Okay, I want to start this by saying that while Endless Summer is my favorite book due to emotional attachment ^{(Yeah, this is no longer the case as of October 31st, ROD GOAT}) I still think that Ride or Die comfortably surpasses it and every other Choices story when it comes to writing quality. I've been consuming some truly kino media like Steins;Gate, The Last of Us Part II and Better Call Saul in the past few months but seeing that the tumblr side of the fandom was having a ROD Appreciation Week made me have the book constantly wrestling for time in my mind along all those other things that I greatly enjoyed (Obviously, I'm not trying to imply this is anywhere near the same level of quality as these other pieces, cause that'd just be stupid) but yeah, I've been wanting to talk in depth about why I hold Ride or Die in such high regard for a long time now, so this post is for me, for anyone else that might be big fans of the book or even for people that didn't like it and don't understand why it's a fan favorite. It's also my late, not proofread contribution to the appreciation week since I can't really draw for shit.
PREMISE AND THEMES
Quick summary, it’s a story about growing up and finding oneself that focuses on an 18 year old girl in her last weeks of high school that joins a criminal crew without even realizing it due to her sheltered life making her feel like she missed out on her teenage years for the past 5 years since, after her mother’s death, her dad became incredibly protective of her. As she grows attached to the crew she gets deeply immersed in their world until she realizes what the pursue of freedom, fast cars and bad boys/girls truly entails. Of course, you all know that.
So, themes. Most Choices stories don’t have any big, noticeable theme that encompasses the entire story they’re trying to tell, which is completely fine since you can still write a good, compelling story without it ^{(Unless you’re David Benioff}). Of course, while not necessary, overarching themes elevate a story a lot more in my eyes if executed properly and I feel like Ride or Die excels at it. And what are these themes? Well, obviously, it’s up to every individual’s interpretation but to me the three biggest stand outs are freedom, obviously; the choice between someone’s own past and future; and how the typical Bad Boy Romance is not always the cheesy, idealized life most of us are used to. I’ll explain how the story presents these themes in the following segments.
ELLIE WHEELER, aka THE MC
I’ve raved about her at almost every chance I get because I feel like I can make a pretty compelling argument as to why she’s the best MC and one of the best characters PB’s ever written, but it’s about time I finally sat down to properly explain this stance. I might refer to her as Ellie at times instead of MC since I just don’t like having an essay this big and introspective and just referring to her as MC, even if I didn’t actually keep her default name myself.
So, let’s start from what most of the ROD MC masterrace knows about, she’s different from 95% of the MCs. She has a clear goal, a clear personality and, one of the most rare traits in MCs, her dad’s an actual character and he has an actual relationship with her. She’s also far from perfect, she’s an incredibly smart young woman that lacks “street” knowledge and as she gets in deeper and deeper with the MPC, her previous and new relationships suffer because of it, because she doesn’t know how to juggle both sides of her life. The hardships Ellie has to face are both products of the environment she lives in and a product of her mistakes, which acts as a nice balance so that she doesn’t come of as a bumbling idiot that fucks up everything for everyone and an overly perfect protagonist who’s only flaw is that the world just plots against her so that there can be a story to tell.
Her goal is a pretty simple one, she wants to go to Langston university, her dream school. The thing that stands out to me is how she never betrays her dream and it’s always present in the back of her mind, well, technically you can choose to skip out on all of her classes but that always seemed really out of character to me, so I’m not really taking that into account, since she expresses that she loves to learn and she sees it as a challenge to be better than herself from yesterday. She manages to involve Logan into her school life so she isn’t fully distracted from her studies and even when she’s living on the Gramercy Garage, she still finds time to study for her finals. Even when everything goes to shit and she starts losing sight of who she is, Logan, Colt and Mona know that being a criminal is not the life she’s meant to live and it isn’t until after prom that she realizes who she really is. There’s so many choices throughout the story that, while ultimately not relevant to the outcome, I feel can add a lot of character to her if you’re willing to “headcanon” a bit, so minor things such as picking the color of her car due to it being the same as Logan’s or the one Colt or Mona suggested, choosing to listen to rap music as she’s driving the MPC around since it can be seen as a rebellious sort of music that her dad probably wouldn’t have approved of, treating Brent’s party invitation as something of no importance to her, getting a tattoo… wait this one’s supposed to be big, why does no one acknowledge it dammit? Then there’s also some bigger choices such as her being able to tell Riya that she’s most excited about being able to leave LA on the first chapter or being able to choose to stay with Logan and help him fight Salazar, choosing to focus on her studies even when living with the MPC, and so on.
Now, how is she tied to the themes I mentioned above? Well, it’s clear that her desire for freedom and independence is what initially leads her to want to be a part of the MPC’s life, when Kaneko brought her to the garage for the first time she didn’t quite see them as criminals, but as people that lived as they wanted and were still, well, humans. She’s constantly seeking her own freedom from her dad’s overbearing presence and from her own boring life and she achieves it twice, one is the fake freedom she got when she ran away after her dad found out about her involvement with the MPC and the second one is what I like to think of as her true freedom. The definition of true freedom is tied to the second theme I mentioned, the choice between past and future, after the Brotherhood attacks her and her LI after prom she realizes that she can no longer try to keep on living both lives, the nerdy valedictorian girl and the criminal that gets a thrill by being behind the wheel, the inability to choose between one and the other is what initially landed her into that mess and it’s only by finally choosing that she’s able to get herself and everyone else from the MPC out. It’s a very unique way of showing a character being strong, she got herself out of the mess she herself helped cause and she did it without the conventional strengths of MCs such as being a warrior queen, a part of an alien entity that transcends time or a literal vampire.
