When I visit anti-ai and pro-ai subreddits, I can't seem to get a clear argument from either side or what they believe the "opposing" side believes. They mostly seem to be making up points that the "other side" uses or just taking low-hanging fruit from people who obviously have no idea what they are talking about and making fun of them. I'm honestly kinda tired of the name-calling ("AI-bro", "Luddite," and other variations of those names) and straw-manning that I see, especially because those names have turned the entire AI debate into a false dilemma of "you are either pro-artist or pro-AI" and removed any in-between. Maybe I'm just posting this because of the feeling of needing to vent, but I would rather present it more logically as most people seem to get extremely heated about this subject, and rather than "discussing," everything just turns into a contest of hate and emotionally charged insults. This may be a long post, but I feel I may be able to add something to the conversation. Below are some main points that I see from both sides that I've seen so many different responses to, which usually rarely actually answer the argument.

1. "AI art is meaningless, only humans can create meaningful works"

Even as an artist myself, this point feels like a moral high ground hidden by a heap of bullshit. Not all art has some innate meaning, and you can feel emotion from basically anything. Someone could look at the rotting corpse of a cat and get some emotion or meaning out of it. I've also seen the point brought up on ArtistHate that someone would rather see a hand-drawn turkey than something made by AI, which is again, bullshit. It depends heavily on the context. If you are a mother who was given this hand-drawn turkey that your son drew at school for Thanksgiving (sorry to anyone outside of the US who may not get this), that art will have meaning and may make you feel certain emotions. If you find that drawing on the side of the street with no context, it has little meaning, communicates almost nothing, and most likely won't convey emotion. Especially if your art is mediocre, you can't keep pretending that your art is somehow special to everyone. I will say that I have never gotten the same emotion from an AI-generated image as that created by a fellow human, but I won't pretend that all art created by humans is automatically superior and makes me feel so much more. I think that the end result comes down to something I saw someone else mention, which is beauty vs. meaning. I look at AI art and think that it looks cool, but it doesn't really have much inherent meaning as it wasn't carefully crafted by someone to convey a message to someone as a part of their own species. However, I think this also applies to human art. Just because someone's art looks cool doesn't mean it actually conveys any meaning, just like the AI imagery.

1. The issues with AI-generated images

This is one part that, as an artist, I can't really ignore. And that is how AI-generated images are sourced. Personally, I don't have any issue with people generating AI images for personal use. I know plenty of people who just want a quick image for say, a D&D campaign that they'll have with friends, and they just don't have the time or money to commission someone or draw it themselves but still want some added visuals. AI-generated images are cool and interesting, and I've used multiple different generators (I know many artists see even touching these generators as some cardinal sin). However, the fact that people profit off of these images and take "commissions" for "engineering prompts" just doesn't sit right with me. Furthermore, the argument that "humans use reference, isn't AI just doing the same thing" doesn't apply because it assumes that artists have no visual (or other sensory) experiences outside of art they have seen online. There is an enormous difference between scraping images from the internet (or in some cases, specifically training models to replicate an artist's style) and referencing a work to create your own piece of art. We don't even understand how the brain works completely, so I don't think it's fair to say that referencing is the same as copying from a data set. Making a profit off other people's work is not only illegal but also immoral. I saw the argument on DefendingAIArt that some artists use pirated versions of software, while also taking the high and mighty stance on copyright law. This is a fair point, as piracy breaks the same copyright rules. Although I'm not (necessarily) pro-piracy, I feel that the issue here more comes if people are making money off it. If you are a hobbyist and pirate Photoshop, similar to if you just occasionally generate AI imagery because you think it looks cool, I would say that despite both somewhat breaking copyright laws, it is far less morally and legally an issue than actually making money off of pirated applications or stolen artwork. If an artist was only using their own work for AI-generated images, this copyright issue wouldn't matter. However, if someone wanted to do this it begs the question of why one wouldn't just create the art themselves.

1. Understanding the emotionally charged nature of AI-generated imagery

One thing that seems to be central to this debate is the emotional nature of it. Rather than trying to understand the other side, each person is just coming into it shielded with a closed mind and a sword of hatred, just swinging it around and hoping it hurts the people they disagree with. People are not "Luddites" for not wanting to have their work or way of life taken, they are just human. People aren't "AI-bros" or "anti-artist" for just wanting to make a cool image for their personal D&D campaign. People seem to have their heads so deep up their own asses that they don't see the real world or the thinking behind the opposing viewpoints and ideas. This part may be coming from my inner artist so bear with me, but please stop calling artists privileged, "Luddites," and saying "I can't wait for you to be begging me for food as you are on the streets because your job has been replaced" (yes, unfortunately, I see this sentiment too much) when you haven't picked up a pencil to draw a single time in your life and have no idea how difficult it is to actually learn. Please don't call yourself an artist if you have the ability to write and press a button, in the same way that you cannot call yourself an artist if you throw a bunch of paint at a canvas and say "It has some deep meaning, you guys just don't understand." Can't people just let each other be or take a moment to step back and say "You know what, what if I was wrong?" without going for each other's throats for one goddamn minute? I get a little tired of seeing the toxicity brewed in both artist and ai communities and how much it shows the worst parts of people. Human creativity is important, and rooting for the extermination of art that takes years to build up the skill to achieve is beyond me. I respect anyone who takes the time to create something, including those who dedicated days, months, and possibly years of their life to programming AI models and who broke new ground for tech.
"Too long, ChatGPT can you summarize" - there I made the joke for you, now you can actually contribute to the discussion if you have something to say. For a TL;Dsummary:

1. Not all human art has meaning, stop pretending that it is special/that you would rather look at terrible human art than AI art because most people care primarily about aesthetics. However, AI is still not really able to capture/communicate emotions in the same way as someone who has had human experience communicating with another human through art.
2. AI models steal from artists and are unable to be "creative," so stop anthropomorphizing them. Using them to make money is illegal and immoral. However, I see no issue with using them as long as you are not making a profit off them since they are cool and can be useful for little personal things.
3. Stop name-calling and making fun of people for their stances, you just seem like a massive douche and aren't making things any better or conveying your point. Try to understand other people's perspectives, especially those who take lots of time to work in order to achieve something.

I guess that covered some of the main points I've seen, but I'd like to hear some from others on why they believe what they do about this debate.

Respecting KGBeast

"I am to be killing you, and you are to be dying."

