Yeah what's not fun is not doing your homework, or failing an exam and losing a prestigious perch at an Ivy because you wanted to virtue signal. It's not like there aren't a million slavering elite kidlets just waiting in line for those spots and it isn't like those students are unaware of it. That is the difference between start of the academic year and end of it.
Yeah, those things existed before October 2023 and they weren't widely protested.
Likewise the university admins are sick of it and protesting at the -start- of your academic term is very very different that protesting at the -end- of the same. I suspect these kids will, mostly, find more important things to do. Things related to them securing their own personal success and sinecures- especially now that the university admins are a lot less velvet glovey with them.
I'm extremely doubtful that we'll be seeing any significant university protests in the fall. I'm even more doubtful we'll be seeing so many protests that the media, and it feels odd for me to be doubting the mendacity of mainstream media, will be obsessing about it to the degree that it'll filter to the low info swing voters who'll decide this election.
And if they aren't protesting the Israel issue then what would they be protesting?
Oh, okay, you think Israel will be an electoral problem for Biden? I have serious doubts.
A: I have great doubts that the campus demonstrations will be as fervent and obvious as they were at end of term. Students have self interest and I, cynically, suspect they'll prioritize those interests over yowling on the quad about Israel-especially as the weather gets colder.
B: I also have great doubts that a lot of votes turn on the purity pro-palestinian axis. For everyone else to the left of the "Let Israel purge the whole territory and bring the Messiah" crowd Bidens' done about all he can do realistically.
I actually think David's take that people who are doubtful about voting for Trump now (and aren't proclaiming support for him now) are unlikely to break towards him as he becomes more visible seems extremely plausible. That said I have none of the (in hindsight false) confidence I had in '16.
The Last Jedi had some... there there. I didn't regret watching it. I've watched scenes from it over again. It was middling as a film and as a Star Wars film specifically but there were ideas and notions there and some real good scenes to make old timers feel nice-ish.
The other two? Not worth the celluloid they weren't printed on.
My father, a cynical man by and large, spoke with a reverence that was somewhat close to religious about the initial scroll of the Star Destroyer at the beginning of episode 3/the first Star Wars.
Here's my summary:
The Force Awakens: A New Hope remixed. Seriously. Only Han Solo dies instead of Ben Kenobi. Also, you know everything that was accomplished in the previous six movies? Yeah, it all was for more of less nothing because reasons but mostly because tyrannies are effective and democracies are inept. Somehow they built a new Deathstar only it has infinite range and they built it without the resources of a galactic empire. Tyrannies apparently are very effective. Welcome back to A New Hope only, well, there not really a lot of hope. Also we have a new chosen one and she’s a girl. Yay! And the big bad’s name is Snoke. No really.
The Last Jedi: Yeah imagine a big galactic 9/11 happened only the whole country (galaxy) fell to Al Queda because of it. Don't ask us how, it just did. Anyhow, here's some pretty good discursions about the Jedi, some inane blather about democracies and tyrannies being the same, some lore destroying but cinematographically epic moment of hyperspace amazing, some fantastic use of Yoda (Frank Oz is a national treasure) and a genuine tear jerking moment between Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher (man can they act!). Then Luke Skywalker dies and it’s beautiful. Also Snoke got smoked faster than Duku became dukie.
The Rise of Skywalker: You remember how The Last Jedi had some kind of interesting if vague ideas about the Jedi/force users being less Skywalker centric, and various other kind of interesting things? Yeah, our directors hated those ideas so much we went full on the other way. Now the Skywalkers are all the Jedi… also all the Sith too. Remember how Snoke was stupid and then he dies, apparently he was just a catspaw for Palpatine. Also Palpatine is back and he’s Rei’s Grampa! He has a magic planet that can build enough space ships to take over the galaxy by itself. We need to find a mcguffin so we can get to the magic planet. Also, the galaxy taking over space ships have death star lasers on their noses that can blow up planets. And they get defeated because the power of friendship makes everyone in the galaxy drive their personal automobiles over to the magic planet (don’t ask about the Mcguffin) and use them to blow up the galaxy taking over space ships. Brought to you by a committee to build more Star Wars themed rides at Disney parks and the letter W!
