George cole movies and tv shows

Here's options for downloading or watching John Wick: Chapter 4 streaming the full Movie online for free on 123 Movies & Reddit including where to watch John Wick: Chapter 4 Movie at home. Is John Wick: Chapter 4 2022 available to stream? Is watching John Wick: Chapter 4 on Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Yes we have found an authentic streaming option / service. Details on how you can watch John Wick: Chapter 4 for free throughout the year are described below.
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The easy way to watch John Wick: Chapter 4 streaming free without downloading anything is by visiting this web page. You can stream John Wick: Chapter 4 online here right now.
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Watch NOW: ▶️https://urmovieclub.online/movie/603692/john-wick-chapter-4
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Netflix?
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John Wick: Chapter 4 is not available to watch on Netflix. If you're interested in other Movies and shows, one can access the vast library of titles within Netflix under various subscription costs depending on the plan you choose: $9.99 per month for the basic plan, $15.99 monthly for the standard plan, and $19.99 a month for the premium plan.
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Hulu?
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They're not on Hulu, either! But prices for this streaming service currently start at $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for the whole year. For the ad-fre eversion, it's $12.99 per month, $64.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV, or $70.99 for the ad-free Hulu + Live TV.
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Disney Plus?
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No sign of John Wick: Chapter 4 on Disney +,which is proof that the House of Mouse doesn't have its hands on every franchise! Home tothe likes of 'Star Wars', 'Marvel', 'Pixar', National Geographic', ESPN, STAR and so much more, Disney+ is available at the annual membership fee of $79.99, or the monthly cost of$7.99. If you're a fan of even one of these brands, then signing up to Disney+ is definitely worth it, and there aren't any ads, either.
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on HBO Max?
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Sorry, John Wick: Chapter 4 is not available on HBO Max. There is a lot of content from HBO Max for $14.99 a month, such a subscription is ad-free and it allows you to access all the titles in the library of HBO Max. The streaming platform announced an ad-supported version that costs a lot less at the price of $9.99 per month.
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Amazon Video?
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Unfortunately, John Wick: Chapter 4 is not available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Video. However, you can choose others hows and Movies to watch from there as it has a wide variety of shows and Movies that you can choose from for $14.99 a month. grte
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Peacock?
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John Wick: Chapter 4 is not available to watch on Peacock at the time of writing. Peacock offers a subscription costing$4.99 a month or $49.99 per year for a premium account. As their namesake, the streaming platform is free with content out in the open, however, limited.
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Is John Wick: Chapter 4 on Paramount Plus?
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John Wick: Chapter 4 is not on Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus has two subscription options: the basic version ad-supported Paramount+ Essential service costs$4.99 per month, and an ad-free premium plan for $9.99 per month. costs$4.99 per month, and an ad-free premium plan for $9.99 per month. mmmm

I hate my friends. For privacy reasons, I won’t disclose my age. Just know I’m in middle school. I know, this probably sounds dumb. “You’re only in middle school, you’re just being dramatic!” but all this have been bothering me so here I go
I have about 5 or 6 friends in my main friend group including me. Lately, my friends have been acting different. Two of my friends, we‘ll call them T and A are really close friends. A only joined the group in the beginning on the year, with the rest of the friend group being together for a while. I love A (as a friend) and thinks she’s great. We have the same sense of humor, can relate, and overall get along perfectly and I consider us best friends. I also love T. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, and she’s one of my best friends. T and A are both extremely close, and even though they often make romantic jokes with one another, theyre both straight and only ever make jokes. For some context for The next part, there’s a typical stereotype bully at our school. We’ll call him N. He’s the type of bully you see in the high school movies, and I don’t mean to be rude, but he’s a fat, big, extremely pale, annoying guy. N sits with us as lunch cuz he has no friends. We’re NOT his friends, he just won’t sit with anybody else. He spends most lunch terrorizing us. Hitting us hard with his heavy bag, making fun of us, etc. We’re not popular by any means, but we’re also not the most unpopular kids. Two of my best friends, L and B refuse to sit with us anymore and have left us for their other friends. N has gotten nicer, and despite my attempts to get L and B to come back, they still won’t sit this us. This is where T and A come in. Me, T, A, N, and another friend sit together at lunch. The second we get dismissed to the outside courtyard, I become a third wheel. N and the other friend leave us, and it’s just me, T, and A. T and A always leave me alone, and T always excludes me. A typically will try to include me and talk to me, but T will exclude me. T and A will make a joke together, I’ll try to join in, just be told by T “She’s my best friend, not yours”. It’s all in a joking manner, but over time, it’s not funny. I’m just being excluded. T will purposely pull A aside to tell her secrets in front of me and tell me to go away. I’ve tried to tel A secrets in front of T, but T always complains that I can’t trust her and is not understanding I’m trying to give her a taste of her own medicine. T has also become meaner this year. She only means it as jokes, but has made me really insecure. For background, I’m Mexican. many Mexican women has thick, curly, beautiful hair. My mom has always told me I do too. Only, with all the above, it’s also tangled, knotty, and frizzy. Long hair is hard work. T always tell me to brush it, and I try to explain it takes to long and only makes me hair look worse (frizzy, straight) but she insists. I don’t mind the occasional joke about my hair, but T jokes about it everyday, she even goes as far as to say some days “Your hair used to be pretty, now it’s all ugly and damaged” or “your hair wouldn’t be so ugly, frizzy, damaged, and ruined if you just brushed it” (I brush my hair when I wash it btw, so every other day. I don’t have enough time to brush it daily). She’s made me so insecure about it that whenever the topic of hair gets brought up, I immediately go quiet, leave, and change the subject. My mother always raised me to believe my hair is beautiful, curly, and gorgeous, so having somebody tell me all this, contradicting everythign I’ve ever been taught, it hurts. I’ll feel like crying and will s/h just cuz T says shit like this. T also will take the most ugly pics of us in class and show it to fucking EVERYBODY. She does it to everybody, and even though I’ve asked her to stop, she doesn’t. I miss L and B so much, cuz normally I would just hang out with them instead of T and A. I’ve started telling secrets to my other friends in front of T, hoping it would make her jealous. She just never gets it. She has to make my day worse at least once daily. sorry if this sounds like stupid dramatic middle schooler stuff, it just hurts a lot. Me and T used to be BEST FRIENDS, but ever since A came along, she’s been acting different. I’m just tired of it now.
Pleae give me advice or talk to me or something.
TLDR: My friend used to by my best friend, but now, she makes me insecure and makes me third wheel all the time

I met this friend around a year ago, and we clicked really well. Similar interests, we'd hang out and watch TV shows or movies every night and just talk for hours. Roughly 6 months ago, we were talking, and they dropped some hints and confirmed that they had a crush on me, and I confirmed I felt the same way. Now, to note, we live pretty far apart, not close enough to just drive to see one another. We very briefly dated long distance, and met in person for one weekend, but after a month-ish, they said they had a lot of personal issues going on, and couldn't date anyone at that time (this was true). They also made a point to say they still liked me but just couldn't emotionally handle something like that at that point. I agreed, and we decided to stop the relationship, but we remained really close friends.
Time passed, and we are still really close, and I just went to visit them to hang out, chill, and just see their city. We hang out for the weekend, have a great time, but while watching a movie, they turn to me and asks "Hey (my name), do you still have feelings for me?" I thought about it for a moment, replied "Well that's kinda a loaded question, "and then we dropped the subject. A day or so later, they brings the subject back up, and I said "Well, it doesn't really matter what my feelings are, if you don't want to date anyone then that's that." They agreed, and we left it at that.
I got home from my trip, and now I'm sitting here with all these feelings that I'm not sure what to do with. I still like them romantically, but I also respect that if they don't want a relationship, there's nothing I could say or do to change that. My issue is we talk almost every day, and I feel like my feelings aren't going to just go away if I keep spending time with this person, but at the same time they have a history of losing friends in the past, so I don't want to just leave and potentially traumatize them even further. How can I stop myself from feeling all these things towards them without sacrificing our friendship and hurting them in the process?
TL;DR I have feelings for my friend, who has expressed 0 interest in dating me. They want to stay very close friends, but I feel if we do, my feelings for them won't ever change.

