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Non-Review Review: Captain Marvel
Posted on March 5, 2019 by Darren
The biggest problem with Captain Marvel is one of spoiler culture.
"Spoiler culture" is a fascinating cultural phenomenon, and one that is interesting as a facet of cultural consumption that arose parallel with the internet. It is perhaps a logical extension of the manner in which information flows these days. Information travels instantly and in all directions, quickly consumed and quick disseminated. In the nineties, it was easy (or easier) to avoid spoilers to films like The Usual Suspects or The Sixth Sense. After all, there was no Twitter or Facebook to share information. If somebody had already seen the film, they had to be physically talking to somebody else to discuss it, and it was posisble to establish the ground rules for the flows of information before the conversation progressed.
In an era where simply being on the internet exposes a person to torrents of information, the advent of "spoiler culture" seems logical and rational. People want to be surprised. People don't want to know the finer points of a story before witnessing it first hand. People do not want the easter eggs given out or the finer details dissected. This is an understandable response. Having an experience described is no match for actually having that experience first-hand. So a culture has grown up online about preserving surprise and controlling the flow of information. This is fine. This is healthy. This is good. Mostly "spoiler culture" is just common courtesy and common sense. A reviewer should not reveal anything to a reader that they themselves would not want to know.
As with any philosophy, there is a tendency to take things too far. Sometimes "spoiler culture" descends into self-parody. Reviewers were famously told not to reveal any information about the plot of Blade Runner 2049, which ironically made it very hard to sell the movie to a potential audience. Some more extreme adherents felt betrayed when Sony released a trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home before Avengers: Endgame, as if the fact that Sony was making another Spider-Man movie would give away the resolution to the cliffhanger from Avengers: Infinity War. Naturally, Infinity War came with its own massive spoiler-warning from the studio, with reviewers told that "Thanos demands [their] silence." This despite the fact the ending was lifted directly from a comic.
Captain Marvel embodies the worst impulses of "spoiler culture" because it confuses a logical and organic narrative development for a big twist. There is a reveal that comes around the half-way mark of the two-hour film which fundamentally changes the nature of the story being told. It plays against the story that had been set up to that point, and is positioned as a game-changer. It is a "twist." It is a "big" moment. It is the kind of development for which Thanos would demand silence. Except it's not really. It is not an actual twist. It is a plot point. It is a story beat. It is a part of the story that makes a great deal of sense in the context of the story as it is being told. However, Captain Marvel decides to play this game-changing story beat as a revelation.
There are a couple of big issues here. Most obviously, the actual narrative development is quite literally the only way that Captain Marvel could go without becoming something completely and irredeemably monstrous, so it is entirely predictable. (The twist is only a surprise to audience members who genuinely believe that Marvel's first female-led superhero movie is likely to play out as extreme white nationalist propaganda.) More than that, though, it creates a larger problem with the flow of the story. The decision to play this story beat as a twist means the film has to conceal its hand for the first hour and fifteen minutes. This means that Captain Marvel is almost half-way over before any member of the cast gets any real character development.
The basic set-up of Captain Marvel is straightforward enough. The Kree and the Skrulls are at war with one another. Vers is a heroic Kree soldier, a member of an elite tactical division tasked with eliminating high value targets. Vers is also human. She awake one day on Hela with no memory of her past life. She is haunted by dreams of a woman that she cannot remember, and of an act of violence created by the inhuman Skrull invaders. Vers also has unique and powerful abilities, but no idea how she got them. She is being trained by Yon-Rogg, who clearly sees great potential in the young woman, if she can just learn to control her emotions.
Much has been made of Captain Marvel as a period piece, and this creates an interesting contrast within the film. Despite the awkward structural issues with the central twist, Captain Marvel is a surprisingly astute piece of work. Although the film is set in the nineties, two of its larger elements are strongly contextualised outside of it. The Kree are perhaps the most obvious example. Captain Marvel draws on the source material to present the Kree as space!Communists like something from a questionable eighties action movie. Of course, this draws from the original characterisation of the Kree by Lee and Kirby in Fantastic Four during the sixties, treating them as a deep-space allegory for contemporaneous fears about the horrors of socialism.
The Kree are dedicated to "the Collective" rather than "the Self." The Kree are comprised of several species (blue and pink), but one culture. Their warriors regularly commune with "the Supreme Intelligence", which is a Lovecraftian abstraction that plucks a form from an individual's past to work like a puppet for its own ends. "Serve the Kree, not yourself," the Great Intelligence urges Vers early in the film. Yon-Rogg worries that Vers is "too emotional" to ever function as a Kree soldier. She can never entirely surrender her sense of self. Indeed, there is some sense that Vers is trying to reclaim the identity that was lost to her, to reject her status as a blunt instrument or tool of the established order.
It's an interesting and effective characterisation of the Kree, in the context of the nineties setting. However, Captain Marvel also shrewdly plays them as a slightly more modern allegory as well. There are repeated assertions that Vers is "too emotional" to ever succeed in the world of the Kree soldiers, and Yon-Ragg repeatedly insists that Vers needs to learn to use her head rather than her heart. He insists that Vers fight him on his own terms, and that her actions are only valid when they conform to his expectations. There are shades of the modern alt-right to the Kree, the gendered pseudo-rationalism which defines so much of the "mens' rights" crowd that seems so threatened by the existence of films like Captain Marvel.
This provides an interesting contrast with the Skrulls, which are set up as the nominal villains of the piece. The Skrulls are a classic and iconic alien menace. Indeed, the Chitauri as featured in The Avengers were originally conceived by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch as stand-ins for the Skrulls during their run on The Ultimates. The Skrulls are shape-changing aliens, defined as invaders and infiltrators. They manoeuvre themselves within existing power structures, so that they might scheme and plot. Captain Marvel introduces the Skrulls as something close to monsters, like the Uruk Hai from The Lord of the Rings. Ben Mendelsohn's Talos is allowed to articulate and stand upright, but most other Skrulls seem atavistic; they crouch, they crawl, they poke, they cower.
In the context of the film's nineties setting, the Skrulls are another expression of the formless anxieties of the existential fears underpinning the decade between the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror. The Skrulls are formless and identityless. When they take the form of a subject, they incorporate that form's identity and short-term memories, subsuming their selves. The Skrulls tap into that recurring fear of nineties America that the greatest enemy might be one's own self. Without a rigidly defined enemy like communism or terrorism to fight, it might be impossible to spot the enemies who seek to attack and destabilise society.
The Skrulls are of a piece with many of the great science-fiction villains of the nineties; the invasive colonists and shape-shifting bounty hunters from The X-Files, the formless changelings of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Skrulls can be everywhere and nowhere, tapping into the same uncertainties that informed so much of the decade's paranoid popular culture. Evoking the work of Chris Carter and Oliver Stone, the Skrulls even disguise themselves as senior government officials so that they might hunt our heroes through stacks of archives and records. The Skrulls walk amongst humanity, unseen. They infiltrate, they consume, they plot. The Skrulls embody a certain nineties conspiratorial nightmare, the invader who is indistinguishable.
Of course, although Captain Marvel is set in the nineties, it is not of the nineties. This is not a piece of work produced in the vacuum that existed between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers. These archetypes mean something very different twenty years removed from that context. There is a reason why it is occasionally hard to watch The X-Files in the twenty-first century. In the modern world, the Skrulls are not a formless representative of a cultural listlessness. Instead, the Skrulls are a horde of monstrous foreigners who have no respect for borders or cultural identity. They look alien, their customs are strange, they are no better than animals. As such, the Skrulls work differently in 2019 than they would at the point in time when the film is set.
To be fair to Captain Marvel, the movie is shrewd enough to understand this. Superhero stories (and superhero films) can be inherently reactionary; they are fantasies about power and authority produced by large corporations. There is an inherent conservatism baked into most of the larger examples of the genre. Even the otherwise radical Black Panther was an ode to hereditary monarchy that presented the Central Intelligence Agency as heroes in a story of civil unrest in an African nation. Occasionally truly radical works will sneak in, such as the radically anti-colonial politics of Thor: Ragnarok or even the rejection of Orientalist stereotypes in Iron Man III.
Often, the genre's political underpinnings can be uncomfortable. Certainly, a film like Thor: The Dark World would never have hesitated to present a race like the Skrulls as a horde of anonymous invading monsters that needed to be destroyed. (The Dark World is a film in which Odin admits to organising genocide, with the crisis arising because he did not properly exterminate the so-called "dark elves.") There are certainly conservative elements within Captain Marvel. As with Black Panther, this is a movie with a strong investment in the power structures of the United States government. The title character is an air force pilot, and S.H.I.E.L.D. are presented as a heroic organisation despite the fact they were being run by literal-but-also-nameless Nazis at this point.
At the same time, Captain Marvel is the product of a different time than The Dark World. In the half-decade since The Dark World, things have changed. Radical right-wing ideology has taken root in the United States. Immigrants are frequently dehumanised and treated like monsters. Refugees are presented as monstrous threats. Families are torn apart at the border. Fear of people from different cultures and different backgrounds has been harnessed in service of a truly horrific agenda. Captain Marvel understands that it cannot play the Skrulls as straightforward monsters, as science-fiction allegories for right-wing fears about immigrants and refugees. Captain Marvel is smart enough to understand that it cannot tell that story.
This creates a problem. If the film cannot tell that particular story, there is only one story that it can tell. The biggest issue with Captain Marvel is that it treats this organic narrative decision as a big twist and surprise. Despite the fact that this is the only way that Captain Marvel could develop without becoming something monstrous and grotesque, the episode treats this story beat as a revelation. The rest of the movie is structured around this twist. The story is told in such a way as to preserve the surprise. The result is a narrative jack-in-the-box, a film that spends a full hour building to a "gotcha!" moment that is obvious to any genre savvy viewer from the opening ten minutes.
The story of Captain Marvel is incredibly straightforward, despite the narrative contortions employed by the script. Amnesia is something of a hackneyed story device, and one that is often greeted with a deserved cynicism. Amnesia is often a clumsy way of concealing information from the audience as much as the character affected. Amnesia is a crutch that can be used to make a simple story more complex. There is a reason that the device is a lot less common in contemporary cinema than it would have been in the thirties and forties. Audiences understand how the story device works, and so audience members with even a basic understanding of genre can quickly determine the direction of a story that employs amnesia as a means of obscuring vital information.
