(no subject)

1. Saw the flick Thor : The Dark World - which was more entertaining than anticipated, in most part due to Tom Hiddleston's Loki, and the wacky team of human scientists: Jane Foster, Erik and Darcy. Thor - I found sort of dull. But I found him dull in the comics as well. He's basically your stereotypical hero model.
Loki's relationship with Thor, however, was interesting. I got the feeling that Loki loved two people: his mother and Thor. His father, Odin, he could do without.
So say we all. If it weren't for Odin...they probably would have beaten the elves a lot faster.

Plus Thor was right - Loki makes a better ruler of Asgard than Thor.

And...they appear to be setting up the next Avenger's movie with the tagline after the initial credits.

I liked the preview trailer for Captain America - will have to rent that next.

Overall? Thor's worth the rental, assuming of course you like superhero/action movies with cheesy dialogue? (Okay not that cheesy, the dialogue has actually improved over the years..along with the F/X.) If not? You might want to skip. But I suspect you already knew that? [The only people who see these flicks knowing full well they will hate them ahead of time are movie critics. That has got to be an interesting job - being paid to see and review a movie that you know isn't your cup of tea?]

2. This is a quote from Magic Slays...that sort of resonated for me. It lays out why racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, terrorism, fandom kerfuffles..etc exist...in a nutshell:

"Rage is a powerful thing. People get upset over many things. Frustrating jobs, small paychecks, bad hours. People want things; people feel humiliated by others who have the things they want; people feel deprived and powerless. All this gives fuel to rage. The anger builds and builds and if there is no outlet for it, pretty soon it transforms the person. They walk around like a loaded gun, ready to go off
if only they could find the right target. They want to hurt something. They need to it.

Humans tend to segregate the world: enemies on one side, friends on the other. Friends are people we know. Enemies are the Other. You can do just about anything to the Other. It doesn't matter if this Other is actually guilty of any crimes, because it's a matter of emotion, not logic. You see, angry people aren't interested in justice. They just want an excuse to vent their rage.

And once you become their Other, you're no longer a person. You're just an idea, an abstraction of everything that's wrong with their world. Give them the slightest excuse, and they will tear you down. And the easiest way for them to target you as this Other is to find something that's different about you. Color of your skin. The way you speak. The place you're from. Magic. It comes and goes in cycles, Kate. Each new generation picks their own Other. For the Keepers, it's people with magic. And for us, well, it's the Keepers. We will murder them all. No matter if some of them are confused, or easily led, or feebleminded. Or if they have families. They will die. It makes me despair sometimes.

And then there are the lost souls like Leslie, so full of self-hatred that they trample the world in a rush to blame someone for their pain."

- Magic Slays by Illona Andrews.

It's easier to hate or demonize or dislike someone - when you simplify, pair them down to broad generalizations. It's easier to figure out who to be friend or avoid, if you can find similarities to those who hurt you in the past. But here's the thing about "easy" - nothing is. If it's easy - there's something wrong and we need to start questioning. I think sometimes the biggest flaw in Human thinking is the tendency to generalize and make assumptions based on scant information. Not spending enough time questioning.