The Utter Failure that is American Healthcare

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Lucien

I was originally planning on writing about the shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. The latest in America’s ongoing saga of children and teachers being butchered and adding to the completely one-sided KD ratio of innocent people and children to evil tyrants that the 2nd Amendment mouth-breathers will drone on about. However, then I was told something by a friend, and it just struck this old chord in me to rant about something that is near and dear to my little black heart – the utter failure that is American healthcare. If you are like me, and grew up in the public school system, you probably have heard a few times that America is the greatest nation in the world. That we have the most freedoms of anywhere else, and that we are the best at everything. Heard that shit all the time.

However, the reality is, it isn’t true. We have the WORST healthcare system in the developed world. Bar none. “But Lucien, we have the best trained doctors anywhere!” Yeah, we do. But unless that doctor happens to be in your particular network’s coverage, then I guess it sucks to be you. Or unless you are wealthy enough to afford that doctor without having to deal with the heart-break that is our scam private insurance industry.

If there is any group of people who deserve to be on the 1789 List, it’s the CEOs, COOs, and upper tier management of every single private insurance company. These companies don’t work to help anyone but themselves. They will deny your coverage at every turn and not give one fuck how bad this screws you over. My own parents nearly were on the business end of that fully cocked rifle. When I busted my skull open, and was in the hospital for over a month, most of that being in a coma, their insurance decided that they were going to stiff my parents on covering anything, because I was there for a few days too long. The insurance company was Blue Cross Blue Shield, by the way. In case you wanna go and harass the upper management there. Not the rank and file wage slaves they employ. No, the people who make decisions.

Had the hospital I was staying at not told my parents to not pay a cent and then taken the insurance company to court, they would have been stuck with hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthcare debt. Like so many other people. Like a friend of mine, who is currently fighting cancer. Except, in her case, it wasn’t Blue Cross who screwed her over. It was the United States Navy! That’s right, she went on deployment for over a year, and on her post-deployment physical, they found a strange lump on her face. They did a biopsy and said that it was just a benign tumor. My friend now has three testimonials from oncologists, both in the military and private sector, who are testifying that their inability to see that the lump was cancerous is ridiculous. That there is no possible way they could have not seen this and realize that this is something that would have been developing while she was on deployment.

She is now having to fight a denial of theirs to cover her cancer treatment because, as they told her brother who also serves, what’s happening to her isn’t their problem! Fuck the military! I know a thousand vets who have horror stories about the VA and the military doing fuck all for them. The reality is that America treats those who serve like shit, and the actual military doesn’t treat them any better. They see them as cannon fodder who exist to be peons, and are very upset that their recruitment quotas are down. Boo-fucking-hoo. I hope nobody applies in the future. I hope they military has to get on their knees and beg people to join up with their crooked ranks. Because fuck them! Fuck them!

I remember after the Affordable Care Act passed, which so many people say is Obama’s greatest achievement, I got a lot of shit for saying that it was nothing but a birthday present to the private insurance industry. Can we all finally admit that Obama was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and all he cared about was filling the corpo coffers? The Democrats now don’t even pretend to fight for healthcare in this country. Biden has the handlers who control the strings that allow his zombie form to move make him shrug, saying that there’s nothing he can do. About anything. Ever. He doesn’t even try. None of them do. They could have fought for Medicare For All, but nope. Didn’t have the votes for it, so why even bother?

Now, my dear friend, my best friend, is having to be the next in a LONG line of people who are starting Go Fund Me campaigns to help her cover her medical bills. Because of all the cancer treatments, and health problems that have happened because of it, she is at risk of losing her job. Which means she will lose the insurance that comes from that, which only covers a percentage of it. Isn’t America great?! Over 70% of Go Fund Me campaigns are for unpaid medical bills. A good percentage of women who are on OnlyFans are there because of medical problems. Part of me wonders if she is going to get so financially desperate that she joins the ranks. Her pride is breaking so much, but she has no money left. The treatments are taking everything from her.

Conservatives love to say lines about how amazing America is, when that is so easily proven to be bullshit. The military doesn’t even care enough to cover one of their own’s cancer treatments, because they want to believe it didn’t happen on their dime. Our government does nothing to try and help anyone, because they exist to do corpo bidding. The people won’t stand up and fight for their right to live, because we are weak. So my friend will likely be in financial destitution for the rest of her life. That’s assuming she beats the cancer, which isn’t a guarantee that this point, though she fights to win. Gotta love America, don’t ya?

Until next time, a quote,

“Fuckin’ UK, they have nationalized healthcare, we have 300 channels of cable and TV doctors. You have to get the best you can do.” – Doug Stanhope

Peace out,

Maverick

What I (an atheist) Would Say to God at Judgment

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Lucien

A common refrain I get from Christians when they find out that I’m an atheist and they are the type who gets upset by that sort of thing is “well, what will you say when you’re in front of God on the day of your judgment?! Not gonna be so smug then!” I would give my left nipple if these people would say something original. After all these years, it’s still the same tired excuses and rants from people. However, on the off-chance that somebody who actually will take what I have to say seriously reads this, I decided that I would answer the question about what I would say to God if I ended up standing before him in judgment.

Why do you put up with the bigotry that your believers peddle? Your son say that it isn’t man’s place to judge anyone and to show love and kindness to everyone. Yet your followers spread more hate than anyone else. There is no form of hate more pure and evil than Christian “love.” Why do you not do anything about it? Why do you sit back and just let it happen? Are you a sadist?
Why did you create a tree for Adam and Eve to not eat from and then tempt them into eating it? These are your kids, and you give them a test that you don’t properly define. You just say not to eat it and don’t tell them why. Was the test just to see if they would have absolute obedience? That’s kind of fucked up.
Why did you torture Job for a bet? That’s what it was. Satan bet you that one of your followers would ditch you if you let him ruin his life, and you took that bet. How is that something that a kind and “all-loving” god would do?
Why do you do nothing about all the rape and sexual assault that your priests/preachers are caught doing? These people are supposed to be your voice on Earth. So why do you sit back and just let them do horrible things?
Why do you make living a person’s life as a test, when the rules of that test are overly vague and some people get 100 years to take the test, while some people get five minutes. Oh, right, if they don’t know about you then they’re fine. Which brings up another question –
Why do you have it so that if someone has no knowledge of you, then they go to Heaven, while something who does have knowledge of you but doesn’t sufficiently kiss your ass enough will end up in Hell? Hey, while we’re on the subject of Hell…
Why did you create Hell? What is the purpose? You are punishing people for eternity for a finite crime. That’s not something that an all-loving God does. That’s something that an evil person would do. Are you okay with being evil? Is it just this where you are a complete psychopath, but other ways it’s wrong? This whole concept of Hell is absurd.
Why did you give the people who wrote your book so much contradictory information, not to mention so many things are scientifically illiterate? Like a guy having Hulk strength because of his hair and a dude being able to breed striped horses by being next to a striped fence. Or the rain happening because you rip open the “firmament,” which is not at ALL how the water cycle works.
Why is it that you demand people just believe in you, when you could EASILY give concrete, verifiable and testable evidence? You are literally punishing people for being skeptical. You literally condemn critical thinking and reward being stupid. That doesn’t seem like something an enlightened deity would do. That seems like something a despot would do. A dictator. An abusive husband who beats on his wife because she doesn’t love him enough.
Why do you demand love? Doesn’t that strike you as kind of fucked up. Not only do people have to love you, but they have to love your kid (who is also you). What kind of person just arbitrarily demands love from people?
Why was slavery totally cool with you? Even your kiddo told slaves to obey their masters and to do what they say. That’s kind of fucked up. Confederate slave owners cited the Bible as justification for why keeping African Americans in perpetual bondage was a good thing.
Why do you give one dusty fuck if people “keep that Sabbath day holy”? For real, what does that matter?
Why do you command children to love their parents? Some parents are pieces of shit who don’t deserve it.
Why do you care if someone covets their neighbor’s goods? Are you secretly a socialist? I buy that from your kid, but not you.
Why did you make it so that we could kill each other? For real, what’s the reason? Do you like to watch the millions of people throughout history who have killed each other because they gave the wrong answer to “the God question“? That seems like another thing that an evil entity would do. Superman wouldn’t let armies of people murder each other because of some arbitrary bullshit like them believing in a different sky wizard, and that mother-fucker is responsible for so much collateral damage and deaths that it’s nuts! For real, Superman belongs in jail, alongside the rest of the Justice League. Batman belongs in Arkham, because he’s crazy. Spider-Man would try and save people. You sit back and watch as we kill each other. Why don’t you care? Why don’t you do anything about it?
You acknowledge that we are incapable of being perfect, yet you still demand that we be perfect for you. Why? You move the goalposts on the test that is life so much that do you even know where they are anymore?
How are you not responsible for the failures of humanity? You created us. You could have made us with the EXACT things you want. Free will doesn’t exist, after all. You know what will happen from every interaction, so there’s nothing that is up to us. You made us to be wrong and to do wrong in your eyes, when you are supposedly all powerful and could have made us exactly the way you think we should be.
Why do you care what gender people fall in love with? Like, seriously, if a man loves another man, or a woman loves another woman, what does that matter? It doesn’t. We are one tiny planet on some rock in the middle of nowhere in the cosmos, with hundreds of billions of other civilizations that exist in this universe, which is almost certainly one of countless universes. So what could who the person loves and where they stick their genitals possibly matter to you? That isn’t the thinking of a supreme being. That’s the thinking of a small, bigoted human.
Why is it that the things you love seem to follow the things that people love? And the things you hate seem to follow the things that people hate? It almost looks like you are an arbitrary being who was created by desert primitives and that your book is deliberately written to support any point of view, regardless of where they land. Funny how that works. Like maybe you are a creation of people and don’t actually exist, and this entire exercise is just me getting to make a really long and drawn out point.

