Mac Reviews Articles: Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen

Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen, by Pamela Reynolds is a review of several recent Research Studies conducted by Harvard Business School to assess how well Extroverts are rated for listening ability. I've linked this article below:

Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen

The motivations for the review and these studies (and my blog post) are that many people both in these studies but also anecdotally, feel that extroverts are worse listeners. People often feel as if extroverted people are "acting" and "creating a socially acceptable persona" rather than having a genuine interest in what their colleagues have to say. I wanted to review this article since myself and many of my friends are extroverts, and since having read X+Y: A Mathematician's approach to understanding Gender, I have been quite curious about ways to create a more Congressive society, or a more collaborative society and workplace, a more understanding society and workplace, and a more attentive society and workplace. To get a better definition of what this term means, try to find chapter 3 of the book mentioned above online. So, digging deeper into this Article:

"Since feeling seen and heard is important, extroverts who seem to focus on themselves may lose credibility with colleagues, the findings suggest. The research has ramifications for workplace relationships, especially as teams try to rebuild trust after two years of pandemic-related stress. Teams are often reconnecting through online platforms like Zoom where it can be harder to read social cues."

This is true. The pandemic had many ramifications for schools and workplaces -- though I would be so bold to wonder if these lines present something further. It's not just the pandemic that has brought us further into the digital world where education and business takes place, and I wonder if communication methods like emails, group chats, or other Covid-era digital communication systems have created this effect. In the past, It has been hard for me-- someone normally extroverted, but introverted online-- to break into hanging out on discord servers during the pandemic, where reading social cues to have a full conversation is minimized. 

“It was a little counterintuitive, considering that extroverts are viewed as very socially capable and gregarious people,” says Collins. “I assumed that they would be seen as good listeners as well, because, in my mind, that's part of being sociable.”

We cut to the heart of why this result is perplexing: Do extroverts come off as sociable, or do they come off as obtuse? Being both affable and a bad listener is an interesting combo to actually speak about, though it does make sense when considering many of the extroverts we all know. The only way I can reconcile this in my own life is that often when I am with extroverts (And I myself do this) Introverts are given the cues of being listened to, but then the conversation shifts back to whatever the extroverts were talking about. On one hand, I think this is understandable since people naturally want to converse with people that are the same speed and mirror speech patterns of themselves. Granted, this can be hard, since we often put it to the introverts to keep up with the extroverts, and this often pushes introverts away. From my time in MUN, recruiting and retention in general has been heavily dependent on how extroverted someone is, and whether they can keep up with everyone else in the club which has always been fairly extroverted.

"The researchers conducted six studies involving nearly 2,500 subjects. In their first study, they surveyed about 150 MBA students about the listening skills of their classmates. After ranking themselves on a personality scale, students were asked to answer four questions, including: “If you were having a conversation with [classmate], to what extent would he or she … ‘listen to what you have to say, give you a chance to speak, remember what you had said the next time you see them, and be focused on things other than the conversation at hand.’”

Responses revealed a significant, negative relationship between an individual’s self-reported extroversion and group members’ ratings of that individual’s listening behavior. In other words, more extroverted individuals were seen as worse listeners.

In a second study, the researchers investigated whether the same perception would hold true in interactions among strangers. The researchers asked 655 participants recruited from an online participant pool to think about a “familiar stranger”—someone they had seen a few times in the last couple of months but never interacted with, like a fellow passenger on a train.

Participants assessed how extroverted they thought the stranger might be, and then imagined a conversation with this person, predicting the extent to which this stranger would pay attention and listen attentively, or steer the conversation toward themselves. The researchers found that when participants rated strangers as more extroverted, they also said they were more likely to be poor listeners."

So we have these results, and they align with everything else we've been talking about. The article then goes on to give several tips about what extroverts can do to give the appearance of being more attentive, but I feel this is disingenuous. I think what may be an unpopular opinion but one I think is right is that we really do just need to create a more introvert friendly society and workplace; to take a few notes from the book that was mentioned far above, some changes that could be instituted in the workplace, or in somewhere that i have a bit more experience, higher education: (1) getting rid of open forum type discussions with one person speaking, replacing them with small group discussions (2) less emphasis on speaking assessments in general, either replacing with emails or reports where ones listening ability and attentiveness is directed toward writing that can be referred back to and (3) including more women in pod-type discussions, since men are considered to be more 'extraverted' (Akbar, 2016) and having a majority of 'introverts' would likely increase the amount of attentiveness in a discussion pod.

