Modern Mars Hill

The Sokovia Accords were (supposedly) because of the Avengers' rampant property damage and third-degree murder. Shouldn't a trial have come first? A trial that involved the appearance of at least one legal representative of the Avengers, each member of the Avengers, and witnesses? How would that trial have gone if it had happened during Civil War and the Sokovia Accords hadn't happened yet? Here are my guesses. Hawkeye would get off almost completely. He caused the least property damage, killed no humans, and while he might be charged with assault, he could get off with a temporary insanity plea since he was mind-controlled or in self-defense during each instance of assault. He'd probably get even less of a penalty since he's not an active member of the Avengers after Sokovia. He'd probably get a $10,000 fine for property damage. Assuming the UN still bothers to try Banner after the events of Infinity War (when Banner finally gets back to earth)...

Sexual misconduct is inappropriate no matter who you are. I don't care how rich or powerful you are, and I don't care how good of a movie you made, you don't have license to engage in sexual misconduct. I do think a fair trial is necessary for sex offenders before punishing them with anything, including being fired. Not because I don't believe the accusers, but because a fair trial is necessary for every crime, and this should be treated as an actual crime, not as something taboo that at best ge ts you fired or gets you 3 months in prison as a warning to others. Are there some flaws in a fair trial? Yes. A jury might declare a guilty person to be innocent or declare an innocent person to be guilty. A fair trial might give too light a sentence, though I'm not sure I would consider that a fair trial. But I think it would frequently give people the punishment they deserve instead of the slap on the wrist and publicity they too frequently get.

There is a fallacy in supply and demand theory that all remotely relevant supply will equally fulfill a particular demand. While the idea seems reasonable, it's not accurate. Let's take an example from film. This could apply to visual arts, music, or any business. It's just easy to find the numbers on film, see what goes on in the making of the product, and theorize about what led to a particular success or failure. There's an argument that so many movies come out each year that any particular movie has (statistically) a less-than-0.7% chance of being a box office success (the math usually checks out). Deadpool was considered a box-office success. It made $783.1M on its $58M budget. In Hollywood, making 2-4 times your budget is considered a success. Deadpool made more than 13 times its budget. It was a passion project from a 1st-time director. Now, that doesn't mean that passion projects will succeed or that movies have a better chance of succeeding...

CBS: Please reboot the Mission: Impossible TV show The 2 most recent Mission: Impossible films have been box office successes, allowing a TV show to ride off the success of those films. The original series was well-received enough that the grandparents who watched the original series would want to see the new series. Mostly, the movies have a serious problem that a TV show would fix. Problems=opportunities to make money. Here's the problem: We've had 5 Mission: Impossible mov ies, and in 4 of them, Ethan doesn't have the support of the IMF for the most important parts of the film. The characters are always shocked to have no IMF support, but the audience isn't anymore because we have barely any concept of what the IMF even is. We see a few shots of the inside of the IMF during the cold open of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and that's the best we've had in over 11 years. Of course, having Tom Cruise in a TV show would be insanely expensive. Gett...

Wait a minute... In Inception , Cobb says no one can legally get him back to the US because of what he's done. What on earth did Cobb do that made him so sure that nobody  in the word could do anything to get him back into the US legally? Couldn't someone have pulled strings or get Cobb a new identity? What was his crime, anyway? He's engaged in corporate espionage full-time since around the time of his marriage, but apparently he managed to stay undetected during the film and before the film, so apparently corporate espionage wasn't the crime. They make it sound like what he did was commit the inception that led to his wife's death. Mal and Cobb both consented to the dreamshare, and Cobb's intent was not to kill Mal. At worst, he committed 3rd-degree  manslaughter - he woke someone up from a coma in a way that would accidentally lead to that person's suicide. That shouldn't be a crime that would cause Cobb to get exiled from the entire country. He co...

