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He's literally begging Zod to stop while Zod tries to murder the nearest civilians.
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May 11, 2023 07:37
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Look, if there's one thing Bruce Wayne is good at it's standing in dramatic poses with appropriate scenery.checkplease posted:I do like that about BvS. Gotham appears to be full of run down and abandoned areas despite years of him punching criminals. BvS Gotham is literally just New Jersey iirc.
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May 14, 2023 12:04
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And the tension and brutality is absolutely fitting given the whole deal is that this is Bruce getting a do-over of Crime Alley. Am reminded of No Way Home doing something similar, and clunky like that movie tends to be but still imo pretty great, with Garfield Spidey rescuing MCU MJ from dying the way his Gwen Stacy did.
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May 15, 2023 09:11
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Halloween Jack posted:A random thought after watching the end of Titans: Joker's quasi-sexual obsession with Batman has been endlessly discussed, but no one talks about Luthor combining his DNA with Superman's to make a baby. Connor Kent debuted almost 30 years ago and is a well-established part of the Superman Family at this point. Just wait til you hear what he has in common with Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris...
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May 23, 2023 08:17
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The Flash is going to be Rise of Skywalker level incoherent nonsense, I'm certain of it.
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May 23, 2023 10:52
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Armaghetto is just great.
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May 24, 2023 07:00
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It became a whole Narrative about a villain being a crazy guy being obviously the Joker. It's very 'guy who has only seen Boss Baby'.
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Jun 5, 2023 14:56
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Barring "Purple Lamborghini", the Joker doesn't have a theme song, nor is he snarky. The Joker absolutely has a theme song in BTAS, he even whistles along to it sometimes.
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Jun 5, 2023 16:07
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Horizon Burning posted:yeah, I feel like the nerdy techbro sheen hadn't fallen off yet when BvS had come out, it hadn't become mainstream to openly mock them like it is now I'm reminded how the techbro villain from the DuckTales reboot was gonna be Mark Duckerberg. Boy, did they have amazing timing for that, they got to take the piss out of drat near every techbro stereotype right as it was current.
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Jun 6, 2023 06:07
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Okay that's just plain Warhammer as gently caress. Cavill must have gotten Snyder into it.
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Jun 7, 2023 13:39
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Warhammer comparisons ARE kinda almost cheating given Warhammer steals from everything, but specifically having Imperium and also that giant loving gun there. The Blood Axes are probably relatively incidental.
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Jun 7, 2023 14:12
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:Yeah explicitly making billionaires even more pathetic loser weirdos followed the same trajectory--I mean also look at the difference between Bruce Waynes going from 1989, Dark Knight, then BvS and The Batman. The 89 Bruce Wayne was actually a lot crazier than most depictions before or since, he literally has the 'Let's get nuts!' line and all. Though I have said that Bateman is what happens when Bruce Wayne's parents don't get murdered.
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Jun 8, 2023 11:40
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Bale's Bruce Wayne is a huge loving doofus and that's what makes him likeable, while Affleck's is supposed to actually be more unhinged than is normal for Batman and explicitly on a downward spiral. Keaton's more plays up being genuinely weird even as Bruce Wayne, both in affectations and taste- there's a bit where some reporters sneak into a wing of the mansion full of artfully displayed weapons and armour from all over the world. 'Living room, dining room, arsenal...'
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Jun 8, 2023 16:33
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Wonder Woman is clearly Sypha and Aquaman is that one pirate guy.
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Jun 10, 2023 05:53
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Don't forget Cyborg's name is literally Victor Stone.Xealot posted:Yeah, I actually do think Nolan is pretty sexless in most of his output, but every Batman evokes some reading of his sublimated, unrealized sexuality. It’s kind of an elephant in the room: this handsome billionaire playboy never fucks, but is really primed for psychosexual interpretation over why. He’s an adult obsessed with his dead parents, who’s unmarried and only has performative relationships in public, and constantly finds himself in these extremely suggestive dynamics with lady supervillains who go real horny with it. On top of that, he lives with a singular teenage ward half the time, where the vibes are always weird as gently caress. Bruce Wayne’s sexuality is an unavoidably strange but prominent detail of the character, vs. Superman or Flash who typically just have partners and aren’t that weird about it. Oh yeah, it's one element where the director/author having sexual hangups or otherwise weirdness can be a fun extra to colour the tone and themes. BvS even plays with the contrast as Superman fucks, and Lois Lane is all down for it (and frankly, who can blame her) while Batman has an anonymous woman in his bed no one draws any attention to, sex is just another bland background vice he's trying to drown his failures in. Hell, even The Lego Batman Movie has themes there- and of course Batman's crush music is Died In Your Arms Tonight. Doesn't that fuckin' say everything?
