I’m new to this, I need your help!
I am 24f Asian and new to online dating. I met this guy, 27m 🇩🇪 on a dating app and we’ve been getting along pretty well. We’ve been talking for almost two months now and so far it has been great. We do a lot of online activities to keep us close (which is working). And we are getting so close to the point where I confessed to him that I think I am falling for him, to which he replied that he thinks he is falling for me too. He sent me little virtual gifts on my birthday which I really appreciate and thought that this man is really something else, and I can see this man as my future partner. He’s very understanding and mature to the point where he knows how to comfort me when I’m overthinking and reassures me that he’s in for the long run.
Here comes the problem, he only has 30+ followings on Instagram that I can easily track who they are. As someone who is very cautious about the person I like and could potentially date in the future, I’ve been checking his followings since he told me that he only keeps his following small for people very close to him. I know it’s kind of unhealthy to do what I’m doing, but I really want to trust this man. However, just yesterday, he followed a new Asian girl (from another country) who also just followed him back. This girl posts sexy photos and has a lot of followings which are mostly men. I assume that she’s on a dating app as well but the thing is, the guy who I’m talking to said that he already has his app disabled ever since he started talking to me, and don’t want to follow girls left and right for that purpose. I’ve been enabling my dating app from time to time just to check if he’s on it again (which he isn’t), but I’m also worried he just created a new account so that he doesn’t appear on my chats.
You might be thinking, maybe he’s losing interest in me. But the thing is, the way he talked to me just the other day, he was so excited, happy and also very sweet. We also talked last night about my worrying, he’s still very sweet and reassured me that there’s nothing to worry about. However, I sense that him following another asian girl is a red flag 🚩 when he’s still talking to me. This somehow made me lose interest in him but I don’t know if my feelings are valid. I don’t think I can look at him the same way anymore.
Please don’t judge as I am still new to this. I need your thoughts, opinions, and/or advice. Thank you!

After going totally nuts trying to decide between this and the colour version, I finally bit the bullet. I don't have other e-readers to compare to, but I did absorb huge amounts of info from Youtube videos, reviews, and comparisons.
Someone said that the BW screen is magical. I did not really believe it, but the first time I got the device, I tried to peel off the text from the device's screen, because I thought it has a sticker on it. Well, it was just text on the normal screen, it just magically looks like paper. The reason why I don't switch this to colour (even if the temptation is there) is exactly this, I don't want to give this magical paperlike screen away. It can be even read normally without any backlight, but you need some ambient lighting then, or to be at outdoors. Even then, you can get away with 4-8% backlight usage, which is very small. Biggest draw of the device for me was that it is easy for the eyes compared to LCD screens, so no way I'm ever giving that perk away. As I understand it, colour version has a dimmer screen that needs more backlight, which then makes it to be less "magically paperlike". I'm sorry, Libra colour, maybe some day when the technology has improved, or I can afford a companion device (or two 😂).
I got the Kobo plus free trial, definitely everyone should try it, as you can cancel it right after and still use the month, then continue if you feel like it. However, the plus collection is not that large, it was hard to find something that I know and enjoy from there. It was good for testing reading and manga capabilities though.
The wifi was a bit annoying, bouncing on and off. Also the normal home library view was not that good. I sorted my manga's in different folders, but the device did not seem to care about this. Also it wants you to check out the store and its over priced wares. For example, Made In Abyss one manga volume costs 10 dollars, while you can get a physical edition for of the same thing for 15 dollars. I just call it what it is, highway robbery. Luckily you can sideload the thing easily if you can get your books in other ways, so I'll be doing just that and saving a TON of money. The first day I got it, I read the whole day, and it would have costed me about 80 dollars in manga purchases alone.
So I installed Koreader, which made everything just better, if you take a bit of time to finetune it, as the default settings are not very nice. Also you need to install a dictionary, which is another ordeal to do and find one. After this, the device is just faster, it is a BIG difference while reading manga. The horribly expensive store is gone, good riddance I say! Wifi can be turned off eternally for all I care, more simplicity and no battery drain. Manga's and books can be sorted in libraries, and the device understands it! Custom screensaver is easy to get, ofc need to have that too, just for fun. Well now it starts to look like a great device, it seems that doing little bit of work really pays off. If I tried to use the device "as intended", I would have no money left, and would still be waiting for those absurdly large manga pages to turn (some which crashed the device). This is the way.
So yeah, it is a very good device. The screen autorotating feature is excellent, I find myself reading books on landscape mode, even if it is not the first instinct. Perfect use in outside sun with 0 backlight. The buttons are a must, I would not buy anything without side buttons at this point. Only wish it had a remote page turning, that would be the next step. You can mod for it, but that will be a hassle, and the current solutions are far from perfect. When people realize how comfy that would be, maybe in future the devices start to feature it. I guess it is hard to covet something that you do not know or have not experienced.
I was scared that the size is not good enough for manga, but it is. Emphasis on "good enough", it will do the job, and reading them is enjoyable, but a bigger screen would be optimal. Also when Kindle made a "manga version", it had this exact screen dimensions.
The screen, again, is immaculate in it's details. I'm enjoying too much how my wallpaper looks on it, it can be used as a tabletop photo frame, like a decoration! That will require buying a case for it, which I recommend, as when you close the case, the device goes to sleep automatically, and wakes up when you open the cover. That is very convenient, as is the ability to use the cover as a stand. I would just buy it for the screen protection alone.

I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh
Critics Consensus: A deceptively dark thriller that's also loaded with laughs, Hit Man is an outstanding showcase for leading man Glen Powell -- and one of the most purely entertaining films of Richard Linklater's career.

	Score	Number of Reviews	Average Rating
All Critics	96%	81	8.30/10
Top Critics	93%	27	8.00/10

