Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@anthracite YES YES YES <3 i still cherish my cameos in that one set <3 💋

@Chip_Unicorn @spottyfox THIS, my friends, is how you do politics. :D

@Chip_Unicorn @spottyfox Nah, I'm still all-in on Pigasus '24.

@chimerror Columbo is a joy. Little awkward guy solves crimes by raw intellect and being a master of weaponized humility. He is such a personal inspiration and taught me it's A HUGE STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE to be dismissed as a harmless idiot. :D

@chimerror (e.g. in a episode i recently rewatched, he paid off a friend on the force to take his firearm training class under his name, because he Just Refuses... :D )

@chimerror Nonetheless, Columbo will always be my exception that proves the ACAB rule... because I LOVE how consistently they stick to the lore that he hates guns, hates police work, is considered a nuisance by his fellow cops, and wants NO PART OF the headcracking whatsoever...

@chimerror And I can't say much, because I'm still a huge fan of Liberal Cop shows like Barney Miller and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I think there's *some* room for such things, as they kinda implicitly shame the system by making it look so easy to be a good cop.

But it does make me nervous that they're all predicted on the idea that you *can* be Good cops under this system and they're out there somewhere just under the rainbow (the one with the suspiciously thick blue line)...

@spottyfox Because this is America, and it doesn't matter if it's got the intellect of HFCS, you call it "President" just once and we'll try to vote it into office. 😼 And if you called it Overlord, they'd probably put in on a pedestal and start having mass rallies around it, even as it suggests our COVID policy should be "hssstfzzzpippippippip."

@Phorm @anthracite peg, i second that, sneakers is a real good film -- tonewise it's basically, like, ghostbusters except it's cryptography instead of dead people :D

@monsterblue fond memories of that one, saw it in the wild at a boston arcade my ex and i used to frequent!

checking in for holiday well-wishes 😽

sorry i've been scarce, miss y'all!

Anybody else watching Fargo Season 5 out there?

We tigers got some real nice pull quotes in E5 but I *really* wish they'd dial back the writing on Jon Hamm's MAGA sheriff a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the fact there's a mainstream TV villain who is an absolutely unapologetic Trumpie caricature. But this is a really frustrating trope for me.

I spent so much time debating conservatives in the interest of dumb centrist "fairness," back in the Livejournal days. I have a pretty good idea how they think.

Roy Tillman is FAR too willing to say the quiet parts out loud to convince me he's a real MAGA character. He's too honest about his motives, both with himself and others.

A MAGA sheriff doesn't walk straight up to, say, a feminist CEO and say "Well, I think women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen." He tests the water. He whips out one of the Standard Lines about how he loves American women and their independent spirit. He probably prods to see if maybe trans people make her as nervous as they make him. He seals the deal and saves the *open* misogyny for the strip clubs.

Because the modern right is all about fending off the constant reminders that their values are out of touch. Sheriff Roy's just not *paradoxical* enough in his thinking. He's not paranoid enough. They got the facade of strength absolutely right; they forgot the persecution complex.

How the hell can you have a convincing MAGA character without a persecution complex a mile wide and a habit of blaming others for their crimes?

@chimerror There are really fairly few *loathsome* characters. Even Cliff's attitude is... kinda understandable given what a thorn in his side Charlie's been, even if he's still an amoral dirtbag? And obviously any Ron Perlman villain is likeable, that's just Ron Powers...

@chimerror and yes i LOVE LOVE LOVE how often the show's formula is "Charlie met the victim just three days ago and made friends JUST before they got killed." (MILD SPOILER: Yeah, that Jessica Fletcher Syndrome she's got is gonna start catching up with her subtly by the end of the season...)

Another mild spoiler: there's a giallo-tribute episode coming up soon and it was so cool to see :O

@chimerror a lot of folks excepted charlie to be a TAD more ACAB about everything, too :> i *liked* her FBI buddy, they really went out of his way to make him a pleasant liberal Marge Gunderson type -- the sort who'd rather be going after Trump, I bet -- but i also really REALLY liked how much it was Charlie's style to serve justice any way BUT involving the authorities... ntm, i know you're Best Puppy and love everone but isn't trusting a fed kind of a lot for a wanted fugitive, Charlie hun? 🤔

@chimerror oh whew, if there's been any one episode my friends have found tough going it's been the nursing home one because... yeah. way to let us down, comrades.

@chimerror That's a good one. I've been pondering a magpie 'sona ever since. :D

@chimerror which episode? #CharlieCaleIsMyCopilot #CoyoteLadySolvesAMurder

@Orb2069 @anthracite threadwinner, right here 🏆

@anthracite you just named three things *intensely associated with coffee* (if you don't associate it with joyous intoxication YOU HAVEN"T DRUNK ENOUGH 😼 )

bit of an own-goal, babe, but your efforts are appreciated 😺

best i can really expect from a goddamn chai person😽