Category Archives: Nihilism

Law enforcement personnel secure the scene after a mass shooting Monday at a Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, a Chicago suburb. Nam Y. Huh/AP hide caption

Law enforcement personnel secure the scene after a mass shooting Monday at a Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, a Chicago suburb.

Moments after law enforcement authorities disclosed the name of a "person of interest" in the deadly shooting at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, extremism researchers, journalists and some members of the public rushed online. They discovered an extensive trail of digital activity believed to be linked to Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, now the named suspect in the mass shooting. But sifting through the trove of memes, photos, music, rap videos and more, extremism experts agree: There is no clear political or ideological motivation.

Instead, many experts on extremism and technology say this suspect's activity fits with a still-emerging profile of mass shooter. Rather than falling neatly into categories familiar to law enforcement and the public, such as white supremacists, radical Islamists or antigovernment militants, it requires an understanding of dark, online subcultures that overlap and feed into each other in ways that glorify violence and foster nihilism. Alarmingly, these experts say these online milieus have been tied to an increasing number of mass shootings over time.

"I've described this as sort of like a mass shooter creation machine," said Alex Newhouse, deputy director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. "A lot of these communities are designed to spin out mass shooters over time, over and over and over."

Researchers who've combed through Crimo's digital footprint say the content is strikingly unoriginal.

"It's just like a zoomer spin on zoomer trends and mass murders that have already been done before," said Sarah Hightower, using a term that refers to members of Generation Z. Hightower is an independent researcher focused on the extreme far right and online cultic movements.

For example, Hightower noted one video that shows a cartoonized version of the suspect with a long gun in a bloody confrontation with law enforcement officers.

"He's not the first mass shooter to animate himself into a Columbine massacre-type animated music video," she said. Hightower said a man who committed a mass-murder/suicide at a grocery store in Pennsylvania in 2017 did the same.

Extremism researchers said the suspect's online content offers to the public a carefully curated persona that fits with an image of mass shooters, styled on the killers in the 1999 Columbine school massacre. They said this image has come to hold a portion of young people in certain online communities in thrall.

"It's actually very comparable to Hillary Clinton referring to Trump supporters as 'deplorables,' and the thing that happened was that they then chose to embody that label and wore it on hats and T-shirts and it became a proud in-group label," said Emmi Conley, an independent researcher of far-right extremist movements, digital propaganda and online subcultures. "Similarly, the way that we have previously talked about lone actor violence in that they are 'mentally ill,' they're confused, they aren't part of anything, they are 'schizophrenic young men' off doing their own thing, distinct from any other groups or actors they started to embody that."

Conley said this purposeful embodiment of an almost cartoonized version of a mass shooter is intended to play to a "known aesthetic" of what such an individual looks like in the popular imagination, and also to claim the brand of being a mass shooter.

"[Crimo] doesn't fit into an individual ideology, because ideology is irrelevant in this case," said Conley. "The thing that starts to tie this type of violent actor to other types of violent actors is not ideological, it is aesthetic. "

The visual language that Crimo used in his curated online presence included elements that researchers say is common with a particular young, online subculture. It includes neon or strobe lights and quick cuts between video scenes, accompanied by techno lo-fi music. Newhouse also noted that Crimo's seemingly chaotic and random selection of memes and images echoed what he's seen with suspects in other mass shootings, such as the ones in Uvalde, Texas and Oxford, Michigan.

"It is all designed to be, one, shared; two, completely incomprehensible to anyone like us who are looking onto it; and three, to be a way of breaking down a person's natural reluctance to commit violence," said Newhouse. "It is designed to break a person's brain."

Conley added that the fixation on aesthetics also extends to how would-be shooters in these online milieus consider the optics of their attacks.

"Every mass shooting that's been committed with an AR 15, somewhere it was a little bit about doing a mass shooting with the AR 15 because that is the 'mass shooter weapon' not just because it is the most effective weapon," she said. "There have been so many mass shootings now that it is a performance art. There is a particular way you do it. There's a particular way you look."

The aesthetic has tied together a web of different digital subcultures which are deeply nihilistic, which use dehumanizing language, and which glorify violence. Often originating on the website 4chan, they include fan communities devoted to mass shooters and serial killers, and online forums devoted to sharing gory content. While experts noted that most people who participate in these fringe communities do not go on to commit mass shootings, they said these are spaces that produce conditions for violence.

"Understanding these things as loosely knit ecosystems [and as] more nebulous culture movers, rather than a groups of memberships, is going to be the first step to getting better at visualizing this threat," said Conley.

Bad actors seeking to nudge others toward real-life violence have been known to participate in these spaces, said Conley and Newhouse. Additionally, horror and dark alternate reality game and immersive fan fiction communities are also part of this complex web of subcultures.

"The idea is that everyone within these communities sort of lose track of what is real and what is fake," said Newhouse, "and they start fantasizing about and fetishizing violence as sort of this end all be all of the essence of existing."

The cartoonized video of an armed Crimo in a bloody standoff with police is one example that researchers point to when explaining how some violent, fringe online communities come to influence users' behavior.

"There's this kind of tendency to 'gore-post,' which is essentially to post shocking, graphic, violent imagery in an attempt to draw some kind of camaraderie between the users in these spaces," said Melanie Smith, head of research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue US. Crimo appears to have been active in at least one large so-called "gore forum."

Experts agree that it's impossible to determine Crimo's mental health condition from his online content. Newhouse said that the darker alternate reality communities and gore forums are designed to plant the seeds of hopelessness, nihilism and lower one's natural reluctance to commit violence. He said he noted an inflection point on Crimo's timeline that may indicate he had fallen farther away from real-world interaction and further into these online subcultures.

"From what we can tell, he became extraordinarily alienated from both his music audience and his in-person social networks, but clearly began exhibiting the signs of being immersed in these much much deeper Internet communities," he said.

Crimo was a rap artist who released music online. Newhouse said the style of Crimo's latest album was also markedly different from earlier ones.

"Something was going on in that period of time," he said.

But Hightower noted that a key element of these communities is also performance.