Structurally, this is a decision that can only really work once. Captain Marvel is convinced that it can surprise its audience, and so works hard to that end. However, the film cheats along the way. There are a number of early plot developments and inferences that do not necessarily fit with subsequent revelations. Characters do not behave in ways that make sense according to their own internal logic, but instead act in accordance with an external logic that is designed to build tension and to preserve the surprise for the audience watching. Even watching the film, there is a sense of narrative trickery afoot; scenes begin and end in odd places, the drama cutting to and from key characters so as to avoid any real intimacy with them.
The biggest issue with all of this is that it prevents Captain Marvel from actually characterising any of its primary cast. This is a problem, given how much the Marvel movies tend to lean on the charisma of their leading actors; Robert Downey Junior as Tony Stark, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang. In contrast, Vers is introduced as a blank slate. She has no memory. She has no background. The audience has no context for her. She has a personality, but it is the stock deadpan snarker personality that seems to come as standard with these characters. "I used to think you were funny," Yon-Rogg laments at one point in the narrative, perhaps wearied by the barrage of wry one-liners.
Because Captain Marvel refuses to tip a hand that everybody at the table already knows that it is holding, the film has to treat Carol as a blank slate for about half the run time. To a certain extent, this could be seen as a desire to sidestep the increasingly well-worn origin story template by trying to jump into the action in media res, but the issue is that there's no sense of what makes Vers unique. What are Vers' flaws as a character? What makes Vers distinct from any other soldiers in her unit? What does Vers want in life? By the time that Captain Marvel begins, the character has been living as an amnesiac for six years, but there's no indication that she has ever put any real thought into digging into her history or her past.
This is basic storytelling. It is simplistic to say that a primary character must be defined by a want, the type of "wisdom" favoured by screenwriting guides and writing seminars. However, that want does help to define a character and to help the audience understand them and invest in them. Many of the best Marvel Studios films are defined by characters who want. Thor wants to be worthy. Tony Stark wants his life to mean something. Steve Rogers wants to serve his country. Peter Quill wants a family to replace the one that he lost, even if he'll never admit it. Erik Kilmonger wants to return home to a country that abandoned him. However, because Captain Marvel is building to a twist that is designed to pull the rug out from Vers, it never gives her that motivation.
Vers is not the only character affected. Captain Marvel has a legitimately great cast. It has a number of genuinely brilliant actors playing nominally important roles. Jude Law is cast as Yon-Ragg, Vers' mentor and commander. Ben Mendelsohn is Talos, the "terrorist" commander of an elite Skrull unit. Annette Bening has twin roles, playing both a mysterious figure from Vers' past and the embodiment of the Supreme Intelligence when it chooses to address her. That is a great cast, populated by great actors who are capable of doing great things with the right characters. In particular, many of those actors are capable of playing multiple facets of the same character; Law can be both charming and smug, Mendelsohn can be both conniving and vulnerable.
The issue with Captain Marvel is that its opening hour and fifteen minutes is so firmly invested in setting up the big plot reveal that none of these actors are allowed any room to work. The film cannot spend any substantial amount of time with Yon-Ragg or Talos, because doing so might give the game away and reveal information that the film has chosen to conceal with the audience. As a result, Law and Mendelsohn spend more than half the film giving very broad performances that are designed to be read in a number of different ways by the audience depending on what the audience has worked out in a given moment. There is something technically impressive in that, in how broad Law and Mendelsohn can play their roles. Unfortunately, it is far from satisfying.
There is also an issue in how the decision to treat the film's logical plot developments as earth-shattering twists undercuts a lot of potentially interesting thematic baggage. It becomes quite clear early in the story that Vers is not entirely aware of why she has her mysterious powers. Other Kree and Skrull soldiers cannot fire energy from their hands. It is very obvious that something happened to her, something that she cannot remember. There is something very powerful in the idea that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first female hero should be denied agency over her own body, particularly given the historical treatment of Carol Danvers in the comic books. (There is a reason Brian Bendis used Danvers as a supporting character in Alias, which inspired Jessica Jones.)
However, the film's reluctance to foreground these obvious questions and themes undercuts their narrative weight. It is very clear to the audience from almost the beginning of the film that Vers has been manipulated and altered by something, her personhood and autonomy compromised so that her body might be turned into a tool to be exploited and used by men. There is something powerful and feminist in that story, in a woman trying to reassert her identity and individuality, and trying to take control of her own body from men who would try to tell her how to use it. Unfortunately, this theme gets a little muddled in the execution, lost in the narrative hijinks.
(It is also interesting how much Avengers: Age of Ultron seems to serve as an influence on Captain Marvel, particularly considering early rumours that the character was supposed to be introduced in the first Avengers sequel. The manipulation of Vers' body and the denial of her autonomy so that she might better be used as a tool recalls the back story afforded to Natasha in Age of Ultron. More playfully, the second act of Captain Marvel involves an extended sequence in which the characters seek refuge on an idyllic farm in the middle of nowhere. This seems almost a knowing joke at the expense of Joss Whedon, who famously had to fight to keep the farmhouse scene in Age of Ultron. Nick Fury seems to have quite a fondness for hiding from threats in countryside.)
This issue with the structure of the film is compounded by the edit. Captain Marvel is ironically one of the shorter modern Marvel Studios films. Captain Marvel is shorter than Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Black Panther, and Captain America: Civil War. This is an issue when the film waits over an hour to start characterising its leads, meaning that the part of the story with any character development feels even more rushed than it might otherwise be. There is also a sense, watching the film, that Captain Marvel underwent a very heavy edit to hit a predetermined runtime. A lot of the film's action sequences and comedy bits feel heavy-handed; landing quickly before moving on.
An early action sequence involves Vers escaping from a Skrull ship with her hands still locked in restraints. This is a high-concept action sequence; Vers cannot use her energy blasts nor her fingers, all while trying to navigate a hostile environment. This is a great set-up for a memorable and playful action sequence. Even within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are a number of similar examples that come to mind; the characters fighting over the orb on Xandar in Guardians of the Galaxy, the playful spaceship-through-the-rubble chase in Ragnarok. However, the editing of the sequence is frantic. Everything seems hyper-compressed. It's possible to miss genuinely clever beats in the sequence, such as Vers having to use her foot to work a door console.
In this sense, it seems like Captain Marvel might have suffered slightly from its choice of directors. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are two very promising directors, responsible for the underrated and underseen Mississippi Grind. However, Boden and Fleck are perhaps better established as television directors and have no real background in action direction. Given Marvel Studios' established history of offering to "take care of" the action sequence direction for less established directors, it is interesting to speculate whether this contributed to some of the issues with the action editing in Captain Marvel. Either way, the film has a disorienting pace, often stepping on key comedic or dramatic beats in a rush to get to the next scene.
All of this is a shame, because there is a lot to like in Captain Marvel. Most notably, the film has a strong understanding of gender dynamics in a very unshowy way. Captain Marvel is the first Marvel Studios film with a female lead, more than a decade into the shared cinematic universe and arriving two years after Wonder Woman from Warner Brothers. Captain Marvel is keenly aware of the pressure and expectations heaped upon it, and it handles itself with considerable grace. The film is never heavy-handedly about the eponymous character's status as a woman, but it is always there in the background. The film never obscures the gender dynamics at play, understanding what it is like for the character to operate in predominantly masculine spaces.
The most overt examples of sexism are limited to very brief encounters, contextualised as the sort of ambient noise that the character has to deal with on a daily basis. Flashing back to her time in a dingy air force bar, Vers is sternly lectured by a drunken male pilot, "It's called a cockpit for a reason." Similarly, a surly biker teases the weary soldier, "Haven't you got a smile for me?" Although that particularly sequence was undoubtedly written and filmed long before the trailer was cut, it takes on a particularly strong resonance given complaints that the eponymous character should have smiled more in the film's publicity material. Although the film is not about the kind of sexism that a woman in a high-profile position faces, it is never oblivious.
More than that, the film cleverly plays with more modern expressions of sexism. Similar to Interstellar and Star Trek: Discovery, this is a piece of contemporary popular science-fiction that is absolutely fascinated with the idea of the conflict between the rational and the emotional. Traditionally, science-fiction has been seen as a genre defined by pseudo-rationalism. This is the genre that birthed Clarke's Third Law, that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." This is something that simmers through the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, particularly the weird instance that Asgardians are not really gods but instead sufficiently advanced aliens. (Clarke's Third Law gets an explicit shoutout in The Dark World.)
Science-fiction has long been treated as conventionally "rational" space. It has also long been coded as a conventionally masculine space, despite the incredibly influence of women in the genre; both as important figures in production and in shaping the modern concept of fandom. In recent years, science-fiction fandom has also become embroiled in the culture wars. There is a significant overlap between conventionally masculine fan spaces and the alt-right, and connection that obviously stretches back to GamerGate. In terms of science-fiction fandom, that sort of reactionary fandom found expression in the backlash to Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. The film experienced a massive sexist and racist backlash from conventional fandom.
Captain Marvel exists in this context. It is no surprise, for example, that these reactionary fandoms are already targeting the film with negative reviews before release. This is not a new phenomenon by any measure; it happened with the recent Ghostbusters reboot as well. What is interesting is in watching these films react to the anxieties of these traditional and reactionary fandoms. Ghostbusters made sure to include as much castration imagery as possible, and engaged in deliberate (and endearing) provocations like murdering a character played by Bill Murray on-screen. Captain Marvel engages with this side of fandom more abstractly.
Yon-Rogg positions himself (and the Kree) as rationalists. This is very much in keeping with the political philosophy of the alt-right, which is very adamant that its ideology is rooted in reason and rationality. This is why Jordan Peterson is such an important figure, as he confers intellectual legitimacy upon these beliefs. The modern extreme right is more likely to adopt labels like "racial realists" than to employ honest descriptors like "racists." Everything is dressed up in the trappings of respectability. It is reasoned, it is intellectual, it is factual. Tellingly, the gendered insult most often thrown at Vers over the course of Captain Marvel is that she is "too emotional." Yon-Rogg insists that Vers needs to let her head guide her, and to stop letting her emotions cloud her judgment.