Overall, this was good little read for the morning, and I liked making the connection to that book I've kept mentioning. I think the extraversion-introversion spectrum is a really interesting topic, and usually doesn't get enough light in the sun because people shirk these terms off saying things like "we're all extraverted and introverted in different ways" and dismiss the spectrum, though these are widely used terms and are useful for describing archetypes in a social setting. Have a read of this article and let me know what you think.

Mac Reviews Movies: Revelation Road

 The Philosophy of Revelation Road

Revelation Road: the Beginning of the End is a 2013 religious movie about a special operations veteran turned traveling salesman in the backwoods of southern California during the rapture. This analysis hopes to look into two major questions: What qualifies for entertainment in Evangelical America (of 38 IMDb reviews, self-described Christians ranked the movie an average of 8.2/10 whilst non-Christians gave an average of 1.4/10) and what lessons does Pureflix want to teach its viewers? (The movie is a top staff pick at Pureflix, and stars David A.R. White, a producer and actor for most Pureflix media). So, with those two questions in mind, I’ll try to dissect the first 84 minutes of this film. I’ll try to be as unbiased as I can in my analysis, though I am not a Christian, and would describe myself as an agnostic that believes in a non-supernaturalist objective morality.

We are introduced to the main character, Josh, who was an ex-government assassin, now a traveling salesman that sells some kind of body armor. Josh is married to a loving wife with a young daughter, but has felt disconnected from her because of his PTSD and his wife’s Christian faith. Traveling in some small town in rural California, he meets several characters that help him understand his past, his wife’s faith, and his role in the rapture. 

Josh’s introduction is that of an incredibly bland, white knight character, that stops on the side of the road and is hit from behind by a truck with two angry townsfolk. After stepping out of the car, the townsfolk want Josh to pay for the damage to which he responds “I could be wrong, but I think you hit me” and then “Hey why don’t we just exchange each other's information”. Josh is seemingly saved from a major beating by the Biker gang known as “The Barbarians” who berate the townsfolk (more on these guys later). Josh then drives into town and tries to sell some armor to Frank, a gun store owner. Frank asks Josh three questions, and if he likes the answers, he’ll buy from him: “Are you a family man?””Do you believe in God?” “Would you trust God or this armor to protect your family?”. Frank leaves to get something from the back, and Josh is pickpocketed by Frank’s daughter, Elizabeth. After Frank tells Elizabeth to give Frank his wallet back, three of the Barbarians try to rob the store. In a series of weird PTSD induced split-personality deus ex machina, Josh hulks out and takes down the Barbarians, killing 3 of them after one says he wants to “take” Elizabeth. 

So right off the bat, the movie’s primary commentary seems to be the use of violence to protect. Even though this is a religious film, Josh is not shown to be very religious for most of the movie, and the two Christian role models in his life, Frank and his wife Rachel, take a backseat for the first half of the movie aside from the gun store scene and the barbecue scene. In actuality, we are presented with the common narrative that “Josh is a good man that avoids violence like on the road, but is not afraid to use it when people like Frank and Elizabeth are in danger.” I think we can all agree this sounds a lot like the “Good guy with a gun” narrative (Interestingly, this exact scene happens where a store is robbed and is prevented by Josh, a good man with a gun). The main problem with this message is that in this world, villains are cartoonish enough that they randomly rob gun stores, and that they are psychotic to the point of wearing over the top biker gear, talk about “taking” Frank’s daughter, and seemingly have no other motive for robbery besides just being wicked. And this really strikes at the heart of why it’s easy for Christians to get behind this “Good gunslinger” myth and why it's so hard for everyone else to. Villains like the barbarians don’t really exist in real life, but exist all the time in Christian and conservative media where antagonists aren’t often portrayed as having human motives and are overtly evil, because of their connection to sin or the devil. Evangelical media wants to imitate the stories of Augustinian Christianity by portraying wholly good characters like Josh and (mostly) wholly evil characters like the Barbarians, and Josh’s violence against them is justified because they’re so over the top evil. In most real life robberies or break-ins, the robbers usually don’t want to spill blood, want to be in and out as quickly as possible, and don’t dress like (in a Christian POV) Satan loving bikers. Keep in mind as well, Frank specifically owns a store selling firearms, a realistically bad target for a heist since everyone will be theoretically armed. 