As the title says. I'm looking for a female friend. Someone who I can talk to and bond with. I work as a security guard. It's a pretty simple job, with minimal stress. Some other security jobs are usually more stressful but I guess I got a bit lucky. Besides working , I just do simple things like go to the park and if a good movie is showing then I'll go to the theaters. I tend to eat fast food a lot. I don't really cook. I like listening to music whenever I'm in the mood to. And I used to write flash fiction for fun but lost the desire after awhile.

Giving this a go and putting myself out there :) Looking for someone local/in the same country and CF to connect with.
A little bit about me:
• Things i enjoy include travelling, enjoying new foods, seeing the movies, and trying something new!
• My favorite movies are the Spider-Man series, Lord of The Rings, Pleasantville, Liar Liar and When Harry Met Sally. But I like and enjoy most genres and will see most things at least once. My favorite TV Shows are the Simpsons, The Good Place, and Futurama!
• A perfect day for me would be enjoying a nice walk with a cup of coffee, coupled with trying out a nice restaurant in town and enjoying a movie at the theatre.
• I am ambitious and am happy to say i am in a field I love working in and am proud to be a part of.
If I sound like your kind of person, I would love to hear from you!

I ask because I joined mandalorian and it’s all just corporate simps who argue that there’s nothing bad about Disney dookie TV shows / sequels

Just left the early access screening of the movie, very cute and worth seeing! However, for anyone else like me who's avoided content (even to the extent of not watching half the trailer) to try and keep everything as fresh as possible, be warned about the pre-movie sneak peek. We saw it at AMC so it might be exclusive to them, but they showed a behind the scenes segment for several minutes which walked through some of the best scenes of the movie from revealing the villain early, several big reveals, and many of the good scenes throughout the length of the movie. No idea who greenlit the spoiling of the movie while waiting for the movie, but it was so disappointing to have them show so many scenes I'd tried to avoid in the months leading up.

Just in case you aren't aware dear reader, Grand Theft Auto is kind of a cultural phenomenon. The fifth game, particularly its internet component (known simply as "GTA Online"), is by some measures the most successful video game of all time. Naturally, anticipation for GTA 6 is running high, and any tiny tidbit of information is tantalizing to the fans who have been waiting since 2013 for an taste of the new game.
50cent gta6 vice city tweet
Well, the latest teaser comes from a somewhat-unlikely but perhaps unsurprising source: Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. The longtime rapper hasn't published that much music recently, but that's probably because he's been focused on building his media empire, instead: for more than a decade he's been lending his name, funds, and creative talent to a multitude of films and TV shows. Among those was the show "Power" which ran from 2014 to 2020, and was well-regarded by fans.
Apparently, what "Fifty" is working on now is "even bigger than Power," at least according to a recent tweet by him. What's that have to do with Grand Theft Auto? Along with the message, he tweeted the Vice City logo. Vice City is all-but-confirmed to be the locale of the next Grand Theft Auto game, which means that Jackson is likely going to play a role of some kind—possibly a major role—in Grand Theft Auto 6.
vice city logo image The Vice City logo image tweeted by 50 Cent.
If so, then Jackson will join the grand tradition of celebrity voice actors in "GTA" games. It's not hard to imagine a role for the 47-year-old performer within the world of Grand Theft Auto. His pseudonym was inspired by an infamous criminal from the 1980s, and many of his raps are about his experiences on the streets.
Grand Theft Auto 6 has no release date; Rockstar has barely even confirmed that the game exists. A major leak last year revealed surprisingly little aside from confirmation that the game will have multiple protagonists including a Latin woman named Lucia. Recent leaks include that the game will apparently feature bleeding-edge tech including "ahead of its time" water simulation—a perfect fit given the game's tropical Vice City setting.

So Jimmy Kimmel had Ben Affleck on his show and Ben Affleck asked Jimmy to ask one question to Matt too. Jimmy agreed and called Matt. Jimmy asked the question very professionally as he should but Matt went crazy again as expected. Jimmy was very kind to get Matt on the show and still Matt used profanity on live tv despite his own internet issues. Never Again, we are done with Matt Damon on this show. what’s next from here?