This is a recurring motif in modern science-fiction like Interstellar and Discovery. It is implicitly gendered in both Interstellar and Captain Marvel, a male character condescendingly telling a female character that she needs to adopt a rational approach to the situation and to stop letting her emotions cloud her judgment. Tellingly, both Interstellar and Captain Marvel understand that emotions are not necessarily a source of weakness because they happen to be gendered. (Discovery is an interesting example, in which a female lead character spends most of the first season coming to understand that her emotional response to trauma is just as important as providing a logical justification for her actions.)
There is something very effective and cathartic at the climax of Captain Marvel, when the villain stumbles out of his crashed space ship and declares to Vers, "I am so proud of you." He then insists that Vers reject the power that flows through her body and that she fight him hand-to-hand. Sure, Vers might be able to triumph when she uses the power that flows through her, but can she beat him on his terms? It is a moment with a surprising amount of resonance. It is a man talking to a woman, trying to set the terms of engagement to suit himself. He would argue that he simply wants to confront Vers on a level playing field, but the truth is that the rules of engagement that he is setting would only benefit himself.
Vers responds, simply and effectively, "I have nothing to prove to you." It is a small and triumphant moment, but one that understands the realities that face many women and minorities in the modern world, the challenge of being asked to compete with straight white men using systems and structured that have been designed in the image of those straight white men, with all their limitations and all of their biases. The playing field in such situations can never truly be level, but only appears as such to those who get to define it. Captain Marvel soars in moments like this, firmly rejecting any attempt to set ceilings or restrictions on female empowerment or expression, and mocking the absurdity of attempting to do so in service of an obvious agenda.
It is a shame that Captain Marvel doesn't work as well in larger terms, that the wit and insight on display in these smaller moments is not reflected in the structuring of the movie as a whole. Captain Marvel is too clumsy and too awkward to rank with the best Marvel Studios movies, which is a shame. In its strongest moments, it is truly Marvel-ous.
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: captain marvel, gender, kree, marvel comics, Marvel Studios, politics, skrull, spoiler culture, twist |
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Francis, on March 5, 2019 at 6:47 pm said:
**DISCLAIMER** Sorry if this comment wil be posted twice since Im not sure my first try worked**DISCLAIMER**
Hey Darren nice review as always to your Captain Marvel, I'm just wondering in my heavy-induced-energy-drink-thesis-writing-morning if you think, me with no training whatsoever with writing, can write a film y'know? I started following your reviews way back 2014 bec I think, no I know I learned so much from your reviews on how stories work and because of you I appreciate why literature reviews matter. I don't know, I feel like I'm really late to the party and with you I know you're really stared early reading classic stories and dissecting/learning them but me bec of lack of access to this stories and frankly lack of support, I feel like I'm coming late. And also because of your critical dissection, I became afraid someone like you who is smarter than me can dissect what I made and reveal scary themes which I don't consider but nonetheless are there that in turn people will judge me that my work is who I am. Maybe this is part hubris of early twenties-finding my purpose, and anxiety of not finishing my case study but I'm just lost you know, I sadly don't have someone to talk to about this stuff. Do you have a story like a made-up novel or movie you are scared to tell but get it out on the world anyway? Or you find investigating culture really a pleasure compare to say, according to some-"reviewers are just failed artist"? Or do you find reviews as an Art discipline? Thank you if you're going to reply and really big fan since 2014 hahaha!!
Thanks for the kind words. I would say that you should write what you write. I think there's a lot to be said for Spielberg's argument that creating art is not a critical process, but an instinctual one. Spielberg famously worried that if he ever interrogated his own films, or tried to explore why they did or didn't work, he'd "break" his ability to tell them.
Personally, I wrote a lot when I was younger. In some cases, just to understand the creative process; to get what it feels like to tell a story and to understand the choices that a writer makes along the way. I think that this maybe made me a better critic. I think (hope) that I'm a lot more sympathetic a critic because of that; I tend to look for the best possible reason that a writer or director might make a specific choice. I've written a whole bunch of novels that nobody will ever read. Mostly because they're terrible! But writing them was fun.
Texactly, on March 6, 2019 at 8:26 pm said:
I've honestly been waiting patiently for Marvel Studios movies to begin to repeat the phenomenon from Marvel's comic books where many heroes and villains past a certain point were given grab-bag super-powers divorced from their characters and personalities, including the always-popular "shoots energy beams from hands".
Marvel's characters in all media have always been more engaging when their abilities reflect their characters, no matter which one curved toward the other in the character's history. Iron Man's suit runs on the device in his chest that keeps him alive; he's a normal guy who powers his bullet-deflecting, jet-plane outer body with his own stop-gap solution to a broken heart. Captain America can do everything better than almost everyone, but not well enough to make it look like he has it easy against his foes; he's the perpetual underdog but the inevitable winner, just as a projection of the United States' self-image should be.
The most approachable of Marvel's stable of champions are even easier to pin down. Spider-Man's abilities are based on a creepy critter instead of something usually seen as powerful and heroic, and they allow him to dodge out of harm's way at the last second, while his strength is as proportionate to his self-confidence as it is to a spider; all of that reflects his character on a number of levels I don't really have to describe to anyone who's seen a Spider-Man movie, which is probably why he's had the longest run as Marvel's best-known icon (and I'll leave out the way his web-shooters correspond to his perpetual-adolescent angst). The Incredible Hulk… too obvious to bother explaining it, right…?
And then… we climb onto the banana boat full of characters from around '67-'68 onward who can shoot energy beams out of their hands and are very strong, or are very strong and they can fly, or can shoot energy beams out of their hands and are very strong and they can fly, and maybe they can also absorb energy that their enemies shoot out of their hands and then shoot it back out of, etc. Maybe, on occasion, they can shout "ENOUGH!" in gigantic, colored letters while a hemisphere of energy knocks everyone back, and you know things are serious. You get the picture.
Of course, DC has at least as many of these characters as Marvel, maybe more, but after Superman acquired his grab-bag of laser eyes and freezy-breath in the '50s, you almost expect it of them, which doesn't make them any more interesting. A DC hero with one or two super-powers will have at least one run on their main book where they acquire two to five more, at least temporarily, and it's usually boring. But when you read back through Marvel's old books and see "shoots energy beams from hands" start to happen more and more as you go, as you watch the writers and artists drift further and further away from the "powers = character" idea that produced most of the Marvel characters that anyone still cares about today, it stings.
I thought the movies would reach that same point when the different studios' franchises introduced the trio of similar-looking Big Two villains who best represent it: Apocalypse, Darkseid and Thanos have all proven to be interesting characters under certain skilled writers and artists (yes, even Apocalypse), but they all suffer from this grab-bag effect, where their super-powers serve no purpose for their characters. Instead, they say, "Hey, this guy can keep a super-team busy for a while." They say nothing about the characters themselves, which is why they're almost always packaged with an action-figure doo-dad to drive the story: a cube, or a gauntlet, or a deadly virus, or an entire planet in Darkseid's case, plus an… equation…? (Darkseid worked fine for Jack Kirby; his peers in that regard I can count on one hand, and think of how many people have worked on stories about Darkseid by now.)
Everything these characters can do, everything that makes them "super", is the product of an arms race, and as with real-life arms races, the current product is always pretty much the same thing the other guy already has, only slightly more of it. In this case "the other guy" includes the last appearance of the same character. It's not "power creep" per se, but rather the need to draw the eye of a readership that's seen it all before that, to try to make them half-believe that, hey, this guy, now, this guy could be a problem. (Until he shows up and loses one too many times… unless those losers were all clones, you see…)
I've never been overly enamored of Marvel Studios movies. The best of them are fun action flicks with chatty scripts, unnecessarily talented casts, scenes that leave room to let the actors play off each other and transcend the material, CG effects that are 80-90% not awful, and all of it wrapped up in a lightweight recruiting video for the U.S. Department of Defense, who approved the script. Even in the context of the action-sci-fi-fantasy-blockbuster niche these movies occupy, they're usually fine, rarely very good, and never truly great. A few of them are just plain bad.
But still… I kind of hope they haven't really reached the "shoots energy beams from hands" stage quite yet. That'd be a downer. I thought it would have happened long before now, and I know it has to happen someday, but I kind of hope it's not today. Kind of.
Yep. I think Captain Marvel just about gets away with the "grab bag power" as you describe it because achieving that is presented as the climax of the story. But you're right that it's very much a minefield going forward, and is going to be something very hard to pull off well.
Roderik Rolf (@Roderikrolf), on March 13, 2019 at 9:05 pm said:
It might still hold up a bit, I'd say, if only because of relative novelty. There isn't yet anyone in the MCU with quite the same powerset; Vision comes closest, and he's got the whole phasing thing to be distinctive. More importantly, having a woman as the Superman-equivalent hasn't been done yet. I think it's a very smart move by the MCU production team to build up Brie Larson's Carol Danvers like this, and it's got a decent chance of paying off in Endgame (and possibly the MCU going forward).
Chris, on March 10, 2019 at 11:25 pm said:
First of all, I really did like the nineties nostalgia. I love eighties nostalgia, I'm even ready to admit that there's probably a lot more stuff there to be mined for modern media, but after two GOTG movies and the last Thor one indulged in it, I'm happy this movie moved it to the next decade. The nineties needs more love. (Also, I actually remember the nineties).
See, in my case, the Skrulls and not the Kree are actually what I zeroed in on as a Red Scare reference (rather than a nineties one). The whole concept of alien infiltrators who could look like anyone, for a race invented in the sixties, looks like a pretty clear case of indulging Cold War anxieties, like a lot of the invasion/infiltration fiction from that era. That's what makes the revelation that they're really harmless refugees so good. The movie takes the paranoia that spawned the Skrulls and shows the harm it can do to the most vulnerable.
If the Skrulls were just a nineties "we have no external Big Bad, maybe the enemy is us" reference, it wouldn't work nearly as well.
"There is something very effective and cathartic at the climax of Captain Marvel, when the villain […] insists that Vers reject the power that flows through her body and that she fight him hand-to-hand. Sure, Vers might be able to triumph when she uses the power that flows through her, but can she beat him on his terms? It is a moment with a surprising amount of resonance. It is a man talking to a woman, trying to set the terms of engagement to suit himself. He would argue that he simply wants to confront Vers on a level playing field, but the truth is that the rules of engagement that he is setting would only benefit himself. Vers responds, simply and effectively, "I have nothing to prove to you.""
Not to diminish the obvious gender subtext, but I also loved it simply as a rejection of the "put down your gun, fight like a man!" trope. We've all had times when we've shouted at the TV screen "MY GOD JUST SHOOT THE GUY ALREADY!" so it's always nice when the characters do, in fact, just shoot them instead of putting themselves at a disadvantage for the sake of being sporting.
(Though my favorite subversion of the trope is still the one from Rush Hour 1. Speaking of nineties nostalgia).
Interesting. Nineties nostalgia largely just makes me feel old, in no small part because I remember the decade the first time around. Eighties nostalgia is at least exotic to me, like anthropology.


