Killin' It

The Ride.PNG

Redraw of Georges Leonnec The Ride "La Vie Parisienne" 1924

I'm here to spread Beard and long hair Artemy propaganda

Screenshotting my original post so my addition shows up in the tags.

Two-siding a genocide in your ongoing podcast while an actual real world genocide is going on is WILD.

The humans have been confirmed to be colonizers of land originally inhabited by monsters. They have carried out multiple genocides and forced the monsters out of their homes and into cities on the fringes of the world. Then more human invaders show up to destroy those cities (also the monster cultural centers).

We have confirmation that the city they hit first has been leveled entirely now. The city that Olala was seeking because it contained so much information and history about monster kind.

We've also got political leaders refusing to get involved unless the bombing comes to them, and the monsters being treated as primitive and ineffective against the advanced tech of the off-world humans. This is a really uncomfortable if unintentionally a parallel and actually awful if it is intentional. Best case scenario, it's trying to make a connection between fictional monsters and real life people in a way that's both othering and pretty racist. Worst case, the writers actually believe this is a two side issue and that any attempt to stop Israel is "just as bad" as an ongoing genocide.

Does anyone know if anyone has made any statements? I'm not expecting every creative to do so, but when your work is hitting this close to real world situations, it might be necessary.

I mean, considering that other podcast who did similar things

(tma with the disease ep during COVID) / (silt Verses with the bomb ep during the current war) / etc.

they always stated:

"this was written beforehand, real life similarities weren't intended, the timing of the upload is unintentional, stay safe"

this is even in the best case scenario not handled well...

Yeah, I'm hoping that's the case too. This arc did start in July, but the most recent episodes are where everyone is starting to feel conflicted about getting weapons to fight back. (This whole idea of there being no "good or bad destroyers" in the most recent ep is what made me post this)

I haven't come back with transcript screenshots yet because I'm hoping it's just terrible coincidences. I don't want to start a mob, I'm just yelling into the void "Hey, does anyone else think this is weird?"

Maybe I should, though. To add context.

They have at least included the proper content warnings in the show notes and the ends of the transcripts.

Fellas, is it Gay to telepathically make out with your bestfriend? 🧐

While what happened to studio ZAUM and the Disco Elysium creators is undeniably tragic, it's honestly the most thematically coherent way that particular story could end. A passionate group of creatives creates a massively successful product, it's weird and innovative and, while it certainly draws a ton of inspiration from various existing works and genres, it synthesizes them into something unique enough that I'd say it would be impossible to predict that there even WOULD be an audience for it until it was released. It's openly political, but not in a way that necessarily makes anybody feel good about their existing beliefs. The entire thing is crafted and driven by deep passion and excellent writing and more than a little bit of insanity. And then, once it became clear that it was a genuine major phenomenon, the investors stole the company and the IP out from under the creatives. Which, yeah, that tracks for the Funny Communism Game. Otherwise, what are the options? The creators make another game, but fail to capture the lightning in the bottle of the original. The ideas that were once so fresh and unique are now expected, meaning that they'll be condemned for failing to reuse them by the people who just want to play Disco Elysium again for the first time, but won't have the same impact on people. Ends with a whimper. "What happened to the Disco Elysium guys" "Oh they made Disco Elysium II: Disco Elysiumer, but it kind of sucked". The creators could make another game, and it's wildly successful again, and they make a ton of money off of it. Capitalism Works and, just this once, people are rewarded for their ingenuity and passion. Eventually you either go back to number 1, or "Makers of Funny Communism Game are rich now". Like, genuinely the best outcome from a "People deserve to be rewarded for putting things people love into the world" standpoint, but thematically a bit eh. Worst case scenario, you get a repeat of Notch. I guess a variant of option 1 has them TRY to catch the lightning in a bottle again but fail to make anything they're satisfied with as the studio breaks up in frustration in an ironic repeat of the in-game story of Fortress Occident.