Origin: Anatoli Knyazev's past is a mystery, but wherever he came from he soon became the Soviet Union's greatest assassin. Trained by the KGB and enhanced with cybernetics, he became responsible for the deaths of hundreds of individuals before Batman put a stop to his career as an assassin.
Working for a variety of other super villains through the remainder of his career and suffering a fall from grace after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGBeast was ultimately murdered during a botched mission for the Penguin.
Abilities/Gear: An elite KGB assassin who uses a variety of weapons, KGBeast is outfitted with physical-enhancing cybernetics that include a prosthetic gun in the place of one of his hands

Source Key: Batman = BAT Robin III = RI Robin v.2 = ROB Detective Comics = DC Vengeance of Bane = VoB Batman: Blackgate = BB Batman Plus = B+ Batman/Wildcat = BW Batma Blackgate: Isle of Men = IoM Nightwing v.2 = NW Action Comics = AC 

Strength

Striking

• Carries large chests of gear and uses them as weapons as he starts to kill 8 men ^{BAT 417}
• Karate chops apart a block of stone as it's said his strength is cybernetically enhanced to make him as strong as any four healthy men and that he's capable of tearing a person in two ^{BAT 417}
• Hits a man in the face with spiked knuckles and hoists his body overhead to dispose of it, and it's confirmed the man's neck was broken ^{BAT 417}
• Briefly outfights and escapes Batman ^{BAT 418}
• Smashes through a barricaded door and throws a man out a window ^IoM
• Smashes Huntress' head into a wall, breaking off pieces of the wall ^{RI 4}
• Engages in a prolonged brawl with the venom-enhanced Willis Danko and comes out victorious ^{BW 2}

Throwing/Lifting

• Throws cinderblocks down an elevator shaft, with the added momentum giving them the power of an anti-tank rocket as they rip through the elevator ^{BAT 419}
• Throws Tim Drake out a window ^{RI 1}
• Throws a ball over 100 feet into the air ^{ROB 14}
• Hoists a barrel of chemicals overhead and throws it at Bullock so hard it puts Bullock in a coma ^{DC 682&ROB 14}
• Carries multiple bodies without impediment ^B+
• Lifts a large piece of debris ^IoM
• Carries two men ^{NW 35}

Misc.

• Rips a door out of its frame ^{RI 1}
• Crushes a gun in his hand ^IoM

Durability

Concussive

• A man who hits KGBeast hurts his own hand ^{RI 2}
• Kicked and then smashed in the face by Robin, hurting him but not impeding him ^{RI 4}
• Tim Drake's bowstaff warps around his head with the force of a strike that does not bother KGBeast ^{RI 4}
• Falls out of a building and smashes a car below, but gets up and runs away ^{RI 4}
• Fights through hits from Tim ^{RI 6}
• Takes multiple hits from King Snake before going down ^{RI 6}
• Shrugs off a kick to the face from Tim that Tim believes should have broken his nose ^{ROB 14}
• Quickly beaten down by Batman while KGBeast is without his cybernetic appendages ^BB
• Takes a kick from Batman that breaks him through a wooden wall, then takes subsequent hits from Batman without injury ^B+
• Engages in a prolonged brawl with the venom-enhanced Willis Danko and comes out victorious ^{BW 2}
• Takes a beating from Batman, fighting back just long enough to get crushed by Monsoon ^{BW 3}
• Shakes off hits from Blackgate prisoners ^IoM
• Taken down after a brief fight with Batman ^IoM
• Takes hits from Nightwing, including having his head craters into concrete ^{NW 35}
• Takes hits from Nightwing and a fall down a tunnel ^{NW 37}

Piercing

• Batman's darts cause him to wince and drop his weapon ^{BAT 419}
• Chops off his own hand with an axe and escapes Batman right after ^{BAT 419}
• Hit in the face with one of Batman's darts and makes his escape while bleeding ^{BAT 420}
• Bleeding but unhampered by a shotgun blast to the shoulder ^{RI 2}
• A 12 gauge shotgun blast to the gut does nothing to him ^{DC 682}
• Blasted in the chest with a 12 gauge shotgun and shakes it off "like a headcold," appearing uninjured thereafter ^{ROB 14}
• A shuriken thrown in his cybernetic eye spurs him to counterattack ^B+
• His corpse resists gunfire, then has its head decapitated by a thrown metallic letter from a sign ^{NW 142}

Esoteric

• Walks through the flames of a chemical explosion without issue ^{ROB 14}
• Goes down to an electric shock ^B+
• Downed by an electric shock from his jailer ^{BW 2}

Multiple Damage Types

• Takes a dart to the hand and a punch to the face from Batman, but immediately fights back ^{BAT 418}
• Fights through Tim stabbing him in the wrist and tearing out his cybernetic eye which had wires running into his brain ^{ROB 14}
• Shot by a handgun point blank, and jumped 40 feet out of an exploding plane and then hit in the chest with a steel girder and kicked by Roy Harper, all without injury ^B+
• Survives a fall from a rooftop, then dies to two shots to the head ^{DC 817}

Speed

• Briefly outfights and escapes Batman ^{BAT 418}
• Draws and fires on Batman before Batman can respond, then kills several police officers in the moment they hesitate so that half of them did not even know what hit them ^{BAT 419}
• Blocks Tim's bo staff and disarms him of it before stabbing him through the shoulder ^{ROB 14}

Equipment

Prosthetic Gun
General

• Goes to an expensive manufacturer of illegal weapons to craft a unique weapon that will replace his hand and kills the manufacturer ^{BAT 419&420}
• Releases tear gas he is protected from with nose filters ^{BAT 420}

Firearm

• Fires on Batman, who considers putting it out of commission a priority ^{BAT 420}
• Shoots a man in the chest several times ^{RI 2}
• Fires after Tim Drake, tearing through a car windshield and the asphalt of a street ^{RI 2}
• Helps hail a bus ^{RI 2}
• Fills an elevator shaft with gunfire ^{RI 6}
• Shoots multiple people in close quarters quickly ^{RI 6}
• Tears through the tank of a traincar ^{ROB 14}
• Fires, reloads, and keeps firing ^{DC 817}

Bayonet

• Unsheathes a bayonet that slices across Batman's chest and digs deep into a sewer wall where Batman snaps it apart ^{BAT 420}
• Bayonet cuts Tim's staff apart until he later gets a new one that is ceramic coated magnesium alloy ^{RI 2&4}
• Bayonet slices through a piece of debris ^{RI 4}
• Slices King Snake and embeds into the floor ^{RI 6}
• Stabs through Robin's armor which is stated to be bulletproof ^{ROB 14}
• Rips through one of Nightwing's eskrima ^{NW 35}
• Slices a chunk out of a concrete wall ^{NW 35}

Explosives

• The rocket launcher leaves a huge hole in a building ^{RI 4}
• Fires an explosive that splinters apart a wooden wall ^B+
• Fires an explosive that Roy Harper dodges ^B+

Other Weapons

• Uses a Thompson with a 50 round clip that fires through the roof of a van ^{BAT 418}
• Uses a rocket launcher that destroys a room, his Thompson, and several shuriken ^{BAT 418}
• Uses a rocket launcher that destroys a plane ^{BAT 419}
• Uses a16 shot .9mm Beretta that pierces Batman's shoulder ^{BAT 419}
• Uses a rocket launcher that blows up the tanks at a chemical plant, starting a massive fire ^{DC 682}

Skills

General

• Said to be a master of several martial arts, a master of all deadly weapons imaginable, the best assassin the Soviet Union ever produced, and an assassin who killed 9 CIA agents and possibly over 200 people, including Anwar Sadat ^{BAT 417}
• Locked away by Batman in a sewer, and escaped within hours before the police could arrive ^{BAT 420&439}
• Trained and juiced Gregor Dosynski, the NKVDemon, who credits KGBeast with everything that he is ^{BAT 445}
• Trained Avruskin in combat, who refers to KGBeast as the best ^{AC 803}
• Catches a ball accidentally knocked down from behind him ^{DC 682}
• Nightwing considers KGBeast a major player who Batman alone is good enough to stop ^B+