Afterwards, Elizabeth thanks Josh and Frank invites him for lunch. Frank calls the Sheriff that brings him down to the station. The Sheriff asks him about his time serving in the military and they have an actually pretty interesting conversation about PTSD and taking a life. The Sheriff questions Josh along the lines of “Most people I know that have killed a man are shaking, but you’re as stiff as whiskey”. Obviously, this alludes to the fact that Josh has probably killed many people, and has blocked off his connection to his past, but “hulks out” with gut reactions whenever someone attacks him or threatens violence. 

After leaving the Sheriff, Josh goes and has lunch with Frank, his wife, and Elizabeth. After the barbecue, Frank takes Josh aside and laments that people are so desensitized to fighting, and thinks about how it was hard for him to return to the United States after fighting overseas. He says “the one thing they don’t train you for is coming home”. He then tries to evangelize Josh, telling him Jesus can help him overcome the rift between him and his wife, and help him deal with his trauma of hulking out during stressful situations.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Biker gang mercy kills the last gang member that survived the shootout, and says they’ll get revenge on Josh, Frank, and his family. At the Biker layer, the bikers have recreational fights, and the female Biker challenges one of the Bikers, but the leader Biker says “you’re too important.” In the end, he agrees to send her and his best lieutenant to go after Frank and his family.

So this part of the movie has more to say than the first part, talking about the use of faith in overcoming one’s problems. We are introduced to Josh’s marital problems, and that he doesn’t really remember or understand what happens when he “hulks out”. The message in these scenes are that it’s possible to heal through Christ, but that Josh has to decide for himself to heal. So I’ve known a few veterans, and I won’t say it’s improbable that you can find healing in religion. I also think it’s very interesting commentary that Frank (and the Sheriff) laments about the effects war has on his psyche, but then turns around and owns a gun store and is completely unphased by violence occurring in his store. The character of Frank is kind of a hypocrite then, since he both preaches anti-violence, but is very much man capable of and ok with violence going on around him. Seemingly, the only difference between him and the “Barbarians” is that he’s just not the aggressor in violent encounters, and doesn’t get involved in revenge. 

The most interesting thing about this couple of scenes is that Josh rejects Frank’s evangelizing offers— not what you would expect from an evangelical movie. And then you might ask “well won’t he still convert anyway at some point?” And the answer there is probably, yes, he will likely become Christian before the end of the series. However, his “journey” to faith says a lot about what watchers and producers of Pureflix think about faith. To them, Josh rejecting faith is ok, and it’s ok for him to become Christian later. This is very perplexing, since for the most part, evangelicals are quick to pass the judgement of eternal damnation on certain communities like the LGBTQIA+ or Democrats or people that have Abortions. In Revelation Road however, characters like Josh or Elizabeth can take their sweet time accepting Jesus, seemingly because of their “intrinsic goodness”. The problem with this message is that if Josh and Elizabeth are “intrinsically good” and can choose at any time to accept Christ, why during the rapture do they remain on earth? There’s probably a long conversation here about determinism vs. free will, and whether or not it is possible for every single person to be saved, but I’ll do my best to cut right to the heart of what I think. Because Josh and Elizabeth can eventually convert and join the other good souls in heaven, Pureflix believes that (most) anyone can achieve God's grace as long as they eventually do acknowledge God, which is in opposition to the Christian belief of unforgivable sin. When the rapture happens in Revelation road, good people get turned to ash and go to heaven, but those who haven’t acknowledged God, including good people like Josh and Elizabeth, are left alive since they still have a chance to go to heaven. In a way, this subliminal messaging is actually really interesting, essentially saying it’s never too late to have faith in God, and by extension, even those “sinners'' can still achieve eternal glory. 