I hope that someone is willing to read all of this and help me with a little bit of understanding. I am sorry that it is so winded. But I don't have anyone else to discuss this with and I'm just wanting perspective.
A little about him...he is 44, great career, never married, no kids, has a house, loves golf, and loves hanging with friends. Pretty normal guy. Hasn't had many girlfriends. I catch him glancing at other women sometimes...I don't make a big deal about it... because they are glances as someone walks by...and not just hard-down staring. It's almost as if he doesn't realize he does it. Which he explained, when I confronted him about it. I don't see him check out other guys in public. But he has so much to say when explaining what one of his friends is like. He gets a little fanboy-ish over professional golfers who may play a round with him and his buddies. He coos about Arnold Schwarzenegger's arms and body in the movie Commando, saying he wishes he had a body like that. He sometimes expresses his disdain for a gay person on TV...or jokes about a gay person if we are out in public. I always side-eyed that a little. He and his bestie openly talked about what they liked about the movie, Broke Back Mountain. Then when he saw me looking at him, he goes.." but let me stop before I sound gay." I guess these were all red flags but I kind of ignored them. As I type this...I realize that I shouldn't have. What seems weird...He hangs out at his buddies' (two guys who are roommates) house every day of the week. They always have tons of other guys over. Maybe women if someone brings their gf over. They have poker nights, watch lots of sports, drink lots of alcohol, and throw a little cocaine and Adderall in there. He will maybe stay home, once a week to do laundry or something. Other than that, he gets off work and goes straight over there. Or he goes home, works out, then goes over. One of the buddies always cooks dinner, and they sit around a TV being men, eating, drinking, and partying. This is as a single man. He struggles with erections, and when he has a full one...sex would only last for a few minutes before he would stop and say, "he has to pee, or he's dehydrated, or he has a headache, or he isn't going to cum, or he drank too much." This was such a common thing. The first time we had sex, maybe 3 minutes in he goes, I'm not going to cum, then he stops. Later that day, we had sex again and he finished. Great. But all months between, he maybe ejaculated a few times. And struggled with getting or maintaining erections. November rolls around and nothing. He can't tell me why. Tons of excuses that just don't make sense. I thought..maybe he is seeing someone else. Then I thought...you'd at least be able to get an erection anyways right? I could be wrong.
When we met. He did all that's mentioned above. He would be at his buddies' place if we weren't together in the evenings...and even sometimes while we are out having dinner, he'd ask if we could go over to the buddies. Sometimes, it would bother me because I'd think...can you survive a day without them? I never wanted to be controlling or give him a hard time about that. I'd hang out with my friends and live my life while he did the same. There was never questioning him being anywhere else other than where he told me. What is concerning is at 44, he does this. It's like a little boy going outside to play with his friends after school. It's like he has to see his bestie every day. Or someone, over there. I was working the evening shift for the past year up until now, so we've only hung out on weekends for the past 7 months. He'd be at his buddy's house, 5 evenings a week. I'm all about having a life outside of love. But this seems extreme. His best friend is a 3rd-time divorcee, btw. Oh! This bestie also used to live with him years ago, when he and his wife divorced. Then he roomed with another guy, and they all just hang out over there.
Now about us...As a boyfriend, he has been one of the best ones. We met in march 2020 and broke up in December 2020, because sex just stopped for all of November and he couldn't tell me why. His answers were just not logical. He brought up his parents' divorce when he was a kid, being cheated on in the past, just not in the mood. These were all of his excuses. I felt like I was being jerked around so I left.
January 2021, he reaches out to me as if he wanted to have sex, and excuse me..please don't judge. I told him unless he was going to pay for it. I wasn't interested, and he needed to move on. I thought that would run him off, but that turned him on, and we hooked up. For all of 2021, we had sex once a week and he paid my bills. He would just come over, he'd bone me, then leave an hour later. We'd talk daily, sex once a week. But no title of a relationship. When we were in a relationship, it was great. He showed up as a great boyfriend in all aspects except for sex.
I meet a guy in January 2022 and end things with the ex. 6 months later, the ex is back, leaving voicemails, begging to come back and saying how he'd love to be with me, and how he made a mistake letting us end. The new guy didn't last. He left poop stains all over my furniture, and linens..(hope that made you giggle.) I tried things with the ex, again. August 2022, we reconnected. I decided to not have sex with him for the first 4 months as I wanted to see how things were going to go. And this is how they are currently going.
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In the first relationship, we talked about marriage and kids. Almost met families, then things ended abruptly. Things are the same now. Marriage and kids, but I am being cautious because I can see what I'll be dealing with long-term. I just wish it weren't the case. Our age gap is not an issue with us, we have great conversations, and lots of fun...I can tell that he loves me. But because of our non-existent sex life...I wonder if it's only platonic. I feel confident that he wants to be with me, because of all that he does. But I sometimes wonder if he tries to compensate for our lack of intimacy, financially. He's a great provider. We've talked about meeting families, soon. The relationship aspect is mostly great. It's everything I want in a relationship except for the constant buddy time, and lack of intimacy. I worry that if we were to marry, sooner or later, I'd find myself spending evenings alone, raising a kid, while he goes to watch sports, and drink beer. I've noticed him opening up to me more. But this is only when he's had a few beers. I long to know what he is feeling, naturally. Not after drinking. Which is never pissy drunk. It's usually 3 or 4 beers. He has never been dismissive of my emotions or when we have small disagreements. We talk through them all. He apologizes, and so do I. We have a very, healthy way of communicating about anything other than our lack of sex. His communication about the sex issue, just never helps me understand. But everything else is great.
For seven months, we have had sex maybe 5 times. Each time was no longer than 2 minutes. He used the same excuses I've mentioned above. He just always seemed so out of touch with sex. Little to no caressing, or fondling leading up to sex. The physical part of foreplay, we never really had. Because sex has just always been a bit strange with him. So I chalked it up to him not being very experienced. But the mental foreplay can last all day. It can go on for days or lead up to the time for intercourse. Because of how great he is as a boyfriend I am always ready. That is mental foreplay for me. For him, it's just being a great boyfriend. Normal, daily things. For me, it's.."you're such a great boyfriend to me, I just want to straddle you until we both explode. I want to sexually express how I feel about you." But I don't get that. We don't have sex. We haven't had 2-minute sex for the past two months. He either doesn't hold an erection when we try..or we just don't have sex. When we make out, or I walk past him in something sexy, or when we wake in the mornings...slight erection. I'd give him random blowjobs..No sex.
This past weekend, we got drunk, and for the first time. I saw him cry. He cried about not being able to have sex with me. He cried and said he just doesn't understand why he can't get aroused for me. He told me relationships have ended before because of sex being an issue. He has said when he isn't committed to someone, sex is just fine. He said it felt like a commitment thing. I don't understand that part of it though. I thought maybe he has erectile dysfunction, maybe he is asexual...he may be bisexual is what I'm starting to feel..he may be fully gay and just struggling with it...maybe I am his beard?... His cries seemed more like he was struggling with something way deeper. Like maybe his sexuality. But I was there for him. We talked through things and I explained to him that I want a husband in life..and not to be in a dead-end relationship. And that if he felt like I am wasting my time, to let me know. He said he wants to be my husband...he asked if I thought maybe we should take a break. I told him that if he thought taking a break, before seeking professional, medical help is the answer. That I was done. We ultimately decided we were just going to work through it. But I don't think I see that happening. Because we didn't talk about a solution, or how we were going to work through it.
When we are out together, he is affectionate, attentive, and enough PDA that I'll allow. (I'm not a big fan of it)...when we are home, the same way. But no sex. When we weren't together, he could get an erection and have sex until he finished. Which usually lasted about 10 minutes or so. I've never had an orgasm with him, because we just never had sex long enough. As a couple now, no sex. He's given me oral..maybe 5 times since we've known one another. I take extremely good care of my body and my hygiene is immaculate. The first time we got intimate, he blurted out how amazing and natural my vagina smelt. I am a gorgeous woman and never had this issue with any other men. So I know that it's not something wrong with me. But I just can't make any sense of it. I don't know who else to talk to.
I can't understand why my boyfriend can't have sex with me..as my boyfriend. I can't understand why he can't get, or keep an erection when we are laying in bed and trying to have sex. I can't understand why he has a standing erection and can fuck for 10 minutes and ejaculate but this is only as my hookup. Is this because that is what it is like to hook up with other men, maybe? I literally can't make any sense of it. I've asked him before if he was into men..but usually you, don't get the truth...and I can understand why. It's touchy.
Are these signs of a bisexual man, maybe? Or anything but straight? Can anyone help me make sense of all that I've explained? Please be kind.
Thank you

