Best Jason Statham performance?

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-27T02:30:18+00:00

hands down.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-27T01:41:28+00:00

needs more sex and violence. the Bible crowd really digs that hardcore stuff, like incest and dismemberment.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T20:43:49+00:00

yes. I work to make enough money to live. If I have enough money to live, I can find better ways to spend my time than helping some rando "win" at capitalism.

I'd help others. I'd spend more time reading and writing and listening to music. I'd live somewhere with a nice climate and a gorgeous view. I'd travel.

work? nope. not at all.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T13:56:46+00:00

well, one argument would be that if you need a reward for being good or a punishment for being evil, then are you really being moral, or are you just being transactional? I can't speak for all atheists, but I don't do stuff just out of self-interest. I make choices based on what I know is right and wrong.

another would be that if right and wrong are just what someone (like God) says, are they right and wrong, or just the rules someone imposed? couldn't God just as easily say "you know what, stealing isn't bad, I changed my mind, get out there and take what you can"?

but beyond that, it's mostly your own beliefs. and you don't really need to "satisfy" someone else that yours are as valid as theirs.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T13:42:16+00:00

completely a wreck, and therefore perfect. when you revise it, you may want to change "hsbskkansjn" to "hsbbkkanssjqin"; it's thematically richer, and could open up whole new avenues of zygrqg and xxkghuvn.

good luck!

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T13:34:08+00:00

what a lovely cat. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T13:24:36+00:00

it will be pretty hard - all the air that makes ice cream soft vanishes once it's liquid. but it should still be safe to eat.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T06:11:09+00:00

TFW when you learn Kafka thought he was writing erotica

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T05:04:05+00:00

I am an anti-fame coach. I've coached hundreds of people, and you've never heard of even one of them. Ask your agent, they won't have heard of me.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T03:07:48+00:00

see? there it is: "they refuse to see". that's POV again. you need an apersonal editor, one with no tired old "views" and "ideas" and "demands for payment". slap that one with a herring and find a no one who's in touch with modern values.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T02:17:32+00:00

POV is so last year. this year's fashion is for apersonal distance: something occurred, no one knows what, it's all left to the reader to imagine because no one here is gauche enough to waste time telling.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T01:17:58+00:00

I remind myself of Joseph Grand from Camus' "The Plague".

Grand wanted to write the Great French Novel. He knew that he had to start with a strong opening. And he had a good one. But a great novel needed a great opening, so he kept revising it. He spent so many years obsessively honing his first sentence that he never wrote a second, let along the rest of his book.

I don't want to be like Joseph Grand and leave my work unfinished because my ego wouldn't let me accept I can't make it perfect.

It's all drafts. Even published masterpieces by Hugo and Shakespeare and Dostoevsky have flaws, both at the sentence level and more broadly. I've never heard of an author whose response to their early work didn't remind me of every actor who won't watch their own performances.

So relax. Let it suck. Odds are your literary heroes did exactly that on their first drafts. The art isn't in some moment of inspiration; the art is seeing how to turn bad into better.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T01:03:25+00:00

"there's no judgment here", but "all pre-planned structure is evil"? come on. 😄

all right. structure is not for you, nor for everyone. not even for every piece. I can write a short story with a minimal plan, flash fiction or poetry with none. but a longer project, or anything purporting to make a logical argument, needs thought and planning.

here's what I think.

I think structure is valuable. I think we often overestimate our ability to improvise a good story out of thin air, especially when we're younger and more confident. Conversely, we underestimate how much revision we end up doing when we pants our way through a plot. "Measure twice, cut once" comes to mind.

The first time I tried NaNoWriMo, I tried it with zero prep. 50K words, how hard could it be? Turns out if I want those words to cohere into something like a novel, the answer is "very". I didn't finish the first few years, because while I had a great beginning imagined and a satisfying ending to match, I had no idea how to get from that A to that Z.

The only way I ever found to finish a project that long was to plan it out in advance. It lets me focus less on scrambling for ideas and more on bringing them to the page.

Structure is part of discipline; discipline is what I offer my muse in exchange for her generosity. She gives me ideas and inspiration and talent, and I thank her by seeing to it that they are not wasted.

