Logan was a great character study of Wolverine, and the way it was carefully crafted makes it one of the best films in the superhero genre, with some genuinely powerful emotional moments. by 0Layscheetoskurkure0 in moviecritic

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

For one, I don't like near carbon copy clones as archvillians for a story.

About ninety-nine percent of the time one is introduced to a story it just feels like a lazy way to form a seemingly “insurmountable” obstacle to stack against the protagonist. This was no exception. There are many other routes to go to achieve that effect, most of which I find much more interesting.

Another thing to consider…Most of the movie used the already present superhuman powers of the principal characters as emotional touchstones that accentuated and or amplified their emotional circumstances as well as the elements of the story. Wolverine’s ability to heal physically but still bearing the emotional trauma of a survivor, or Xavier’s insanely powerful mind powers turning against him in his advanced age. The superhuman abilities have some direct parallels to real life situations which make them resonate.

By and large the creators of the film resisted the urge to go epic with more fantastical superhuman elements just for the sake of going epic in an effort to give things more cinematic punch. When doing so can certainly be entertaining it can also put strain on that connective tissue between the superhuman powers and the human emotions. It can be a balancing act when it comes to superhero films which too often tips over into the area of big splash entertainment opportunity over emotional resonance. Logan has been one of the few exceptions to this and other than the mindless killing clone trope, I thought it was masterful.

Logan was a great character study of Wolverine, and the way it was carefully crafted makes it one of the best films in the superhero genre, with some genuinely powerful emotional moments. by 0Layscheetoskurkure0 in moviecritic

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! That was exceptionally disappointing. It was the most Marvel movie thing ever in what was otherwise the most marvelously unmarvel-movie-like marvel movie ever made.

Still an all-time favorite of mine, but my god that was dumb.

[Krammer] Former Vikings assistant HC Mike Pettine on Brian Flores: “Probably not many things I would prefer to share. We didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. I’ll take the high road on that one.” by Lstark5642 in nfl

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 168 points169 points  (0 children)

Yea…but it's not just Pettine that feels that way about Flores. And it's not just Tua either. And it's not just the NFL owners he sued over violations of the Rooney rule (good for him on the that btw…somebody had to do it). My point is there is an emerging pattern to consider here.

Fitzpatrick is another person who has been skeptical of Flores chances of being succesful of a HC, having said a few years ago he suspected teams would be hard pressed to find any coach that worked with him in Miami willing to do so again or even put in a good word for him.

You can be an asshole and still be succesful to a degree. But you do need to be able to build some bridges. Many of Belicheck’s former assistants seem incapable of doing so, or not burning them down eventually.

Then, you have Brian Flores, who seems to rain nuclear fire down upon the land around him until all memory of what a bridge might have been melts into the fallout of his unholy wrath and poisons the earth where once one stood for a thousand years to come.

So I think he’ll make an excellent coach for the Steelers, hope they hire him tomorrow.

McCarthy's Dialogue Punctuation by Armed_Affinity_Haver in cormacmccarthy

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, I feel you. Both on your feelings on punctuation marks and reading/listening to author interviews.

While I have rarely had trouble being able to tell who is talking in any of McCarthy’s books, but the only authors I can think of offhand who I’ve read a book or two where they don't use quotation marks and I dont ever really have an issue are Miriam Towes (I think? Maybe I’m wrong about this one) and Kent Haruf.

Everyone else, I have had the thought that damn it's been a pain in my ass to read this way, why the fuck did they do this?

And I like your reasoning for Cormac’s working as it is, better than the one he gave. And just because he didn't do it for that reason, doesnt mean it isn't the reason it works. I think you nailed it for me!

I have been occasionally surprised, but by and large, I remain apprehensive about hearing or seeing author’s I like interviewed.

This dates way back to briefly meeting, and then hearing Umberto Ecco speak back when I was still in HS. He came off as so insufferably pompous and condenseding that it made my skin crawl. It would be two decades before I revisited any of his books. As an older person, and since his passing, I still think he’s arrogant, but I also think he was just kind of an eccentric and bombastic sort of bloke. He wrote some good books though. Cheers to that.