The last part of the movie has Josh retire to a hotel where he meets a hotel owner that is sad about an ongoing war between the US and Iran, saying “They don’t even know what they’re fighting for” and then tries to help a domestic abuse victim after her boyfriend hits her. He almost kills the boyfriend and then only stops when their daughter shows up and pulls him out of his “hulking”. Josh and the woman talk about people not being able to change, and then he goes and has a conversation with the biker leader. The biker leader seems to believe that strong men don’t exist in the world, and one day the “Titans” will come back and rule the world. Josh disagrees, and says that the “Titans” are the “Tyrants” despite being the man who has killed the most people in this entire movie so far. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang attacks Frank and his wife, and the female biker helps Elizabeth escape. Josh finally calls his wife and maybe finds god? Then the rapture actually happens, and all the “good” souls are turned into white balls and go to heaven. The bikers try to chase down Elizabeth, but she runs into an Angel that helps her avoid the bikers.

Picking up where we left off, Josh's story seems to be much more about dealing with a hard past than anything specifically Christian. He goes and tries to help the domestic abuse victim, who decides she doesn’t want his help but later comes to him begging for money. He doesn’t give her any and then fights off her boyfriend. We see three sides of the more broken parts of human life: substance abuse, domestic abuse, and more living with a past of violence. The fundamental lesson to take away from this encounter is that the couple Josh attempts to help (before beating them up) are sinners like Josh and that he, either as a human or a fellow sinner, is unable to really help them. Now, you might say the lesson is “only Jesus Christ can help them” but remember at this point Josh isn’t yet a Christian. See, the part of this movie that actually makes it somewhat compelling is the fact that what stops Josh from “hulking” is the arrival of the couple's daughter— and eventually the feeling of finding God Josh experiences is heavily associated with the love he feels for his wife. I think the main surprise of the movie was that it wasn’t really Jesus that helps Josh in the end, but his love for his wife (that maybe helps him eventually find God). 

Another important piece of philosophy in this film is the conversation between Josh and the lead biker. Ironically, this is a great example of the conservative view of Authority: The biker leader wants “Titans to rise” to which Josh replies by considering them Tyrants. Ironically, Josh himself is a Titan-like violent man that can fight as well as any biker. Conservatives often rant against Tyrants despite republicans and Christians being quite common among the people that run the USA. I can only assume that this scene is there to demonstrate the evil of the biker, and how Josh is committed to defend who the biker considers the common people. Again, this makes no sense in reality where both good and bad people run society and the “Titans” often find themselves in power.

Lastly, when the gang attacks Frank and his family, Frank is shot many times and is also bearing a gun trying to kill, but then asks for the bikers forgiveness right before getting vaporized. It’s off that Frank is one moment trying to kill the bikers and the next begging for their souls to be saved. This is typical of evangelicals that often think more about peoples eternal souls than their lives on earth. 

In the very end of the movie, Elizabeth escapes and meets an Angel who tells her some of God's plan. We don’t actually get to hear what he says, but this scene seems to mostly exist to show that Elizabeth is good and needs to be god's instrument. Why is this important? I’d probably have to watch the second movie in the series but if I had to guess, Elizabeth needs to help save Josh.  

So, all in all — the movie has some ups and downs, but isn’t the worst. Looking back to the two questions I wanted to answer: what qualifies for entertainment in Evangelical America? Well, guns for one. This movie is fervent in its use of firearms, and outside of the few anti-war sentiments, usually thinks violence is righteous if it’s defending someone else. For two, evangelicals seem to enjoy characters that have to discover God. The two protagonists, Josh and Elizabeth are on the path, but have yet to find god. And three, uncomplicated villains. Even though the movie seeds some complications for the main biker, the gang is primarily depicted as a bunch of godless robbing Satanists. And why does Pureflix think this is one of their best works? Well, this is actually a good question since there seems to be two opposing answers: a) it works because it lionizes violence when it’s used by the righteous or b) is about giving up violent ways for god. It could be a bit of both, but I hope if I ever watch any sequels it is about the latter. Anyway, watch the movie and let me know what you think.

