Cruel and Unwarrarented Execution in Saudi Arabia

http://alexandrakinias.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/execution-of-rizana-nafeek-a-slap-to-human-rights/

     Please read this link and write letters to the government to stop supporting this backwards tribal country.

MLP: Discord’s Reform Could Have Been Better

     Discord returns in the latest episode of MLP:FiM. The episode is titled Keep Calm and Flutter On. Most of the episode was enjoyable. John De Lancie once again does a fantastic job as Discord and provides many humorous moments. The ending, however, is where the episode goes down hill. Discord ruled Equestria in a chaotic state with everyone being miserable. Celestia and Luna defeated him. He has spent over 1000 years frozen in a statue and nearly destroyed the friendship of the mane six when he escaped. They sealed in stone again. Celestia wants to use his magic for some unknown reason and tasks the mane six, in particular Fluttershy, for the task of reforming him. He causes trouble the moment they release him. He harasses Fluttershy’s bunny, has beavers flood Apple Jack’s farm, takes advantage of Fluttershy’s kindness and trustworthiness, and does his damnedest to turn Fluttershy’s friendship away from her friends. The only thing stopping him from doing worse is the threat of being sealed in stone again.
    
     After causing further mischief he promises to stop only if Fluttershy agrees not to use her element to seal him. Earlier Discord appeared to be touched by Fluttershy’s desire to be his friend. She agrees not to use her element and Discord continues to goof around in the mayhem. He offers Fluttershy skates and encourages her to join him. She refuses and walks away.
    
     And here is where it all goes downhill. Discord is a chaotic being who revels in causing mayhem. As mentioned earlier he ruled Equestria in a chaotic state with everyone miserable. He obviously has no care for anyone else except for those who also love chaos (Pinkie Pie enjoyed his chocolate rain and laughed with him to which Discord enjoyed, but he still turned Pinkie into a shadow of her former self). No flashbacks are shown of his past, hence we have no idea of any past relations he had with others. With this in mind, the audience is forced into shock as Discord fixes his chaotic mess in order to maintain Fluttershy’s friendship. Celestia arrives to take Discord back to Canterlot and thus ends the episode.
    
     Discord’s actions are out of character at the end of the episode. If it was supposed to be a Beauty and the Beast story, then the episode was too short to convey Discord growing to like Fluttershy. If it was Discord genuinely wanting friends, then a backstory with flashbacks is necessary. The ending should have been handled better.

Critique of MLP:FiM Sea.3 Ep.1&2

    
     The clips of the new MLP episodes showed great promise: a new land, a new villain, and a new adventure. Unfortunately, while still entertaining, it has failed to live to the standards of older episodes.

 

 

   
     The new villain is King Sombra. He is powerful and evil because...no reasons are given. The other villains had reasons for why they did the things they did. Nightmare Moon was jealous of Celestia, Queen Chrysalis wanted to conquer Equestria for her changelings, and Discord was the embodiment of chaos itself. Sombra is evil because the script says so. It is never explained how he became so powerful nor how he conquered the Crystal Empire in the first place since all it took to defeat him was the crystal ponies' joy coupled with a magical crystal. He has very few lines of dialogue and dies at the end aka he appears and vanishes when the plot is through with him. No time is used to better learn about the character like there was for the prior listed villains.
    
     Twilight and her friends are sent to save the Empire. Since Sombra is powerful and the barrier keeping him from attacking becomes increasingly weaker, why weren't the mane six armed with the Elements of Harmony? They would have been very useful in this circumstance. If the script wanted a way to challenge the mane six to not use the Elements, then the script should have found a way to deprive them of those Elements. An effective way to not use the Elements would have been if they were with luggage Spike was carrying when they were dropped during the chase scene.
    
     Since Shining Armor and Cadence's love power could easily expel the changelings, why did they not stay together to effectively maintain the barrier? A messenger could have been sent to transport the mane six to the Empire while Shining Armor and Cadence maintain the barrier. Luna or Celestia could've helped in this regard.
    
     This story arch showed promise but failed due to the unknown villain, the lack of the Elements, and bad decision making. I really hope that the rest of the season will be better written.