Metacritic: 82 (21 Reviews)
Sample Reviews:
“Hit Man” is studded with delicious moments, but as amusing as the movie is it has a plot that sprawls forward in a rather ungainly fashion, and it goes on for too long. - Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Smart and steamy screwball fun. - Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
The comedy is a deliriously entertaining star vehicle for actor Glen Powell. - Ben Croll, TheWrap
“Hit Man,” Linklater’s latest film, falls into the fun-with-a-heart (and brain) category. It’s got a lot going for it. For one thing, there’s Linklater’s deft touch, particularly when juggling comedy and romance (with a little crime drama thrown in). 4/5 - Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
A smartly written, sublimely comedic, and sexy human-scale relationship story with a touch of just enough suspense and hints of criminality to prove that its title is not a complete misnomer. 4/5 - Cary Darling, Houston Chronicle
In the hands of a lesser director, Hit Man would surely have felt rather thin and disposable. But Linklater is a pro, and he manages to make the film’s fripperies feel borderline profound. 4/5 - Xan Brooks, Guardian
An intelligent comedy that contains plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and references Kant and Nietzsche, it is also a thriller that is darker than it first appears. - Jo-Ann Titmarsh, London Evening Standard
Hit Man trips along on great writing, Linklater’s witty, light-touch direction and a rich sense of place, but what makes it especially pleasurable is Powell and Arjona’s naturally steamy rapport. 4/5 - Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (UK)
... An effervescent comedy from Richard Linklater that simultaneously snubs its nose at the entire genre while easily nabbing the honour of most purely entertaining film to grace the Lido so far. 4/5 - Kevin Maher, Times (UK)
Another, crueller writer-director would have pivoted to scenes of bloody violence, but Linklater prefers to ponder the question of whether you can will yourself into becoming a different person. 4/5 - Nicholas Barber, BBC.com
A sorta-true story about an average guy who finds himself caught in a web of crime and deception, Hit Man is a cute and clever (sometimes overbearingly so) showcase for Powell’s magnetic charm. - Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
The police scenes are just light enough to be funny, the screwball sequences are just dark enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, and Powell... is obviously elated to be handling such twisty material. - Shirley Li, The Atlantic
This genial comedy/noir is a genuine crowdpleaser – funny, sexy, clever and confident in building a low-key humour which hits the target over and over again. - Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
It’s a genuinely riotous time at the cinema and concrete proof Powell is perhaps our brightest hope when it comes to keeping the notion of the movie star alive. - Hannah Strong, Little White Lies
Hit Man is hot and hilarious, a winning combination amplified by a story that gets knottier at every turn. - Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Powell’s ability to power through some dull material on charm alone only reaffirms the credibility of his stardom, and the film’s general lack of ambition keeps things from going awry whenever a joke doesn’t land. Aim small, miss small. B- - David Ehrlich, indieWire
I’s just fun to watch good old-fashioned comedy in which love, danger, and happy endings are all part of a damn fine evening at the movies. - Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
With Richard Linklater’s Hitman, the charismatic Glen Powell has been offered a plum opportunity to shape his image into something more complicated and often poignant. 3/4 - Zach Lewis, Slant Magazine
[A] light-and-lively comedy. - Jordan Hoffman, The Messenger
Comfortably Linklater’s best movie since Boyhood, Hit Man stands alongside School of Rock for big laughs and good vibes – albeit with a darker streak that slowly kicks in. 4/5 - Philip De Semlyen, Time Out
Powell and Linklater would have done better to take Johnson’s story as a launching point and then spun off into their far more complicated version of his life without literally tethering the movie to a real person. - Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
Linklater has long had a gift with playful humor, and he nails the tone here without turning “Hit Man” into the slapstick it could have become. - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
A comedy/thriller that’s in equal parts charming, nerve-wracking, and ethically challenging. - Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
Every interesting aspect of the true story and the imagined story are smoothed out. - Drew Gregory, Autostraddle
The smoldering, wily, wild-but-true Hit Man returns Linklater to his loquacious take on romance, with a man using his gift of gab to shrug off himself. - Charles Bramesco, Inside Hook
A witty, relaxed, and cheerfully fictionalized comedy-caper-romance; in the bargain there’s some light philosophical meditations on the impermanence of personality. 4/4 - Ty Burr, Ty Burr's Watch List
It’s as if Linklater is playing posthumous wingman for his subject, giving him the rom-com-slick Hollywood ending he never got in life. - Keith Uhlich, (All (Parentheses))
SYNOPSIS:
Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater’s sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary descends into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona). As Madison falls for one of Gary’s hit man personas — the mysteriously sexy Ron — their steamy affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes. Co-written by Linklater and Powell and inspired by an unbelievable true story, Hit Man is a cleverly existential comedy about identity.
CAST:

• Glen Powell as Gary Johnson
• Adria Arjona as Maddy Masters
• Austin Amelio as Jasper
• Retta as Claudette

DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater
SCREENPLAY BY: Richard Linklater, Glen Powell
BASED ON THE TEXAS MONTHLY ARTICLE BY: Skip Hollandsworth
PRODUCED BY: Mike Blizzard, Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stuart Ford, Zach Garrett, Miguel A. Palos Jr., Shivani Rawat, Julie Goldstein, Vicky Patel, Steve Barnett, Alan Powell, John Sloss, Scott Brown, Megan Creydt
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Shane F. Kelly
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Bruce Curtis
EDITED BY: Sandra Adair
COSTUME DESIGNER: Juliana Hoffpauir
MUSIC BY: Graham Reynolds
MUSIC SUPERVISORS: Randall Poster, Meghan Currier
CASTING BY: Vicky Boone
RUNTIME: 115 Minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2024 (Limited Theatrical in US; Wide Theatrical in Canada) / June 7 (Netflix)

Hi folks. I'm relatively new to the tech side of unity. I'm mainly an artist, an expressive one to say the least, so the tech part is far from my confort zone, yet to productive reasons, I'm slowly peeking into the implementation workflow myself so I can have more control to how my assets land on a small vr game I'm developing with some friends as portfolio / passion project.
Let's get started: my main issue is that I don't know how to debug wether unlit or lit assets really affect performance. I know they do, but I don't know how much. Let me explain: my current workflow is having everything unlit, with custom shaders that basicly blends a basecolor with a lightmap for every single item (2 different uv channels per asset for this reason). I bake every lightmap on Maya, having a master scene with every game item referenced (I know you can directly do it on unity, but I don't know how to fine tweak them, so thats how I work for now).
With said workflow, my problem is that I obviously dont have dynamic shadows, so any moving object wont ever cast shadows or interact with occluded areas at all (a bright object will still seem bright inside a tunnel, for example). My question now is, If I activate a directional light for said objects, so they render self shadows, will that light still affect the rest of the assets performance wise, even if they are set as unlit? I know theres some "dynamic" and "static" conditions for any object on inspector, but I find it tedious to always need to check said condition on any new item I add to the scene, and my first thought was that if an asset is using unlit, it doesnt make any sense that light will add a performance impact on said unlit asset. Am I wrong?
TL;DR: does adding a directional light for having moving objects' self-shadows make an impact on unlit assets' performance?

After moving here last year, I have some really good shots that I'd like to get printed in small post-card size (10cm x 15cm) and was looking for recommendations for good places that print photos. My first option was to just get them from Google Photos but the shipping costs more than the cost for printing the photos. So I was looking at something local.
Thank you.
Edit: I did look at Google Maps and came across different places, just want first-hand experiences to make sure I get them printed from a good place with proper paper recommendations and guiding on photo printing too since this is my first time printing photos.

When accidents happen, having a reliable insurance provider like Hastings Direct can make all the difference. Hastings Direct offers competitive rates, various coverage options, and exceptional customer service. Their accident claims process is designed to be as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Hastings Direct provides 24/7 availability, allowing you to report accidents anytime. You’ll receive professional advice throughout the claims process and quick, efficient claims handling. They also offer comprehensive support, including assistance with repairs and courtesy cars.
If you’re involved in an accident, first ensure everyone’s safety. Then, gather details from all parties and take photos of the scene. Contact Hastings Direct using the accident claims number found on your policy documents or their website. Provide any additional information requested and stay updated on your claim status.
Keep the Hastings Direct Accident Claims Number handy to ensure you get the help you need when you need it. With Hastings Direct, expert assistance is just a call away.
Read more: https://insurance-accident-claims.co.uk/Hastings-Direct

Hello.
Just bought new poco x6 pro, the delivery guy opened the box and took photo to the phone while in cover.
When I opened the phone i see a small dent below screen, when I put the case it's not visible, should I raise complain or just keep the phone (will use it for at least 2 years).

