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At which point, one might say honk honk.
Cover me!
Posted by: Jonathan | May 09, 2019 at 15:56
because that's the equivalent of the fairy godmother giving them a dress and the Prince falling in love with them.
LOL. That.
Posted by: Joan | May 09, 2019 at 16:02
"...Laurie Penny...Apparently, she’s been working on a project with Joss Whedon"
???
Posted by: pst314 | May 09, 2019 at 18:34
Considering what Joss Wheedon has
turned intorevealed himself to be it is for the best that Firefly was cancelled when it was.Posted by: fnord | May 09, 2019 at 18:55
???
Behold.
Posted by: David | May 09, 2019 at 19:00
See, for instance, Brie Larson’s one-note Captain Marvel, which isn’t so much a character as a pretext for an agenda.
The phrase which came to my mind when trying to pin down why the performance was unsatisfying was "present, but not involved".
I think that she was trying to portray a strong, independent, ultra-feminist woman, and thus had to scowl the entire time. Which is, indeed, the expression one frequently sees on most strong, independent, ultra-feminist women in real life.
Posted by: Sue Sims | May 09, 2019 at 20:48
Behold
Sheesh.
Didn’t he describe himself as a libertarian?
Funny how some leftists do that.
Posted by: Pst314 | May 09, 2019 at 22:55
And regarding Alien, Ridley Scott seems oblivious to the fact that the more you fill in the Alien mythology, retconning furiously, the less scary, and more tiresome, it gets.
Speaking just for myself, the same eventually comes true for all scifi franchises, to the point that Ten's law simply observes that there's never been a good multi-film scifi universe. Not so for fantasy, which: it's fantasy.
There have, however, been notable scifi films, at least if judged on plausible narratives born of proper physics. Correct physics set the tone and incorrect physics ruin it, humanly speaking, a corollary. Why Hollyweird fears this is a mystery.
Posted by: Ten | May 10, 2019 at 01:01
Rey goes from desert forager to puncher-of-men-much-bigger-than-she-is, plus ace pilot, plus ace engineer, plus mistress of the Force, all in a matter of minutes.
Apparently Hollywood Standard English comes with built-in MMA street cred and an advanced degree in starship engineering before you're fifteen. HSE is when American actors swallow their r's and pronounce every fourth word in flawless BBC.
Posted by: Ten | May 10, 2019 at 01:13
???
Behold.
Real Housewives of Raqqa about to blow up on Bravo.
Posted by: Hal | May 10, 2019 at 02:29
What about Amazon Australia?
https://www.amazon.com.au/
Posted by: GK | May 10, 2019 at 03:34
Neontaster or Nostradamus, you decide.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 10, 2019 at 04:28
Neontaster or Nostradamus, you decide.
Ah, the great hamster wheel of wokeness. As someone quips in the thread, “I would like to apologise to any minority because they are above reproach, whilst I attack all men because they can be attacked without conscience.” And all in the name of sensitivity and respect, of course.
What about Amazon Australia?
Sadly, there’s no way to consolidate multiple accounts, so it’s not very practical.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 06:52
In other news, badmouthing your own husband in a major newspaper is the new woke piety. Via Protein Wisdom.
Somewhat related.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 07:12
I think that she was trying to portray a strong, independent, ultra-feminist woman, and thus had to scowl the entire time.
Heh. Ms Larson, who by default exudes an air of sour arrogance, has described her latest film role as a kind of activism. Just in case we couldn’t tell. The end result – the Great Feminist Statement of which she claims to be so proud – is a charmless, overpowered Mary Sue with no character arc, no learning curve, no emotional range, and no screen presence. And whose story, such as it is, requires an inversion of established continuity, such that the Skrulls, one of Marvel’s classic villains, are ruined forever and portrayed as benign victims - refugees, no less - to be saved by an all-powerful feminist who doesn’t need to earn anything, or learn anything, because she’s always been awesome.
[ Added: ]
Traditionally, Marvel hero stories tend to involve someone suffering some hardship, a humbling or tragedy, then learning a harsh lesson, often in humility, and consequently growing to become a better person, albeit one with outlandish talents. (See, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Dr Strange, etc.) However, our woke heroine, supposedly a symbol of the progressive ideal, merely learns that she was already awesome and was held back from being even-more-awesome-by-default by a man afraid of her awesomeness. No humbling required.