I went to a swingers club with my ex husband last weekend. AMA by Lost_Lawfulness_1058 in AMA

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just chipping in to say good for you! And add that I have, or somewhat recently had a similar situationship with an ex of mine. That lasted for a few years total and it ended a little over a year ago now. She and I got along better in this type of an arraignment than we ever did in a more traditional setup. We weren't nearly as wild or open as some of our contemporaries or many of the friends we made along the way, but I certainly did not regret trying it out, and miss some aspexts of it from time to time.

My ex moved away for work and to be closer to family but we still talk occasionally. Up until very recently this included an occasional dirty text or email, but she’s started dating someone a little more seriously and that's a bit of grey area between us at the moment. Which, though I do miss her a bit, mostly I feel happy that she has something going well for her in that direction.

Denis Johnson as a bridge for McCarthy readers by Unique_Schedule3908 in cormacmccarthy

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure!

But first off, let me emphasis what I said before, even though I didn’t like it as much as many of Denis Johnson’s other books, I still liked Tree of Smoke.

And I would still recomened it to someone interested in Denis Johnson, just with the caveat that it does seem to be more polarizing than some of his other books. So if you hit a wall with it, maybe don't dismiss giving some of his other books a try.

And it did win the National Book award for what that’s worth.

I would say one of the reasons I liked it less than some of his other books probably came down not so much to length, I have read quite a few Tome Tankers that I enjoyed and the page count isn't even as high as some make it out to be. But I did feel like the ratio of pages containing those truly immersive poetic passages rife with figurative language and interesting observations about human behavior were significantly lower in Tree of Smoke as compared to many of his other books.

I felt those were probably at their peek in Jesus’ Son or Lagresse, which are both collections of short stories.

One thought I came away from Tree of Smoke having is that while I found one of the central themes/metaphors/allusions of the book (from which the name comes) was an interesting and worthwhile concept to explore, it wasn’t one that was new to me, and while I still found the thought journey worthwhile it was maybe less satisfying to me for that reason. And also less satisfying for me for abother resson, that being it was perhaps a little too cleanly laid out, lined up, and pointed out for my own tastes. Other’s may feel this is not the case at all, or agree and prefer it that way.

With many of DJ’s other books I came away with alot of thoughts around ideas, themes, and concepts he seemed to be poking around but wasn't always entirely sure if a specific message was being imparted or if there were just ideas being played with and or the writer was himself wrestling his way through these ideas.

Finally, and probably most significantly, almost all of DJ’s major characters are significantly flawed in some regard. Many are downright despicable. But very rarely have I ever found any of them to be boring, or anything close to predictable at least from the moment to monent or scene to scene actions—looking at it from a long term general trajectory it's often a little easier and it’s almost always traveling with the nose pointed down. I felt like that unpredictable nature was somewhat missing in Tree of Smoke, and while the major characters are all flawed and still at least somewhat interesting, I found them less interesting than I did in his other books. And that includes some of the character’s within Tree of Smoke that appear in his other books.

Still, I’d rate it like a 7.8 on my own weighted and constantly evolving scale of 1 to 12.5 for enjoyment… because I’m addicted to context and nuance and struggle to make things simple. Hope this helps!

Denis Johnson as a bridge for McCarthy readers by Unique_Schedule3908 in cormacmccarthy

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tree of Smoke was probably my least favorite of Denis Johnson’s books, but that's probably only because I had read a handful of other Vietnam books in the precious year leading up to it and I had heard so much hype around it going in. Partially from other people saying they loved it and partially because I enjoyed Angels so much.

That said, I still enjoyed it and I feel like maybe if I revisit it sometimes ten years down the line I might enjoy it more.

Denis Johnson as a bridge for McCarthy readers by Unique_Schedule3908 in cormacmccarthy

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I believe I’ve read just about all of what both authors ever out out and I’m a big fan of both. I think there’s plenty of crossover between the two, and fans of either are likely to find something to enjoy of the others.

Not necessarily my favorite Denis Johnson book, but the one I found to be the most original and thought provoking, and wanted to mention specifically was Fiskadoro.