TLDR -------------------------------------
The problem: My fish, Zane, has been extremly lethargic for about a while. A white spot has developed on his side in the last few days. And he is no longer swimming up for food.
What I think it could be: stress (moving, bioload, bad tank location in the house, etc), old age, or sick - maybe swim bladder disease.
What I'd like to get from this post: help identifying the problem and help addressing/fixing it.
Images linked here
Full Story --------------------------------
The time line: - Student teaching Jan 17 - May 1 - Return to fish Mar 15 / April 25-28 / May 6-11 - Friend watches fish Mar 25-28 / April 28 - May 5 / - Fish Moved April 28 / in travel cup until April 30 / in small tank until May 13 / new tank set up May 13 / new filter pump and cartridge May 14 - I start worrying about lethargy April 28 - Different friend watches fish May 10-12 - says he swam up to get food once or twice - partner cares for fish May 14-17
The situation: I was student teaching this spring (Jan 17 - May 1) and so my partner was taking care of Zane in our old apartment while I moved in with family. I have been back at different times during the semester (March 15 / April 26 / May 6-11 ) and my partner has come to visit me too (March 25-28 / April 28 - May 5) and during those times a neighbor has watched him. Any time we have a trusted friend watched him, they will fed him 3 blood worms daily because it is easy to measure. Our friends all have animals and follow the exact instructions we leave.
I have had Zane since February 25, 2021. As he has gotten older, he has slowed down and taken longer to respond, but he still had a lot of energy and swam up to greet you or get food in the morning. But lately he has gotten really lethargic and appears sick.
I don't know the parameters or if there was a strict cleaning schedule while I was student teaching outside of topping the water up every 2 weeks. But, now that things have calmed down we will be returning to a set schedule.
Recently we got a different apartment near where I was student teaching and my partner moved in with me. During the transition of moving, the semester ending, and graduation there were periods where my partner cared for Zane, I cared for him, or a friend cared for him. Zane moved into the new apartment with us on April 28.
He was in a travel bowl for 2 days (it's bigger than the petstore cups, but idk how big it actually is), then he was in a 2 gallon cube for another 10 days days before we got his 5 gallon tank back and set up. During moving we packed as much water as we could into takeaway soup containers because I thought it would be best to bring his old water that already had the bacteria and stuff. When we got back I took everything out of the tank (I wanted to search the gravel for snails) and then added the fluvel substrate and some of the old fishtank gravel on top. I dumped the water filled with all the gravel debris before adding the new substrate. I put all the decorations back then added the old water we saved and the new water from his 2 gal temporary tank together. I doubt the temporary tank was cycled, but he is usually fine staying in that tank when I travel. It's always filtered water, heated, conditioned and left to sit out for a day before adding him. During this process, I had him in a sealed plastic bowl Tupperware with holes in the top and then let him acclimate to the new water by setting the bowl in the tank. I was concerned about the old filter because it looked very gross, so I replaced the entire unit.
Since moving Zane has been really lethargic and spends all his time laying in the bottom of the tank. He used to have a lot of energy, swim around, rest on the plants, or rest on the heater, hunt shrimp, and I suspect he also tried to hit the snail once he realized it was in his tank.
Now, I know he is moving because when we check on him, several times a day, he's in a different spot than he was the previous time. But, in uploading photos, I noticed all of the photos I have are from the same corner of the tank, so maybe he isn't moving as much as he was earlier.
He also moves quickly if we gently brush against him or beside him. But, he is no longer swimming up for food or acting like he used to. He does look at us when we come near him. His eyes look like they're following us. He is breathing because his gills are moving, but it seems labored. I think he is stressed with the move, but his color is fine. He used to sleep or rest a lot too but his fins were always moving when he did and now they don't seem to be.
He has been in the new set up for about a week or two now and a few days ago (maybe May 17/18) I noticed a white spot on his side. It's only one, so I don't think it's itch. There is some white fuzzy something on the driftwood, but according to google it's just bacterial growth and should be fine. I've reduced the food I give him because it doesn't seem like he's eating in all. I used to feed him a small pinch of bug bites or 3 bloodworms because he seemed to have more energy with that pattern than without.
Appearance wise, his color is fine, it doesn't look like itch, it doesn't look like popeye, and his scales aren't pineconing. It could be swim bladder disease?
Thank you for your help.

https://old.reddit.com/BlackPeopleTwittecomments/1cwry3o/calling_her_a_sun_dodger_is_nasty_work/l4ymuca/
https://old.reddit.com/BlackPeopleTwittecomments/1cwry3o/calling_her_a_sun_dodger_is_nasty_work/l4xvtt4/
And that is, mind you, in a "country club thread" which means you must have either proven to the moderators that you are black by sending a photo of your skin, or you must pledge to be docile and compliant if you've committed the crime of being born white.
I will never not absolutely loathe this subreddit and the punkass, racism-enabling admins who allow their official policy of open racial discrimination to continue.
This is a picture of an interracial relationship and it's apparently perfectly normal to laugh at her and call her a "sun dodger", since that comment got 700 upvotes.
Fortunately there are also many who call out the racism this couple endures, but this kind of open racism would never be tolerated if the target was anything other than white.
Fuck everybody who thinks this is normal. Fuck anybody who tries to make any interracial couple explain themselves. They don't owe you an explanation. Ever. And it's not fucking "funny", either.
Archive: https://archive.is/wLzOC

