LOL -- even if I somewhat agree with @ant, too.

Lucas maybe doesn't get enough credit for being a genius, Tolkien-esque "world creator".

Sure seems like he was at his best when he took that creative genius and paired it up with other people (NOT yes-men) to cover screenwriting duties (anything beyond broad-strokes, particularly dialog), directing, and probably casting etc. also. Given that, I breathed a sigh of relief when he sold to Disney. Star Wars wasn't going anywhere but down with him at the helm, but I like what Disney has done with it.

Then again, what do I know? His franchise to do with as he pleased. Just so happened that *I'm* also pleased with the net result...

It's almost like he tried to put the goods on the cold ground for relief. This made me laugh until tears.

For about 10 years now i've had severe stomach problems, to the point of sometimes being all but housebound. At some point in my attempts to try and find some resolution, i came across the idea of a gut flora transplant.

I never did it because you've got to find someone healthy with a great diet and i suppose bowel regularity, which is difficult in itself because those people are rare and the subject is embarrassing.

But if you're crippled with stomach aches, woken up 7 times a night going to the toilet (and then not even doing anything), then putting someone else's shit into your own bum is nothing. As Terry Pratchett once said about Alzheimer's - it's a desperate situation, and he'd eat the rotting arsehole out of a dead mole if it meant a fighting chance.

For anyone interested, i stopped eating gluten for a while and had minor improvement. When i ate gluten, i'd get feverish and flu-like, joint pain, headaches, sweats and excruciating stomach pain. I figured it was coeliac disease and hoped i would fully recover before long. I didn't, but 2 weeks ago i also cut potato (nightshade vegetable) from my diet and i have been stomach ache free since (that is, 75%+ of the time my stomach feels painless). Apparently lectins are problematic.

If anyone has ever had severe pain for a very long time, they'll know the utter relief and joy of being pain free. It's hard to describe, but for a few days to a week, it's a euphoric feeling.

I don't need to properly debunk that to know it's some neocon bullshit.

I've read reports (and google/wiki confirms) that we had twice the boots on the ground in Haiti in <2 days after their earthquake than we do today in Puerto Rico after 12 days, and Haitians aren't Americans. Please explain how it's so much harder to get aid to Puerto Rico with warning the disaster was coming days ahead of time.
I'm not at all sure about your claims about the mayor of San Juan, but even if what you say were true, blaming the mayor, as if FEMA is unaware of the urgent need without her properly filed and formatted request made in person at their headquarters, for the complete failure of FEMA to distribute supplies to citizens on the whole island is ridiculous , imo. For days that headquarters was unreachable....everywhere was, many places still are today. She's certainly made multiple requests both private and public since the storm, as have other mayors that could...many still can't. I guess they're SOL for disaster relief until they get it together, right? *facepalm

To be honest, I think he realized that if he neglected to sign it and delayed hurricane relief funds, people might have rioted.

In an emergency people helping people is a basic right. Impounding a vehicle and even arresting the owner serves no purpose then to feed the ego of law enforcement. How about working together and maybe even registering said vehicles with law enforcement and getting an ID for such emergencies. Hundreds of years of disasters and there seems to be a lack of communication and efficiency or even simple planning for things like this. I know emergency relief is a massive undertaking, but there are ways to go about it that includes people that are just trying to assist. There are more people in need then there are state and federal "professionals".


** "....Because I said So!!" obviously this officer is a father. Cracked up because my dad use to say the same thing when he wasn't being listened to or questioned.

Holy Fuck!! Google "Trump Bonwit Teller":

https://www.fastcodesign.com/90137202/hey-remember-when-trump-destroyed-precious-art-history

New York Times:
"Plain as the building might be, the entrance was like a spilled casket of gems: platinum, bronze, hammered aluminum, orange and yellow faience, and tinted glass backlighted at night. In 1929 American Architect magazine called it “a sparkling jewel in keeping with the character of the store.”


"Upon learning about the historic building’s imminent demolition, and recognizing the cultural value of its ornamentation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art convinced Trump to remove portions of the historic facade and donate them to the institution."

"Soon he was backpedaling, after realizing that it would take two more weeks and $32,000...to properly take the reliefs off the building. Using his fake alter ago, a “Trump spokesperson” named John Baron, he told the New York Times in 1980: “The merit of these stones was not great enough to justify the efforts to save them.” His construction workers chopped up the metalwork with torches and let the sculptures fall to the ground to crack into smithereens."