And before I get some pedantic Christian being like, “you aren’t going to get into Heaven with that,” I know. But I don’t want to get into any Heaven that has a being as evil and unconcerned as the Christian God in charge of it. Odin from Norse mythology might have been a manipulative, vindictive shit, but he didn’t pretend to be anything else. Zeus from Greek mythology might have been a violent psychopath, but he was straight up about it. The Christian God, on the other hand, has so many blatantly evil qualities that his believers will apologize for endlessly. And just like Odin and Zeus, I don’t believe in the Christian God. The sad irony is that because there’s no afterlife, I don’t get to be all smug about it when I’m right.

Until next time, a quote,

“I mean, life is sacred? Who said so? God? Hey, if you read history, you realize that God is one of the leading causes of death.” – George Carlin

Peace out,

Maverick

The Conservative Obsession with “Trad-Wives”

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Lucien

There is a new thing that is gaining some attention on the ADD app, Tik-Tok, and that is women who are dressing up like they are from the 1950s, talking about how happy they are to be a traditional wife, and that’s all they want from life. To be there with the dress and to wait on their husband with a drink and to bear lots of kids for them. Naturally, conservatives seized on this and made it blow up. As you can imagine, the far-left career feminists also jumped on it, but Shoe0nhead already made a video about that, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to look at the conservative aspect of all this, and talk about how bizarre this whole thing is.

One of the things that I have been trying to pin down for years is what conservatives actually want. They always seem at odds about it. Their concept of freedom seems to be a big one, but how so? What is freedom to them? I hear lots of things about small government, but now they want a government big enough to force trans kids to detransition and to even take them from their parents. That doesn’t seem very small. They want freedom to believe whatever they want to believe, but then shit all over people who see the world differently and try to use legislation to crush opposing points of view. They believe in freedom to do what you want, but are all for the drug war that is destroying huge parts of this country and has been an abject failure by every single metric.

Conservatives are a contradiction. The only thing that I’ve been able to pin down is that they all seem to dream about a bygone era in America that was best typified by shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. Which, ironically enough, was NEVER what America was like. But let’s leave that aside and get back to the topic at hand – trad-wives. Conservatives are absolutely slobbering all over the women who make these Tik-Tok videos, because it is looking like now we have a contingent of women who want to give them the life that they dream of. A life where the man is the head of the household, and the wife waits on him hand and foot and they come home after a long day of work with her giving them a martini and making dinner.

What’s amusing about this idealized world and their fetishizing the women who are making videos displaying the mindset they so desire is that they vehemently oppose ANY of the things that would actually make such a lifestyle possible. For example, they oppose any and all legislation that would help make a more robust middle class. That’s what is required to have the kind of lifestyle that they want. A healthy middle class where a home can be supported with the income of one person. Currently, over 62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. What jobs are these conservatives working where they can imagine this magical trad-wife lifestyle?

I see on Reddit, all the time, men posting the Chad meme with a woman and five kids. Five kids? In order to afford five children, you would have to be earning at LEAST $65,000. And that’s just for the kids. That’s not even factoring in the household bills, expenses for commuting, and things of that nature. So, they want to fantasize about the perfect life with the perfect woman who is more servant than partner (some women apparently are into that, if I’ve learned anything from the conservative trad-wives on Tik-Tok), yet they don’t seem to take into account how much money it would take to raise such a family. Per child, the cost of raising them is roughly $15,000 – 17,000 per year. That ain’t cheap, chief.

Not even talking about how having multiple children is going to be a heavy burden not just because of the kids, but in case the kids get hurt. The #1 cause of debt in this country is medical debt. The more kids you have, the more likely it is that one of them will get seriously injured and you will be in financial servitude for the rest of your life because of a bad injury or a serious condition like cancer. These are the things that the sad incels on social media who fetishize a lifestyle that they couldn’t POSSIBLY afford don’t seem to acknowledge.

Look, I don’t care if there is a contingent of women who want to embrace the I Love Lucy personality and be the traditional good Christian housewife. So long as someone isn’t hurting someone else, that’s their business. But these people don’t seem to understand that this isn’t some TV show. The reality is that we live in the most expensive time to life. Inflation has skyrocketed, and wages haven’t kept up with that for over 50 years. So the women who want this life are gonna have to find themselves a REALLY successful man. Otherwise, they are gonna be forced to take off the pretty sun dress and put on a work uniform. That’s the world we live in today.

Speaking of the incels, while we’re on the topic, there is a large contingent of them who clearly are not looking for a partner. They want a servant, a submissive, and in some cases, a slave. They want a woman who waits on them, both physically and sexually night and day. So when they hear about the traditional wife, they like to imagine the families in Pleasantville. Never mind that in today’s economy, they would likely have to work two jobs, have virtually no time with their families, to keep the one-income household going.

Of course, you say things like this and people will immediately go “I know somebody who made it work where they only earn $45,000 a year.” First off, bullshit. In today’s inflation? Not a chance. Second, what part of the country do they live in? Or do they live in Thailand or something? Which brings me to another part of the conservative obsession with trad-wives – the idea of the foreign wife. I keep seeing these memes floating around the conservative sphere of women from other countries, like the Asian wife and the Hispanic wife and the Arab wife who is subservient and waits on her husband, while you have the white woman who is a whore who does nothing for her husband and is having sex with a black man. It’s always a black man.

There is a HUGE component to this whole thing that is racist as fuck. For starters, in a lot of Asian countries, men make money, but then the woman is the one who makes the financial decisions and gives men an allowance. In Arab countries, thanks to the most prevalent religion, the husband is legally allowed to beat his wife, so I’m not sure cheering on a submissive Arabian woman is such a good thing when you realize how many women there suffer from domestic violence. Finally, what is the conservative obsession with black men fucking white women? I see this EVERYWHERE in conservative boards that I check in on, just to see where the madness is at right now. They have this sad caricature of the sad white American left-leaning man who is getting cucked by their woman and a black guy. What is this belief in conservative circles that white chicks are cheating on their boyfriends with black men? I find that so bizarre. It’s so racist and says what you think of women and black men.