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Jun 10, 2023 16:36
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McCloud posted:Beat me to it. I was honestly surprised to see a Batman that has one night stands and washes painkillers down with wine, there's almost no version of Batman that gets drunk and fucks random women. At most he enjoys a glass of scotch or whisky or something, and keeps his sexual encounters to rooftops with other masked weirdos. It depends, BTAS actually does have at least early on Bruce Wayne going on legitimate dates with women in his social circles, even an on-off thing with chronic damsel in distress Veronica Vreeland, and in general his rich playboy CEO act isn't entirely an act. But it becomes one he's less and less able to effectively keep up over time, since he's constantly standing them up for Batman stuff. The opening of Batman Beyond even has Batman rescue Veronica's now adult daughter, who while keeping up the family tradition demonstrates that the world has moved on without him. On the other hand, BvS seems to imply it went the other way; billionaire playboy male Paris Hilton of Gotham stopped being so much of an act. Doesn't help that things like the Robin memorial and a burnt out Wayne Manor implies things have been going very badly for him in both identities. Xealot posted:Daredevil is also a nice contrast, whose motivations and general energy are pretty similar to Batman, but he’s so horny all the time. His relationships are all doomed, but he’s constantly trying to lay it down. Daredevil is a funny comparison, being less repressed despite being somehow more Catholic.
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Jun 11, 2023 06:05
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Suspiciously Wealthy Furries have been a thing for a long time...
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Jun 12, 2023 08:25
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They're desperately cargo culting the MCU down to loving around with the movie so close to release there's no time to polish the CGI at all.
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Jun 20, 2023 04:06
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Neo Rasa posted:It makes Everything Everywhere All At Once even more impressive to me because weren't the effects in that notably done by beginners teaching themselves as they went along? A key point is probably that they were actually given the time and budget to get it right and polish it, rather than being micromanaged and abused start to finish with so much of their effort going entirely to waste.
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Jun 20, 2023 17:30
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Going back a bit, also wanted to bring up that the main thesis of The Lego Batman Movie is that Batman has massive problems with intimacy and emotional expression because love and tragedy are inextricably linked for him. Which isn't exactly an uncommon theme- look at so much art, music and stories on those themes- but it's fundamental to who he is, and he's never really able to feel safe or secure because he knows all too well that tragedy can strike anywhere at any time. The whole part where he's shooing his allies away isn't just him being a jerk again, it's pretty much framed as him having a full on PTSD episode.
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Jun 21, 2023 05:34
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FilthyImp posted:Yep, that whole bit is great. He's trying to make it about their safety but he just doesnt want to face the possibility of their loss. And it's hard to blame him or at least get mad because he's explicitly feeling like he's about to recreate the worst thing that ever happened to him. Given the whole framing device I do wonder if the kid has a surprisingly in depth understanding of trauma. Then again, coping with trauma is all the rage for kids cartoons these days. Batman was just ahead of the curve. Actually I think that kinda sums up why Batman has such appeal across such a range; he's serious and absurd, childish and cynical, hypercompetent and vulnerable. Everything he does takes on a new meaning because it's him doing it, and there's weirdly relatable things about him despite how outlandish and exceptional he always is.
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Jun 21, 2023 07:00
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The MSJ posted:Arkane actually begged Bethesda to cancel Redfall but they insisted on Arkane of all studios to make a Borderlands clone. Probably because it's one of the only three games that the western AAA sector even knows how to make anymore. They turned freakin Harry Potter into a Far Cry clone.
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Jun 21, 2023 11:49
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Literally the whole problem is WB's management got all twitter-brained and blew up all their planning because they saw the MCU making money and popularity and wanted to make the MCU to get the MCU's money and popularity. The MCU only managed to take off because they held their nerve even when Captain America and Thor were popular but didn't light the world on fire like Iron Man did, rather than throw all their toys out the pram. And also have a guy specifically there to tell Disney's c-suite to gently caress off.
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Jun 22, 2023 18:38
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feedmyleg posted:Gonna guess it was the writer's attempt at saying it was self-indulgent. Not that an io9 reporter should really get the benefit of the doubt. That term really doesn't mean anything anymore.