Two, 15 foot high, irreplacable, Art Deco bas-relief sculptures smashed by Trump to save $32,000 in costs to remove them.

"privatise our sexuality"
If that isn't a masturbation euphemism, it is now.

And no-one is "suppressing the knowledge of holistic medicine", it's just that "holistic medicine" is bullshit. Note: that does not mean that cannabis is not a useful pain relief.

I moved to southern Arizona last year - still have yet to experience one these - but I surely will in the next two months. These dust storms are actually called "haboobs" and are prominent during the monsoon season which is typically June-August throughout Arizona & New Mexico. Which is quite interesting because those are the hottest months and although somewhat dangerous (floods/lightning) the monsoons begin a cooling down process (and immediate relief) which correlates with another 6 months of really nice weather.

Gotta love the internet where twats engage in the fucking typical "reading between the lines and pulling something I didn't say out of their nether regions" shoot from the hip bs...

I don't suggest for a moment that MJ (or any other herbal concoction) is the first stop for medical treatment in the slightest, but it's obvious in this video that, despite multiple surgeries and obvious use of many prescription drugs (she notes that opiates don't even touch the pain) that she was not getting relief... In the context of the video, and noting that her results are anecdotal, if it does result in relief for a person, it's worth trying right? Particularly if you are afflicted with constant agonising pain for which standard medicine hasn't provided a solution?

For instance, my wife suffers from long term depression and panic attacks. Therapy and medicine didn't help (in regards to drugs, it did more harm than good), but acupuncture actually made a significant different (for whatever reason). Should everyone ditch psychology for being turned in to a human hedgehog? Hell no. Should they try it to see if it helps? Why the fuck not?

I'm sorry about what happened to your dad (I'm guessing due to your aim at homeopathic rather than medical that he was on a alternate "treatment" that did nothing to prevent his death?), but stop taking your trauma out on other people. My point was to people who have exhausted more orthodox treatments but who might be hung up on "drugs are bad mmmm'kay" in regards to medical marijuana treatment. Nothing more, nothing less.

OOooOOOoooh ... Rookie move bud! Bet ya never did that again.

Before our currently messed up medical laws changed last July I had my dosage dialed in to perfection. One 180 mg 420 bar [dark chocolate/sea salt was my 'go to'] lasted me an entire day. I'd eat 1/3 every 8 hours for pain/stress relief that kept me functioning and happy. Sigh ...

I'll bite. (needless to say, spoilers)

The characters certainly had motivation.

Jyn's motivation, much like Rae in FA, is simple, daddy issues. She isn't so much invested in the rebellion as she is in enacting vengeance for her father. She is stunted emotionally and is not idealistic, but I think she uses that as a vehicle to push other characters along with her. Her last moments with Cassian aren't driven by any great romance, just the solace of two people who don't know if what they did will make a difference, but they succeeded in what they set out to do. I suspect she understood before she left Yavin that she was not going to get out of it alive, which sort of fits with her fairly nihilistic view of the universe.

Cassian was entirely driven by the fight against the Empire. He was willing to do anything, and was completely ruthless at the start, but he does mellow towards the end as Jyn makes a point of saying that he was like a stormtrooper. He is a zealot, a true believer, and is willing to sacrifice everything, even his humanity, for the cause.

Orson, the imperial commander, is a mixture of patriotism and self interest. He's a fervant believer in the imperial ethos of bringing order to the galaxy, but he is also deeply interested in recognition and commensurate rise in rank. He is so motivated that he risks his life directly to try and stop the rebels (not something you typically see bad leader types do outside of superhero movies, that's what henchmen are for) at the end.

The droid is all programming, but his comedy relief is explained by the dialogue that slicing an imp droid can affect it's personality. He is the one of the few light hearted notes (and consequently gives us a pretty poignant note when he says goodbye and get's shut down) in what is a fairly depressing movie. His bluntly honest statements are perfectly ironic and as such really do deserve the laughs they get.

The monk and the warrior were guardians of a temple but are now displaced. While it's couched in the monks mysticism, I think honestly they were happy to stand up to the big bad guys who wrecked their temple and extract some form of revenge. I think it would please both of them to know that it was worth it in the end.

The imperial defector seems to have little motivation, but he has already taken the dangerous step of defecting and getting the ball rolling for the entire plot etc, he's obviously completely displeased about the empire and willing to risk his life to do something about it.