The total number of high net worth individuals continues to grow at the significant rate of around 5% per year, with 15.4 million HNWIs around the world (based on Capgemini's definition of an HNWI as an individual with US$1 million in wealth to invest).
Features of this HNWI population are shifting too, as Asia overtakes North America as the location of the largest amount of HNWI wealth.
We have always focused our work on advising successful people on every aspect of their lives and interests. Starting at the turn of the 20th Century with a practice that principally represented the wealth of British families with landed estates, we have seen sources of wealth make a huge transformation, and our clients now generate their wealth in a countless number of ways and come from every part of the world. As a measure of this, we have acted for 51% of the top 100 in The Sunday Times Rich List, 20% of the top 100 in the Forbes Rich List and 30% of the Top 20 Hong Kong billionaires in the Forbes World's Billionaires list.
The ongoing interconnection of the world economy means that HNWIs affairs are more complex than ever and require a truly international perspective from advisors. We are structured to provide just that, with 16 offices across the US, Asia, Caribbean and Europe, and lawyers that advise on everything from wealth structuring and succession down the generations to philanthropic giving, family law, commercial disputes and private capital investments . Our focus is on ensuring that our advice to you is tailored to your exact needs and takes full account of all of the competing factors in your aims and ambitions.
The public debate on wealth has become increasingly polarized and, in some parts of the world, being a HNWI can expose you to a great deal of risk. We can help you to manage this in a number of ways. Full compliance with complex international tax laws is more important than ever before, and this can be ensured whilst simultaneously maximizing the efficiency of your estate. We can also advise you on the philanthropic use of your wealth to make the maximum impact on important causes around the world. And we can guide you on the most effective ways to maintain your privacy to ensure the safety of you and your family.
More and more couples are having the conversation about getting a prenuptial agreement. With the unfortunate reality of over 40% of marriages in developed countries ending in divorce, these agreements can save a lot of stress, heartache, and legal fees if the worst should happen.
Acting for Prince Mukkaram Jah, His Exalted Highness Nizam VIII of Hyderabad, in a dispute with India and Pakistan over funds held at Natwest Bank for over 50 years. The High Court decided in Pakistan v Natwest and Ors  EWHC 55 (Ch) that the Nizam's claim to the funds may now proceed. The High Court recently gave Judgment on various strike out applications and the case is now proceeding to trial.
Our client based in North Asia, and with assets over US$1b across Asia and the UK, was concerned about his succession planning, particularly in regards to the impact of this on a child of the family with a disability. We worked with him to navigate the legal issues involved across those multiple jurisdictions and to create a plan that always had the needs of the family at the forefront.
As a firm, we are best known for helping globally successful individuals to protect their interests internationally - in this recent matter we helped secure water-tight contracts for two C-suite directors as they relocated from the United States to the United Kingdom, while our transatlantic team reviewed their changed tax circumstances.
Withers advised Simon Henry, the former CFO from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, on the English law aspects of his departure.
Represented an art collector who purchased what was represented to be a painting by a well-known American painter, but which was revealed to be one of many forged paintings in a major art forgery scandal. In a similar case, Withers London acted for a collector against an auction house when he discovered that they had been selling numerous paintings by the same forger.
Withers was called on to act for a well-known managing partner of an international investment firm when his reputation was under threat. Our robust approach to reputation management prevented the filing of false statements in a form U-5 (Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration) that would have had a detrimental effect on his future career and earnings.
Successful representation of a prominent Russian businessman and officials in highly complex and interrelated committal, bankruptcy and Commercial Court proceedings.
Negotiating and implementing a settlement agreement between heirs, based both in the UK and in Italy, for a high net worth individual in the context of a succession whereby Italian forced heirship rules applied.
We advised a high net worth individual in connection with obtaining a USD$150 million line of credit from a major US bank, secured by museum quality works of art.
We acted for high net worth individuals in the purchase of private aircraft, a used Bombardier Global 5000 and of a new Gulfstream G550. We also advised in the acquisition of a villa in Thailand by share purchase and the sale of a villa in Thailand by share sale.