Instead, they make Funny Communism game, it's wildly successful, but instead of receiving the rewards promised under capitalism, somebody leverages the fact that they have access to capital to steal the studio out from under them and claim the rewards of their passion and labor. Karl Marx would have something to say about that.

Except.... this is real life. This isn't a story.

We know from rumors and actual statements that they had planned to explore more of Elysium in the future. I don't think we would have gotten Disco Elysium 2, but something else entirely in the same world.

And I think it's not morally wrong for them to have made money off of the world of Elysium. Would it really have been so bad for it to become a beloved and financially successful franchise? Do people not deserve to profit off of their art if they exist in a capitalist society?

It seems strange to me to theorize on the potential downfall of people who's art you enjoy. Why must they fail for your "themetic coherence"? They're real people in real life, not Blorbos From Your Games. Like, yeah, you're right. It is ironic and fitting, but actual people losing their life's work is definitely not the best possible ending here. Ideally they would have been able to keep creating their world, whether or not it was financially successful.

Diane, 11:30 AM, February 24th.

Entering the town of Twin Peaks, five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line.

I’ve never seen so many trees in my life.

Gut punch after gut punch

Posta di Donna by Keagan Jervis

“This is the woman’s guard, that can make all seven blows of the sword. And she can cover against all blows. And she breaks the other guards with the great blows she can make. And for exchanging the thrust she is always ready.” —Fiore de’i Liberi, “Fior di Battaglia”

“They were cheek to cheek: Gideon’s arm and Harrow’s arm entwined, holding the sword aloft, letting the steel catch the light. The terrace stretched out before them, glass shards spraying in the wake of the construct, falling as slowly and as lightly as down. Harrow looked back at Gideon, and Gideon’s eyes, as they always did, startled her: their deep, chromatic amber, the startling hot gold of freshly-brewed tea. She winked.” —Tamsyn Muir, “Gideon the Ninth”

I hit a pothole (a Michigan pothole so basically a sinkhole) today and my check engine light came on. I don’t have one of those computer plugins to reset the light and I knew it was just a sensor that got knocked so I was just like “well let’s see if this works” and on the way home I swerved and hit the pothole again and the check engine light turned off

i find it fascinating that people don’t like talking about the scene in the abandoned boxing gym like it’s so emotional feeling the gut punch as goncharov reckons with the fact that he had to give up everything he loved in order to be “successful” and for some reason people seem to either miss it or pretend it’s not there

like i get that it’s easy to miss the backstory that goncharov was a boxing prodigy bc the only hint to it was a background character saying it in italian (the thing the guy in the suit says in the bar scene translates to “isn’t that goncharov the boxer? what ever happened to him?”) but like… even without that if you can’t see the clear pain in his eyes as he looks at the boxing ring i don’t even know what movie you were watching tbh

I have Thoughts on Goncharov and his almost intrensic need for violence in his life and how even his childhood talent reflects that.

goncharov 1973 dir. martin scorsese might be a mafia movie to sigma male film bros but to me she is like if a traumatized russian mercenary who dreams of a quiet house on a hill but cannot escape the blood on his hands was my girlmutual

Goncharov takes place in Napels! Italy! There's only one Russian character in it, which is Goncharov, trying to find his way in an unfamiliar environment and getting involved with the Italian Maffia to be able to earn enough money impress the girl he fell in love with.

Al Pacino has a role in it!

Come on, guys!

People are way too fixated on the flashbacks to Goncharov's life in Russia, and while that tracks with the film's reoccurring themes of feeling nostalgic for something you can't return to and Goncharov's own fixation on his past, I really think the fandom should put more focus on his current life in Italy. It's just really disheartening to see a majority of the film entirely forgotten about just for the sake of wish fulfillment.

Like, I get wanting to see our boy Goncharov happy again, but I think you're missing the whole point that he CAN'T be happy there again. AND I think people need to keep in mind that Goncharov is an unreliable narrator and his flashback scenes can't really be trusted. He's very obviously making things seem better than they were there because of his nostalgia, and it's very clear that it's happening based on the letters he receives from back home over the course of the movie and his own dialogue with other characters.