One Bar to rule them all (Mac's ranking of Boulder's watering holes)

 So, of course I'm not going to get every single bar, but just the places I have been to enough that I can compare it for others. A ground rule: A restaurant that is known for being a place to get drinks but is also a restaurant counts as a bar. Secondly, I won't rank chains. I know, I know, because if I did BJ's would take the top spot. And lastly, all of these bars are in the city limits of boulder. So, sit back and let me regale you with my opinions on where to drink in the flatiron city.

#14 Press Play

Well, we had to start somewhere. So, I've only been to Press Play twice due a bunch of Covid and Staffing closures. Both times, the same vibe has led me to dislike it. You ever have a good friend that tries to be something they're not? Like a really lazy guy saying he wants to be body builder, or a big partier that can never show up to D&D even though they want to? Thats Press Play. Press Play is meant to be a bar with games, light music, mostly beer and a couple a cocktails, and a chillaxing time for patrons. But that's just not what they try to be: It has a DJ with the speakers fully up, tries to be a dance club, and even lacks a lot of games that don't coordinate well with this environment. All I can say is that Press Play tries to cover all the bases, and subsequently covers none.

#13 The Dark Horse

Ah you knew it was coming, but unfortunately, the World-Famous Dark Horse takes the 13th spot. Now I actually really like the Dark Horse's food, but there's a couple of reasons it falls so low on the bar list. The first big one is its location, which is so incredibly out of the way it either forces you to start or finish your night there. The next is that while I like beer, it's a beer bar with not a lot of on-tap selection; they usually have the standard brands, something from Avery or Odell like 90 shilling, and maybe a few IPAs. Now, this isn't necessarily bad, but you do feel a tinge of "I could've bought this for half price over at Baseline Liquors". Honestly, this wouldn't be so bad if the ambiance wasn't super wild. I like the vibe they have inside, which has all sorts of mirrors, license plates, buffalo heads, and roman artifacts, but I think in the main room it crosses the line with the giant wagon hanging from the ceiling. It's just a little too much on the eyes late at night with a couple drinks in. If we were ranking lunch, The Dark Horse might live up to its name.

#12 The Attic

Now the last two bars have been cases where too much was the problem -- with The Attic, its too little. Literally, its quite small to be a bar. The Attic does have a few things going for it like its music and signature cocktails, but overall its a bit of a middling time overall. The Attic also has some pretty good food, and as far as Pearl bars go, its not hilariously overpriced.

#11 Mountain Sun

So I'll be honest I've only been to Mountain Sun once. The service was very fine, and they have a good selection of upslope beer which is pretty nice. The reason it kicks #11 is because like the attic, It doesn't stand out and like the Dark Horse, its a better place for food than drinks. As I said in the ground rules, Pubs and Breweries will show up on the list, and I do think Mountain Sun has some people that do go there just for the drinks. Overall, I'd like to go back, but probably wouldn't go out of my way to go there.

#10 The Downer

Ah Sundown Saloon, why did you rank so low? Well, unfortunately, you're like a good friend from high school whisked away to college and so hanging out with you only makes sense at certain times and in certain situations. On a weekday at 6 or 7, you're pretty cool; good selection, fine prices, and hey we might even play pool. On the weekend, you're the most obnoxious person I've ever met, with crowded walkways, drug dealers and worse running around, and no tables anywhere. Maybe one day we'll reconnect when you're out of college.

#9 Avanti

The second big name to hit the list is Avanti: Now, Avanti is pretty cool, but its coolness is its downfall. The worst thing about Avanti in my opinion is its clientele. The rooftop bar is pretty alright, but it suffers from Press Play syndrome of being both a chillaxing fireside drink to blaring trap music inside. Its also the bar that normally ends everyone's night, and you get a larger share of drunks. Still, I'll hand it to Avanti that they have some great views, and their bartenders are nice and cool and they have table service.