"It's like he was going out of his way to sound like he had been detached from reality," she said. "I don't know whether or not this is an affectation that he was putting on or he actually does have a genuine psychotic disorder."

Regardless, Conley said once individuals are exposed to this particular genre of online communities, it can be difficult to return to healthier online habits.

"If you are kind of going down that spiral deeper and deeper into really, really fringe, really violent spaces, there is some point on that spiral where you can't just go back to being normal now," she said. "You've invested too much in this. Too much mental health, too much time, energy. You can't just be like, 'Well, this has crossed the line for me, I'm going to go back now.' It traps you there."

Experts worry that gaps in understanding the conditions that contribute to this kind of mass shooting, as well as legal limitations, could hinder efforts to prevent future, similar attacks.

"It's not hard to to figure out where different violent spaces are," said Conley. "What's hard is what do you do once you find one, if the red flag still falls within free speech territory. Because currently we have no intervention abilities, we only have law enforcement."

The complexity and nuance of these subcultures, and how they interact with each, other also presents a challenge for parents who are eager to keep their kids from falling into these online activities. The age group at particular risk, said Newhouse, are 13- to 24-year-olds, primarily male.

"If someone doesn't even understand the subculture, how are they going to effectively intervene?" Hightower asked.

Still, Newhouse said he believes technology companies, working with journalists, experts and the public, can mitigate the problem through content moderation. He and other experts agreed that Crimo should not be viewed as an outlier, and that need for common understanding of this mass shooter profile will only be more urgent.

"He's not going to be the only one, I can tell you that right now," Hightower said. "You'll see more and more of young boys [and men] like [Crimo] popping off. It's not just going to be neo-Nazis and terrorists."

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The Highland Park suspect falls within a new violent extremist culture. - NPR

On Thursday, the supreme court of the United States struck down the EPAs Clean Power Plan, sharply limiting the federal governments ability to fight climate change.

With Earths temperature rising steadily, with the scientific community shouting at the top of its lungs for more aggressive action, with fires and hurricanes pushing entire regions beyond the bounds of human habitability, the courts Republican-appointed supermajority has chosen to actively inhibit our ability to respond to the crisis. The decision was in keeping with the Republican partys deepening climate nihilism: as the train careens off the rails, they strangle the conductor, destroy the brakes.

Though its been subtext since the advent of Maga, it is worth stating plainly what this ruling makes obvious: there is a death drive animating the modern conservative movement. It is merciless and strange and remarkably consistent. It stands on the side of whatever makes our country poorer, greedier, less safe and more desperate. It deregulates firearms after a massacre at an elementary school. It deregulates carbon after experts issue a code red for humanity. It forces mothers to bring their children to term, and then abandons those children to bullets, to wildfires, to grinding, generational poverty. Its pro-life policies seem to reverse precisely at the moment of birth. When it comes to living children, conservatism is a pro-death movement.

After the court gutted the EPA, conservative leaders celebrated it as a win for democracy. Mitch McConnell argued that it had given power back to the people by wresting climate policy from the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and investing it in Congress alone. The irony could not be more acute. Nevermind that the people 60% of Americans by one recent estimate actively support the EPA regulating carbon emissions. Never mind that the decision was issued by an unelected, unaccountable court with no claim to democratic legitimacy (the Republican supermajority having taken shape over an era in which Democrats won the popular vote in eight of nine presidential elections).

The point is that Mitch McConnell has spent decades systematically eroding Congresss ability to legislate not just on climate, but on almost anything at all. With the court deferring to Congress, Congress hog-tied by the filibuster and the White House stripped of its main administrative recourse, control of our nations climate policy falls to exactly those conservative donors many with ties to the fossil fuel industry who helped drive the nomination and confirmation of the current Republican bench. They are the only people on the planet who profit from seeing it burn. Their interests are in perfect opposition to those of the public. And when it comes to the most consequential challenge of the 21st century, the supreme court they hired is clearing a path for them to rule by default.

It would be a mistake to dismiss this as pure, self-dealing avarice. To at least some of the conservative stalwarts who spent decades orchestrating the decision, it represents a sincere vision of the good. The richest people in the world, loosed from the bounds of expertise, oversight or electoral accountability, imposing their will on a prostrate public. It is a clean, satisfying system. It activates something deep in the amygdala, a slavering, animal need for dominion.

This is the animating spirit of the courts decision: an old ethic of might makes right, something much closer to Friedrich Nietzsche than to Jesus Christ. Nietzsche memorably referred to Christianity with its exhortations to mercy and selflessness as a slaves religion. Justices Alito, Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Roberts and Thomas appear to have agreed. Why let the meek inherit the Earth, when you can make so much money burning it?

Their nihilism has left the rest of us, the proverbial meek, increasingly desperate. Our ability to maintain a safe climate now rests on the Democrats passing clean energy investments through congressional budget reconciliation. They only have about five weeks left to do it. This will be the defining moment of Joe Biden and Chuck Schumers political careers. They cannot waffle. They cannot get distracted. They cannot take two weeks to digest the ruling. Their best people should be working around the clock to land a climate deal that can pass the Senate.

In the glare of history, failure on climate will overshadow any other fact about their tenure. Lets hope they feel the heat as much as we do.

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Democrats have a month to revive the climate deal our planet needs - The Guardian

HOUSTON The United States of America is a society built on myriad cultures, identities, and languages. Its a purposeful concept that has been part of the countrys foundation since its earliest days. And despite what a white person may say about white culture, the truth is that the U.S. is not a monolithic civilization. Whats true for people on the West Coast isnt always true for people in the South, the Midwest, or the East Coast. Consequently, there can be no single American culture.

Differences in needs and wants vary considerably and are not always divided by vast distances but by state and county lines. This is largely why hate groups and extremists can never establish cohesion among their various movements. Some extremist groups like the Proud Boyseven portray an image of diversity and are willing to accept non-white people as long as theyre promoting white supremacist ideology.

But, as has been made clear time and again, alliances with Black people and Latinos are contingent on achieving what is often referred to as Western chauvinism, which promotes the colonialist ideology of oppressing non-white people. With groups like the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and the Oath Keepers, it doesnt take long to expose the motivating factors behind their coded language (dog-whistles). Behind closed doors, the truth comes out rather quickly.

