https://youtu.be/2bVik34nWws

Drops June 5th. Can't wait.

Only 3 eps though :-(

>Only 3 eps though :-(

Gotta take whatever we get b. I got a feeling that these episodes are going to be long as fuck tho.

Yeah 3 is def better than none! LOL

This is great news.

If they keep up the level of quality as the previous seasons and Bandersnatch, I will be very happy.

Nex to Mr. Robot, this is my favorite show right now.

Wow man. Gonna watch the other two tomorrow, but yeah. Black Mirror back.

nm

They could've picked almost any other style of video game and I probably could've gotten there, but the only thing more absurd than Capcom programming Street Fighter XV so that Ryu and Chun-Li





SPOILERS






have genitals and can fuck would be Treyarch added a love room to the Call of Duty maps. I even get why a fighting game would feel like the right choice on paper, but it just didn't work for me. Maybe if I didn't play video games I wouldn't even think about that the whole time. I am glad they definitively answered that question, though, when Karl described his glistening pussy and how good it feels. I spent more than a reasonable amount of time wondering how long these dudes were dry humping every night.


This wasn't "The Waldo Moment" outright horrible or "Men Against Fire" outright boring, I liked a lot of individual parts of it, but this was the first episode of this show where the fundamental technology behind everything just had me asking too many questions the show wasn't going to answer like whether ALL video games have a fuck mode in this new future, and if so how many people know about it, and are these dudes cumming in their pants like a wet dream and if so how is their wife/girlfriend not noticing all the cum everywhere while they're not fucking and so on and so forth.


LASTLY, they established Falcon and his girl liked to roleplay, so once they realized it wasn't a gay thing and just a game thing, why wouldn't he not only come clean to his wife and also invite her to play? He could even try on the lady body and let her play the guitar solo and get her "revenge" on him by really blowing his back out! Just too many questions and loose ends.


Also, Karl was a weird cross between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant and kind of hard to look away from on screen. Super excited to see what he brings to the table on The Watchmen later this year.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Its weird how this plays against what different people pay attention to. I didn't think about any of that technology stuff. With VR I've always thought about the sexual implications of that technology. This seems like a real logical way to explore that. If you brought out the larger sort of Call of Duty platforms, its an orgy, street fighter sort of thing is a really intimate sort of platform that makes a lot of sense to me.

Outside of that, I think about the marriage piece. That was WAY more interesting to me. Particularly as someone that's been with my lady for like 15 years seeing that part was so interesting. The compromise made is like the ideal in a relationship that's been reeling. It allows space for both parties to find happiness. It may not be realistic, but I get it. In their relationship this is the play that allows everyone to be happy and feel valued. I sort loved that part. I hoped to never have to get there, but I loved it.

Lawd Nikki Beharie, LAWD it proves no matter how fine any partner is, there will be someone who is tired of them.

Episode wasn't bad. her bit on the role playing and the anniversary conversation were keys to all of it, so why she went along with it at the end made a bit more sense. Was glad they didn't demonize any of them for this decision. Definitely less about the technology and more of how it affects a relationship and sexuality.

The relationship, and sexuality part is really the crux of this whole story. The tech just plays the intermediary.

I was watching the thing and in the middle I was thinking either gay people or black women will get the short end of the stick by the end of the story.

But they threaded the needle with her speech and her storyline and she was the one who told what was at the heart of it.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

part of me thinks they're releasing these too frequently, but I will say they still keep things fresh

Basic hostage premise but I'm always there for that if the performances are up to par and everybody brought their big guns for this one. Direction was great too. Was barely a Black Mirror episode really, just a super compelling hour of television a show with cache like BM's on a 'network' like Netflix has the strength to flex in.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

and it was a better Black Mirror episode than any of these 3. these episodes were ok, but none of them really screamed Black Mirror to me. Striking Vipers was probably the worst of them all because it made no sense on so many levels.

its prolly hard to keep coming up with fresh material when present day life is already mirroring the dystopian future we would be warned about.

but big picture wise, a middling episode

Sure it didn't have a dark ending like most episodes, but the episode explored sexuality, gaming and love in a way that you don't often see in any media, movie or TV show.

