The number of examples of media becoming unreachable to paying consumers keeps growing.

Warner Brothers (Max) is the greatest example of this. Years of content from Cartoon Network just disappeared, leaving the consumer no legal avenue to enjoy some of their favorite shows.

I do not advocate for piracy. I advocate for archiving.

I’ve been expecting WW3 since 1983.

I said America is full of hatred towards Minorities with no comparison to another place. I am not wrong.

But you are wrong. The US doesn’t hate its minorities in general. The US hates the poor in specific.

• Gay billionaire
• Black billionaire
• Hispanic billionaire
• Muslim billionaire
• Female billionaire

The same goes if you replace “billionaire” with “poor”. If you are rich, you are welcome. That’s your only qualifier. If you are poor, you are trash. That is your only qualifier.

They are all problematic. My disagreement with the removal of TikTok is that it should not stop with TikTok. Meta’s apps are an absolute nightmare. Google, Xitter, Amazon, etc., they all need to be curbed when it comes to data collection.

Data brokering needs to be made illegal or VERY tightly regulated.

It is definitely covered by Anne Rice.

Destiny historically vasscilated between “fucking amazing” and “dumpster fire”. The problem has always been that it is near impossible to maintain that level of quality and entertainment consistently while also innovating on a regular basis. It is very difficult and very expensive.

…mentioning the eugenicists’ favorite way of measuring “intelligence” is a very bad way of phrasing this idea…

100% agree. The IQ thing is a tired and lazy joke. I need to work on a replacement for that old jab.

Removed by mod

Always has been?

Mad lass with the backpack went commando.

Wait…it was all hypocrisy and grandstanding?!?

Circle jerking about China is as ridiculous as circle jerking about the US. We’ve been here before with US vs USSR, but this time everyone has a megaphone and an IQ that can be measured with a ruler.

Didn’t Travolta’s Greaser character turn clean-cut in order to be with her? I always thought the point was that they originally liked each other for who they were, without pretense but society was forcing them to conform to standards and pigeonhole them.

Or maybe it was all about the dancing and singing and we are trying to get too deep into it.

Sometime the reverse is true.

Keira Knightley had just turned 18 when she filmed Love Actually (2003). She played a newlywed woman in her mid to late twenties. Her famous “floppy hat” was used because she had a giant teenager zit on her forehead.

Sometimes the casting is dead on.

Mariel Hemingway was 16 when she played the 17 year old love interest to Woody Allen’s 44 year old man in Manhattan.

I think, in movies, a big driver in casting is trying to guide the audience. Had they cast actual teenagers in Grease, the audience would have been scandalized by the subject matter rather than focus on the comedy and music. That’s why they cast a teen to play a teen in Manhattan. The entire thing is meant to feel off and uncomfortable, which would not have been apparent had they cast a woman in her mid twenties. They cast a teen Keira Knightley because they needed the audience to instantly understand why the character had a crush on her. Whether we like to admit it or not, our monkey brains register teen women simultaneously as angelic/pure and “peak breeding material” (yes, it’s yuck when put that way).

Movie magic is built on multiple layers of subconscious manipulation.

I mean, it’s a joke…but is it?

I will always be grateful to that hospital. I was expecting to owe $300k+, it turns out the total bill over $550k, but the hospital fought with the insurance company and got them to pay for most of it leaving me with a balance due of $10k. When I called to set up a payment plan, the lady on the other end said that they would forgive all but $996. I paid it and as soon as I hung up, I was sobbing. $550,000. What is the point of surviving if you are going to spend the rest of your life slaving away to pay off you’re debt.

I feel dirty.

For the love of all that is pure and holy, don’t force me to agree with Ken Paxton! It’s inhumane.

I am 51 now but in 2018, while still in my forties, I had to have multiple major emergency heart surgeries. I was hospitalized for a week and bed ridden for about a month altogether. During that time, all I had for entertainment was my PS Vita. I decided to buy and play Persona 4 Golden blind and I spent those weeks drifting in and out of consciousness while making friends, fighting monsters and hanging out with high school students in that make believe world instead of focusing on my near death experience or the possibility of financial ruin thanks to medical bills.

I will never judge anybody that is moved by or comforted by things like anime or JRPGs. I get it.