There is no question that the political right has embraced extremism. The current wave of hate in politics began after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. What started as the Tea Party formed out of disdain for Obama and Republican establishment politics has morphed into the embrace of alt-right political ideologythe path Donald Trump exploited to eke out a victory in the 2016 presidential election.

Trumps campaign and his ensuing presidency were heavily influenced by the hateful ideology of the extreme right. By employing the language of David Dukes KKK and the dog-whistle attacks on non-white communities popularized by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Trump was able to take things a step further. He directly attacked minority communities based on the knowledge that hate had long been normalized by past administrations.

Trumps campaign and presidency exploited racial tensions in the country and amplified those beliefs on the worlds stage. Even now, after leaving office, Trump remains a real and present danger to non-white people. Consistently more dangerous are those in corporate media who downplay his influence on extremists and hate groups. Weve seen the influence of his words over and over as countless lives have been lost because of what he says and does.

The job of a journalist is now more critical than ever. Attacks on reporters and news outlets, in general, have increased while trust in media has plummeted. This is unquestionably dangerous for society. The media, however, particularly corporate-driven news, should not be above criticismespecially when talking about the explosion of hate and extremism in the U.S., what is driving such high recruitment numbers, and the disguising of domestic terrorists motivations.

Too many journalists are driven by ego over facts. They focus more on being the first to publish something over the veracity of their source material so they can lock down those TV spots and portray themselves as experts. This leads not only to pundits getting it wrong but also to them promoting false narratives. Far too much of what is seen on cable news is speculative at best. The most recent mass shootings are the best proof of that.

On cable news, weve seen national security experts suggest the number 47 tattooed on the Illinois terrorists face could be gang-related while abundantly mentioning Chicago despite the shooting occurring in Highland Park, about 30 minutes outside of the city. Weve also heard so-called experts claim the shooters motivations were not based on hate but nihilism, presumably using it as a catch-all term so they cant be called out later for being wrong.

Similarly, many of us heard the nonsensical theory that the Buffalo terrorists motivation was related to bad dentistry work performed by a Jewish dentistdespite his manifesto, the fact that he killed 10 Black people, and had the n-word scrawled on his riflean idea that was proposed, with little basis, by a prominent reporter on social media and shared by his colleagues.

As self-proclaimed experts continue to ensure that they get the TV spots while confusing the public and media producers who dont know any better, a deeper investigation shows that the Illinois terrorist didnt just attend Trump rallies. His social media is harrowing, bigoted, and deeply anti-Semitic.

He was in possession of insignias that resembled the logo of a far-right Finnish group called Suomen Sisu an ultra-nationalist movement thats been accused of xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the past. (Read their English introduction here.)While the symbol is more broadly used and could potentially be associated with various movements, the content of the terrorists social media and his music narrow its use down to all but two things: far-right ideology and/or numerology.

Other evidence regarding the shooter should not be overlooked either. In April, he attempted to enter the Chabad synagogue during Passover and was immediately removed by the congregations security director.

He also entered the synagogue at a different time during Passover and sat in the sanctuary for 45 minutes.

As we wait to hear if the shooter reveals his motivation, it serves no purpose to speculate using dismissive tones and hypothetical tales that only serve to deceive the public. We also cant ignore what the evidence suggests. Extremism and hate are growing, and understanding motivations is high-value knowledge that provides us with information to better address the issues. Exposing how young white men are becoming radicalized is crucial.

Simply writing extremists off as nihilist is lazy and misinformedas is citing mental health issues immediately after acts of white terror occur. During the synagogue visit where the Highland Park shooter sat for 45 minutes, he wore all Black goth style clothes and Black gloves, according to the Chabad synagogues security director. In a city with a population that is 30 percent Jewish, this is alarming evidence that has so far been overlooked or outright dismissed by media pundits.

In addition, its been reported that the shooter was the administrator of a Discord chat channel named SS, a shortened acronym for the Nazi paramilitary group, the Schutzstaffel, which committed innumerable atrocities during the Holocaust. And while many point to only three Jewish people counted among the dead, theyre not discussing the other victims or the fact that a shooter could not differentiate who is Jewish or not because of crowd density.

If he were targeting the Jewish community, the terrorist would know that the likelihood of killing a Jew is very high in a community like Highland Park.

While this information is likely not enough for hate crime charges, what the authorities know in conjunction with this information suggests they are likelyin addition to attempted murder charges and aggravated assault on top of the seven murder charges. That the terrorist admitted to the attack and is talking to police is promising when it comes to finding out what his motivations truly were.

What is certain is the radicalization of young white men beginning with seemingly innocuous memes that lead to more extremist content is growing. As hateful ideas and the accompanying language that inevitably lead to anti-Black, anti-Semitic, and outright bigotry become normalized, so do thoughts of committing acts of terror in hopes of starting a civil ethnic war.

It may be difficult to determine which groups are responsible for radicalizing individuals who commit acts of terror. But, in the U.S., over 1,000 hate groups promote this ideology online, shutting down any talk of lone wolves. Meanwhile, after cable news promoted the ideas of potential gang-related activity and that the shooter was simply a nihilist, there are no retractions or corrections as to his potential motivation.

When it comes to terrorist attacks, journalists who are more concerned with being the first to report something rather than being correct in their reporting are dangerous. Using broad language like nihilism and blackpilling, which the general public struggles to understand, only serves to bury the reality of what is happening regarding extremism in the United States.

***

Arturo Domnquezis a first-generation Cuban American father of three young men, an anti-racist, journalist, and publisher ofThe Antagonist Magazine. If youd like to learn more about the issues covered here, follow him onTwitter,Facebook, andInstagram. You can also support his workhereandhere.