Assassinations

• Sneaks into one target's room to suffocate him while he sleeps, and sets up a steel wire along another target's motorcycle route so that the target beheads himself ^{BAT 417}
• Sneaks into a target's home and swaps out their orange juice with poison gas, killing the target and their partner ^{BAT 418}
• With his partner, pulled off the poisoning of over 80 of Gotham's wealthiest individuals ^{BAT 418}
• Set up plastic explosives on a door knob that kills their target before their guards could warn them ^{BAT 419}
• Throws a cinder block accurately down an elevator shaft to kill a specific person in such a manner it could have looked like an accident ^{BAT 419}

Combat

• Kills 8 armed men with his bare hands and some luggage ^{BAT 417}
• Detects Batman's trap, proceeding with his assassination because he has pre-planned escape routes, and briefly outfights Batman before fleeing and ultimately escaping Batman, who admits KGBeast is better than him ^{BAT 418}
• Set up plastic explosives on a door knob that kills their target before their guards could warn them ^{BAT 419}
• Escapes Batman again, shooting him and killing several police officers during the escape, ultimately only pulling it off because KGBeast was willing to sever off his own hand ^{BAT 419}
• Batman considers him a super-assassin, and his mission in Gotham was not only largely successful but he managed to murder over 100 people during it ^{BAT 420}
• Murders several CIA agents in the course of escaping Batman a third time, then engages in a brutal battle with Batman that leaves both injured ^{BAT 420}
• Incapacitates Huntress off panel ^{RI 5}
• Kills several people, though when King Snake intervenes he beats KGBeast ^{RI 6}
• Has killed diplomats and presidents and kings, but loses a fight to the Tally Man. ^{DC 817}
• Beats a weakened Bane in their first fight, leaving Bane with a broken nose, bruised trachea, popped ribs, and a fractured leg, but loses after Bane conditions himself ^VoB

Just a note to fellow FSD beta testers of what I experienced today.
I had engaged FSD on surface streets without a destination set and then set a destination. While proceeding through an intersection at speed, the route came in and the new route had it turning right at that intersection (both choices are reasonably similar for the destination and it will frequently go either way depending on time of day / traffic conditions). The car then aggressively began to turn (at which point I disengaged FSD) while going about 35 mph in the middle of the intersection (significantly too fast to take a hard right turn safely much less comfortably). It was only after proceeding straight through the intersection that I noticed the route had me turning there (it then rerouted but FSD was off). This is just a case where the route planner and FSD stack not being fully aware of each other's actions led to a very undesirable behavior (not clear how easy this would be to reproduce with proper timing). This was by far the worst behavior I had seen FSD perform, in about 9 months of usage.
Stay safe out there, hopefully this behavior gets addressed for the next build. I sent in the info with a voice memo.

• #50: Texas Is The Reason - A Jack With One Eye (1996)
• #49: Have Mercy - Let's Talk About Your Hair (2013)
• #48: Hotel Books - I Died With You (2015)
• #47: You and I - Saturday's Cab Ride Home (1997)
• #46: I Hate Myself - Caught In A Flood With The Captain Of The Cheerleading Squad (1997)
• #45: Say Anything - Plea (2007)
• #44: Cross My Heart - Tonight We'll Light Ourselves On Fire (2000)
• #43: American Football - Never Meant (1999)
• #42: The Hated - Someone (1989)
• #41: The Saddest Landscape - ...The Stars In January (2003)
• #40: Piebald - American Hearts (2001)
• #39: Still Life - A Song About Love (1993)
• #38: Planes Mistaken For Stars - Staggerswallowswell (1999)
• #37: Christie Front Drive - Saturday (1997)
• #36: Transit - Skipping Stone (2011)
• #35: As Friends Rust - The First Song On the Tape You Make Her (1999)
• #34: Orchid - Destination: Blood! (2000)
• #33: Rockets and Bluelights - Andee (2003)
• #32: Evergreen - A Couple Curled Up Pictures (1994)
• #31: Restorations - The Red Door (2018)
• #30: Raein - Tigersuit (2003)
• #29: Jimmy Eat World - What I Would Say To You Now (1997)
• #28: September - Cyrus the White Rabbit (1996)
• #27: The Get Up Kids - Michelle With One "L" (1997)
• #26: On the Might of Princes - For Meg (2001)
• #25: Penfold - Microchip (1999)
• #24: mewithoutYou - A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains (2006)
• #23: Braid - The New Nathan Detroits (1998)
• #22: Portrait - Constellations of a Stargazing Iris (1999)
• #21: Mineral - Unfinished (1998)
• #20: The Pine - In The Breeze (2002)
• #19: Cap'n Jazz - Little League (1995)
• #18: Funeral Diner - Yeah, You Remember That (2004)
• #17: Embrace - No More Pain (1987)
• #16: You and I - 143(jcm) (1999)
• #15: Saetia - Venus and Bacchus (1997)
• #14: Portraits of Past - Bang Yer Head (1996)
• #13: Christie Front Drive - Valentine (1996)
• #12: Moss Icon - Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly (1993)
• #11: Taking Back Sunday - You Know How I Do (2002)
• #10: The Hotelier - Dendron (2014)
• #9: Thursday - Understanding in a Car Crash (2001)
• #8: Rainer Maria - The Awful Truth of Loving (2003)
• #7: The Appleseed Cast - Fishing the Sky (2000)
• #6: Rites of Spring - For Want Of (1985)
• #5: Jimmy Eat World - Just Watch the Fireworks (1998)
• #4: Jawbreaker - Accident Prone (1995)
• #3: Sunny Day Real Estate - Seven (1994)
• #2: Mineral - Take The Picture Now (1997)
• #1: Indian Summer - Woolworm (but you we call it Angry Son) (1993)

Come hang out with us on the NEW WallStreetBets Discord!
Check out our Earnings Thread and Rules. DM the mod inbox/sex line

Sorry for the long post, it's part advice seeking part venting.
I am part owner of a painting company in New York State (upstate, not NYC). We were recently hired to paint a hotel. The terms were $3000 per stairwell, there were 4 of them, and $20 per doorway, 700 doorways total. So the job total was $36,000 in total.
Our crew consists of three white individuals (one being my co-owner) and one guy of mixed Hispanic heritage.
We were on the job for 2 days when the project manager (who is white) did a walk through and decided he didn't like the work being done by our mixed race employee. Even though there was no way for him to know which of the 50 doors we had done so far were done by this employee. The project manager insisted we fire the employee (not side line him for this project, straight up fire him). Nor, could he give a clear reason as to what he didn't like.. We explained that the size of the project we needed him. The project manager dropped it and we thought it was settled.
2 days later we were off per our agreement with the manager. We got a call in the evening that he inspected our work, found "issues" and it took another paint crew all day to fix these "issues" . Nevermind that we were just there the night before. Nevermind that he said multiple times that we were doing good work. Nevermind that during the summer it's virtually impossible to get a paint crew to come in for a job at a moments notice. He once again couldn't give us any examples of what he claimed to be wrong. Or what exactly this "other crew" had to fix.
I am convinced that he got rid of us for refusing to fire our Hispanic employee. I am convinced that we were fired because of this man's racism.
I come to this conclusion not solely on what occurred with our crew. But also because this man has very loose lips. On the first day there he very casually that he fired the previous crew because they were a "bunch of dumb n words." This was a large renovation so there were several different projects going on besides painting. He regularly called Hispanic people on other crews sp{}cs and other such colorful ignorant things.. And took to calling one guy in particular fa{}ot because he apparently assumed this man was gay. I never once heard him use that man's name. It was always the slur..
Unfortunately, besides our agreement to work. None of these instances are documented by any of our crew. So, I don't know if there's any legal recourse. But if any one has any ideas they would be appreciated.
Also, if anyone has any tips to protect ourselves legally in the future I would welcome your input as well.
We are a newer company and still learning a lot when it comes to the legal side of things. And this job would have been huge for us, and our employees.
Thanks to anyone who made it this far.
Edit: formatting

Hey everyone, the other day running my car hard I believe I blew my slave cylinder. The car has 100 thousand miles on it (I’ve owned since new) and it’s been driven decently hard. I’m here to ask if anyone has any clutch recommendations for me as I’m going to be pulling the transmission out anyways to fix this issue. This is the car I learned to drive stick in so I’m sure it is time for a new clutch anyways. It’s a 2017 5.0 with a basic intake, cat-back, and 93 lund tune. Nothing crazy. I was between just going back with a stock clutch or the McLeod street pro. The car is staying relatively stock with no boost for now.

