beautiful. Is that a Manhole original?

I don't know. I feel like Dr. Evil here, trying to insist I'm hip to Scotty. But this just strikes me as remarkably clumsy. Her warders have told me exactly nothing about themselves except that they like to fuck each other and her. I don't even know their names! These characters have been around since halfway through season 1. It's lazy, is what it is. Fair enough, I thought it was Verin, but still. It's weird, at least to me. Maybe I hate women, I don't know.

"The word hung like a hanged man." I like that! I don't know if it's art... but I like it!

The third term thing is probably what I'm most alarmed at. It's not that I expect him to run for a third term, necessarily. I could easily see him acting as if he's graciously turning one down in a few years and appointing a successor. What horrifies me is the reaction to it. Specifically, the lack of reaction. The fact that his followers can't just say "well he can't, it's in the constitution that he can't" the fact that they can't just say that when confronted about it is nightmarish. The empowered half of this country is so captured by a man that they think he's above the constitution, not bound by the laws of man. That is a big fucking problem and it won't go away when Trump does, there will just be a new man to worship at.

I could be wrong, of course, but I'm pretty sure they called her Verin and she was wearing brown. Maybe I misheard, but even if it wasn't Verin this is still how they've chosen to introduce another Aes Sedai.

I have to rant about something, and I need another preface for this one: Look, yo. I ain't no prude. I'm hip, I like fun. But the hyper-sexualized characterization of basically every Aes Sedai in this show who isn't a Red shocks and confuses me. And I'm into some weird shit, yo. I'm a freak, I like sex and think a good story should touch on this basic facet of human existence. Obviously. But this show is fucking weird about sex and, specifically, powerful womens' sexual presentation. And I'm gonna rant about it for a little bit, because some shit needs to be said so that I can focus on work instead of drowning in abject and stupified befuddlement at some of these creative decisions. Here we go: I watched episode 1 of season 2 last night and was just floored by a scene between Egwene and Alanna. Floored. The scene happens in Alanna's chambers, where the Green sister is lounging against some furniture eating some kind of delicacy that looks like a nacho chip with everything on it. Egwene enters the room, sits down, and starts to ask about how to properly manage using two weaves at once. And in the most insane thing I've seen since Perrin killed his own wife, Alanna launches into an explanation on the right mindset to have when getting double-teamed by both your warders at once... Let me say that again... A student at a magic college asks her instructor about how to better use magic, and the instructor tells her how to get properly spitroasted. What. The. Fuck!?! I mean WHAT!!!??!!! Who came up with this? Who thought this was funny? It's the most awkward and upsetting thing I've seen since The Human Centipede. It's clearly meant to be funny, but it's not. It's weird and gross and almost childishly provocative. Like, I can almost hear the producers patting themselves on the back saying "look how progressive we are, our show has room for all kinds of non-traditional relationships." And that's fine, yo! I ain't never had a three-way, but I would if the opportunity came up. I mean two dudes and one Jace sounds like the night of my life. So I ain't no prude. The problem is not having sexually liberal people included in the story. The problem is the execution in character presentation, and how the most readily identifiable trait of literally every named Aes Sedai who isn't Liandrin is their sexual behavior. That's just fucking bizzare to me, and I cannot fathom how that trend made it through the rough draft outlines of the scripts; let alone into the final cut of each episode. For example, Verin is introduced in this episode. Verin, a bookish Brown, and the first words out of her mouth are about how great Lan (who is going through some shit) looks without a shirt on and how much better he'd look without pants. Like, that's how we meet this character. A character who in the books A character for whom the accumulation of knowledge was worth more than the purity of her own soul. And you introduce her to the audience salivating over a man? That's what you went with, instead of... I don't know... her maybe sharing some nugget of information she's gleaned that helps advance the story? There were moments like this in season 1, too, but it really feels like the showrunners are so amazed by their own sexually progressive and "empowered female" ideas that they straight-up let them take over the story. Which is bonkers. And I say this as someone whose favorite character in the books is Aran'gar, a minor character who is always going around fucking as many people as she can. So don't get me wrong, there's lots of room in this story for sex and sexuality to be explored. But the way they have done it as far as I've seen is full-stop retarded. I mean, yo. The Wheel of Time is pretty horny, the cover of Lord of Chaos looks like a fucking romance novel. But the books are, um... tasteful. They're tasteful. They tell you about characters' interests between the sheets in a way that fleshes out what you know about the individuals rather than making those interests their defining character traits. And yeah, shit's changed since the 90s. You can straight-up have Moiraine and Suian be lesbos instead of just mentioning they used to be pillow sisters or whatever. And that's to the good. I ain't no prude. But the way the Aes Sedai talk about sex and, especially, men is juvenile and gross. This show obviously gets a kick out of being transgressive, so what I want to see is a sex scene between Alanna's two warders. I'm talkin' bareback, full-penetration, two dudes to completion. Because dialogue is cheap, you wanna show me how transgressively progressive you are then show me Alanna getting it from both these guys at once after they give it to each other. I wanna see Moiraine eat Mother's pussy. 'Till then you're just fuckin' around.

