u/Defiant_Invite_3323

Man, is this one of the most tragic arcs of any TV series? I don’t think it’s a case of recency bias to say that this is one of the most tragic arcs I’ve ever watched….on so many fronts.

From Philip’s perspective, it so fascinating to watch the tension between his nationalistic ideology and his conscience, ultimately his conscience getting the better of him within the context of Martha. Matthew Rhys’ acting throughout these passages is simply astonishing, truly capturing the realisation that this is an ethical dilemma that cannot be rationalised away with his Soviet ideology.

And there’s Martha — fuck me. To watch this good women have her loneliness weaponised against her with the result of her own life imploding was so devastating to watch.

And then there’s the psychological aspect of the exchange, which is so fascinating from Elizabeth’s perspective. Cleary the subtext is that Elizabeth is witnesses Philip’s care for Martha and wondering if it’s genuine love? Is it a form of love that both her and Philip haven’t actually developed? And there’s the extra added layer of the mystery behind Philip’s motivations. Is he purely motivated by guilt or is it love? The question of ‘what is real’ is such a key theme due the constant motif of acting and the blurring between the real and the acted.

I mean, clearly they deliberately released Tongue as a direct juxtaposition to Marianne to highlight the creative scope of Dopamine Chamber. If Marianna is their most overt attempt at a popish hit (which has clearly worked), then Tongue is them at their most experimental and playful, deliberately subverting the generic structure on songs like Marianne. The scope of these two tracks has got me even more excited.

Rewatching The Americans after man years, and completely forgetting most of it, the twist at the end of Season 2 was truly a sucker punch that not only captured the growing disillusionment with the cause, but also the danger of Russia’s utilitarian goals, especially their want for individuals to sacrifice any personal wishes for the greater good.

Of course, when we find out the truth of Jared’s brainwashing, despite his extreme commitment to the cause, there’s ultimately something incredibly perverse about his commitment to the greater good, especially his willingness to kill his own family. From the perspective of communist utilitarian, where any sacrifice of personal wishes that possibly leads to victory over America and therefore the greater good, his act ring true: you sacrificed your own personal happiness to commit to something that would yield a greater happiness, or utility, for a greater number of people. And of course, we can’t help but find this morally perverse.

And of course, this issue is further emphasised through Phillip and Elizabeth’s dilemma when they find out the truth and the Centre’s plans for Paige. Even though they’ve been mostly utilitarian about their wishes, sacrificing their own personal wishes for the greater, communist good, their own children are off limits, reflecting how difficult it is to hold this utilitarian perspective when someone personal is involved and how hard it is to repress such emotion.

Such a great ending that sets up a brilliant dynamic for season 3.

After revisiting this brilliant film (that still feels ridiculously modern), I was wondering if Charles' motivation was always selfish, or that he was originally motivated by truly altruistic purposes, and that his character follows the classic tragic-arc of having a fatal flaw that ultimately led to his isolation and downfall.

At the beginning of the film, it's obvious that the framing of his newspaper is motivated by helping the working class, but his true intentions behind this I think are quite ambiguous. My cynical side suggests that his motivation is purely about love and validation, acting as a substitute for the love of his mother. Or, maybe he began with a genuine desire to help people, but his growth into a powerful position ultimately led him to abuse his position to mould people into how he wanted them to be, essentially functioning as feedback mechanism to reinforce that Charles felt loved. 

Hey guys, my mate won a prize for all flights, accomodation, and corporate seats for the AFL GF this week and all paid for — and he is taking me. Obviously super excited, and obviously a neutral supporter without my Cats boys making it, but I was wondering what the experience is like? Honestly thought I’d never be able to go to one unless a miracle happened, especially living in NSW, but a miracle has indeed happened. How excited should I be? Or should I tamper my expectations?

Yeha, I get that he is old and Edwards is coming along, but I get the vibe that people tend to underestimate how significant it would be if we got him. He is a genuine heart and soul player and I feel like he would become a lot of the fans favourite player/good bloke, and he has games with genuine video game numbers, something along the lines of 30 possessions and multiple goals. If we only get Marshall, I’ll be super excited still. And it seems it’s going this way with discussions between Saints and Cats already open.

Rewatching the first time since it released, and there’s just something about the way that Lynch depicts the horror of the world that strikes such a deep, psychological chord. There’s been many sequences, but the existential horror of the boy being hit by the truck was so horrifying to watch again, to the point that I had tears in my eyes watching as new father.

I think it’s the contrast between the beautiful sequence of the mother and son playing in park, capturing the profound manner in which a child is a profound sense of meaning and love, and that being juxtaposed against his senseless death from a man jacked on cocaine — the mother is now left to deal with the tragedy of a senseless death as a man drives off with no justice being served. It’s just something about the way Lynch captures the apathetic nature of the world and it’s inherent, existential injustice that’s just so disturbing.