My wife and I are planning to be in Munich for one night in October 2023. I have one remaining 35k FNC that I'd like to use. The soon to open Residence Inn Munich Central is in a good location for what we want to do. I have a few questions about booking new hotels.

1. Can I expect it to actually be open by late October 2023?
   
2. Can I expect it to be priced within 50k so I can use my 35k FNC? The 2 Residence Inns near München Ost are priced at 25k and 32k, so I'm hoping this one will be within my range.
   
3. When can I expect it to be bookable?
   

I realize that there might not be much information available on this hotel yet, but if there is any, I'd be interested.
Thank you!

PayPal accepted, add $4.50 shipping for any quantity of discs.
New/Used 4K/BD
Used BD #1
Used BD #2
New/Used DVD/VHS
For Sale/Trade

• New 4K UHD
• $11 - Still Alice

$11 - The Celluloid Closet
$33 - Ran (steelbook)
$43 - Starship Troopers (Dolby Vision Steelbook)
$22 - True Romance (steelbook)
Used 4K UHD *
$8 - Doctor Sleep
$5 - Jumanji Steelbook (damage to back of steelbook
New Blu-Ray *
$16 - Weird Science (Arrow steelbook)
$4 A Clockwork Orange
$4 - Fringe S1 (lenticular slip)
$4 - Game of Thrones S2
$4 - The Matrix 4 Films collection (Matrix 1-3 + The Animatrix)
$14 - Mallrats (Arrow)
$4 - Men in Black
$5 - Moon (slipcover)
$17 - Naked Lunch (Criterion)
$4 - Observe and Report (slipcover)
$4 - The Shawshank Redemption
$17 - Short Cuts (Criterion)
$25 - The X-Files Season 5
$25 - The X-Files Season 6
$30 - The X-Files Season 8
$30 - The X-Files Season 9
USED BLU-RAY *
$9 - Dazed and Confused (Criterion)
$4 - Scott Pilgrim w/slip
$10 - The Godfather Trilogy (The Coppola Restoration)
$14 - Westworld season 3 w/ holographic slip
$9 - Chernobyl
$4 - Wolf of Wall Street w/slip
$2 BLU-RAYS: *
Casino Royale (Craig)
Chappie
Deep Impact
Elf
Ender’s Game
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
The Gift
The Hitman’s Bodyguard
The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
Hotel Transylvania (split from 2 pack, cover is cut)
Jurassic World (printed custom cover)
Legend of the Guardians: The owls…
Men in Black 2
Men in Black 3
Monster House (printed cover)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
Quantum of Solace
Robocop (2014)
Skyfall
Spectre
Star Trek: Into Darkness (clear plastic art slip)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (paper slip, no DVD)
Superman: The Movie
Transformers: Age of Extinction
The Usual Suspects
V for Vendetta
X-Men Apocalypse
$3 BLU-RAYS: *
Avengers Infinity War (slip)
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight (slip)
The Dark Knight Rises (slip)
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
Dredd w/slip
Ex Machina
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (slip)
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games Catching Fire
Interstellar (slip)
Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (slip)
Jurassic Park III (slip)
Looper (slip
A Quiet Place
Ready Player One (slip)
Unsane (unused, no code)
New DVD * $55 - Transformers: Victory (sealed, OOP)
$18 - Lucas
Used DVD * $12 - Kids (OOP)
$8 - Piranha (Shout Factory lenticular slip)
$70 - Beast Wars complete series (hard box with all inserts/comic book, OOP)
USED VHS * $100 - Nightmare (1981)
$35 - Alone in the Dark (side-loader, former rental)
$50 - Sonic the Hedgehog movie
------------------_-
*BELOW THIS LINE IS NOT FOR SALE
------------------_-
My Wants (Will Trade or buy, depending on title)
Blu-Ray: * Dragnet (Shout)
Gravity 3D
Super Mario Bros (1993, Australian)
Biloxi Blues
Project-X (1987)
Matinee
American Splendor
Clue
Borat
Golgo 13
Dead Alive
A time to kill
Meet the Feebles
Super Troopers 1&2, or 2 alone
Heavenly Creatures
Welcome to the dollhouse
Glengarry glen ross (shout)
Mars Attacks
Mean Girls
Honey I Shrunk The Kids
Honey I Blew up the kid
The Mist
Drunken Master
The Fugitive
Kill Bill 1 & 2
Jackie Brown
Little Shop of Horrors
Bachelor Party
The Fall
Once Upon a Deadpool
How to Train Your Dragon(s) 3D
Criterion Godzilla Showa collection Envy
4K UHD: * Babylon
Boyhood
Naked Lunch
War Dogs
Elvis
Okja
Scott Pilgrim
Parasite
Dazed and Confused
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Karate Kid trilogy
X-Men trilogy
Annihilation
Westworld (all seasons)
I am legend
District 9
Peanuts holiday collection Super 8
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Frighteners
Tremors
King Kong (1976)
In Bruges
Uncut Gems
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Time Bandits
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Home Alone
Gladiator
Bubba Ho Tep
T2 Trainspotting
Texas Chainsaw (Second Sight)
The Princess Bride
Mad Max box
Coco
Man of Steel
It 1&2
Batman
Batman Returns
Fargo