I (20M) feel like i got pretty lucky with alot of things that men say women want. Im 6"5, im semi muscular (ill get into this one l8r), i got good hair, and half desent facial hair, i have a LOT of money for ppl my age (around 100k at 20 due to a legal suit involving a death of a close relitive), and above average sized thing (not to be crass but i think its important for what im talking about).
Now thats all great, like every alpha male guy would say thats all that matters to get women but my insecurity comes from my face. I HATE the way my face looks. Like i cant put into words how disgusting my face is. My nose is down turned and pruyrdes too far from my face, my eyes are too deep set into my skull and have these disgusting genetic under eye bags that are always shadowed, my cheeks are fat and puffy and i have a aweful jaw that shoots way too high up to early on my face, as well as one side of my face is round and 1 side is sharp. I hate seeing myself. But so much of life is just seeing yourself, i dont want photos of me, i dont want to be seen in public, i dont want to go on dates, etc all because i hate the way i look. Ive gone through soo much in my life but ive really gotten through it all, abusive parents as a kid, dead parent as a teen, all my grandparents are dead, no real connections, a disease that hospitialized me for most of highschool, and so many other struggles in my life and yet the only thing that consitantly weighs on my mind and makes me suididal is my face.
I hate it so much i cant put it into words. Ive done ALOT of reflecting on why i hate how i look because im probaly objectivly speeking barely below average or maybe even average levels of attractivness. I think it comes from bad experinces with women in the past and a sense of inadequicy caused by having abusive parents. I know i mentioned alpha male shit at thr begining of this post but im actually not into any of that bullshit at all. Im a pretty big feminist and ive always kind of prided myself on not being that cringe women hating andrew tate fan, but what im realizing is i just internilized all that hatred instead of putting it onto women.
I constantly look at myself, i check myself in every reflection to confirm im still ugly, if there isnt a mirror i take a photo or look at myself in my phones reflection. I do this because i want to know what i look like in the moment. Even when im alone i constantly check. I have over 6k selfies on my phone if just that. Sometimes i feel confident and i feel like a 8 or a 9 out of 10 and then i see myself in normal/natural lighting and i feel like a 3/10. Its so paralalyzing. I would do anything to just feel comfterable in my own skin. I miss out on so many great things because im paranoid about how i look. When i walk to the store i spend the entire time obbsesivly freaking out about my aprarejce, when i hang out with friends i try and consuously position myself in ways they see my good side or me in good lighting because i dont want them to THINK im ugly. Its so miserable i want it to be over. Im genuinly suisidal over my facial apearnece which feels so pathetic when you consider what other people are going through or even what I have experinced in the past, its wierd THIS small thing is so deteimental to my life.
I feel my body is fine but i do have a eating disorder specifically in a attempt to reduce facial fat. I do sooo much to try and inprove my aperace but at this point its just genetics. Like i have a massive skin care routine, i work out frequently, and so much more but it just doesnt help.
One of my friends told me he though i was ugly when he first met me but now he things im average and it destroyed me. Idk why he said it honeslty i think he was drunk and ment it as a compliment and for a normal person they would just move on but for me its lingered in my mind 24/7 for the last 3 months. It doesnt even matter what he thinks because im straight and its not like im trying to date him but I think becuase of the way i obssess over what others think of my apearjwce it like confirmed my already negitive thoufhrs about my apernece. I dont voice these kind of things to ppl so its not like any1 knows not to say things like that but if i did ask him not to it would honeslty make ut worse because then it would feel like he was silently judging me.
I desprutially want to be loved, i think it has to do with being phyically and emotionally abused by both my parents as a kid because i feel this deep sinkinh feeling in my chest all the time and it feeld like the only way i could fix it would be love. Sometimes i get a glimse of it, like i fall in love and we go on a few dates and then it doesnt work out but for that short few weeks it felt like everything was fine fir the first rime ever. I want to just experince basic love like hugging and spending time together with someone in a romantic sense SOO deeply and it feels like it i was more attractive maybe those dates where i was in love but it wasnt mutual would work out.
I social media stalk one girl in particular and evey new boyfriend she gets is like 500x more attractive than me and it just makes me feel hopeless but i litterally cant get over her. 2 years and the feelings never went away. Every time i think im over her i dream about her or something big happens involving her or a friend mentions her in passing and its like all these dormant feeling reawaken and i just feel so inadiqet. Like i dont even want any1 else. Its wierd and it fucking sucks.
I feel like the only real options left are get cosmetic surgery and hope that fixes everything, or die and never have to worry about it again but i genuinly think all the time about all the bad photos thsg would be used at my funeral. If i got cosmetic survery i would move to the other side of the country and start a new life and just pretend it never happened and not talk to any1 who new me from before until they A forgot what i looked like, or B enough time passed its reasonable i looked diffrent.
What should i do? Is this fixable?

I contemplated writing this all day but decided it might be helpful to someone else if I shared my bittersweet EDC 2024 experience.
This year was my second year at EDC, and despite a few negative experiences sprinkled throughout, I honestly had the time of my life.
Saturday, while I was sitting on the turf mound at Basspod VIP, I was assaulted. A guy, we’ll call him Mo, had come up to where me, my wife, and my wife’s friend were sitting and started talking to my wife. They chatted briefly. Then, my wife returned to dancing, and Mo turned around talking to someone else.
A few minutes later, Mo tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You and your wife look so good together.” I replied, “Aww, thank you so much,” and returned to resume my head banging. Not even five minutes later, as I was zoned out, feeling the music and vibes, I felt something brushing against my back. It was Mo.
Now, I know it’s nearly impossible not to brush up against other people, so I try to be super tolerant and understand that most people aren’t trying to be creeps; it’s just close quarters.
But no sooner than I had moved forward a bit, I felt someone’s hand underneath my vest pouch fondling and massaging my breast. Initially, when I looked back, I was confused, but I realized that Mo was lying on his back and had reached his hand under my vest.
When I turned around like, “Wtf are you doing?” He threw his hands up and just started apologizing profusely. I tried to tell him to gtfoh and go someplace else because I didn’t feel comfortable with him behind me, but he just kept saying, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
I don't know if my wife’s friend, sitting on my right, saw what happened, but I know she saw me fussing at this guy, trying to tell him to gtfoh. She didn’t say or do anything. Then, I told my wife, who had been talking with another couple, what happened, and that I had tried to ask him to go somewhere else because I didn’t feel comfortable with him behind me but that he just stayed there apologizing over and over. She asked if I wanted to switch seats with her or if I wanted her to do anything, and I just said no.
The boy was clearly faded; he had mentioned this to my wife, and I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s experience, so I just turned around and tried to shake it off. I knew this wasn’t the end, and I was ready.
Again, not even five minutes had passed, and I felt a hand grip my right shoulder. I hear Mo start saying, “I’m so sorry, I…” but before he could finish, I turned around and punched him with probably the best right hook of my life. Or maybe it just felt that way because of how good it felt watching his body reel backward and seeing the anger rise in his face as the realization that he just got socked by a 5’4” 130 lb female set in.
As soon as I punched him, his friends came rushing in, pulling him back like, “Hey, chill! Our friend is just really fucked up right now,” blah blah blah. My wife turned to see the commotion and was like, “Aye, the next time your friend puts his hands on my wife, he’s getting beat tf up.”In response, one of the friends said, “This is my wife right here, so I understand,” trying to tell us we needed to calm down. My wife told them basically, “No, y’all need to get your friend because my wife was just about to cry when your friend was groping her breasts. Do you want to put your wife between him and my wife then?”
Maybe they only saw him grab my shoulder and me socking him, but no matter how I try to justify it, there are so many things wrong with everything that happened. First, if I ever see a woman straight up punch a man TWICE her size, I’m immediately going to ask her wtf happened and if she is ok.
Second, this experience has taught me a lot. It’s been painful, mainly because it still boggles my mind that sexual assault is so quickly brushed off. I’m not expecting anyone to lay hands on someone for me, but a little solidarity would have gone a long way in that situation.
I’m annoyed it didn’t become a scene until I punched him. No one wanted to get up and stand up to this man after he sexually assaulted me in front of hundreds of people—but throw a punch and, wow, the outrage.
None of the friends asked me if I was okay or tried to take him far away from me. I understand my wife and her friend not stepping in too much in the beginning; it is a man who is bigger and likely stronger, and women are often afraid that worse will happen if they make a scene, but still. If we all stood up to him and forced him to leave after assaulting me, it would have felt a hell of a lot better than having to wait to be touched again so that I could physically handle it myself.
With that, my only request is that my fellow rave-goers, please don’t be a bystander or an enabling friend. If you see something, say something. Every conflict doesn’t have to be resolved by violence. Myself and even five other people standing up to Mo saying hey you need to leave or there’s gonna be a scene, would have likely been enough to pressure him to find somewhere else to be a creep. Instead, I had to sit with this man less than a foot behind me who had just fondled and groped my breast and waited for him to strike again to defend myself. Even after I hit him, he and his friends just stayed. Please be the friend that understands when shit has gone too far, and get your friend somewhere different if they are being a nuisance.
It’s a hollowing experience. After I punched him, though, I felt 10000000 times better. I’m saddened that that’s what it had to come to, but the actions of everyone around me indicated that handling it myself was the only option. Maybe everyone around was too fucked up to register what was happening; perhaps they thought it would be better if they minded their own business, I don’t know.
The best part, though, was that afterward, a guy with a bag of wooden fucks gave me one. He said I had zero fucks when I punched that guy, so here’s a fuck. That was genuinely the highlight of my weekend, and if anyone knows this zero fucks given guy, send him my appreciation.
Despite this interaction, I had the most incredible time for the remainder of my weekend. For this one jackass, hundreds of people were kind to me in small ways throughout the weekend. Shout out to all my Basshead headbangers and our new friends from New Mexico, Steve-O, and Alexis, who were ready to find Mo for a little ‘chat’ after we told them what happened later that day. Although we didn’t take them up on the offer, that’s the kind of showing up that I appreciate. I can’t wait to see you all underneath the electric sky again next year.
TLDR: I was groped by a stranger, no one batted an eye, then I punched him, and suddenly, I need to chill. Please don’t be a bystander. See something, say something.

