Honestly, I'm very curious to view this world of assassins through the eyes of someone was minding his own business but is suddenly caught up in dangerous underworld business and has no idea what's going on.
Even though Keanu was already nearing 60 by John Wick 4, all four films were set within a span of less than a year so John remained what I assume to be in his early 50s throughout the first four films.
By the start of John Wick 5, there's got to be a massive timeskip - at least 10 years I say, John should be in his 60s at least by then. They need to accommodate for Keanu slowing down in real life by having John older and slower too, of course he'd still be deadly but it nonetheless would be interesting to see John in greater adversity due to him being even older.
Superman fans, Hulk fans, Goku fans, Sun Wukong fans, SCP fans, Elder Scrolls fans, World of Darkness fans, Lovecraft fans - among them are people who love those characters or verses so much JUST for the mere fact that they are so powerful, and in the minds of many of these obsessive fanboys their favorite character solos 100% of fiction, they would spread propaganda for their favorite characters and would want their character to be #1 so badly that they'd go exploring a new franchise they don't even like because they are so worried that someone somewhere just cooked up a new character for that franchise that may be comparable to their favourite - yes, fanboys can be THAT obsessed.
I should be real with you powerscalers - no matter how much we want our favorite characters to remain unbeatable, we can never keep up with fiction to keep them unbeatable EVEN if we had authority over that character; yes even if you were the boss of DC Comics or the successor to Toriyama in writing Dragonball or the creator of your own series with as much creative freedom as you want, you still CAN'T give your character an answer for every powerhouse out there, fiction is just tooooo big and the human imagination is just too limitless. Your favorite character is Tier 0/Extraversal in the VSBW and CSAP scaling systems? Oh that's nice, who's to stop some idiot from saying "fuck that, my character is so insanely powerful and beyond logic that to measure him by these established powerscaling metrics is to misunderstand him completely" - there are no rules when it come to fiction, no one's imagination is bound by existing logic so anyone can come up with anything to beat up every popular character they know.
Someone somewhere is cooking up even higher absurdities that we've never dreamt of as we speak, maybe even just to spite fanboys of any of the above mentioned characters and we can't stop him from doing so any more than we can stop the countless other powerscalers doing likewise as we speak. Imagination itself is what's truly boundless, no one has the power over anyone else's imaginations to stop the creation of more and more characters - today's character that solos fiction could be tomorrow's fodder to a new character introduced specifically to kill that character, that latter character would then be a victim of another character that will pop up the next day in some new book.. then that character also ends up being a bum when more characters are introduced.... it can't ever truly end. That said, there is no strongest character.
You've a favorite character who you admire for their strength and resilience? Good, enjoy that character and don't worry too much about what's going on elsewhere.
This is just my opinion of course. I already accepted that there will always be new contenders and Usyk simply can't fight them all - like all of us, he can't stop aging.
Usyk's ring IQ is legendary and he'll always be a genius who totally gets boxing (to a level most of his heavyweight contemporaries never will), but we've arrived at a point that even if he sees the weaknesses in Kabayel and Itauma that we don't and knows exactly what would need to be done, his body really might no longer be able to accomplish it.
When Father Time tells you to hang your gloves, take a bow and accept that it's other people's turn to take the stage that you've had your time shining on, the fair thing to do is to listen; that would be fair not only to yourself but also to your loved ones, the next generation of boxers in your division and to the fans of the sport of boxing. I'm more than happy now to see Usyk retiring from boxing himself and pursuing his other interests that still involve boxing - he has mentioned that once he retires he'd like to become a boxing trainer and build his own sports academy where I'm sure there'd be numerous young talents that would gladly learn from him and aim to become the next Usyk. I'd love to see Usyk's story continue and hear about him staying actively involved in Ukranian boxing (again, as a trainer) even into old age, but he must retire by the time he is 40 the latest so that we can see him in good health once he's in his 50s, 60s and older.
Usyk has proven at this point that he is an all-time great P4P boxer, very few could ever be a 3x undisputed champion across two divisions. We know that him in his prime (specifically during his fights against AJ) would've been a dangerous opponent against not only Kabayel and Itauma but also any heavyweight in history, lets just be happy with that and not see this older Usyk punish himself to prove more to some fanboys who still NEED him to have more big wins. He should just fight Verhoeven (who I believe he'd easily defeat in a rematch) and retire at 40 a true great.
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power" - Abraham Lincoln
^I like this quote and we can all see how true this assessment is in the real world, so many people in positions of wealth, power and authority abuse their status for selfish gain. Obviously we don't like those types of people, but none of us could confidently say that we ourselves won't become just like them if we were to become just as privileged.