text:
Koi No Yokan es el séptimo álbum de estudio de la banda de metal alternativo Deftones. Fue lanzado el 12 de noviembre de 2012 en Reino Unido y el 13 de noviembre de 2012 en Estados Unidos por Reprise Records. El cantante Chino Moreno caracterizó al álbum como "dinámico" con una gama completa de sonido, y señaló que más contribuciones se hicieron para el álbum del bajista Sergio Vega en comparación con su anterior disco, Diamond Eyes. El 19 de septiembre de 2012, la banda lanzó la canción "Leathers" como sencillo promocional a través de una descarga gratuita en su página web. El primer sencillo oficial, "Tempest", estrenada el Spin.com para el streaming de 3 de octubre de 2012.

Koi No Yokan frase en japonés, cuya traducción al español significa algo parecido a "premonición del amor".

Lista de canciones

Personal
 Abe Cunningham - batería
 Stephen Carpenter - guitarras
 Frank Delgado - tornamesas, samples, teclados
 Chino Moreno - voz, guitarras
 Sergio Vega - bajo

Posicionamiento

Referencias

Álbumes de 2012
Álbumes de Deftones
Álbumes de metal alternativo
Álbumes de Reprise Records
Álbumes en inglés

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The names are combined using OR semantics, i.e. if the fully qualified name of a package starts with at least one of the names, the package will be included in the result set.
The names are combined using OR semantics, i.e. if the fully qualified name of a package starts with at least one of the names, the package will be excluded in the result set.


A good starting goal is at least 150 minutes a week, but if you don't want to sweat the numbers, just move more! Find forms of exercise you like and will stick with, and build more opportunities to be active into your routine.
How do you want to move?
Why is Walking the Most Popular Form of Exercise?
Read More About 7 Easy Ways to Move More!
Check the chart to see how your favorite aerobic activities affect your health goals according to your weight. These are the number of calories burned per hour by a 100-, 150-, and 200-lb person doing each exercise.


Overseen by award winning Manchester architects 5plus, the refurbishment of 101 Barbirolli Square is an object lesson in breathing new life into a space. Updates to the entrance ensure that 101 Barbirolli Square's stylishness makes an impression before you, or your clients, have even walked through the door. Once inside, you're greeted by a reception area steeped in understated elegance. A client lounge is separated from the main reception area by a series of full height bronze bars, creating privacy whilst still maintaining a connection to the wider surroundings.


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The 'Humanure Handbook' by Joe Jenkins. (Mary Lowther photo)
Are you ready for humanure?
Australians who were faced with this prospect used the only resource available — their own humanure.
Apr. 19, 2017 11:00 a.m.
By Mary and David Lowther
Can we spare a moment to appreciate the work of a generation of engineers who learned engineering during the Second World War and came home to use those skills to build the North American highway system?
Without this infrastructure the modern transport that delivers meat and produce to the grocery store could not function. Of all the accomplishments of the postwar years this may have had the greatest impact on the greatest number of consumers.
Some may argue, but it is safe to insist that the enormously increased access to a greater variety of meat and produce has increased the quality of life of the entire continent more than television, the power grid or even universal health care. We could live without television, without regular access to electricity (some of us do already) or a profit driven health care sector, but how long would we last if we had to grow our own food?
If this infrastructure ever failed, our lives might depend on our ability to feed ourselves, but it is reasonable to assume that we would also be cut off from access to fertilizers for our gardens, or costs might become so prohibitive that we couldn't afford amendments. The wise gardener should know how to cope with such shortages in a less than perfect future.
Australians who were faced with this prospect used the only resource available — their own humanure. They grew crops in rows and buried their humanure in the paths between until the end of the year. Then they turned the garden rows into paths and dug up the previously manured paths into garden rows.
The Hunza people in the Himalayas have been extensively studied for their health and longevity but little has been written about the use of their humanure to grow their food. Composting researcher Sir Albert Howard writes: "Every kind of waste, vegetable, animal and human, is mixed and decayed together…and incorporated into the soil. The remarkable health of these people is one of the consequences of their agriculture."
This method doesn't require water, an added advantage that author Joe Jenkins lauds in his book The Humanure Handbook. He, his wife and children have been thriving on vegetables grown with their own composted humanure and vegetation for over 40 years.
Independent analysis of his compost revealed that it attained higher temperatures and remained this high longer than that required to kill off pathogens such as parasites, hepatitis, cholera and typhoid. Jenkins amalgamated all vegetable scraps and the family's humanure into the compost heap, adding straw over each layer until the heap was full, then he let it sit for one year to allow beneficial bacteria to complete the job. Composting this way requires no electricity or petrochemicals and only enough water to wet the heap down.
Jenkins hasn't waited until times are tough to use his family's humanure as a resource because he wants to preserve our fresh water reserves and teach others to do this too. He says, "We've adopted the policy of defecating in our drinking water and then piping it off somewhere to let someone else deal with it. Our drinking water sources are dwindling and becoming increasingly contaminated. Humanure composting can remain a simple process, achievable by anyone. It does not need to be a complicated, high-tech, expensive process controlled and regulated by nervous people in white coats bending over a compost pile, shaking their heads and wringing their hands while making clucking noises."
So when you see that honey wagon trundling off to unload, think about how resource rich we are. Those of us on septic systems may one day be as important to the economy as the oilmen with their black gold, although our riches may have more of an earthy pigment.
BC Liberals are bold as brass
Taxpayers beware of CVRD directors

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Commentary: To serve and love was his mission accomplished
July 12, 2014 Updated: June 6, 2019 11:19 a.m.
Joe PIsani
When my good friend lay dying of cancer, I didn't know where to turn. A tragedy of that magnitude has a way of upending daily life as we know it and changing our view of the way things are supposed to be.
This fellow was a young man, and young men seldom think about their mortality, until it's too late.
So I called one of the few people I knew who would know what to say, a man named Frank Wissel, who also happened to be a priest and the pastor at St. Mary Church in Greenwich.
As your life approaches its end, which is an experience we all will share, everything that preoccupied you for 99% of your time on Earth takes on a different meaning. You look at the way you measured success and see it through an entirely different lens.
Everything you thought was so important suddenly loses its luster and a lot of things that you never bothered to think about suddenly seem important.
Msgr. Wissel, who recently died, talked to my friend for a long time. He gave him last rites and heard his confession, which is a Catholic thing that we usually think about later than we should.
When he left, I walked him to the door and thanked him. For once in my life, I'd made the right decision.
A week or so later, my friend passed away, and as it turned out, Msgr. Wissel said the funeral Mass in a packed church. For his sermon, he read a poem about taking the time to live life the way it was meant to be lived, not in the relentless pursuit of prestige, possessions and pleasure.
The poem, he told me, was one he often used during funerals when people are looking for answers. It was about life and falling victim to the rat race.
It was about making the most of each moment and being sure that your priorities are true priorities that won't fail you — or make you regret you lived the way you did.
Life, he said, passes by a lot faster than we expect, until it's too late and you realize you frittered away valuable time for the wrong reasons. You have to put first things first.
A lesson to live by
This was a lesson I needed to hear. It was a lesson I hope I never forget, and more importantly, it was a lesson Frank Wissel lived by.
Msgr. Wissel lived by the principles he professed. After 17 years as pastor of St. Mary Church, he had recently retired and moved to the Nathaniel Witherell home in Greenwich.
A few weeks ago, he had been honored during a ceremony to dedicate a hand-carved marble statue of Our Lady of Grace made in Italy and given anonymously to the church in recognition of his service and in appreciation for St. Mary's intercession in curing cancer patients.
A man of many talents and interests
Born in Brooklyn, Wissel, 76, attended Long Island University, where he received master's degrees in science and professional studies. He later earned a doctorate in psychotheology and ministry.
Before he entered the seminary, he was a psychologist for the New York City Board of Education and taught for 17 years in the Brooklyn Catholic schools.
In 1977, he was ordained by Bishop Walter W. Curtis and served in parishes in the Bridgeport Diocese. He later became principal of Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport and was the director of the St. Maximilian Kolbe House of Studies, which has helped students from Africa, Asia and South America earn college degrees.
I had heard about his work with the immigrant community, and knew some of the people he helped along the way.
'Serve and love the people'
Looking back on his years of service, he said his goal had been a simple one but not always an easy one: "Serve and love the people. Try and absorb all their pains and suffering. And let them know you really do love and care about them."
And the people who knew him will tell you that was a goal he accomplished, right to the end when he was confined to a wheelchair because of health issues. He set the example for the lessons and virtues he spoke of.
Joe Pisani, who grew up in Shelton's Pine Rock neighborhood, may be reached at joefpisani@yahoo.com.


Discussion in 'UFC Discussion' started by Riodejaneirofan, Jan 16, 2013.
Here is the link Guys. Comentaries in Portuguese.
I was watching it at this moment its buffering here.
Its working now, its from the zuffa partner here, in their website.


