Lurker > TheOnionKnight

This theme from the soundtrack was the best thing about Antz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD2t3SCbDvI

Life Aquatic was also my first exposure to Wes Anderson. It's one of my favorite movies! A few of his others are probably better, but this one will always have a special place for me.

Rhinoceros Eyes

ablegator posted...

Magnificent Ambersons footage and ending restored

This for me. And there's a chance that the original uncut version still exists. It's a slim chance, but it's actually a real possibility.

Diversity is weakness, but "unity of purpose" and "love of country" are strengths. In other words, "blind obedience no matter what" and "loyalty to Trump."

I have always said that burning the US flag is the most legitimately patriotic thing that a US citizen can do as a symbolic gesture. It is 100% harmless. It symbolizes the freedom to criticize the government. Without that freedom, no other freedoms can be guaranteed. So of course the GOP has been demonizing the act for decades. The final push to make it illegal is transparently authoritarian, and utterly unsurprising.

This has been known for a while. Psychedelics, and mushrooms in particular, are very effective. They're not a silver bullet, but they're close.

I just beat the bird gauntlet at Craw Lake last night. That was the hardest thing in the game so far. Harder than most of Hollow Knight!

But I don't think they need to change the difficulty too much. Maybe a few tweaks here or there, but the overall challenge level seems fun + surmountable. At least, so far. I might eat my words later.

More rosaries, though, would be nice. A couple of spots have encouraged me to grind to acquire rosaries. I don't exactly love grinding.

He recommended the Blue Prince, which wasn't really on my radar before. It sounds neat.

Trump must actually be on the brink. No way this administration would allow Vance to talk to the press about Trump's death if it weren't likely. It makes Trump look "weak" which is normally never allowed.

I'm not a huge Newsom fan, but I approve of this. Right-wingers are, in general, creatively bankrupt. They don't know how to build, only how to steal and destroy. All of their most potent symbols are stolen symbols, which they have dragged through the mud to redefine in their favor (the swastika being a prime example). So this is a good counter-strategy: steal the symbols back, gut their right-wing definitions, and infuse the symbols with another meaning.

I use em-dashes all the time and I'm not going to stop. They're great. They can flow so many ways.

Burning the US flag, as a symbolic act, is one of the most legitimately patriotic things that an American can do. Unsurprising that this administration wants to ban it.

Because that's one of the best parts of the whole series.

My brain processes physical books better. There is something about how the words are formatted on the page, and how the pages are physically separated and you need to turn them, that makes text easier to remember for me. Knowing that "such-and-such scene happened at the bottom right-hand corner" actually causes the scene to stick in my memory better.

I check out a lot of physical books from the library. Whenever I buy books for myself, I get physical copies. I'll only go digital if it's impractical/impossible to find a physical copy.

Yeah, it's great. And speaking of which, I've been recently reading this ridiculously in-depth historical analysis of Alan Moore's career (and Grant Morrison's, but I care less about that): https://www.eruditorumpress.com/last-war-in-albion

Skip ahead to Book Two: Watchmen, if you've already read Watchmen and want an academic feast on the subject.

He could rip off his face like a rubber mask and reveal that he is literally Satan in disguise, and MAGA would just keep doubling down. The more wrong they are, the more they cannot admit to themselves that they are wrong. They're too fragile and weak to bear any damage to the ego.

Robot2600 posted...

Anyway you guys all say that IJ comes together later so we'll see what happens.

It "comes together" outside itself. There are big blank spots in the book, which the text points towards and surrounds but doesn't describe. And by the end, you come to appreciate the shape of those blank spots, and you can start to fill them in yourself.

Infinite Jest is good. I read it like 12 years ago so there's a lot that I don't remember, but there's a lot that I do remember too. It left an impression on me. And as I get older, that's something I value more and more.

I feel bad for anyone dating Tom Cruise. Scientology is a dangerous cult, and he is one of the figureheads.

Arcanine2009 posted...

Why change after a former president's name? Is Trump trying to make it after his wife to get her back after marriage troubles? I don't know.

He wants EVERYTHING named after himself or his family. His ego will never be satisfied. And it's a jab at the country -- like, oh, see this nice arts center? I'm going to smear it with shit and there's nothing you can do!

Assuming you live to 90, then 0-30 is young, 31-60 is middle, and 61-90 is old. Neatly divided into thirds. A lot of people don't make it to 90, so this is also being generous. I've always thought this way, but I know lots of people who disagree and want old age and middle age to count for a smaller percentage of life. That never made sense to me. It feels like people just view middle/old as negative eras and therefore try to minimize them, but I don't view middle/old as negative.