Conservative America is an enigma, and not in the good way. They talk about so many things that they value, yet their actions say so much more about what they really want. It’s sad that this is a kind of man that is growing, in the age of people being more anti-social and socially awkward, men who are unable to put in the work to learn how to talk to women are now going into these bizarre echo chambers that tell them what they want to hear and inform their values about communities that they want to look down on. It’s unfortunate that this is a growing issue in America, but it’s one that doesn’t surprise me. Japan has a growing problem of NEET, where shut-in men and women are unable to meet and get together, and as such, their population is going down the tank. Here in the US, it’s that couples who are informed realize that making babies is too expensive, so they decide not to. Then we get ass-clowns like Matt Walsh and shit-stains like Ben Shapiro throwing shade at them because apparently, making babies is the only thing women are good for. Conservatives views of women are pretty clear there.

A shame this is the world we live in, but such is life.

Until next time, a quote,

“As long as we’re giving each other reading lessons that neither of us are gonna do, why don’t you go open up The Devil’s Dictionary and look up the definition of ‘woman.'” – TJ Kirk

Peace out,

Maverick

Top 15 The West Wing Episodes

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Lucien

After playing God of War: Ragnarok, I have been rewatching one of my favorite series, The West Wing. It’s an amazing series. So many people think that this series is how government works, but they are delightfully delusional. However, it is some great fiction. The first four seasons were the ones that Aaron Sorkin was the leader writer, and so many people think that the series went totally downhill after that. I, disrespectfully, disagree. Sure, the first four seasons had Sorkin’s signature style, but the last three seasons found their rhythm, and they produced some amazing stuff. Initially, this was going to be a list of the top 10 best episodes, but I am not able to narrow the list down enough for that, so I’m making it the top 15. Not top 20. That would get tedious. These are the episodes that caught me the most in this series. Let me know your favorites down in the Comments.

15. Five Votes Down
Season 1
My favorite character in this series is, without a doubt, Josh Lyman. Bradley Whitford is a great actor, and he was able to bring this character to life like none other. He’s a DC heavyweight with years of experience in dealing with people on Capitol Hill. In this episode, we get to see him put the full weight of that experience behind him as he kicks the ass of a politician who won’t get behind their latest piece of legislation. The scene with him absolutely destroying the guy is marvelous to watch. It’s a shame we don’t get as many moments like that to watch him crush his opposition. That entire scene is what gets this episode on the list.

14. A Proportional Response
Season 1
The first time that Bartlet is tested in having the military do a response to an American citizen being killed overseas. It’s worse because it’s a friend of his who was killed. The ethics of America’s military being a hammer to smash their enemies is a great ethical debate, and it’s nice to see Leo and the President going back and forth. Their debate is really something, and I could watch it over and over again. How it ends is thought-provoking, which is when this show is at its best.

13. 20 Hours in LA
Season 1
This episode is a great look at how much being the President is weighing on Bartlet and how much he is tiring of it. You have the President and company going to LA, where they will attend some political events and then have a party which doubles as a chance to get donations from the wealthy Hollywood elites. The episode ends with Bartlet and a gay movie producer having a frank discussion about a bill to make gay marriage illegal, and ends with both of them acknowledging their disdain for these sorts of parties and what they represent. It’s a great use of silence and subtle dialogue where both parties are saying a bunch of things at once.

12. The Mommy Problem
Season 7
As the election between Santos and Vinick is heating up, you have this episode where they acknowledge that Santos doesn’t have the kind of commanding presence that they need. It’s a good episode overall, but the thing that clinches it for me is when Josh learns that Santos has to go do some military service, because he is still technically in the reserves. The elation Josh has when he realizes the opportunity in front of them, to get him photographed on base, in his flight suit, as a pilot for the Marines, is too good to pass up. And yes, the image of Jimmy Smits (the actor) in a flight suit getting into a fighter jet is pretty fucking boss. Josh and I agree.

11. 2162 Votes
Season 6
The culmination of a bitter primary season between Santos, former Vice President Hoynes, and the current Vice President Russel is in this episode. It shows what an absolute circus this can all be, and we get to see the beginnings of Josh being more and more stressed as the election keeps going. With no clear winner, the President tries to make Santos take Russel’s offer to be VP. But Santos refuses, wanting to go for the whole thing, and it’s the first time we see Josh standing up to both the President, and his father figure/mentor, Leo McGarry. How it all ends is with Santos giving a fantastic speech. I think that Jimmy Smitts is a great actor. I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in. The showdown between him and Vinick is two great actors fighting for the highest office in the land, and it officially begins in this episode. Great stuff.

10. Two Cathedrals
Season 2
This episode has so many great things. First, it has the funeral of a character who was so beloved on this show, Mrs. Lanningham. We get to see how her relationship with Jed Bartlet starts, along with some of his history with his father that comes up later in the series. We also have the culmination of the President admitting to the people that he has Multiple Sclerosis and had been hiding it from them. But the thing that REALLY makes this episode amazing is when the President asks the Cathedral be sealed, so he can have a private moment and argue with God. That scene is so amazing. Especially when he starts shitting on the guy in Latin. I’m so glad somebody on YouTube was able to translate that. It’s fantastic stuff. How it ends is incredible. Martin Sheen is an amazing actor, and nowhere was that more expressed than in this episode.

9. We Killed Yamamoto
Season 3
Another one of my favorite character was ADM. Fitzwallace. In this episode, there is a known terrorist financier who is untouchable by the law. The President wants to go after him, but despite their best efforts, they cannot find a workable way to do so. Fitzwallace, on the other hand, thinks that they have an obligation to not only bring that man to them, but then to kill him. The dialogue between him and Leo is absolutely phenomenal. It’s awesome when characters are speaking and each sentence conveys multiple things at the same time. Sorkin is a great writer, and I have to give him credit. The morality and ethics and appeals to history in the aforementioned scene are spectacular, and only these two actors could have pulled it off as well as they did.

8. Angel Maintenance
Season 5
This episode is just funny. There aren’t that many episodes in this series, but this is one of the best. Air Force One has a problem. They want to land, but there is an issue with the indicator light that shows that the front wheels aren’t locked. So they have to continually find ways to figure out whether or not this is an actual maintenance issue, or a problem with the actual indicator light. The whole thing and how the President is getting more and more upset and wants to land is too funny. Especially with the people in the White House who are trying to keep the whole thing quiet. How it ends just clinches it. Great episode.

7. Access
Season 5
This episode is told from the perspective of one of my favorite news programs – FRONTLINE. They even got the same narrator to do the narrations. Sounds so much like Robert Stack, but he had passed away by this point. I could listen to him describe things for hours, and the situation that he is talking about is pretty crazy. Not much more to say about that. It’s like watching an episode of FRONTLINE and The West Wing at the same time, and I love that.

6. Live Debate
Season 7
This entire episode was based around the debate between Santos and Vinick. It’s spectacular. Alan Alda is a great actor, and his portrayal of Vinick, the Republican candidate for President is spot-on. But Jimmy Smitts is similarly amazing. Seeing these two play off one-another, in a Presidential debate that takes up almost the entire running time of the episode is perfect. It’s like the real thing, back when debates actually debated ideas, and not just candidates bickering like we are dealing with in the real world. Two amazing actors doing a verbal jiu-jitsu battle. I couldn’t ask for more.

