Dr. MID-Nite

I just don't get the mentality of those who think having unaccountable armed militia on every street corner make us more "free". Probably just me though....sigh...

21 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

That happened years ago with Zimmerman.

Now we're fine with kids doing it too.

So apparently we're legalizing vigilantism. Sigh....

14 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

Got to disagree.  At least some progressives live in their own black and white world.  Different set of standards, sure, but can be equally intolerant and equally fantastic.

You are more than welcome to. Most of the jobs I've worked at had people of mixed political ideologies. In all cases, I found the left leaning individuals more grounded, realistic, and reasonable than the right leaning ones. This is of course merely anecdotal, but it has generally been my experience.

That's because liberals/progressives, etc. live in the real world where things are multifaceted and complicated. Reactionaries live in a world of black and white absolutes...no matter how much of a fantasy that world might be. It's easy to be consistent in your message when you don't have to acknowledge any other options.

15 hours ago, Old Man said:

Okay you guys can talk now.

 

Shang-Chi greatly exceeded my admittedly low expectations.  It worked as both a wuxia film and a MCU movie, and managed to tell a new story on top of that.  If I try real hard I can think of imperfections, but nothing that pulled me out of the movie or is otherwise even worth bringing up here.  Simu isn't Jackie or Donnie but he held up the action sequences surprisingly well, and I liked all the callbacks to classic martial arts movie tropes.

I generally liked it. My only major gripe was the immortal supervillain with super powers who could have conquered the entire world before 1500 (and that seemed to be his goal), but instead turns into a reclusive crimelord. Um...okay?

And people want this. Just mind staggeringly stupid....

World War 1, "The War to End All Wars", came to a conclusion on this date in 1918. Sadly, the end of the old world order didn't bring lasting peace as there was no clear idea as to what was to replace it. 😐

6 hours ago, zslane said:

Does its third act throw away all its plot and character development in favor of a mindless VFX-heavy final battle? Were you at all bothered by the notion presented by the movie that all of early humanity's achievements were thanks to the Eternals, rather than the result of humanity's own ingenuity? I know of at least one reviewer who was critical of these two things.

There is a final fight, but I don't think any character development is lost because of it. The movie seems to imply that Phastos wanted to give them much more advanced tech, but was held back....so I don't think humanity got "everything" from the Eternals. How much that element of the film bothers you is really up to each individual.

From my Facebook review....

Movie Review: (That recently released Marvel movie that shall for the moment remain nameless due to FB algorithms.) I found this movie pleasantly surprising. It's certainly not deserving of the hate it's been getting. The movie is long and is in general less action packed than other recent Marvel films. That's to be expected as the film is packed with characters that need at least a minimal amount of fleshing out. This movie is beautifully shot and the sense of scale in scenes involving the Celestials is impressive. The film also benefits from a good cast and impressive FX work. There are a few plot holes, but they're all minor. My only major gripe is that I would have liked more investigation into what a 5000 year old person would be like and the film only hints at that on occasion. In that sense, this would have worked somewhat better as a series. There's two post credit sequences...one of which was expected and the other which came as somewhat of a surprise. The film also has a very good end fight....which potential directors of a Superman/Flash clash should take note of. As far as the criticisms of it being "woke" (a term I hate by the way), if seeing people on screen who aren't WASPs bothers you that much, I can't help you. This film will be divisive, but as a foundation to build upon future cosmic level MCU stories, this really is a must see.

What boggles me is how people are brainwashed into opposing things they know nothing about. Critical Race Theory for example. I saw an interview where a guy was "absolutely" against it, but was unable to define it (like...at all) when asked. And this anti intellectualism is growing! I just don't get it.

14 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I'm still inclined to believe that if the Democrats had put up Bernie Sanders as their candidate in 2016, we wouldn't be in the position we are now. Sanders presented an impassioned message of hope and compassion, the diametric opposite to Trump's message of fear and hatred.

 

 

The Dems need to go balls to the wall. They have to push and advertise that they're pushing, policies that will measurably help the common folk, policies that most Americans like. If the Pubs block them the Dems have to shout from the rooftops that this help isn't getting to people because the Pubs won't allow it. Make them face consequences for obstructionism.

Sadly, I think the Bernie ship has long since sailed. I think the Reps will run on culture war BS and clean up and we'll suffer from another 10-20 years of reactionary nonsense.