I'm in a similar boat. Realized earlier this year that I'm probably on the spectrum. It would explain so much about my life, and the more I research it, the more it resonates. However -- getting an official diagnosis in the USA seems dangerous right now. Like, really dangerous. I don't trust the Trump administration at all, especially after all the horrible things RFK Jr has said about autism. Trump's goons are actively rounding up people on the streets, and autistic people have been specifically named as an "undesirable group" who could be targeted in the future.

I've gotten a lot of insight and clarity just from learning more about autism on my own, through unofficial channels. You might be able to learn more by yourself, before going through official channels, and see if that's enough for now, until the government is more trustworthy again.

Also, the website linked earlier in this thread -- probably not the best resource. Autism Speaks has a poor reputation. Anything legit they're offering, you can most likely find through a better avenue; and there's a lot of un-legit and iffy stuff mixed up with their organization.

Almond or oat milk, usually.

I still eat dairy products, but factory farming in the US is so bad that I've tried to substantially cut back on cow's milk. When I do buy cow's milk, though, I'll get the "cream top" variety from a local farm. It's delicious! I would buy it all the time if it weren't so pricey.

Omeprazole.

Due to the stomach's asymmetrical shape, if you sleep on your left side, that can help reduce symptoms during the night. Don't sleep on your right side. If you sleep on your stomach or back, prop your upper body up on a lot of pillows to keep yourself elevated.

I think fermented foods tend to help me. There's a fermented yogurty drink called "ayran" from Turkey and Iran, which I'll drink for relief when I have bad symptoms. I have heard conflicting reports about this, though. Some people say dairy makes the condition worse.

I'm not super engaged in the communities for these games, but I do feel like there's a general impression floating around that the fanbase can be critical. And the impression sounds like it's stronger than the reality, in this case. If you read an extremely negative comment from a critical fan, that might stick with you. It might color your view of the community as a whole. Especially if there are a decent amount of those negative comments.

There's some psychological thing, where people pay more attention to the negative than the positive. Like we rate the negative higher in our subconscious priority list. It can take conscious effort to deconstruct that. I'm guessing that many people on reddit aren't deconstructing it; they're reacting to their negative impression. If they're not very engaged in the community, and just pop in to comment occasionally, that impression might also stick longer since they're not exposed to the positive alternative.

argonautweakend posted...

That is where I think this could be a little different. The topic of child predator deep state sex rings is deeply ingrained in Q and also in MAGA.

Maybe, but "every accusation is a confession" has proven to be depressingly accurate.

Some of these people truly have no empathy. Not in the sense of "they don't care about other people," but in the sense they cannot imagine how other people live. They don't consider anyone else's perspective or belief system. They lack the imagination. However they behave, that's also how other people must behave. Whatever they secretly think, other people must secretly think it too. Hence all the accusations being confessions.

MAGA is filled with evangelicals, and there is so much child abuse in the church. There's a desire to normalize child brides. Child marriage is currently legal in many US states. And it's a pattern for "Save the children!" Republicans to be arrested for sexually abusing minors. It happens with horrible consistency.

Don't get me wrong. I hope this whole scandal damages Trump and fractures his base. I hope child abuse really is the breaking point for MAGA. But I'm not holding my breath either.

Common Side Effects is incredible. Highly recommended!

I knew that influential Russians had been dying recently, but I didn't realize how many until I saw this wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_Russia-related_deaths_since_2022

BoomBots

Back in the day, I only had like 4 or 5 games, and this was one of them. So it got played. Unfortunately.

The internet era seems to be exacerbating the worst elements of tribalism.

Ubik is incredible. My first PKD book, and probably still my favorite.

Strider102 posted...

They're voting on it now, over 6 minutes remaining until it's official

If this doesn't work, they should still try to gum up the works at the next opportunity. At every opportunity, really.

This is more than performative. Even if the bill ends up passing (I hope it doesn't, although I know the odds are bad), a long enough delay could ruin Trump's plans for the Fourth of July. He imposed that deadline to make the bill into a holiday spectacle. To miss the deadline is to deprive Trump of the holiday spectacle. To miss the deadline is to take something away from Trump, to show that things can still be taken away, to show that his orders can be disobeyed. I hope that they miss the deadline.

July 4 is Nathaniel Hawthorne's birthday. That's the holiday I acknowledge.

Nicotine, only a handful of times. DMT, many times.

Only once, from an indie horror game called Anatomy made by Kitty Horrorshow. I started to feel very sick, and I didn't know what was happening at first. It kind of freaked me out. Appropriate for the game, but not fun.

