He basically saved public television. In 1969 the government wanted to cut public television funds. Mister Rogers then went to Washington where he gave an amazing merely six minute speech. By the end of the speech not only did he charm the hostile Senators, he got them to double the budget they would have initially cut down. The whole thing can be found on youtube, a video called “Mister Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate.”
“Certain fundamentalist preachers hated him because, apparently not getting the “kindest man who ever lived” memo, they would ask him to denounce homosexuals. Mr. Rogers’s response? He’d pat the target on the shoulder and say, “God loves you just as you are.” Rogers even belonged to a “More Light” congregation in Pittsburgh, a part of the Presbyterian Church dedicated to welcoming LGBT persons to full participation in the church.”
According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”
Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.
one thing i really liked about thor ragnarok that i havent seen a lot of folks on my dash talking about was its critique of imperialism and the ultimate message that a nation founded on the violent takeover of others doesn’t deserve to exist and will be the author of its own destruction, though its people may be innocent of their country’s past crimes
another thing i really liked about thor ragnarok is jeff goldblum’s painted nails
I’m pretty sure that’s not the message. Imperialism is bad, sure. Greed and corruption will lead to your own destruction, sure. “Changing your ways and becoming moral and peaceful is not enough, your country and it’s people do not deserve to exist and must pay the blood debt of their ancestors?” That’s reaching a bit.
not “your country and its people”, just “your country”. hela embodies the way of life that paved the way for asgard-the-nation to exist, and the scene where she reclaims the throne represents how nations founded on imperialism can never escape their roots—it’s literally like painting over an old mural, you might not see the original painting but it’s still there. the comment about the throne, a physical object representing the power of asgard-the-nation, further cements this (“all that fighting because of this” or something along those lines).
she literally draws her strength from asgard-the-nation, her violence and cruelty are what asgard-the-nation needed and used to flourish, back in the day. to defeat hela, thor and company literally have to allow asgard-the-nation to be destroyed—they have to let war burn on until an entire planet is destroyed, until not even the foundation remains, because even the foundation was built on the violent subjugation of other people. this is not a reach, like, this is the very first layer of subtext in the movie. this is all but directly stated. i’m sorry that taika waititi didn’t have a cameo at the end where he said “imperialist nations don’t deserve to exist because their success comes at the cost of those whom they subjugate”, but like, he did basically everything but that.
asgard-the-people, on the other hand, don’t deserve to die, and so they don’t. aside from the army that hela mows through (“armies are bad,” taika waititi would presumably say in his cameo), there are four asgardian deaths—the warriors three and the executioner. the warriors three are, like hela, physical vestiges of asgard’s imperialist past (source: thor (2011)), so like, again, they deserved what they got. but the number of asgardian civilian casualties is extremely low for a reason.
hmm i have not answered this before, so let me think… writing mob…
keep in mind that i have not written mob, but i have read a lot of mob… in canon.
don’t use verbs that imply very drastic action/expression (e.g. rather than “beamed,” use “smiled,” since mob almost never smiles with enough enthusiasm to qualify as beaming). keep mob’s actions and expressions low-key unless shit is really getting serious. (and actually, re: smiling in particular, remember that he rarely doles out smiles to anyone other than ritsu.)
remember that mob is quite passive– like, he usually isn’t actively engaged in his surroundings. he’s prone to zoning out, deep in thought or just deep in the absence of thought. even when things are relatively intense, he still may feel out of place and hesitate. basically, mob’s default state when things start happening is “not knowing what he should be doing.” when things aren’t happening, he tends to be content with idleness or inactivity.
about mob’s speech: his catchphrase, according to his profile, is “i don’t really get it.” from this, we can tell that he’s not afraid to acknowledge his own ignorance or inability. (iirc he is also wont to drop this line at inopportune times, like after someone gives him a detailed explanation or emotional speech.) he’s not stupid, but he’s not especially quick-witted either. he’s a good listener. if he doesn’t know what to say and isn’t forced to answer, he won’t say anything. he doesn’t crack wise or offer witty comebacks or snark; his words may have that kind of effect at times (e.g. “shut up and eat”), but only as the result of a mistake or failure to read the atmosphere. generally, he isn’t sarcastic. he will carry on a conversation, but generally, he isn’t very talkative unless there’s something on his mind.
when something is on his mind, he usually starts by dwelling on it while zoning out (possibly while doing other things, like eating dinner).
when he does feel strongly about something, he doesn’t hide it, and he has been known to lecture people about their wrongdoings if he gets really riled up. despite that, don’t forget that he trusts in the goodness of people in general and has plenty of faith in his fellow humans. he strongly feels the importance of things he has learned, and as a result, he wants to make sure others understand what he understands. so like… when it comes to communication, his true strength is his benevolent sincerity.
he and ritsu are on better terms than ever lately, and they may come to each other for advice, but i think they both still prefer to think things over on their own if they can. so mob wouldn’t necessarily go directly to ritsu or reigen for help with something that’s bothering him. he’ll probably have a good long think about it first. pensive boy
he has no fashion sense. i would go ahead and credit any/all of his stylish outfits to ritsu or his parents.
he is Not sassy
he is not dramatic (except unintentionally)
he’s not good at reading other people’s emotional reactions if they don’t come right out and say how they’re feeling. or at least, it takes him a while to catch on if he doesn’t know them well
he calls ritsu “ritsu.” he calls tome “tome-san.” he calls mezato “mezato-san.” he calls reigen “master” or “master reigen.” he calls teru “hanazawa-kun.” he calls tsubomi “tsubomi-chan.” generally, everyone is a -san, -kun, or -senpai according to the typical rules. so don’t have him call anyone any weird nicknames or anything overly familiar unless they ask him to call them that (e.g. he calls tome by her first name because she introduced herself as tome-chan, and even then he changed it to -san). and for the record, i don’t think mob has directly spoken to or about shou, but seeing as how ritsu calls shou “suzuki,” mob would almost certainly call him “suzuki-kun.”
remember that mob’s default neutral facial expression usually comes off as bored, cold, or distant. it’s hard to even tell when/whether he’s deep in thought or slightly upset. even ritsu, reigen, and teru can’t decipher him especially well. (so instead of reading mob’s face… ritsu asks if anything’s bothering him, teru asks what he’s thinking about, and reigen tries to decipher his face anyway and doesn’t ask anything unless/until it becomes Very clear that mob is having problems.)
note that these points apply specifically to non-100% mob
this man summed up everything i’ve been thinking for years
I used to go to a school where the principal purposely made sure we were assigned more homework than normal so that we would be “learning” instead of “on the streets acting like hooligans”. And they wonder why that entire city is known for their drug addicted rich kids.
I'm Still Kicking 