Nah, we're doin' fine. Fiiiiiiine, baby. Just fine. Totally healthy, our republic. We're fine.

See, I see it completely different. And maybe that's my problem. But I liked that the darkfriends and the Chosen are just evil because they like to be evil. Some people are just fucking evil, and in a world where a power is promising them eternal life and power for being evil it made plenty of sense to me why people would join the Dark One. Moridin is just a fucking nihilist in the books, he just wants everything to end and I liked that. I thought it was compelling to have our heroes up against someone like that, who doesn't have a moral justification or rationale for what he's doing. I don't think the darkfriends are a problem or plothole in the books because their motivations aren't fleshed out, I think Jordan just had something to say about some people (and they're a super small minority of people) just being fucking evil. And it never works out for them, they never get what they want, and as you said the next evil person higher in the food chain always treats them terribly... because they're evil. But they still have to be fought by people who are good, or at least think they're good, or else they'll drag the whole world into evil with them. The Seanchan are your evil guys with a worldview and rationale for why they're actually good, and doing good things. So are the Whitecloaks. So it's not like more developed bad guys don't exist in this world, it's just that the darkfriends start and end at "I'm evil and I love it." One of the things the series has to say is that sometimes good guys have to work with bad people, like the Seanchan, because at least they have a worldview. At least they can percieve that pure evil unleashed everywhere is bad. And you may not like them, but sometimes you need them. I just don't need to hear some gibberish from Ishamael about how he's right to be the Na'bliss(?) When the superior story has him essentially saying "I do this because I can and I want to." I think that's much scarier than a bunch of crap about monsters and being misunderstood and having a vision of a better world. IMO

That is unreal. At least she's alive, is all I can say. Sometimes that's all ya got. At least she's alive.

Look, I don't know the deets about how covid impacted the making of the show. But at some point this is just what was produced, and it's all bad. All of it. The scene before Suian in the hall was the only decent part of the entire season. Decent, not even good. I mean I'm sure covid caused problems but how far does that excuse go? Is covid responsible for the INSANE decision to have Perrin kill his wife? Or have Matt's parents be drunk scumbags? Is covid responsible for making the gleeman, the gleeman, be this dark Mad Max character who is so "cool" that he looks away as Matt robs a corpse? Or Steppen's funeral? Nyneave's healbomb? At what point is this just a poorly told story run by morons? Because that's what I see, long before we get to the ending. Look, like what you wanna like. I don't mean to judge ya or make you feel bad or nothin', but dayum. I mean wow! I'd forgotten just how clueless this show was in its first season. I tried watching season 2 and couldn't make it past the opening scene with a little girl stumbling into the meeting room of the Chosen (where Padan Fain was the only one without a mask). It was just as bad as anything in season 1, just dreadful. This little girl is playing outside a building in the dark and trollocs show up so she runs inside, sees all the Chosen sitting around a table, and crawls underneath it where she crawls around for a good minute listening to the bad guys' conversation before Ishamael notices she's there and starts monologuing, taking her out to see the trolloc while he explains he's not a monster... And that's how they opened the season! I wanted to watch season 2 to get to season 3, which a lot of folks are saying is better. But I don't know if I have it in me for another season of this desecration of Robert Jordan's world. Like, I'm curious to see some stuff; the Seanchan, the Chosen, more Tower stuff. But I have no reason not to expect that it's all terrible because everything in the show so far has been terrible. So I don't know if I'll watch any more. My bestie is watching season 3 and I'd love to be able to discuss the show with him, but dawg it's such a drag.