Just like best friends can easily play a game where they beat up or kill one another but obviously would never in real life, this has them making love in the game and experiencing strong emotions that they would never have in real life. The former doesn't make them murderers even more than the latter makes them gay. That's why when they confront each other about it, at first they start fighting but don't want to do that, then they kiss and don't want to do that either.

I don't want to call anyone here homophobic but I thought that was a powerful message told through the framework of sci-fi. They haven't even touched on anything like that before; only San Junipero even comes close. Maybe it's not for everyone but I can only see someone straight up hating it if they were insecure or felt a certain way about two men fantasizing in a certain sense about being in love/lust with each other. Don't take that personally, I'm not trying to call out anyone here.

Mantis and Falcon get it on even though, like in the MCU, they technically never actually meet.

two friends who aren't gay and have to our knowledge not shown any inclination of being attracted to each other just start making out and having sex in a VR fighting game because .... they can? they did it the very first time they enter the game. why would either of them do that? they even addressed whether they were gay and/or attracted to each other and they were not. so what's the point? it felt like they were doing it just for shock value without there being any real purpose. I don't think it has anything to do with homophobia when San Junipero kinda dealt with this same topic in a much better way. this just wasn't it.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Just not physically because neither was gay. The game was a weird kind of work around for it. Other dude said he tried with other people/combinations and it didn't work for him, so it was clearly about their own connection. I thought it was pretty interesting.

The game just helped them cross that experience into something else.

Felt like old Black Mirror in a good way.

The last epsiode honestly could've been from any sci-fi show, even if it was entertaining.

Techwise this episode could happen today.

I am sure CBS is working on a show now where a detective uses social media to solve crimes.

It felt like a typical crime procedural. A good episode for a crime procedural, but not that different from what is already out there.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

It helped I watched it with my 15-year-old niece. It was dopey but it was meant to be.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

It didn't even feel like Black Mirror.

This reminded me of that shitty Kevin Smith movie, Yoga Hosers.

I don't even see any justification for this episode except maybe Miley loves the show and wanted to be on it, and got her people to pull strings and cash in favors to make it happen. Like if a producer only agrees to greenlight a movie if his girlfriend gets to be in it.

The other two episodes were great.

>It didn't even feel like Black Mirror.

Spoilers below


Antagonist commits horrendous act because she realizes tech can replace a laborer (pop artist). Feels like Black Mirror to me, just from the tech angle. Kinda scary idea in the Information Age that someone could use tech to monetize ideas from a creative while keeping said creative captive in a coma.

There was a real moment of tension for me when the fans tried to free her and the secondary bad guy was there. I thought bringing in the mouse tech there was a decent workaround to solve the conflict. Although the cops might have shot Miley before her speech if she had a bit more melanin. Can’t recall why they couldn’t just pull over and have Miley say “I was kidnapped and we ran that light to catch the kidnapper” gotten a ticket and kept it moving, but I probably forgot some element of the plot because it definitely wasn’t the most memorable BM episode.


>This reminded me of that shitty Kevin Smith movie, Yoga
>Hosers.
>
>I don't even see any justification for this episode except
>maybe Miley loves the show and wanted to be on it, and got her
>people to pull strings and cash in favors to make it happen.
>Like if a producer only agrees to greenlight a movie if his
>girlfriend gets to be in it.
>
>The other two episodes were great.


Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

than a black mirror episode

didn't hate it. wasn't crazy about it

Wasn't quite for me, but I appreciate them taking on another genre.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

right up to the whole mouse thing

It was a classic episode because it was a straight fucks with your head and make you think about new scenarios of how human interactions can be complicated by new technology.

It was Hella uncomfortable to watch with my wife which I think is the point.

The fact is I found it completely relatable for a man in a 10+ year marriage to a beautiful woman feeling old, tired and not completely happy. And then have your boy who never settled down showing you pictures of his latest conquest. That shit had me looking up who the writer was to make sure it was Chalie Booker and not somebody I know living it.