[Chapter 1] ;[Previous Chapter] ; [Discord + Wiki] ; [Patreon]
Chapter 118 – Black and white for once
Announcing that one was wearing something solely for the comfort and safety of others and then immediately taking said thing off was of course sending a quite clear message to everyone in the room. Clearer than maybe even words could’ve conveyed.
The gloves, or the breathfilter in this case, had literally come off.
It was of course a much more subtle way to send it than some others would’ve preferred, however it still had its intended effect. A certain, much saying silence fell momentarily over the room as the deathworlder’s predatory gaze wandered through it, now unrestricted by tinted polymer or pretty lights hiding away its nature.
Many of the present representatives surely had not quite forgotten James’ announcement that, much like myiat, humans too were quite proficient in hunting their fellow order members.
Of course, concerns like that were in reality absolutely ridiculous, and everyone definitely should have known that James was not here to hunt anyone. However, that didn’t mean that some of the more insistent instincts from generations past that still lingered in the backs of some of their minds didn’t poke their ugly heads out into the light now that the cold stare of the apex predator among the primate’s searched for any gaze that dared to challenge it.
Few of them dared to even try. Although they were all, in one way or another, important people that were used to having attention on themselves and opposition pushing against them, they were also, in no uncertain terms, a bunch of spoiled, cloistered, and unworldly brats who had hidden away in their marble halls and ivory towers for so long that they had forgotten what the world could even look like outside of them.
Klanneifer tried his best to return James’ challenging look. However, his discomfort could be clearly read on his face. His already squinting eyes narrowed even further and his eyelids trembled as all four of his ears turned in James’ direction to not let the predator out of their attention.
Uton also averted his gaze, though with him it was clear that he didn’t do so out of any sort of fear, but he instead simply did not wish to invite any more of the things James had to say to him out, seemingly not feeling like he could stand up to hearing most of them.
The one that most comfortably faced James’ searching eyes was Losaranarja. Not surprising really. A pixemerrier who sat at the head of a hotel on a station run by predatory deathworlders had surely seen a lot more frightening things than an ambassador that looked the slightest bit displeased at her.
“However,” James then continued his earlier point about what was and wasn’t one of his many mistakes after a long moment of silence he had allowed himself. “Whether you agree with me or not, it does not change the simple facts of the matter. Outer Orbital strikes are illegal. Period. People on Dunnima, including parts of its leadership and children, got injured during a thwarted attempt of such an illegal attack. End of story. Everything else is rationalization. It does not matter if they were not the main target of the attack. It does not matter who or what else may have been present. We are here to discuss the united reaction of the order of the primates to the attack on Dunnima. And the only reaction that there can be is the clear and unshakable condemnation and denunciation of this attack and any of its kind, be it the same method or any other outlawed means of attack. Whether I like it or not, the primates are seen as a galactic role model. Many people do look towards us for guidance. If we do not send a clear signal that such action cannot and will not be tolerated, then we will be putting the entirety of the Galaxy’s peace and order into jeopardy.”
There was a displeased rumble floating about in the room at his words, and many of the present representatives as well as their accompaniments stood up in an uproar.
“You still speak of Galactic peace and order?” Goloribal now fired back up after having gotten over his first bit of disheartenment at James’ earlier showmanship. “You, of all people? You who has singlehandedly threatened the peace of the people to a degree that has not been seen in centuries? You, who now speaks out in favor of one of the Galactic Community’s oldest and most sworn enemies? You want to preach to us about peace and order?”
James…felt oddly in his element, as a dark, conniving smile crept over his face.
“Singlehandedly? You shouldn’t undersell yourself like that, Representative,” he replied with his shoulders lifted into a slight, leisurely shrug. “You and your people, the Captain especially, but also the High-Matriarch of the Zodiatos and several Councilpeople, you have all been more than pulling your weight when it comes to destabilizing the galaxy. In fact, I would say that you did the main bulk of the work. Me? I was merely there.”
Shaking his head and sighing amusedly, James then let his arms sink, moments before his gaze then turned stone cold.
“But fine,” he then continued his rebuttal, now much more serious than before. “Let’s assume for a second that we aren’t all allies here. That this wasn’t a peaceful meeting of the different species of the order simply to discuss how we should act with the Galaxy’s best in mind. And that there really was some sort conflict happening right now that was much bigger than just caution and defense on humanity’s part…Even then, condemning this attack would be absolutely essential. For all of us.”
He wondered if he even needed to say any more than that. After all, it was quite obvious. However, some of the representatives around here had also proven to be rather dense…
Still, James remained quiet for a time, simply wishing to observe for how many of the present people it would click.
“The implication being…?” the Missicapriej representative was the first of those whose faces hadn’t immediately darkened in understanding who pulled together the nerve to ask.
This time, Klanneifer had seemingly understood it without problems.
“If this was a conflict,” he said, using the same conjunctive that James was to keep things to a pure hypothetical while two of his arms fiddled with each other as the two others rubbed along his neck. “Or if it could turn into one…then the Galaxy’s reaction to this ‘first attack’ if we want to call it that…”
He broke off his sentence, seemingly unwilling to speak it into existence.
“It would set the tone for the future conflict,” Losaranarja finished the sentence for him, quickly granting herself speaking privileges as the host. “If the very war crime committed by one side to start the conflict is not condemned, then what reason would there be to not return it in kind – apart from maybe a personal wish to be better.”
The Missicapriej’s face shot around to James and stared up at him with unblinking yellow eyes.
“Ambassador, you are not implying that…” he said in a burst of nervous energy that dissipated before he could even finish his sentence, causing his voice to slowly fade out as James still refused to say anything until he was granted the word, sticking to the event’s rules as if superglued to them.
“I am not implying anything,” James said with harsh emphasis on the word ‘implying’. “I am stating that, no matter what scenario you may believe is going on either behind the scenes or elsewhere, there is only one reasonable reaction to such an attack – like I have done from the very start, I might add. But I’m going to repeat it for the entire rest of the day, if I have to. We humas are quite tenacious, after all.”
Many of the representatives turned to mumble quietly with their company, and news reporters eagerly spoke into the cameras, surely all spinning their own story of what James’ words could’ve meant.
Did he want conflict? No. By no means in fact. It was the furthest thing from his mind to even allow the thought of it being a valid possibility here.
However…the idea that he might be willing to cause one was a useful tool by itself. Even though demonstrations had been rare, by now the galaxy had gotten the chance to get a taste of humanity’s weaponry.
Would it be enough to fight the entire rest of the Galaxy head on? Of course not. Numbers didn’t lie. No matter the advantage their weapon technology would buy them, they were so horribly outnumbered that any chance at victory was basically a rounding error.
However, sometimes the question that people in front of the many screens across the galaxy asked themselves when they heard about talks like that wasn’t ‘could they actually win’, but tended to be more along the lines of ‘who will be the one to take the hit if they try?’
Because, while it was absolutely true that the Community technically had more than enough bodies to throw at any given problem, the approach of trying to see if you had more men or the machine-gun above the trench had more bullets wasn’t exactly the prettiest.
Especially not if Outer Orbital Bombardments would become a valid option in the conflict. After all, even planets were far from indestructible if the very laws of nature were already being bent to one’s will.
“The Galaxy’s eyes are on us today,” James announced to the room while using his best narrator voice, doing his best to sound utterly impartial for a moment. “You know my stance on the matter, of course. You know that and how I would judge you given whatever views you may hold. That I would much rather be judged by my character – flawed as it might be – than by the place that I was born. That I would see the unwarranted violence against those who think and act differently from the accepted norm punished and ceased. Yes, that I stand against the proposed homogeny and grey sludge of a culture that oh so many seem to wish to promulgate across the community and instead wish to invite and celebrate the many different lives and ways that have led us all to the stars. Celebrate it as a true Community, not a homogeny. And that I wish to be open to the new and the unusual, hopefully allowing it to enrich our lives. You all already know this. And usually, I would gladly and fervently fight every single one of you for that simple goal.”
He closed his eyes for a second, releasing a breath, before he continued,
“However,” he said and immediately paused again to give the words its necessary weight after such a declaration. “Right now, I do not care what your views on the treatment of deathworlds may be.”
He reached his left hand out to gently hold Shida by the shoulder as she sat beside him.
