jes nemo

i bought this laptop with the specs to run BG3 in EA and i am so grateful I did. Really amazing experience

I'd heard upon limited release some of the criticism of the film, including some aspects being a bit "on the nose," as well as the most frequent complaint about it reinforcing fat stigma and a 600lb actor should have been hired rather than Fraser in a suit. My evaluation also comes with the experience of morbid obesity, eating disorder, as well as themes of the challenges of self-loathing and acceptance that plagues someone in modern society with a medical issue that is inherently exacerbated by one's own actions. I find nothing "cruel" about Aronofsky's portrayal of the subject and find a lot of it to be misplaced with current "fat-positivity" rhetoric that frequently leaves me confused. Certainly judgement of self goes beyond outward appearance but that should not exclude negative emotions and such movements attempting to eradicate or even imply that someone such as Charlie or myself are wrong in our experiences or ways of thought because we aren't all embracing or struggle due to our actions and thoughts is problematic at best. And sure, some of the film was on the nose but overall I found the story engaging and left me feeling a sense of communion and empathy with Charlie, not just because we share a physical similarity (albeit I'm nowhere near as large or ill) as well as an emotional kinship. I'm so glad those involved ignored the nonsense conversation around it and presented it as it is.

I had really been hoping for this one. With bringing back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen I thought maybe things were going in the right direction despite the history attached to Star Wars projects of the past decade or so. As a fan of the series (prior to the sequel trilogy so that self-identification does not include the sequel trilogy) who had always enjoyed the prequels more than most, even before folks had a newfound appreciation in recent years, I was really excited about the possibility (even if canonically it didn't make a ton of sense) of some deep character exploration and development of those years between episode 3 and 4 of Kenobi and Vader. The trailer gave away the truth but I was blinded... by my own emotion, just as one might be by the dark side. Disney Star Wars did a bait and switch as they've been known to do with their Marvel line as well. Purporting the show to be a dive into Kenobi and Vader when it is already clear that the showrunner is really going to be about the arc of the Third Sister, Reva. Now, I wouldn't have a problem with that if it hadn't been such a flagrant bait and switch. Also, I know people like the fact that the show switched from the constant Luke obsession and focused on Leia, but that whole storyline was just so.... I don't know? If it wasn't put out by Disney I'd say it was like a bad made for Disney-channel romp. I don't want to blame the actress, she's a kid, but it was just a bit *too* extra, delving into Mary Sue-ness, even if she DID get kidnapped, she still outran, like, EVERYONE, had a line for everything, had more deduction skills than a Jedi Knight... it was just...ugh.... those behind the show weren't even *trying* to hide their intent to try to appeal to EVERYONNNNNNNNNNE, especially those that could lead to $$ in sales of merchandise. I know I shouldn't, because I'll be sorely disappointed, but I plan to finish the series. I hope I can come back and say I was wrong but... man.

I *really* wanted to love this and from what I'd seen regarding development thought I was going to... I understand what was released was technically a pilot so I know it isn't necessarily the final or true vision of the creators and artists involved and there are definitely things I *did* enjoy but in the end, I could hardly get through the episode. It was as if it were painfully attempting to be edgy, akin to an insecure youth doing everything in their power to "be different", jumping up and down waving their arms for attention. Things that could have been interesting or innovative fizzled because it felt as if it were being done for that sake of "look at me" or "this is just soooo edge" for no other reason. Less emphasis and subtlety might be nice. It reminded me a lot of the pitfalls of the recent Invader Zim release where it just tried too hard to be inane yet remaining completely self-aware of that fact. As I said, I realllllly wanted to like this and hope maybe they just tried to cram too much into a single episode for purposes of shopping it, however, from the reaction of positive reviews I see it appeared to hit the mark of the exact population I refer to above. Perhaps that was the intention and if that is the case, congratulations? I guess. Was just hoping for something more intelligent.