And then me and my brother was just talking about that friend who we use to play video games with that was way over the top with his oversexualize shit talking that made everyone uncomfortable while playing Madden ("I'm about to bend you over and give it to you" "brah, chill").

The show had us doing all sorts of theorizing. My theory is that Karl is indeed gay and repressed his love for his boy and really setup the whole scenario to make a run at his boy. Watch the first scene again when they played 11 years ago. He gave him the game. He made the first move on him. He said he loved him. Doesn't matter he said the kiss didn't do anything for him, Dany said it didn't first.

I think the Dany character wasn't gay though. From his perspective he was always making love to a woman. He was frustrated though (catch him staring at that girls crack) because he was older, less in shape and was wide open for some strange...even if his boy was controlling the other avatar.

The episode left us with all sorts of questions:

1. Was it cheating? Would it have been better if the other character was controlled by a computer? By a female gamer? Was the wife able to live with it because it was his boy and not some strange woman?

2. Was Karl truly gay? Or was he just gender fluid and in love with Danny?

3. What does Gender men when you can pick any body you want? Including Polar Bear?

4. Was the wife actually f*cking other people or did she just like being picked up at bars by random guys? Were they both into their own form of virtual play?


As I would imagine, the folks most "offended" by this episode are gamers. It could be interpreted as suggesting some homoeroticism underlying gaming.

It's funny the way that gamers have criticized the episode have been with the very narrow view that type of off-script play would be impossible. I think Nodima said it here and presumably someone paid this guy to make the same argument here:

https://www.thewrap.com/why-the-striking-vipers-black-mirror-episode-video-game-makes-no-sense-street-fighter/

That seems like a narrow view. It's new technology and as we already see with Porn and VR, sex will drive adoption and new use cases.

If anything is unbelievable, it's not that people would find ways to have sex in video games but rather everyone wouldn't know that's how people are using the game. If this sort of sex were possible in VR games, it would be widespread as soon as it is figured out and there would be facebook posts telling women to watch there man while playing Striking Vipers X.

I don't think it was implied that Dany and Karl were the first to discover sex in the game, but Dany's wife didn't show any suspicion that what Dany could be up to was not necessarily an IRL affair but an online affair.

Anyway, I thought it was a really good episode because it had a brother thinking hard about what the technology says about the people who are using it and it's uncomfortable to think about. That's Black Mirror at its best.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I just couldn't stop laughing at the premise whenever it came up. And I think I said this in my first post, but I even get why they would think picking a fighting game was clever, and on paper / in the abstract, it's a strong choice. But why would a company making a fighting game devote any man power at all to designing avatars that have genitals, developing systems for those genitals to interact with each other and then code physical stimuli into the operating system?

You can read any number of articles on how long it takes to make games, how complicated it is just to make any generic piece of art, I just couldn't ever believe that a fighting game would find the time to figure all of that out before something like Second Life, or even Grand Theft Auto would. The episode felt so satisfied with its big thematic swings that it didn't take any time to ask or answer any of the questions it raised.

I don't think it was a bad episode, but it was squarely mid-tier for the show, which I feel like at its best doesn't just offer up a disturbing/thought-provoking idea ("15 Million Merits", "Shut Up and Dance") but justifies and interrogates it as well ("The Entire History of You", "Be Right Back").


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

the premise is ridiculous in that way, I'm not disputing that.

but you're going to have to get to it. it at least did not do a disservice to the entire idea of gaming as a concept, and kinda handwaved all the details about how any of it worked without trying to explain them in ways that would never make sense.

doing it poorly, imo, was Kiss Me First, a Netflix series about this VR game that never made any sense in terms of how or why the technology would've been designed the way it was or that anyone would play it.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

the futuristic tech is impossible with today's technology.

And not's that the science is impossible, it's just not economical based on current programming and development incentives and costs.

For all we know, based on the tech we've already seen in the Black Mirror Universe, the tech of the game could be as cheap and basic as what we do on our cellphones now (It's like a computer scientist in the 1950s mocking the ideas about our current cellphones as outlandish impossible technology.)