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Jun 23, 2023 07:17
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Well, I suppose it's at this point basically when a movie actually is interested in its own universe and themes rather than winking at the audience with blatant quips and cameos.
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Jun 23, 2023 12:22
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Jimbot posted:I can see how an opening depicting Krypton suffering from environmental collapse due to the socio-economical system their society has adopted and it naturally turning to fascism when things get really bad certainly wouldn't have any bearing on the rest of the film where Superman *checks notes* goes to earth. When you make a big performance about wanting Smiling Daddy Superman of course you hate any time spent on Krypton, because any context and background gets in the way of mindless spectacle assuring you that strong powerful men will take all the real problems away.
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Jun 24, 2023 07:27
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RBA Starblade posted:What if the problem is there aren't enough strong powerful men around, and also too many shirts Then Zack Snyder has just the thing!
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Jun 25, 2023 01:31
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A lot of people are really thrown by Cyborg's whole arc being around him being disabled. I remember one essay that got really weird without seeming to get that metaphor, and described him as 'castrated'.
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Jun 25, 2023 08:55
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People really don't know how to understand the idea of disabled people having feelings and agency of their own rather than being a prop for abled people.
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Jun 25, 2023 15:13
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Anti-Life really shouldn't be read literally, it's not exactly 'maths' unless in the, funnily enough, Lovecraftian idea of advanced mathematics being a part of magic. Essentially a mind-control spell Martman posted:My issue with DKR comes in when I compare it to Grant Morrison's take on Batman. Both are willing to look at the silliness and compare their Batmen to Adam West etc. but I think Nolan leans on that as an excuse for really lazy corny stuff like Batman getting out of the Lazarus Pit. It's so much dramatic weight and time and tension in the movie that's resolved by the lamest "sometimes you need to make a leap of faith" imagery, and it feels like at best it was Bad On Purpose. Making fun of Batman is great because Batman is ridiculous. The movies understand this. And if you're going to get rid of all the explicitly supernatural stuff about the setting, replacing them with hilariously on the nose allegory is a fun way to do it, as well as making the non-magical stuff actually interesting. I feel The Lego Batman Movie definitely took influence from the Nolan movies in both parodying and examining Batman as a character and the world he lives in. As has come up before, it's drat near impossible to write Batman without getting into his psychology, and that's one of the most interesting things about him. Bruce Wayne is a messed up person, a traumatised manchild, and it makes complete sense that once he starts to come to terms with this, he knows he can't be Batman anymore.
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Jun 29, 2023 08:12
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Chairman Capone posted:That's true, but my takeaway (caveat: probably haven't seen it in five years so going all off old memory) was that we were supposed to take it as a hollow celebration that's not actually fun for him, just going through the motions, just the same way that Battfleck celebrated by boozing up and loving random women. Same thing, just one is kid-appropriate. No that's absolutely right, and also Gordon's retirement is clearly making him deeply uncomfortable as he outright says he hates change. More the thing is he genuinely enjoys being Batman and kicking villain rear end, but the moment things slow down enough to have more than five seconds to himself he quickly shows himself to be a deeply lonely and maladjusted person, see also the extended sequence alone in an empty Wayne Manor. Key thing is of course that's topped off with the bit where he's talking to his dead parents through the photo, and being completely, heartbreakingly sincere, expressing his doubts and his sadness in a way he can't bring himself to with any living being because of the sheer terror that brings him. He's pathetic, sad and lonely, and that shows why, because he's a deeply hurt person.
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Jun 29, 2023 18:07
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It's amazing how everyone agreed the big CG orcs were by far the best part of the movie and everything else was a disaster.
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Jul 2, 2023 10:20
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And that may or may not have been some kinda fraud shenanigans going on in China given it was supposedly posting record box office from cinemas in cities currently flooded by a tropical storm.
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Jul 3, 2023 03:48
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Snowman_McK posted:Hopkins does not give a poo poo and will throw himself into anything. He was energetically in a transformers movie and described Michael Bay as a genius. He seems to actually like doing pulp and his career is full of it. For every "The Human Stain" there's a "Bad Company" for every "The Two Popes" there's a "Transformers: The Last Knight" It's also not like he has much to lose- overthinking poo poo and trying to only go for perceived prestige roles is how you Will Smith your career into relative obscurity, and I imagine it's a lot more fun to play twenty minutes of scenery-chewing. And it's always good to keep your hand in.
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Jul 7, 2023 12:49
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Pirate Jet posted:It would be in line with the rest of the movie, which is mostly concerned on the effects patriarchy has on pop culture and not the actual rights of women. Unfortunately seems to track with how it sounds like it's pretty much white feminism: the movie.