Ultimately, she chose to embrace her future (And her past, in a roundabout way), her long time dream, which meant letting go of the life and people that once made her feel so free and alive and by doing so, she got the freedom she desired so much while also finding who she truly was and what she valued in life. That’s also tied to the third main theme I mentioned, in the end she couldn’t keep on living an idealized version of the bad boy romance where you get to keep a good life out of living on the wrong side of the law and while I could definitely go more in depth about how she embodies this theme, I’ll do that when I talk about other characters, since I’ve already talked about about Ellie a lot.
LOGAN
The cover boy, the boy with the car, the “bad boy”, the mandatory “good boi” LI, the only Love Interest that has managed to rival Quinn Kelly in terms of how much I love them. I feel like the love for all 3 LIs is mostly evenly distributed on this sub but I’ve definitely seen some people say that Logan is kinda boring compared to Colt and Mona and honestly, that just couldn’t be further from the truth in my mind. Prepare for another long ass analysis.
Being a fan of the anime/manga series Attack on Titan has made me gain a great, great appreciation for story recontextualization and that narrative element is exactly what Logan brings to the story at the end of Chapter 10 and boy, did Luke and the team knock that shit out of the park with how they implemented that tool into their story. ROD Ch. 10 is notorious for being the chapter that officially turned the book from an initially hated book that people were slowly warming up to, to a current fan favorite as far as online communities are concerned, seriously, you can look up the discussion for that chapter in the search bar and the first comment you’ll see if someone taking back everything negative they said about the book and then it’s just constant praising for the next 6 weeks. Why did all of that happen? Because of how much starts making sense or becoming clearer because of the reveal that Logan initially started dating (?) MC because he was trying to get whatever intel her dad had on them from her, seriously, everything becomes so clear after the end of the chapter, everything starts falling into place like a carefully crafted Lego build, be it for the stories’ themes or for characterization of characters like Colt, Mona, Kaneko, Jason and Logan himself.
Let’s focus on Logan for now though. A couple of chapters in, as we start learning more about his life, we can see that Logan is someone that’s never truly had someone in his life that could show him true human love and bonds, the closest he has to that prior to Ellie is his “cousin” Vaughn. Initially, it seems like a weak attempt at making the titular bad boy seem like a layered character, specially since he seemingly just fell for a random girl that literally stumbled upon him on a high school parking lot, but in reality the reason his fake interest in Ellie started to become reality was exactly because of the lack of proper, meaningful connections, which we couldn’t have known until after Colt reveals the truth. As we know, Logan always had the mentality that, no matter how good a crew might be, he should always be ready to bail when the heat is too much, that’s a philosophy that he adopted and he knows that any criminal that’s as good as him will share the same sentiment, which proves to be the case when the MPC immediately disbands after Kaneko’s death... but Ellie isn’t a hardened, professional criminal, she’s a girl that, while certainly enamored by the allure of their life, still sees them as people, not as mere means to an end that are just fun to hang out with, which is why she doesn’t run away after the escape from the mall or the encounter with Salazar’s crew at the drive-in cinema, that’s not something Logan thinks people are capable of, why would such a saint of a girl not get away from them after things like that?
That’s when Logan’s guilt enters the scene. He tries to undo what he now considers to have been a great mistake since he’s slowly catching real feelings for the girl that was just supposed to spill all of Detective Wheeler’s info and leave them as soon as she realized how dangerous their life was, but how is he supposed to do that now when doing so would mean losing this person that’s so incredibly unique in his world? We see how his guilt starts weighing on him more and more as the story progresses, until he almost does something very stupid by almost revealing the truth right before the stadium job, so he probably wouldn’t have lasted much without revealing it but, for better or worse, Colt was the one that did it for him and once again Logan turns Ellie’s whole world upside down. For the rest of the book, he does everything in his power to show her that, while he was lying in the beginning, he actually did come to care for her a lot (even if his actions might’ve pushed her into the arms of Colt or Mona, or at least acted as the final push in their routes).
After the MPC disbanded there was only one person I could see appearing on Riya’s doorstep when I played through ROD during release and that was Logan, because it just made all the sense in the world in my mind. Backtracking a bit, we know from his two diamond scenes on the early chapters that Logan dropped out of high school but he always liked to learn about random stuff, hence him reading while on the road, and that he always toyed with the idea of going back (He also says that he’d probably be graduating that year if he hadn’t dropped out, which tells us that he’s the youngest of the 3 LIs, which is a neat detail), so I always saw that as him showing up not just for Ellie’s sake but also for himself in a way, since it’d be a good way to live out the life he never had, even if just for a few hours. Speaking of prom night, I absolutely adore how when he tells Ellie he loves her, she can reply with “Logan… no you don’t.” since it’s only natural she wouldn’t believe him 100% since not only did they get together through a web of lies spun by him and Kaneko, but because as far as she knows, Logan can’t possibly know what real love feels like.
Fast forward to the final chapter and it’s time for the MPC to go their own ways, for real this time, to avoid getting entangled with the FBI and, even if Logan wasn’t your actual LI he still shows that he’s completely accepting of the fact that he isn’t the one Ellie loves, and on both cases he shows that he also grew to truly love her by deciding to not be a part of her life any more, because it just isn’t feasible for her to pursue her dreams while also being involved with potential suspects on the FBI watch list, so he chooses her future over his because he can’t and he won’t let her risk her future for something as small as a space rock lucky enough to burn up in her atmosphere for a moment and with that, a heartfelt kiss, an explicit and tacit declaration of love, a request for Troublemaker to give ‘em hell and a brief but tense showdown with Detective Wheeler, Logan speeds off into the night.
COLT KANEKO
The actual leather wearing bad boy of the story that sauntered his way into the hearts of many fans, both as a character and a love interest, he’s sarcastic, he’s funny, he’s soft-ish only with the MC and he’s also a multilayered character, how could he not be liked? I want to preface this section by saying that, just like with really popular LIs such as Jake Mackenzie, Damien Nazario or Ethan Ramsey, I could never bring myself to like Colt in a romantic way, even though I can certainly see the appeal of their route but even then, just like the aforementioned gentlemen, he’s still one of my favorite characters of the series regardless of that, simply because of how much he brings to the table. So without further ado, let’s get started with Mr. “Christ, who caaares?” Kaneko’s unnecessarily long essay.