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Shawn Tierney October 31, 2017 No Comments	348 views Adventure, Alien Invasion, Exploration, Fantasy, Galactic Empire, Military, Movie, Review, Space Opera, Space War
Quick View:A Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, society is on the brink of war. Can two Jedi ambassadors and their lucky aquatic friend save the queen and stop the trade federation from enslaving her planet?
Full Review: Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is the first installment of George Lucas' Prequel trilogy of his successful space-action-fantasy adventure saga, Star Wars. This epic, although delivering in action and family friendly entertainment, suffers from its use of CGI and, well, family friendly entertainment. It's comic relief comes off as obnoxious to anyone above the age of 8 and the story seems more akin to the holiday special then the previous 3 Star Wars films. That said, the movie overall makes a good watch for any Sci Fi fan
wishing to marathon one of their favorite movie sagas.
The story follows Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as they fight their way through the droid armies of the trade federation to rescue the Queen of the planet naboo. they escape, only to find themselves stranded on the planet Tatooine. With the help of a gifted youngster, the motley crew find their way to Coruscant, home of the galactic republic, where they petition the senate to send aid to Naboo. The Queen, with the help of the Jedi, return to Naboo to fight the trade federation and free the people of the planet. All goes well until they encounter an enemy thought long gone: A Sith Lord.
Overall the characters and their development differ from case to case. In the terms of the jedi, we get to see more of their style of dress, their demeanor and what it was they did for the Republic. This is some valuable insight which we were missing in the original trilogy. Despite the best efforts of Liam Neeson and Ewan Mcgregor, we were still left victim to Jar Jar Binks and his insufferable insanity. We get it George, you want to make something the kids will love, but was this really the best way to do that? Although many fans might disagree, I was actually pleased with Young Anakin Skywalker and his curious nature. It makes sense if you are gonna take a character and tell his story you should start at the beginning. The cast did their best to work together, and although overall the story was good, a certain alien creature kept making what should have been a good start to a good trilogy a miserable show of bad, childish humor.
The settings throughout the show are beautiful, and the guys in charge of location surely got it right. The unnecessary level of CGI in the film can sometimes take away from the scenery, but overall the film was very, well, pretty. The space fights were action packed and fun to watch, even with young Anakin's less than amazing commentary.
The final battle between the Jedi and the Sith lord Darth Maul is by far the highlight of the film, and after the shocking final scenes of the fight, we are treated to what fans have been waiting for for 30 years: Obi-wan taking Anakin by his padawan. If you are willing to look past the shoddy CGI and poor dialogue for some characters, the movie delivers in its mandate to begin the trilogy, and is far from as bad as many fans claim it to be. Maybe it's my bias, having grown up with the film, but overall it really isn't that bad.
Final Score: 7/10
Episode 1 George Lucas Star Wars The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope


For each hour you nap, systolic blood pressure drops an average of 3 mm Hg, the researchers found. Systolic pressure -- the top number in a blood pressure reading -- is the force of your blood pushing against your arteries when your heart beats. Diastolic pressure -- the bottom number -- is the force between heart beats.
Taking a low-dose blood pressure drug, for example, can lower your level an average of 5 to 7 mm Hg, while a nap can reduce overall blood pressure an average of 5 mm Hg, the study authors said.
"These findings are important because a drop in blood pressure as small as 2 mm Hg can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack by up to 10 percent," Kallistratos said.
For the study, the investigators collected data on 212 people, average age 62, whose systolic pressure averaged about 130 mm Hg. About one-quarter of the participants smoked and/or had type 2 diabetes.
The researchers compared blood pressure over a day among those who napped in the middle of the day for about 49 minutes with those who didn't. The study also took into account factors such as consumption of alcohol, coffee and salt, the participants' physical activity levels, and their age, gender and medications.
The study participants wore blood pressure monitors to track their readings during a normal 24-hour day. Over that period, those who napped had an average systolic blood pressure more than 5 mm Hg lower than those who didn't nap, the findings showed.
Overall, people who napped had more favorable readings (128.7 systolic/76.2 diastolic) than those who didn't (134.5 systolic/79.5 diastolic), the researchers reported.
"We obviously don't want to encourage people to sleep for hours on end during the day, but on the other hand, they shouldn't feel guilty if they can take a short nap, given the potential health benefits," Kallistratos said in an American College of Cardiology (ACC) news release.
High blood pressure affects nearly half of American adults, though many don't know they have it. High blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for heart attack and stroke.
The study findings are scheduled to be presented March 18 at the ACC's annual meeting, in New Orleans. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


"All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadows shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king."
"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."


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Random morning-after thoughts: polling works; Herald's funny editorials; Schadenfreude
November 3, 2010 By David 12 Comments
Polling works. It worked in 2006, and it worked this time too. Yes, there was some variation. Rasmussen, in particular, came out looking pretty bad in Massachusetts, as did the Globe's pollster at UNH – both showed the Gov's race much closer than it really was. (According to 538, Rasmussen looked bad elsewhere too.) Suffolk, in contrast, nailed it – kudos to David Paleologos and his team for getting the 2010 Gov's race, as well as the Brown/Coakley race, pretty much exactly right.
But the point is that every independent poll showed Patrick ahead, most by something like the lead he actually ended up with on election day. Baker's internals, of course, turned out to be a total joke. (Maybe Patrick's did too – they never released them publicly.) So I do hope that we can finally dispense with this charade of internal polls being taken seriously by our mainstream media friends. Two Governor elections in which internal polls have been proven to be little more than optimistic press releases should be enough.
The Boston Herald's two hilariously self-contradictory editorials tell you a lot about how craven that editorial operation really is. The one about Massachusetts grudgingly congratulates Governor Patrick (while still implying that it was Tim Cahill's fault, even though the results refute that), but then says that Patrick should promptly adopt most of what Charlie Baker campaigned on, because, you know, Baker had awesome ideas. The one about the national results, in contrast, says that last night's election results were a clear message delivered by the American people, and that President Obama should listen to that message and change course.
Sorry, Herald, you can't have it both ways. The people of Massachusetts had a pretty clear choice: Patrick's approach, or Baker's. They rejected what Baker was selling, and chose Patrick by a substantial margin. That's the clear message delivered by the voters of Massachusetts. I believe Patrick when he says that he will look closely at ideas offered by his now-vanquished opponents – he did that last time, and it's a good thing to do. But I hope and expect that he will also remain true to what he campaigned on.
Schadenfreude isn't all that attractive. Still, I have to say that I'm pleased that we could turn Howie Carr's self-described "nightmare" into a reality. Just to refresh your recollection:
This is the nightmare:
It's the morning of Nov. 3, the day after the election. You awaken to a Republican sweep from coast to coast. Everywhere but here, in Massachusetts, a tiny island of blue in a sea of red.
Yeah, pretty much. And then there's this:
Oh sure, we savor a handful of scattered local victories – Jeff Perry, Mary Z. Connaughton, one or two others….
Well, not so much on Jeff and Mary, Howie. It's actually worse than you had dared to dream.
Michael Graham had a similar "nightmare scenario" column last week. Same notation there. And I'm not even going to bother with Howie's typically small-minded column today. But if you want to read a thoughtful discussion from the other side of the aisle of what went wrong for them and how they might avoid it next time, head over to RMG.
Your thoughts? Open thread on what happened last night in the comments.
Filed Under: User Tagged With: 2010, baker, ma-gov, patrick
seascraper
Patrick's ad on the 5000 lost government jobs was his most effective to me. Baker never offered an answer as to why cutting those 5000 state workers would make my life better.
p>As for the congressmen that was the old eating the young. In normal years they could have been sending that money out to the swing districts but they had to defend Massachusetts.
2020 years ago
let alone how it would affect state services.
he never said. That was one of the (many) major mistakes of his campaign.
If he named them he would have made 5000 enemies. By not naming them he made 100,000 enemies.
bostonshepherd
I must say, looking at some of the returns town by town, the Democratic GOTV effort was outstanding. On heard somewhere on NECN that over 400,000 doors were knocked on. That's amazing.
p>The MA Republican Party has a long way to go to match that effort. We have our work cut out for us.
p>Congratulations.
John Walsh.
bob-neer
Gracious comment. And thank you for your comments here at BMG.
sabutai
Maybe people in Massachusetts needed Scott Brown to realize that they can't take Democratic victories for granted.
But the GOTV was a hell of an operation.
On one hand. On the other, it's the same stuff Dukakis was doing twenty years ago.
Except that the Patrick team has figured out truly ingenious ways to use technology to make the operation far more effective than Dukakis could have dreamed of. I spent some time last night talking to one of the guys at the top of the GOTV operation. It's really quite amazing. There's no doubt in my mind that what happened here in MA needs to be studied and replicated by the national Dems if we're going to have any shot in 2012 to reverse some of what happened outside of MA yesterday.
johnd
You all fought a great fight and I am impressed with the results. I knew many of the races were long-shots for Republicans but I for sure thought we were going to win at least "one" state wide office. So hats off to an amazing execution of a well honed machine.
p>I have more to say but I don't want to take away from my congratulatory message to all of you and to the Democratic machine (and the democratic process). The people of MA have spoken.