5. The Supremes
Season 5
Let me take this moment to talk about two of my favorite, CRIMINALLY UNDERAPPRECIATED actors – Glenn Close and William Fitchner. I do not understand why these two are not in more great stuff. They are two power-house actors who bring so much to the table. And in this episode, the way they play off one-another is phenomenal. A Supreme Court justice has died, and now the goal is to replace them. There is a female justice that they like, but there is the reality that they would never be able to get her onto the bench. She’s WAY too liberal for a Republican controlled Congress. However, Toby has a brilliant idea that lets them get her in – by having another elderly justice who refuses to retire because he sees the idea of him retiring as a betrayal because of all the work he has done and believing that he is the better justice than any of the rest. They convince him to retire, so they can get her, and in return, they are letting the Republicans pick whatever justice candidate they want. They get one played by William Fitchner. When those two are in a room arguing, it’s amazing stuff. I could listen to them argue politics all day. I also love that while they make Fitchner a stark conservative, they don’t make him an intellectual lightweight. He made some good arguments for his position. This was an amazing episode with two fantastic performances that I cannot praise enough.

4. In God We Trust
Season 6
This episode is on this list ENTIRELY because of the conversation between Vinick and President Bartlet over ice cream at the White House. The discussion about Vinick’s loss of faith, and seeing Alan Alda playing off Martin Sheen is spectacular. These are two heavy-weight actors who bring their A-game to this scene. It’s just one scene, but I could watch it over and over again. Makes this episode.

3. Twenty-Five
Season 4
This episode has so much going on. Zoey Bartlet, the President’s youngest daughter, is kidnapped. A desperate father, trying to find and secure his daughter’s safety, he gets more and more desperate as time goes on. Eventually, he realizes that with this and his worsening medical condition, he cannot be expected to handle this situation and run the country. As such, he decides that he is going to use the 25th Amendment and step down for the duration of this crisis. However, with Hoynes having resigned due to an affair, there is no VP to take his place. So it falls to the Speaker of the House, who is a Republican, who is portrayed by none other than John Goodman. I have always loved John Goodman as an actor. Always. And man does he bring the heat in this episode. The way he is able to take control of the situation by using a parable of the beginning of World War I is fantastic. Great historical referencing, told by a man who has a genuinely commanding presence. With so much tension in this season, it ends with such a fantastic scene.

2. In The Shadow of a Gunman (Parts 1 and 2)
Season 2
Following an attempted assassination when the President is leaving a speaking event, everything is thrown into chaos. The President is shot and rushed to the hospital. It looks at first like things are okay, but then we find out that Josh has also been shot, and it is much more serious. As things are spiraling out of control, and the staff is being pushed to their limits, it is a tour de force of great acting from so many involved. We also get to see the history about how Josh was involved in the Bartlet campaign and how he got him elected as President, not to mention how the rest of the senior staff came into the picture. The scene where CJ, their press secretary, is able to make an AMAZING analogy as to way more guns at the scene wouldn’t have helped as spectacular. There isn’t a scene in this episode that isn’t great, and I could watch it over and over again forever.

And my favorite episode of The West Wing is…

1. Noel
Season 2
I cannot applaud this episode enough. I already did a post about it, which you will see down below. Months after the events of the shooting, Josh is brought before a trauma psychologist and has to relay the events of the last couple weeks where you see him slowly losing control and getting more and more upset, culminating in a Christmas party and a cello performance by Yo-Yo Ma. The entire scene where they talk about the party, with the music and how it ties into Josh’s memories of the shooting, not to mention the reactions that Josh has during the event and how well it is performed is incredible. I could watch that scene over and over again. It’s perfect. But what really clinches it is after Josh realizes what is wrong, and finally accepts what is happening and the shrink puts him on the path to getting better, he has this amazing conversation with Leo about it, and his fears about losing his job are put to rest with one of the most touching scenes between a father-figure and the son he never had, which shows that he would never abandon him. It’s beautiful and tragic and this episode is perfect. That’s all I have to say.

What are your favorite episodes? Let me know down below.

Until next time, a quote,

“This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep that he can’t get back out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, ‘hey you, can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘hey Father, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?’ The priest writes a prayer, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a friend comes along. ‘Hey Joe, it’s me. Can you help me out?’ Then the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy goes, ‘what are you, stupid? Now we’re both down here!’ And the friend goes, ‘yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.'” – Leo McGarry, The West Wing

Peace out,

Maverick

When Will People Have Enough?

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Lucien

The curse of being informed in this day and age is that you are informed. You are fully aware of how fucked everything is, and how there is fuck all being done to stop it. You realize that nothing really matters, because what are those in power going to do? Oh, that’s right, fucking nothing! That’s the world that I live in. That’s what I tune into when I see a video on Secular Talk or The Problem with Jon Stewart. Speaking of, the latter, he was talking today about who is being blamed for inflation – us! That people! The peasants who live paycheck to paycheck. We are who is being blamed. Check it out –

Who is it who is always blamed for everything going wrong? The people! Obviously. We got too much money during COVID! Oh yeah, that $2,400. That sure was a boon! I bought a yacht with that money. Was sailing the Amalfi Coast with my amazing $2,400 winfall. I swear, our government is so generous that I was thinking of buying mansion #3. You know, with that amazing $2,400 that goes so far in today’s economy. I don’t know about you all, but I am so fucking tired of being the punching bag of the mainstream media, to avoid the reality of this situation.

The reason for inflation is that the corpos decided to jack up prices. It’s that simple. The corpos saw an opportunity to jack up the prices of everything (especially since the entirety of our food comes from about five or six megacorps, to say nothing for the gas, utilities, and other things that keep people able to function in the world) and they took it. Because there was money to earn, and they don’t give one dusty fuck about anyone but themselves and their profits. They would sell arsenic to toddlers. They would drag single mothers into the street and murder them if there was no negative PR and it would make them a few hundred million dollars. Corpos are evil. Nestle thinks that all water should be privatized and sold for as much as possible. That’s the country we live in.

America is owned by corporations. Our government is a front for those corporations. What politicians call campaign donations, Tony Soprano called protection. We live in a plutocracy. The common people cannot, in any way, compete with the corps. Grassroots campaigns can be destroyed, easily. The Democratic machine is so well-oiled that every grassroots progressive candidate can either be destroyed in the primaries, or brought to heel after they win. The Republicans don’t have to worry about it. Their grassroots movements are for candidates who are even more evil and bigoted than the ones we already have. Right-wing grassroots movements are beneficial to the rich and powerful. They don’t have to well-oil their machine. Their entire party is openly evil and doesn’t have to put on a show of caring. Yes, they’re corporate shills. Yes, they do the bidding of the rich and powerful. Their brain-dead voting base doesn’t care, so why would they pretend otherwise?

But as I listen to yet-another news day where the rich and powerful are shitting on the average people, I think to myself – when are we going to have had enough? When are the people going to get the torches and pitchforks? All ears. People make polishing the guillotine jokes, but when are people actually going to do that? Some people left one outsize Jeff Bezos’ house. Well, he’s a name we could add to what I’m calling The 1789 List. The French Revolution did a lot of real good for France, and we are now in a situation where we could be using this for our advantage. Reigniting the fires of the common men and women against the forces of corporate oppression that are destroying this country while everything is at home watching a dozen streaming services!

Nevada wants to bring back company towns! Corpos are working to bring back child labor! Disney is trying to bring back their corporate suburbs. Because that worked SO well the first time! Landlords are now asking people for tips! These do-nothing fuckers want us to tip them? For what? You’re already bilking me for an apartment that isn’t worth this kind of scratch! Here’s your tip!

Consider that my opinion if you and your entire “profession” until the end of time. Got to see a video about how landlords are taking to Tik-Tok, to try and make people feel sorry for them. There’s one video where a landlord is gleefully doubling the rent for a working mom. Here’s a link, check it out. Fuck landlords. If things are so hard for these money-grubbers, then they should quit being landlords and get a REAL job.