They would absolutely defeat him. Light would stand no chance.

Agent_Stroud posted...

Trust me, as somebody who used to unfortunately be part of the MAGA cult, theyre laughing and mocking you for trying the whole have a beer with them attempt at finding common ground in their own circles as they dont want to be friends with you, but rather they see you as lesser than them.

If you actually got out of the MAGA cult, it seems like you yourself are an example of someone liberals can "have a beer with" and build towards a better future. What made you leave MAGA?

I generally agree that it's a mistake to act buddy-buddy with conservatives these days. At the same time, it feels like we somehow have to bridge the gap if we're going to make any progress. These MAGA people are here, incorporated into society. If we can't live together, how can we ultimately survive? But I have no idea how to sway MAGA at this point. They feel unreachable.

Trump himself loves Les Miserables. It simply doesn't occur to conservatives that well-made artwork might be criticizing them. Only trashy artwork can criticize them, because then they can discard it as not worth thinking about. If it's actually good, then it might have something worthwhile to say. They might have to think about what it's saying! And they can't have that.

Zikten posted...

The only reason they show up at the end that one time is that Sam and Frodo deserved salvation after what they did. And Gandalf probably convinced them to go get them

And the risk of getting attacked in midair wasn't a concern anymore. Sauron was powerless at that point. His minions were scattering. Beforehand, flying to Mount Doom with Sauron watching the skies would've been a massive tactical risk.

AsucaHayashi posted...

ok but which part in the movies was all of this explained?

The eagles aren't featured as much in the movies. They get a little more attention in the books. But the prospect of their potential corruption is something that movie-watchers should be able to realize even without reading the books. The Ring corrupts everyone. The more powerful you are, the more likely you are to be corrupted. And the eagles are quite powerful.

Really, the confusion about "Why didn't the eagles fly to Mordor?" arises because people don't think of the eagles as sentient beings. They imagine the eagles to be more like airplanes or cars. Just vehicles that anyone can ride. But that's not the case.

gigageek1500 posted...

Sorry, I only know the question Why couldn't the eagles just fly to Mordor? but what's the answer?

If you're legitimately asking, the eagles are not equivalent to airplanes that can just fly wherever. They're powerful, intelligent, somewhat egotistical creatures -- who could be corrupted by the Ring. If they were carrying a Ring-bearer or carrying the Ring themselves, they would have been corrupted. On top of that, Sauron would've been able to easily spot them in the sky, and could have counterattacked to kill them and reclaim the Ring. On top of that, their powerful/intelligent/egotistical qualities mean they don't like being bossed around. They disdain being ridden. They're usually unwilling to put their lives at risk for someone else's mission.

My partner uses a NuvaRing.

I've been thinking about getting a vasectomy for years, but still haven't done it.

Antifar posted...

Yeah there's a lot of topics about the NYC mayoral election but I needed to get a rant off.

Make as many of these sorts of topics as you want! Zohran is one of the few bright spots in American politics right now. I need as much hope as I can get, to counteract the deluge of rancid news coming down the pipeline otherwise.

Yeah, I don't get the scoffing at this idea. The Park Slope Coop is famous in NYC and it has way lower prices than your average supermarket. A city-run store might be able to use similar leverage.

Metal_Gear_Raxis posted...

Even if he did that, the thing that lived forever wouldn't be him, it'd just be a copy of him at best.

Trust me, I am not advocating for the sensibility of Peter Thiel's quest for immortality! The man is deranged.

Metal_Gear_Raxis posted...

You'd think people who honestly believe that would also realize God can just go "Lol. Lmao even," and strike them with a heart attack whenever he pleases, however immortal they are.

I mean, yeah, it's ridiculously egomaniacal to think you can outsmart and outmaneuver God, but Peter Thiel is a massive egomaniac. He wants to upload his consciousness into an eternal singularity or some other BS like that.

Makes me think of the Foundation TV series, with the immortal cloned emperor who has been ruling the universe for god knows how many generations. That's what people like Peter Thiel want: immortality to lock themselves at the top of the social hierarchy, forever. It's a total nightmare, obviously. For the people in the empire, but also for the emperor himself, who is trapped within his own frozen ideology and can never grow or change.

I can't remember where I heard this -- maybe it was even on CE -- but it seems not-unlikely that Peter Thiel is so obsessed with transhumanist immortality because he's religious, he sincerely believes in Hell, and he knows he's so evil that he would be eternally damned upon death. So his only "escape from Hell" option is to avoid death entirely.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the word "right" is creating a subliminal bias for Republicans to believe they're morally in the right.