Greetings 👋
I'm making the attempt again to try and make new friends since it doesn't seem like I have any left these days 😅
I'm rather nerdy. I spend most of my days at home hanging out with the cats. I've loved art ever since I was very young. I have big ambitions to have my own graphic design gig some day.
I love video games. I got a lot to play on. PS4 & 5, Xbox One, Switch, Meta Quest 2, and my iPad. So, like, pretty much everything but PC 😅 I still collect games for my PS2 collection. In recent years I've been very casual with my gaming, playing a lot of platformers and survival/crafting games, but I've been playing more Hogwarts Legacy on the PS5, and really into the new Resident Evil 4!
I love tabletop games. Star Wars Legion, Warhammer 40K/AoS, Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon TCG, Digimon TCG. Did you know that Disney is coming out with their own trading card game in August?? I'm kind of hyped to play that. I love to paint miniatures as well, but it's a bit of a struggle to actually get people to play with me.
I love music. Dance Gavin Dance, Papa Roach, Twenty-One Pilots, A Day To Remember, Falling in Reverse. I wish I could play an instrument, but I fear I may be tone deaf.
I love Marvel. Spider-Man's probably my favorite.
I love Harry Potter. Pretty sure my house is Hufflepuff.
I love horror movies and got into true crime on YouTube last year. My favorite horror movie is probably The Blair Witch Project, second to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
I love anime and manga. Demon Slayer is by far my favorite. I also really love Fullmetal Alchemist, Digimon, Dragon Ball, and Sword Art Online.
I love baking, coffee, and grilling. I don't have too much confidence in my cooking skills 😅 I'd appreciate a friend to show me how to cook better. I'm rather adept at baking though, and I love smoked meats 🤤
So if some of this sounds good to ya feel free to hit me up 🙂 If we end up connecting you may very well become my best friend 😄
🟢420 Friendly🟢 Since some seem unsure.

I was recommended his videos a little while ago, and so I’ve been a binge watching his content as of of late.
To me his content is split up into three categories:
The first third is just talking about Star Wars and how great it is. Lionizing George Lucas, and even claiming that he was an independent filmmaker “in a sense”
The second third seems to be culture war nonsense about “alienating the audience” with race/gender swaps and, in his eyes, forced representation.
The third consists of some kernels of common sense sandwiched in between “enlightened centrist” wording about the state of the film industry and how audiences are responding to it.
I don’t mean to rag on him too much, but there’s something about the way his content is framed. The contrivance of being sat down for an interview and really “cutting loose” about what’s wrong with movies today.
I mean, yes it is annoying when representation feels forced and is cynically used by corporations to appear “woke,” but the film industry has always pandered to audiences for anything in every era. Why is identity-bating really any different? And it has become so obsessed by culture war addicts when it really is not a big deal, also ignoring all the good that comes with representation as well, (films like Moonlight, EEAAO and things of the like.) Why not choose to focus on these instead of complaining about the few cringey efforts to appeal to an intersectional audience?