#8 Outback Saloon

Fun times, fun atmosphere and a real local vibe. Outback is a cool place I would definitely go again, it's just a long way away from other bars. They have a few cool games and do karaoke, it seems like a great bar to go to if you're only looking for one bar to go to that night.

#7 The West End Tavern

Now, I know West End is more of a Restaurant, but it does have a bar with pretty good whisky selection. The only problem is that now that we move into the top 7 bars, price becomes a dictating factor. You know you'll have a great time at most of these places, but you don't want to be worried about that bank account tomorrow morning. West End has nice ambience, good bartenders, and nice selection, but I can tell its priced to keep away the college crowd.

#6 Felix

My neighbor Felix; it gets this high for those giant margs you can share with a whole table. Its located well, not super strict on carding, and a lot of different Margs to get. Would certainly go back.

#5 The Rio

The Rio has a great rooftop with views of Pearl and the Flatties. You can also get a $5.5 beer here if you're not trying to drink a Marg. Nice staff and usually great patrons as well.

#4 Bohemian Beer Garden

Its one of the only places in Boulder you can get a liter of beer, and even though its pricey, Its a cool vibe. Waiters are really cool and the clientele is usually on par. Ambiance 10/10

#3 The Sink

I'll add more reasons later but the ambiance is one of the coolest in Boulder, the Hill is a good location, and the Bar and staff almost always know what they're doing. Its also the official bar of CU Economics and its pretty cool to have your school buy you drinks, so my view is very colored to like this place.

#2 Bitter Bar

Bitter Bar is everything great in a Bar; awesome ambiance, music that isn't too loud or quit, and both new and old cocktails that are really good. The only thing keeping this bar from the top spot is its prices.

#1 Half Fast Subs

Its truly the epitome of the Boulder Bar experience. You get a lot of bang for your buck with a pitcher, and it has indoor and outdoor seating. The clientele is a little rough, but its kind of a vibe. You sit beneath the shadow of the flatirons and its a good place to start a night out.

JESSE'S BIG BREAK (ORIGINAL BREAKING BAD FF) YAOI DONT LIKE DONT READ

(*≧ω≦*) IT TAKE ME LONG TO WRITE THIS >.< ID APRECIATE NICE COMMENTS TANK U

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

 

Jesse’s torpidity was evident as he stood against Albuquerque’s backdrop of dust and debris. At this moment, he may have been indistinguishable from the floating rubble: a re-creation, some replica of Jesse. he walked on every day as if he were himself, the version that the Methheads had loved, that New mexico still revered. he thought of those gathered on the Texas city ports (he was from texas), squinting their eyes against the Sun. He considered, then, that he was the only organism in New Mexico, on any of the streets of Albuquerque, that could save all life. He had always been that Mr. White tempering had written his condition. In his death, he felt irrevocably free. Still, he mind waited for Him words. It could not function independently. his personality, his skills, his ambitions, dreams, relationships, his history, had all been engineered by Gus. He had never taken a step of his own. 

His life before he Awoke was wholly miserable – a cosmic irony from meth that prevented him from missing when he was briefly himself. He considered that even before he heard His voice, that he had been born a vessel for it. That, despite reason, the threads of creation had constructed the perfect life to carry all of existence on its back. Jesse figured that if his earlier years had been more tolerable, he might not have been so weak to His influence.

He loved Mr. White as he might love a physical mother. It was under His light that Jesse had found a small degree of purchase over his life. He had chosen to befriend the Meth dealers and even if this friendship was of His will, Jesse had still depended upon their comfort. Now, as he freely evaluated these bonds that he held, he noticed his hands were shaking. They had been taken by this wasteland. They – like the millions in the state of New Mexico would – fell to the concrete, to Gus. Laughably, Mr. White’s realization was one he was now having himself. The life that he can remember was a series of steps taken to prevent this, to land him here. A life that was not meant to be lived, but one that was meant to save. 

