Janda Sample

wannabe writer... aspiring picture-taker... out-of-shape former athlete... pessimist... grammar police... book lover... amateur actress...

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop Morgan Freeman as Aslan
Benedict Cumberbatch as Aslan
Patrick Stewart as Aslan
And I second Jeremy Irons as Aslan

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @iam___jj It was either that or go to the ER. Not sure I chose the right one.

[Stuntman Mike @Stunt_ManMik3]

I genuinely think the “Whedon effect” on modern writing is a lot bigger than people realize.

A generation of writers grew up on Buffy and Angel in the late 90s/early 2000s. By the time The Avengers came out in 2012, a lot of those people were entering the industry, and Whedon’s style had gone from being distinctive to being a kind of default language for genre fiction.
And then Marvel made it insanely successful.

You can see it clearly in something like Guardians of the Galaxy, where virtually every character is sarcastic, constantly trading insults and trying to one up everyone else. It works to a degree because that is part of the movie’s comedic identity, but you can also see how the formula starts spreading beyond characters who are naturally like that.
And I think the new #Superman is an even more interesting example because the stated philosophy is almost the complete opposite. The movie is built around hope, compassion and the idea that “kindness is punk rock.” Yet so many of the characters interact as though they actively dislike each other.
Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Superman... almost everyone is snarky, dismissive or needling someone else.

Even characters who are supposed to represent different facets of heroism frequently communicate through sarcasm or irritation. It’s a strange contradiction. The story is telling you that kindness is rebellious and that Superman represents hope, while the actual dialogue and character interactions often feel like everyone is trying to win a verbal fight.

And that gets to the bigger problem.
The problem was never that Whedon characters were funny. Buffy had funny characters. Firefly had funny characters. The difference was that their humor came from their personalities. Their voices were distinct. Their sarcasm, insecurity, arrogance, awkwardness or sincerity actually told you something about who they were. The imitators kept the surface level stuff and lost the characterization.

Someone says something earnest → another character mocks them.

Someone takes something seriously → someone rolls their eyes.

Someone expresses vulnerability → another character makes a joke.

Someone explains something → another character says, essentially, “Yeah, we get it.”

Someone makes a sincere observation → another character has to undercut it.

And eventually you get a bizarre situation where everyone in the fictional universe seems to be the same socially aggressive, hyper verbose person.
Everyone is witty. Everyone is sarcastic. Everyone is selfaware. Everyone has a comeback. Everyone has to demonstrate that they're smarter than the person they're talking to.

The soldier talks like the comedian. The scientist talks like the comedian. The villain talks like the comedian. The teenager talks like the comedian. The ancient god talks like the comedian.

Nobody is allowed to just be earnest.
Nobody is allowed to be awkward without immediately acknowledging that they're awkward. Nobody is allowed to take something seriously without somebody else making fun of them for it.
And I think that's where it becomes detrimental. Because when every character has the same comedic rhythm, you aren't actually getting a cast of characters anymore. You're getting one personality wearing different costumes.

Ironically, I don't even think this is necessarily a problem with Whedon's actual writing. A lot of his best work understood that humor should reveal character. The problem is what happens when the most recognizable aspects of his style get stripped from their context and reproduced everywhere.

Buffy didn't become influential because “characters should constantly make quips.” It became influential because Whedon understood how to make characters sound distinctive, contemporary and funny while still allowing them to be vulnerable, sincere and emotionally serious.

Hollywood learned the quips.

Then Marvel industrialized the quips.

Then an entire generation grew up consuming the quips.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop I love that picture!

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @ThatEricAlper I so do!

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

Amazing and hysterical!

[Josh Raby @JoshRaby]

Like honestly man I know I’m posting a lot, but how do you drop one of the loveliest songs ever written and then, once you made everyone butter, spin on a dime and turn it into the most endearing gag

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@HawkEmDownChris Michelle Akers. Women’s soccer wouldn’t be half of what it is today without her.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@Ssryaniii I’m a Christian and I think the little plastic Jesus guys are kinda fun, but they should not be left in nature like that. I also don’t like those rock piles people make. 🤷‍♀️ Leave no trace.