I used to shower with my bathroom door open just a crack. For whatever dumb reason, the tiny, cramped apartment bathroom I’ve had to deal with for the last nine years or so loves to steam and fog up, even with the water on warm instead of hot. And, since my crappy as hell landlord refused to fix the ceiling mounted fan which would have ventilated the room, along with the fact it caused the ancient off white paint to sweat and start developing mold patches in any other case, something which he would’ve charged me to clean, I made the decision to leave the door open a bit to allow to steam to escape. For almost a decade, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and I went about my daily life, the habit becoming a routine in my mind.
That was, up until two months or so ago.
You see, I was alone that day. My roommate had gone out for the day to take part in some bowling tournament, and I had the run of the place for the next four to six hours. As it was my day off from work, I decided to start it off with a long, hot, relaxing shower. So, I grabbed a fresh set of towels from the small closet next to my bedroom door, stepped inside, and, after turning on the water to let it warm up, I hopped in. I’d just lathered the shampoo up in my hair when I heard a noise come from just outside the bathroom. It was almost masked by the sound of the water splashing down on me and the floor of the tub, but it was out of place enough that I caught it. Scrape. It was almost the sound you’d hear if you dragged long fingernails down the wall. I froze, the shampoo dripping down over my face making it difficult to see anything at all. The sound came again. Scrape. For a moment, the thought of someone breaking in flashed through my mind; after all, the neighborhood I live in has the nickname of “Methpire” for a reason. But, if someone had broken a window or forced the lock, I would’ve heard it. The place isn’t exactly big enough to miss those sounds.
Finally, I opened my mouth. “Tyler?” Instantly, the sound, which had begun to repeat itself for a third time, ceased, the entire place going silent, save for the water. I felt a small wave of annoyance zap through me. Tyler, this better not be another one of your games, I thought as I hurriedly washed the shampoo out of my hair. My roommate had a habit, being a horror junkie, in delighting in attempting to play pranks on me, knowing I had a tendency to be a little jumpy. Without shutting off the water, I reached out, grabbed a towel off the rack, and stepped out, wrapping it around my waist. “Tyler, I swear to God, if this is another attempt to scare me, I’m going to kick your ass!” I called, striding across the tiled floor and yanking the door all the way open. I looked around. There was nobody in the living room, or the kitchen which opened off of it. I glanced around, then, just to ease my own mind, I walked, first to my bedroom, then Tyler’s, looking in. Both were empty, and there wasn’t exactly any place for someone to quickly hide in either of them.
Huh. I must’ve just been hearing things. Shrugging my shoulders, I turned and jumped back into the shower to finish up. That evening, when Tyler came back home from celebrating with his team, apparently having blitzed the competition, I decide to question him as we sat at the kitchen table, eating Chinese takeout. “Hey, Ty?” I asked casually, glancing up from my chopsticks. “Yeah?” he mumbled out through a mouthful of his food, causing me to roll my eyes at his lack of manners. “You didn’t happen to come home earlier today for a moment, did you?” He looked up at me, a slightly perplexed expression on his face. “Nah, man. I was at the alley until three, and out drinking with the boys until five. Why?” I searched his face. The guy had a tendency to chew a little too much when he was bullshitting me; it was a tell I’d learned to spot of his, thanks to endless nights of playing poker against one another. “No reason. Just, thought I’d heard something while I was in the shower this morning” I looked at him, smirking slightly. “Thought you might’ve come back to grab something you needed, and decided to try and pull one over on me again”
He let out a huge burp in response, then reached forward and grabbed his bottle of Coke, tilting it back and taking a swig. “No, man” he said simply, using the back of his sleeve to wipe his lips, “Besides, if I’d come back and tried to scare you, you’d have known it” He let out a low laugh, one which, after a moment of studying him, I shared. He was clearly telling the truth. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, bro” I said, dropping my chopsticks into the empty container and hocking it over my shoulder into the trash can. He leaned back, and, using his own empty container, feigned being a basketball player and acted like he was making a free throw; the container bounced off the edge, making us both laugh. I pushed what had to be a trick of my mind out of my head, and the two of us spent the rest of the night playing video games and downing beer.
The next week went by without any other strange noises, and I almost completely forgot the strange incident. Ty had gone out for the evening on a date, and after binge watching all three Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, I flicked the television off and headed for the shower. Hopping in, I softly hummed some 50s tune stuck in my mind and lathered myself up with soap. I’d just put the shampoo in my hair, when I heard the scraping sound again. This time, it was a bit louder, and I knew it hadn’t been my imagination. I became still as a statue again, my head under the water and blurred between it and the shampoo slowly being rinsed out of it of its own accord. I almost held my breath, listening. The sound came again; this time, instead of on the wall, the scrape clearly came from the wooden doorway to the bathroom. I felt my heart thudding hard in my chest. Then, my eyes widened as I saw a shadow filter through the opaque shower curtain. It was the shadow of the bathroom door slowly opening.
I found my voice. “Who’s out there?!” I called, attempting to sound as tough and authoritative as I could. Just like last time, the moment I spoke up, all movement and sound ceased, the apartment going silent. This time, however, the air almost felt charged, as if the tension in it were palpable enough to be cut with by a knife. I reached out, wrapping my fingers around the edge of the curtain as I grabbed the closest thing I could find as a weapon: a full bottle of shampoo. It was a pathetic weapon which likely wouldn’t faze any intruder, but, it was still better than nothing. Taking a deep breath, I wrenched the curtain back, the sound of the hooks scraping on the metal pole almost sounding like a scream in the quiet. Just like last time, there was no sign of a soul. The only thing that gave away that anything had changed, was that the bathroom door was, indeed, standing wide open; the darkened outline of the living room beyond made me feel uneasy. I couldn’t place why, but it almost felt as if the gloom held a threatening atmosphere. Shutting off the water, I stepped out and wrapped the towel around my waist.
Stepping to the doorway, I reached out into the dark and felt around the edge of the door until my fingers found the light switch. Instantly, the dark was banished away by the bright white light overhead. I could see that nobody was in sight in the living room. This time, however, I wasn’t taking any chances. Water still dripping off me, I strode across the living room to where I’d dropped my belt I wore when out on the job as a plumber. I reached down and pulled a rather large pipe wrench from its place, gripping it with wet, and, admittedly, slightly shaky hands. The kitchen was clearly devoid of life, and I focused my vision on the two bedrooms, which lay dark. My door was wide open, but Ty’s was slightly closed. I glanced at the hook on the wall, noting that his car keys weren’t hanging from them next to mine. He’s not home, which means….shit. I felt my muscles tense up. I seriously didn’t want to deal with some homeless junkie who had someone gotten himself inside and was trying to find something to steal, or worse, attack me in some drug fueled rage.
I forced myself to speak loudly and tough as I could. “I’m warning you; if anyone is in here, I am armed!” I didn’t add the fact it was a wrench and not a gun. “If you come out and just leave, this’ll go a lot easier!” Silence. The only sound I could hear was a car passing by outside. I called again. “Look, I’m in no mood for this, so come out, and get the hell out of my place!” Still nothing. But, I felt an odd sensation, one which caused the hairs on my arms to stand up straight, even damp. It was the feeling of being watched. My eyes caught the flicker of movement. A shadow seemed to draw back away from my roommate’s half closed door. I knew right there and then I should’ve called the cops, but, some dumb sense of bravado had come over me, and I wanted to be like those tough guys in the older movies, taking care of things themselves. “This is your final warning!” I called to the bedroom. After about twenty seconds of more silence, I drew in a deep breath, raised the wrench as high over my head as I could, and, letting out a bellowing yell, dashed for the bedroom door as if I were simultaneously a football linebacker, and an Olympic torch carrier.
I burst through the door like a charging bull, the door smashing into the wall behind it with the sickening crunch of plaster breaking. I shot my free arm out and wrenched the light switch up. The room was empty. Ty’s scattered clothes, records and game cases lay strewn about the floor like always. I looked around. The closet. Each of us had a small, walk in style closet on the far wall of our respective rooms. Taking another deep breath, and still holding the wrench above my head like a caveman’s club, I strode to the sliding doors and grabbed the handle, yanking it open with a scream of protest from its track. I forced aside the clothes hanging on the rack. Nothing. As I stared at the back wall, the feeling of being stared at came again, this time from almost directly behind me. I swear I could actually feel someone – or something, breathing down my neck.
Moving on pure instinct, I pivoted around and swung the wrench with all the strength I had – at nothing. There was nothing and nobody behind me. What the actual hell is going on here? I wondered. As I stood there, feeling as though something had been behind me and had simply dematerialized out of existence when I turned and swung, I heard the sound of a key in the front door, then the laughs of Ty and what had to be his date as they stepped inside. “I’m telling you, you did great at darts, babe!” Ty exclaimed. Both of them stopped and stared at me when they reached his bedroom door. I know I must’ve looked weird, standing in his room wearing only a towel and holding a wrench. After a moment of silence, he spoke. “..Uh, Jimmy, boy, what the hell are you doing?” I blinked a few times, trying to find my voice. Finally, I spoke.
“I swear I heard someone in here, man” I said, my voice trailing off slightly. I saw the two of them exchange nervous looks. “What you mean, dude?” he asked, his eyes looking around. “I mean, I heard the exact same sound as last time, only the bathroom door swung open. I came out, thought I heard someone moving around in your room, and came in here” I replied, feeling only confusion and embarrassment sweep over me. I could tell he believed I had heard something, and to ease my worries, he had his date sit in the room, and together, we swept the place, looking in every closet and under both beds. But we found no trace of anyone. I shook my head as he prepared to go into his bedroom. “I don’t get it” I muttered softy. He patted me on the shoulder. “I think the bathroom door may just be a bit loose on its hinges, my dude” he said, trying to reassure me. “I’ll check it out in the morning. Go dry yourself off and get some sleep” He punched me lightly on the arm. “And hey, no scary movies late at night for you, okay? You’re starting to hear things go bump in the night for real!”