Right off the bat we can see that Colt has a bone to pick with Logan due to their relationship with Kaneko, he’s always butting heads with Logan and Kaneko at the beginning because he resents both, the latter for sending him away to college and not being willing to let him in on the family business and the former for, in his eyes, being the son Kaneko always wanted, not knowing that the only reason his dad kept him away from the business and seemingly replaced him with Logan was because if Jason actually harmed the MPC he could live with the loss of Logan on his conscience, but not Colt’s. As time goes on Colt finds himself slowly warming up to Ellie, even if he initially just thinks of her as one of his dad’s mistakes waiting to blow up in their faces, and even if he does relentlessly teases/annoys her it’s very obvious that he can connect with her because of her complicated relationship with her dad and she can understand him, they both love their dads immensely but they severely disagree on the view they have of their respective child. And against Colt’s predictions, Ellie proves herself as a valuable asset to the crew (Not knowing until later on just how deep that rang true) and he eventually starts falling for her as well, which is what sets the Chapter 10 plot twist in motion.
After the MPC manages to steal the super cars for the Brotherhood, Kaneko opens up to the idea of letting Colt into the business, since it’s clear he won’t just pack up and leave for college anymore, especially after Kaneko is shot and threatened by the Brotherhood and he has to rely on Colt’s plan of kidnapping one of their members and at some point he reveals the truth about their current situation to his son, where Colt finds out about the truth behind Logan and Ellie but it isn’t until after the stadium heist that he makes shit hit the fan by starting a fight with Logan and spilling his secret. That always seemed to me that it came from a place that’s equal parts being mad at Logan for using Ellie like that but also him seeing it as a petty opportunity to sow discord between them, which is why she later has the choice to unload on Colt for deliberately keeping the truth to himself until the right moment. This also marks the moment where the somewhat toxic, somewhat supportive, somewhat wholesome and entirely complicated romantic relationship between them can start to flourish, since Ellie obviously doesn’t see Logan in the exact same way she did 24 hours before and depending on the player, she could’ve actually started to develop her relationship with Colt (Or Mona) prior to the reveal.
Something I haven’t seen being mentioned about Colt’s arc is how him being misjudged and misunderstood by both Ellie and Kaneko plays a huge role in it. After Ellie leaves the MPC, he decides to put the rest of his plan in motion, luring The Brotherhood into an illegal casino’s vault using the member they kidnapped and kill them via gassing. Toby completely disagrees with their actions and decides to recruit Ellie to help him stop the crew from crossing a line that they seemingly haven’t crossed yet, yes they’re criminals but much like Ellie’s initial impression of them, they’re not psychos and much less murderers, they’re still good people; so she sets out to stop them with the help of Toby and a Logan that’s desperate for atonement, but her biggest mistake was assuming that Colt isn’t the kind of person that can kill another person if it means protecting those he cares about. This is where it gets incredibly interesting and compelling to me, since not only does her misjudge of character ruin Colt’s entire plan but there’s also the possibility that she had been working for Jason and the Brotherhood the whole time, so in some cases they might’ve actually escaped the trap directly because of her and it doesn’t stop there, since as a result the MPC lose their entire advantage and are once again being targeted by The Brotherhood and that directly leads to not only another huge reveal from Kaneko’s part but also his death, him sacrificing himself so that the crew could escape as he let’s Colt know that he wishes for him to just let go of this life and do something better for himself. Before the rest of the MPC reunites at Gramercy Park, Colt tells Ellie how he plans to kill them all, to rebuild the garage and kill them all before finally breaking down on her arms as his loss catches up to him, right before the Mercy Park Crew splits up after their loss against Jason.
In the end, the two people Colt cared about the most failed at truly understanding him, his dad kept him at an arm’s length for a long time, missing out on time with his son because he never considered the fact that what he wanted for Colt was not what he wanted for himself, despite of all the risks it might entail, and Ellie played a part in Kaneko’s death by not realizing that Colt would be willing to cross such a fucked up line if it meant protecting the people and legacy he cared about so much. Those two factors play a huge role in the rest of the book since they’re the reasons why Colt is pushed dangerously close to a downward spiral that will most definitely only bring him more pain at the end of the book. After Jason is dealt with, he laments the fact that he and Ellie met under such circumstances and not in a classroom where they could annoy each other and become friends and/or significant others but he doesn’t lament his current situation, he’s dead set on becoming the king of LA, on carrying on his father’s legacy, now more than ever. I’d argue Colt Kaneko is the biggest cautionary tale in this book about the dangers of the often glorified life of the bad boys and fast cars and how it can consume you, he was very special to Ellie and Kaneko but they didn’t fully understand who he was, how he was shaped by his ideal future and they couldn’t see how the most important thing for him was his past, his legacy and as a result, he’s alone against a dangerous world, but that’s a danger that he very much welcomes.
If any of you have done Colt’s romance route and feel like I missed out on anything, do let me know in the comments, I feel like my appreciation for him only grew more as I wrote his section.
MONA
The bad girl, the loner, what even is her real name? I’m also going to dedicate an analysis to her but I also want to direct you to a post from a few months ago by user u/elbenji who has reviewed ROD from a WLW perspective that I think you should also check out if you’ve got the time. Anyway, Mona’s turn.
So, who’s Mona? Well, she’s kind of the Drake Walker of the book, which is a role that you don’t usually see being filled by a female LI. She doesn’t seem to like anyone, she’s pessimistic, she rarely misses the chance to mock people, she’s damn good at her job and she’s loyal to no one but herself, to some she might actually be the worse person of the 3 LIs during the early chapters but as everything else in this book, the layers to her start to show the more the story advances. She shares Logan’s worldview of everyone only being out for themselves but unlike Logan, she knows that not everyone is necessarily like that but in her eyes those people are in for a rude awakening from the world at some point for being dumb enough to think that they can count on someone else and that’s why she’s borderline condescending towards Ellie when the topic of interpersonal relationships comes up between them.