Jesse, despite countless affirmations and titles, was easily the least important being in the Universe. He was an image of the world, of all that is light and dark. He had fought for all of its people and never once for himself. Any prior act of self-defense on his part was, functionally, an assurance that he would live to this moment. That he might stand on the edge of the New Mexico-Arizona border, that he might sing a song of the future, Possibly Uptown Funk. And, so, it was a result of all of Jesse’s revelations that he stepped into the end. Finally free to choose, finally unburdened by the beating heart of all the New Mexico civilization – past and present – and stripped of his only comfort, Jesse decided that Mr. White was right.

Brendan's Opinion: Surivor

Survivor over the years has become one of the most popular reality game shows of all time, and it's easy to see why. The premise of a "social experiment" with relatively simple gameplay, but combined with the drama and intrigue of your favorite soap, it became an easy favorite. But when did it fall off?

Survivor still runs today and is vastly popular. But it lacks cultural prominence and viewers. The last two seasons of Survivor have had to cut down on expenses like rewards, destinations, and even challenges. While I would argue that stellar casting has made this largely a nonissue for the watchability, it clearly shows the series's lack of cash inflow.

Where did it happen? I am certainly no authority, and I have done absolutely no research, but I would argue that it's Netflix's fault. The release of serialized dramas all at once has given a quench to the thirsts of former survivor fans, leaving little patience for the drawn-out drama of a season of survivor. This pulls attention and zeitgeist away from survivors, and I would argue serialized dramas in general. These shows rely on the speculation and discussion of fans for publicity, and these all at once release dramas, pull away from that advertisement.

Survivor is far from over in my estimation, if anything the streamlining of the last two seasons serves as a comfortable base to improve upon. And with adoring fans like Survivor's, its tribe has not yet spoken.

Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3: Return of the Fan Service

 By Mac

Ok so first things first: I do still mostly like Kenobi as a show, and I think it still has a lot of promise. These first 3 episodes are leagues better than those of Mandalorian Season 2, and even moreso the Book of Boba Fett. Now, another thing to be clear about - I'm not here to write about many of the common criticisms like the inclusion of Leia, or Moses Ingram's acting (Which tbh is pretty good considering the other Star Wars shows and the stilted dialogue she's given) or even Obi-Wan's poor regression as a character.

What I do want to talk about is how Episode 3 of Kenobi was perfect at showing how Star Wars is cannibalizing its own canon. 

I'm of generation zed, so I've only ever known the Star Wars universe with at least 6 movies. I am sure that my little cousins will grow up with at least 10 or 11 in their base memory of Star Wars. But here's the thing, there are a lot of people are out there that still remember Star Wars as being a standalone film. Sure, they're probably pretty hot for Episode V: The Empire Strikes Bad, and fine on Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and have ambivalent opinions on everything after that, but for them Star Wars is still that original story that came out in 1977. Even younger people that watched the films in cinematic release can maybe release to the point I'm about to make.

If you think back on Episode IV: A New Hope, you know that its easily the simplest film of the saga, but that it carries certain charms. Being the original, it's really the lynchpin of the whole universe, and everything that happens after it is a response to Episode IV. The story of Luke, Leia, Vader, Han, Obi Wan and the rebels vs the evil empire informs every Star Wars installation since.  If all of Star Wars was a building, this movie is its foundation.

So now back to Kenobi. Episode 3's big reveal was a confrontation between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader on a desolate mining world. The fight was very cool to watch, and we got to see Vader torture Obi-Wan in an ironic faction by trying to burn his face off in fire. But maybe I'm not alone in feeling something was off. Obi-Wan and Vader meeting, speaking about what befell Vader, and Vader demonstrating how his powers have grown? We've seen this encounter before. It's actually the first encounter we've ever seen these two characters interact together in. In 1977, we were led to believe it has been 20 or so long years since Obi-Wan and Darth Vader met, and that "Where I (Vader) was once the learner, I have now become the master". Then, almost 28 years later with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, we thought we saw this epic confrontation: The moment that Anakin was still not at his full strength to defeat his old master and paid for it dearly. It fits perfectly well with Vader's line in New Hope " I sense a presence I have not felt since..." 