When you're describing the similarity between two plots, the more general you are, the less credible you are. Here's a general sketch of the worst versions of "every story is the same" or "these two stories are remarkably similar": "A character who is uncomfortable with his/her life is has a situation that forces him/her to reluctantly go on an adventure (possibly involving 1-2 companions who are total opposites of him/her) in order to get something (s)he really wants. Along  the way, (s)he encounters a lot of obstacles, has conflict with other characters, gets taken to his/her lowest point, and changes as a person. He/She finally gets the opportunity to return to his/her old life and either chooses to refuse it and continue in his/her new life or go back to his old life as a changed character." It technically describe virtually every plotline, but it's so vague that it shouldn't make anyone surprised about how similar the plotlines are. No...

We each occasionally hear people giving other people a hard time for sending thoughts and prayers to the people involved in a tragedy. Sitting around feeling sorry for someone else won't do any good any more than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. And when someone says that they're sending "thoughts and prayers" when they're really just sitting around feeling sorry for someone, they're not actually sending thoughts and prayers. When they're just going abou t their normal lives and not thinking about or praying for the victims of tragedy, that is obviously not sending thoughts and prayers. But when someone is actually sending thoughts and prayers, that is a wonderful and essential part of helping people overcome both personal and public tragedy. Prophets and Apostles have clarified for decades that true prayer requires acting on our prayers, not just wishing that God would do it all for us (Sources may include David A. Bednar's April 2006 Confer...

I love Mission: Impossible . It's the only film franchise to have 2 spots in my Top 10 Favorite Movies, and Mission: Impossible 6 is my most anticipated movie of 2018. Mission: Impossible just does so well at one of my personal favorite things in a movie. Mission: Impossible 2 ... isn't like that. Mission: Impossible 2 felt like watching a child who had grown up HEARING about Mission: Impossible trying to make a Mission: Impossible movie, but he missed what really makes a Mission: Impossible movie. So what are the essential elements of a Mission: Impossible movie? There has to be a distinctive stunt. M:I 1 has the Cable Drop M:I 3 has the Swing M:I 4 has the Building M:I 5 has the Water... and the Airplane... and the Opera... and... M:I 2 doesn't really have something like this. Its most stunt-like sequences are a rock climbing scene that has nothing to do with the film and a cable drop that pales in comparison to the first film's drop's t...

My friend Nate Tucker recently asked "How do you improve your Mutual game?" Other friends asked "Are there any cheat codes?" and "How do you lower the difficulty level?" The Konami code only gives your character +5 Charisma, & it only works once. But there are some more organic ways to improve your characters' stats: With enough XP, you can tweak your profile in a way that will generate better scenarios and allow you to play with better players, but those sometimes cause harder boss-battles (If you thought the DTR at Level 11 was difficult, look at what happens at the Water Temple on Level 32). The most effective way to increase XP (along with developing skill trees and increasing travel distances) is unlocking new dialogue trees for your character and the other characters around you. A lot of players treat the other characters as NPCs, which leaves them with a very limited dialogue tree, usually set to either Small Talk or Jerk. You can unlock s...

I sometimes hear people accuse DC's new movies of being "too dark" or MCU movies of being "too lighthearted". There's some definite weight behind these claims. Perhaps Superman really shouldn't be dark. Perhaps Marvel stopping drama for the sake of comedy keeps the movies from being as good as they could be. But one video essayist (I want to say it was Captain Midnight. Here's his YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCROQqK3_z79JuTetNP3pIXQ)  made a really good point: Dark superhero movies like The Dark Knight can be really good, and light-hearted superhero movies like Guardians of the Gala xy can be really good. It's all in the execution. A darker and gritty Captain America movie... already happened. And Captain America: The Winter Soldier was one of the best movies of the MCU. A light-hearted Batman movie... already happened. And The LEGO Batman Movie might just be the best movie with Batman in it - rivaling even The Dark Kn...

We sometimes hear complains that Hollywood has no originality and is pumping out nothing but sequels, reboots, remakes, and movies based on outside properties (like comic books and books). I hope we can rise above assuming that non-original movies are inherently a bad thing. Mad Max: Fury Road was a soft reboot. The Empire Strikes Back was a sequel. Jurassic Park , The Prestige , Blade Runner , Jaws , The Shining , Fight Club , and The Martian were based on books. The Dark Knight and Logan were sequels AND based on specific comic book arcs ( Batman: The Long Halloween and Old Man Logan ). Ocean's Eleven was a remake (not to say it was one of the best movies ever made, but it certainly has a lot of quality to it). Deadpool was a comic book movie and a spin-off. If some of the best best movies ever made can be sequels, reboots, remakes, and movies based on outside properties, maybe lack of originality isn't inherently a bad thing. Obviously, there are lots of really bad s...