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Jul 22, 2023 19:26
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Just the idea of trying to rehabilitate Whedon is lol because it's never going to happen, he has and will continue to specifically piss off exactly the people who he'd need to win back for it. He got by on a vocal niche of popularity that has entirely turned against him or gone quiet because of those who have.Bongo Bill posted:Toy Story is a series about religion. Woody is a priest, who must learn that he is called to rejoice not in the privileges of his position but in the service of his gods. He employs his esoteric knowledge of the human realm to navigate through various hells that imperil his body and his soul, and understand the meaning of the service that toys provide for children. By Toy Story 4, he embarks upon the path of the bodhisattva. Toy Story is absolutely a series about religion. 3 is basically the characters grappling with their deaths and the ideas of the afterlife in various forms, from a quiet existence in a tomb to a nightmarish hell to ultimate cessation of existence, and manage to settle on a form of reincarnation, while others go on to Valhalla. Ghost Leviathan fucked around with this message at 15:18 on Jul 23, 2023 |
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Jul 23, 2023 15:15
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Bogus Adventure posted:I remember my friends hyped up Dr. Horrible (my friends were admittedly Whedonites), and I looked forward to it because I'm a stage kid who likes musicals and operas. It really fell flat for me. Some of it was clever, but the whole premise of Dr. Horrible wanting The Girl and competing with Captain Hammer for Penny felt very "nice guy"-ish and dumb. Same thing happened to me when I saw the musical episode of Buffy. I guess I just expected more. To be somewhat fair, Dr Horrible being all Nice Guy was probably supposed to be the point, he's seeing her as a prop and thinking he needs to make his grand gesture to impress her with the right trinket. (the keys to a shiny new Australia, that is) At least, it's quite possible to read into that; he sees her as a prize to be won and himself as the downtrodden underdog whose actions are inherently noble and justified. But then again, considering who was playing on those themes... really have to wonder how much of that was either by accident or Whedon taking the credit for other people's actually good ideas. It seems like the more power he has the more lovely his work gets.
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Jul 24, 2023 09:04
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Snowman_McK posted:It was darkly amusing that the 'faux progressive man who attacks those who disagree' was supposed to be leading the charge against Whedon post Ultron. It was just a generally accepted type of guy. A progressive who's actually probably a predator. It turned out that the archetype did exist and was involved in the story, just not the way we thought. Whedon wasn't even the worst of them in at least as far as we know not being an outright rapist, but there was absolutely something of an epidemic that even the right was pointing out and mocking. Mid-10s era progressive spaces were loving lousy with predators along with grifters and enablers. Which hasn't necessarily gotten that much better but the 2016 realignment definitely managed to be a good excuse to leave a lot of trash behind. You also get the classic narcissistic thing of people mocking and deriding the flaws in others that are even more severe in themselves. And then also doesn't help when you have the 'male feminists' going on the TERF gender essentialist lines of 'Men can't help but be predators, we're terrible' and the excuses just flow from there about how they're one of the good ones. I think the Snyder boogeyman might actually be fading because it's all the most tedious and hysterical people still pushing it.
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Jul 25, 2023 07:50
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:Apologies if I'm wrong but, I mean, isn't the entire pathos of that film built around Dr Horrible getting inducted into the league of evil and everything he ever wanted, but it only cost him the love of his life? Like, it's practically transparent. Like Darko says, it's typical nice guy mentality. Pretty much, more the idea that success and fame- even as a literal supervillain- will make him worthy of her attention and let him give her things to impress her. Captain Hammer by contrast is a thuggish bully who's found a justification and clearly sees her as a sexual conquest, but actually just asks her out and at least tries to get to know her and understand her even in a shallow and self-centred way. It's pretty on the nose where the Nice Guy stews in entitlement, obsession and resentment while maintaining a genial facade waiting for a supposed perfect moment that never comes, while the jock just asks her out. It even ends with Horrible alone and having nothing left in his life but taking out his misery on others, and having actually injured Hammer just results in him going to therapy to deal with it. That said Whedon has a case similar to another gross fucker Woody Allen of doing what I'd called 'insincere self-depreciation', recognising that traits they have are gross and awful and using those themes in their works sometimes but never actually doing anything about them or treating them with appropriate weight.
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Jul 26, 2023 12:46
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It's not going to end until they kill the Joss Whedon in their heads.
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Jul 27, 2023 10:41
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