17 years later — this is still deeply upsetting. may God give you eternal peace, michael. immortality did cradle you gently in its arms. i will miss you forever🤍
i have no words to be very eloquent today… just… yeah. he should still be here.
Today we celebrate Michael Jackson. His life, legacy, and overall him as a person is something to hold dearly. Stream his songs and remember him for what he was! We love you, Michael 🤍
Growing up and maturing is realizing just how much Michael Jackson, along with his musical and humanitarian contributions, also contributed to addressing sensitive social issues at a time where it wasn't even popular for artists to talk about certain things.
MJ openly talked about climate change, the impacts of gun violence and school shootings, the corruption of mainstream media and tabloid gossip, rumors and false smear campaigns combined with industry politics, supporting Palestine and the Palestinian people, etc., long before it was popular or trendy.
MJ also openly talked about living with disabilities and chronic illnesses like vitiligo, dealing with eating disorders such as anorexia and body image issues, dealing with prescription medication addictions, the toll of trauma from abuse, colorism, bullying, etc. along with the damaging effects of tabloid bullying, mockery and spreading rumors, and wrote songs about these things, especially in songs like "Leave Me Alone", "Tabloid Junkie", "Privacy", "D.S.", etc.
MJ also had a staunchly anti bullying, anti racist, anti KKK, anti police brutality and anti gang violence stance with a strong pacifist, pro unity and pro black message as shown in songs such as Beat It, Bad, Black or White, etc. and their accompanying videos.
Whether it be through interviews, through unearthed private recordings or through his music, songs and visuals, MJ legit addressed so many real world social issues and sensitive topics decades before it was popular--and did so at time where it was unpopular and even unheard of to do so.
Then on a lighter note, Michael was a masculine heterosexual man who was comfortable with his masculinity and heterosexuality, balanced out with enough feminine androgynous energy and expression as well as showing that it's possible to be proudly and comfortably masculine while still being kind, gentle, warm, loving, sensitive, polite and humble--and also possible to be gentle and pacifistic while not being a pushover, and also not being afraid to be vulnerable with his emotions. MJ was definitely ahead of his time in that regards (and a breath of fresh air as that healthy balance and level of positivity isn't seen amongst today's modern male artists in recent times!).
In summary, MJ was truly ahead of his time and ahead of the curb on many things--as an artist, as a musician, as an entertainer and as a human being.
This world did not deserve Michael Joseph Jackson.
i feel like people aren't getting how dire ai is. we are running out of drinkable water. our brains aren't engaging as much with what we see and hear. people near data centers don't get clean water and experience electricity blackouts. it's being used to make pornography of underaged people and women. it often just lies. it affirms everything. it lies. it has made people kill themselves. it lies for gods sake. and people act as if im dramatic for being staunchly against it. 'now i KNOOW you hate ai and whatever, but look at this cute video' this isn't me being a new age puritan about internet videos, this is about the fucking earth and our future living on this planet. people are suffering now, people will suffer more, and my friends and parents will roll their eyes and think im annoying for despising ai so explicitly. we need to wake up because we cannot live like this
My town is not at peace right now because some big tech co. is trying to build an ai data center and alllll of the citizens here are against it but the ones in charge of making things happen are voting for it because of greed and money. This is the world we live in.. while billionaires are focusing on another planet and ai ISNT EVEN TRUSTWORTHY. It STEALS JOBS AND CREATIVITY FROM REAL ARTISTS.
Where are my Paradise watchers??? Because I have thoughts on S2, the finale, and the whole "wtf is happening???" of it all.
Spoilers in 3... 2... 1...
Okay so boom. This season we saw Sinatra's conversation with the climate guy at the conference when she ordered that expensive ass bottle and he drank that thing down like it was water—
She was all like "I have money. Tell me what I need to buy to fix this" and he was all like "you can't buy the one thing you actually need which is time."
Obviously, ol' girl is still grieving. She wasn't able to do anything to save her son, but she sure as hell is going to do everything in her power to save her daughter so she starts researching. She starts talking to people. And when it's all said and done, she has a plan with two parts:
PART 1. The bunker. Obviously. We know her, we love her, we're all like "this is some twisted shit."
BUT ALSO, like Sinatra told Cal, it was never just about the bunker. The whole point of the bunker was to what? Say it with me, class—buy them time.
She needed time for the most important part of her plan to actually happen—Alex.
And we finally know wtf "Alex" is. I mean we had hints (remember when the Circuit City guy got those random ass messages about Jane before she was born? They were all signed from "Alex". And we know the professor's wife's name is Alex, and)—
Sidenote: Usually I'd go in with screen grabs and episode cues, but this is me right now for real for real:
I'm supposed to be reading for class or sleeping, but I'm doing this instead so just keep this in the back of your mind for a rewatch I guess. Moving on.