He let out a laugh, one which I mirrored, but didn’t feel. The feeling of eyes on me had vanished, but the apartment still held an uneasy feeling. It stayed as I dried off, dressed into a pair of pajama bottoms, and climbed into bed. I could hear Ty in the next room, doing exactly what I figured he’d be doing with his date, and rolled my eyes. Hearing that shit gets old after a while. Still, I reached out, grabbed the remote and flicked on the small TV on my bureau for background noise. It took a very long time to drift off to sleep that night, and when I did, my dreams – nightmares, actually, were of a dark, shadowy figure creeping slowly towards my ajar bathroom door, the sounds of the shower on spilling out from it. As it reached out to push open the door, I snapped awake, sitting straight up in bed with a sheen of sweat covering my face and body.
For the next two weeks, I tried as hard as possible not to stay alone in that place. I only showered when I could hear my friend moving around in his room, or out in the living room. Whenever I knew Ty was going out for any reason, I’d either find an excuse to join him, or just go out and do something in town. The sense of being watched hadn’t returned after that night, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Something about the place just, felt like it had changed. Something almost imperceptible, which I couldn’t place. But, it seemed to do the trick, as nothing weird or creepy happened.
Then, one day, as I was sitting in a café sipping on a coffee, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, and saw it was my boss calling me. Great, on my day off I thought exasperatedly, then hit the button to answer it. “Yeah?” Instantly, I heard the gruff voice of Rick, my boss on the other end, yelling to someone else. “No, no, no! Steven, how many times do I have to tell you, counter-clock ways!” His voice got louder as he must’ve put it back to his head. “James, you there?” he asked. “Yep” I replied simply. He let out a sigh. “Look, I know today’s your day off, but we’re over here at the Bannerman property, and two of the pipes burst” He let out a long groan of frustration. “One of them is real bad. I’m able to get one of them fixed, but, our new employee” his voice took on an undisguised tone of disgust, “decided to make it worse by fucking the pipe up worse” He finished, letting a moment of silence spread out before speaking again. “So, I apologize, but I need you to come in. You’ll get paid overtime, of course” I nodded, more to myself than anything, then let out a sigh of my own. “Yeah, I’ll be in. Just let me swing by my place and pick up my tools” I said.
“Don’t forget to quickly hit the shower before getting over here, James” he quickly added, “You know old man Bannerman gets pissy about anyone not being freshly clean coming in here, due to being a germophobe. So, I’ll expect you to be here in thirty minutes” And with that, he clicked off before I could say anything. Not that I could, anyways. At the mention of a shower, I felt a shiver run up my spine. I knew Ty was out; his bowling team was off in the next town on another tournament. Which would mean I’d have to shower in the empty apartment. And that’s something I really do not want to do. But, I had no choice. If I just grabbed my tools and slipped into my jumpsuit, I’d get chewed out, first by Old Man Bannerman, and then Rick for not following orders set down both by him, and the man we’d contracted to repair and replace the pipes of his huge sprawling mansion.
Sighing, I paid for my coffee and drove back to the apartment. When I opened the door, I had a flash of panic seize through me. I thought the feeling I’d had before would come back as soon as I stepped inside. But, the apartment felt normal, the cloudy light filtering in through the half open kitchen and living room window blinds. I looked around, then shook my head. Stop being such a baby, Jimmy. There’s nothing in here except you. You’ll be fine, just take the shower, and book it. Feeling more resolved, I strode across to my room, gathering my undershirt and jumpsuit. For peace of mind, I also grabbed the same pipe wrench I’d held that night from the belt hanging over the edge of the couch, and carried it into the bathroom with me, placing it on top of the pile of clothes sitting on the toilet lid. For a moment, I debated on just closing the bathroom door, but, like the previous feeling, shook it away and left it ajar. Ty should’ve fixed the hinges by now, anyways.
I reached into the shower and turned the water on, waiting for it to warm up. After I saw the steam begin to rise out from over the curtain, I stepped inside, grabbing the bar of soap and quickly beginning to scrub myself. I rinsed myself off with no problems, then grabbed the shampoo and lathered up my hair. As I scrubbed into my scalp, the soap began to drip down into my eyes, obscuring my vision. That’s when I heard the scraping sound come again. Only this time, it was much louder and more pronounced than any time I’d heard it before. I felt a chill run up my spine, despite the hot water flowing down over it. It came again, just outside the bathroom door. I took a deep breath. “Tyler?” I called out, thinking the sound would stop as it had both times before. But this time, it didn’t. Instead, I heard it scrape louder, almost on the bathroom door itself. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I saw the dark shape of the bathroom door swing open.
And then, the bathroom lights flicked off, plunging me into darkness. There was still a little light filtering in from the living room, but everything was now in gloom. What. The. Fuck. My heart was thundering in my chest as I slowly stepped back. I knew the distance from the edge of the tub to the toilet seat where my wrench lay was less than two feet. I could reach out and snatch it in a heartbeat. The scraping sound came again, loud as I’d ever heard it; it came from inside the bathroom somewhere, near the door. And then it stopped entirely. Aside from the sound of the water running, the apartment fell silent. Not a deadly silence, not a tension filled silence, just, silent. I stared for the longest time, what had to be only about fifteen seconds, but what felt like two hours, at the dim outline of the open door. I saw nothing. I turned to pull the curtain next to me back. And I screamed.
The dark outline of a figure, darker than any of the rest of the gloom, stood almost directly on the other side of the curtain, less than a foot from me. If it’d been any closer, it would’ve been pressing into the curtain itself. It stood completely motionless, though I could tell it was looking in my direction from the feeling washing over me in waves, sending a tsunami of chills through me. I couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman, or hell, if it was even human. It was a human like figure; that was all I could tell. My breath came out in a ragged gasp, and I involuntarily let out a whisper. “Oh, fuck me…”
That was when it lunged at me. I let out a loud scream as the curtain pressed in against its weight, wrapping around it, and subsequently me as I saw arms reaching out to grab me. The momentum of it smashing into me caused me to slip on the wet shower floor, and I went flying backwards. My head smashed into the tub’s faucet, causing me to let out a cry of pain and stars to flash in my vision as I fell to the floor of the tub. It was still there, as I could feel it on top of me, but it never let out a single sound. Something sharp jabbed into my leg, and I let out another scream at the sudden explosion of pain come from my thigh. Another jammed into my shoulder, and I kicked out at the dark figure inches from my face through the curtain. I felt it impact something, but it seemed to have no effect. Another stab of pain came from my shoulder as whatever it was using, a weapon or…claws, jammed into the wound it had already made. I kept screaming as I thrashed around, trying to jam myself into a position where I could reach out.
I heard furious knocking coming from my front door, but it sounded like it was a mile away. “Help me!” I screamed as loudly as I could, still lashing out. Just as I began to feel woozy, I felt my hand brush the edge of the toilet seat, and with it, the cold metal handle of my wrench. Grabbing it as hard as I could, I swung out with all my remaining strength into what had to be the head of the thing. It seemed to stumble a bit at the blow, and I used that precious second to wrench myself out from underneath it, tumbling over the edge of the tub and onto the bathroom floor. I heard it thrashing about with the fallen shower curtain, furiously tearing at it in an attempt to get to me. But I was stumbling to my feet, noting as I did the amount of blood falling to the floor. I struggled to the front door as I heard it finally break free, crashing back onto the bathroom floor, but still remaining silent. I unlocked the door and wrenched it open, revealing the concerned face of my next door neighbor.
When he saw my condition, his face paled. Before I had a chance to say anything, I yelled. “I’m being attacked, it’s in there!” pointing back towards the bathroom. Grabbing me, he pulled me into his open apartment door, slamming it closed and locking it. He quickly brought me a bathrobe and called the police. As he did, I could hear the sounds of it tearing through the apartment, doing God only knows what. It stayed that way until I heard the wail of sirens coming down the road, at which point, I heard everything fall silent in my apartment. A few moments later, I heard the thundering of steps pound up the stairs to the second floor, followed by the yell of the officers. After a few minutes, my neighbor and I heard the hard knock at his door. “Police!”
I was helped to an ambulance, where I was taken to the hospital. In addition to splitting open my scalp on the faucet, I’d been cut up pretty badly, though by what, the doctors couldn’t tell me. They couldn’t even tell themselves. “It’s the damndest thing” one told me as they sewed the wounds closed, “If it hadn’t been for the fact you’d seen a person, I would’ve said you’d been attacked by an animal. These look like puncture wounds from claws!”
The police never found a trace of what had attacked me. I already knew they wouldn’t. It wasn’t a man who’d attacked me. It hadn’t even been human. The case is still open to this day, though I’ve long since stopped getting update calls from the detectives in charge of the case. Tyler and I moved out of the apartment as soon as I left the hospital; he chose to stay at his new girlfriend’s house while I recovered. He’s under the belief I was attacked by an intruder, as is everyone else I know. I just say that whenever anyone asks. It’s easier that way, then trying to explain what I know won’t be believed. That’s why I’m posting this here. I just, feel the need to have to tell someone what actually happened to me that day. This is a place I know I’ll be believed, or at least, won’t be called nuts for it. That figure simply appeared on the other side of the curtain. I never saw it cross the room, and I know, even in the dark, I would have. And even then. Nothing human could possibly be been that silent.
I also know someone else moved into that apartment since then, though I don’t know who they are. I pray they won’t ever end up receiving a visit from…whatever that thing was. The two of us are now renting a nice, relatively cheap two bedroom house miles away from that place. I’ve never felt the sensation of being watched again, and I’ve thankfully never heard the scraping sound. At least, in my waking hours. I still hear it in my dreams, still see that shape standing just on the other side of the curtain in the dark. It will likely stay there until the day I’m on my deathbed. I always feel tense now when I step into the bathroom to wash myself, but, I’ve always felt safe in my new place.
I don’t shower with my door ajar anymore. I make sure it’s closed and firmly locked before I undress and hop in. I’ve always felt safe in my new place, but, I’m not taking any chances.
Because I don’t know if it’s trapped in that apartment. Or if it can leave whenever it wants.