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The Persistent Reign of White Terror (OPINION) - Latino Rebels - Latino Rebels

Its hard to know where to start in reviewing Thor: Love and Thunder. The movie feels like several movies in onetheres the standard Marvel superhero fare, theres a rousing adventure for kids about being your own savior, theres a touching and emotionally mature love story, and theres the film about a villain so steeped in self-righteous nihilism hes out to prove that God is dead by killing all the Gods. Theres so much happening here that its hard to not get some whiplash, and the plot threads binding it all together dont hold up to much scrutiny. This is, however, a Taika Waititi movie more than anything else, which means its more than worth the trip, and we can rest assured that Thor: Love and Thunder, the singular product from all these moving parts, is deeply funny and lovely to look at.

Waititi, who directed and co-wrote Love and Thunder, is responsiblealong with star Chris Hemsworthfor giving Thor an entirely new lease on life. The MCU never seemed to really know what to do with the strapping space viking, even though his successful origin story, Thor (2011), helped kick off the Marvel universe as we know it today. In contrast to Thors troublemaking brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who was such a breakout hit from that film that he became the main antagonist in The Avengers and a firm fan favorite, characterization for Thor remained stilted. It felt like Marvels writers and directors couldnt decide if they wanted him speaking like Shakespeare in the Park, to paraphrase Tony Stark, or a sort of dim bulb fish perpetually out of water. Then the narrative misfire of Thor: The Dark World bogged down the Thorverse characters, not to mention whatever Thors up to in Age of Ultron. It was a simple thing to write off his character as one of the least interesting in the superhero pantheon, and even Hemsworth expressed reluctance to wield the hammer in more Thor movies.

Then along came the Waititi-directed Ragnarok in 2017. Its easy to forget these days, with Waititi absolutely everywhere, that he was a bold and surprising pick for Marvel Studios at the time. The offbeat, irreverent auteur brought his unique voice and visuals to Thor, and the result was an explosive success both critically and at the box office. Painted in candy colors and backed by show-stopping action set to Led Zeppelins Immigrant Song, Ragnarok kept true to the superhero beats while also taking us on an all-original sci-fi romp. Hemsworths comedic chops were finally given the room and script to shine, introducing a fresh new spin on Thor, who comes into his own by movies end. Considering its central core of zaniness and winking fun, Ragnarok was also a masterful balancing act in tone, with serious themes like Thor and Lokis father Odin dying, the brothers on-again-off-again relationship, and the relentless brutality of villain Hela, played by Cate Blanchett, who acts as an embodiment of colonialism. Its one of my favorite films, and I have watched it an ungodly amount of times.

Thus I have been looking forward to Thor: Love and Thunder for many years, during which the whole world underwent a sea change. With that kind of anticipation, its unlikely that any movie could satisfy the laundry list of things I wanted to see or my hopes for Thor and his pals. Love and Thunder comes close, but after Ragnarok, its almost impossible to capture the same kind of lightning in a bottle. Like most follow-ups to a big success, its, well, bigger, brighter, brasher, and considerably less coherent. Having seen it twice now, I keep thinking about how Love and Thunder is many movies rolled into one, and that the fun summer tentpole flick and the spirited movie for kids dont always play so nicely with the heavier themes Waititi introduces. The fact remains, however, that I have now cried twice while watching this cinematic event. Even after telling myself I wouldnt cry upon the second viewing, there I was crying again. Ultimately, Love and Thunder strikes enough of the right notes to make you care and make you glad to be along for the zig-zagging adventure.

Love and Thunder finds Thor still traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy, searching for his place and purpose in the cosmos. Having lost his family, his home world, and everyone hes loved, Thor considers himself cursed and is resigned to being alone. But a new threat in the form of Christian Bales Gorr the God Butcher (who does what he says on the tin) brings Thor back to New Asgard on Earth to reunite with his bestie Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, who remains so good she needs her own movie, like, yesterday). Valkyrie, who took over Thors duties as King, has been chafing at the boring diplomacy and commercialism that comes with being a head of state and is glad to join in the fight. Also joining the team is Waititis Korg, a kindly hunk of rock who provides comedic relief and knowing commentary, and the screaming goats Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder (more on them later). Its very, very hard not to miss Tom Hiddlestons Loki, who provided such a perfect foil for Thor in the previous movies, but at least Thors new friends arent as liable to stab him in the back.

Thors unexpected reunion arrives in the form of Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), his ex and the one who got away. Jane, a genius astrophysicist who has achieved a sort of Stephen Hawking-level fame since we last saw her, also has a secret the audience knows but Thor doesnt: she has stage four cancer. (If that feels like an abrupt turn, the storyline is in part taken directly from Janes development in the comics.) Unable to slow the cancers progression via science, she finds herself drawn to space viking magic, and ends up wielding Thors old weapon, the hammer Mjolnir. With Mjolnir in hand, Jane transforms into the Mighty Thor (not Lady Thor, thank you very much), but becoming a superhero also exacts a toll.

Portman may be the biggest revelation here. She was absent from Ragnarok, and had seemed content to leave the Thorverse behind her. But Waititi appears to have lured her back with a meaty role that finally does justice to Jane and finally gives her and Thor with the kind of storyline that makes you appreciate them together. In Thor movies past, Portman had frankly looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. In Love and Thunder, she throws herself into the part headfirst. Its an astonishing transformationnot just those buff arms that have been the talk of the Internet, but also a chance to showcase her talents as a comedic and dramatic actress and a newly minted action hero. Under Waititis direction, including a moving sequence that shows us how their relationship fell apart, Portman and Hemsworth have a sparkling chemistry that was not present until now. As a Jane/Thor naysayer for well on a decade, Im thrilled to stand corrected here. Its impossible not to root for them. In a galaxy of half-baked superhero couples, their interactions help set a new standard.

Bale also turns in a memorable performance as the villainous Gorr. Gorr, who resembles the lovechild of Voldemort and Gollum, has my favorite hallmarks of a bad guyone whose reasons and motivations for doing what hes doing make sense. Were meant to sympathize with Gorr somewhat, and he spouts a constant philosophy about how the Gods have abandoned us that seems rather bleak for popcorn fare but feels all too true in our trying times. One could argue that, really, Gorr does nothing wrong, save that some of the Gods hes butchering are innocent and nice, according to Thor, a fellow God. However, all of the other Gods that we encounter, especially Russell Crowes bloviating Zeus in his glittering golden city, seem like they could use some cutting down to size.