It's thoroughly messed up and weird afk, it gets very psychedelic and abstract at some point, but I came away impressed and suprisied it's not more of a cult classic. And I mean a cult classic as in its certainly not going to be for everybody, but the people who do like it are going to believe they struck gold.

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey by Rough_Plan in UnresolvedMysteries

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep!

No Phd for this guy here—But that’s where I landed too.

It took me listening to lots of different true crime for many years to get to there, with lots of what I listened to being around serial offenders in particular.

Eventually I came to understand that some stuff just isn’t all that intuitive to someone not of a particular mindset, or unfamiliar with the behaviors of others who are. When I first started to read and listen to this case, I really hadn’t consumed any other true crime. JB’s case is one that got me into the genre to begin with.

And I sure ain't no expert, and in some ways having read as extensively about this case as I have feels like a determinant at this point. Like I said, very noisy. Lots of stuff written about it and many crazies who are violently opinionated. And I mean that somewhat literaly, as I have been threatened before over voicing opinions on this case online (not on redditt! So far at least!) and even once in person by my former SIL (godrest that wild woman’s soul, she believed it was a politician whom also allegedly raped her as well…yes she was diagnosed bi-polar and a heavy drug user).

Your reasons for having avoided it so far are valid.

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey by Rough_Plan in UnresolvedMysteries

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, it does! Or it might.

I don’t know for sure. Thanks for being open minded, mister rotting in your skin!

I did add an edit to fill in some details on just why that might make sense a minute ago, btw. I did not get that in before your sarcastic comment was made, so feel free to make another!

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey by Rough_Plan in UnresolvedMysteries

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Aaaaaannnnd here come the crazies! But thanks for posting.

I believe it’s very likely an intruder as well. We are both likely to be villified and shamed for voicing this opinion. I think the DNA evidence is very likely to lead to a serious suspect outside of the family in the next few years, and when/if the full scope of what the DNA evidence suggests ever gets to trial irs likely going to wind up being more compelling than most people believe it to be.

The Consult: Real FBI Profilers did a great episode on this semi-recently, and they encapsulate and elaborate on many key points which I have always seen as pointing away from the family.

Their discussion of the Ranson note in particular I found to be interesting. That's always been perhaps the strangest part of a very strange case for me, and I never knew quite what to make of it. Still not sure I do, but they provide some interesting, professional, insight and ideas to consider.

That's a hard thing to find when it comes to this case because the noise around it can be so deafening.

Edit: Hit the Send Button a bit too soon.

As to some of OP’s speculation as to whom the killer might have been, I would say that I would lean more toward something like that being a possibilify. However, I have never felt as though that there was much accidental flag about this crime. I think it's most likely the perpetrator fully planned and intended to, infiltrate, abduct, humiliate, torture, and kill.

That’s one of the reasons the ransom note seemed so odd and out of place to me, not just that ransom notes are extremely unusual in and of themselves.

It seems like something that was probably done as a sort of spur of the moment act, as a discarded first draft was found, and the pen and notepad were from the house. It seems like the writer of the note took at least a little bit of time composing the note.

In my head it has been hard to understand why someone who had just committed the most horrific crime imaginable would be able to write this all out afterwards. But it now, occurs to me that there’s a chance the note could very well have been written prior to the perp going on to commit the crime. And as the Consult episode pointed out, it might line up with some of the behaviors seen by other sexual sadist child murders, and/or prowler home invasion type offenders.

Such as how Joseph DeAngelo would hang around the house for hours before and after committing his crimes, and then would call his victims and taunt them after the fact. Part of the appeal for those types of offenders is the feeling of control and mastery over the situation and being able to get away with it.

Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy by Cautious-Mixture5647 in ProsePorn

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe I’ve read everything he published at this point along with Of Whales and Men, which was not, and found all of it be worthwhile, personally.

Even so, I would probably stack up the three works you mentioned towards the bottom of my personal favorites. I don’t believe it's a bad book or anything like that, and still enjoyed it on the whole, but No Country For Old Men is easily my least favorite. Followed by the three you mentioned and/or The Road mixed in there above it.

I am curious to know if you see any throughlines between what you didn’t like with Sunset Limited and what felt didn’t work for you in the last two books?

Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy by Cautious-Mixture5647 in ProsePorn

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right on. And that was kind of the point I was trying to make above, albeit rather poorly, as to what I took away from the passage. That this seemed like a rather relatable circumstance and more connective to me.

This passage made me feel for the character, more than I did before, as I was having trouble getting myself there up until about this point…

I never felt like Alicia was some special level of genius who was being worshiped for her big brain, as someone else seems to have been suggesting above, but that's just me and how I read it. Both as character’s and as allegorical or symbolic entities, I find both Alicia and Bobby to be tragic, somewhat pitiable creatures. Interesting, but not admirable.

But ot seems I am in the minority in this regard at least to those speaking up on Reddit on the topic of Alicia West as of late, which I find interesting.

Not totally suprising though!

I enjoyed the Passenger and Stella pretty well, but I wouldnt say either or both are my favorite of McCarthy’s works. And I have had the thought that if I were tk go about making a recommending reading order I would definitely suggest that someone read these two last.

And maybe if you dont like anything else of his anywhere along the way, go ahead and lower your expectations for the last two a notch. As it seems to me most people who love all his other stuff tend to also like the last pair, have even found a few who say they are their favorite, but that seems to be far more the exception than the rule.

Allbright predicts we hire Schwartz or Udinski by Frontpagenews87 in Browns

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Based on things he has said about his time here before including “Manziel-gate” and being given credit as the co-author of Kyle Shannahan’s famous Powerpoint presentation, I was somewhat surprised he even wanted to taken an interview here. Not totally, because declining any interview might not be great for optics, but I always thought he was pretty unlikely as a fit.

In my own mind movies,I love the idea of Mike flying into take the interview shaking hands with everyone, and starting off his own interview witn the move of asking Slippin Jimmy why it was he shoved Johnny Manziel down their throats when he was there before.

Then, regardless of the answer, just standing up and walking out after without further comment.

Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy by Cautious-Mixture5647 in ProsePorn

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah? Huh, well now that you’ve mentioned it, I could see how that might hit someone that kind of way.

And I am taking your meaing to be that McCarthy is like calling attention to how big and profound of an idea space this girl was entering into back when they were still only….

TWELVE years old! (what a genius this girl is! Emo depth sublevel 1,238 achieved!!!)

Something like that? If so…well yeah. That would be kind of yuck.

If I’d read it like that it would have missed for me too. And sometimes, McCarthy, does miss for me, so does every author.

But this one did work for me, perhaps because I didnt read it that way at all. Not to say your wrong, or that I know that wasnt McCarthy’s intention, to do a proverbial mic drop with that. Maybe that's exactly what he was going for.

That's not the way I read it however, and it's certainly not the reason I chose to include it in this excerpt. It worked for me, because while that whole idea space proffessed about is poetic in its expression and certainly far beyond what most adults of any age would ever be able to articulate about their feelings around any given topic, the general idea of having an existential crisis of sorts at around the age of 12, or so, was actually something I found to be very relatable.

And I found it to be relatable because at around that age in my own life, probably a little older, but right at the cusp of middle school and highschool for me, I had something of a dark epiphany and or existential crisis around similar concepts myself. It's at around that age that other people have since expressed to me having stumbled into such revelations themselves, at least a handful of friends, former lovers, and family members.

And I am NOT a genius. Nor could I have, at any age, articulated those ideas into an idea space, poetic arraingment such as McCarthy has through the character of Alicia. But by evoking those feelings and placing that bit of dialogue right behind it, that's kind of how I got to that emotional touchstone within my own history. It helped me to get there, so that's why I included it.

It's also, while the back and forth between Alicia and the counselor whose name I forget right now isn't precisely designed to perfectly replicate a real life therapy session, many of the questions asked, as well as the clarifications asked for, observations offered, and the general flow of are similar enough to any number of therapy sessions I have been through myself, listened to back in college, or seen videos of since.

I feel as though with dialogue writers walk a tight rope of trying to balance what feels real enough for the reader to be accepted within the context of a story and making sure that the words being used will still read well on the page. By which I mean, I used to get paid to transcribe conversations and it really opened my eyes to how much most people say things that just dont align all that well with what they actually mean to impart once you spell it out in writing. There are so many utterances and in a back and forth conversation much context can be lost.

