Posts posted by austingirl
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3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said: It is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Sounds kind of like Puerto Rico to the US.
So does being an autonomous territory mean that you are owned and can be sold off like chattel? That seems insane to me. These countries have their own governments, and that can be dismantled without consequence? (And no one come at me with "this administration does what it wants with no regard to the law" - I know that; I'm just wondering how this would be legal in a time when we actually followed the law.)
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19 minutes ago, Buzzrock said: Ok but she’s not wrong. We don’t have enough troops to fight Russia, China, and Venezuela, and that’s what the neocons would love. I have a 16 year old son so I get it.
I predict we will see more of this after the midterms when Trump is much less of a threat to the lifer and aspiring-lifer Republicans. It seems like a few orange lame-duck feathers have already started to sprout. None of these people have any real principles and they will abandon Trump if they think it’s the route to power.
Just one idiot’s opinion of course.
17 minutes ago, Foosters said: Sure, she's not "wrong" in not wanting her kids to die. Same can be said for almost any person in history. But this is a lady that said she's ok with the sitting president being a pedophile because at least her kids wont be on the same sports team as Trans persons.
Personally, I hope her children are on the front line.
What @Foosters said. I have two boys, 17 and 13, so it's very real to me, too. But these MAGA assholes who only disagree with Trump when it might make their lives a little more difficult can fuck right off. She and her ilk are the reason we're in this mess so I'm not going to entertain any grumbling from them when things they voted for get real.
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21 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said: Wasn’t mentioned in the show, but 1987 was the middle of the aids epidemic and the gay population was most heavily hit, or at least portrayed as such in the news and politics. So even with total acceptance, there would be fear for his wellbeing from everyone including himself.
18 hours ago, Vegas64 said: Just read online that (contrary to this thread) most online are deeply disappointed and creating alternative conspiracy theories:
The Stranger Things Finale Was So Bad That Fans Are Convinced There’s Another Episode Surprise Dropping This Week
We’ve got another “The Johnlock Conspiracy” situation on our hands.
For the uninitiated, “Johnlock” was the ship name for John Watson and Sherlock Holmes from BBC’s Sherlock. “TJLC” was the fandom term for a very specific set of shippers who believed that the show’s January 2017 finale, where Holmes and Watson remained just friends, must be a smokescreen for the real finale where they ended up together.
This time around the ship is Byler, or fans of Stranger Things fans that think that Will Byers and Mike Wheeler should have similarly ended up together in the finale. And, again like in 2017, fans are so angry about this that they’ve convinced themselves that there’s a secret second finale dropping this week. They’re calling it #ConformityGate and they believe that the last episode was all an illusion created by the show’s villain, Vecna, and that a new episode released on January 7th will confirm this.I was thinking about how if they'd treated it how it actually would've gone in 1987, the first question he'd have gotten would've been around how he planned on not getting AIDS.
The shipping thing is so dumb. Will deserves better than Mike and anyway, Mike is so very, very straight.
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Marty Supreme was...something. It was too long and I didn't love it, but the acting was great all around and there were some fun cameos. I was especially surprised at how decent Kevin O'Leary was (although, from my understanding, he was basically playing himself). I don't watch Shark Tank and know very little about him so I had to look up whether or not he'd acted before. His line where he says
I didn't recognize Penn Jillette. Also, I thought Wally was the actor who played Avon Barksdale until I looked it up after.
I do think this role will win Timmy C his Oscar.
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8 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:
I'd really like to hear your solution. Empathize and then.... what? Let's say for a second the problem isn't discrimination against white men. Let's just assume the problem is that a person of lesser ability is angry because their lot in life sucks, and it sucks because our society does a poor job of providing for those with lesser abilities. Do we have to cater to their fantasies that white people are being discriminated against? Or can we try and address the problem of society doing a sucky job of providing for everyone?
Until recently, people got the same information diet across the board. Now they don't, and until that is addressed, it doesn't matter whether progressives cater to their fantasies or try to address the root problem. Like I said earlier, they aren't going to see stuff that doesn't cater to their fantasies, at least online. And most of them get their news/info online, from hyper-curated sources. It's only going to get worst with the progression of AI-created content and deepfakes. I don't want to be terribly cynical, but I don't think we can put the toothpaste back into the tube. I'm hoping someone smarter than me can come up with some kind of solution that addresses this, because I don't see things getting better otherwise.
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1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:
Good post, agree about all of this. But I am fascinated by the virality of it, because it has resonated with so many people. Some of that is because it’s been picked up and amplified by the right wing social media ecosystem, but initially it was apparently organic and I don’t think that happens unless people recognize their own lives in something. Even the whining, silly as it is, speaks to the despair some readers are feeling about their future.
Which, again, is fertile ground. The nexus of limited opportunity and despair is supposed to be the progressive wheelhouse. But instead, we look at this one group and recoil.