If Ms Larson is supposed to be the lynchpin of Marvel’s next phase of films, they may be in for a bumpy ride.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 07:45
Behold
Sheesh.
Didn’t he describe himself as a libertarian?
Funny how some leftists do that.
Is this Wheedon trying to atone for his sins? Didn't he get caught out in the #MeToo thing*?
More pertinently, is Penny continuing to confuse Wokeness with "being a good person"?
*My memory is hazy, but I recall this being at a point where there were so many revelations of sexual misconduct, 'MeToo' was starting to sound like the cry of blokes joining in the harrassment, rather than women calling it out.
Posted by: John Square | May 10, 2019 at 10:59
"...I attack all men because they can be attacked without conscience.”
She spelt consequence wrong.
Posted by: Ray | May 10, 2019 at 11:19
Pinged!
Posted by: Jen | May 10, 2019 at 11:34
Pinged!
Bless you, madam. May you never be spotted with an unfashionable carrier bag.
And again, thanks to all who’ve chipped in (including those too shy to say hello), or who’ve subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links. It’s what keeps this place here and is much appreciated.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 11:43
Ping! from a grateful lurker.
Posted by: Orlando Mercaptan | May 10, 2019 at 12:16
As today is usually the day for oddities and whatnot, I offer you a man declared by therapists and psychiatric staff to be sane, but not what you think of when you order a smoothie. (Daily Mail, but potentially NSFW, use at your own risk, call your doctor for nausea lasting more than four hours.)
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 10, 2019 at 12:24
Is this Wheedon trying to atone for his sins? Didn't he get caught out in the #MeToo thing*?
I'm not sure, but I think I heard about how far left he was long before any #MeToo criticisms. Unfortunately what I heard was not highly detailed and I wasn't paying careful attention so I cannot be very helpful here.
Posted by: pst314 | May 10, 2019 at 12:29
there were so many revelations of sexual misconduct
Maybe men should start keeping journals recording the discreditable things women have done to them or to their friends.
Posted by: pst314 | May 10, 2019 at 12:31
Ping! from a grateful lurker.
Bless you, sir. May the extra-large eggs you ordered actually be large, not just slightly less small than the alternative.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 12:32
Ping!
It occurs to me I should perhaps point out that I actually changed the PayPal notification sound on my phone some time ago. First, I changed it to a gentle door-knocking sound – a sort of ‘sexy-new-neighbour-asking-to-borrow-a-cup-of-sugar’ type knock. Recently, I changed it again, opting for a soft sine-tone chirrup, which I can only approximate as bibble-ee-doo.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 13:07
In today's exciting installment of, "All The Things Are Raycisss, Sexist, and Generally Problematic".
Vegan paint for the royal nursery whatever the hell that is. Harry looks like he is thinking he may have made a royal mistake.
Ah, the great hamster wheel of wokeness.
Hamster wheel, Take Two.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 10, 2019 at 13:09
Neontaster or Nostradamus, you decide.
The golden quote I pulled from that thread:
Posted by: WTP | May 10, 2019 at 13:38
Hamster wheel, Take Two.
Broken link.
Posted by: pst314 | May 10, 2019 at 14:10
Not entirely sure why, but this made me laugh.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 14:28
“This is triggering.”
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 14:28
Broken link.
Works for me on every browser I have.
A modest actor.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Mudoon | May 10, 2019 at 14:38
Captain Thompson! Captain Thompson! The Ephemera are missing! Did they fall off the deck of the rickety barge?
Posted by: Pogonip | May 10, 2019 at 16:30
The Ephemera are missing! Did they fall off the deck of the rickety barge?
Actually, I was hoping to take the past few days off - sometimes you’ve got to metaphorically detox from the accumulation of leftist psychodrama. But due to the scheduled fundraiser my plans went awry.
Normal service should resume next week.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 16:39
Also, the pickled “eggs” are revolting.
Well, yeah, that too. But what I meant is, they’re parading around with itty-bitty signs complaining about the pay and working conditions.