[Charlie Walsham @CharlieWalsham_]

You don’t have to like Donald Trump to understand why millions of Americans voted for him.

And you don’t have to like the MAGA crowd either.

But if your explanation for an election result is that half the electorate is stupid, racist or evil, you’re probably not very interested in understanding ordinary people or democracy.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @snoopyhero53 I saw that at Hallmark a couple years ago. I was very tempted.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @ThatEricAlper It’s a tough decision between Beauty & the Beast and Mary Poppins.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @DonnaG1685411 Reverse it and it’s pretty close to what my parents did do.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@Homeschool_LLC Ability to forget all the vocabulary you knew. 🤦🏼‍♀️

[Rob Schneider 🇺🇸 @RobSchneider]

America being conquered…

Not by the Red Coats during the Revolutionary War, not by Nazis, not by the Imperial Japanese, not by Soviets in the Cold War, but by immigration…

Allowing people with ZERO connection or allegiance to our nation, people who are only here to take advantage of our generosity and our freedoms and when their population surpasses ours, we will lose EVERYTHING!

Wake up NOW, America!
While we still have time to ACT!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop Should not be possible.

[Rob Schneider 🇺🇸 @RobSchneider]

People
Who
Lived
Under
Islam
Know
And
They
Are
Warning
Us
So
We
Won’t
Have
To
Suffer
Like
They
Did.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

This is the concern I’ve had for a long time, and I don’t know what the answer to it is. When there are two sets of so-called facts, and they are opposite of each other, what the heck are we supposed to do?

[Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke]

We are living through a massive information crisis in which at least half the population is being systematically misinformed, making any sane national debate increasingly difficult. Without a shared factual foundation, there is nothing to discuss. People are not merely drawing different conclusions from the same evidence. They are living in entirely different realities.

That is what makes the Fauci story so tragic. He caused untold harm, yet millions of people know almost nothing about it. We can debate precisely how large a role Fauci played in the creation of Covid, but half the country does not even know that Covid came from a lab. We are therefore several steps removed from the basic conditions required to have an intelligent discussion.

Other facts are even more black and white. Fauci’s private diary contradicts what he told the public. His own words reveal a man of almost limitless narcissism. These are not matters of interpretation. They are documented facts. Yet we still cannot have a national conversation about them because the media either refuses to report them or actively lies about them. Anyone who is not on Twitter, which is most people, may never encounter the underlying evidence at all.

The result is that I increasingly find it almost impossible to discuss any of this with ordinary people, whether family members, acquaintances, or people at events or birthday parties. Unless someone has followed the evidence closely, there is no common starting point. Before you can debate what happened, you first have to dismantle at least ten years of falsehoods and omissions.

I do not know how this ends, but it is not sustainable. A country cannot function indefinitely when its people are no longer capable of discussing almost anything beyond sports on the basis of shared factual knowledge.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop @astrohound 😂😂😂 Yes

[BBALLBABE @BBALLBABE6]

This is NOT a political issue & shouldn't be made into one. It's physics & human anatomy. Sophie Cunningham is correct.
A thread/example 🧵:

The fastest woman in history is Florence Griffith-Joyner, fabulously known as Flo-Jo 🏃🏾‍♀️ 💅

Her world record in the 100 meter dash is an astonishing 10.49 seconds. This record has stood completely untouched for decades & still stands today 🥇

When compared to professional men, Flo-Jo's all-time historic speed is heavily outmatched by the biological & physiological realities of male sprinting mechanics.

At the professional Men's Level, Flo Jo would be UNRANKED. According to World Athletics data, over 1,900 men have run faster than Flo-Jo’s 10.49 second women's world record. Her time would fail to qualify for any standard professional or NCAA men’s track meet.

Her 10.49-second mark aligns perfectly with the elite U.S. high school boys' level.
76 high school boys ran faster than Flo-Jo's record in 2019 alone.

It's nowhere near fair to amazing women athletes that work hard their whole lives to compete against biological men.

[Janda Sample @arandomsample12]

@shadowop I’ve never been able to.