I've had two kids in full time daycare this whole time, just sayin.
Though it's interesting that, during the height of the panic and confusion it was just us grandma-killer parents who had our kids in daycare, and the protocols and PPE were minimally intrusive and somewhat logical. Then a couple weeks ago a few brave Karens put their kids back in and, due to sheer coincidence I'm sure, the protocols became draconian and picking up your kid became an Ebola curbside pickup farce. This is why we can't have nice things. Like western civilization.
"Seems to me the only immutable rule is that the writer should do something interesting and entertaining with an idea."
Next, you'll be telling me they can portray anyone from any race or gender. Sheesh
When people question why we Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo while to Mexicans it's kinda...Meh.,. I like to point out that it we tend to view it as French defeat that didn't cost us anything.
Point of order: Americans didn't know Cinco de Mayo from the Mayo Clinic until a Mexican beer (Dos Equss?) promoted it in their ads.
You might as well tell Americans that "Born in the USA" is anything but a patriotic song, and that "Every Step You Take" is about a stalker, and "YMCA" is about grooming runaway teens to visit the bathhouses.
You forgot American Woman...and somewhat related...haven't been to a wedding in some time where this happened so maybe dj's got a clue, but Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder is about a baby, not a woman. Bah, I could do this all day...and furthermore, explosions don't go "BOOM!" in a vacuum...but I digress...Now what were we saying about the Frenchies?
You might as well tell Americans that "Born in the USA" is anything but a patriotic song, and that "Every Step You Take" is about a stalker, and "YMCA" is about grooming runaway teens to visit the bathhouses.
You don't want me to start on The Princess Bride.
re: Bari Weiss - there's an interesting theory that her resignation is a cover for the fact that she was an integral part of the 2017 FISA leak that drove the phony Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, and that she's getting out now that the indictments have started coming down.
Oh, and another point of order...I don't know for sure when the beer companies caught on but when I was in college in the early 80's, we used to celebrate CdM ironically as just another excuse to get drunk. Few of my friends had any idea about it. I don't think we originated the idea. But then we started to drink on drink on Groundhog day, Columbus Day, Jimmy Page's birthday, Muddy Water's birthday. Whatever worked. Then my alcoholic roommate started making stuff up and ruined the fun.
So in the interest of Open Thread, maybe someone here can help me out...
There are these questions that I have had for months now, even before lockdowns and such started, regarding these COVID-19 tests. Who makes these tests? How many different branded kits are there? What are the false positives/negatives for each? In what proportion are the different tests used in different situations? What countries/states favor which test kits? Are they ALL truly specific to COVID-19, or are some just generic Coronavirus tests, enhanced perhaps with clinical diagnosis? I have many more. I've asked people whom I know who work in labs and they don't seem know and have even wished me good luck in my quest as I'm guessing no one, at a layman's level knows this? Googling to try to gather this info mushrooms down far too many paths with far too many rabbit holes. One would think that with sooooo many people looking at these issues for sooo many months, this wouldn't be such a hard thing to find out. And no one talks about it. It's all masks, masks, masks, shutdown, fear, and panic.
The show was canceled around the same time that UCP and Amblin Television were trying get “Brave New World” off the ground. An initial treatment hewed closely to the 1932 novel about a future in which a strict global order is propped up by genetic and social engineering, easy access to zero-consequence drugs and sex, and a complex caste system.
But Olmstead felt the story needed a fresher take. [snip]
“We got the gig based on a pitch that approached it as a utopian fiction rather than a dystopia,” Morrison says. Showrunner and fellow exec producer David Wiener worked with Morrison and Taylor to execute on their core concept. [snip]
“The notion of the individual’s empowerment has been celebrated for hundreds of years — ever since the Enlightenment — in Western culture,” Morrison says. “In actual fact, the notion of the individual has allowed a lot of monstrous characters to take the stage. I think the idea of the collective has actually been an evolutionary jump for society.”
Morrison is one of those comic book writers, like Alan Moore, who consciously thinks he's better than he is but subconsciously knows he's pretentious and a bit shit. That's why they work in comic books, where very few people will notice that they're not saying anything that hasn't been said before by better and more serious writers.