If Colt is shaped by his future, Mona is shaped by her past. Once upon a time she used to be little Miss Perfect like Ellie, honor roll, on the path to valedictorian, the whole thing, until she met a girl that she fell in love with, a criminal that made her enjoy life to its fullest and ended up becoming her whole world until one day they got caught and were taken to interrogation separately where Mona, fully trusting of her partner, lied about their involvement but was still arrested because her girlfriend ended up giving her up in exchange of freedom. That event shaped Mona’s entire philosophy, when it came down to it, people would always put themselves above everyone else and after Kaneko gave her back her freedom that’s the only code she stuck by, her own personal freedom and survival became the most important thing in Mona’s life, even when the man that saved her was in danger she considered multiple times to just leave the MPC to their luck. That is, until she met Ellie Wheeler.
Obviously, in typical Pixelberry fashion, Mona doesn’t have as much screen time as her male counterparts but what she lacks in screen time she more than makes up in both narrative and thematic relevancy. As mentioned previously, Mona’s always reminding Ellie how out of her depth she is and treating her like a dumb girl that doesn’t know what she’s doing (Which, to a certain extent, is true) but when shit goes south after the stadium heist it turns out that she’s the only LI that never actually played with Ellie’s feelings and was always straight (Heh) with her. It's things like this that I love immensely about ROD, the 3 love interests have so many layers to them, they do good and bad things and they feel like actual people that exist in this fictional Los Angeles, their actions are a product of what’s established as their characters, not just as stuff that happens because the plot needs it to. Back on track, just like with Colt, this is the point where Ellie and Mona’s relationship really takes off if the player chooses to and unlike Colt, her going after Ellie feels like it comes off from a place of actual concern since she understands what she’s going through, regardless of whether their relationship is platonic or not at that point, she still sees a girl that feels like she’s got no one left that she can trust in, so she takes it upon herself to be there for her, slowly shedding her walls that she’s put up for so long, probably without even realizing it.
After the failed job at the casino, Mona once again contemplates leaving the MPC in the middle of the shit storm but Ellie manages to get her to help since she owes Kaneko that much at the very least, only for her to find out a few minutes later that Kaneko knew The Brotherhood were corrupt cops from the beginning and never confided in them with that information and, in another cruel twist of fate, Kaneko ends up sacrificing himself so that Ellie, Logan, Colt and Mona could run away, once again, giving Mona her freedom even after completely betraying her trust. As the MPC discuss their course of action after that, she breaks and let’s out what’s probably my favorite quote in Choices: ”You wanted freedom? The fast cars, the bad boy, that whole life? This is it… and it’s not for you. Go home, for everyone’s sake.”, in that moment she let’s the entire pressure of the situation get to her and unleashes on Ellie, the main reason why they’re all in that whole mess. It’s an incredibly cathartic quote that perfectly encapsulates what ROD is all about, the criminal life is not something one can just juggle as if it were a part time job that’s there for the thrills, it can only lead to a life that most people, if presented with the choice, would never want for themselves. When I read that for the first time I completely forgot that I was just reading a story on a free Visual Novel app where you’d never expect to find writing of such quality. I can perfectly feel Mona’s anguish and anger in that quote, the whole weight of the events of the book finally come crashing down on us after we read those words and it’s just such a great feeling that I’ll never stop praising.
Let’s get to prom night though, much like Mona going after Ellie on Chapter 11, I feel like her showing up for her prom is still really fitting and the diamond scene that follows after is arguably the best wlw dirty thirty in the app, the dialogue during it is just top tier to be honest. But even better than it to me is the scene after that, where she decides to join The Brotherhood if it means Ellie gets to run away from them since they’re obviously looking to tie up lose ends, it is especially hard hitting if she’s your LI but the version with Colt or Logan is still amazing and I especially love how she uses the hot wiring skills Mona taught her to run away. After the Mercy Park Crew’s last ride together, Mona ends up taking a bullet for the girl that reminded her so much of herself and as Ellie drives her to the hospital she talks about how hard she’s going to be to forget, before reaching the hospital and walking herself inside, knowing that she’d be imprisoned once again before the day is over. I’ve seen a fair share of people that were unhappy with Mona having to deal with such harsh consequences but I personally love, love the end of her route since Mona’s always been about self preservation and only being there for herself but meeting Ellie gets her to slip, she starts caring for her and in the end chooses to give up on her freedom if it means Ellie gets to walk away with hers, in a way being for Ellie the complete opposite of what her ex-girlfriend was to her all those years ago (The dramatic irony can be turned to 11 if you choose the options that show her slowly adopting Mona’s philosophy during the final chapters, so she can slowly become more cynical as Mona slowly sheds her cynicism). In the end, Mona might not be free but she’s still on her element, she’ll be on a place where she’d have to count only on herself and while she’ll definitely have to face some time for her crimes, I’m pretty sure she’d thrive in prison.
End of Part 1
Okay, I initially wanted to talk about the supporting characters as well but this shit is truly living up to its title at almost 5K words, that’s already a decently sized one shot, so I’ll stop here since I still want to post it close to the appreciation week, though I might make some edits here and there as I reread it later on but I'm too lazy to do that right now. If I see there’s a good reception for a stupidly long post like this I’ll probably get to work on the second part where I talk about Kaneko, Jason, Detective Wheeler, Toby, Ximena and Riya and Darius, as well as maybe analysis for other books that I hold in really high regard such as the Endless Summer trilogy, Open Heart or It Lives Beneath. If you actually made it all the way here, I just want to thank you for taking the time of your day for reading my semi-coherent thoughts and definitely let me know what you think, if you agree, if you disagree, if you think I should go outside, etc. Thank you for your attention.

