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wild_turkey

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Everything posted by wild_turkey

  1. Yeah, but now that the results have been published, I can’t help but feel like the brand is being diluted quite a bit. When a place like La Barbecue has 1*, it makes it much less exciting to eat at an upscale restaurant when you travel somewhere. I like BBQ, but we already had Texas Monthly ratings for that. We don’t need Michelin to tell us that La Barbecue is better than Franklin. In my own city, I agree that Panther City serves great BBQ, but they were shut down by the health department a mere 4 months ago for some kind of rodent problem, and now they are Michelin recommended. It doesn’t make sense to me. As good as their brisket is, the difference in dining experience between a place like that and other Michelin recommended restaurants in other parts of the world is significant. Nancy’s Hustle in Houston got a Bib and that has to be one of the most disappointing small bites places I’ve ever been. This all makes it a bit confusing because I travel to a place like Puerto Cervo and I don’t know if a Michelin recommended place is truly that good. But, Texas paid them money and they flipped their skirt, so it’s basically the same as TripAdvisor or any other review service selling away their usefulness. Having a place like La Barbecue as a 1* is like having Eric Crouch as a Heisman winner. It just makes you scratch your head and wonder if it’s still worth caring about.
  2. Breadwinners was awful and that was like 6 years ago.
  3. I’ve had 2 great experiences there.
  4. I’m not watching the game from St Barth. Keep up the good work everyone.
  5. This is long but I need to vent and haven’t had time until now. This thread seems as good as any. I grew up in rural Texas in a Christian conservative home. I don’t remember my family ever being very political, but I’m sure my parents were Republican and I personally voted for GWB twice, just by default. I thought that’s what good Texans were supposed to do. I did not vote in the ‘08, ‘12, or ‘16 elections because I was becoming more apathetic about politics, believing it didn’t actually matter for me who was in power. I’m a weirdo who liked Bush and liked Obama. I voted libertarian in ‘20 as a protest vote against the 2 party system. I definitely wanted Trump to lose by that point, but I felt like the EC rendered my Texan vote pointless, so may as well burn it on a 3rd party candidate. I hate the 2 party system and am envious of countries that have multiple candidates and ranked choice voting. I agree with the idea that the U.S. has a beta version of democracy that unfortunately never got upgraded, and now we’re like an iPhone 3 that physically cannot receive upgrades ever again. For 10+ years, I considered myself politically moderate, socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Despite my upbringing in the church, I supported and sympathized with LGBTQ groups, shifted more and more towards pro-choice, legalization of weed, etc. I also drifted farther from the church to the point of being completely disenfranchised and there was freedom in that. Maybe I was slightly left of center for a while, but for the past ~5 years, I feel like the far right has become more and more extreme, so the new “center” is significantly skewed from the historical center. That puts me farther on the left than I’ve ever been, not necessarily because I agree with every Democrat policy, but because I strongly disagree with many Republican policies. I voted down ballot D this cycle because I’m pissed off and genuinely concerned about Republican agendas. I also think Trump is morally reprehensible and unfit to be president I have a very hard time understanding how any halfway decent human being could vote for him. He sexually assaulted at least one woman that we know of and likely many more. Like, what the fuck America? We don’t even need to get into January 6 or hush money or classified documents. I wish like hell the GOP would’ve nominated Ron Desantis because at least then we could focus on policy differences and not have to accept that a rapist is in the Oval Office and many people are celebrating it. I was obviously disappointed in the outcome of the election, but bad things happen in life and we have to pick ourselves up and hope for a better future. A majority of our voting population wanted this. My knee jerk reaction was to hate everyone who voted for this, but that would involve turning my back on many people who are close family and friends. That’s a dark and lonely road, and to the conservatives in my life, it would paint me as an asshole who took his ball and went home, rather than maintaining those relationships and hoping to be an advocate or a voice of reason for my beliefs. After some reflection, when you remove the radicalized MAGA types from the equation, I think millions of people voted for Trump because of money. Pure and simple - money. I think rich people chose him because they believe he will protect their money and social status. I think poor people chose him because they are struggling to buy basic necessities let alone ever buy a house, and they view Harris as an extension of Biden, who has failed them in their eyes. Perhaps we don’t have millions of people who think it’s okay to elect a rapist, but we have millions of people who don’t think the American dream is working for them under the current status quo, and they felt it was their only choice. I disagree with that, but maybe that’s a luxury that I could vote on the basis of moral principals and not worry about feeding my family. I hope that many of Trump’s more outlandish promises were merely theatrics and don’t actually come to pass. I know that’s naive and all signs point the other direction, but I can’t throw in the towel. I want to continue living here and I want my young child to live a good and full life, so I have to hope that we as a society figure this thing out. A lot can happen in 4 years, but hopefully nothing becomes so irreparably broken that we can’t fix it down the road. I’ll do my part to be a good neighbor and friend and member of my community. I’ll vote again in 2 years and 4 years. I have a personal commitment to provide my daughter a good life above all else, and there may come a point at which a move is ultimately the only remaining option, but we aren’t there yet and I’m clinging to hope that things can still improve.