My generation is NEVER going to see a cent of Social Security money. Not without the MOTHER of all tax hikes. Because, as always, it’s the common people who have to shoulder the tax burden. We couldn’t have corpos, who are making more profits now then EVER BEFORE, be the ones who have to pay. Hell, the average person pays more in taxes than any of those corps. Most of them pay nothing. Hell, most of them get something back, for nothing! That’s how fucked our tax system is. Isn’t it fun?! Ah, but the rich have it SO HARD! The poor dears. They couldn’t afford the fifth yacht this year and the 12th new car. Don’t you just wanna cry?! Meanwhile, they pay less taxes than ever before, with tax cuts that aren’t going anywhere because the Democrats couldn’t find the stones to fight for anything if they used two hands and a roadmap.

You ask me, it is LONG since time we polished those guillotines. I can think of a few corpos to feel into them. For starters, the heads of private health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and for-profit hospitals. There’s a good start. The private insurance industry is a scam, pure and simple. It is companies refusing to pay for things, while making obscene amounts of money in monthly premiums, which are also going up, because of course they are.

Next up, the CEOs, CFOs, and COOs of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. Corps that literally make money off murdering as many people as possible. These companies are the only industry that America has going for it anymore, and it’s time for that to end. Make these corps realize that we aren’t going to sit back and let them make war for profit. America hasn’t had a war that was for ANYTHING since World War II. I feel so bad for the veterans who are now dealing with debilitating PTSD, injuries, or both, all because these corps needed to make some fiscal quarter profits. To say nothing for the people who get killed testing their piss-poor products, like the F-35, a trillion dollar plane that STILL doesn’t work!

Oh, and while we’re at it, the big banks! Thankfully, these ones wouldn’t need the guillotine. We could just stop the CONTINUING cash injections that they are getting from the government. No joke, we are still pumping money into the banks! Even now! Every time our limp-wristed government tries to stop, stocks plummet and they start right back up again. Because of course they do. You know what happened in Iceland after 2008? They let the banks that had engaged in risky behavior crash, prosecuted those responsible, and weathered the storm. Now they are doing better. Wow! Funny how that works, isn’t it?

All market indicators show a crash coming. Soon. Like within the next year soon. We’re already seeing the beginnings of it. The corpos won’t admit that we’re in a recession, and now there’s a crash coming. If EVER there was a time for the common people to get together and destroy the corporate hegemony in America, this is it. Capitalism in America operates on margins so razor-thin that we literally cannot handle crisis. That’s not just me saying that. There are some very well-researched videos like this one (linked here) that talk all about it. The corpos are vulnerable, and they are trying to make as much scratch as they possibly can before the bottom collapses and they go broke, which the people in charge (who don’t do a goddamn thing. The average worker for those companies does more than the CEO ever will) are hording as fast as they can.

Make no mistake, the corpos will leave this country when it’s no longer profitable for them here. I say, while they’re still around, let’s make them scared for their lives. Let’s make them scared that if they don’t pay their workers more, the workers will string them up! Fear is the only motivator that big business has. We can’t boycott them, because they control too large a share for that to mean anything. Besides, boycotts never work. All I hear is that violence never solves anything. Okay! Then let’s make the threat of violence solve something! With the understanding that if they don’t play ball, the people have teeth and they’re willing to show them.

But Lucien, won’t that make the corpos leave America faster?

No. Not while there’s money to be made. So long as their is money here, they will stay. The people in charge might up and go. They can afford to run their companies from some third-world nation where they can bring a private army to protect them. But somebody’s gonna be here, and that person is vulnerable. After a few 100 heads of the American offices quit, and nobody wants the job because they fear that they’re next, things will get a lot easier.

It’s time for the people of America to start fighting for our future. I love watching politics in France. The government there is working towards raising the retirement age. The people came together and said that if they even try, they will smash the Eiffel Tower to bits. Their propensity to riot is so magical to me. I wish Americans had that kind of grit. Here, all we do is just rant online. Basically just yelling into the void. It’s exhausting. I watched Democracy get subverted in front of me, and when the municipal council wouldn’t do anything, I said it was time to take to the streets and make a ruckus. What did people do? Nothing. Just shrugged and said “next time.” On an issue that let landlords bigotedly refuse housing to people because of their sexual orientation. An issue that actually mattered.

How long will it take before people are willing to fight back? Every year that we don’t is another year closer to when the military has combat-ready robots so that they don’t have to risk the soldiers’ lives. At that point, they will let the people die. The rich and powerful are already making plans to ditch America. The technology is almost there for them to leave this planet behind entirely and never have to deal with the people again. They will leave us to die.

That thought keeps me up at night.

Until next time, a quote,

“Fuck hope! Fuck hope!” – George Carlin

Peace out,

Maverick

Lucien’s Mish-Mash of Random Thoughts, #11

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Lucien

I remember when Red Letter Media made this fake nerd podcast called The Nerd Crew. Those videos were hilarious. From them came one of the most meme-d things ever – “consume product, then get excited for next product.” It was a great line. They haven’t made one of those in forever, but I get why. The nerd market has really gone quiet since COVID came and smashed the country to bits. I am still dealing with the issues with it in finding a place to work that pays enough for me to get by. Life is so fucking hard right now.

I just heard this Facebook reels video talking about how the biggest Star Wars game this year isn’t Jedi Survivor, but instead is the Ubisoft game. Because this one is going to be part of not just some seamless open world, but an open universe! Oh boy! So now, instead of having a HUGE world that is barren and empty and has nothing to do, I’m going to have a big open galaxy that is empty and barren and has nothing to do. Well that just sounds great.

Ubisoft is a slave to their formula. I have been unpopular for my thoughts about gaming, recently. I say that if you play one game in any franchise with Nintendo, you have played every game in that franchise. Meanwhile, if you play one game in ANY franchise with Ubisoft, you have played every game in EVERY franchise! Their formula is so predictable that it’s sad. It’s all the exact same game! Over and over and over again! I don’t get how they were able to keep it going this long. Finally, and I do mean FINALLY, it is catching up to them. The repetition of the exact same formula in every franchise is coming to the point where people are bored of it. Sure, the fact that the economy is heading into yet-another recession isn’t helping. People have to be tight with their cash, and since you can play any Ubisoft game and you’ve played them all, there’s just no incentive to buy games from each of their franchises.

Speaking of a recession, I got to thinking about something. I get why my generation and now Gen Z are so dour and nihilistic. Right up to the point where I graduated from high school, life was alright. We had these wars going on for Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin, but that was old news by then. Not to downplay how awful the wars are for all the civilians we killed in our drone strikes, but back home, it wasn’t something that was talked about much anymore. But literally the first year of college for me, we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression. It was chaos. People were losing their jobs, their homes, their savings, their pensions. It was horrible, and we got to hear about it. I remember watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC and he would be talking about it. Then we had Obama getting elected, and him turning out to be a complete turncoat who abandoned everything he said he would fight for the second he actually had to do it. Olbermann said it best – no President in living memory negotiates down from a position of strength the way the Obama administration does. Well said, good sir.

We had the recession, which we never fully recovered from. Then us millennials were headed into the workforce, and we saw that the wages were awful and they weren’t getting better. Our parents and grandparents were wanting us to settle down and have families, but we couldn’t do that. You all ever doom-scroll on Zillow? The cost of housing is fucking insane. BlackRock, a corporation that is so genuinely evil that they put cartoon villains to shame, is buying up all the homes, making it so that nobody can own a home. Instead, they will have to inherit them, or rent them. That company legitimately wants to have financial control of the entire world, and they could actually have it. That should give people nightmares, but it doesn’t. Does me. Corpos are finally realizing that the people are too weak to stand up for themselves, and that the most powerful empire in history is ripe for a corporate takeover. We’re starting to see them make their play. It’s the world of Cyberpunk 2020, but in real life. I just hope the Fourth Corporate War we get to isn’t as bad as the one in that universe, because I don’t think we can handle that level of destruction. Trying to think of who it would be between. Probably BlackRock’s private army (they already have a link to both American and Chinese intelligence agencies), and Amazon. They are likely to be the two biggest corps by the time we get that far along.