Posted by: Pogonip | May 10, 2019 at 17:01
https://us.yahoo.com/gma/florida-mom-arrested-teacher-finds-hundreds-bugs-childs-061058469--abc-news-topstories.html
These 5 children must have sprung into existence by paryheogenesis, as no one involved, including their mother, seems to have even asked about why their fathers aren’t involved in their care.
Posted by: Pogonip | May 10, 2019 at 17:09
Oops, parThenogenesis, sorry.
Posted by: Pogonip | May 10, 2019 at 17:10
parthenogenesis
From Greek parthenos, virgin.
They're getting as rare as unicorns.
Should someone start awarding Scarlet Null A's to women who do not sleep around and have children out of wedlock?
Posted by: pst314 | May 10, 2019 at 17:55
However, our woke heroine, supposedly a symbol of the progressive ideal, merely learns that she was already awesome and was held back from being even-more-awesome-by-default by a man afraid of her awesomeness.
That. :-D
Posted by: " | May 10, 2019 at 19:09
P.S... bibble-ee-doo.
Posted by: " | May 10, 2019 at 19:11
That.
Well, again, it practically inverts the usual humbling or tragedy expected of such stories and so our heroine’s personal flaw, the thing she has to overcome, is that she doesn’t think of herself highly enough. What this may say about feminist fantasies, and feminist psychology more generally, I leave to the reader.
P.S... bibble-ee-doo.
Bless you. May your sausages grill evenly and without the dramas of by-hand, ungloved sausage rotation.
Posted by: David | May 10, 2019 at 19:25
What’s this about by-hand sausage rotation?!? Is this an English custom? (“We will fight in the fields, we will fight in the villages...and we will never surrender because our burned fingers are too sore to hold the white flag.”)
Posted by: Pogonip | May 10, 2019 at 19:43
They're getting as rare as unicorns.
Pogonip, on the contrary:
https://torontosun.com/life/sex-files/worlds-biggest-brothel-teeming-with-millennial-adult-virgins-some-not-interested-in-sex/wcm/597383ec-a311-4315-b83d-660b619ef2e7
And the Independent tells us that 1 in 8 millenials are still virgins at the age of 26:
https://www.independent.ie/ca/world-news/one-in-eight-millennials-still-a-virgin-at-age-of-26-36880113.html
Posted by: Steve E | May 10, 2019 at 20:52
I saw Ungloved Sausage Rotation and This Is Triggering open for Even More Awesome By Default.
Posted by: bgates | May 10, 2019 at 23:46
Pogonip, on the contrary:
You had to ruin my joke with actual facts, darn you. Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph.
Posted by: pst314 | May 11, 2019 at 00:16
Ungloved Sausage Rotation
Now part of standard sex education curricula at lower secondary schools everywhere.
Posted by: pst314 | May 11, 2019 at 00:20
You had to ruin my joke with actual facts, darn you.
I'm sure you've got a few "still a virgin" and "virgin nerd" jokes stored somewhere.
Posted by: Steve E | May 11, 2019 at 00:31
Ungloved Sausage Rotation
I believe the term in porn circles is "Bareback Sausage Rotation." Ahem, or so I've been told.
Posted by: Steve E | May 11, 2019 at 00:33
I'm sure you've got a few "still a virgin" and "virgin nerd" jokes stored somewhere.
Nullo dataset. ;-)
Posted by: pst314 | May 11, 2019 at 02:04
or so I've been told.
Edges slowing away.
Posted by: pst314 | May 11, 2019 at 02:05
I'm sure you've got a few "still a virgin" and "virgin nerd" jokes stored somewhere.
As I recall, it was a Keith Knight comic where Someone is proclaiming that for something that Knight has done, he will be rewarded by being sent to Paradise to be surrounded by virgins.
Knight: I'm Going To Comic Con!!!!
Posted by: Hal | May 11, 2019 at 05:07
merely learns that she was already awesome and was held back from being even-more-awesome-by-default by a man afraid of her awesomeness.
Except, as is so often the case with feminist diatribes, the movie ends up accidentally telling some home truths. It wasn't Yon-Rogg holding her back, recall; it was the Kree Supreme Intelligence.
Who, throughout the movie, is depicted as an older and more successful woman.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | May 11, 2019 at 05:46
Who, throughout the movie, is depicted as an older and more successful woman.