Hi Quithebs, you're not shadowbanned, but 67 of your most recent 101 comments/submissions were removed (either automatically or by human moderators).

Comments:

geqr96f in books on 05 Dec 20 (1pts):

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You deserved it.

geq8et7 in MadeMeSmile on 05 Dec 20 (1pts):

Cringe

gepp2qk in Whatcouldgowrong on 05 Dec 20 (1pts):

The irony of a Portland fanboy calling other people neckbeards.

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The answer is you're not, not unless you have some sort of family trade that you are committed to taking the mantle for. If you're just another lost kid in the world though, then you have to figure...

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Jesus christ why do The mods just let the cucks run free on this sub?

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But this man is incredibly handsome. Look at the eyes.

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If you can accept that modern science can be flawed maybe you can also see why other people may be skeptical of current day thought in certain areas. instead you just want to call these people...

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Yup

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Sorry that people qualified to do the job doesn't match up perfectly with the population ratio.

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The bot is a cuck

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So yes then.

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Just for people who don't entirely get it, the reason why the LGBT community does this is because they want to keep people in a constant limbo to see who is paying attention to them and who is not,...

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It's that plus the fact that America is a highly individualistic culture, trains are for people that are controlled by a centralized mass, ie where your told when and where to travel and how to do...

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I'm sorry this happened to you.

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This is disgusting, you need to get this kid into conversion therapy because clearly if he's able to get hard in your presence then he is clearly gay and possibly incestuous. Never seen anything...

geg3j6h in AskReddit on 03 Dec 20 (1pts):

Publically claim to be a communist, that the Soviet Union wasn't really bad, and that FDR faked Pearl harbor and if there was quote unquote evidence for it now

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Not what Marxism is. Not even in the most flowery academic definition is that Marxism. Also "democracy in the workplace and the economy" is completely idiotic, you really want people to vote on...

gefjpph in news on 02 Dec 20 (1pts):

"If we don't get what we want we will burn everything down" https://youtu.be/5ClaPgXpOag
Don't worry not a terrorist group.

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Do you really think that this guy you're talking to hypocritically approves of the Patriot act? This is exactly why people hate liberals, pointing out something else that exists doesn't invalidate...

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Taking out the laugh track will make even the best sitcom not funny anymore, the laugh track is meant to make you feel like you're in a bigger room where everybody is having fun.

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It's completely baffled me that nobody's ever called out this guy for not having abs at all.

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The mods are gay for keeping that thing up.

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Maybe we shouldn't accept that 90% of people that we talk to on the internet are communists sympathizers.

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Yeah because hobbies are what it's actually about. I can guarantee this guy isn't anywhere near the monstrosity that he claims, also 5'8 is not a death sentence for the dating world, that's like...

ge3q619 in greentext on 30 Nov 20 (1pts):

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ge3bkpd in OldSchoolCool on 29 Nov 20 (1pts):

Even back then she wasn't attractive

ge2v82s in news on 29 Nov 20 (1pts):

Maybe because children are the lowest on the priority because they are the most immune? What kind of stupid headline is this?

ge20fme in worldnews on 29 Nov 20 (1pts):

It's okay because they didn't die from the Corona virus, as we all know in 2020 that is the only immoral way to die.

gdyhn0w in news on 29 Nov 20 (1pts):

They said we were supposed to be at 400,000 deaths by this time already, I guess they're still waiting for the deaths to "double".

gdxl4ut in greentext on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):

It seems like everybody else had parents like this, nearly all of my friends did, and I would always wonder what was wrong with mine for being so frugal. Now I realize that they were just smarter...

gdxbyqu in PS4 on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):

I believe mine is the second model, IE the one that doesn't sound like an airplane.

gdx4byf in OldSchoolCool on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):

Look son, a karma whore

gdwv1df in nextfuckinglevel on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):

It's interesting how you hear these days about how people quote-unquote lack education yet managed to graduate in the top 5%, I think that shows that education is broken more than anything.

gdwhljz in news on 28 Nov 20 (1pts):

Bingo. There's already plenty of land designated to them and they just turn it into complete degeneracy full of casinos and alcoholics. Yeah there's that beautiful culture that liberals talk about...

gdt9x7m in worldnews on 27 Nov 20 (1pts):

Nah, you're not a traitor like Snowden.

gdt94up in worldnews on 27 Nov 20 (1pts):

1967: Dire Famine Forecast By...

gdssizm in todayilearned on 27 Nov 20 (1pts):

Does this apply to millennials that use the word literally wrong all the time as well?

gdmq8bt in greentext on 26 Nov 20 (1pts):

y'all

Stop fucking saying this

gdm6mki in reactiongifs on 26 Nov 20 (1pts):

Now you know how we feel when Columbus day comes around.

gdm3kxq in PS5 on 26 Nov 20 (1pts):

Why do people keep falling for the grift, there is zero, and I repeat, zero point in buying early tech. there is always some sort of technical problem, PS3 had the yellow light of death, PS4 had...

gdk67md in PS5 on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):

I really don't get the hype, this is the most bland, underwhelming, console of all time. They could have just made PS4 pro 2.

gdjwgtk in books on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):

https://www.quora.com/Did-ghostwriters-help-Obama-write-his-autobiographical-books-Dreams-from-My-Father-and-The-Audacity-of-Hope
That was literally 5 seconds of Google dude.

gdjtm6q in greentext on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):

You really have no idea how monotonous this gets, There's entire stories written about men who commit suicide because they do the same boring job then come back to the same How was your day dear...

gdjsfxt in OldSchoolCool on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):

Wew lad

gdiazuo in movies on 25 Nov 20 (1pts):

I didn't read the article, but if it didn't say that tangled was much more wholesome and less preachy towards SJWism, then it's a worthless article.

gdhxc1l in greentext on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

No, he is right and the sooner you get past that cringe mindset the better.

gdhqtq6 in DemocraticSocialism on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

Oh thanks another libtard sub to block. Get fucked, commies.

gdhn2dn in MovieDetails on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

SJW porn.

gdhcpu2 in greentext on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

The trick is to use Reddit to make fun of the people that make it shit. I'll routinely show stuff to my friends that gets me massively downvoted and they'll wonder what the hell is wrong with these...

gdgjwmz in InternetIsBeautiful on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

Virtue signal received.

gdg9mz4 in greentext on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

Don't dish it if you can't take it. Also quit being so invested in these, all 4chan posts are fake everybody knows that

gdfrktt in HumansBeingBros on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

puns

Cringe

gdfjhed in worldnews on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

Nobody cares about animals dude. Cry somewhere else

gdeaxgl in todayilearned on 24 Nov 20 (1pts):

Hood parents aren't exactly known for good parenting. Although at least he was around I guess.

gde7trx in space on 24 Nov 20 (0pts):

It's about time we start shooting down their spacecrafts until they stop genociding Muslims and free Hong Kong. And if you find that to be offensive you need to reevaluate your life and everything...

gddfdy3 in books on 23 Nov 20 (1pts):

How dare a muslim writer not be woke in 2003

gdd3ykk in OldSchoolCool on 23 Nov 20 (1pts):

And then you grew up to become the worst admin on Reddit.