I do think it went viral because it resonated with people, but also because it's fairly well-written (not from an evidence-gathering standpoint; from a prose standpoint). It's like why JD Vance is effective. He makes shitty points sound polished.
As for what to do about it? We're really in a pickle because the biggest problem, IMO, is not poor messaging/lack of messaging (although that's definitely a problem). It's that the people who need to see it will not see it because of the media environment and algorithms. An example: after Trump posted about the Reiners' death, I was curious as to whether or not that news had gotten around right-wing media. So far, I haven't been able to find an article on Fox News (the main site, not affiliates) mentioning Trump's post. Here's the article and headline I did find: GOP leaders call Reiner family slayings a 'tragedy' as director's son detained in homicide probe
Progressives have to be able to pierce the media bubble. Our current Boomer leadership isn't capable of this because they can't conceive of how to do it. I think it starts with podcasts and influencers, once we get people in charge who understand social media. Not to re-litigate this issue, but for example, Kamala should've gone on Joe Rogan - it probably wouldn't have won her the election, but it would've shown her trying to reach these guys where they're at. I will beat this drum till the day I die: it doesn't matter how great the messaging is if no one hears it.
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To set my POV, I'm an elder millenial (b. 1981) white woman with a journalism degree who has exclusively worked in big tech marketing and PR my entire career. I understand what Bozo is getting at re: addressing why so many younger men are disillusioned with progressive politics and that we need to better address it if we want to win them over from the MAGA side. This article, however, is a poor avenue for a good discussion around this because the author is a whiny ass bitch. For much of this article, I kept thinking "no shit, that's something every generation of non-white, non-male has felt at some point. It's not poignant just because now YOU personally are feeling this pain." Some of it made me laugh out loud at the lack of self-awareness. Allow me to provide examples:
QuoteThe demographic shift reshaped not only who told the stories, but which stories got told.
QuoteIf you’re a white man, you gotta be the superstar
QuoteIt’s taken a toll on Ethan’s personal life. He’s been with his partner for seven years, but they’ve spent much of that time treading water. They want kids, but without the financial security of a tenure-track position, it’s daunting. “That decision is on hold and may never happen,” he said. He’s always anxious the grant money might dry up. “I don’t feel like my career path is leading anywhere. It feels like a dead end.”
QuoteThe world is not rooting for you—in fact, it’s deliberately rooting against you.
QuoteIt’s strange and more than a little poisonous to see yourself buffeted by forces beyond your control.
QuoteThe truth is, I’m not some extraordinary talent who was passed over; I’m an ordinary talent—and in ordinary times that would have been enough.
QuoteWhat do I say when my boys ask about my old hopes and dreams? What do I tell them when they ask about theirs?
I also have two boys - Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Straight white males. What do I say when they ask about their hopes and dreams? Something along the lines of: "The world isn't fair, but in the vast majority of scenarios you already have a leg up being straight white boys. You do have to work hard, and you might get passed up sometimes for objectively unfair reasons. You might lose when you deserve to win. This happens to most people and is not unique to you or your circumstances. When it happens to you - and it will - you will not improve things by getting angry and spiraling and creating viral TikToks about it. All that gets you is surrounded by more anger and hatred. Look for ways to effect change without wallowing in your hurt. Talk to people in real life and not just online."
I don't know what to say to guys like Jacob Savage. I'm sorry that attempts to reverse hundreds of years of discrimination against others have resulted in you feeling like sometimes you got passed over for jobs because of who you are?
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57 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:"Tough love" or loving from a distance is the approved way to deal with active addict family members. Anything else risks enablement of the addict, not to mention safety and property of the family.
Still, it's incredibly hard to watch a close family member self-destruct. Many times, that leads in fairly short order to a rock bottom for the addict and the necessary realization that they need help and acceptance of it and recovery. Other times, it's going to lead to long term homelessness, jail, prison, and mental institutions.
I had seen an article in connection with the film About Charlie where the Reiners had used this approach for many years, but Nick remained incorrigible and they gave up and began enabling him again.
Fucking brutal.
I've spent a lot of time talking to and listening to the stories of addicts and the worst things I have ever heard inevitably concern their addict children.
My brother is an addict. Started smoking anything he could light on fire in middle school, then started selling it out of his bedroom window. After I moved away to college, he got into harder stuff and stole money from my parents' money market account to buy drugs. They kicked him out and he eventually made his way to Austin. He got a DUI in Travis County in 2007. We weren't speaking much then, so when I got a call from jail at 7 am I was more than surprised. After we hung up I made some calls and got him released without bail since he was a first-time offender. I guess there's still a lot of paperwork that has to happen, and one has to be given time to sober up, because at noon the same day he called back from jail. Started telling me the same exact story I'd heard 5 hours earlier. I cut him off, told him he was a fucking asshole, and that I was not going to pick him up. I called his roommate who went and got him.