Heh. Electronic patriarchy.
Posted by: David | May 11, 2019 at 09:02
Bibble-ee-doo.
Posted by: John D | May 11, 2019 at 09:53
Bibble-ee-doo.
Bless you, sir. May you never be thwarted by changes to the schedule of bin collection days.
Posted by: David | May 11, 2019 at 10:10
Joss Whedon has never really made any secret of his feminist leanings. He remains a genius, IMO. Actually an amusing outcome might be if Laurie Penny gets blasted by her fellow wokelings for trading in the currency of Whedon - our Joss has been disowned by quite a few feminists recently.
Posted by: TimT | May 11, 2019 at 11:17
What's all this Bibble-dee-doo nonsense about anyway. Also, you probably linked this weeks ago but walkies!
Posted by: TimT | May 11, 2019 at 11:20
What’s all this Bibble-dee-doo nonsense about anyway.
Bibble-ee-doo.
Posted by: David | May 11, 2019 at 11:37
Bibbidi bobbidi boo
Posted by: pst314 | May 11, 2019 at 14:34
I forgot... cue Steve Martin.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 11, 2019 at 19:17
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination
Also quite available through David's Amazon link, not that anyone would be pointedly making suggestions that one might use that particular link.
Posted by: Hal | May 11, 2019 at 20:15
Heh - "I forgot" is also an old Steve Martin bit.
Posted by: PiperPaul | May 11, 2019 at 20:28
You know that old joke about why Scotch men wear kilts? Well, watch out for guys dressed like this jerk, and bring in the dog:
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-fidel-lopez-rape-dog-ice-immigration-violation-detained-20190510-koieh62uyvfurgltixmctfqy5m-story.html
Posted by: Pogonip | May 11, 2019 at 21:29
About the schedule of trash collection: Columbus, Ohio, USA used to have this fantastically complicated, Fizzbin-like schedule. Each neighborhood was assigned a color—we were Blue— and when there was a holiday, some neighborhoods would shift forward a day, and the unlucky neighborhoods at the end of the line would have to wait a week. Unless your day was Tuesday.😄. If the stars were right, all this shifting would have everyone back on the original schedule just in time for the next holiday. Thank God sorting your trash had not yet come into vogue.
I haven’t lived there for many years so I don’t know if they still have Fizzbin trash pickup.
On trash sorting, most U. S. recyclables used to be shipped to China, where they were used for the worthy goal of putting Americans out of work. The Chinese no longer want American trash, so now the recyclables cost more to collect and process than they can be sold for. In many jurisdictions they end up (you guessed it) in the landfill. But we still have to sort our trash because Gaia.
Posted by: Pogonip | May 11, 2019 at 22:21
I hadn’t seen Rocco & friend. Thanks!
Posted by: Pogonip | May 11, 2019 at 22:25
Without this place, how else would angry incels make fun of people after leaving high school?
Posted by: Fred Foo | May 12, 2019 at 03:43
Without this place, how else would angry incels make fun of people after leaving high school?
Um, care to elaborate?
Posted by: David | May 12, 2019 at 09:48
It strikes me that the Hero/Princess dichotomy could be used to describe the Right/Left political divide in some general sense.
We are almost all on a continuum between the extremes, but Princess temperament leans towards supporting rights and entitlements, and the Hero temperament assumes good things come to those who achieve.
Princess is also pro "Law and Order" in some ways, as Princesses are entitled to protection, and nobody should steal her dress once she's been given it. Who enforces this? The Hero.
The Princess gives the Hero a goal, something to aim for and treasure, and the Hero grants the Princess the esteem, goods, shelter and protection she knows she's entitled to. There's a (hopefully positive) mutual dependency.
I think at heart, gender based SJW activity is about freeing people from assumptions about who they are/should be on the H-P scale. This is not necessarily bad, but unfortunately, they ignores that this dichotomy runs pretty deep in human nature and is by no means all bad. They tend to (simplistically) assume a sex based position on the continuum, and the SJW crowd don't seem to have anything as useful to replace it with.
(I feel like a Poundshop Jordan B. Peterson).