If one were of a more cynical bent, one might imagine this to be a deliberate attempt to replace the book in the popular imagination with a new version that has the completely opposite message. After all, it worked for Starship Troopers, The Princess Bride and Don Quixote.
After all, it worked for Starship Troopers, The Princess Bride and Don Quixote.
In The Expanse, there’s an episode in which Holden refers to himself as “tilting at windmills,” which, he explains, means fighting against overwhelming odds. Rather than fighting imaginary monsters. Or being delusional.
Proof of extraterrestrial alien intelligence lies open to anyone with eyes to see and a mind to discern: They have stayed well away from our nutso planet.
Um, indeed. If someone were to take Morrison's work as saying the exact opposite of what he clearly wrote, I think he'd be more than a little miffed.
And then there's the problem of getting dramatic storylines out of Utopia. Same problem 1st season of STNG had.
And now I'm listening to "Forever Autumn" from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.
After Roddenberry was safely dead, I remember seeing interviews with D. C. Fontana and other writers complaining about how they'd told Roddenberry over and over during first season that if everything was that perfect there wasn't going to be any dramatic conflict. It's why they all left after first season. Denise Crosby, too.
But we haven't managed a Hitler or a Mussolini yet.
The media tell me that Trump is worse than both combined!
Posted by: Jonathan | July 16, 2020 at 11:26
New York Times or Teen Vogue - take the quiz.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | July 16, 2020 at 11:45
Ah, yes...that bitch
Posted by: WTP | July 16, 2020 at 12:53
No one is willing to take that risk. Would you?
I've had two kids in full time daycare this whole time, just sayin.
Though it's interesting that, during the height of the panic and confusion it was just us grandma-killer parents who had our kids in daycare, and the protocols and PPE were minimally intrusive and somewhat logical. Then a couple weeks ago a few brave Karens put their kids back in and, due to sheer coincidence I'm sure, the protocols became draconian and picking up your kid became an Ebola curbside pickup farce. This is why we can't have nice things. Like western civilization.
Posted by: Sam | July 16, 2020 at 14:28
"Seems to me the only immutable rule is that the writer should do something interesting and entertaining with an idea."
Next, you'll be telling me they can portray anyone from any race or gender. Sheesh
When people question why we Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo while to Mexicans it's kinda...Meh.,. I like to point out that it we tend to view it as French defeat that didn't cost us anything.
Point of order: Americans didn't know Cinco de Mayo from the Mayo Clinic until a Mexican beer (Dos Equss?) promoted it in their ads.
You might as well tell Americans that "Born in the USA" is anything but a patriotic song, and that "Every Step You Take" is about a stalker, and "YMCA" is about grooming runaway teens to visit the bathhouses.
Which reminds me: YMCA (Emo version)
Posted by: Uma Thurmond's Feet | July 16, 2020 at 14:35
Americans didn't know Cinco de Mayo from the Mayo Clinic until. . . .
Posted by: Hal | July 16, 2020 at 16:24
Which reminds me: YMCA (Emo version)
The absolute, all time, hands down, definitive rendition of that Irish classic, Danny Boy.
Posted by: Hal | July 16, 2020 at 16:28
You forgot American Woman...and somewhat related...haven't been to a wedding in some time where this happened so maybe dj's got a clue, but Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder is about a baby, not a woman. Bah, I could do this all day...and furthermore, explosions don't go "BOOM!" in a vacuum...but I digress...Now what were we saying about the Frenchies?
Posted by: WTP | July 16, 2020 at 16:37
You might as well tell Americans that "Born in the USA" is anything but a patriotic song, and that "Every Step You Take" is about a stalker, and "YMCA" is about grooming runaway teens to visit the bathhouses.
You don't want me to start on The Princess Bride.
re: Bari Weiss - there's an interesting theory that her resignation is a cover for the fact that she was an integral part of the 2017 FISA leak that drove the phony Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, and that she's getting out now that the indictments have started coming down.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | July 16, 2020 at 16:45
Oh, and another point of order...I don't know for sure when the beer companies caught on but when I was in college in the early 80's, we used to celebrate CdM ironically as just another excuse to get drunk. Few of my friends had any idea about it. I don't think we originated the idea. But then we started to drink on drink on Groundhog day, Columbus Day, Jimmy Page's birthday, Muddy Water's birthday. Whatever worked. Then my alcoholic roommate started making stuff up and ruined the fun.