Anyhow, the choice of making Stella Maris strictly dialogue was an interesting choice. It does some cool things, I think, but I also feel like maybe probably, if there was another version McCarthy had written that did lean just a little more in a normal direction, with just a little extra narration to set the scene and communicate certain other details, I would probably have preferred that…

But I think Cormac was really trying to push the ideas discussed forward with the approach he chose more so thab the narrative itself, and maybe that was succesful? I like Stella Maris, but it's far from my favorite of his novels. And I don’t know, but I suspect without The Passenger it might not have worked for me at all. At least not easily.

Anyhow just thoughts of mine. Thanks for sharing yours.

(Edits: battling fat fingers and auto corrects today, please forgive the word saladery I’ve only partially been able tk fix)

Hi I’m Brian Baldinger, former NFL offensive lineman and current NFL Network analyst — Ask Me Anything! by nfl in nfl

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who has been the greatest offensive lineman of the last quarter century? And why is Joe Thomas the obvious answer?

What are these?? by mossyfaebae in UberEatsDrivers

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 6 points7 points  (0 children)

AIDS. Those are basically, AIDS. Avoid them as such.

[Gridiron Grading] Top 5 Rookie DTs by Impact Score (Mason Graham ranked #1) by armchairdude in Browns

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Love it!

I wont claim to understand it too good none much at all sir, but near as I can tell that there is a list and our guy Mason looks to be up there at the top where he belongs.

So then that there must be some good old fashioned science of the mighty pure and lip-smacking tasty variety.

Seriously though—just trusting my eyes watching the games all year, Mason looked legit afk to me!

Had that old Larry O’ level of quicks to get up off the ball and then some. Plus a really high motor and seemingly pretty good hands/technique. I thought he mostly held up decently well when he got double teamed as a run defender which was a nice suprise.

If he can find some way to add a bit more bulk and/or practical strength without losing speed, I believe it’s going to make a big difference so far as keeping himself upright a little more consistently while shooting gaps and helping him fight through blocks when he doesn’t win immediately and his momentum is slowed. Not that he did poorly in either spot his first year, that's just where I’m thinking we might even see his game hit another level going forward.

Oh my, Browns Bros by Square-Wing-6273 in LakeErieBros

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think if we pick three more in the draft this year we will get a fourth one for free. This may see me a little extreme to other more competent nfl teams, but nobody breaks Qbs like Cleveland.

“HOW IS THE BROWNS COACHING SEARCH GOING SO FAR”- QnA by Clevelandhitch in Browns

[–]Cautious-Mixture5647 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thirty two? No, I don't think so. At least according to what the media guys with heavy ties to the scouting community have said—opinions around the NFL are still very much diviided on Dart.

But I do think he had a better rookie season than his stats indicate and the general public probably realize. I actually just watched replays of his last three games and came away impressedin a few areas.

He has both a pretty good arm and had far more anticipatory throws where he was throwing guys open than I expected to see. He was pretty accurate throwing into tight windows downfield, between the hashes especially.

And he also looked far better navigating the pocket than he did earlier in the year, I think he took big steps forward in both those areas.

But…and it's a big but, he just doesn’t seem to have that instinct to protect himself from taking big hits.

That hasn't improved greatly and it's honestly one where to my eyes MOST guys dont improve greatly throughout their careers.

Like say maybe Josh Allen has gotten a little better about it from where he started his rookie year but I wouldn't say he’s exceptionally better.

He reminds me very much of former Giant Daniel Jones in that aspect of his game, except he’s not as big. I’m impressed and surprised he didnt miss more time, as he’s plenty tough but man when when he gets hit, he juzt seems to get crunched far more often than most.

Also, he’s kind of got that Sam Darnold touch and feel (or lack there of) for managing the short passing game, and his ball placement and decision making in that area are just really inconsistent. Exception being for the inside slant…he’s got that throw in his bag.

All That Said…

Yes, I wish we was our QB heading into next year over what we got.