I think you are just looking at it a bit too myopically because the show has, for better or worst, spurned some of the most interesting, tough conversations about porn, homosexuality and fidelity I've had in a long time. I am going to share a few in a seperate post.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I've had all these questions sparked by Striking Vipers:


1. Who did you think was gay in the ep? Dany, Kyle, Both, Neither

2. What if it was a Computer Controlling the other avatar, would Dany be cheating?

3. What if a Random Girl was controlling the other avatar, is it cheating?

4. What if it was a Girl Dany knew? is it cheating?

5. What if it's a girl was controlling a guy avatar, is it gay and cheating?

6. What if Dany was sexting with a computer AI, is it cheating?

7. What if Dany sexting with a girl he knew, is it cheating? Duh

8. What if Dany was sexting with someone who was playing the role of a girl, but he knew it was a guy on the other end, would it be gay and/or cheating?

9. What if your boy got in a lifelike girl body suit that looked like a real-life girl and you had sex with it, would that be gay? (swear to Ja my wife asked me this one too).



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>1. Who did you think was gay in the ep? Dany, Kyle, Both,
>Neither
>
>2. What if it was a Computer Controlling the other avatar,
>would Dany be cheating?
>
>3. What if a Random Girl was controlling the other avatar, is
>it cheating?
>
>4. What if it was a Girl Dany knew? is it cheating?
>
>5. What if it's a girl was controlling a guy avatar, is it
>gay and cheating?
>
>6. What if Dany was sexting with a computer AI, is it
>cheating?
>
>7. What if Dany sexting with a girl he knew, is it cheating?
>Duh
>
>8. What if Dany was sexting with someone who was playing the
>role of a girl, but he knew it was a guy on the other end,
>would it be gay and/or cheating?
>
>9. What if your boy got in a lifelike girl body suit that
>looked like a real-life girl and you had sex with it, would
>that be gay? (swear to Ja my wife asked me this one too).

Instead of addressing each one, I guess I'll just ask back: when it was just the 'regular' version of the game, does fighting each other in the game make them violent killers in real life? Because when they confronted each other, first they started to fight but their hearts weren't in that either, just like kissing didn't work.

Personally I think they just had strong feelings for each other. They didn't know how to define it, especially as in the game and in general in this country dudes aren't "supposed" to show emotions or tenderness to other dudes. I personally don't think either of them were gay, but they did love each other. I think their banging in the game had less to do with being gay for each other and more with both being at a sexually frustrated place in life. Remember early into the episode where, at his birthday party, guy was checking out another woman. Just my opinion on it.

My wife had a real hard time separating the game from real life. If they were doing it in the game, then they must want to do it in real life.

I saw it not in terms of a game but virtual world. Kinda like Westworld, if you enjoy murdering people in a virtual world, I think you would enjoy it in real life if there were no repercussions.

Someone asked me if Virtual Sex was Sex. I said it's Virtual Sex.

Anyway, I do think gamers in general have a different take on this being closer to the subject matter and it's interesting to hear.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>I've had all these questions sparked by Striking Vipers:
>
>
>1. Who did you think was gay in the ep? Dany, Kyle, Both,
>Neither
>

I didn't think either was gay. Heteroflexible maybe but probably their queerness is just limited to each other.

Maybe this is just me and I'm viewing this episode as someone mildly queer (heteroflexible). But I think there's a sexual aspect to most same-sex relationships. Not necessarily in the sense that the other fantasizes about the other (although I have thought about kissing some of my friends before) but I notice if my male friend is taking care of their body, if they are more attractive than me, if they are a good dresser, if they are charming, etc.
Sometimes I may say they're 'well dressed' or even, 'I think he could date my sister / friend', which isn't erotic by any stretch but it is acknowledging my friend's sexuality.

And also the kind of love that comes from same-sex relationships can get pretty deep and deep love sometimes can come out in ways beyond what is common in same-sex relationships (think Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas kissing before games).