I really don't want fascists in charge of America's military and nuclear arsenal. Sigh...

Honestly, I think most Americans want fascism at this point. It's going to be scary. I have seriously considered leaving the country. I won't be welcome in a fascist America.

My campaign is technically high powered at this point and I handle it by focusing more on story and character interaction/dialogue. I also tend to provide problems/conflicts that can't easily be solved by brute force alone.

I'd like to nominate artist Michael Golden who worked on such historic issues as Avengers Annual #10.

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I've always been struck by how deeply traumatized American society seemed to be by the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps it's because Americans felt secure on their own soil before that day, but the reaction seemed, frankly, out of proportion to the actual scale of loss. As a friend of mine who's an immigrant from Iraq put it, "In my country, every day was 9/11."

9/11 had the same affect as the Doolittle raid did during WWII. The actual damage wasn't the great, but the psychological effect it had on the Japanese was significant. They weren't invincible anymore.

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Major corrections recur in society. In most of the West we haven't had one since the fall of Communism. We're probably overdue.

The end of the Cold War definitely brought about political change, but relatively little social change IMO. We are overdue, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm looking forward to the chaos that usually comes with it.

I fear we are heading for another major social upheaval in society...something akin to the French Revolution. Clearly, the status quo isn't working. Now...the problem remains in how this will pan out.

I was in Las Vegas when the pandemic hit. They shut everything down and we had to leave.

I just really don't want to go through Trump 2.0. Weird I know...

On 10/21/2021 at 11:58 PM, Lectryk said:

 

You'd rather see nothing at all, than something? 

 

I wouldn't call 1.9 TRILLION in new spending a cut back, I'd call it a good start; this is all new spending, spending that doesn't exist right now, spending that will help Americans.  If the Democrats can deliver on that, they can springboard off that success in the second half of his term and get another 2 trillion in new spending.  Haven't you ever heard the quote 'The art of politics is the possible...'?  Or, 'Half a loaf is better than none'?  If everything and the kitchen sink isn't possible right now, then cut back til something is - your party can do whatever it wants, ffs - they control the entire process (until the mid term losses caused by their inability to deliver anything)!   They don't need Republicans!  Republicans aren't the problem here!  But the Democrats sure are a long way down the road to getting nothing at all, which will hurt America more than not passing SOME amount of new spending to address SOME of the the issues Progressives claim to care about.  

 

You want to be disappointed in something?  Be disappointed in the Progressives who demand so much, they kill the chances of getting progress.  Because it's not America cutting their chances this term, it's themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

And...as I said...this partial measure will be presented as a Democrat failure by the Reps and the Right in general and used as talking point to flip seats in Congress in 2024 and beyond. If it all gets rolled back in 2024 then all of the effort was for nothing. And it is open to debate that progressives are "demanding too much". Health care for example...most Americans want some sort of universal health care. So when progressives are advocating for that, it's what the populace wants. As far as the infrastructure bill, anyone with a lick of common sense knows that the country's infrastructure needs far most invested in it than even what was initially presented in the bill. So again, not seeing where this "progressives are too demanding" narrative is coming from. It's literally the opposite, reactionaries are demanding way too much on their end...against the will of Americans...the majority of whom support this bill. And the perception that the Dems aren't going to "deliver" as you say is exactly why they shouldn't settle for anything less than the full bill. Anything less will be seen as a failure....as I already said initially. Progressives are the majority in this country. We shouldn't be making all the compromises. The reactionaries sure as hell didn't give any concessions to progressives when they were in control.

So this infrastructure bill has been cut back so much that I don't even see why they're freaking bothering with it anymore. The reduced bill will be inadequate and will just be used as evidence of failure in the mid terms and the next presidential election. As usual, progressives compromise while the Right gives up....nothing. It'd be nice if sanity, justice, and progress won once in a while. Sigh....I'm so tired of being disappointed in America.

Cool trailer, but can a decent movie be made with such an obvious villain as the focus of the story? I mean he flat out kills a guy just for being near him. And....Shazam really needs to be in this.

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I continue to hold that this is a process of correction our entire civilization has needed for a long time. The pendulum swings. Most of us here living in developed countries grew up during a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity, which was unlikely to last. But this will almost certainly get worse before it gets better, because history suggests that the human race, collectively, has to start to drown before they're motivated to start learning to swim.

Humans...especially Americans...only respond to catastrophe. Sigh....