Oh sure one can argue about the lore/fan minuatae but Rise of Skywalker was shockingly terrible from jump in a more objective sense. The big bad just "poof" appears out of nowhere in the beginning intro. They say in their voiceover more or less "no one knows how, but somehow the Emperor has returned" then the film was simply a series of McGuffins, utterly idiotic contrived threats and somehow even more idiotic contrived solutions with Ray and her drama kind of spinning around in the middle of it.
The Last Jedi, in contrast, had at least some interesting themes and ideas while being, maybe, not that amazing a film product. Its hyperspace ramming scene, while perhaps an atrocity on a fan/lore level, was a genuinely impressive cinematic moment. Rise of Skywalker was, as far as I could perceive, utterly bereft of any mitigating factors.
Yes, we can handwave and say "it's all just fluff" but there is a difference between good fluff and poor fluff and absolutely terrible fluff.
Absolutely and it was mine too but the people voicing those opinions were people who were young when they saw the original trilogy and then are commenting unfavorably on the new one. The fans of the new trilogy were, at the time, too young to really talk much about it or be paid attention to. FWIW I don't think the new-new trilogy has a similar set of fans. I cannot conceive of how anyone, anywhere could like the excrescence of Rise of Skywalker.
Yeah we said Luck and Cha for Lucy, stamina and agility for Maximus and, yes!, we were like "Cooper danced with a power armor and won, he's got a bajillion levels".
Saul is correct here. What clearly happened is that Kavanaugh and Roberts let it be known to their peers that they were no votes on taking on this policy at this time in this way. So a loss for the pro-lifers was a given. The trade was they issued a narrow ruling on standing (so the pro-lifers didn't have any precedents baked into the cake on this policy loss) and exchange the pro-lifers provided unanimity.
Basically you give us a unanimous ruling on this, and in exchange your people can take another run at the policy once they come up with something that's somewhat less insane or, at least, is not timed right before the election.
I've read in several different places that people who watched the second trilogy who were the same age their elders were when they watched the first trilogy have a very similar fondness and attachment to the second trilogy as their elders have for the first. Perhaps Lucas just had the code cracked for appealing to a very specific age set.
Assuredly, though, with the partial exception of the Mandalorian and the full exception of Andor a lot of Disney Star Wars has seemed especially lousy and drekky. But I'm also a harsh judge since I'm infinitely more of a trekkie.
I am gratified as, if I recall, I strongly encouraged you to give it a chance and was very interested to get your read on the Fallout adaptation. Your reaction runs along similar lines to my own. I didn't play wasteland- I got on the Fallout train with Fallout (and boycotted 3 due to its, in my views at the time, heresies against turn based action and transformation into a shooter) and was extremely fond of it due to its writing and vibe.
I am going to put another marker down and bet that you will find the ghoul increasingly interesting/fun and will be a full on fan of his by seasons end.
Bonus: Do you and Maribou speculate on what each of the main characters strong SPECIAL stat is?
On “Has The Election Turned A Corner?”
Yeah what's not fun is not doing your homework, or failing an exam and losing a prestigious perch at an Ivy because you wanted to virtue signal. It's not like there aren't a million slavering elite kidlets just waiting in line for those spots and it isn't like those students are unaware of it. That is the difference between start of the academic year and end of it.
"
Yeah, those things existed before October 2023 and they weren't widely protested.
Likewise the university admins are sick of it and protesting at the -start- of your academic term is very very different that protesting at the -end- of the same. I suspect these kids will, mostly, find more important things to do. Things related to them securing their own personal success and sinecures- especially now that the university admins are a lot less velvet glovey with them.