  6. After the finale, I think I like the idea of this series better than the execution. It had a great cast and was beautifully shot. It was an interesting story to tell but the need to conceal Catherine’s version until the very end created some unbelievable situations along the way. I would expect her to be more defensive and defiant with her husband, son, and job, rather than letting it play out and drive everyone to rock bottom. Maybe that’s a me problem for not being able to put myself in her shoes as a victim who has kept a trauma buried inside herself for 20 years. Perhaps she was so used to hiding it that it was hard to flip a switch and speak her truth. There’s obviously a statement being made about women suffering rape or abuse and no one believing them, even when the lie is perpetrated by a deranged old man. Her own family and coworkers immediately turned on her. We as viewers were mostly turned against her, although we held out hope for the unreliable narrator twist, which is exactly what happened. The photos were pretty damning until we heard the truth, and that was a necessary part of the story because it made the lie more believable. My frustration is that I feel like this would almost always play out differently in real life. I like to believe most spouses or coworkers, when presented with a shocking story from a stranger, would pause long enough to say “Tell me what really happened. This stranger wrote a book about you and has nude pictures of you, but I want to hear your explanation.” Or that at the very least, when Robert was kicking her out of the house, there would be a moment when she says “Fuck you, I was raped you asshole, and I need some time to process this before I can explain.” I think those moments did not happen merely for the sake of preserving the twist. Putting emotion aside, the logical side of everyone’s brain should wonder how Nancy and Stephen could possibly write an accurate version of those events, given that the only 2 people who actually knew, clearly did not tell them. Logic should quickly lead one to question the reliability of the book. As viewers we did that, but I was admittedly confused by the shifting narration between the past and present, and between different characters. As a character in the story, the source material is much more clear, originating from one man and his dead wife, which should have massive alarm bells going off in Robert’s head. It gets a B+ from me. It would probably be better with a rewatch, but a rewatch would also mean that certain hotel scenes go from being spicy to nauseating, so I doubt I’ll do that. I think it holds up much better than similar series like Presumed Innocent or Defending Jacob.
  7. I apparently follow Quinn on IG and he posted some pro-Trump shit last night. It’s gone now so he either took it down or the story expired.
  8. One of my big concerns about Trump America is that there are a lot of people like Johnny Sack and HellesBier who have been somewhat subdued for the past few years, but putting an asshole back in office will give them a license to resume being openly hateful. This post is a prime example. What kind of a person talks like that?
  9. Drill baby drill /trump
  10. Headed back in a couple of days. I could use a little mental health escape right now and St. Barth is my go-to when I want to forget the rest of the world exists. Can’t wait to turn my brain off and eat good food. I’ll probably head out to Saline and drink some rosé and tan my ass cheeks.
  11. Are they political prosecutions solely on the basis of Donald Trump being a politician with people who opposed him running for office? Would you say the same is true for other politicians, or is there something unique about Donald Trump and the multitude of criminal acts he has been accused of? For instance, are the crimes George Santos committed actually political lawfare?