I don’t want all the bells and whistles from life. I really don’t. I don’t want to cruise up the Riviera on a yacht. I don’t want an Italian sportscar. Given what a titan I am, I wouldn’t fit in an Italian sportscar. I don’t want a mansion. It would just become so much empty space. All I want is a two story, two/three bedroom house either by the ocean or near enough to walk to, so I can hear the ocean and smell the ocean breeze. I want a kitchen that is fully stocked, where I can make my fiancee tasty things. To have a library for all of her and I’s VAST collection of books, along with a few chairs to sit and read in. To have my boombox in there with my CD collection and play some Miles Davis as I’m reading Neil deGrasse Tyson. To have a shower that doesn’t double as a tub. That shouldn’t feel a like a lot, but it is. My generation has no buying power. Gen Z has even less. When Gen Alpha is in the workforce, I can’t even imagine what that will be like.

These are the basic things from life, and they are now seen as impossible to reach. Millennials aren’t making babies, and neither are Gen Z. I kind of love that I am going to live to see the end of the greatest empire in history all because we aren’t making babies, which America can’t handle because of how razor-thin our hyper-capitalism operates on. I kind of love that. My generation gets to watch the richest and most powerful empire in the history of the world die, all because we don’t make enough babies to shove into the maw of capitalism. It’s hilarious. No other point in history gets to end the way we do. Now, the fact that I am a resident of the empire that is dying sucks, but you work with what life gives you.

I don’t get these people who really think that the Democrats are the good guys. I saw this video that was on Twitter about how Nina Turner went “full MAGA”, all because she called out how the Democrats taking a victory lap because of what happened in East Palestine, all because they voted for Trump is in poor taste. First, I couldn’t agree with her more. It is in poor taste. It’s not the job of the government to hold who you voted for against you. It’s their job to help the ecological disaster that is happening there. It’s their jobs to make these rail companies pay for what they did that led to this disaster. It’s their jobs to help the people in that town affected by this have what they need to survive until this can be fixed, and then to get them back to their lives. Sure, we can all have a chuckle and maybe some schadenfreude about the fact that the very community who voted for Trump is now needing Biden’s help, but you do what you’re supposed to do. Will the government actually do ANY of that? Fuck no. Buttigieg has basically just shrugged the whole thing off, because that’s the country we live in, but it’s what they SHOULD do.

Meanwhile, the people on the cesspool of intellectual bankruptcy that is Twitter was all over her comments, shitting on her for being critical of the Democrats. I genuinely don’t get these people who actually believe that the Democrats are somehow the good guys, in anything. Yeah, they pay LIP SERVICE to the socially progressive issues, but when push comes to shove, what do they fight for? Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. They will wring their hands about how they tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter (yes, that was a Linkin Park reference), but it’s all just theater. They had 49 years, and THREE super-majorities after Roe to codify it into law. Obama campaigned on that in 2008. Then, he gets in office, and makes very clear that he isn’t going to be doing anything about that. Suddenly, Roe gets repealed, and the Democrat machine is out in force saying that NOW they are going to do something about that. What have they done? Oh, right, fucking nothing. Because that’s what they always do. Talk a big talk, then don’t do a goddamn thing when it comes down to it.

But they did pass the $900 billion military defense budget! How many Democrats opposed it? Four. Just four. Priorities! All America makes anymore is war, so they can’t afford not to fill the coffers of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon. There are NO advocates for the people, in politics, at all. None. Bernie is a spineless coward. AOC and her Squad kissed the DNC’s ring. The overwhelming majority of people who vote for them are people who for Democrats don’t actually believe they will do anything. They just think the other people are worse. The people in America have no faith in their government to do anything. Rightfully. The sad simps for the Democrats have to be some of the most delusional people in the world.

You say this, and then people come out at you and say “so you support the Republicans?!” To which I say – nope. I don’t support either. If there was an actual labor party that had teeth, I’d support them. The Democrats are the Corpo Lite party. Republicans are just the Corpo Party. Why is this such a radical thought?

Fred Meyer has strawberries. I have no earthly idea where in this country strawberries are in season, but they had them, and they are fucking amazing! Sitting, watching The West Wing while eating strawberries is wonderful. Something else I would like in a home that I can listen to the waves at. I don’t think I want that much.

I remember a few months ago, or is it a lot of months ago now. Uncertain. But I remember seeing in the news that Congress had voted unanimously to get rid of Daylight Savings Time. And I was like – Yay! Finally! For the first time in my adult life, the government actually did something right! Took them 34 years, but god-fucking-damn! They actually did it. But no! Turns out, our government can’t even do that! Even that, something that is so across the board agreed upon, couldn’t be done. Fuck! This is why I don’t vote! Well, not the only reason, but god is it a big one. They couldn’t even get rid of Daylight fucking Savings Time without making it a political issue. Fuck this country. Anyway, I think I’m done for tonight. Hope you all have a good night.

Until next time, a quote,

“Some things never change. Gonks tick the ballot and think they’re actually makin’ a choice. Only ever been one choice in this city – corruption. Same shit, different assholes. And every time, they think, ‘this time’ll be different.’ Well, we get what we fucking deserve.” – Johnny Silverhand, Cyberpunk 2077

Peace out,

Maverick

RIP, Lance Reddick

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Lucien

Man, life comes at you fast, doesn’t it? There are so many talented actors, but the reality is that they’re only human. They have the same mortality that the rest of us have. Which means that they will all one day pass. When it comes to black actors, so many have gone so far before their time. Michael Clarke Duncan, Bernie Mac, Michael K. Williams, and now, Lance Reddick. He died at the age of 60, according to his family, it was of natural causes. It’s so tragic how many great black actors pass too soon. The African American community has a lot of health troubles that plague them, and it is such a shame for those who love their roles.

When I first heard that name, it was in The Wire, where he played CAPT. Cedric Daniels. He was a good character, trying to be an honest cop in a police force that is mired in office politics. He’s one of the few people who saw that Det. Jimmy McNulty was a good cop, and not just a sad drunk. He rises up the ranks, playing the game and doing what he can to make cases and be the best cop he can.

But the role of his that REALLY stick out to me is Sylens, from Horizon: Zero Dawn and its sequel Forbidden West. I don’t think that any other actor could bring this man to life the way that Reddick did. The line that Sylens walked, between moral and immoral was fantastic. Reddick gave him so much personality, doing amoral things and then trying to make up for them, all while trying to get knowledge and save himself from what’s coming. It’s such a tightrope, and I honestly don’t think any other person could have walked it the way that Reddick did. I’m trying to think of who else. I think that Martin Sheen as The Illusive Man in the Mass Effect trilogy is the only other villain who comes close.

I made compilations of his performance in both the Horizon games, which I will share here as a tribute to his immense skill as an actor. The banter between him and Aloy is flawless. I could have listened to them bicker all day. I know that voice actors aren’t in the same room as the person they are playing off of when they record their stuff, which makes me respect how natural it feels all the same. With the upcoming story DLC to Forbidden West coming out this year, I am assuming that the voice acting portions of the game are done and now it is being polished. So I will DEFINITELY be playing that, so I can get one last listen to Sylens and the amazing performance he had as the character, even though Forbidden West had its problems.

That being said, I’m not playing the third game. Not a chance. Sylens is what made those games for me, and without Lance Reddick, the character won’t work. The same way that Rick and Morty won’t work without Justin Roiland. I don’t know if they are going to keep using the likeness and just use another voice actor, or if they are going to unceremoniously kill his character off. Either way, I’m out for the third game. I will headcanon that shit and move on.