“I don’t care what your opinions on augmentations and those who choose to accept them on their bodies might be,” he continued, raising his mechanical arm, making a wide ark with it to present it to the entire room, before finally ending with a brief gesture in Curi’s direction.
“I don’t care whether or not you think an amenable Artificial Sapient is something that could exist or not,” he added, lifting both arms to gesture more towards the entire, open room.
“And I especially do not care whatsoever what you may or may not think of me personally,” he finished, bringing both arms back down to his chest to point at himself. “All I care about right now is that right now there is, as is so rarely the case, a clear right. And a clear wrong. In more ways than one, the damage is already done. All we can hope to do now is mend as much as we can while we still can, lest we allow it to spread to a load-bearing structure. Some people here might see this event as a political instrument, by I do not.”
He not-so-subtly glanced over at the Captain and his representative.
“Hate me if you like. Hate those I associate with if you like. That is something that may concern us at another time. But, please, right now, don’t make the galaxy suffer for it,” James then addressed everyone again, and he even caught the gaze of some cameras pointed directly at him as he spoke. “No matter what you think who is fighting who or what ‘sides’ you may think there are and which of these sides you think yourself on: The rules of war. Must. Stand. Because, no matter who it is that topples them, as soon as they fall, the Galactic Community will eventually fall with them.”
Although the weight of the importance of all of this was still very much pressing down on him and James would honestly still much rather have been basically anywhere else instead of standing here in front of the Galaxy while giving important-yet-heavy-handed speeches, he did have to admit…Monologuing like that was actually kind of fun. No wonder politicians liked to hear themselves talk so much…
However, by now, he was actually starting to wonder just how many times he could reiterate what was basically the same point in different, fancy ways. Or how often he would have to before it would hopefully sink in with everyone that he was being serious here. It honestly wasn’t that hard, after all.
Not to mention that no one had actually even really tried to refute him yet. Not that there was much to refute here, but they could at least pull some bullshit reasoning out of their ass instead of just sticking to ‘James bad’ or ‘AI bad’ here.
After all, even if they didn’t belief that Avezillion was 100% harmless, much like James still didn’t think that, anyone at the very least had to admit that Dunnima was, in fact, not currently a smoldering pile of ashes OR in the process of purging all of its systems in a coordinated cyber attack against the Realized, meaning she had to at least be different from the others they knew somehow.
Pausing his heartful speech-giving for a while to give people time to process, James used the moment of respite to scan across the faces of his company. Well, those who were visible anyway. The breathfilters of his human accompaniment still only let through the basic projections of their professionally stern faces. Well, that was with the exception of Nia of course. After an early, very clear shock and disbelief at what James had presented here, she had eventually calmed down again, although an air of an underlying uncertainty that bordered on disapproval had still remained for a time. However, now that she had heard him talk and give his reasons for a while, the light-pixels on her mask had more and more mellowed out and were now stuck in an expression somewhere in between a ‘you got this’ and a ‘let’s see where this goes’.
Although Curi’s face was of course basically impossible to read, given that it didn’t emote at all, James noticed that the cyborg’s stance was remarkably confident considering the amount of people they had to present themselves in front of. The knees of their massive backward legs were less bend than usual, pushing their body up higher than they normally carried themselves in a way that James equated to pushing one’s chest out.
Moar seemed to be far from happy about the current turn of events, however James was truly relieved to see that the main bulk of that unhappiness seemed to stem mostly from stress and a general discomfort brought on by it, instead of any aversion to what James was saying. Of course, a bit of background noise of worry and slowly creeping dread remained on the old woman’s face as her head turned sideways so one of her eyes could fully focus on him while one of her clawed hands loudly clacked along one of her notched horns, however it didn’t seem like she was ready to turn heel and abandon James with his self-made problems yet.
And, well, Congloarch was…smiling? It was hard to tell with the reptile’s armored skin and stiff lips, however something about the way his mouth stood half-opened, presenting rows of sharp teeth to the world, was a bit different than usual. There was almost a sense of….triumph in it. Or at least James thought so. Tonamstrosite expressions weren’t exactly something he had a huge amount of expertise in reading.
The mumbling and general prattle in the room stayed quite intense for a while, but even so, James remained quiet, still unwilling to speak up and interrupt the proceedings, even if just while whispering to his friends. He would have to see what they thought at a later time. In private, where he could also apologize for having to have kept this from many of them for so long.
It was good that it was finally out. Maybe he would even introduce Avezillion to them, who knew? She could surely use a couple more friends…although Moar might not quite be ready for that yet. The old lady had gotten a whole lot more tolerating ever since he had met her of course, but a Realized wanting to have chit-chat might still cross a bit of a line for now. He would have to ease her into this.
Curi, on the other hand, would likely be completely on board. Or…at least James assumed that they would. Thinking of it, he had never really talked to them about artificial sapients before. He just kind of assumed it would be an enticing idea to them, since they enjoyed anything technological so much AND also generally fell out of line with what the Galaxy did and did not find acceptable. However, it was entirely possible that any experiences or stories that may be ingrained into them could’ve made them just as averse to the artificial lifeform as most other people were. James doubted it, but it was possible.
After all, Nia also wasn’t generally someone who judged others before getting the full picture, but even she had some very choice opinions about AIs, he knew that much. Not that the same wasn’t true for James before he had met Avezillion, of course. Basically every human had grown up with stories about Michael, after all. And with the rest of the Galaxy corroborating the idea that Realized were generally aggressive maniacs, nothing had ever quite challenged those stories.
Everyone else of course already knew Avezillion…well, except for Congloarch. However, he wasn’t the most ‘personable’ person at the best of times, so James couldn’t quite imagine how trying to introduce him to Avezillion as a potential friend would- James suddenly snapped up as a feline tail subtly bumped against his side with much more force than it usually exerted. Apparently, Shida had decided to be a bit more innocuous than an elbow to the side would have been.
Damn it! Had he zoned out? Well, yeah, he had. But what did he miss? Who was talking right now?
The sound of the surrounding world gradually returning to his ears in a wave of noise made it hard to focus on the main voice that was currently speaking to the room, and so James quickly had to follow everyone’s gazes to see where they were looking in order to find the speaker. However, there wasn’t really a ‘speaker’ right now. But there was definitely somebody everyone was looking at.
Admittedly, James probably should’ve noticed them immediately on his own, because they were entirely out of place.
With silverish-grey fur and dark, rust-red markings, the Lachaxet that had, from James’ perspective, popped up from thin air in the middle of the room, but who had in reality most likely simply entered while he had been distractedly wandered lost in his own mind, differentiated themselves quite a bit from their conspecifics that James had met so far.
They had a for the species rather broad head and their solid-green eyes had an almost olive color to them. Said eyes were locked firmly onto Losaranarja as the deathwolrder leaned in to the small primate and whispered something into her ear.
Next to him, James could see Shida’s own listening apparati interestedly twitch, however he doubted that even she would be able to pick up on what was whispered that far away from them.
However, although he had even less chance of hearing anything that was being said, James also leaned in the direction of the conversation suspiciously, wondering whatever could be discussed at a moment like this.
Eventually, Losaranarja nodded, whispered something back to the Lachaxet, and then turned to look up in James’ general direction.
“Ambassador Aldwin and Representative Goloribal, could I maybe bother the both of you and your company to step down to me for a second?” she loudly asked the leader of the two adjacently seated groups up on the top rungs.
Inadvertently, James and Goloribal looked over at each other, clearly trying to see if the other party had anything to do with this interruption. James obviously hadn’t. And, at least if he could believe that face he was making, it seemed that Goloribal didn’t either – although there was a fair chance that he was just acting.
Turning to his company with a movement of his head, James then indicated for everyone to get up while he pushed himself to his feet.
Quickly, a protective formation was formed around him and his civilian company by his guards, who covered every angle of their descend down to the lower level with unshaking vigilance.
Admittedly, for a moment, the urge to simply jump over the railing and thus be down with Losaranarja within a second was quite alluring to James. After all, he had almost made a habit of jumping and climbing around in lower gravities like this one at this point. However, keeping up appearances prevailed over convenience for the time being, and so he decided to not pull a stunt like that after such a serious request from his host.
Instead, the human procession quickly and orderly made their way down the stairs, closely followed by that of the Simmiareskis.