Hacienda Pinilla's development encompasses 4,500 acres and three miles of pristine beaches. This property has been a working ranch for centuries, and the architecture and essence of the development hold true to these historic roots. This backdrop provides an authentic Costa Rican feel.
Here you will find a place where you can walk along a secluded Costa Rica beach and enjoy ever-changing sunsets or a hike among ancient tropical trees that have been used by Sabaneros for centuries—a place where every day brings a new experience and lasting memories. Hacienda Pinilla offers a variety of real estate and investment options. Contact our sales team to learn more about available resales, custom home sites, and fractional ownership opportunities.
Hacienda Pinilla has seven distinct communities within the development.
Avellanas offers some of the most exclusive beachfront real estate in Costa Rica. Avellanas gives you one of the most spectacular and unobstructed views of the Pacific coastline from Playa Avellanas to Playa Negra. The nature preserve at the back of the property provides natural landscapes and further privacy to homeowners. The homesites are rare, fee-simple beachfront lots, just above the 50-meter high tide line , placing them among the top beachfront properties in the world. This amazing beach property boasts a world-class surf break and is an easy walk to the Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club, with its gourmet outdoor restaurant, infinity edge pool, and wellness treatment rooms.
Palma Real Villas are located within a short walk to both Mansita and Bonita Beach and are surrounded by the natural beauty of Guanacaste, with most Villas providing lake views. These stunning Spanish Colonial Villas are surrounded by tropical gardens and have private swimming pools with barbecue areas. The two- and three-bedroom Villas range between 3,100 and 3,950 square feet with open floor plans, top-quality finishes, large kitchens, and generous living areas, inside and out. These homes are conveniently located close to the Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club.
Las Brisas is located in the center of Hacienda Pinilla with mountain views set among dry tropical forest. This community offers large half-acre lots situated in an ideal location to build your dream home within Hacienda Pinilla. You will find all the best of Hacienda Pinilla just a short walk or golf cart drive away. Reserva de Golf community offers large, half-acre-plus homesites overlooking the lush 18-hole championship golf course designed by Mike Young. With a custom homesite in Reserva de Golf, you'll enjoy the serene natural surroundings, woodlands, and rolling fairways that give you both privacy and breathtaking views of the golf course and mountains. This neighborhood also has a community central park with a fountain for further enjoyment.
Las Golondrinas beachfront community is located on the beautiful Playa Bonita, offering easy access to the beach with its own private pathways. This development is conveniently located near the J.W. Marriott Resort and Spa. Las Golondrinas beachfront community offers the perfect place for your dream coastal vacation home in Costa Rica.
Los Almendros community is one of the perfect locations within Hacienda Pinilla for golf and nature lovers alike with views of the second hole. Half-acre homesites and custom-built homes with Spanish Colonial architecture and modern infrastructure are spread throughout this unique gated community.
The Hacienda Club inside the gates of the exclusive Hacienda Pinilla Beach and Golf Resort is offering deeded and titled ownership in luxuriously furnished Villas . . . at a fraction of the price, starting at only $98,000 for a one-eighth deeded share. Owners will enjoy beautifully and fully furnished three- and four-bedroom Spanish Colonial–style Villas with the services and conveniences of a boutique hotel.
The Golf Course at Hacienda Pinilla has earned designation as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for its preservation of ecological balance. Here you have the extraordinary opportunity to enjoy your game in the natural habitats of Costa Rica, where the surrounding beauty and glimpses of exotic wildlife create a truly special experience. As an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, Hacienda Pinilla's award-winning golf course upholds the highest standards of course design, maintenance, and environmental preservation.
The Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club offers water activities and indulgences for your perfect day at the beach, from sipping cocktails in the infinity-edge pool, surfing, and snorkeling to delicious cuisine, replenishing wellness treatments, and a fitness center. The Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club is the perfect place to relax or play as you enjoy a day at the beach in beautiful Costa Rica.
At Hacienda Pinilla, you will find the JW Marriott Guanacaste, Costa Rica's only JW Marriott Resort. Located directly on Hacienda Pinilla's Mansita Beach, this luxury beachfront resort features 316 guest rooms and suites, the largest pool in Central America, a spa, meeting rooms, and multiple dining options. At the JW Marriott Guanacaste, you'll discover a unique hacienda-style resort experience combined with seclusion, beauty, and top-notch services, all with a Costa Rican flair.
The amenities at Hacienda Pinilla are second to none. As an owner, you will enjoy all the benefits and amenities available at Hacienda Pinilla, including golf and tennis, the beach club and equestrian center, riding trails, walking trails, restaurants, three miles of beautiful beaches, and much more. Hacienda Pinilla has a laid-back sophisticated vibe, and only 20 minutes away is the vibrant beach town of Tamarindo, which offers plenty of nightlife, shopping, and restaurants.
"BEST Beachfront Costa Rica Private Gated Community on Pristine Beach"
Lot Size 2113 sq. m.
Lot Size 2.05 sq. m.
"This beautiful villa has been tastefully decorated and is ready to enjoy!"


"Thanks, Obama!": POTUS reads mean tweets about himself on "Jimmy Kimmel"
During President Barack Obama's truly bizarre appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday Night -- which pivoted from topics like Ferguson to Kanye West to Hillary's emails -- the leader of the free world proved he wasn't above a good ol' #meantweets segment.
"From time to time, we give celebrities a chance to read some of the mean things people tweet about them, and tonight, we extended that same courtesy to our commander in chief," Kimmel said, before passing the baton that celebs like Lena Dunham and Chris Pratt have previously plucked.
Among the mean tweets, Obama read aloud: "Obama's hair is looking grayer these days. Can't imagine why since he doesn't seem to be one bit worried about all that's going on."


text:
Q: Can anyone help me out with the ASCII part please My task is to encrypt and decrypt coding and also create a button or a word that will exit the program. Now, I have worked out how to do that but now I have to use ASCII and I need a bit of help... This is my code for just encrypting, decrypting and exit below. Can anyone help me out with the ASCII part please...
    welcome = input("Hello there...")
    letters = ("a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j","k","l","m","n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z")

    numberShift = int(input("How much do you wish to shift the letters? "))
    phrase = input("Enter a phrase to be encrypted: ")
    newPhrase = ""
    for l in phrase:
    if l in letters:
    pos = letters.index(l) + numberShift
    if pos > 25:
        pos = pos - 26
    newPhrase += letters[pos]
else:
    newPhrase += " "
    print(newPhrase)

    numberShift = int(input("How many times has the code you want to decrypt been shifted? "))
    phrase = input("Enter a phrase to be decrypted: ")
    newPhrase = ""
    for l in phrase:
if l in letters:
    pos = letters.index(l) - numberShift
    if pos > 25:
        pos = pos - 26
    newPhrase += letters[pos]
else:
    newPhrase += " "
    print(newPhrase)

exit1 = input("Do you want to exit?")

if 'yes' in exit1:
   exit()

A: Here's a repaired version of your code. Correct indentation is very important in Python because that's how you group code into blocks. If the code indentation is wrong neither the Python interpreter nor humans reading your program can tell what you want it to do.
We can simplify letters into a single string, rather than a tuple of strings.
The main change I made copies characters that aren't in letters to newPhrase without shifting them. This means that spaces and punctuation just get copied, but it also means that numbers and upper-case letters will also just get copied.
I also put your program into a big loop so that the "Do you want to exit? " stuff is meaningful. Otherwise, the program will just exit anyway.
letters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

welcome = print("Hello there!")

while True:
    #Encrypt
    numberShift = int(input("How much do you wish to shift the letters? "))
    phrase = input("Enter a phrase to be encrypted: ")
    newPhrase = ""
    for l in phrase:
        #Only change characters that aren't in letters
        if l in letters:
            pos = letters.index(l) + numberShift
            if pos > 25:
                pos = pos - 26
            l = letters[pos]
        newPhrase += l

    print(newPhrase)

    #Decrypt
    numberShift = int(input("How many times has the code you want to decrypt been shifted? "))
    phrase = input("Enter a phrase to be decrypted: ")
    newPhrase = ""
    for l in phrase:
        #Only change characters that aren't in letters
        if l in letters:
            pos = letters.index(l) - numberShift
            if pos > 25:
                pos = pos - 26
            l = letters[pos]
        newPhrase += l

    print(newPhrase)

    if 'yes' in input("Do you want to exit? "):
        break

test output
Hello there!
How much do you wish to shift the letters? 3
Enter a phrase to be encrypted: somewhere in la mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing.
vrphzkhuh lq od pdqfkd, lq d sodfh zkrvh qdph I gr qrw fduh wr uhphpehu, d jhqwohpdq olyhg qrw orqj djr, rqh ri wkrvh zkr kdv d odqfh dqg dqflhqw vklhog rq d vkhoi dqg nhhsv d vnlqqb qdj dqg d juhbkrxqg iru udflqj.
How many times has the code you want to decrypt been shifted? 3
Enter a phrase to be decrypted: vrphzkhuh lq od pdqfkd, lq d sodfh zkrvh qdph I gr qrw fduh wr uhphpehu, d jhqwohpdq olyhg qrw orqj djr, rqh ri wkrvh zkr kdv d odqfh dqg dqflhqw vklhog rq d vkhoi dqg nhhsv d vnlqqb qdj dqg d juhbkrxqg iru udflqj.
somewhere in la mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing.
Do you want to exit? yes