#1 has to be the absence of Gerogie in the room when the sad news was delivered. He HAD to be there.
#2 Loved Sheldon's reaction to the news but Mary's and MeeMaw's was meh. Missy did well too
#3 Georgie's last words to his father by his casket was heartbreaking. It was a terrific side of his that we often missed
#4 Missy lashing out on Pastor Jeff and his reaction to it was very apt. I think both understood where it was coming from.
#5 Sheldon reliving the last moment with his dad with different scenarios is how I would have done too if I had regrets. Brilliant piece of work
#6 Not too fussed but since they brought back Tam, maybe perhaps a quick apperance from Paige would have been good too
#7 Same goes with Veronica given that Mindy seems to have gotten jealous at the mention of her. I mean these two were not regulars but still it would have been a nice send off to the series
#8 MeeMaw appreciating her son-in-law at the funeral was also a good watch. She teased him a lot but I think both knew they loved each other
#9 Dale is perfect for MeeMaw as a supporting partner
#10 Kinda wished we got to Sheldon's children in the final episode
#11 Excited about the spin off series.
#12 Didn't quite like Missy's last scene with Sheldon. Should have gotten a more impactful line
#13 A small flashback of George's most memorable moment with the family members (when they went to say their last words to him in the casket) would have been nice. Like how they did it with Missy.
Well, there you have it. That's just off the top of my head.

So Colby King is apparently the first person to dox Ebony who Ebony made a post about on the 19th of May, with photos attached

"To the members of The House of Ebony compiling info on all these bozo's, I thank you..." https://x.com/EbonyPrince2k24/status/1791881399168905686

He then made a post on the 21st of May

while it may not be easy to fight such well oiled machines, The tools are different these days. I commend those who have come forward, so that I no longer stand alone... https://x.com/EbonyPrince2k24/status/1792202880755372514

I suspected that the comment about "well oiled machines" was in reference to Colby and that this post was more personal than just being doxed.
He then tweets

In case you all didn't know, dixxing is a crime. I doxxed no one... I released no ones information publicly, that wasn't already released... You all on the other hand are simply stupid... https://x.com/EbonyPrince2k24/status/1792840198319153532

I think we can all fill in the blanks of dixxing (dicking)
He's now made another post screenshotting a text conversation with a suspected Colby

https://x.com/EbonyPrince2k24/status/1792841058067399147 https://x.com/EbonyPrince2k24/status/1792843780346814717

I do think Ebony may be paranoid at this point (and he has every right to be). I do think there's a large chance that his phone number was leaked through a data breach online which would give the text messages a lot less meaning given the vitriol he has been receiving on twitter. However, there is a non-insignificant chance that Drake and his goons (who this "Colby" could definitely be a part of) are using their network to find Ebonys phone number through personal sources.
When it all falls down it'll be interesting to see where Colby is placed however, Ebony seems to think he has a non-insignificant part to play in the situation (whether that be because Colby happened uppon Ebonys identity or whether he is a part of the scheme)
Personally, I think Colby has an arms length involvement which should be investigated further.

• Putin + Kim Jong (Dictators)
• Blackwater (PMCs & Mercenaries)
• I5I5, H4M4S or 4L-Q43DA (Terrorist organizations)
• CIA & NSA (Governmental bodies and departments)
• Foreign invaders (Military & Special Forces)
• World leader (President & Prime Minister)

In terms of a dictator:

Figures such as Putin are the ones usually giving their subordinates such as mercenaries, special forces or the regular military the order to commit any crime against humanity, so they are the true mastermind, sitting behind the scenes while their subordinates commit the crime on their behalf.
They know that the police can't do shit to them, due to being in power of the country, so it'll not make sense as to why they would arrest someone above their pay grade. It does matter if you pursue the case via the ICC, that only works in absentia but not make them physically present.
They have their own military, law enforcement and equivalent of the CIA, so the police stand no chance on approaching them, despite these people being complicit with committing any crime, such as murder, torture, extortion, kidnapping, etc.

In terms of PMCs & Mercenaries:

Usually, they are employed by a private corporation. Even though the personnel look like soldiers, they are not fighting for a nation, solely for monetary gain, the rules for typical soldiers do not apply since they are not considered as part of the conventional military.
Heads of such PMC firms know that police can't arrest them directly, shifting accountability of their crimes to a third party just to save their own skin, so it'll be a challenge. A real example, there were American mercenaries who murdered 2 Iraqi nationals in cold blood but got away with it.
The most infuriating part is that they were pardoned by the president 9 years after it happened, plus the USA is not an official member of the ICC, making it hard for the victim to pursue justice, basically the government who hired them are deemed immune from legal repercussions.

In terms of terrorist organizations:

You will be in immediate danger if you dared to confront or called the authorities on such people and organizations, since they will kill everyone without mercy if they know you alerted the police of their crimes or atrocities. (Murder: Beheadings)
Police would be too intimidated to face them (since they will also target their loved ones), from terrorists ruthless as I5I5 are known to kidnap, torture and murder anybody regardless of their status and occupation. They have no problem on murdering both the judge and jury.
You can try to pursue justice, but it'll come at a huge sacrifice, plenty of judges, jurors, cops, lawyers, prosecutors, eyewitnesses, private citizens including yourself will all be prey, as all of you will be murdered by these people, so there is no trial or prison time for them.

In terms of governmental bodies & departments:

There is no luck, since they are politicians and have such a strong upper hand over the police, you can be the next Snowden but guarantee that you'll be labeled as a traitor and a whistleblower, you are basically doomed at this point. (There's not much you can do to save yourself.)
Organizations equivalent to the NSA or CIA can orchestrate an assassination staging it as an accident, while they utilize their governmental connections to conceal their involvement. The police are heavily tied to the state, so calling them while being targeted is useless.
These governmental bodies can also hire a hitman too, that is if you know too much. Since they can just order and pay a contract killer to assassinate you, who might subject you to torture eventually on considering killing you.