Seemingly bored by the previous proceedings and intrigued by what was now going on, Sky hurried a bit ahead of her group to catch up with her fellow deathworlders, quickly reaching Tuya, who was forming the anchor position in their current formation.
James gave the inquisitive deer an acknowledging nod for a second, however otherwise his eyes were curiously directed at the other out-of-place deathworlder that had interrupted their proceedings.
The Lachaxet was turning their entire head around like an owl to keep their eyes on the descending groups, and the expression on their face was serious.
As the approaching groups were only a couple of measures away anymore, Losaranarja hopped off her podium and quickly hurried into their direction on all sixes, coming to a stop barely in front of James before subtly indicating with her two lower arms that it might be best if someone would lift her up.
Not hesitating to do so, James leaned down and presented his organic arm to her, allowing her to hold on and climb up the limb while James lifted her up into the air. Then, even if slightly begrudgingly so, he took her closer to the other representative.
With the pixemerrier on James’ shoulder and the simmiareskis walking on all fours, all of the primates were more or less on the same level and could therefore stand with their faces closely together as Losaranarja began whispering to them.
“Apparently, active threats have started to reach the security of the station regarding the both of you,” she quickly said without wasting any time with preamble. “Investigations are ongoing, but apparently some of the threats were deemed substantial enough that it was determined by security that it would be irresponsible to let this conference go on as it does for any longer. We do not wish to exclude you from the proceedings, however, and therefore you will be escorted to a more secure location from where you may rejoin the conference remotely. Ristefarreaux here has his team waiting just outside and is ready to immediately escort you there.”
James furrowed his brow while Goloribal turned to whisper something to Uton behind a lifted hand, although the Captain could only shake his head with an unsure expression.
“And do we not get a say in the matter?” James then asked, crossing his arms. “Personally, I’ve not made the best experiences with being escorted or confined by station security.”
While that was true, a much larger concern of his was to be confined in close quarters with these people. And that concern wasn’t exactly for himself.
“Any other course of action would be highly inadvisable,” Ristefarreaux chimed into the conversation, his large ears twitching and turning at the room’s noise. “If you are not compliant with safety measures, we would sadly have to escort you off the station for your own safety. Nedstaniot-Station’s security will not be responsible for any harm that befalls the Ambassador of humanity.”
His gaze was firm, and his voice didn’t exactly sound like he would allow much room for argument there.
James sighed and massaged his brow with his mechanical hand, seeing as the other shoulder was currently occupied.
“Thoughts?” he then asked, turning towards his company, with a specific gaze at Shida, Andrej and Koko.
Andrej rubbed the back if his head in thought, moving some of his long hair around in the process.
“Personally, I wouldn’t mind leaving if we have to,” the Major explained honestly with a tone that told of him not liking this new situation at all. However, after adding a shrug, he ended his sentence with, “But we should probably stick around if we can.”
Koko nodded.
“As long as we tell Earth to send the biggest ship we have if we don’t show back up on that broadcast in the next ten minutes or so, we should be fine,” she suggested casually. “If they want to mess with that, it’s their own fault.”
James nodded at the assertions of his higher-ranking friends. However, then he once again turned towards Shida with an empathic look on his face.
“Treasure?” he asked softly, remembering her earlier demeanor, and how much worse those feelings could become if allowed to stir in close proximity and without a way out.
Shida looked around for a bit, studying his face at first, before turning to throw a clearly heavily held back look with an empty expression over at Uton.
“I’ll be fine,” she then said with a just as empty but definitely decided tone. “This is important.”
James wondered if it would be better to resist here, because although Shida seemed sure about it for the most part, he wasn’t exactly certain if she should. However, he didn’t want to go against her like that. If she felt that she could handle this, he should support her – while also keeping an eye open in case she had misjudged things. Assuming things wouldn’t immediately go to hell as soon as they had reached this ‘secure location’ that the local security had in mind, they would hopefully still be able to pull out and leave the station instead if things did turn too overwhelming for the feline.
Therefore, James grit his teeth before turning back to the Lachaxet.
“I’ll have to make a quick call, but we’ll come with you,” he announced, to which the vulpine firmly nodded.
“We will of course also come,” Goloribal announced not even a second after. “Lead the way.”
After James had quickly allowed Losaranarja to climb off his shoulder again, and then made a ‘prepare for anything’ call back to Earth, the now involuntarily combined human and Simmiareskis groups were ushered outside by Ristefarreaux, where, just as promised, a larger group of Lachaxet security was already waiting for them. The vulpine deathworlders’ green, stiff eyes eerily stared at the emerging primates as they walked out of the conference room.
Despite the added safety, the human soldiers still moved in their defensive formation to make completely sure that no harm would befall their ambassador. Although, at least to a degree, the Lachaxet appeared to be professionals, as they avoided taking the threatened dignitaries to the outside where they could possibly easily be picked off by a sufficiently equipped threat. Instead, they were led “underground” – meaning deeper into the hull of the station.
James was all too familiar with this sort of area in a station by now. After all he had used it to quite efficiently traverse the G.C.S. when he himself did not want to be found. In that sense, they offered a certain comfort.
It seemed that once again this path was quite effective with avoiding any sort of contact with unwanted people, and so their travel was rather undisturbed as they made their way towards whatever destination security had planned for them.
“What kind of threats are we talking about exactly?” Koko eventually asked, seemingly both out of sincere interest in an urge to prepare herself for eventualities, evenly mixed with the sheer desire to fill the tense, dead air that had formed as it seemed that neither party really wanted to talk all that much while the other was this close by.
“I’m sad to say, too many to concisely list,” Ristefarreaux replied with a resigned squeaking noise. “We will gladly brief you once we have reached our destination. For now, let’s focus on getting you there without incident.”
“Ominous,” Koko replied with an eyeroll and a grimace, the humor in her voice poorly hiding her annoyance.
“At least the big lugs will be nice bullet sponges when it comes to it,” Admir whispered in English as he leaned in towards James, inconspicuously nodding in the Simmiareskis’ direction.
James gave him the most tired hint of a smirk as an answer, making full use of the fact that his face was now freed from masking constraints.
Then, he suddenly noticed that Shida had suddenly disappeared out of his periphery. In a moment of shock, his eyes quickly shot over towards Uton, who was walking some measures in front of him and keeping his gaze turned forwards. Not there…luckily…
Beginning to search around in other places after the first skipped beats of his heart, James’ eyes then soon enough landed on the dark shape of his girlfriend again. In actuality, Shida had barely moved at all. She had just slowed her steps ever so slightly, allowing herself to fall back a measure or so, so that she now walked along with a much larger but just as dark from next to her.
“You’re loo’n good,” Sky commented as her doe-eyes looked down at the feline, her head turning in a way that stretched one of her antlers far into the air.
“And you’re still growing like a weed, I see,” Shida commented back, her voice restrained and cordial. “How are you holding up.”
Her ears twitched once, and the movement was mirrored by the many flaps of the Ketzhir’s in a wave-like motion.
“Been be’er,” she replied with a shrug, her dialect still on full display in many spoken words despite Reprig’s previous best efforts to ‘educate’ her. “But also been much worse. Food comes easy now.”
Shida nodded.
“I bet it does,” she said, still very clearly holding a lot back. “And…other stuff?” Sky released a raspberry-like sound.
“Wor’s fine. Bit bo’ing at times, tho. Dun hol’ a candle to the stuff you’re doin’, I bet,” the former thief explained with an enthusiastic nudge in Shida’s direction. “But beats the brick or ta’in’ alms.”
Shida exhaled slowly.
“Does it?” she asked in a raspy sound under her breath.
“Sure,” Sky said nonchalantly. “Cap’n’s nice ‘slong as he wants sumethin’. Wants sumethin’ most of the time. So ‘e’s not too bad.”
Shida visibly clenched her jaw and shut her eyes tightly, clearly doing her best to thoroughly prepare to reply something that was well thought out.
However, Sky was quite a bit faster.
“Don’t worry,” she said in a casual yet calming manner. “I know ‘e’s got a few screws loose. But I’m a diver. I can watch out for it. ‘Sides, somewun ‘as to keep an eye on ‘im.”
“That someone should be an armed guard in front of a door without a key,” Shida replied to that, however James only understood as much because he was watching her as she spoke and could follow the movements of her mouth, because she was speaking so quietly that it was barely in his audible range even while standing almost right next to the conversation.
“Long ‘s it pays for work, I can fill that part as well,” Sky replied jovially with a snicker. Then, her gaze slowly snuck downwards towards the holstered weapon on Shida’s hip. “Would need someone to ‘and me a gun, though.”
In a more genuinve movement of emotion, Shida gave a scoffing chuckle through her teeth.
“Keep dreaming,” she replied to the cheeky doe before her. James could already tell that this was going to be an oh so fun evening…