Now put this in the context of Superman - he holds much more power than any real person, he is not even bound by the laws of conventional physics or any scientific logic, he could defy every rule in any book if he wanted to and also avoid being held accountable (ok there are beings in DC Comics who could step in and confront him but lets not go too into the granular detaills) - point being, he's insanely privileged yet he never lets power or glory get into his head, he has no real ego nor has he at any point shown hints that he could become a narcissist - he's in a position that would corrupt most men to shamelessly act mostly in their own self-interest yet he is a better person than any man could hope to be.
Most don't consider how easy it is for someone to become a selfish, entitled bully (like Homelander in The Boys) once they attain so much power over everyone else. Think about it, how long could you trust the average man to not peek under women's clothes once they get X-Ray vision? We know Supeeman would never do that, he'd be disgusted with himself if he did - but the average man? Yeah, you wouldn't trust him to be disciplined for life and this is not even scratching the surface of how depraved some people can get.
Kal-El/Clark Kent never needed to be humbled, he is already humble by his very nature. Growing up you may think to yourselves "Ooh I want to be Superman! It'd be so fun!" but as mature, reasonable adults you should think to yourselves "do I even have what it takes to even be a Superman as good as Clark Kent?", because being Superman is not JUST about having his Kryptonian abilities, not even close. On the same note, a reasonable person would grow from thinking "I wish Superman was real" to "can I really trust anyone to be Superman?".
Although Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a fictionalized account of real history and focuses little on the otherworldly, there definitely are legitimate supernatural elements in the novel. Around the time it was published most people in China still believed in the supernatural and the unexplainable, Luo Guanzhong himself probably did too.
Similarities between Dong Zhuo and the Baron:
In my case I wouldn't be, I'd be proud. My brother is still 13 and it's still too early for him to be dating - however he is quite popular, not only does he have many friends but he is a captain of his school's football team, when he finds a girlfriend (which I'm sure he will before he even turns 20) I'd be quite happy for him. I've always believed that he's better than me - he does well academically, actively plays sports, is humble (unlike me and our dad) and very disciplined; he deserves a good life ahead.
What about you?
I've not watched the movie, heard it's not really good, but I'm nonetheless curious about it because they got one of the GOATs of Asian actors to play Cao Cao.
A friend of mine is a serial cheater, has been in the past 15 or so years - almost every one of his girlfriends that we've seen come and go in that period got cheated on. He's also 31 (same age as me) and had probably cheated more than most men ever would in a lifetime. We call him Zeus who, other than being the God of Thunder, is known for being extremely horny. His wife is currently pregnant with their second child and not sexually reciprocating him, so he's off cheating again.
As a virgin, would you more likely be uncomfortable with his cheating because you'd feel envious or because you'd dislike him for simply lying to his partner?
In my case, I honestly don't care and am somewhat understanding - most men with the sexual opportunities he has would do the same, monogamy is a social construct going against the nature of men. I mean Jesus, male promiscuity saved the species from extinction during the Ice Age and lets not pretend modern men are biogically wired too differently from their ancestors.
We actually helped hide his cheating earlier last month when he went to see his mistress, me and two other friends (one of them also cheats) pretty much told his wife that he was playing PS5 with us when in reality he only dropped by to hang out with us for less than an hour before he went to fuck his mistress. He deliberately made a call to her to tell her what to meal prep for him the following week, and we each said "hello" while she was on speaker to indirectly assure her that yeah - he was with us, we had to because he's been caught before and does not want to risk drawing suspicions again. Now, do you find what we did deplorable or understandable?
Jesus, I can hear her from the other side of the office hahaha. A little distracting, but not too bad. I find the situation more funny than not 😆
I'm curious how you lot would react in such a situation, would it be unbearable or would you be unaffected?
Also, here's one for the Material_Poop in advance 🖕
Me and my friend went to see Backrooms this evening, while I was in the mall and making my way to the cinema I saw the guy I used to bully back in high school walking towards me hand-in-hand with his fiancee, I called out to him and he stopped to acknowledge and greet me.
We spoke for maybe two minutes, he introduced his fiancee, asked me how I've been and if I stayed in contact with anyone from school to which I answered yes - hesitantly because two of those friends of mine also used to pick on him with me, he then told me that he is now a software engineer and I told him that I now work in finance, when I asked him he said that he and his fiancee have been together for 4 years now and I congratulated them, they said they were on their way to catch up with his fiancee's sister and her husband, I told him I am going to see a movie with my buddy... we then shook hands, said it was good to see each other and moved on.
In a way, you could say he got his revenge on me for being a shitbag to him by becoming more successful than me - having a job that pays better than mine and a beautiful fiancee too. He seemed like a nice guy and it did not seem like he bore any ill will for me, even though I used to call him a pussy and even hit him once. Nothing was said about how I was to him in school but I think we can both agree that the hatchet was buried long ago and that I am forgiven.