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
To save lives, the surgeon general says get the opioid antidote naloxone. Here's what to do.
Terry DeMio
The antidote for opioid overdoses, naloxone, is now available in Mississippi. And the U.S. surgeon general is on board with getting naloxone into the hands of those who may need it.
People at risk of an opioid overdose and their family and friends should keep the antidote on hand, Dr. Jerome Adams said. That includes anyone who has been prescribed a painkiller for chronic or acute pain.
More:Surgeon General urges naloxone — now available to all Mississippi families
It's simple; 41 states have legalized its sale without a prescription, according to CVS. The states not on the CVS list are Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Mary Currier said Thursday she has just issued an order that makes it possible for any family in the state to obtain naloxone. A 2017 Mississippi law paved the way for her order.
In October, Walmart officials said the company would have naloxone for sale in its pharmacies or for dispensing in all states where laws support its ability to do so but did not say what states were included.
Kroger also offers naloxone without a prescription.
How much does naloxone cost?
The price varies. Two nasal-spray doses of Narcan, the brand-name drug, were $150 in December without the benefit of insurance, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
But insurance plans often cover it or make it available with a small copayment.
Addiction doctors have suggested that people check for coupons online. Goodrx.com is one option.
Some county health departments also offer naloxone for those who need it and cannot afford to pay.
Most of the states not on CVS' and Walgreens' lists allow pharmacists to prescribe naloxone to individuals because of orders that state health departments have issued.
Source: National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations


The Battle is on! Face off against your friends in thrilling multiplayer panzer battles for supremacy! Defend your base against attacking tanks and destroy your enemies in breathtaking firefights. Capture the enemy flag, as you blast your way through the enemy lines. Use the various power-ups wisely to boost your abilities and turn the tide of battle!PANZER PANIC VR is an innovative virtual reality arena game that places you behind the controls of a battle ready tank. Choose from a collection of different tanks and customize them. Challenge up to 3 friends in local multiplayer or hone your skills against a cunning AI on many action-packed maps. Will you be the hunter or the hunted, as you rush to secure victory for your team?


Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium, with the name Audrey Kathleen Ruston. Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was an English banker and her mother, Ella, was a Dutch baroness.
Her father, a Nazi sympathiser, left the family and Hepburn referred to her father's leaving as the most traumatic moment of her life.
Audrey's mother sent her and her two half-brothers to live with their grandfather in the Netherlands because she felt it would be safe from German attack. In 1940, when the Germans invaded the Netherlands, Hepburn adopted the name Edda van Heemstra. Her given name was considered to be dangerous because it sounded English and indicated her British roots.
In 1944, Audrey was an accompished ballerina and she secretly performed for groups of people. Over the winter of 1944, the Germans blocked supply routes for food and fuel leaving people to starve and freeze to death. Hepburn made flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits. Hepburn suffered from malnutrition, anaemia, and respiratory problems. She passed time by drawing. The attached picture shows two of her drawings.
After the war, Audrey moved to Amsterdam and took ballet lessons with Sonia Gaskell. She then studied at the Ballet Rambert and supported herself by working part time as a model. Rambert later told Hepburn that her poor nutrition during the war and the fact that she was relatively tall (5 ft 7) would keep her from becoming the prima ballerina she dreamed of. Hepburn decided to pursue acting.
Educational film "Dutch in Seven Lessons"
Release in 1948, "Dutch in Seven Lessons" was Hepburn's first appearance in the industry.
During the making of Monte Carlo Baby, Audrey was chosen to play the lead role in the Broadway rendition of Gigi. It opened at the Fulton Theatre and ran for 219 performances. In the last months of its running, it was performed in San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, her first significant fil performance was in the Dickinson film "Secret People" which was release in 1952. She played a ballerina and did all her own dancing.
James Hanson and Audrey Hepburn engaged in 1952 and Hepburn called it "love at first sight." Shortly after being fitted for her wedding dress and setting the date, they decided their careers would keep them apart most of the time and broke it off.
With Gregory Peck, the Italian-set romantic-comedy, "Roman Holiday," was her first MAJOR star role. Elizabeth Taylor was originally wanted for the role but director William Wyler was greatly impressed by Hepburn's talent and cast her instead. For her role in this film, Hepburn won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, 'That's the girl!'"
In 1954, Audrey starred as Sabrina Fairchild in the movie "Sabrina" with Humphrey Bogart. This was Audrey's second big film.
The 1954 Oscars were held on March 30, 1955. Audrey Hepburn received a Best Actress Oscar for her role in "Roman Holiday."
Audrey is one of few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award. She has also received an Acadamey Award, a Golden Glove, and a BAFTA. In 1961, she was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
On September 24, 1954, Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn married. They met at a party hosted by Gregory Peck. Rehearsals for the play "Odine" began in January and the following September they were married. She said they were inseparable and very happy but admitted he had a bad temper. Rumors said Ferrer was controlling; however, a friend of Hepburn said, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her."
Audrey was featured in the 1954 November issue of Vogue and photographed by Cecil Beaton, who said, "With the passing of every month, Audrey Hepburn increases in dramatic stature. Intelligent and alert, wistful but enthusiastic, frank yet tactful, assured without conceit and tender without sentimentality, she is the most promising theatrical talent to appear since the war."
Hepburn had her first pregnancy but miscarried in March of 1955. In 1959, she fell off a horse and onto a rock and broke her back while filming "The Unforgiven" and she spent weeks in the hospital and had her second miscarriage due to physical and mental stress. In 1960, she had her first child with Mel Ferrer and his name is Sean Hepburn Ferrer.
Hepburn played the role of Holly Golightly in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany's. Hepburn referred to this role as "the jazziest of my career." Holly Golightly became an "iconic character in American cinema."
Her only film with Cary Grant, Hepburn starred in Charade.
Hepbun and President John F. Kennedy were dear friends and Hepburn was his favorite actress. Hepburn sang "Happy Birthday, Dear Jack" to the president on what ended up being his last birthday.
After being married for 14 years, Hepburn and Ferrer divorce. Her son was quoted saying his mother had stayed in the marriage with his father for too long. She broke off all contact with Ferrer and only spoke to him twice more in her life.
Hepburn went on a cruise and met Italian psychiatrist, Andrea Dotti and they fell in love. They married in 1969.
Audrey was very careful while pregnant with her next child to prevent another miscarriage. She passed the time by painting and then on February 8, she had her second son and they named him Luca Dotti. The picture to the left is Audrey pushing baby Luca for, Vogue photographer, Henry Clarke.
Wanting more children, Audrey had her final miscarriage in 1974.
Released on March 11, 1976, Robin and Marian was a romantic adventure film directed by Richard Lester. Audrey Hepburn starred in this film with Sean Connery and Ronnie Barker.
Hepburn and Dotti were married for 13 years. Their marriage ended in 1982 when she felt that her sons could handle living their lives with a single mother. They divorced due to Dotti's tendency to have affairs with younger women. Unlike Ferrer, Hepburn stayed in touch with Dotti for Luca's sake. Andrea Dotti died in 2007. The picture is Audrey with her yorkie named Mr. Famous.
Audrey Hepburn became romantically involved with actor Robert Wolders. Although they never married, she referred to her time with him as the happiest years of her life. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Walters asked Hepburn why they never married. Hepburn replied they were married just not formally. Hepburn lived with her companion from 1982 until her death.
Influenced by her wartime experiences, Audrey Hepburn decided to dedicate the remainder of her life to helping needy children in impoverished countries. In 1988 she was appointed as the UNICEF's International Goodwill Ambassador. During the years up to her death, she visited many needy countries. Her first mission was to Ethiopia.
Steven Spielberg's film "Always," was released on December 22, 1989. Hepburn played the role of an angel. This is the last film she was in.
In 1992, Audrey recorded a "spoken word album" that was titled "Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales;" she read classic children's stories. She won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.
She returned from a UNICEF tripto Somalia and began feeling abdominal pain. After seeing a specialist and receiving inconclusive results, she went to another doctor. On November 1, 1992, doctors discovered she had abdominal cancer that had originated in her appendix. After several surgeries, doctors concluded the cancer had spread too far and there was nothing they could do.
On December 11, 1992, President George Bush awarded Audrey Hepburn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Her dear friend and fashion designer, Hubert de Givenchy, arranged for Hepburn to be brought to her home in Switzerland from California. He sent her a private jet that he had filled with flowers. She died in her home on January 20, 1993. After hearing of her death, Gregory Peck tearfully read Hepburn's favorite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore, on camera.