In recent months there seems to be countless bikers going around the city in balacalavas and masks intimidating people say and night. They generally steal bikes and mopeds etc but I’ve seen them attack people in the street in daytime for no apparent reason too. Last night while walking home there were 2 cruising around on a motorbike obviously up to no good. Later heard they’d been seen stealing a motorbike from a hotel. I’ve always felt fairly safe walking around Edinburgh at night but I no longer do. The city is really going down hill. The police seem powerless to do anything about them.

Here's two of mine:

1. On the Back to the Barre podcast when Christi or Kelly, usually Kelly, says "oh I think a producer told me to say that." I think sometimes they just say that as a cop out because they're genuinely shocked at what they said and don't want to take responsibility. I don't know that for sure, a producer might have actually told them to say something, but I just get that vibe occasionally.
   
2. A behind the scenes explanation I still don't understand to this day is the New Orleans fight explanation from Leslie. Even after hearing her story, I still feel like there's more to it/things that confuse me about it (Leslie's explanation was that Christi purposely started the fight so they could leave and go on vacation early.) Why sacrifice Chloe's chance at nationals over a vacation? Especially since it was just 1 competition on 1 day, as well as the very last competition of the season. You would think she'd just stick it out? It just seems very weird to me.
   

Introducing "Collection of Hearts," the epitome of fashion and streetwear fusion! This highly anticipated clothing drop will take your style game to new heights. Immerse yourself in a mesmerizing array of cutting-edge designs, where each piece is crafted with utmost attention to detail. With a collection that boasts an auto of monumental change "Collection of Hearts" captures the essence of what it is to be a hustler and a impactful indidvidual . Whether you're strolling through the city streets or attending events, be prepared to turn heads and make a statement . Don't miss out on this fashion revolution - join us as we redefine the boundaries of style, one heart at a time.

Well, after months of anticipation, the new Little Mermaid film finally released to theaters. As expected the film is garbage, and I can offer that review despite not seeing it for the same reason that I don't need to go order a Whopper at the new Burger King down the street in order to assess the quality of the food. I already know that the fries will be lukewarm and soggy; the bun on the burger will also be soggy; the Mayo will be scalding hot because they put the whole thing in the microwave; and the entire meal will be 3,500 calories, but I'll still be hungry 45 minutes after eating it because the food is made out of congealed grease and has no substantive nutritional value. I also know that the employee who serves me the food will scowl at me because he hates every customer who commits the sin of trying to patronize the establishment where he works; he'll also speak in a barely audible mumble so that I have no idea whether he even got my order or not: and then when the food comes out, it'll be clear that he didn't get the order right, but I'll just leave with the wrong order because it's not worth the trouble of trying to get a practically cataconic customer service worker to correct the mistake without making additional mistakes on top of it. That is the Burger King experience no matter which location you happen to be patronizing, and the same goes for Disney's cash grab remakes and for almost everything that Disney produces, even if they aren't remakes because after all, it's not like Disney ONLY makes remakes - they also make sequels, and they make sequels to remakes, and they make remakes of sequels.
Altogether, Disney is the fast food of the cinematic world: they churn out the same sludge over and over and over again, there is no creativity, there is no artistic inspiration, nobody involved has any love or interest for or in the projects that they're working on. That's the point: NOBODY involved in it actually CARES about the story. The people involved in The Little Mermaid remake had all the creative passion as the guy working the fry machine at the Burger King. It's the same kind of thing. Disney isn't TRYING to tell great stories anymore. They're just pumping out content for the masses and things for us to mindlessly consume, that's all they care about. That's how I know The Little Mermaid is bad: because there's not one single person involved in the project who cares about making it good.
I also know it's bad because the reviews say so - and it's not that I trust what reviewers say of course, it's that I trust what they DON’T say. You can't tell much about a movie by reading what the critics write, but you can often tell everything you need to tell by reading what's in between the lines, and in this case, the reviewers have generally agreed that The Little Mermaid is derivative and pointless and unnecessary and dull, and it has dreary animation and some subpar voice acting, yet they've given the film high marks anyway based on the sensational performance of the lead actress Hallie Bailey. The critics, they wouldn't dream of outright panning a film starring a black Little Mermaid. They have to find a way to like it, otherwise, they'll be racist. And these are always the most damning reviews: not the ones where critics give the film a thumbs down, but the ones where they're contorting themselves into all kinds of ungodly shapes in order to find a way to NOT give it a thumbs down.
Though some critics were more forthright in their criticism. The New York Times review from film critic Wesley Morris does praise the movie, of course, for its diversity and noble intentions, but it says that it's missing some things - specifically, Morris laments that the story lacks “joy, fun, mystery, risk, [and] flavor”. And that all makes sense so far - Disney content engine is specifically designed to avoid risk and instead produce fun content that is entirely devoid of fun. But Wesley goes further. He also says that “kink” is missing. Yes, Wesley Morris of the New York Times feels deeply wounded that the new Little Mermaid movie is not kinky. It apparently does not highlight any deviant sexual practices. There are no fetishes put on display or even discussed. And Morris is surprised by this, I guess. Those of us who have seen Disney trajectory in recent years may be sort of surprised by it too, but the difference is that we are pleasantly surprised, whereas Morris grieves. He can't believe, he's so sad that there's no kinkiness in The Little Mermaid.