Because its hard to see what the problem really is with Gorrs mission considering how much the Gods appear to suck, Love and Thunder turns to the oldest trope in the action movie book. Gorr kidnaps a bunch of the New Asgardian children, and, well, you cant argue with saving the children. We must save the children at all costs. Think of the children! Its hard not to feel a little disappointed in this aspect of the film, which takes the place of a compelling plot line after its introduced, but at least the kids are great. The young actor Kieron L. Dyer steals the whole movie every time hes onscreen, and Waititi has assembled a vibrant cast of kids, including his own daughters, for scenes both fun and scary. Theres a battle that should delight children everywhere, the kind of moment that feels like a culmination of Waititis stated intention to make the movie of a ten-year-olds dreams.

Theres no real issue with Love and Thunder being geared in a big way toward kids, and it bears some empowering messages for them. But theres so much else going on for the adults watching, including some frightening moments with Gorr and some far more terrifying moments about the realities of cancer, that it leaves me wondering what actual kids in the audience will think. As a kid who enjoyed some pretty grown-up movies in my time, I like to give current kids the benefit of the doubt. Yet its difficult not to feel some dissonance between the tone-shifts that happen hereone moment, a child standing up to a bullying villain, and the next, a rumination about how the Gods have lied and cruelly used us, and theres nothing for us after death but more death. Dont get me wrong, I think its important for kids to hear the latter message, but Love and Thunder starts to become more a patchwork of smart ideas and very Waititi moments rather than, say, a tightly woven tapestry of a story.

In the end, thats fine. Lets be real, youre here for the vibes. And Love and Thunder has vibes to spare. It kicks a lot of ass, has one of the most visually striking fights in Marvel memory, and rocks out to a electric soundtrack of Guns N Roses. Its also laugh-out-loud funny innumerable times, including two fantastic running gags. Thors magical goats Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder are always screaming, and theyre never not hilarious. Then theres the love triangle between Thor, Mjolnir, and Thors new weapon, the axe Stormbreaker, who is jealous of Thors affection for his old hammer. Its the kind of excellently bonkers comedic bit that could only come about in a Waititi Marvel movie, and we should be very glad such things exist. Also due to Waititis sensibilities, we get some queerness represented here that was once infamously axed from Ragnarok, and that feels good, even if it doesnt feel like nearly enough in a film with love in the title. At least were making some small progress in Marvel movies while the rest of society is backsliding.

Throughout Love and Thunder, Thor is on a mission to figure out who he is and who he wants to be. It would appear that the script wants to take us on the same journey of discovery, as we move through sequences exploring the nature of romance, friendship, parenthood, worship, capitalism, death, and, yeah, that love kicker. Whether the ending Thor arrives at works for you is probably a matter of who you are as a person, and thats cool. Or maybe Im overthinking this whole thing and its time to sit back and enjoy a summer superhero movie about space vikings and screaming goats. Either way, youre gonna cry! Have fun, kids.

(images: Marvel Studios)

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'Thor: Love and Thunder' Review - The Mary Sue

In the NFL, one might assume that it's impossible to perfectly distribute running back carries across a full 17-game season. However, that's exactly how it shook out for the Denver Broncos' top-two backs last year in Melvin Gordon III and Javonte Williams.

Each back carried the ball 203 times. However, it was Williams who ultimately gained the advantage in touches by catching 43 passes to Gordon's 30.

Entering the 2022 offseason, Gordon's contract expired and it was assumed that the Broncos would turn their focus to an all-in sort of commitment in Williams, who, after all, was the team's 2021 second-round draft pick. The Broncos even traded up for the privilege of drafting Williams early Day 2.

Then, on the doorstep of the 2022 NFL draft, the Broncos agreed to terms with Gordon on a new contract albeit one that will pay him almost a quarter of what he earned on his previous two-year, $8 million deal. With a $2.485M cap number this season, the Broncos are paying Gordon just enough to keep him locked in.

It's also just enough to keep the Broncos' coaches up at night if they're not using Gordon. Thus, head coach Nathaniel Hackett's running-back-by-committee philosophy will be meted out by the Broncos in 2022.

The question on many fans' minds is, which running back will receive the lion's share of the carries? I was asked this very question today by a colleague in NFL media and frankly, I was at a relative loss in answering it with confidence.

But the question inspired me to tackle the topic by writing about it and, thus, providing the chance to more thoughtfully suss out the answer. However, regardless of what even the most ardent hot-take artists in media will lead you to believe, nobody has a crystal ball.

It's impossible to perfectly predict anything in the NFL, let alone how the touch share between two very good running backs might shake out. Still, what's the fun in surrendering to that sort of football nihilism?

Let's dive into the subject matter.

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At the end of the day, Williams is 22 years old and Gordon is 29. That alone provides a hint at how the Broncos might be viewing the distribution of touches this coming season. Williams still has plenty of tread left on his tires because he's been in a backfield time share dating all the way back to his beginnings at North Carolina.

Gordon has split carries for the majority of his NFL career, too. So even though he's entering his eighth season, he's not the typical near-30 NFL veteran back on the brink of falling off the cliff.

No, Gordon looked just as spry and explosive as he ever has last season. But Williams seems to be the hungrier, more fierce, and fearless back.

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Last season in Green Bay, as Packers offensive coordinator, Hackett presided over a distribution of running back carries that skewed from 187 for AJ Dillon to 171 for Aaron Jones. Despite being a 15-game starter last year, Jones was edged out by Dillon.

It wouldn't be shocking to see Hackett name Gordon the starter in Denver after the dust of training camp settles only to see Williams finish the season with more touches, yards, and scores. Then again, reverse that and nobody would be surprised.

One fly in the ointment of unthinkingly predicting Williams the eventual touch-share winner in Denver is the team's move to a wide-zone rushing attack, which is a modest departure from Pat Shurmur's gap-centric-slightly-sprinkled-with-inside-zone philosophy of the past two years. We already know that Gordon can thrive in the wide-zone scheme.

It takes more of a true projection to say the same for Williams. However, the kid has a big football IQ so I'm reluctant to sell him short on how he'll acclimate to Hackett's new scheme and if the early returns from OTAs are any indication, Williams will take to the wide-zone like a duck to water.