Knocked out of AFL, but how good is that we have a VFL Granny against the HAWKS. Gonna be epic!

Cornesy did a great job last night on Agenda Setters at highlighting his hard-hitting efforts from the final, but I swear Smith does so much contested work during each game. His numbers might not reflect this, but he is always hussling around the contest, looking for the hard ball get.

Man, I’m actually getting so much joy watching the swanies absolutely give it to Brisbane. If you want some small retribution for last year, well worth watching.

Whenever this guy has a big game, I can’t help but think he is the most important player in the team? Not just from an individual standpoint, but it’s like whenever he plays well, the entire structure of team flows. Is it due to the fact that the forward 50 entry kick is probably the most important in the game, and Meirs excels at hitting this target?

Hey guys, I just some questions regarding the role of the natural world and central metaphor of the lighthouse in this phenomenal novel.

Regarding the natural world, it seems to have a paradoxical role, both being a source of subjective positivity and the key source of existential angst, reminding the characters of their smallness of finitude. For instance, the ocean seems to be a lulling source, providing a sense of tranquility to the central characters. Yet, it also seems to be a source that reminds each character of their smallness and finitude. Whether it’s the relentless wind, the flood of darkness, or the persistent crashing of waves on the shore, these all seem to be catalysts that forces characters to reflect upon the relentlessness of time and the meaningless of the universe.

In relation to the lighthouse, I’d assume there are multiple ways to read this metaphor. Although, when reading the ‘Time Passes’ passage, the juxtaposition between the ever-persistent lighthouse and emptiness of spaces that were once animated seems to me to suggest that the lighthouse is a metaphor for something that transcends human boundaries, especially regarding being subjected to time. And the fact that they never reach the lighthouse, this may suggest that this is a space that humans can never occupy because it’s off limits to us — we are plagued by the relentless of time, while the lighthouse stands out of this.

How does this sound live? Honestly, watching the video has me convinced they going super heavy synth mode this album. The chorus of this track sounds like an anthemic banger.

I've just started to read To the Lighthouse again....and man, the language, and the use of figuartive techniques, is truly astonishing. I just read the passage involving the alphabet metaphor, and the manner in which Woolf uses this as a metaphor to capture Mr. Ramsay systemised method of thinking, and how the realm of certain intellectual pursuits are off limits for a mind like his, is so incredibly clever.

There's also some absolute doozy existential quotes that seem to capture this underlying fear of death that pervades the novel, even throughout the first 30 pages. I actually physically stopped reading when Mr. Ramsay pondered "The very stone one kicks with one's boot will outlast Shakespeare."

Hey guys, first time reading the novel and I had a question about the deeper/philosophical subtext of the novel, especially the way in which the novel can function as analogy for our obsession for believing utopian ideologies as a correction for our worldly miseries.

In the novel, clearly Ye’s motivation for believing in the potential of alien system is motivated from her trauma and pessimism. After the Cultural Revolution and her assessment of human behaviour, she deeply believes that this alien-force with function as a correction mechanism; a resetting of the world as we have fallen into the moral abyss. So, in a very similar fashion to religious or political ideologies, that ultimately provide a framework for compensating for your psychological pain, Ye’a desperate belief in Tsolaris also has a similar function as the belief is coded with the potentional of fixing her miserable view of the current human condition. 

If you wanna see a tragedy, just listen to Longmire on AFL360. My god, the pain in his eyes is unbearable. I also got the vibe that he is well aware that there are some devastating consequence coming.

So I’m revisiting the discography after the announcement, and every time I return to Skinty, I always feels there’s a creative kinship between these three tracks. With foreboding vocals, the echoing riffs, and rolling drums, there’s just this consuming fatalism and pervasive melancholy in each track that also seems to be the most overt homage to Joy Division.

I might be a bad reading judging the sound of a live video, but I did get a hint that there was certainly more of an electronic influence. Maybe their next album will follow the classic post-punk arc of becoming more and more influenced by the electronic music?

Ok, so this has been one of the examples of modern literature that has been recommended to me, and like some of the other books that I’ve read on this list (although, some have been incredible), I’m kind of scratching my head regarding why this is considered so great?

Yeah, it’s a modern reimagining of Dickens and obviously the content is poignant and there’s some thematics that are interesting…..but my god, the prose is so boring. To the point where I’m really struggling to engage with the book and justify reading it further. And don’t get me wrong, there are countless examples of brilliant modern literature (Never Let Me Go and Piranesi to name a couple), but this doesn’t feel like it deserves to be in a similar category. I know I’m on my own here as many love this novel, but curious to hear why you love it.

Man, Ho has really owned Season 5 so far — he has been fucking hilarious. Although, there’s one moment that perfectly explains his psychology. As he is getting interrogated, he drops a Paul Thomas Anderson reference to the film Magnolia (brilliant film)…..and says that “Tom Cruise fucking rules in that movie.”

If you watched this movie, well that reference explains everything.