"
Never suggested otherwise. The ones who're actively liking Trump are his base and nothing anyone does is going to sway them.
"
I'm extremely doubtful that we'll be seeing any significant university protests in the fall. I'm even more doubtful we'll be seeing so many protests that the media, and it feels odd for me to be doubting the mendacity of mainstream media, will be obsessing about it to the degree that it'll filter to the low info swing voters who'll decide this election.
And if they aren't protesting the Israel issue then what would they be protesting?
"
Each month it wobbled around in this zone is another month closer to it being actually predictive.
"
Oh, okay, you think Israel will be an electoral problem for Biden? I have serious doubts.
A: I have great doubts that the campus demonstrations will be as fervent and obvious as they were at end of term. Students have self interest and I, cynically, suspect they'll prioritize those interests over yowling on the quad about Israel-especially as the weather gets colder.
B: I also have great doubts that a lot of votes turn on the purity pro-palestinian axis. For everyone else to the left of the "Let Israel purge the whole territory and bring the Messiah" crowd Bidens' done about all he can do realistically.
"
Err yes, but I don't think I see your point.
"
Heheh, Ezra is gonna keep throwing that ball at the wall until it sticks (or the convention is over).
"
Yes, and as the election heats up Trump, in theory, should appear on their TV screens more and more.
"
I actually think David's take that people who are doubtful about voting for Trump now (and aren't proclaiming support for him now) are unlikely to break towards him as he becomes more visible seems extremely plausible. That said I have none of the (in hindsight false) confidence I had in '16.
"
Yeah Nate is saying it's 60% in Trumps favor based, strictly, on the polls of swing states. Not a reassuring read at all.
On “From NY Mag: Freddie deBoer On Forcibly Treating the Mentally Ill”
How much of his writing do you read?
"
Sweet googly moogly, Philip me lad, you must have Freddie mistaken for someone else. He's been a flat out gen-u-ine self avowed communist for decades.
On “Open Mic for the week of 6/10/2024”
Media continues digging, looking for the bottom.
"
The Last Jedi had some... there there. I didn't regret watching it. I've watched scenes from it over again. It was middling as a film and as a Star Wars film specifically but there were ideas and notions there and some real good scenes to make old timers feel nice-ish.
The other two? Not worth the celluloid they weren't printed on.
"
My father, a cynical man by and large, spoke with a reverence that was somewhat close to religious about the initial scroll of the Star Destroyer at the beginning of episode 3/the first Star Wars.
"
Here's my summary:
The Force Awakens: A New Hope remixed. Seriously. Only Han Solo dies instead of Ben Kenobi. Also, you know everything that was accomplished in the previous six movies? Yeah, it all was for more of less nothing because reasons but mostly because tyrannies are effective and democracies are inept. Somehow they built a new Deathstar only it has infinite range and they built it without the resources of a galactic empire. Tyrannies apparently are very effective. Welcome back to A New Hope only, well, there not really a lot of hope. Also we have a new chosen one and she’s a girl. Yay! And the big bad’s name is Snoke. No really.
The Last Jedi: Yeah imagine a big galactic 9/11 happened only the whole country (galaxy) fell to Al Queda because of it. Don't ask us how, it just did. Anyhow, here's some pretty good discursions about the Jedi, some inane blather about democracies and tyrannies being the same, some lore destroying but cinematographically epic moment of hyperspace amazing, some fantastic use of Yoda (Frank Oz is a national treasure) and a genuine tear jerking moment between Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher (man can they act!). Then Luke Skywalker dies and it’s beautiful. Also Snoke got smoked faster than Duku became dukie.