In terms of the military and special forces:

In a situation akin to what happened in Iraq, the soldiers will consider policemen in the country they are in as combatants, so the police will be murdered in cold blood, as the military remains steadfast about asserting their authority over them.
Despite if the military or special forces being complicit on murdering your loved ones, you got to consider that they are following orders from the higher authorities (usually their superior or government itself) so that will pose a challenge on arresting the true mastermind.
The cloest thing you can achieve is at least arresting one of the soldiers through military justice and a court martial to convict him or her, but not the official armed force branch itself. For instance, what happened at a prison in Iraq, the US troops abused the inmates there.

In terms of a world leader:

Again, like with dictators, they are the ruler of the nation. Whilst still in their tenure, they cannot be prosecuted, the only way that would work is to wait for their tenure to end, once they are no longer in office then you can pursue justice.
For example, Trump incited the insurrection of the white house, despite him not bearing arms, but his rhetoric exacerbated the influence on his supporters to storm the white house, it was too much for the police to handle, although they did arrest some figures involved.
Though Trump himself remained immune whilst in power, although after he was no longer president, there was a case against him for that, it is still dragging on until now. He is not been officially convicted of the insurrection back in 2021.

On a rainy Saturday afternoon not so long ago when internet connection was fluctuating in most homes, the 80-year-old Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, widow of the late Senator Heherson Alvarez, carrying a mini iPad, hurriedly alighted from a three-wheeled pedicab Toktok and stormed her way into a popular coffee shop in a mall in Manila.

A senior citizen in panic mode, she told the stunned baristas she’s looking for a Wi-Fi connection because she was about to interview retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio via Zoom.
The coffee shop, a known world brand, has Wi-Fi exclusive to its employees, so the old lady was told to try other establishments. She went from one coffee shop to another only to be told the same, until a kind stranger led her to a well-known beauty salon with a free internet connection.
The lady salon attendant was very accommodating to the octogenarian, even typing the password on her IPad. Of course, she needed to avail herself of their salon services. Initially, she opted for a haircut, but since she needed to talk and hear clearly who she was talking to, she settled for a foot spa with pedicure.
“They lowered the volume of the piped-in music, and since there were less customers because it’s been raining all day, I was able to do my interview,” Guidote-Alvarez said.
For the next half-an-hour, the hair dressers and manicurists working with their scissors, nail clippers and cuticle removers on their customers’ hair and fingernails, listened to Carpio and Guidote-Alvarez discussed how Filipino fishermen and the Philippine Navy ships helplessly negotiate their ways in Scarborough Shoal amid the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
“They were all very nice to me. I was able to finish my interview, with newly pedicured nails,” she told The Diarist.
For those who’ve worked with Guidote-Alvarez, her steadfast, almost stubborn, nature to accomplish a task, is nothing out of the ordinary. She would improvise, find alternatives, call up friends and former students, wake them up from sleep, just to get things done.
But now, in her 80s, legally blind and nearly deaf, she has mellowed down.
Cecile Alvarez with her mentors, National Artist for Literature Alejandro Roces, Jr and Fr. James Reuter. SJ
In her twilight years, Guidote-Alvarez has been solely hosting the 57-year-old Radyo Balintataw on DZRH, one of the oldest radio stations in the Philippines, where she tackles a wide range of topics, from climate change, women’s health, theater, culture, dance, to current issues, apart from playing old recordings of classic radio plays she produced and directed, dating back to the late ‘80s.
She shared with TheDiarist.ph how she started and continues to host one of the longest running advocacy programs on AM Radio.
Theater on TV
After founding the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) on April 7, 1967, or exactly 57 years ago, Guidote-Alvarez thought of the need to expose PETA’s members to television, so she started conceptualizing Balintataw, which in Filipino means the pupil of the eye, but in a larger context has something to do with having wild imagination, or what you might see if you have a third eye.

“I designed Balintataw as a bridge between cinema and the stage, where the youth being trained in theater skills can have a ready-made laboratory experience linked with the film and entertainment industry that would likewise have a natural on-the-job training and orientation regarding the theatrical discipline of working with a literary script, whether dramatic or comic—not the regular improvised script done on taping or copycat scripts from foreign themes,” Guidote-Alvarez wrote in her yet-to-be published Memoir of a Freedom Fighter’s Wife.
“A primary goal when I conceived PETA was to initiate and sustain artistic expression that draws meaning and power from the lives of the people, and sharing the literary gems with a greater number of audiences through a Broadcast Theater-Film Program with Balintataw on Channel 5,” she added.
“No matter how little the pay, at least it provided our local writers with a little honorarium. I sought permission for award-winning pieces of the Palanca Playwriting contest to be fleshed out to reach the masses. The much-awarded playwright Bert Florentino served as our literary manager, assisted by Mauro Avena. Eventually, Isagani Cruz took over when Bert left for the US,” she wrote.
“Writers need exposure and encouragement through a regular TV performance that will give them a sense of achievement and inspire them to keep on writing with some kind of honorarium. I was glad Lupita Aquino (now Kashiwahara) agreed to be TV director and Robert Arevalo as TV host.
She got members of the PETA Kalinangan Ensemble to serve as stage directors. “This is to undertake preliminary preparation with a rehearsal with the actors for character development and memorization and preliminary staging,” she wrote.
Five months after PETA was founded, Balintataw TV premiered on Channel 5 on Aug. 19, 1967, coinciding with the Buwan ng Wika birthdate of President Manuel Luis Quezon.
The first play, whose title escapes her now, featured Armida Siguion-Reyna and Maria Eva “Chingbee” Kalaw. She employed photo journalist and award-winning photographedocumentarist/cinematographer, Romy Vitug, to work with her in filming outdoor scenes for Balintataw.