READ PART ONE HERE

WET PAINT
Remember when things seemed happy like 30 seconds ago? Remember when it seemed like our couple were going to get back together and be happy. Throw it all in the trash, everything is going to shit. Now our narrator is actually making the moves in the relationship this time around. Moves as in, they may willingly do the breaking up part this time. Now I’ll be completely honest, ‘Wet Paint’ is an extremely vague song up until the third verse. Like yes, they’re running and keep running and running away. But from what? Each other? Their relationship? I’d most likely argue both due to how our narrator spends the entire chorus wanting to go home. So that third verse gives us the most crucial pieces of evidence that everything has gone to shit, and our narrator’s lover is back to their old ways, “I'll never get you to see, if you close your eyes.” Sounds like our narrator is attempting to change the mind of their lover but is having no results. “It doesn't have to be true if it's in your mind.” Consider this the callback to ‘Falling’. Our narrator knows of the lies of their lover and is yet again pointing them out. It seems like whatever the lover says goes, no matter how untrue it is. Musically the song itself is a fast one that feels literally like a way synth-ier ‘New Skin’ song which completely works for the tone of it. The certain bitterness of ‘New Skin’ starts shining through, especially within the lyrics (specifically that third verse). There’s not much else to say about the song itself but remember to tie your shoes.
CRASH
If you thought ‘Wet Paint’ was the most ‘New Skin’ like we could get on this record you’re wrong. Clocking in at 2:30 long, it’s the shortest track on the record and it goes immediately for the punches. The music structure itself is very punchy. Lot of loud and grinding guitars. This is a song of anger right off the bat and it wants you to know that. “You gave your heart to me, told me it's mine to keep, but I don't wanna need a thing from you.” Our narrator is now pissed. Almost like they’ve just fully realized how bad shit is, they’re jaded. Our narrator does not want anything from their lover now - a giant shift from the neediness shown early on. “I'm drowning in the dust, there's not much left of us. Now I've got nothing left I need to prove.” This relationship has sunk so fucking hard that our narrator knows it’s over and knows they have nothing left to say or do. Considering they’ve spent about the last 6 tracks hoping this would all blow over, it feels refreshing almost to see them want to call it quits. Chorus is a simple repetition but a cold message through and through, “Got no time for you, got no time to lose.” That’s a breakup if I’ve ever heard one. Not only has our narrator decided that this relationship is over due to everything that has happened so far, they’ve decided that they literally have no time for this at all. Now the second verse, I do not know how to particularly take this one but it’s either now our narrator and their love reversing roles or we’re now looking at this from the lover’s perspective. “I thought I made it clear, but you keep coming here. I only wish that you could read my mind.” They broke up, but now is the lover begging our narrator for forgiveness or another try? Seems so. “Stop begging me for love and all that other stuff. I think you've had enough and so have I.” This is where I personally get thrown off as to whose perspective it’s from. But if it’s from our narrator the roles have literally been reversed. I think the bridge really strengthens that argument. “On any other day, in any other place, you would get everything you want from me.” It’s our narrator! After literally spending the entire first half of this record attempting to give their lover all the love they can give, we’ve now reach it here. This is just confirmation though. “You keep your heart locked up, don't give me any love, and all my memories are haunted.” Don’t be a ghost? Too late for that. Our narrator just completely addressed the fact that they’ve received almost nothing in return for everything they’ve given their lover. The song itself ends on a subvert of the chorus which has to be one of the most interesting double meaning lines in this whole record. “Yeah, I've got better things to do than crash with you.” Crash itself in this case can easily be seen as two different things; let me go over the simple one first. Simple one would be crashing at their lover’s place. Like “Okay we’re through I’m not spending another minute at your place, I’m staying at mine.” The longer explanation is a metaphor. Think of this relationship as a car. Now think of the end of the relationship and really the entire downfall of the lover as a wall. Now imagine the two in this car. If the car crashes into the wall, that’s it they’re over with. But our narrator wants to jump out before this happens and I don’t blame them for that.
GOLDEN AGE
Remember how like 2.5 seconds ago our narrator was angrier than ever? We’re getting ready to hit recoup attempt 2 now. There’s not much I can say for the song that it doesn’t tell you already. Things are simple for our narrator, but their relationship is still broken. Now our narrator wants to change this. Or rather our narrator wants their former lover to change this. Some repeated imagery of shots in the dark and no more sparks in the eyes of their lover and suddenly we’re given an idea of how potentially difficult everything has been for this whole relationship now. If anything, our most interesting section comes from the bridge where our narrator accepts that things were bound to fall apart. But also, “...I don't mean to keep you in the dark. I'd explain but I don't know just where to start.” Sounds like our poor narrator literally does not know how to explain anything to their former? current? lover at this rate but also wants them to know and understand everything. Musically, this track soars. Particularly there’s some layered vocals within the chorus that you may not be able to pick up on at first, but they all join together to make things so dynamically energetic. Also, the main driving guitar within this song sounds very much like a synth adding in a fun powering riff to the choruses and solo especially. Another song with really not much to say about it that it won’t tell you on its own, but I can say one thing, attempting to jazzercise to this track is fun.
BACK & FORTH