The Rise of Skywalker: You remember how The Last Jedi had some kind of interesting if vague ideas about the Jedi/force users being less Skywalker centric, and various other kind of interesting things? Yeah, our directors hated those ideas so much we went full on the other way. Now the Skywalkers are all the Jedi… also all the Sith too. Remember how Snoke was stupid and then he dies, apparently he was just a catspaw for Palpatine. Also Palpatine is back and he’s Rei’s Grampa! He has a magic planet that can build enough space ships to take over the galaxy by itself. We need to find a mcguffin so we can get to the magic planet. Also, the galaxy taking over space ships have death star lasers on their noses that can blow up planets. And they get defeated because the power of friendship makes everyone in the galaxy drive their personal automobiles over to the magic planet (don’t ask about the Mcguffin) and use them to blow up the galaxy taking over space ships. Brought to you by a committee to build more Star Wars themed rides at Disney parks and the letter W!
"
John Cena is/was cute as a button too.
"
Oh sure one can argue about the lore/fan minuatae but Rise of Skywalker was shockingly terrible from jump in a more objective sense. The big bad just "poof" appears out of nowhere in the beginning intro. They say in their voiceover more or less "no one knows how, but somehow the Emperor has returned" then the film was simply a series of McGuffins, utterly idiotic contrived threats and somehow even more idiotic contrived solutions with Ray and her drama kind of spinning around in the middle of it.
The Last Jedi, in contrast, had at least some interesting themes and ideas while being, maybe, not that amazing a film product. Its hyperspace ramming scene, while perhaps an atrocity on a fan/lore level, was a genuinely impressive cinematic moment. Rise of Skywalker was, as far as I could perceive, utterly bereft of any mitigating factors.
Yes, we can handwave and say "it's all just fluff" but there is a difference between good fluff and poor fluff and absolutely terrible fluff.
"
Absolutely and it was mine too but the people voicing those opinions were people who were young when they saw the original trilogy and then are commenting unfavorably on the new one. The fans of the new trilogy were, at the time, too young to really talk much about it or be paid attention to. FWIW I don't think the new-new trilogy has a similar set of fans. I cannot conceive of how anyone, anywhere could like the excrescence of Rise of Skywalker.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Exploring Fallout (the Show, I Mean)”
Yeah we said Luck and Cha for Lucy, stamina and agility for Maximus and, yes!, we were like "Cooper danced with a power armor and won, he's got a bajillion levels".
On “Open Mic for the week of 6/10/2024”
Saul is correct here. What clearly happened is that Kavanaugh and Roberts let it be known to their peers that they were no votes on taking on this policy at this time in this way. So a loss for the pro-lifers was a given. The trade was they issued a narrow ruling on standing (so the pro-lifers didn't have any precedents baked into the cake on this policy loss) and exchange the pro-lifers provided unanimity.
Basically you give us a unanimous ruling on this, and in exchange your people can take another run at the policy once they come up with something that's somewhat less insane or, at least, is not timed right before the election.
"
I've read in several different places that people who watched the second trilogy who were the same age their elders were when they watched the first trilogy have a very similar fondness and attachment to the second trilogy as their elders have for the first. Perhaps Lucas just had the code cracked for appealing to a very specific age set.
Assuredly, though, with the partial exception of the Mandalorian and the full exception of Andor a lot of Disney Star Wars has seemed especially lousy and drekky. But I'm also a harsh judge since I'm infinitely more of a trekkie.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Exploring Fallout (the Show, I Mean)”
I am gratified as, if I recall, I strongly encouraged you to give it a chance and was very interested to get your read on the Fallout adaptation. Your reaction runs along similar lines to my own. I didn't play wasteland- I got on the Fallout train with Fallout (and boycotted 3 due to its, in my views at the time, heresies against turn based action and transformation into a shooter) and was extremely fond of it due to its writing and vibe.
I am going to put another marker down and bet that you will find the ghoul increasingly interesting/fun and will be a full on fan of his by seasons end.
Bonus: Do you and Maribou speculate on what each of the main characters strong SPECIAL stat is?
"
Yes! And you're only on episode 5! It gets better like Andy said!