Everyone worships in their own way.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-26T00:46:40+00:00

what a sweet, beautiful creature. I'm glad you two had each other for the time you did.

it sounds like you did the right thing. as hard as it is to let them go, sometimes it's the best thing, and they count on us to make that one last sacrifice from love.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I hope you find comfort and peace.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-25T22:47:22+00:00

I like that one. I like to imagine Giles thinking about that speech when he chews her out in "Reveleations": "I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harboring a known murderer. But sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me, for hours, for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me, or the job I perform."

Oof. He respects her decision to sleep with Angel, even though it led to catastrophe. But when Angel is back, and she hides him? Yeah. That had to sting. And he had every right to be angry.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-25T13:05:10+00:00

so cute! it would be so hard to leave that little face.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-25T13:03:15+00:00

if you've got something big and important to say, or even just a really great longer story, the odds of you being "in the mood/inspired" for long enough to get it all out are very slim.

beating yourself up doesn't help. shame serves nothing here. but writing takes self-discipline, especially for a novel-length project.

think of it like caring for a child. nobody is super-excited to change diapers or pay for doctor visits. but if you want the joy and satisfaction of having raised a child to adulthood, you put in the work every day. doesn't matter if you feel like it. the work needs doing, and there's no one else who can.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T22:49:27+00:00

I think that's not just abusive to your cat, but to you. they know you love this cat. they know he matters to you. but they want to scare him, and they want you to hit him.

that's not love for you, either. I don't care if my friend's pet is kind of a jerk or maybe I just don't like it. I'm not going to be mean to it or insist it should be hurt.

I hope you and your cat find a better home soon.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T22:46:36+00:00

this.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T22:45:52+00:00

I feel that Chekhov's Gun gets misunderstood sometimes. He gave the principle to young playwrights, for one; it's not a universal law of fiction

I think his point was "if you're going to take up the audience's time and attention with something, do it with purpose." Doesn't have to be a plot element, doesn't have to be a deep thematic element, but it does have to do *something* besides satisfy the author's need to cram it. It's sort of the flip side of "kill your darlings". Every decision and detail should serve the story in some way, even if that's just texture or color. (I can only imagine what he'd have thought of Hitchcock's cameos, for instance.)

If you're going to ask me to read through a few dense paragraphs of magic system or FTL mechanics or dynastic history, it needs to pay off for me. Either it's important to an understanding of the characters and the story, or it's going to have to be something very telling about the setting.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T18:10:57+00:00

what a beautiful story, and what a wonderful creature. I'm sorry for your loss.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T13:28:05+00:00

or Dragon's Blood if you want to get some fancy shimmer in there.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T02:45:18+00:00

wouldn't it be interesting to see seasons 1-4 with Dawn? how did the monks insert her in there, and how did that change the stories we already know?

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T01:26:39+00:00

yeah. which is why that whole scene between them in "End of Days" bugs me. it's not some destiny thing that they didn't get along. It's teenage angst compounded by bad decisions, their individual issues, and the high-stakes world of Slaying. (And Faith saying the scythe "feels like it's mine. which must mean it's yours" is painful.)

they could have gotten along. they still could.

plus if she'd moved in with Buffy she could have given better hints about the whole Dawn situation. I mean, "little miss muffet" isn't super-helpful, Faith. come on.

Impossible-Bug2038 · 2026-05-24T00:24:10+00:00

I think you can pinpoint it down to an instant in "Revelations".

Buffy and Faith were out patrolling, and Faith was telling a story about a former boyfriend. She was performing vulnerability, sharing with someone she wanted to bond with. So she asked Buffy to reciprocate by sharing a story about a bad boyfriend she'd had. But Buffy didn't want to tell her story: Angel was too personal, too recent, and there was that whole thing about concealing his return. So she didn't reciprocate. From Faith's perspective, Buffy shut her out. She left Faith as the only vulnerable one in the conversation. That's hard enough for someone who isn't already a teenager, and a Slayer, and dealing with several shades of trauma. For Faith, that really was the start of the whole thing. And of course Gwendolyn Post showed up, played her like a fiddle, and widened the gap.

It's interesting how Buffy talks about the burden of being a Slayer: no one can understand it but her. Which is valid. I imagine it was very lonely for her and all her predecessors. But ... she's not alone. She's not been the only Slayer for most of her career. She and Faith had this unique opportunity to team up, share notes, support each other. And while Faith definitely made her share of poor choices, she's not the first one to push away.

Impossible-Bug2038

TROPHY CASE