Posted by: WTP | July 16, 2020 at 16:49
So in the interest of Open Thread, maybe someone here can help me out...
There are these questions that I have had for months now, even before lockdowns and such started, regarding these COVID-19 tests. Who makes these tests? How many different branded kits are there? What are the false positives/negatives for each? In what proportion are the different tests used in different situations? What countries/states favor which test kits? Are they ALL truly specific to COVID-19, or are some just generic Coronavirus tests, enhanced perhaps with clinical diagnosis? I have many more. I've asked people whom I know who work in labs and they don't seem know and have even wished me good luck in my quest as I'm guessing no one, at a layman's level knows this? Googling to try to gather this info mushrooms down far too many paths with far too many rabbit holes. One would think that with sooooo many people looking at these issues for sooo many months, this wouldn't be such a hard thing to find out. And no one talks about it. It's all masks, masks, masks, shutdown, fear, and panic.
Posted by: WTP | July 16, 2020 at 17:39
Please tell me the Martians' undoing comes when they wander into the no-go zones in the bainlieues.
That's almost the plot of the ridiculously entertaining Attack the Block.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478964/reference
Posted by: Baceseras | July 16, 2020 at 17:49
Um ...
Posted by: Darleen | July 16, 2020 at 18:06
I think the idea of the collective has actually been an evolutionary jump for society.
He's not wrong, though. One man may be able to keep food from a village; it takes a collective to starve an entire nation!
Posted by: Governor Squid | July 16, 2020 at 18:41
He's not wrong, though. One man may be able to keep food from a village; it takes a collective to starve an entire nation!
"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
Posted by: pst314 | July 16, 2020 at 19:00
explosions don't go "BOOM!" in a vacuum...
Oh yes they do , , ,.
Posted by: Hal | July 16, 2020 at 19:03
Morrison says
Morrison is one of those comic book writers, like Alan Moore, who consciously thinks he's better than he is but subconsciously knows he's pretentious and a bit shit. That's why they work in comic books, where very few people will notice that they're not saying anything that hasn't been said before by better and more serious writers.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | July 16, 2020 at 19:31
approached it as a utopian fiction rather than a dystopia…
Okay then.
Posted by: David | July 16, 2020 at 19:57
If one were of a more cynical bent, one might imagine this to be a deliberate attempt to replace the book in the popular imagination with a new version that has the completely opposite message. After all, it worked for Starship Troopers, The Princess Bride and Don Quixote.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | July 16, 2020 at 21:18
After all, it worked for Starship Troopers, The Princess Bride and Don Quixote.
In The Expanse, there’s an episode in which Holden refers to himself as “tilting at windmills,” which, he explains, means fighting against overwhelming odds. Rather than fighting imaginary monsters. Or being delusional.
Posted by: David | July 16, 2020 at 21:44
Heh. Well now I'm all nonplussed.
Posted by: WTP | July 16, 2020 at 21:47
Proof of extraterrestrial alien intelligence lies open to anyone with eyes to see and a mind to discern: They have stayed well away from our nutso planet.
Posted by: Adam | July 16, 2020 at 22:04
>i?Heh. Well now I'm all nonplussed.
Posted by: Hal | July 17, 2020 at 03:29
Um, indeed. If someone were to take Morrison's work as saying the exact opposite of what he clearly wrote, I think he'd be more than a little miffed.
And then there's the problem of getting dramatic storylines out of Utopia. Same problem 1st season of STNG had.
And now I'm listening to "Forever Autumn" from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.
Posted by: ns | July 18, 2020 at 02:44
Same problem 1st season of STNG had.
After Roddenberry was safely dead, I remember seeing interviews with D. C. Fontana and other writers complaining about how they'd told Roddenberry over and over during first season that if everything was that perfect there wasn't going to be any dramatic conflict. It's why they all left after first season. Denise Crosby, too.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | July 18, 2020 at 16:15
Um, indeed. If someone were to take Morrison's work as saying the exact opposite of what he clearly wrote, I think he'd be more than a little miffed.
See Tolstoy and Anna Karenina.
Posted by: WTP | July 18, 2020 at 17:35