In the pre-Martial Law Balintataw, among those initiated into television were Lino Brocka, Elwood Perez, Nick Lizaso, Maryo delos Reyes, Mario O’Hara, Joey Gosiengfiao, Behn Cervantes, and Frank Rivera.
Among the stage actors who crossed over to television were Lily Gamboa, Angie Ferro, Lorlie Villanueva, Jonee Gamboa, Joy Soler, Sherry Lara, Gardy Labad, Noel Trinidad.
Like with PETA, Guidote-Alvarez directed and managed Balintataw for five years. Because of Martial Law, she and husband Heherson went on exile in the US to escape a military shoot-to-kill order on Heherson, who was tagged as a subversive.
Post-Martial Law
Internationally acclaimed auteur Lav Diaz mentioned in several interviews how he learned writing radio and TV scripts in Balintataw.
This happened in the late 1980s, when the Alvarez couple returned from exile.
Despite its absence on the air in the Martial Law years, Balintataw was honored by Star Awards as among the 20 unforgettable outstanding broadcast programs in the Philippines.
“This encouraged me to consider reviving Balintataw on TV. Another blessing was a FAMAS award for having an important role in the development of cinema recognizing Balintataw as a bridge for synergizing cinema with the stage, providing a pathway of entry of our PETA artists into film and for movie stars to consider enriching their experience by acting on the legitimate stage,” Guidote-Alvarez wrote.
Though she didn’t return to PETA anymore because it had been surviving well and had its own set of officers led by Brocka, she just tapped some of its members for the return of Balintataw.
For 14 years, the Alvarez couple lived in the US as political exiles, shown here during a Ninoy Aquino Movement meeting. Cecile revived Radyo Balintataw upon their return in the late 1980s.
Channel 4 stint
“I arranged to revive TV Balintataw on Channel 4 in 1989. We began with a drama about a rebel returnee, title escapes me now, but I clearly remember it was written by Lualhati Bautista and directed by Maryo de los Reyes. We also had a good story series on the hazing of Lenny Villa, an Aquila Legis Frat neophyte,” she wrote.
At the time, Heherson had been elected senator after having served as Agrarian Reform Minister and eventually Cabinet Secretary during the first year of the Cory Aquino Administration.
“We were able to unravel the deadly hazing process from a fellow neophyte who broke the code of silence as we revealed graphically, acted the cruel process used. I had Jose Mari Avellana direct it. This presentation won all the awards. Lav Diaz was training with us and he started writing teleplays. We also had Nora Aunor in an adaptation of Bert Florentino’s The World Is An Apple, adapted by Frank Rivera, and I had Nick Lizaso direct.”

Emmy Awards
Balintataw TV was selected as one of five soaps for social change recognized by Emmy Awards. The Philippines was one of five countries cited, with Mexico, India, Brazil and Kenya.
“The nomination was made possible by the wonderful support from David Poindexter. It was a supreme honor for our country to be recognized in the Emmy Awards, to be cited among the five Third World countries using soap opera for social change.”
Poindexter was a Methodist minister and TV producer who founded the Population Communications International.
Surviving on radio
“In spite of the cry about how television can be deadening the minds of the people with copied themes with an eternal favorite love triangle story, there was really no funding for Balintataw,” she wrote.
“Sponsors would go naturally to the commercial stations where big stars were paid highly for the starring role. Balintataw may have substance but we could not afford payment of bankable stars,” she added.
“Financial stress forced me to drop TV and remain on radio because I didn’t want to kill Balintataw per se just because we didn’t have funds.”
Creative classroom
“We have focused on Balintataw as a creative classroom on the air. I was able to talk to Fred J. Elizalde of DZRH and the president of the network, Mr. Jun Nicdao,” she wrote.
In the ‘80s, the HIV/AIDS became a global epidemic and in the Philippines, the general populace was still clueless on how to deal with it.
“In order to get funding, the first series I did was about the explosive news regarding AIDS in Asia. I got the DOH Secretary at the time, Dr. Juan Flavier, to act as himself, providing the data. It was easier to start off with an AIDS radio serial.
They did a minimum of 13 episodes to raise awareness about the disease.
“From then on, some of our television scripts we transformed into a radio version. DZRH provided us with our initial production staff, so we used some from the network and some of its resident artists and drama talents. Our time slots were changing but always coming after the long-running horror drama, Gabi ng Lagim.
“We worked on the themes of overseas workers, the drug problem, corruption, aside from portraying contemporary and literary classics serving as social commentaries,” she wrote.
Women playwrights
“We dramatized the works of noted women writers and playwrights like Estrella Alfon, Genoveva Edroza Matute and Marilou Jacob, who is distinguished in being a founding president of Women’s Playwright International.
“Apart from our PETA staple of writers, we involved young, upcoming and budding university and community theater groups.
“We also had a lot of foreign plays, where we could feature theater festivals beyond borders. We could do Shakespeare, we could do Euripides but also the current playwrights in the Arab region we translated in our language.
“We brought in Chinese contemporary plays, Malaysian, Indonesian and from other women writers from ASEAN member countries.”
Virtual history book
“The significance of Balintataw is portrayed as a virtual history book on audio as it unveiled events in the country. Radio is fresh, instant and up-to date,” she added.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Balintataw became Guidote-Alvarez’s outlet and therapy. Having lost her husband on the second month of the pandemic, a widow cocooned at home, she began hosting it six days a week, learning how to use an iPad and interviewing via Zoom.
The word “Balintataw” has been associated with her name.
Visual artist and editorial cartoonist Benjie Lontoc in casual meeting told us how in his younger days, when AM Radio was a national past-time, he was surprised to hear a Filipino adaptation of No Exit by Jean Paul-Sarte. This was when radio was airing soap, fantasy adventures targeting housewives and children.
Another was the airing of Larawan as a radio play in the 1990s, with Guidote-Alvarez as the voice of Candida Marasigan.
Leopoldo Salcedo (left) as Manolo in a confrontation scene with Dante Rivero as Tony Javier in PETA’s 1968 ‘Larawan’ directed by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez. (Photo from PETA archives)
In the 1960s, she directed Larawan, the first Filipino adaptation of Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino for PETA’s second season. It ran from December 1968 to January 1969 at the Raha Sulayman Theater at Fort Santiago in Intramural. In the cast were Rita Gomez (Candida), Lolita Rodriguez (Paula), Leopoldo Salcedo (Don Manolo) and Dante Rivero (Tony Javier).
Guidote-Alvarez has a funny recollection of the radio play. It was Nick Joaquin himself who told her years ago how his pedicurist suddenly started a conversation about Larawan.

Joaquin was relaxing on the barber’s chair having a post-haircut pedicure and foot spa when the lady pedicurist asked him how the story would end. Joaquin was stunned because he didn’t want to be known in the barber shop as Nick Joaquin the famous National Artist for Literature, but just a regular customer.
“He told me he almost fell out from the chair. He was a very private person and the pedicurist recognized him as the playwright,” Guidote-Alvarez, laughing, told TheDiarist.ph.
When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, she was given only three years to live. It’s been more than two decades since then. She has also conquered COVID-19 twice.
Over and beyond her work in theater and various advocacies, Guidote-Alvarez is among the few surviving practitioners of AM Radio broadcasting.
The beauty salon incident wasn’t a first for the octogenarian radio host. She occasionally went back there to interview guests and record her shows whenever Wi-Fi connections in her home fluctuated.
Despite all setbacks, man-made or otherwise, the steadfast Cecile Guidote-Alvarez’s voice continues to be heard in this mass media platform in an era that knows mainly Spotify. As Joaquin wrote, “to remember and to sing, that is her vocation.”
(Except Saturday, Radyo Balintataw airs daily on DZRH 666 Khz AM radio after ‘Gabi ng Lagim’, and live streamed on radio.org.ph. Some episodes have been uploaded on YouTube.)