But now we are led to believe that this encounter Vader and Obi-Wan reference in A New Hope is some showdown after Vader has already been shown to defeat Obi-Wan? And even if this isn't the last time that Vader and Obi-Wan meet in Kenobi, we know that Obi-Wan can never fully "defeat" Darth Vader as he did back in Episode III, and that at best he can just forestall the fate that awaits him in A New Hope. In many ways, Kenobi has taken away the power of the encounter between Obi-Wan and Vader in a New Hope -- Vader knows he is stronger than Obi-Wan, and Obi Wan has seen his old apprentice in the flesh/metal since their battle on Mustafar --

Now, repetition has always been a staple of Star Wars (I don't need to pull out the George Lucas 'rhyme' quote) but sometimes you can't tell the same story twice without the question "Then why did you even tell it the first time?". Kenobi has been so anticipated; I can't blame its writers for wanting to relive A New Hope. What I can blame them for is cannibalizing the old story to such an extent that the new canon begs the question why the events of A New Hope need to happen at all. So far, shows and movies in the imperial period have been careful to not breech the continuity of the original trilogy so as to keep this lynchpin of the universe afloat, and made clever additions like in Rebels and Rogue 1. But when the additions reach critical mass and you start having to question why the original movie happened the way it did because of these additions, it becomes too much. I'm still looking forward to Kenobi, but I do hope Disney will eventually learn to take more care of continuity rather than going for the most awes and cash they can.

Brendan's Opinion: Severance Season 1

Severance is a show that is easily a show about employment and what it means to sell your labor in our society. On a deeper level, I think that we can examine more existential elements of the show. So in this post ill be doing that.

The Innies in severance are theoretically separate human beings with their own separate consciousness (Ignoring potential revelations in further seasons). This leads them to have an inherently different perspective of life and the universe. Their universe is the severance floor, with a structure imposed on them from the society they live in.

In this sense, Innies lives in a comparable world to us. Born into a confined world with a society that imposes rules upon them. And while our world itself is different in its scale and our society more lenient with its rules, the similarities allow for an examination of the human condition.

Let's look first at the confines of our world. In our conception, our world is large and expansive and even perhaps boundless. There are however limits to how we explore this world and a feasible boundary to where we cannot go beyond. The Innes world has quite a literal boundary in which they cannot leave without their consciousness being severed, but they are also confined within the severance floors, in their ability to travel or plain knowledge of how to get around. This is quite emblematic of the rules and structures in place that keep humans from moving around within the feasible confines of our universe. The Innies are repeatedly restricted whether through "rules" that they cant leave the MDR office or physical barriers like the doors. In our world, there are "rules" that we cannot go to different countries willy-nilly, and sometimes even physical boundaries that restrict us.

Next, let's look at the "Society" that imposes these rules. In the world of the Innie, they are born into the severance floor, and not permitted to leave. They are given rules that say they must "do their job" and are given incentives and rewards for fulfilling them, while also punishments for breaking these rules. This is a type of social contract, not too unlike the one that we are all born within. We, like the Innies, are expected to follow the rules set in place on us and react in various ways to how these rules affect us. The difference is that in some places we have agreed that all people should have a part in this society and these rules, while the Innes are just pawns to the cruel will of their autocratic bosses.

Lastly, I want to look at faith. In the confined and curated world of the Innie, they are provided a religion. That of the Egan family, and have a veritable bible and church to worship at. While we know this religion is false, the Innies have no reason to not believe the Egans to be gods, as they gave life to the innies, as a god would. Now, this is in stark contrast to the religions of our world, as they are not made by the actual creators of the universe, but the creator of our universe most certainly would not be a regular human. Nevertheless, religion is one of the many things providing comfort and rules within the world of the Innie, that also puts down and demeans others within this world.

So in all through these semi-connected ramblings of mine. I think that it is easy to see the world of the Innie as solely cruel and unethical. It is don't get me wrong. But it is formulated upon a structure that is strikingly similar to the world we live in ourselves, just exaggerated and crueler. Our world is what we make with others of it, not damned by our creators to toil, and for that, we should strive to make it better than that of an innie. And while their lives may be hell, one could see a world confined in that way that is not cruel but inspiring.