He did alcohol counseling and stopped drinking. Still smokes weed like a chimney but as far as I know, it's the only thing he smokes. We got a lot closer after that, mainly due to his outreach to me (we have no other siblings). He still makes shit financial choices but has had a steady job for a long time and an apartment near us. He takes care of our dog when we're out of town and he would murder anyone who messed with that dog. He'd also murder anyone who messed with me, or my family. When I had to have emergency surgery last year, he was the first to call about visiting me at the hospital.
Lately things have been shakier than usual. His electricity almost got cut off and he almost got evicted until my parents intervened. He doesn't ask me for money or for a place to stay because he knows I'd say no, but if his dog needs food or if he needs to borrow a carpet cleaner or whatever, I'm ok with that. A few months ago he mentioned that he started drinking again. Not much, he says. But I know how it goes. We come from a family of alcoholics.
I guess all this is to say, I can see how someone can try and fail to help an addict they love. Not to be cliche, but even addicts contain multitudes. The Reiners, I'm sure, held out hope until the last minute. When it's your kid, I imagine it's another order of magnitude of difficulty. What a tragedy.
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7 hours ago, Duane Moore said:
Not that I can remember. Certainly not the storyline about a character being a scapegoat for child murders. The police chief who framed him is Clint Bowers, who is Henry Bower’s dad from the book.
Clint is Henry's grandpa. Henry's dad was Butch.
Yes, the cycle is mentioned in the book.
Hank Grogan isn't in the book, but there's an offhand reference to Bev having a friend named Ronnie Grogan. I think TV show Ronnie is just an Easter egg for fans of the book.
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16 hours ago, ztejas said:
I feel like a lot of you think that LOTR follows the books much more closely than it does.
It's probably the greatest adaptation of all time but there are pretty major differences between the book and the movies.
LOTR is one of the few movies where I liked the movies better than the books (and I generally liked the books). Tolkien needed a stronger editor. A lot of the prose in that series could've been cut to make the flow better, without sacrificing story.
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46 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:
I mean I guess if you like rape…
I feel like it will become a plot point at some time since Seehorns character talks about opinions and freeing the infected - I don’t trust the aliens supposed good intentions towards the infected, because I assume that most of the enslaved would consider themselves being harmed if asked honestly, and the hot tub scene is the most poignant example in that if you asked any of those infected when they had free will, they would say they have been raped.
Also, that rat was clearly mind controlled and it bit the shit out of the lab tech. Do no harm my ass.
Ate they not allowed to mow the grass even?…
On the infection itself, if it was truly just a radio blast in all directions from the source, they would have no way of knowing the exact biology of the planet it was received on. And it clearly infected the rat. So does that mean that every single animal is also hive mind? Every plant even? And do they have knowledge of previous infected civilizations? We haven’t seen anything high tech yet.
Sorry for the Loboian list of random thoughts.
What I've been wondering lately is, who's the queen? Every hive has one, so who (or what) is directing all of their actions? What greater end does their acquiescence serve?
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6 hours ago, Duane Moore said:
I first read IT in an original hard copy when it came out in the 80’s, have read it cover to cover three times, loved the Tim Curry TV version, the 2017 movie, and even enjoyed the second chapter which wasn’t as good. I even read 1963 because I heard there was a Derry scene in it with a couple of the kids from the Loser’s Club. On vacation in Maine I made sure we hit Bangor and went to the Standpipe, Paul Bunyan, the Public Library, all the landmarks from the book.
I say all that to say that to establish my bona fides when I say that this show sucks.
The first episode broke canon with IT being a car full of people driving on the highway and it seems like this is taking place during the Kennedy Administration, which would be several years after the book’s cycle from the late 50’s took place. Then we have the revolting pickle man scene in the grocery store, and the girl with her eyes bugging out staggering all over the school like a scene from Evil Dead 2 that veers into comedy.
The Army looking to make IT a weapon is a tired trope and the “Aliens” ripoff episode where they send a squad into the house on Niebolt Street was ridiculous. The Native American characters and storylines seem like they are stereotypes taken from a Billy Jack movie in the 1970’s. I’m waiting for Chief Dan George or Iron Eyes Cody to show up. The kids in this show are terrible actors with none of the likeability of the kids from previous screen representations. I keep telling myself I’m done with it, but I may keep watching just to see how bad it can get
Totally agree, with one note - I think they are using a timeline based on the later It movies, not the book. I was confused by this, too, and that's the only thing that makes sense. In the recent movies, they're kids are in the 1980s, not the 50s, so the series taking place in the 60s lines up.
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Bingeable series for the whole family
in Movies and TV
My kids liked The X-Files, but more the monster-of-the-week episodes, especially in the earlier seasons. They didn't care as much about the mythology. Lost was a hit, too.
I echo all the other comedies here, but for drama, maybe 24? It's so cheesy but dumb and fun and lots of plot twists and action.