Remove Joel Silver from the production team of the Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions. Creative control to the Wachowskis.
Allow the countercultural, noir elements that made the first Matrix excellent. Police and innocent bystanders are potential if not actual enemies. Fewer set-piece fights; more skillful, thoughtful moments like the fight against Seraph.
And, certainly, a different end-fight arc. Once Smith has the Oracle's power, a slugfest stops making sense.
I cannot understate how shit Luc Besson's Jeanne d'Arc film was. At least, in my memory. I know, I know; everyone's got an opinion. These are my two cents. This movie really let me down.
The first teaser, which gave absolutely nothing away, was excellent. The cast was solid. I thought, cool, Besson is doing a period piece.
Wow, it was dog shit. Dustin Hoffman's role helped. But barely.
It was up for international awards. Milla Jovovich went for a Golden Raspberry.
Diplomacy.
After 9/11, when the world weighed an invasion of Afghanistan, America could have skipped the invasion, taken the Al Qaeda leadership the Taliban offered up, and continued to seek O/UBL. A forensic investigation and specific arrests, extradition, trials, and convictions would have been much better than a disastrous 20 year war that accomplished two things: enriching military contractors and the impoverishment of a central Asian nation.
Diplomacy.
Deposing Saddam Hussein with the same type of pressure that, later, led to the ousters of Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali, and Bashar al Assad. Some might say that 2003 created the pretext for the Arab Spring. I'd counter that time and tide created the conditions. Operation Iraqi Freedom was a pipe dream and an extension on the GWoT piggy bank.
Diplomacy.
Building a better, more sustainable future demands a move away from fossil fuels. Making driving, urban sprawl, warfare, agribiz, and Amazon packages into a socially toxic soup of ideas would have done wonders for green initiatives. Instead a turn away from the largest industries of the time was — and still is — regarded as heresy.
Team efforts.
When people see one another's skills and can come to have confidence in and rely on each other, that builds bonds. Creative exercises are good ways to achieve this. Co-producing a play or video, painting a room, or making a meal (while not hungry, of course) could be methods that help kids to practice this. We take our kids camping and there are lots of ways for kids to work together and rely on each other. Also, opportunities to exercise independent competence and to do tasks that help the family.
Trauma bonding is a dicier strategy. Could work out. Could end in tears. It all depends how many times you want to have them survive a winter plane crash on a mountainside. By the third time, they'd probably catch on.
It was Boost for Reddit for me. Note: I hate the ads in Boost for Lemmy, but I still havent jumped ship or started to pay for ad-free. When I go on contract at work (I hope) it'll be more possible.
e: wait, it's $5, one time? Ok, I'm killing the ads now.
I want to support the platforms that look at people for their interactions, not their marketability. APIs were going to be dead at Reddit and I wasn't willing to stand over the body with a knife in hand.
Fiction
Ursula K. LeGuin
Octavia Butler
Margaret Atwood
Tui T. Sutherland (J Fic)
Suzanne Collins (YA)
Lois Lowry (YA)
Non-Fiction
Naomi Klein
Margaret Atwood (Massey Lecture)
Angela Y. Davis
Tanya Talaga
bell hooks
Robin Wall Kimmerer
According to Jake Horton & Nick Beake at BBC from 15 October:
"Hamas and other factions inside Gaza are rejecting the U.S.-backed U.N. plan to place Gaza under the control of a U.S.-led board and an international stabilization force." (Democracy Now, 20 November)
"There is no agreement on a permanent peace or on how to monitor Iran's nuclear programme going forward," argues Mr O'Hanlon. (BBC)
"So what we have is more of a de facto ceasefire than an end to war, but I'd give him some credit, as the weakening of Iran by Israel - with US help - has been strategically significant." (BBC)
"The talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries," Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said. (BBC)
"There's still fighting between Congo and Rwanda - so that ceasefire has never really held," says Margaret MacMillan (BBC)
On 7 August, Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement aimed at reducing tensions along their shared border. (BBC)
"The leaders of both countries said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in securing a peace deal, announced at the White House on 8 August." (BBC)
There was no "war" here for the president to end, but there have long been tensions over a dam on the River Nile... No formal deal has been reached between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve their differences. (BBC)
"Serbia and Kosovo haven't been fighting or firing at each other, so it's not a war to end," Prof MacMillan told us. (BBC)
Sci-fi all the way.
Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) shows the fall of an empire (loosely, America) at the hands of their AI creations. I guess Rome or Britain could also sit in for America. This show aired while Bush the lesser was taking Afghanistan and Iraq apart piece by piece.
The Expanse (2015-2022) is the worthy heir to the throne of casting harsh light on the oligarchs and hegemons. Belters could be any people put upon by this corrupt system: migrant workers, Indigenous people, refugees, the unhoused, the descendants of the enslaved — anyone who was expected to bootstrap success.
Both are good shows. The Expanse is proving to be somewhat more resilient to the passage of time.
Does putting the intervening time appreciably change the message, the context, or the effect?
The Society of Profesional Journalists, in the US, has a code of ethics that states, "Seek truth and report it. Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information." (emphasis added)
I watched the J6 hearings. I've seen his rally speeches. The entire purpose of news media is to convey meaning without distorting the message, the context, or the effect.