[oats]

adonis: This was a cool spin on the topic, nice job subverting the idea that he really is the most powerful man, instead he's a schizophrenic. The quick jaunts to Paris and Jamaica were effective devices to illustrate his craziness, though I would have liked to see more in those segments, they kinda blurred by quickly. I think what would have made this a better verse, as well as tied it into the topic more concretely, is having the narrative voice have a degree of arrogance that you'd expect a supreme ruler to have. Like if he ordered the doctors around, or had a condescension in his tone. As it is now, it's hard to bridge this to the idea that he believes he is the most powerful man in the world, other than his extravagant imagined travels.

Mike: Good angle to take, the netflix-induced insomniac coma. I like how the narrator saw his life as a reflection of all of these movies, and it all tied together nicely. I thought the ending was a tad corny and predictable tbh, and maybe would have liked to see a larger thematic element at work, whereas this came off as a list of favorite movies (even having him say he rematches his favorite movies would have strengthened that core concept imo).


Vote: Hmm, another tough one. Neither outshined the other in their writing, and while Adonis had the better concept, I think he had the larger missteps/omissions (ignored the setting of the future, voice didn't capture most powerful man). Mike had a simpler concept, and the ending came off as cliche to me. Idk why you two keep putting yourselves in these nail biters lol, this is pretty tough to call, but after a handful of reads I feel a better sense of completion from Mike Wrecka's verse. I'll be interested to see how the final votes fall, since I think there is ample justification on either side. Good shit men, I think this may be the first time I've voted against Adonis this season lol