it never fails to drive me crazy that hollywood has supposedly churned out tons of "anti vietnam war films" but none of them ever have any vietnamese characters who are allowed to speak. and then you can turn on a ww2 movie and the germans get to talk and talk and talk!
i agree that hollywood makes no movies from the perspective of the vietnamese who suffered the most under our invasion, but the germans doing evil monologues in hollywood ww2 movies are charicatures created by jewish directors and scriptwriters. so neither “losers” of the war are really being expressed fairly on screen
i am not talking about evil monologues exclusively. german fighters are routinely humanized in these films in ways that would be unthinkable for any communist guerilla.
So this is gonna be a REALLY weird post from me, but there's this cat cafe I frequent that's on the ropes and has set up a crowdfunder, because otherwise they'll have to close at the end of the year :')
Of the many many animal cafes in Tokyo, I have loved Nyankoto Cat Cafe for a long time because of how much they genuinely care for their animals, not just as moneymakers. They have multiple cats with health conditions, including one who sadly passed away just months ago from cancer. The older cats who are too aged or unwell have retired to the owner's house where she continues to post pics of them for fans who miss them.
But between the vet costs and multiple sewage backups in their building, they either close, or if they get funding they can move - otherwise it's unlikely the owner can afford to keep all the cats and they'll have to split up and go to different people after living together all their lives :(
The smallest donation is just 1000 yen, or about $6 USD. They'll take credit card incl from overseas. In total they're asking for about $20k USD to relocate the store, and they're halfway to their goal!
I cannot overstate how much I love these cats (especially Chachamaru) so I will lovepost about my favs under the cut:
CHACHAMARU MY BELOVED MY BEST BOY!!! he looooves sitting on people's laps and is the most athletic of all the cats, loves to stalk the others. Also tries to jump on your back to use it as a springboard to get up to the top of tall cabinets.
Kinta, an old man, who's been with the shop since they opened! If you kneel on the floor he Will crawl between your knees and settle in for butt slaps. He also loves his shrimp :3 and if he catches a toy, he'll prance around the store with it, calling loudly to make sure everyone can see how good he did.
Fuku, who looks like some kind of stuffed animal... likes to put his paws up neatly to lounge on your leg, and also taking rides on your back.
The most recent arrival, Ame, a rescue kitten in 2023 or so! She's full-grown now but still soooo itty bitty. Loves to Yell. The professional Yeller of the store.
Ai, a sweet sweet lady with the softest fur you ever did touch. Purrs like an engine when you groom her and flips over so you can get to her belly. Cat that likes belly rubs.
And many many more beloved kitties!!! Since I can't have cats of my own these guys really are the anchor of my mental health and I dread to think if they really were to close :( So if you're able to give, please! Please! Thank you!!
i find it interesting that a lot of people are seemingly reading the hive as like the most horrific villainous evil and esp with the cold open of the season finale are talking about it as a straightforward allegory for colonialism esp wrt cultural erasure and homogenization, because for ME personally literally the first thing i said like barely a few minutes into the pilot was oh there is a specter haunting albuquerque new mexico… like it's interesting to me to read this as a communism allegory bc imo that's the most direct obvious framework from the start given that the conflict when stripped down to its basics is at its core about collectivism vs individualism
like it's very interesting to me to read it from the meta perspective of this american writer/showrunner making a show whose title is quite literally derived from the motto of the united states, set in new mexico specifically, that now hinges on nuclear mutually assured destruction. i just think red scare propaganda and cold war anxiety are so so so deeply engrained in the psyche of the average (esp white) american that idk how intentional it is but like.. fears of the faceless soulless horde of Others, invasion/brainwashing, secret enemy from within, constant almost omniscient high tech surveillance, even manipulation through honeytrapping, destruction of traditional familial structures in favor of a single all-encompassing collective, erasure of indigenous culture elsewhere—though of course through a story told mainly from an upper class suburban albuquerque cul-de-sac where the more immediate fear is the loss of free will and erasure of individuality as a sacrifice in service of the collective… really is there any more american anticommunist fear than that
and there's layers here too bc many of the classic 1950s hivemind/alien invasion sci-fi stories that vince and the writers were likely inspired by WERE very explicitly anticommunist propaganda, or at least very explicitly and directly tied to the sociopolitical context of the time ie red scare / cold war. invasion of the body snatchers, the thing, it came from outer space, invaders from mars…
many such stories pulling from many of the same beats every time. alien invaders come to earth, they take over the bodies and minds of our friends and family, they look like ordinary people, just like you and me, just like they always have, but they lack human emotions, lack "a soul," and their only goal is to Turn the remaining holdouts. very interesting to me that the episode ends with the atom bomb, very interesting to me that this is a story being told again now in 2025 given, well you know, everything. very much a new cold war era. once again a story very much a product of its time and context.
like i'm glad it seems like everyone can talk about colonialism allegories now but also i NEED you all to learn about red scare propaganda and cold war history lmfao. right now especially this shit is Important. "okay but the red menace is evil because the story tells me it's evil, look at all the bad stuff it's doing OBVIOUSLY it's evil" babyyyyy let's think let's look at Context
also sorry i just don't find the trope of "woman who hates men learns to love men again because she met one really sweet dude" very compelling. at best i think it's boring and eye-rolling wish fulfillment for people who never got over their lesbian crush and at worst i think it's actively and purposefully misogynistic
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