At this stage, I'm inclined to err on the side of Williams' youthful mojo and hunger to prove himself over a veteran in Gordon who couldn't be bothered to show up to any of the non-mandatory offseason workouts the Broncos hosted. To each his own, but Williams' commitment juxtaposed with Gordon's reticence reveals arguably the more driven player.

Drive plays a big role in which of these elite athletes win jobs in the NFL where the talent margin between players is often razor-thin. For that reason, I'm betting on Williams being this team's RB1 from a statistical standpoint.

Call it a 60/40 split in Williams' favor.

But make no mistake: Gordon is going to see the field... a lot. Where this leaves Mike Boone on Year 2 of his $3.85M deal is anybody's guess.

Williams is out to prove himself in the NFL while Gordon has two Pro Bowl nods under his belt and has already made most of the money he ever will as a professional. Don't underestimate the power of drive in any young player, especially one as focused, smart, and intense as Williams.

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Predicting Which Broncos RB Will Finish with More Touches in 2022: Melvin Gordon III or Javonte Williams - Sports Illustrated

Ive long had a theory about how the shifting landscape of college sports conferences would end.

Pretty close to how it started.

I consider the constant conference expansion and contraction to be college football nihilism. The existence of conferences as we know them today is unfounded, senseless and useless. Objective definitions of values, tradition and loyalty to a conference are meaningless.

And once we get through all the conference-hopping by schools and resulting realignment in mega-conferences, we are pretty much going to be back to a college football map like we had in the 1970s and 80s.

Essentially, I picture college football being like the construction and eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union. A bunch of little conferences coming together into one or two mega-conferences, but then broken up into smaller divisions.

Were about one or two more controversial Supreme Court rulings from the entire United States of America dissolving into the same type of situation. Maybe well soon be the not-so-United 50 Colonies before long.

Frankly, I have an easier time picturing that eventuality than I do a Big Ten that features a conference rivalry between Rutgers and USC. Or Maryland and UCLA.

Cant you see a future where college football breaks off from the old-fashioned conference format and leaves that existence for mens basketball and all the other sports?

Meanwhile, for football, lets go big. Really big. Well have the ESPN Conference made up of whatever the SEC swells into and half of the current Big 12 and ACC. As many as 48 teams, split into four 12-team divisions.

Then there is the Fox Conference made up of 48 schools from the supersized Big Ten, the Pac-12 schools and the leftovers from the ACC and the Big 12. Itll have four 12-team divisions as well.

Hey, if West Virginia and Pitt get absorbed into the Fox Conference with Penn State, they will be division rivals and have to play each other all the time like the old Eastern independent days.

And, somehow, Im sure Notre Dame will manage to stay independent and worm its way into being championship eligible. How? I dont know. But Im sure NBC does. Maybe the Fighting Irish can be a member of both mega-conferences at once.

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Why not? Right now, the Irish are independent in football, in the Big Ten for mens hockey and in the ACC for everything else. Would my hypothetical be all that different?

Counting Notre Dame, that plan includes 97 of the 131 FBS programs. The other 34 schools that are left out can make their own mega-conference. Or the Big East can restart football with UConn, Boston College and Syracuse again if they dont have a chair when the music stops. The MAC can stay the MAC. The Mountain West and Conference USA can still exist in some form, etc.

The mega-conference teams will play 12 games each, 11 against divisional foes and one nonconference game. The winners of each of the four divisions will then play each other over a semifinal weekend, using four Bowl games (perhaps the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl for the ESPN league and the Fiesta and Rose in the Fox league). Then a championship weekend to crown the two mega-conference winners (like the AFC and NFC title games in the NFL).

Then the Fox champion can play the ESPN champion for the Major Network College Football title belt.

If those 12-team divisions are made up of traditional, regional rivals, maybe well end up gliding back in time while stumbling forward with the natural evolution of college football.

By natural evolution, I mean artificially enhanced and bloated pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Hey, these NIL deals the athletes are making dont pay for themselves, right?

Sometimes you dont have to feel good about the process to achieve a positive result. If the death of conferences as we know them brings about the return of more common-sense scheduling and rivalries not to mention a more streamlined playoff system and traditional use of the Bowl games wonderful.

Or we can keep pretending that Oklahoma is in the Southeast and a 24-team Big Ten stretching from New Jersey to Los Angeles makes sense.

As if much of college athletics ever did.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories:Penn State | Pitt | Sports | Breakfast With Benz | Tim Benz Columns | WVU

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Tim Benz: College football conferences may have to die for the sport to rediscover why they were important - TribLIVE

Welcome back to World War Titan! The time has come to end things. We are finally watching the final season of Attack on Titan, divided up into three parts. Things our looking pretty grim for our cast of troubled heroes. If you are new to our coverage, this is the part where I explain to you that Ive never been what youd call a regular anime watcher, but something about this strange and at times horrifying show has continued to captivate me. Its been slow going, but this episode ends with the biggest bang imaginable. Lets get into Attack on Titan season 4, episode 21, From You, 2000 Years Ago.

1. Time Warp Again

Youd think as one of the most popular animes of all time, Attack on Titan wouldnt look so cheap and weird sometimes. But then, the weirdness is so weird that it has to be on purpose. This episode started by replaying a lot of the flashback from last episode, but with a few extra gory details. We really get to see Grisha rend Freida with his titan teeth and smoosh all her little cousins. Very weird how much animation got copy/pasted, it was almost three minutes of this 22 minutes episode. But they want to remind us the important thing. And that is this: Only Eren will get what he wants.

Immediately after this repetition, we see Eren yank off his own fingers in a rage. I dont think this is the guy who should get what he wants.

2. A book within a dream within a show

But then, no! We cut to Historia and Freida. I gasped. Is this going to be a Historia/Freida episode? But not really, this is a Founder Ymir episode! Which is cool, but the framing of it is really weird. Eren and Zeke are remembering Freida read Historia a book? And then Freida remarks that Ymir is the very definition of femininity which is not what the episode conveys at all. So I guess were supposed to understand that history has forgotten what Ymir was really like. But then why this framing narrative? Its weird.