Well that seems pretty fucked up to me, vibe or not.

That's horrible. Why didn't they call you?

I watched the season 1 finale last night... Wow. Um, wow! Yikes! How did this show get a second season? Let alone a third? It was bad. Bad, bad, bayud. Egwene resurrected a dead Nynaeve. Perrin just stood there and let Padan Fain take the horn. Rand summoned the power to beat "The Dark One's" temptation by recognizing Egwene's agency instead of his own. I don't even know what to say. Wow.

Interesting question. On the one hand, I'd obviously prefer America didn't become a fascist nightmare state... On the other hand, there's a small chance (even still!) that what follows Trump won't be as retarded and hateful as MAGA. I don't think it's impossible for someone on the right to indulge MAGA enough to get their votes while also moderating the party. There's gonna be huge changes in this country over the next fifteen years with automation taking a fuckload of jobs and leadership matters a lot. Once we have some real problems to solve a lot of this stuff could, COULD, fall away. Or that's what I tell myself at least.

Temujin came back! I was sitting at my computer and heard him meowing at the front door. My Little Buddy came and nuzzled me before he ate, too.

Oh I know, it's a problem. We need to take their dominance as motivation for a 2nd space race. That was the one thing I was hopeful about with Musk being involved in government: a focus on space. But everything is salt.

I'm fully supportive of an orbital missile interception system, even if Trump gets credit for it. We need it, the technology is there and once we have it all kinds of possibilities open up in a post-ICBM world. Now, it's unfortunate that those possibilities will be explored by the likes of Trump and whatever monstrosity comes after him, but at least the future will be American.

My little buddy went out late last night and wasn't at the door either time I got up to let him in, and he wasn't back this morning before I left for work. It's cold and raining, and my furry little prince is still outside

You know, I was pretty solidly team It's Her Turn... but knowing how it all turned out, I wish we'd taken that chance with Bernie. Even a socialist is better than a fuckin' fascist

Never heard of him 'till today. Did he write Altered Carbon? I saw that show. Maybe sooner than later. We'll see, though. If I run it'll be when they start to fix the elections. I'll stay and use my vote for my country's betterment until it takes that right away from me.

Watching ep. 6 of the first season and I gotta say it got better once they're in the tower. Much, much, better. That's not to say it's great. Maybe not even good. But much, much, better. I liked the scene before the Amrylin. It was alright. Sisters were supportin' sisters, Liandrin was bein' Liandrin, and there was politics and shit. It was alright. Most of the episode that wasn't the kids was alright. Finally, it felt like the show hit something it could do well. Politics. The kids are hopeless. They just don't know what to do with them, other than say "you might be the Dragon" at them a bunch. But the Tower was hoppin'. It was alright. Like, I'd like to see more of that, I could even imagine Nynaeve and Egwene becoming interesting by hanging out there.

Can't say that I have. Sounds fucking depressing. Nowhere is safe. If they want ya, they'll getcha.

Russia is a spent force. They can't even conquer their former province. You have nothing to fear from them. But I gotta ask: Do you really think America is going to split apart? You really think we have it in us to do anything more than follow along where our fascist leaders take us? When Jace gets sent to a camp nothing is going to happen, nobody's gonna rise up. There will be no civil war, no effective resistance.

Don't worry, by the time the tanks are ready to roll over the border the Chinese will be in Chicago.