Finally, a title to describe exactly how this relationship feels at this rate. And our old friend, the introspective subplot, is back immediately. “I'm living somebody else's dream, I'm flipping through it like a magazine. I watch it pass on a tiny screen, you won't believe everything I've seen.” Well how the table of phone isolation have turned. Now our own narrator is taking things in from a phone screen but yet life is still going incredibly fast. Has our narrator become susceptible in their heartbreak and attempts at recouping everything? This could also just be a social commentary about the feelings of modern life. Now the pre-chorus itself shows our narrator has taken a turn again. Their lover sure did lead them into a ‘Golden Age’... of what feels like control. “Baby you have chained me. I can't escape, it drives me crazy. If everything is easy, nothing matters. You've got me bending over backwards baby.” Now with the lover in total control it seems like nothing else matters to our narrator. Our narrator feels trapped and forced into this. But then the chorus, “I don't mind, even when my hands are tied. I don't mind, even if I'm hypnotized.” Remember how in ‘Falling’ our narrator did care a bit? Especially, in the original version? All of that has gone out the window now. Here we can really tell that our narrator does not care anymore. At least they’re getting the love they wanted, I hope. Second verse has a bit more introspective with our narrator feeling numb “from head to toe”. Numb could just be a feeling of whatever in/towards the relationship but also it could just be the narrator just being completely used to everything at this rate. “It doesn't matter if I come or go.” It never mattered the narrator left or stayed in the relationship, it always turns out this way. “You never answered yes or no. I'll be here waiting 'til you tell me so.” Our narrator has now taken to just waiting around for their lover to answer them. Not sure what the yes or no really is that they’re looking for, but I think it might be if they’re willing to get back into a relationship again. Even then it’s hard to say because the rest of the song implies that they’re already back together. Now this time around we get the pre-chorus then just jump to the bridge. The bridge itself gets interesting. Our narrator goes back over everything they’ve done up until now. “I tried to bring it back. Tried not to let it slip away. I tried to keep it close, but there is something in the way.” Yep, our narrator really is going for another try and knows they’ve tried before but it’s even more difficult this time for them. Now these lines alternate a round for a bit after this. But before another line is thrown in “Tried not to turn my back.” Throwing it back to ‘Criminals’ we have the “Don’t turn your back on me and hang me out to dry.” So, while they were fearing their lover would turn their back on them, they also were trying to turn away from their lover. Except that brief moment where they did, but that doesn’t matter. Hopping over to the music element of this song, the very funky bass is back. But musically there’s almost a push and pull to the song, mostly due to the structure of vocal delivery. In the verses and pre-chorus, it’s very straight forward, whereas the chorus feels more relaxed. Although if anything, I brought up the vocal delivery to bring up the bridge. The bridge of this song has one of the most interesting vocal deliveries on the record. It combines both the straightforwardness of the verses with a bit of the relaxed melodic feel of the chorus. But instead of becoming calmer, it gets even more pointed. Almost like the lyrics are made to be delivered through gritted teeth and we’re given that. Let’s just hope this has a happy conclusion for the sake of our narrator.
LOVE ME AGAIN
Our final track on the album and original a single in 2018 is ‘Love Me Again’. And sadly, it looks like our narrator is back to waiting for love. “I've been waiting for this. For your touch and your kiss...” It feels like we’re getting closer to a stable relationship at first and then, “But you keep me waiting, I can feel you changing.” Yep, still waiting and now things are changing. Most likely changes for the worse. The pleading is back with the simplest plea yet, “Love me again.” Our narrator is now desperate to be in love. Almost like we’ve done a 180 right back around to ‘We’re All Alone’. “I've been pushed and pulled back. I am stuck in your trap.” Now that being trapped feeling is not boding well with our narrator. The prolonged waiting is just what drives away our narrator from this whole relationship. Like with ‘We’re All Alone’ the narrator is given a setup for a great relationship but there’s something in the way. First time around it was the phone, now it’s all of the waiting. Come to think of it, that phone may just be a metaphor for waiting. It was a distraction to their lover, forcing them to wait for love. It never came. They tried again, it still hasn’t come. There was a brief moment when it came but now it’s slipped away. Consider this every fear of the narrator coming true. They didn’t want this to happen but here we are, it’s happened, they know it’s happened, but they just wanted to be loved. Another repetition of the first verse and chorus, then new verse. And our narrator has again gone above and beyond, “I made friends with a brand new crowd. I trimmed my nails and I’ll wash my hair. I'll get a job and I'll change my name. I'll get accustomed to longer days.” Our narrator is again trying everything they can just to get their lover to love them again. From simple things to things on a more extreme side, they’d do anything. That’s really what the song is, rather the whole record also. A journey to get someone to love you; then they don’t, and they may never. Now I’ve already talked a lot about this song musically seeing as it was mostly the song that was used to make sure the rest of the album fit together. But I did not get to jump into the sound of it. To start the song has a very interesting one note intro. It reminds me of a blinking light almost, then the synths, drum, bass, and guitars all come kicking in. This song also has that inherently sexy tone that you get in ‘Criminals’ but it mixes with the darkness of ‘Get Close’ resulting in a dark and sexy tone/aura. And then the vocal delivery is very reminiscent of yearning, which this fits perfectly with the lyrics. In the outro of the song everything speeds up a little bit, almost like a ticking clock. Personally, I think this could symbolize that the narrator is getting impatient and is ready to leave this relationship behind. Maybe that’s what best for them in the end. And like quite a few other moments on this record, it comes out musically.
Seeing as the song was originally released in 2018 as a single, it also has a video. The video was directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin and features Laura Stemmer as a woman who is trying to get her lover to… love her again. With a “ritual”. The steps of the ritual are given as almost title card like screens. The video is also very reliant on primary colors creating a simple but interesting color contrast. Interestingly enough, the video is taken from a first-person perspective at some points from this woman’s lover. There are also yellow lines of dialogue from this lover that shows them as confused but enjoying it. Until they realize what’s happening to them. Then things take a dark turn as they plead for release. The video also features shots of an anatomically correct heart being squeezed/stepped on and lots of double exposure overlays. To say it’s a strange video feels like barely scratching the surface but it’s about all that it really is. It’s strange, but it works.
There is also a remix of ‘Love Me Again’. The remix was done by People On People, a musical project of Darian and Jon. The remix takes the song into a whole new territory: deep house and gothic synth-pop.