I'm prone to depression - I'm in a slump. Having thought about DR's comment, I realise that I'm stuck in Princess mode at the moment, feeling that I don't get what I need, and that going out and changing my circumstances is in some way a betrayal of my preciousness as an individual - I should be rescued, dammit. It seems I need to grasp my inner Hero and get moving. So, I'm going to go for a walk and stop moping around.
I'll hit the tip jar before I go. Thanks for this forum. It's amusing, but also really valuable.
Posted by: Shaw Taylor's Glasses | May 12, 2019 at 10:02
Involuntary Incels would make a good band name.
And Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and all those who had mothers!
Posted by: Pogonip | May 12, 2019 at 10:24
Um, care to elaborate?
Sounds like a drive by SJW found something that hit close to home and/or be offended about and, as expected, having no actual point or argument pulls a stereotypical NPC insult out of his fouth point of contact. Yeah, sick burn, bro.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 12, 2019 at 12:03
I’ll hit the tip jar before I go.
Bless you, sir. Should you be having a dream in which you’re enjoying the fact that you don’t have to get up for ages, may you never suddenly wake to the sound of the alarm, which has been burbling away for several minutes and which quite possibly inspired the tragically inaccurate dream that you were having.
Posted by: David | May 12, 2019 at 12:32
One hopes this is parody, if it is, well played, well played. If not, "violence against the earth", there has to be a contest of some kind among the Woke™ to see who can come up with the most inane thing.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 12, 2019 at 13:01
One hopes this is parody
I vaguely recall some radical feminists saying in the 1970's that when a farmer plows a field, the plow is a penis and he is raping the Earth. They derived this revelation from noting that sexual intercourse was sometimes described as "planting the seed". So yes, feminism has a long history of lunacy.
Posted by: pst314 | May 12, 2019 at 15:03
"violence against the earth"
Band Name.
"planting the seed"
First Album.
Posted by: Steve E | May 12, 2019 at 17:10
Sounds like a drive by SJW found something that hit close to home
I almost miss the early days of drive-by indignation and ungrammatical profanities. I don’t get much of that now – haven’t for years. I must have mellowed with age.
Posted by: David | May 12, 2019 at 17:25
I don’t get much of that now...
Probably because you raised the price on the Night Nurse cocktails and started enforcing the latrine cleaning duty roster - keeps out the cheap riff raff.
Meanwhile, oopsie.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 12, 2019 at 17:37
I must have mellowed with age.
It's not that. :-)
Posted by: sk60 | May 12, 2019 at 17:53
keeps out the cheap riff raff.
[ Peers over spectacles. Surveys clientele. ]
Posted by: David | May 12, 2019 at 17:57
Surveys clientele.
What ? We are the expensive riff raff, and most of us know who are parents were/are.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 12, 2019 at 18:08
I suspect the reduction in drive-bys is due to Twitter, which makes it much easier to find suitable targets for lynch mobs. Witness the woke D.C. author who tweeted a picture of a subway employee eating while on duty and ran into the https://althouse.blogspot.com/2019/05/should-this-womans-life-be-ruined-which.html>intersectional buzzsaw.
Posted by: Bill Peschel | May 12, 2019 at 18:17
Phooey. I forgot this site's HTML demands that links be within quote marks.
Posted by: Bill Peschel | May 12, 2019 at 18:19
Woke DC Author needs to learn that there are other channels of communication besides Twitter. How she learns that I really don't care. But learn she should.
Posted by: WTP | May 12, 2019 at 21:41
I find myself in LA today. I've been here an hour, and everyone is very pleasant, and well groomed. They've been marvellous hosts, and the TSA chap at the customs post struck up a conversation about the book I was carrying*.
I worry the internet has lied to me.
*Peterson's 12 rules. It was half price at Heathrow Waterstones.
Posted by: John square | May 12, 2019 at 21:59
They’re just waiting to pounce...
Posted by: Pogonip | May 12, 2019 at 22:48
Wait!! You can't science here!
Posted by: Darleen | May 12, 2019 at 23:16
Happy Mother’s Day, Darleen!
Posted by: Pogonip | May 12, 2019 at 23:40
Hmmm. For whatever reason, had a passing pointed thought pop up about Endgame notevenplotpoints . . . . and yes, far more time went into the typing of this than noting the rather evident reality.