  12. How far do you extend that logic? Is it your position that nothing Trump has done in the past matters? He’s inherently not guilty of everything due to this election result? What about his sexual assault trial? Was that “bullshit lawfare” as well? Do you believe he didn’t sexually assault E. Jean Carroll or do you simply not care if he did? Is there any criminal act that Donald Trump could commit and deserve to be held accountable, or would you consider him above the law at this point?
  13. I think your posts in this thread sum up the mindset of a lot of Trump voters. It’s basically “I got what I need and fuck everyone else less fortunate or different than me.” It’s really sad that we live in a society where a majority of people apparently feel this way. Your comments in this thread are extremely selfish and show a complete disregard for your fellow citizens, but at least you own it. One day you may need help in some form and it won’t be there, but you helped bake this cake so I suppose you can endure the consequences with everyone else.
  14. I used to think that way but it’s incredibly short sighted. The amount of damage that can be done during a second Trump term will impact everyone’s lives for years to come. I have a daughter and women’s healthcare is on the chopping block and Trump may get to appoint 1-2 more justices, so any hope of making up ground there is gone, especially in Texas. Which means I either continue to live here and put her future at risk, or I pack up and leave the only place I’ve ever called home. Not that it really matters because Trump RAPED a woman and he may win the popular vote, so people don’t actually give 2 fucks about women. Even women don’t seem to care about women because enough of them voted for him. Fuck, that’s depressing. But suppose women’s issues aren’t important to you. There is a Russia/Ukraine war that will tip in favor of Russia. There’s no reason to think China won’t invade Taiwan. There’s the fact that RFK Jr. will have a major role in our country’s healthcare. There’s the very real possibility that Christian Nationalism will spread like wildfire. There’s climate change which we will now address with “drill baby drill.” Your life will almost certainly get worse unless you identify as a white Christian male upper middle class homophobic misogynistic anti-vax climate denier.
  15. The candidate that you voted for has been convicted of sexual assault, is a convicted felon, and tried to overturn a fair election that he lost and threatened the very fabric of our democracy with 4 years of lies about that election. And you think Kamala is not a decent candidate? Not rape-y enough for you? Wtf is wrong with you?
  16. At a certain point, we have to accept that we live in a country full of ignorant and/or shitty people. It’s who we have become and it fucking sucks. I had hope that the goodness in America would prevail but that seems unlikely.
  17. NYT shows a 67% chance of Trump winning. Ugh.
  18. What is the best network to watch coverage?
  19. I watched the 60 Minutes piece on the Texas abortion ban, which is absolutely infuriating, and as the father of a young daughter, makes me feel like the clock is ticking for this state to either get its shit figured out or my family to find a new home. Anyways, I did appreciate that the commercial break immediately after that included one of Allred’s ads that calls it the “Ted Cruz Abortion Ban”. Maybe there are enough 60 Minutes viewers who are historical R voters and the message will get through to some. I don’t see how you can watch that segment and not be completely fucking embarrassed by our state. New Mexico even dunked on us.
  20. Well it seems to be headed in that direction, which I enjoy, and will quite possibly redeem the series for me. I do get frustrated with certain scenes that seem to be sloppy writing or directing. Catherine’s breakdown at the office was a good example. In this most recent episode, I have a very hard time believing that an altercation could occur in an ICU and the hospital staff would take the side of an unidentified disheveled old man over the actual mother of the patient. Not enough questions were asked there and she got swept away with way too little of a fight. Also, in his house, he crushes up sleeping pills and mixes them into her tea while she watches from 10 feet away. I suppose they need that plot device, but come on. She’s paranoid enough to be holding a knife but she’s aloof enough to not pay attention to what he’s doing and to also accept tea from this deranged old man who is ruining her life? Don’t even get me started on the nurse who said he should only take 1 pill but gave him 10 pills. Just sloppy and surely with a little effort they could write that better.
  21. Billy Bob and Lance are both gone. Somehow Coach Kilmer is still hanging around.
  22. Hell yeah
  23. Well with that mindset, we’ll never be able to celebrate Texas Longhorns football achievements again. Also, MLB has been like that forever.
  24. He looks more like a THujone character than a real person.
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