LIFE KEEPS MOVING ON (So what’s next?)

It’s hard to say what’s next for CRX following this album and even the current promotional effort for the album. There’s been no announcement of any other singles or any other tour dates so far in promotion of the album. There were already two shows for the album back in September. (3 if we count the art gallery performance). One in LA and one in New York City, but no full tour has been announced. This is most likely due to Nick’s position within The Strokes and their “Global Comeback” with festival dates all over well into the coming year. Sound-wise I feel like the next album will be similar to this one, but it could be completely different. It’s very hard to say what exactly I expect because I don’t know what to expect. The most I expect is more collaboration between the band, but that feels like a given. All I know is that I am excited to see whatever this coming year may bring and the future as a whole.

I FEEL STRANGER EVERY DAY (A personal note)

If you’ve come all this way, thanks for reading. I suppose I should take a minute to introduce myself if you don’t know me already. So, hi I’m Nick (not the one in the band, I promise) and I’ve spent about... 4 days writing this write-up at this point. But even longer pre-planning and trying to assemble everything. Last year I did a write-up on Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino for /popheads and this year I decided to branch out on my own and make one about the album I loved the most this year. That album was PEEK. For the record, my favorite song on the album is ‘Get Close’ but that might have been a little obvious if you look at how much I wrote about it lol. Also, I’ve made a bunch of art for the songs of the album. I made some for the song titles here (with little elements reused from my other pieces.) And you might know me for those, mostly from Instagram if so where I’m @crxpeek. Fitting, I know. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had an album enrapture me like this, like... ever. Also, it led me to be very creatively driven. Probably why I’ve written so much here. I want more people to know about this album because it’s incredible and the guys behind it are incredible. So here I am trying my best to bring it the writeup it deserves. I do feel a little bad about the behind the scenes of the album being a bit lacking, but I really did not have a lot of sources to go off of. I had about 6 at best and even then, only 2 really went into the details of making the album. But yeah, if you’ve made it literally this far thank you so much for reading all this. You’re incredible. And hey if you’re a member of CRX, feel free to yell at me in my DMs if any of the lyrics are wrong, I had to transcribe this by ear for the most part. But also, thanks for making my shit year be a not-so-shit year.

I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU (Info Sources)

What’s a writeup with quotes without some sources. For the writeup you just read this is what I used in my research. Although I knew most off the back of my hand.
Billboard: 1, 2
Flaunt Magazine: 1, 2
Setlist.FM for when those songs were kinda first played (Although there was a lot of blank dates)
SiriusXM Volume’s ‘Feedback’ Interview with Nick & Darian: Transcription
Q104.3’s Johnathan Clarke interviews Nick & Darian: Video, Transcription

I make a point of avoiding the news and anything newslike because I already know where this handbasket is going. As far as I'm concerned, if I ever need to waste a few minutes doing something that will ultimately kill me there will always be cigarettes and at least going for a smoke makes for a good stretch of the legs. Unfortunately, I have been exposed to some news recently and I have no choice but to think about it and frankly I hold you all responsible for that.
I'm given to understand that some point in the recent past, Senator John McCain publicly stated his opposition to President Trump's nominee for CIA Director. The subject came up yesterday in a closed-door meeting of White House communications staff and one of the aides in attendance, one Kelly Sadler, remarked that "it doesn't matter; he's dying anyway." This statement is at plausible on both counts, as at least 50 Senators are expected to vote to confirm the nomination and lately John McCain has been spending a lot of time at home with his terminal brain cancer.
TV news has gone ballistic. I know this because one of my punk-ass coworkers keeps tuning the break room TV to CNN and I haven't yet set the parental controls to block everything but Telemundo. Thus, this is the kind of hysterical wittering that gets beamed into my eyeballs every time I get up for a coffee: "There's so much more luhhhhhve, and prayurrrrrrrrrh..." The cigs can't kill me fast enough.
2020 is going to be a landslide win for The Donald because the opposition is fighting tooth and nail to score own goals at every opportunity. These harpies are his best promoters, all without an iota of self-awareness. How so? Flash back to 2008, if you will. White America had just enjoyed seven long years of kicking ass and taking names in various 'Stans. Off-duty police officers exercised their Constitutional right to beat the shit out of female bartenders, self-appointed armed weirdos patrolled our streets against suspicious looking black kids, and the parents of paranoid schizophrenics could comfortably grow their assault rifle collections. Truly it was a golden age.
Then came the dark times - the social justice times. The President black! Various places Occupied! Tumblr, cultural appropriation, Twitter; intersectionality, Gawker, Black Lives Mattering! Obligatory Bill Murray quotes! The pendulum swung hard. Not only was it no longer OK to shoot black people, but anyone who did received the full force of scorn that an adolescent Internet could muster. Where once it was only a mild faux pas at best to wear an Indian Native American First Native Injun headdress to a kegger, now anyone doing so was uploaded to the Internet, doxxed, and subjected to an artillery barrage of "literally the worst" "problematic" "privileged" "shitlord" that would have made Erich Ludendorff proud.
By the time the 2016 primaries came around, these hard-left types were feeling their oats to the point where they pushed Bernie Sanders off his own stage. Bernie Sanders, for chrissake! There's more dignity in a bumfight.
For all that they represented only a small minority of the public, they were what you'd call a vocal minority to the point where they defined the perception of the Left and the Democratic Party in the minds of white people. Nevermind that the actual state of affairs on the ground didn't change at all between 2008 and 2016. There did not, in fact, turn out to be any Obama FEMA death squads, and in overseas news we actually picked up zero to five new wars (depending on how you count). And yet, every time those screeching Internet feminists caught the front pages with their latest diatribe against some real or imagined sin committed by some idiot, they convinced a few more people that someone needed to get out there and stop them.
Do I need to draw a freakin' diagram? Donald Trump, better known as "that orange clown" back in 2012, earned the GOP nomination by a humiliating margin against a bunch of ordinary Congress critters who were not prepared to deal with the reality that the pendulum had reached its apogee.
Now, when you look at the actual general election results, decades of gerrymandering and blind party loyalty were definitely the foundations for Trump's success. But I can't help but suspect that, in those contested states whose Electoral College votes tipped the balance, it was narrative that won the day. Donald Trump, unashamed and unapologetic narcissist, id embodied, presented himself as being the pussy-grabbing, apprentice-firing, porn-star-fucking, casino-bankrupting superhero who would tell all those whinging cultural Marxists to shut up, shut up, for God's sake shut the hell up already! Leave me alone, stop telling me all the ways I'm wrong and you're better than me, stop the witch burnings of mostly-innocent shmoes, just let me have my unexamined cultural values and leave me alone. Let me tell my stupid, off-color jokes at the office without getting more than an awkward silence.
Which brings us to today. Frothing-at-the-mouth CNN demands Kelly Sadler's blood, radicals feel good about themselves for joining in with the Two Minutes' Hate, and Joe Whitey in Central Time sees a little of himself in this week's crucified sinner. Jesus wept.