. . . Ms Larson, . . . . is a charmless, overpowered Mary Sue with no character arc, no learning curve, no emotional range, and no screen presence. And whose story, such as it is, requires an inversion of established continuity, such that . . .
Hmmm . . Such that, in Endgame, we see that . . .
. . . . Ok. Why? Three weeks later, in a crippled starship, where the last I recall, the starship wasn't crippled, where an entire three weeks have gone by, so if repairs were needed, they could have been assessed and worked on. Soo, no cause or need for the writers to have added Marvel into the movie at that point . . .
Following the return to Earth,
Quite specifically, it's not Marvel who tracks Thanos down, it's Nebula who states what the most likely location is. Once there, all Marvel does is act as a forward scout---For more suspense and the same result, having the team do the scouting would have worked just as well.
Later, there is a visual conference call, where Marvel is noted as being apparently absent and uninvolved. She points out that the devastation caused by Thanos is universe wide, therefore she is distracted elsewhere, but that just underlines that again, she's involved elsewhere and actually is not at all involved in the actions of the Avengers, et al---or thus anything in the Endgame movie.
Finally, near the end of the movie,
. . . . well yes, that warship is indeed noted as being rather large---begging the question of what handwaving was used to get it through the much smaller time machine, but----and so rather a lot of power is going to be needed to destroy that warship . . .
So, speaking of those restored Avengers, let's consider Scarlet Witch, where back in Infinity War, when she arrives at a main battlefield, there is very particular notice of how she quite effortlessly flattens rather a lot of the opposition at the time . . . . And following the death of Vision---'particularly 'cause infinity stone---she's one of the ones turned into dust . . . so when she's restored to life, for her, Vision's death isn't five years earlier, it's just moments earlier . . . . She. Is. Pissed. She even gets a very prominent
mini scene with just her and Thanos where she tells him what the impact is for her, quite personally . . . . .
Soooo . . . the beginning of Ultron shows the team working as a team--no trace of Marvel---, and at the end of Endgame with an entire battlefield of material to lift up and throw at the warship, there was nothing to stop the writers from writing yet another Avengers teamwork scene---Again, with no need even for Marvel---, where in this case, a very pissed off Scarlet Witch is quite capable of using Thanos' own people and weapons against his own warship to bring that warship down . . . . . .
'k, I'll grant that the CGI production staff got a little extra work from an apparently totally unneeded character addition . . . . but with a focus on just the one team story, they'd have had the work anyway . . . .
Posted by: Hal | May 12, 2019 at 23:43
Re Darleen’s link: why on earth do people use Twitter and Facebook? They can’t ban you if you weren’t there in the first place. Using these things is like handing the mugger your gun.
I know you have to use them if you are running a business, but you can confine your dealings with them to “Like us on Facebook!” and “20% off widgets if you cite this tweet!” Why get on these platforms and try to discuss reality? How much clearer do they have to make it that they are not in the reality business?
Posted by: Pogonip | May 12, 2019 at 23:50
It occurs to me that anti-social media is like the One Ring—you have to grant it whatever power it has over you. Gandalf says that only Bilbo, in all of history, has ever given up the Ring, and needed a lot of help to do it. But later on in the very same story, Sam carries the Ring for a while and uses it. All through the story it has been made clear that using the Ring is the point of no return—after that, you’ll keep finding other reasons to use it and you’ll cling to it ever more desperately. And after Sam uses the Ring it offers to make him Samwise the Strong, ruler of everything. Sam considers this, realizes that’s not what he really wants, and hands the Ring back to Frodo with no trouble at all. (We may contrast Sam with Frodo, who spends hundreds of pages finding reasons to use the Ring.). Granted Sam has displayed a determination that makes the 47 Ronin look like slackers, however, Tolkien writes his scenes in such a way that it’s clear that Sam rules his own mind and so the Ring can’t move him with one of its spurious offers.
So, here’s Jeff Zuckerberg, holding out the One Ring of social media and offering you—well, nothing, really. What will you do?
Posted by: Pogonip | May 13, 2019 at 00:38
Truman sailors ordered to ‘clap like we’re at a strip club’ for Pence visit
Sailors walking into strip club reminded to ‘clap like Mike Pence is speaking’
Posted by: Hal | May 13, 2019 at 03:05
@hal showcasing his understanding of the military mindset equal to his understanding of the meaning of "conservative".