The broad strokes of the story are this: there was a tribe called the Eldians and a tribe called Marley. Ymir was a Marley slave, taken by the Eldian King Fritz. This roots the conflict in Attack on Titan in ancient tribal feuds. And I like that! I like the nihilism and pointlessness of carrying on an argument for 2000 years without any understanding of how things really started. That stuff is great. But the bloodline magic stuff sits weirdly with all of this. You get the feeling that the ancient Eldians really did have this evil in their blood. I guess Id just like to see a better reconciliation of how we honor the best and worst parts of history.

3. World of Bronze

This ancient world is super cool. Everyone is wearing red capes and Greek-style helmets. Its the Bronze Age of Attack on Titan! You got a Forum or an Agora or whatever. Big marble pillars. Though this sequence doesnt get too many minutes of screen time, I immediately fell in deep. Would I watch an ancient Rome Attack on Titan show about the very first titan war? You bet I would.

This is also where we get a weird wrinkle in the bloodline curse. Ymir gets the titan power, but barely understands it. King Fritz forced her to have his children, who he named Maria, Rose, and Sina. He wanted to usurp the titan power to pass it down through his bloodline. So lets try to follow the responsibility here. King Fritz enslaved and raped a woman, because she got titan magic and he wanted to steal it. But she only got titan magic because of her mistreatment at his hands. But his people claim that this is retribution for past crimes.

Its certainly a bold choice. It muddies things more than clarifying them. But Fritz is so monstrous, you kind of get the impression the story wants us to buy that all his decedents deserve to be cursed. I dont know if I buy that. But I think I am down with that choice thematically.

4. Source of All Living Matter

Though not named in this episode, we need to discuss the Source of All Living Matter. That sounds like a Seinfeld joke.

Its the Source of All Living Matter Jerry!All living matter?All living matter!

This is the creature that imbues Ymir with titan powers. Its certainly otherworldly and cosmic. Ymir goes through an extremely vaginal opening in a tree and falls into an underground lake where she encounters the Source. Its like a spine thats also a sea creature? It looks like a delicate anemone that is also a mammalian nervous system. And I think thats all were getting. This means the titans were also the result of a woman scorned. That seems consistent with this show.

Eren thinks this is all bullshit. Youre not a slave, youre not a god, youre just a person, he says. To Eren, a person is someone who has choice, and he thinks she does. Eren made a promise, he swore to end the titans, and he hasnt wavered. Ymir has been in this mind-space waiting for 2000 years for this monologue. Eren convinces her that she shares his deep nihilism and evidently she agrees because

5. The Rumbling is here

Smash zoom into Erens severed freaking head. From it, a spine grows and grows and grows, miles long. It is the Source of All Living Matter or something like it. Eren has the power. And he uses it. The walls start to shatter apart

I guess its time for The Rumbling.

Thatd be a hell of a cliffhanger but the episode doesnt quite end there. Armin thinks this is proof of Erens good intentions, that he is a loyal Eldian after all. But hes wrong. Eren sends out a Professor Xavier style psychic message (While you slept, the world changed) to all the Eldians. And he shares his evil plan. He is going to send all the titans marching out from Paradis island. Anyone not on the island? Doomed to die underfoot. The last shot of the episode is a rough drawing of Erens new terrifying visage.

The Rumbling has begun!

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Five Thoughts on Attack on Titan's From You, 2000 Years Ago - Multiversity Comics

Ottessa Moshfeghs jam is conjuring broken, unlikeable protagonists who lurch through the world leaving ruin in their wake. McGlue, the authors 2014 novella, a 19th-century dirge, featured a gay, drunken sailor who possibly murdered his best friend. Moshfeghs 2015 debut novel, Eileen, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, centred around a self-loathing petty criminal. In her acclaimed 2019 book My Year of Rest and Relaxation, we became unfortunate observers of the interior life of a lazy misanthrope locked away in a year-long drug-induced self-exile.

In Moshfeghs latest novel, Lapvona, the author trades her distinctive first-person voice to introduce a conga line of fringe-dwellers who live in the post-plague medieval village of Lapvona, where subsistence is tough, and life is cheap. It proves a setting ripe for Moshfegh to gleefully indulge her appreciation for the grotesque; just dont expect her to conform to historical accuracy.

Ottessa Moshfeghs latest novel pushes the boundaries of existential nihilism.Credit:Alamy Stock Photo

Teenage anti-hero Marek lives with his physically and emotionally abusive father Jude, a shepherd who detests his bastard son and prefers the company of his lambs. With a face not even a mother could love, but with a searing Oedipus complex to boot, Marek has grown crookedly, his spine twisted in the middle with a misshapen head. He is a failed abortion attempt and the offspring of incest. Marek believes his mother Agata died birthing him; in fact, she ran away to a nunnery and later makes a surprise return in Mareks life.

The boy is in love with pain: He lived for hardship. It gave him cause to prove himself superior to his mortal suffering. In his search for a maternal figure, Marek suckles the withered and blind witch, Ina, once the village wet nurse, whose milk is long dried up.

Lapvonas serfs are ruled over by the corrupt lord, Villiam, a lazy, self-obsessed man-child who makes a sport of humiliating his servants and believes Terror and grief [are] good for morale. Villiam is pandered to by the sycophantic priest, Father Barnabas, whose head was soft, as though the fat in his face had travelled upward and collected there and who loves not the Christ but himself and the thrill of keeping people in line. With the priests encouragement, the lord swindles his subjects and secretly hires bandits to sack the village at any sign of insurrection.

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh.

The predictable rhythm of life in Lapvona begins to unravel when Marek murders or is it an accident Villiams dashing son, Jacob. To settle the score, Villiam trades his dead son for Marek. Jacobs death invokes supernatural consequences: rain ceases to fall, plunging the once fertile village Lapvona dirt is good dirt into a long, harsh drought and famine. Many locals starve and die, while others survive by eating dead bees, bats, vermin, dirt desiccated cakes of animal dung and finally because Moshfegh cant resist the temptation to horrify each other.