To the family and friends of Lance Reddick, you have my sincerest condolences, not that you’ll ever see this random blog post from some nobody on WordPress. The world is a lesser place without him. For everyone else, here is the compilation of his work in the Horizon games. May he rest in peace.

Until next time, a quote,

“Even you can appreciate the value of secrecy, when warranted.” – Sylens, Horizon: Forbidden West

Peace out,

Maverick

Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Lucien

I decided to take my tax return this year and actually splurge on myself this year. It’s been so long since I bought something just because I could. Six months, at least. I wanted to play Hogwarts Legacy, so I got an updated console and bought the game. MAN was that a good choice! Hogwarts Legacy is already my top contender for Game of the Year. It will take something truly spectacular to dethrone it. I remember reading a long while back that CD Projekt Red has it that you can get the PS5 version of this game for free, so long as you have the PS4 game disc. I still do, because I still love this game, so I decided to look into that. Turns out, I was right! It is still a free upgrade, so long as you have the disc, and I’m so glad that I looked into this.

Another reason that I was wanting to get a current gen console is so that I can play the Phantom Liberty DLC when it comes out. It looks amazing, and it has Idris Elba as an agent for the NUSA. We also have President Rosalind Myers in this DLC, and a new area to explore that looks like a massive junkyard. Lots of potential is there, and I for one am STOKED to see what comes from it. There are also a lot of rumors coming out about things that could or could not be potential leaks from modders who decided to dig into the game’s code. One thing has a mission which involves a casino. This has a lot of people thinking about the Crystal Palace.

I’m kind of curious where the DLC takes place, story-line wise. In the first teaser for the game, you see V as the phantom that is talking to the main character. So does that mean that Johnny is the one in control of the body? The most recent trailer has a mask being placed over V’s face, and the implication is that something big is happening. Lots of questions, which is good. CDPR is being tight-lipped about the game and the release date, which is good. They learned their lesson from last time. They are also making it so that you can only play this game on current gen hardware. That makes me happy.

Having gotten to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the PS5 version, I can COMPLETELY understand why. This game should not have released on the last generation. It just shouldn’t have. It is so completely obvious that this game was made for current gen hardware, and now they are ditching their support of the last gen completely and moving forward. Good thing, too.

On PS5, this game is AWESOME! There are so many things that work. The framerate is solid, which is nice. It’s smooth as silk. This makes the driving segments work the way they were intended. It’s nice to be driving around Night City and not only to have more traffic, but a wider variety of it. It makes the world seem more lived in. Plus, we have cops driving around! That’s a really nice addition. The game needed to have more of a police presence. Don’t know if cops roll up when you get a warrant out for you, but still. We also have a couple missions where you have to outrun vehicles! That’s awesome! It’s great to see these sorts of things come more into the game now. Now we just need more vehicular combat and that’s so much of what people were bitching about when the game first came out laid to rest.

I decided to do a stealth run with this playthrough without ANY netrunner tools, instead using a Sandevistan. It’s so fun! Being sneaky when I can’t just disable a camera is such a rush. I love it. Makes a perfect stealth run about using your cyberware to get through tight spots like you aren’t even there. It makes you a freakin’ ghost. Combine that with Optical Camo, and you really do feel like a ninja. Makes it even better when you are doing missions to kill a person and you are able to sneak into a place and only kill that one person. I can’t imagine how creepy it would be to be talking with a guy, turn your back, then turn around again and they’re dead, with no sign of who killed them. I can sneak in and out of a place, killing a target and then disappear before anyone has any idea what happened. It’s great stuff.

The driving controls work a lot better now, with the framerate able to keep up. The fact that there’s more traffic in the streets can make being a safe driver in the vehicles that are made to burn rubber that much harder, but so be it. There is also a lot of cleanup of the glitches that would happen.

All this being said, there is still one thing that drives me nuts – the crashes! They still have crashes! Are you fucking kidding me?! We are on hardware that can support this game, and it still has this issue?! That being said, it is INFINITELY better than it was on my PS4 Pro. I can only hope that they keep working on it. With news of the DLC and what may or may not be a part of leaking out, I am eager to see more. I would hope that this DLC is going to be pretty major stuff. With the fact that they went down from three to one piece of major story DLC, the LEAST they can do is make this something epic. I don’t think that’s asking too much. Which means I may have to plan for the game to come out in 2024, but that’s okay. I don’t want another buggy release like they did with the rollout.

This game has come a LONG way from where it started. I’m one of the five people who said that this game was amazing when it came out, save for the bugs, and I look forward to doing an actual review of the whole package when Phantom Liberty comes out. It’s good to be back, chooms.

Until next time, a quote,

“Hello, Night City!” – V/Johnny Silverhand, Cyberpunk 2077

Peace out,

Maverick

Lucien’s Review: Hogwarts Legacy

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Lucien

When I was a little kid, reading the Harry Potter books, I dreamed of going to that school of witchcraft and wizardry. I always hoped that my owl would one day come. I was young, and it was a good dream. The Harry Potter book series did what no other book series in history has done – became a worldwide phenomenon. I cannot overstate what an accomplishment that is. From when I was little, since part of me knew that magic isn’t real and I would never get to go to Hogwarts for real, I was hoping that video games would be able to get me there. Overall, they have failed to do so. Now, after over 20 years from when I first read the books, I got my invitation, and it was a magical, spectacular occasion, which only avoid perfection because of a couple of issues that I can’t ignore. What Portkey Games and Avanlanche Studios has done cannot be overstated. So much joy and childlike love is captured in this game for a school that my entire generation wanted to visit. Many people have said that this is a Game of the Year contender, and I cannot honestly imagine another game doing better. Let’s get into it.

The plot goes that you are a new student at Hogwarts. You are starting in your fifth year, which is a big problem to have to deal with, but you have a guide and mentor in Professor Fig. However, events start to happen and things ramp up quickly, as it seems that your character has a connection to an ancient magic. There is a mystery to solve, villains to face, and a school year to learn all about magic. So much to do.

This is probably going to be my longest review ever, because there’s so much to talk about with this game. For starters, the visuals. This game looked INCREDIBLE! The studio behind this game put so much time and attention and love into Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the communities behind them. With each season, it seems there is something new to pop your peepers at. Some review said that this game looked a couple generations behind. I have no idea what dimwitted fuck believes that, but feel free to prove me wrong. This game looks spectacular. The character models all have personality. The world looks amazing. It makes you feel like you are there in a way no other game has before it.

Every part of this world has personality. The common rooms all feel so perfect for their respective houses. I did Ravenclaw for this playthrough, and it looks so perfect for them! Lots of books everywhere, desks to study at. The carpets on the floor had this astronomy quality that is really great. You have the Great Hall which is perfect and makes me think of the films. There is so much to explore and see in this world. Which the game incentivizes you to do with their lore collecting that you do to fill out your guidebook. There is a vest wealth of history and knowledge contained within. As the seasons change, Hogwarts does as well. The classrooms all have personality and feel fitting for the subject matter at hand. That gets into one of my criticisms, but we’ll get there when we do. I want to gush for this portion.

Hogsmeade is so vibrant and fun and you want to hang out there. It’s a shame we don’t get to do more stuff there, but again, we’ll talk about that in a minute. Then there’s the Room of Requirement. This place is cool! Ironically enough, my favorite parts of that are the vivariums that you put beasts in. The first one, with the wide open field, is so peaceful and quiet and soothing. I wish I could build a cottage there or something. It makes you want to live in that place. No part of this game looks cheap. None at all. The magical elements look amazing. Every single part of the visuals is masterfully done. I cannot think of how it could look any better.