I have already made short post that I finished series finale. I stiil feel sad, depressed and that feeling when tv show ended.... unbelievable how "The Shield" is stuck with me. Can't believe this journey is over.
I wanted to say so many things. Firstly, how can I miss this? I was too young when it came out, but I hear about "The Wire" everywhere even now. "The shield" feels like out of the radar all the time. WE MUST DO SOMETHING WITH IT! Please, just watch "The Shield"!
My friend told me to watch it and he stumbled upon this Tv show in one cool review that was left by some user (girl , actually) on my native language site about movies/tvshows.
When I look at some photos and pictures of "The Shield" I have thoughts that it is like CSI or some other typical cop show with nothing more. How wrong was I with such first impression.
What I really like that "The shield" has blu-ray release. So cool tv show is reinnovate for high quality format and has a lot of bonus features on blu-ray.
My friend also told me that I need to watch especially until Season 5 where it will be so high level quality writing that I gonna really appreaciate "The Shield".
As for myself, I fond of cinema. I just not go easy on any movies/tvshows. I am very nit-picking because I like to learn about cinematography, screenwriting, directing and so on. For me movies like the greatest art and I study movies as an art. That's why I feel bored about modern movies and TV shows. Screenplays are not bold, not so complex, characters feel flat and creators afraid to insult other races, woman right and so on. Many movies and TV shows of modern era feel convinient. I am tired of that. And I started to watch "The Shield" six months ago.
"The Shield" was aired in the right time! Year 2002 like "The Wire". From the pilot episode "The Shield" don't try to be convinient, it shows you what Vic and his team doing, what "The barn" doing everyday. Everything around characters feels not-convinient: drug-addicted, child trafficking, other awful staff around. Characters not just saint and clean, they do what they have to do like it or not as a viewer. That's what I wished for a long time. "The Shield" just clicked with me. I can't even imagine TVshow about cops can be on such level with great cast, great characters, really good screenwriting, directing and editing.
Before "The Shield" I can't tolerate semi-documentary cinematography and "hand-held" effect of camera in movies. In "The Shield" I fall in love with such camerawork and editing. That's really what I can't imagine I would love in cinemas. In this Tv show every take is so close, editiing beetwen close-mid plan camera panning and it feels so great in terms of "The Shield" storytellling. You are always near characters, you like breathing just around their shoulders and see every bad side of Farmington so close that you feel how disgusting this district is. Incredible work from cinematographers and editors.
Dynamic feeling of everything that happens on the screen. The greatest part of "The Shield" it is never trying to dragging some melodrama to extend seasons or try to be sentimental in the scenes. Modern TVshows really like that and i don't. Don't need to play with the viewer. In "The Shield" everything happenes so fast, so realistic that sometimes you can't even catch a breath. Not a single dull episode. In every episode something cool will definetely happens and it keeps you attached to the screen. And I don't mean that "The Shield" hasn't some melancholic or not-fast pacing moment. On the opposite, "The Shield" has everything what makes cinema alive and fascinating.
Let me explain what I really like about "The Shield" and I have never experience such different emotions just in one piece of the cinema:
In "The Shield" you can feel like a kid again and rooting for cool-masculine guys who breaks door and shout: "Police! On the ground!". After some episodes I really wanna just play in cops and criminals on my yard with friends. That's how action feels in this Tv show. I wanna buy merch with "Strike Team" on it and snake eating rat logo. Incredible.
In "The Shield" as an adult you can feel totally devastated by events that just happened on the screen. You can feel pure emotions from character actions. And what most important you don't want to judge character right away you want to put yourself in his shoes because what character did feels so realistic. Characters here not some fancy cards, you can feel them like real human beings.
In "The Shield" you can laugh as an adult. Humor in some scenes and from some characters really spot on and not stupid. It is full drama but some episodes has great humor parts. And again it feels so real and natural like human beings in real life would joke about something. Bilings sutuations and lines from later seasons are just pure gold.
In "The Shield" you want to discuss some parts of the story. It feels like after reading a good complex books with interesting characters you start to think about their actions and how you can think about your actions in the real life. What it is like to be a coward? To be hypocrite? What about loayalty and friendship? Trust me not so many movies/TVshows can be so full-thinking. It's a miracle that such depth can be in cop TV show. I stiil can't imagine how believable characters are and situations in "The Shield". Script and story of all seasons and how characters arcs redeemed is golden!
So I trying to say "The Shield" can feel like popcorn-blockbuster cop show in some parts with overacting but sometimes it's pure complex drama with silence scenes and great acting and very realistic characters. It's the best mixture of movie formula that I have seen in my life! I stiil can't imagine that I saying such words in terms of cop TV show.
"The Shield" was ahead of its time. It is a real piece of art. In modern days I want to see Tv show with overacting (when it need to be done), cool action and the same time it can provide me with great drama sequences and believable characters.
[SPOILER] section below. Please read only if you watched the series.
What I also like about "The Shield" it has great leading character. Michael Chiklis was born for this role. Maybe in first seasons you can think he overacting sometimes and can't be so dramatic but in the late seasons Michael have shown one of the best acting scenes in cinema. Pure mastery. This 42 second silence in front of Olivia was something unique and incredible. Then final eyes scene with Cloudette and finale running eyes scene in the ending of season 7 when he sits alone.
Vic is so well written in every season. He is the anchor of the show. So charismatic, strategy wise, musculine and cool and what I like the most this character feels real. When Vic came alone in gang territory and didn't fear anything you believe in that. You understand as a viewer that not anybody in "the barn" have balls for things that Mackey can do. He uses "shortcuts" in police work that only he can manage. He has really metal backbone. Even when he mentally broke at the end of the 1st season he needs just a couple of minutes to grab his shit together and go further. Character has a great amount of willpower and dedication to do anything that he wanted to.
Vic is the greatest anti hero in cinema history. Many side characters hate him but when there is a problem that no one can resolve Mackey step up. Farmington is so dirty that it needs people dirty as Vic to clean it.
I actually always rooted for Vic as a viewer because nobody in "The Shield" is black and white. Even Claudette free Kleavon from death penalty to keep her warm place. And I like that "The Shield" shows every character is corrupt somehow.
But I can't believe that Vic betrayed Ronnie. It hits hard. After that I as a viewer understood Cloudette words: "Vic is trying to be someone he wants you to see him". We viewers see Vic true nature in the final episode and it hits hard too. He always was like that and we didn't want to accept. And some part of me like him but other part can't forgive him for what he did to others. Such a great character downfall through all seasons. And this shot when he smiled to his gun and go somewhere. Where did he go? He can't sit tight he always need to be "living on the edge" this his type of character.
I wanna write about other characters. Shane for sure. But Post is too big. I leave it for later.
10/10. I am empty and depressed that "The Shield" journey ended for me. Can't believe that many people don't know about this masterpiece. I am glad I stumbled upon it. It touched my strings for cinema love that not any movie or tv show touching in years.
So many emotions and thoughts. Thanks to Shawn Ryan, Michael Chiklis, Walton Goggins and every other member of "The Shield" crew and FX. I wish I had a chance to tell it to them personally. I am grown man but I feel emotions like a kid again. Pure emotions from "The Shield" story.
To sum up my words. I like this ending montage of Season 2. It has great editing and you feel emotions. I literally cried when I rewatched it after the final. Clodette touches Dutch and thanked him. Aceveda moving forward. Coriine in thoughts. Dutch investigate a murder again. And Pile of money scene... Vic the only one who is laughing but others feel mix emotions. Gives shivers to my spine.
The Shield - Overcome Season 2 Ending (youtube.com)