Ok, before you dismiss me as being insane, you need to actually note that this works, but can only work if done properly.
so to begin
As a curious dude, I have always been interested in exploring altered states of consciousness to gain a deeper understanding of the universe and my place in it. Recently, I discovered a unique way to unlock the secrets of my subconscious mind: by listening to the audio of Mean Girls while sleeping and listening to either Parliament-Funkadelic or The Beatles.
At first, I was skeptical. How could a teen comedy and some classic rock and funk music lead to a profound spiritual experience? But the results spoke for themselves. As soon as the movie's dialogue finished and the songs began to drift into my ears, I found myself enveloped in a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and shapes (my eyes were still slightly opened and I could feel jolting and sinking movements as if the bed was going down under my weight for miles). The vivid hues expanded and coalesced into a tunnel of ancient Egyptian symbolism, probably hinting at the ancient knowledge that was about to reveal itself to me.
As I progressed through this psychedelic journey, I turned into Regina George, the movie's villainous protagonist, but in a heroic way and confronting my own flaws and weaknesses. I watched myself die as I was watching as someone else, allowing me to see myself more clearly and learn how to become a better version of myself.
But it wasn't just about introspection. The dream also took me on a wild adventure through the American Civil War, where I fought for the Union and defeated the Confederacy. I became a soldier, but then transformed into a gun, allowing me to see my own negative traits inside of bullets, shoot them out (it felt like pooping something out from your head to out of your feet) and overcome them. I was also confronted with the destructive power of addiction and the perils of sexual desire, as well as the importance of unity and brotherhood and why politics separate people and how they are engineered to kill societies.
The dream was filled with surreal and absurd imagery, from flying boats to talking helmets to giant walruses, but it all seemed to make sense in the moment. It was like a puzzle where every piece fit perfectly, revealing a bigger picture of the universe and my place in it.
I also gained a greater awareness of the propaganda and manipulation that permeates our media and political systems. I saw through the lies and divisive tactics that politicians use to control us and recognized the need for unity and cooperation. I was able to see through commercials and ads I remembered on how things have seriously changed and how in the past there was still (but less) propaganda. I even found myself motivated to take action in my own life and make positive changes for myself and others.
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this experience was the feeling of being in the presence of other beings. It was like I had unlocked a doorway to a parallel universe where anything was possible and all kinds of amazing creatures existed. It was humbling and awe-inspiring, and it left me with a sense of wonder and gratitude for the mysteries of the universe.
It‘s hard to explain, but these dreams were not physically real or true, but they were self-validating in their own way. They allowed me to explore my own psyche and gain insights into the nature of reality and my place in it. I felt dumb and foolish at times, but I also gained wisdom and understanding that I could never have attained through normal waking consciousness.
So, if you're looking for a way to shake up your dreamscape and gain new perspectives on your own life and the universe and the world, I highly recommend trying this experiment.