Saul has been driven mad by the fight. The rebel leadership all seem to fit well within their established roles in the canon, as do Tarkin and Vader. Random rebel and imp personal are placeholders and who really gives a fuck what their motivations are? X D

/shrug As far as character development goes, it's certainly not a work for the ages, but to say these characters are going to get a thing because they need to get a thing seems to be nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.

Oh yeah, and in regards to AT AT's, it's a strategic imperial world and heavily garrisoned. Likely a staging point for excursions around the galaxy as well. It has major shielding, AA and fighter complements, Star Destroyers standing guard etc. Sure, fan service is a thing (although the homages in R1 are far less clunky than FA, including things like the Hammerhead, references to the cartoons etc), but as an imp commander, I would certainly release AT AT and AT ST vehicles against an attacking force of unknown size, particularly when you see a whole bunch of landing pads explode simultaneously. Are their 10 commandos or 1,000? 10,000? Yeah, go lowball and wait for them to walk out in the open right? \= |

It's not like the AT AT's were stomping all over the archive looking for a guy hiding behind valuable Imp data infrastructure, they are roaming the outer regions and are fairly proof against ground troops. Makes sense to me.

Dunno, I think the RLM reviews are generally entertaining and thoughtful, but in this case whoever writes Plinkett has let his acerbic dislike of "new" Star Wars cloud his objectiveness imo. It was an enjoyable flick and certainly one I intend to own. I don't think it's anywhere near the best sci fi (although I kinda like it on par with Empire) movie out there, but it's far better than RLM gives it credit for, imo.

I enjoyed past reviews from Red Letter Media a lot. They were insightful and detailed. They made me watch some movies in a new light and gave me a better understanding of them. However....

Go fuck yourselves, you whiny bitches!

You know what these people deserve? Everytime they turn on any screen of any kind to watch something even slightly related to sci-fi, it only plays Episode 1. They can't pause it, they can't stop it. And the Pod race as well as the 3-way lightsaber fight are edited out in their entirety. Just to make sure the relentless shittiness contains no form of relief.
We're finally getting decent Star Wars movies and all we get it 'But it ain't the original trilogy!!111!!'.
You people need more dialogue about the uncomfortableness of sand between your ass-cheeks. Or battle scenes characters only survive by entering slapstick-routines.
Sure, TFA and R1 certainly aren't perfect, maybe not even good, but they are surely much better than the awful shit Lucas shat down our throats the last 3 decades on the big screen.
The characters aren't likable enough? Have you met fucking teenage Anakin? I wanna slap the midichlorians out of that whiny bitch-face everytime he's on screen. He's so unlikable, the first time I didn't want to choke him until the Force left his body was when he murdered a classroom full of schoolchildren. That's what it took to make me go from 'I'm supposed to sympathise with this whiny-faced asshole?!' to 'Ok, he's the villian now. I'm supposed to feel this way about him'
There's not enough context? Go fuck yourself. Should we go and add extra flashbacks to Batman vs Superman on how Bruce Wayne's parents got shot? Just in case you don't get why he's Batman yet?
If you don't know what the Force is or who's Darth Vader, get the fuck out of my movie theater, mom! You're clearly here because somebody else dragged into this 'space war movie'.
I get it, the new movies aren't the perfect jewels of film-making your 5-year old self remembers the original trilogy to be ('Let's scrap the Wookies and invent the more Teddybear-like Ewoks, for the toy-sales!') but this is your response?
You're an teenage Anakin. A whiny, insufferable, bitch-faced asshole.
I welcome a healthy, critical discussion about movies any time. What I won't accept is this ridiculous display of ungratefulness after we suffered the prequel trilogy.
Star Wars is finally getting decent again. And you people shit all over it like the last 3 movies were even worth watching.
I'd rather watch Twilight than endure the creepy, awkward romance sub-plot of Episode 2 again. At least Twilight made laugh. And don't get me started on those tax disputes that started all that crap in the first place.
If you can't appreciate a Salami Pizza because there's no Pepperoni on it, you aren't worth any Pizza at all.

oh god this song was part of the years-long fever dream disco medley soundtrack that ran from 1975-1980.
Do the Hustle-Hijack your love-Disco Lady-Night fever-I Will Survive-Disco Inferno-YMCA-Good Times-Le Freak, blah blah.
I'm glad The Clash and The Pretenders came along when they did, even The Knack was a welcome relief.