In Book 6, Hagrid sings a Christmas carol: "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs". Does this mean the English side Wizarding World had a concept of a God (at least as a mythological figure)? Was it just an expression? Is there some sort of God-worshipping religion in the English side of the Wizarding World?

Apparently Kiki's Delivery Service is about what it's like to be a missionary in your first week of service. Show up Be fascinated by everything Be rejected by everybody Be hit on by a random stranger Live with a native Use your specific gifts to help people Make appointments Spend half an hour longer at the appointment than you expected because you're doing service Miss some appointments because of an unplanned service opportunity Get sick Live off the cheapest food you can (pancakes)

I feel like there was a really long time when Tom Riddle was trapped in the diary and just writing things like: "Hello? Anyone there?" "Might as well work on my penmanship. Harry Potter... HARRY POTTER... harry potter..." "Oh, look! I can draw a pinata!" "Day 8,676. Still 16 years old. Did nothing today." "'I wanna be where the people are... I wanna see, wanna see them dying...' Filthy muggle song..." "Hey, guys! I can write in Helvetica now! Oh, right. No one can hear me." *draws dark mark* *draws wand touching dark mark* "..." "Maybe it'll work on the 243rd try." "I wonder if any of the other books can write? Nope. They've got all their words written in already. Right. I'm not a book." "Day 10,435. Invented a new curse today. Remind me to use it if I ever get out. Still 16 years old."

Well that is the most inflammatory title I've ever written. I can just imagine the responses: "You don't know Star Wars better than George Lucas!" "How many movies have you  made?!" " Star Wars  is my childhood! It's perfect! Don't insult it!" Calm down. It's OK. You really like Star Wars . And I will not tell you to stop liking Star Wars . But people keep complaining that modern blockbusters just aren't as good as they used to be. Besides, every movie could be improved. So let's learn from Star Wars  about how to make blockbusters even better  by learning from the good and learning from the bad. "But you can't make a better movie than Star Wars !" We're just talking about Episode IV here, and we can all agree that Episode V is better than Episode IV. And the guy who made Episode V didn't make Episode IV, so I'm sure after 40 years of learning how to make a good film, someone else could make...

Arbitrary Skepticism is a trope where a character believes something unbelievable, but not believing something less unbelievable. This is usually only pointed out when people or characters mock people or characters who have arbitrary skepticism. This is usually valid, but there are 2 circumstances where it's not valid: 1) A character mocks another character for belief in something normal to their world but not believing in something abnormal to their world. Here's TVTropes.org's main example. It's from Firefly . Wash : Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction. Zoe : We live in a spaceship, dear. Wash : ...So? Wash doesn't have any reason to disbelieve in space travel. After all, space travel is a normal part of their world. He does have reason to disbelieve in psychic people, since psychic people aren't a normal part of their world. class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> This would be kind of...

Why exactly did being a gingerbread man mean the townspeople couldn't catch him? Does superspeed just come with the territory of being a gingerbread man? If so, why didn't the townspeople get a second gingerbread man to catch the first?

When I walked out of the theater for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, I didn't wonder who Rey's parents were. Maybe I should have. After all, J.J. Abrams directed it, and he loves to include mystery in his movies and TV shows. When I walked out of the theater for  Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, I didn't wonder who Snoke was. Maybe I should have, but I assumed he was just a Big Bad behind the Big Bad. I didn't care whether he was a resurrected Palpatine, or an evil version of Yoda, or Darth Plagueis (which I just found out is spelled exactly the opposite of how I thought). I didn't wonder whether Finn was the son of Lando Calrissian, or whether Poe was related to Boba Fett, or anything like that. I actually thought it was pretty cool that the villain was related to Han Solo! Then I heard that people were wondering "Who are Rey's parents?" and "Who is Snoke?" and I thought "People are wondering this?" Now...