I know you guys have issues with Bailey and Celina and I get it (sometimes) but also… it’s a show on tv. It is entertainment 1st, factual and sensible 2nd… or maybe 3rd.
This last episode (s5e19) had me leaning over at the edge of my couch the entire time. I haven’t seen an episode this compelling since the killing of La Fiera.
Seeing the comments of you guys poking all these holes in the logic and in the plot I think you guys missed the point. At the end of the day, we finally got some answers and some closure to a very complicated and heart wrenching case (and for once it wasn’t about Elijah) and I think we got some well deserved character development that moved the story forward.
Excellent episode.

For someone whose never seen anything Star Trek before and knows next to nothing, whats the best place to start watching and get into the franchise?
I looked on the Wikipedia page and there's a lot of movies and shows and it was a bit overwhelming.
Does all of the media follow one timeline or has it been rebooted/reset a few times?

My history: my parents were obsessed with this movie when it came out in the late 80s. They were really, really into it, but they didn’t let us kids watch it because it was allegedly “too scary” or “inappropriate for children” or something. (They were religious fanatics obsessed with “purity” and “avoiding corruption,” which meant that a whole lot of completely harmless content triggered their disapproval.) But they talked about it a lot (though probably less than I remember), told us its story many times, bought us several items of movie-related merch (including a novelization, which I devoured), and so on. It was a prime case of that secondhand fandom thing I often mention.
In 1998, my youngest sibling passed whatever threshold of maturity was required to see the movie, and so we watched it as a family. I rather resented the delay; it seemed to me that the older kids could have been allowed to watch it much earlier without having to wait until everyone was old enough. The movie itself did nothing to assuage this resentment, because I could not find a single thing in it that was at all objectionable, so what was the point of ever waiting at all? I was so bothered by all this that I (a very quiet and obedient child) took the extraordinary step of actually voicing my grievances; my mom incredulously asked if I’d somehow missed the scene in which a troll or something is magically and “disgustingly” transformed into a two-headed monster.* I had not missed that, but it only lasted like one second, and the late-80s CGI used to portray the blood and guts was so hilariously unconvincing that I hadn’t been grossed out or scared, and it didn’t even occur to me that anyone could be.
The lesson here is to not let your absurd supernatural beliefs determine what you will or won’t watch. It will deprive you of a vast amount of worthwhile content, and it will turn you into a ridiculously sensitive person that needlessly freaks out about every little thing.
That aside, I really enjoyed the movie back then. And now that there’s a sequel series out (which I don’t especially want or expect to see), I figure I might as well give it another look.
​
But first, my standard rant about how stagnation, rather than rapid progress, is the defining feature of the modern world. This time I’m going to dwell on how ridiculous it is that a TV series produced by the most powerful company in the history of entertainment feels the need to hitch its wagon to a decades-old intellectual property that was never really popular, and must be pretty much forgotten by now. Does the original Willow still have fans in this day and age, decades after a nearly-identical story has been told, much better, by the Lord of the Rings movies (not to mention better, and decades earlier, by the Lord of the Rings books)? Are these fans rabid and specific enough that branding the series after the movie will bring in significant numbers of them that an identical but nominally original series would have turned away? Is actually original content that doesn’t explicitly tie into an existing IP (no matter how obsolete or obscure) even legal anymore? Is it even physically possible?
​
That aside, the movie hasn’t improved with age. I suppose it deserves some credit for giving us a badass female military commander with a moral center strong enough to overcome every facet of her training and assigned loyalties, but on second look Sorsha is really not that at all. All we see of her Nockmaar military career is incompetence and failure, strongly indicating that she's nothing but a high-powered fail-child; she “falls in love” with Madmartigan when he invades her personal space and attempts to sexually assault her (while she’s asleep, no less); her change of loyalty seems based on nothing but personal attraction to Madmartigan as an individual (not at all the rightness of his cause or anything like that); and once she does switch sides she utterly disappears from the story (does she even speak a single line after her first kiss with Madmartigan? Maybe one or two in the throne-room scene, but she’s instantly sidelined there, too). Her story could have been a really good one, about the difficulty of putting one’s conscience ahead of one’s career and relationships and self-interest, or about the journey of recovering from a lifetime of parental abuse,** or the difficulty of actually fighting against one’s ex-coworkers (above and beyond the difficulty of deciding they’re wrong). But we get none of that: all we get is a female character we’re supposed to love to hate for being a powerful woman, suddenly redeemed by male sexual harassment, who makes the most capriciously emotion-focused decision possible, and then (despite possessing absolutely priceless insider knowledge that should instantly make her the most important person in the good-guy coalition) has nothing further to contribute once her romantic potential has been claimed.
This travesty of female representation gives me some very unflattering ideas about why my parents liked this movie so much: my mother grew up Catholic and was something of a feminist in her early years (that is, much like Sorsha, she started in the “enemy camp”); she switched sides by converting to Mormonism and marrying my dad, which involved a certain amount of “disappearing from the story”: a period of estrangement from her family, and the submersion of ambition and identity (no career, no authority, hardly any independent life of any kind) required of Mormon housewives and mothers. There’s a lot of her to be seen in the character of Sorsha, and I suspect that my parents both saw it and (in my opinion, horrifyingly) liked what they saw.***
But now that I’ve pilloried the movie for being misogynist, I should give it credit for its framing of the Final Epic Battle as a fight between two sixty-something women. This is a creative choice that I fully endorse: god knows we see sixty-something male action heroes often enough, and most action-hero antics are impossible for anyone of any age and gender anyway, so there’s no reason not to give elderly women their moment in the sun. And yet this is the only movie I know of that does that (honorable mention to the RED franchise for coming the closest); the decision to center them like this is so odd and unexpected it seems kind of insane to me. Which is a me problem, and a movies-in-general problem, which this movie laudably tries to correct.
An element that Willow shared with Lord of the Rings (among many, to the point of outright plagiarism) is an apparent misunderstanding of the bucolic agricultural life. Nelwyns, much like LOTR’s hobbits, live in notably rich and peaceful farming communities that know nothing of violence or oppression.**** Which is entirely out of bounds: in the absence (and often enough even in the presence) of modern governance and technology, farming communities require violence and oppression (to defend the rich farmland from everyone else who wants it, that is literally everyone; and to compel the necessary labor, which can only be done through enslavement); they literally can’t exist without them! And so when the hardened warrior Madmartigan chastens the naïve and non-violent civilian Willow by saying “This is war, not agriculture!” he has it backwards; agriculture requires more violence and cunning than warfare, and so (as the movie shows shortly thereafter) if you want to win a war, you really should listen to a farmer, not a warrior.
Another point of commonality with LOTR (and Star Wars, and many other franchises) is the division of the larger conflict into magical and non-magical domains. Star Wars has Luke’s effort to resurrect the Jedi Order, alongside the Rebel Alliance’s largely-unrelated struggle against the Empire. LOTR has parallel stories of Frodo’s effort to destroy the ring, and the various battles between conventional forces. Willow takes the interesting step of clearly showing us that there is a “secular” conflict (Airk’s army doing its thing, fighting Galladoorn’s losing battle against Nockmaar), but almost completely neglecting it in favor of the magical side of things. I enjoy this approach; this is the story of Willow’s adventure, so we really don’t need to see the full details of a conflict that mostly doesn’t involve him. But I do mightily appreciate that the movie bothers to mention that it’s happening and how it’s going.
One thing I don’t care for is the child-of-destiny bullshit; the fictional existence of people who are inherently magical from birth is obviously based on the real-life existence of people who are royalty from birth, that is, on institutionalized nepotism, which is possibly the worst idea in human history, right up there with (and closely related to) literal belief in supernatural powers. So it always bothers me when a story like this hinges on the absolute certainty that anyone can tell, with any degree of accuracy, that a particular baby has more inherent potential and importance than any other.***** Elora Danan is her own person, with her own choices to make; I find it tiresome that the story (or any story, or people’s expectations in real life) requires her (or any person, fictional or real) to be anything but what she is or chooses to be.
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*Called, in a touch I find very funny, an “Ebersisk,” an obvious ‘tribute’ to the famous film-critic duo of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. And this is not the only one: the Big Bad’s leading henchman is named “General Kael,” an equally obvious ‘tribute’ to film critic Pauline Kael.
**This angle could even explain the absurd “love at first sight” element of the story, the way that Sorsha seems to decide to betray everything she’s ever known based on like 30 seconds of interactions with a total stranger that she wanted to kill: a lifetime of abuse can tend to incline people to disproportionately positive reactions to whoever is first to ever be nice to them or validate them in any way.
***This does not come out of the blue; for many years, they’ve proudly displayed in their home a replica of The Unicorn in Captivity, a medieval tapestry that celebrates violently breaking the freedom-loving spirit of a magical creature. We agree that it can be read as an allegory about marriage, but they somehow manage to see it (the still-bleeding unicorn, solitarily confined in an inescapable enclosure that is way too small for it) as a positive portrayal.
****I went into this (and a great many other important matters) here.
*****People do of course differ in their attributes, but a) we have no idea how much of that difference is actually inherent, and how much is caused by environmental factors, and b) more importantly, we have no way of gauging their attributes, inherent or otherwise, while they’re still babies. Is one baby (say) a prodigious athlete while another is hopelessly wimpy? Possibly. (Possibly not; early experience with being encouraged, or not, to pursue physical excellence might make most of the difference, if not all.) But even if so, there’s no way of knowing that from the moment of birth; athletic parents conceive athletically useless children all the time, just as physically unimpressive parents often produce Olympian children.

[HELP] I have approx 1500 DVDs, and I am looking to transfer these onto a home server and access them as described in your videos. I don't know where to begin; if I hazard to guess, then I end up going through the typical engineering rabbit hole of paralysis through analysis syndrome or making one of the eight mistakes. I have watched many of your videos and read many of your online documents. Thank you so much for all of your effort in making the videos and online content, it was a help, but that paralysis is creeping in. Mostly the system will be for the DVDs and movie/show content. I have a few computers and would like them to share files and backups. Again, many thanks for your time. Chris Rock - yeh it's my real name.
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