I've never had sex with a man but sometimes I think about it and have thought if I would want to have sex with a friend or a stranger.

It seems in this case the writer just took the leap that underneath their real, deep bond was a desire to intertwine themselves on another level. At least for Carl, the sex was a way to deepen his fondness for Danny. Maybe Danny felt closer to Carl as well, even if their bond wasn't enough for him to throw chaos into his waking life.

The gap between their real relationship and their cyber one was like the difference between the type of woman (or man) someone would really date and the type of woman (or man) they would view in porn. Most of the women in the porn I watch I would never date in real life but in that fantasy world that 'type' works. In my case one doesn't bleed into the other. Maybe Carl and Danny were the same way, although their friendship added complications.

But the question of 'who are we?' can be brought up?

Are we simply our bodies and biology? Is there something more spiritual or emotional which is our essence?

Maybe Carl fell for Danny's essence in a way which he couldn't access when Carl was with Danny in the flesh.

I thought it was bold of Danny to meet Carl in public after the game. He seemed more emotionally responsible than Carl, likely because he was married. So, he wanted to at least be honest with himself and see if the feelings between them needed to be played out in real life.


>2. What if it was a Computer Controlling the other avatar,
>would Dany be cheating?
>
>3. What if a Random Girl was controlling the other avatar, is
>it cheating?
>
>4. What if it was a Girl Dany knew? is it cheating?
>
>5. What if it's a girl was controlling a guy avatar, is it
>gay and cheating?
>
>6. What if Dany was sexting with a computer AI, is it
>cheating?
>
>7. What if Dany sexting with a girl he knew, is it cheating?
>Duh
>
>8. What if Dany was sexting with someone who was playing the
>role of a girl, but he knew it was a guy on the other end,
>would it be gay and/or cheating?
>


I would think of any of these as 'cheating' (maybe sexting) but Danny would be putting his intimate emotions in the hands of someone (something) else and that's a slight violation of the trust of Theo. But I would think of it like porn in that way. It's not quite cheating but then again you probably would need to talk about it with your partner first to get the go ahead.
>


>
>9. What if your boy got in a lifelike girl body suit that
>looked like a real-life girl and you had sex with it, would
>that be gay? (swear to Ja my wife asked me this one too).
>
>


I guess this would be like having sex with a trans-woman. The woman's sex would be female so the sex would be hetero. At least in my mind.


But yeah this was a great episode. Especially since the men were Black men. There aren't really many mainstream shows which I have seen which really delved into the dynamic of Black male friendships much less same-sex sexual relationships between Black men.

Also, what did you think of the fact that the characters in the were Asian? I thought the racial difference was a direction the writers were going to explore.

And I liked that Carl's avatar touched on the difference between sex as a male and as a female. I've always thought women enjoyed sex more than men, at least when you watch them orgasm.

Definitely bummed out I couldn't take that away from the episode, but glad to receive it from others. I'm fine being wrong about it, or at least being a nitpicky fuck.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I wondered what year this story took place when the 'VR' tech was only that pea sized device. I was a bit disoriented in piecing together the setting in the story because of that. It seemed like the story started in present day time but the tech in this story isn't even 21 years away.

The game allowing for sex within its environment was alright to me but mostly because I tend to go ahead with any suspension of disbelief in scifi to get to the concept the story is referencing.

Black men are the least likely to talk about sexual issues and repressed feelings. I didn't think much about them being Asian but it did allow them to escape their black maleness.

All sorts of dudes were on twitter were talking about they will never be able to able to play online games with their boys the same in response to the episode.


I never understood facebook having 58 gender options but I can see how this sort of technology creates new gender options folks haven't even thought of yet.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

The others weren’t really Black Mirror episodes, IMO. Remarkably anticlimactic and/or cringeworthy endings.

I didn't see a season 6 thread so I may start one but... I am one episode in. Joan is Awful is a mess.

It kinda harkens back to bandersnatch. The show inside of the show inside of the show..

Overall a good start. Plus it has Salma Hayek