All of the things about how great this game looks makes the fact that there isn’t a photo mode that much more depressing. I am LOVING that games are now having photo modes as part of the expectation. For a game that looks this good, I wanted to let my inner shutterbug loose. Alas, the game doesn’t do that, and it’s worse for it.

Next up is the music. Taking a lot of cues from the Harry Potter movies (at least the early ones), the world of Hogwarts comes to life with this whimsical quality that is so nice. The Common Rooms feel warm and inviting as cozy because of the tracks that are made specifically for them. Hogwarts in general has a TON of great tracks that make it feel warm and inviting. Same with Hogsmeade. But the best part of the soundtrack is in the open field vivarium in the Room of Requirement. If the score ever comes to Apple Music, I will be putting that on my playlist. It’s soothing and warm and makes me want to sit in a chair and pet a kneezle while drinking tea and looking at the water. My fiancee and I were stunned. Then you have the more active parts of the score. Getting to ride a broom that first time, with that music, it took me back to being a little kid. It’s hard to do video game music for something like this, and they did it perfectly.

We have to talk about the world and all the things you can do in it. There is so much to do. One thing that bugged me a bit about this game is that you get to take classes, at first. And I loved that! It was so fun! The teachers all had so much personality. I wanted to spend more time getting to know them. I wanted to do more in classes. Have quizes or listen to lectures, engage with different animals and plants and spells that even if they don’t have to do with the gameplay, I just wanted to spend more time there. Like, there is a mission that you can TOTALLY MISS where you have to sit through one of Professor Binns boring, insufferable lectures, and it was great! That mission was hilarious! My fiancee and I were in stitches. She loves history so much, yet even she acknowledged she would have to doodle on parchment or something to stay awake in his class. This game needed more of that. More interaction with the world of Hogwarts. So much of what makes the book series its based on great is the fact that the classes and the interaction and the world of Hogwarts is a living, breathing place. It’s a place of camaraderie and house loyalty and competition.

This game has some of that, but it could stand to have more. Especially for those who wanted to put in the effort. I wouldn’t mind if you have the basic class stuff at first, and that’s required, but then what more you do with the courses afterwards is up to the player, giving you the option to role play and get involved in the world. That being said, I don’t want to shit on the devs for not doing enough of what I want to do. There is still a LOT to do around Hogwarts, and it’s fun. The missions in this game all have some element that is cool to engage with. Like, there are these flying keys that you have to round up. It’s tricky and they’re everywhere around Hogwarts, but doing so is actually rewarding, because it unlock the COOLEST outfit in the game. That’s fun. All the little side missions you get involved with are related to the world and the people in it. None of them feel like dull fetch quests, because there’s something about the world and the people in it that are involved and you can ask questions about.

Now to talk about the story. I heard from a lot of people that the story in this game is lacking, but honestly, I couldn’t disagree more. Is it the most engaging story in the world? No. But it is still interesting. There is a whole new element of the world that you get to learn about and it is engaging. Professor Fig is a fantastic mentor character. Simon Pegg brought him to life in a fun way. It’s such a shame he is now regretting his work with the role, because I genuinely loved his portrayal of the character. Ranrok is a super evil villain who has no redeeming characteristics, which works for this universe. Too many subtle villains is tiresome.

You meet lots of characters in universe that you get to know. There are three in-particular that are just awesome. All three have interesting arcs that you are able to get invested in. My favorite is Poppy Sweetings, because she is so likeable and it’s fun to save these little baby bird beasts. They are adorable. Sebastian is my second favorite, though how that all goes is so tragic. Part of me wonders if things could have gone better if I had tried. The guy attached to his storyline, Ominis, is a fantastic character who gives so much dimension to Slytherin characters. It’s nice to have someone from that house isn’t just generically evil. Neither is Sebastian. I like that this game didn’t just have characters from there be bad people, and instead had you learn that they often just come from troubled homes. Natty is also a fun character, who introduces a whole new part of this world that has its own rules and is interesting. It also has us learning about how to become an Animagus, which is something that I think would be fun.

I will say that it is a real bummer that there are no romance options. I get that they’re teenagers, but they’re fifth years. It’s the time when students start to be into those they are attracted to. It was that way in the book series that inspired this game.

Another thing we have to talk about is the broom riding. I think I’m one of the five people on this planet who doesn’t really care about the fact that we don’t play Quidditch in this game. I don’t care about sportsball. I wouldn’t mind watching a few games, but don’t want to partake in them. But aside from that, the broom riding in this game is AWESOME! Absolutely awesome. It is smooth, the controls are basic and work well. Definitely follows the laws of physics that the faster you’re going, the harder it is to control, so that’s a nice touch. It made getting around the world a much more enjoyable experience. I don’t think I fast-traveled much, unless my objective was on the southern end of the map.

Now we gotta talk about the combat. It’s funny that we just saw the game Forspoken, which had a magic system that could look cool, but it wasn’t all that engaging to play with until you got high leveled with lots of spells. This game, on the other hand, has a TON of strategy to it. Combat is a very complicated process, and the learning curve is steep, but not overly steep. Especially with the games various difficulty options. There are a TON of spells to learn, all of which come straight from the source material and the extended universe films. Combat is about using the right spells together with one-another, to keep a combo going until your enemies go down, along with vicious plants, potions, and ancient magic powers that let you do incredible things. This game’s combat is hardcore, but super fun.

Though this does bring me to something that I think is a bit of a let-down with this game – the enemy variety. This game needed more of it. There are a TON of creatures in this world, and this game needed more of that. By the fifth spider-infested dungeon, I was tired of them. I hate spiders in general, and seeing them over and over again got old, real quick. For a universe so rich with possibilities, it was a shame we didn’t get to see more creative enemies. Like in the dungeon inside of the shop mission. That was fun! Solving puzzles and being tormented by a poltergeist. That mission was one of the most fun in the entire game. It’s a shame this game didn’t have more missions like that. It would have been a nice break from so many missions that involve fighting bad guys and solving basic puzzles.

An element that I have to mention is the outfits. This game gives you a TON of them. An absolute ton. To the point that it becomes ridiculous. Though they do make for good selling material. Which brings me to the fact that it is really easy to get rich in this game, because once you have the stuff you need more for the Room of Requirement, there’s not a whole lot to buy. The clothes person sells them, but you don’t need to buy from him, because the game will bombard you with a ton of outfits to own. This is why I was hoping I would be able to buy candy like chocolate frogs with the cards in them and stuff like that, because there really isn’t that much to buy outside of things that are directly related to gameplay. Hell, I would have taken stuff I could buy for the Room of Requirement. It was fun to decorate in there, but there weren’t enough options. But I digress.

The outfits in this game all have a varied look, to a point. There are a LOT of repeat outfits. To get around this, the game allows you to transmog your look to what you like best. That’s good, because when I did the Daedelian Keys quest and got the coolest outfit in the game, I didn’t want to wear anything else. Even if you sell all your outfits, once you get something, you are able to wear it for the rest of your time playing the game. This way, you can have the best stat gear, but have a look that is all your own. I love that. I wish more games would do this.

Overall, this game is a masterclass in what it is trying to do. There are blemishes here and there. But I cannot imagine a better way to bring my childhood to life. For all the people who tried to boycott this game because of JK Rowling being a TERF, they need to take the L, because it failed. It is rumored that a sequel is green-lit, and there is potentially some DLC coming to this game. I can only hope and dream of some story DLC. Or that in the sequel, we get to see more of the wizarding community at large. Get to go through Diagon Alley. Or the train to Hogwarts. Those are places I’ve so wanted to visit in game too. Have romance options. Lots of potential things in the future, and I desperately hope the studio keeps this flame alive. They clearly had so much love and passion, and I cannot recommend this game enough. I finally got my invitation, and it was worth the wait.

Final Verdict
9 out of 10

Peace out,

Maverick

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