Posted by: Richard Cranium | May 13, 2019 at 05:09
You don't even have to be on Twitter to incite the mob ... just be at the WrongThink conference.
Posted by: Darleen | May 13, 2019 at 05:36
no cause or need for the writers to have added [Captain] Marvel into the movie at that point… an apparently totally unneeded character addition.
Well, quite, and it shows. Her appearances are about as shoehorned-in as a thing can be - it’s almost comical. She’s the equivalent of really bad product placement. My reaction to the Captain Marvel scenes was one of mild irritation, in that she was taking focus and payoffs from more established and interesting characters - characters who, in context, deserved the scenes, and the opportunities for payback, more than she did. She felt like an overpowered interloper, stepping on other people’s moments.
But then, Endgame was underwhelming – an unfortunate lesson in the importance of pacing.
Infinity War juggled the various characters, tones and plotlines with surprising efficiency and while keeping a sense of narrative momentum, which was quite a feat. Given the scale of the thing and number of elements that had to be positioned, the film had an unexpected economy. But Endgame is much more bloated and convoluted – and self-indulgent. In comparison, it feels quite laboured, and occasionally boring. The pacing and structure aren’t strong enough, or economical enough, which costs the film dearly, robbing it of focus and urgency. It also feels very, very long. There are great moments, to be sure – lots of them – I enjoyed watching the Ancient One slapping Banner out of the Hulk - but overall, it’s an inferior film.
[ Edited. ]
Posted by: David | May 13, 2019 at 06:42
This 'ere marriage business. Appears to have its ups and downs, and laughing helps. More here:
https://www.isegoria.net/2019/05/they-both-have-to-be-laughing-together/
Posted by: Watcher In The Dark | May 13, 2019 at 09:58
Confused young miss, apparently never having been or seen one, get a lesson on children.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 13, 2019 at 12:42
Confused young miss, apparently never having been or seen one, gets a lesson on children.
Self-styled communists, especially vicarious ones, do tend to proceed from a frankly bizarre misapprehension of human nature. Their ability to deny obvious and unremarkable aspects of reality, and overwhelming historical, biological and statistical evidence, and to react to such evidence either with practised imperviousness or vehement hostility, is pretty much a defining feature.
Posted by: David | May 13, 2019 at 12:58
Re the above, see also Labour’s former schools minister Andrew Adonis.
Posted by: David | May 13, 2019 at 13:49
...a frankly bizarre misapprehension of human nature...
As anyone who has ever seen young animals* fight over a toy or shove each other around at the food bowl can attest, nature period. Why, it is almost as if there is something hard wired in the brains of young animals and people, an innate remnant of more primitive times like trying to asserting dominance in competition for scant resources, perhaps.
Crazy talk - speaking of which, her take on capitalism, sure occasionally there can be "cutthroat competition", but the general principle of a mutually beneficial free and voluntary exchange of goods, money, or services, not so much, particularly compared to the commie "you will buy/do this, tovarich, and like it. Here is your beet ration.".
*{I am not sure this applies to fish, slugs, or axolotls)
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | May 13, 2019 at 15:35
Crazy talk
Ms Sorrenti seems very keen on mind-blunting incantations, presumably on grounds that repetition makes a thing true. And so we’re told, repeatedly, that if you disagree with her on – well, practically any subject – then you’re “a victim of capitalist propaganda.” And likewise, we’re told that practically any hardship, including the consequences of any bad decision or personal inadequacy, makes you “a victim of capitalism.” As if such hardships and consequences couldn’t otherwise exist - as if there were some luxurious pre-existing state of being in which everything was free, self-generating and infinite in supply, and where kittens smell of candy floss.
Posted by: David | May 13, 2019 at 16:34
as if there were some luxurious pre-existing state of being in which everything was free, self-generating and infinite in supply,
Childhood.
Posted by: svh | May 13, 2019 at 16:59
Childhood.
Yes, quite. See also:
In light of which, it’s not so much a political stance as a psychological one.
Posted by: David | May 13, 2019 at 17:38