So yeah. Alex has been circling around in the background because A-L3X0.2 has literally been circling around in the background underneath the Denver airport!!!!
Sinatra's plan was always to give them enough time for A-L3X0.2 to figure out how to solve the climate crisis. And we know this because the season finale taught us some important things:
A-L3X (the original prototype that Link/Dylan made and showed the professor in class that one day) was the first AI of its kind. That little bop-it, tomigachi, chia-pet type thing was definitely a science fair project (you could tell Dylan was just fucking around in his little lab because he couldn't get why people were just yapping and not creating), but you could tell by the professor's reaction that it was something HUGE. (He dismissed that class with a quickness cuz he had nerding to do with his new protégé.) In short, Dylan is a genius, but of course—he's (as we later found out) Sinatra's son.
Once they had Sinatra's blank check, they were able to work on A-L3X at a rapid pace, but it out-advanced them. That man told Sinatra they had to shut the project down because it answered a question that should have taken lightyears to answer in seconds before they even asked the question. Do you understand how POWERFUL that is????? How terrifying?????
Sinatra obviously was like nah. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Enter Billy Pace and his methods of persuasion.
So, she stole A-L3X and got her own team in place to refine it. Hence A-L3X0.2 in a separate, secret bunker 100 miles away. (And now we know where all the power from the main bunker was going).
Okay. So here's where I think this is all leading:
There are two timelines:
Timeline A is the world we've been introduced to. Here, Xavier exists, the world really did go through The Day, and most importantly, Dylan died. His death is Sinatra's entire reason for trying to fix the climate crisis, the development of the bunker, etc. This is where we exist with them.
In Timeline B, Dylan didn't die!!! He actually is alive and is able to create the technology... that technology just happens to have the ability to save everything. I also think this is the actual, real timeline.
I think A-L3X created a world (Timeline A) where Dylan died so that Sinatra could grieve and save the planet from what Timeline B would eventually experience if it didn't solve the crisis. It's all getting a little loopy and cyclical so I'm gonna leave it up to Dan et al. to make it make sense, but at a high level, I think:
Start with Timeline B. Dylan is just creating to create for creation's sake and he comes up with A-L3X.
Because A-L3X knows all the things, it knows that there's going to be a climate crisis if it doesn't do something. It also knows that it's running out of time to figure out the solution in the face of what's coming so it...
Creates alternate realities, one of which is Timeline A where Dylan dies, Sinatra grieves, the climate crisis actually happens, and Sinatra builds the bunker to buy time while A-L3X0.2 figures out the large-scale solution and
Once it figures out the solution (whatever Xavier is going to have to do in s3), it merges the timelines and realities together. I also think that this merging of timelines might have something to do with the nosebleeds, but I'm not quite sure what all that is yet. (Although I do think the professor had an inkling about A-L3X's power/plans because he gave Billy the tissue because he knew his nose would bleed.)
Wouldn't it be wild if we realize the world we exist in with the characters (i.e., Timeline A) was all fake, just like we realized the community was fake at the end of s1 e1?????
Okay, that's it. That's what I got. Also:
The bookends of Xavier running through paradise at the top of s1 e1 and then again at the end of that episode as everything comes crashing down (metaphorically) with him running through town at the end of s2 e8 as everything is about to come crashing down (literally) was absolute poetry.
Dylan/Link helping to take care of (human) Alex. OMG stop.
Annie's Baby is now with her daddy. OMG STOP.
Xavier knows he's wrong as hell for introducing those two women like that. And Teri knows that Gabi wasn't just his therapist, too. Lol.
Speaking of Gabi, why didn't she jook jook Jane again just to be sure??? UGH. Now look at her. Doofy. Because Jane is alive. Her injuries/the location of her wound match Robinson's and we saw that Robinson was able to survive, AND she wasn't in the shower when they did the closing shot as the bunker came down. Whatever, man. Whatever.
Sinatra having revelations when she hears people's nicknames lololol. She had one when Big Poppa (was that his name? either way, RIP) called Link "Dylan" and again when Dylan called Xavier "X". Is it a coincidence that these are the two characters that it happened with? I think not.
Jeremy coming back with help was cute. He's still a brat, but he's nice.
Now what were Presley and Sinatra's daughter going to do when they got down to the prison and saw the guards? Don't piss me off!!!!! That was so silly.
Can't wait for next season!!!!
Thoughts? What am I missing? What do you think?
If you're not watching this show, but you read this anyway... um... sorry for the spoilers (I made the appropriate stopgap!!!), but go watch it! It's amazing.
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