Of course this reminded me of how incomplete my life has been since school ended compared to his life and most of everyone's lives, but it's not healthy of me to be bitter about it so I'll just go on with life and continue pursuing my goals.
I've come across a few guys in this sub talking about their experiences of seeking affection from AI, it is honestly quite sad. To become emotionally dependent on a computer program is just another level of defeatism - even if hopeless, you should take some pride in having some form of courage to face the reality of your situatuon than indulge in delusions.
Witnessing the unfortunate rise of consimers in the AI companionship market has made me realise just how accurately the movie Blade Runner 2049 predicted the future; Denis Villeneuve may have made an accurate prediction of the dystopia that is befalling the world as technological advancement coincides with sociological regression.
What are your thoughts? Should we actively shame people for giving up on finding partners and seeking out AI for love? What would become of the world if we allowed this to become normalized? - personally, I think less efforts will be made to address the male loneliness (or sexlessness) epidemic if AI companionship becomes a norm; "can't get a girlfriend? download one for $59.99"
While I honestly find it sad that any individual is so deprived or desperate for love, I find it more sad that society is not actively trying to suppress these predatory AI markets from growing. I'm pretty anti-AI in general, I think the world will be reshaped for the worse if humans become this dependent on AI.
For me - nope, I would not accept such a deal. I didn't wait so long just to compromise like this.
With all the damages he's sustained from boxing, Rocky absolutely could not have believed that he would outlive Adrian nor did he want to. The months after Adrian's death must have been the worst period of his life.
I am now 31 years old, I never actively pursued relationships or sex until I was 25, had I arrived at this age without even a kiss then I would've surrendered to my fate. But the fact that I had my very first kiss at age 27 with a girl I met at a party and was invited to go home with her to "see her new bedroom wallpaper" is more than enough to stop me from ever giving up; I didn't follow up on the offer because I was way too nervous, I regret that now. Had a couple other close calls but not with anyone attractive, the most recent happened this year.
No matter how stressful the process to attract a mate can get, I can never ever get over the fact that it CAN happen and that I'm just not doing all I can to make it happen.
Just imagine Tesla or Einstein performing a routine experiment one day and got the exact result they wanted... the exact life-changing result they've spent many years hoping to get. They learned that what they wanted to achieve was possible but did not however record the calculations in their procedure that helped them attain such a result, but after doing what they did they'll never stop trying now to replicate the process to attain the result again. They'll never be able to stop experimenting from then on, because in their own hypothetical words - "I know what I saw that day. I KNOW WHAT I FUCKING SAW!!!!" - well that is me right now.
Sofia wanting to reunite with his daughter.
Mr. Nobody doing whatever - they could call his story Nobody's Business (hehe)
What Aurelio has been up to since the end of the second film.
A current example of this would be Usyk, people are calling him a duck for avoiding Moses Itauma while also ignoring the massive age gap between them - 18 years. Now you could still argue that Usyk is ducking Itauma because Usyk is still holding championship belts even after a fight and dubious win against Rico Verhoeven who is literally only a two-time boxer.
Lennox Lewis however also got the same criticism for refusing to rematch Vitali Klitschko and retiring, I find that to be a lot more unfair - Lewis was 38 years old when he officially retired (a good retirement age), he was not hogging belts while avoiding what he perceived to be serious competition, he had also proven that he was the best there was in his prime so why must he prove anything else and risk getting a third 'L' on his record?
For me, if you want real examples of ducks then take a look at Floyd Mayweather and Tyson Fury, they avoided perceived threats to their 0s while in their primes and holding titles. Those are ducks, not aging boxers past their primes.
10 years ago, at age 21, I actually had an opportunity to sleep with an attractive 23-year-old woman who was in a long-distance relationship with a guy from another city - he would only see her for a few days each month. With him being unable to fulfill her needs due to distance, this gal screwed two of our roommates - one of them was only 18, five years younger than her. Me, being the good boy and the Spider-Man fan who'd ask myself "would Peter have done this?" - declined... actually not exactly, I just didn't read her signals at the time and I only found out later through a mutual friend that she wanted to screw me too, but I know I would've declined either way. Now, it is a different story, if given the same opportunity even with a married woman, I'd probably cave.
Currently I've a very attractive colleague who is married but still smiles at me a lot, in the 3 years I've been in this company she had often looked at me and smiled when she walked by my desk. I am not sure if she is still attracted to me now or if she ever was - I obviously cannot ask her, but if given the opportunity I'd go for her in a heartbeat.
If so, what are you afraid of?
Do you fear being viewed as weak? Do you think others would not have any sympathy for you? Are you worried about getting called a "pussy" for not having the courage to approach women?
In my case, all my closest friends are pretty much aware that I'm a virgin but I don't vent to them about it - I find it to be a waste time looking for sympathy. It is just not in my nature to seek sympathy when I'm frustrated, I just turn on the aggression to resolve the problem.