Meanwhile, a bountiful life carries on for Villiam and his crew, with the villages water diverted to the manor, and Marek is propelled from a life of squalor to being anointed the lords son and heir, sinking into gluttony and indolence.

From this point in the novel, Moshfegh unleashes a cacophony of plot twists and gore that would make Shakespeare blush. She treats us to headless torsos, disembowelling, hanging, cannibalism, rape, human excrement, floods, fire, incest, death by poisoning, a virgin birth and human sacrifice. A parade of monstrous characters mines the depths of depravity; the antics in Lapvona recall the writing of the Marquis de Sade, except in Moshfeghs novel, it spills over into the absurd; she bludgeons the reader to the point of desensitisation.

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Lapvonas cacophony of gore and depravity would make Shakespeare blush - Sydney Morning Herald

What is Posthumanism and what does it mean for theology?

First of all, any movement or time period with the prefix post attached to it (Postmodernism for example) lacks substance by its very name. It is literally defined by what came before it, precisely as just coming after it. Today we live in an era that is built around this proliferation of the posts, which again, says nothing about itself. We may be able to conclude that it is all embracingall inclusive, as we commonly hear todayand for that reason the posts have no real identity per se because delimitation is simply denied and thus avoided.

A grandchild of Postmodernism is the more sinister Posthumanism, the dominant philosophy today. Philosophical Postmodernism seeks to deconstruct human reason while philosophical Posthumanism intends to deconstruct the human itself. For the posthumanists, the prior era (from the Enlightenment to the 20th century, roughly), that is, the era of Humanism, was too anthropocentric. The exceptionalism of man or past anthropocentrism suppressed the emergence of other types of beings, especially artificial beings according to them.

According to the posthumanists, the very notion of human must be reassessed. Posthumanism proceeds from the Critical Theory philosophy which basically re-interprets reality, with the Marxist binary lens, as those who are oppressors and those who are oppressed (believe it or not there is a Critical Cyborg Theory based on The Cyborg Manifesto). The goal is to erase all inequalities in many different aspects, depending what the focus of the specific Critical Theory is. In the case of Posthumanism, dualisms such as human/animal, human/machine, and, more in general, human/nonhuman are re-investigated through a perception which does not work on the oppositional schemata. In the same way, the Posthumanist deconstructs the clear division between life/death, organic/synthetic and natural/artificial.

Posthumanism leads directly to nihilism or the belief of empty values, since no immutability exists. It is an attack on nature itself. For that reason, it can, in no way, be accepted as a sound philosophy for true Catholic theological progress. True progress in theology stems from solid philosophy applied to the mysteries of our faith. There is definitely philosophical pluralism within the Catholic tradition, but this in no way means that Catholicism can be philosophically all-embracing. There are philosophies that cannot be accepted for orthodox theological progress. In fact, all the heresies are simply rooted in bad philosophy (Nestorianism, Modalism, Monophysitism, etc.). The Church has a duty in promoting good philosophy for the sake of having a theology that can convey the truths of the divine mysteries in human terms.

Posthumanism cannot be applied to our faith to make a good theology. In particular, Posthumanism would eliminate a good anthropology that would allow for a correct understanding of man according to divine revelation. If man is purely mutable, and can ultimately merge with the artificial forming a new being (a cyborg), then in what aspect is man created in Gods image and likeness? How could Our Lord Jesus Christ assume a nature of something that in our day needs to be essentially reassessed? Man is substantially body and soul and he cannot essentially change.

Posthumanism promotes not only an indifference towards the essence of man, but an outright hatred for it. According to this view, the artificial being must emerge and ultimately replace our outdated and rigid concept of man in the strictly naturalistic sense. However, the truth is that man is the synthesis of Gods creation (matter plus the spirit) and God loves man for his own sake. God not only created man but re-created man in Jesus Christ, His only Begotten Son. The love of man and his dignity is fundamental in Catholic theology, especially in Christology, and this dignity is something Posthumanism negates. Profound love has to be based on an immutable good, for true love is in a sense immutable. So we see here another clear example of bad philosophical anthropology leading to bad theological anthropology.

We see clearly today that Satan is attacking nature as a means to attack supernature. The assault is extremely intelligent and strategic. The demonic attacks on philosophy have always been for the sake of attacking theology. The devil knows well the intimate relationship between heterodox theology and the condemnation of souls.

I would say that the biggest hindrance to evangelization is precisely a prevalent erroneous anthropology, especially the Posthumanist view. For if we do not know what man is, we surely will not know what is man for. For the final cause of a thing is imbedded in its very nature. Let us ask Gods grace and do our part also in studying good solid philosophy, especially anthropology. Let us also avoid theologies that diminish the importance of philosophical (metaphysical) underpinnings, like existentialist theology for example.

In the end, the existence of immutability is vital for the salvation of our very souls. Truth is essentially immutable since it refers to universal concepts (truth, charity) or historical events (Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate), and these obviously never change. Truth is our only true guide in a changing world and the basis of all truth is Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Immutable Truth Himself.

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Posthumanism and Theological Anthropology - OnePeterFive

The soundtrack to Everything Everywhere All At Once is now available on vinyl.

On 5 July, A24 announced the original motion picture soundtrack to their 2022 hit film Everything Everywhere All At Once will be released on vinyl. The soundtrack includes the film's original musical score composed by experimental band Son Lux, as well as original songs by Mitski, David Byrne, Andr 3000, Randy Newman, and more.

The black-and-white vinyl design mirrors the film's trademark motifs, the googly eyes and the everything bagel.

Since its premiere in March, the Michelle Yeoh-led film was met with thriving success at the box office and was recently crowned as A24's highest-grossing film of all time. Directed by Daniels, a directing duo made up of filmmakers Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film has charmed audiences with its comical wit, authentic Asian-American representation, and careful examination of themes of nihilism and existentialism.

Check out more details of the vinyl and pre-order here.

Check out 'This Is A Life' by Son Lux, Mitski, and David Byrne here.

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Everything Everywhere All At Once original soundtrack is now available on vinyl, featuring Son Lux, Mitski, David Byrne, and more - Bandwagon