Jamais Jochim
Bio
I'm the guy who knows every last fact about Spider-man and if I don't I'll track it down. I love bad movies, enjoy table-top gaming, and probably would drive you crazy if you weren't ready for it.
Stories (265)
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Worth More Than A Halfpence
Hajime perched on the castle parapet. Above him were two hawks; as soon as he took flight they would be upon him, and he would be a small lunch for one of them. He had to move, and quickly: He could hear guards coming up the stairs and they had been ordered to kill anything they found, especially sparrows. He chuckled to himself: I sort of asked for that one. Someone had seen him enter the treasure vault as a teenage boy and exit as a sparrow. Bloody Shapers Guild should have remained secret; now they were looking for us shifters everywhere. He had snatched the ruby; now he just had to escape.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Fiction
The Men of Our Tomorrows
The human soul is a difficult thing to understand. To better be able to understand it, we frequently split it into the dark side and the light side, splitting our various attributes between them. While simplistic, it's interesting to see when the conflict between the two sides of the human soul is expressed in comic books as this allows us to see the stark contrast between the two sides. What's truly interesting is to see when those symbolizing the different sides come together to save humanity or jt to see what they can do together.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Critique
Man vs. Bear: Why It Failed to Accomplish as Much as It Could
The Man vs. Bear Debate had recently taken social media by storm, but quickly died down. In a TikTok video, eight women were asked who they would prefer to encounter in the woods: a bear or a man. Seven of the eight women chose the bear, and the video went viral, with memes based on it making the round on social media, sometimes with information on sexual assaults attached.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Critique
Four Little Problems with "The Power"
Prime's "The Power" is a great series that attempts to show what would happen to Society if women and girls were to gain the ability to project and control electricity. While it is definitely one of the more provocative shows being streamed today, there are some interesting uestions that need to be answered.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Critique
Diversity and the Critic
One of the weirder problems with being a critic is the wokeness problem. The essential problem is that encouraging diversity is good, but there are times when diversity gets pushed to the point where it actually becomes a parody of itself, and there are even times when it distracts from the film itself. Worse are those times when the need to diversify character types creates some weird situations due to the change in race or sex of the characters. This makes life interesting for the critic because calling it out can call down a lot of fire on the critic, creating its own issues. There needs to be some way to navigate the problem.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Critique
Kids With Phones Should Worry You
It's funny how often the newest generation is called lazy, naive, and unable to survive on their own. This has probably been the case since there has been a "newest generation" and the power to complain; there's little doubt that one of the first things one older caveman said to another was that the newest generation. With the advent of the smartphone, this has only gotten worse, as the newest generation now doesn't need to worry about getting bored and since there isn't any boredom there is no reason to try anything new.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Futurism
The History of Photography and Its Problems
It's being predicted by many that generative artificial intelligence is the death knell of art. Given the number of so-called "apocalypses" that the art world has had to deal with in the last century alone, it may be worth looking at one particular art to get a good feel for how likely it is that this technology is likely to cause the death of art. Yes, we're looking at photography.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Art
Should We Change The Past to Fit Our Present?
History is confusing enough; just wait until we add modern politics to it. [Courtesy of Yan Krukau thanks to Pexels.com.] One of the problems with current discussions of history is that too many debaters look at historical events through a modern lens, usually to justify their political bias. This invariably means that the person has to modify the events in order to fit the event, possibly even linking some events that have no actual connection. This allows the historical event to fit the debater's needs better, even if it changes things so much that the past event is almost unrecognizable.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in History
"It Was of Its Time" Needs to Become a Red Flag
One of the weirder parts about being a critic is the issue of what to do about older media. The problem is that society has progressed; the casual racism, sexism, and homophobia of the past are just not as acceptable as they once were; let's just say that a lot of comics and movies from the WWII era have not aged well. Making it weirder, you even have movies or books that were behind the times even when they were published, such as "Birth of a Nation" or a lot of 1950s movies. Adding to the fun is that some movies or books even poke fun at some of those old-fashioned mores; giving them a proper critique can be difficult in and of itself.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Critique
Little Known Tips For Surviving Slasher Attacks
Dealing with slashers is easy once you understand the basics. [Courtesy of Sebastiaan Stam thanks to Pexels.com.] Nothing ruins a night like finding out that some slasher has targeted you. For most people, this is a cause for concern; they lack even the simplest of survival skills. However, some people do and are always looking to add to those skills, from simple tips on which weapons are the most effective (knives, crossbows, and shotguns are the best for dealing with slashers) to what kind of traps work the best (simple rope traps are surprisingly effective). With that in mind, there are some tips for survival that some people just don't think about; these tips need discussing.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Humor
Why We Need Black History Classes
The attacks on black history have been interesting, although generally fallacious, such as by using Critical Race Theory as the target. However, there are some issues that are being apparently ignored in the debate. However, there are some good reasons to allow students access to the history of other groups, and we're going to look at some.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in History
AI ArtL: How It Does What It Does
Interestingly, one of the major issues with AI art is that the technology has advanced to such a point that some of those most affected by it don't know how it works. Too many artists are a little behind the curve when it comes to the technology and it shows in the discussion regarding AI art; as such, it puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to discussing the potential effects of the technology as well as its legal ramifications. In order to get up to speed, it may not be a bad idea to take a step back and look at what it does.
By Jamais Jochimabout a year ago in Art
