Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@xinjinmeng @001zlnv I was supposed to hear that as a line from Glengarrry Glen Ross 2060, correct? ^__^

@JulieSqveakaroo RACIST!

@hystericempress thank yooooooou sis! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 you're one of the best tactical advisors i could ask for

Gods help me, XCOM: Enemy Unknown was on sale so I sprang for it. There goes my weekend.

This is my first XCOM game ever. Any basic tips, nerds?

@Thaminga (sorry btw if I'm way overexplaining, i am so caffeinated today and on a new dose of wellbutrin *caroms off walls* :D )

@Thaminga Or to restate it, it's not the fact that if they can do it once they can do it every day. That's not innately true for all situations, and doesn't make allowances for the fact emergencies and force majeure can sometimes require unusual activities.

It's the fact that not only do we know damn well they have the cash to do it every day, and it would have solved a lot of other problems that nobody gave a shit about compared to the Crisis Du Jour... the system that wouldn't allow it was built with OUR labor and stolen wages.

@Thaminga Oh, I agree with you there! It's not that the argument isn't basically correct--it's that it needs to be restructured in order to not be so laughably easy to shoot down. To extend the metaphor: It's not enough to say "but why can't you buy me a drink every day"--you gotta grab the motherfucker's wallet and fan through the $4,000 he still owes you after screwing you in a business deal where you did all the legwork. :)

#moodsnapshot #oldpersonmusic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVPLPFoJL0

This is not nearly as chipper of a song as I'd always assumed. And that's kinda reassuring, because it's another song from a time when people had a very good reason think we were all completely clusterfucked.

And we're still clusterfucked, but here we are. And sweet dumpster gods, is it pretty out in NOLA today.

I was kinda proud of this one.

The music at Coffee Science continues to impress, and pander to, my aging trashpanda hipster ass. This is a pretty deep cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurdebtbQeM

I'm pretty sure they were playing The Damned earlier, too, and a ton of psych rock I don't even recognize.

While I support the values behind tweets like this, god they're getting on my nerves, because it's just such a weak-ass argument.

"If you could buy me a drink yesterday, why couldn't you buy me another one today and every day?"

Uh... because it costs money? And because doing it every day would cost a lot more money?

Deferring payments once in an emergency does NOT mean the same institution can afford to defer all payments forever. Delaying evictions because of force majeure does not mean that all evictions can stop forever. These things don't scale that easily.

The really maddening thing is that the criticism is still basically correct. All these things--housing, healthcare, education, debt--desperately need to be restructured. But that still doesn't make 365 days magically equivalent to one day.

Watching a 1995 TV movie "Colony" starring John Ritter. It's about a couple that moves into a draconian* surveillance-based gated community.

It's so full of lingering 80s-style moral panic about how carjackers and home invasions and crack addicts are going to destroy the delicate fiber of American society (as opposed to, you know, the billionaires who actually destroyed it).

Plenty of good old-fashioned "what if machines..." technoparanoia, too, of a sort I'm kind of surprised to see from the early Internet era. Again, fascinating to compare it to the Internet Of Shit that actually happened--instead of an overtly oppressive surveillance state, we have voluntary surveillance under consumer capitalism. (OK, we've got a little of each, but you know what I mean. :) )

And it's a perfect example of why I watch this stuff. It's so head-clearing to see the DOOOOOOMs of the past and remind myself that America's always been out of it's fucking mind.

*apologies to lizard frens for ethnic slur

Also... "We're Americans."

FUCK.

Best two-word thesis statement I've seen in a film. Can't think of a better one. (Even "Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!" took five...)

So yeah, Peg and I watched "Us" last night and we were both quite impressed. It was her first time, my second, and I'd love to discuss it with anyone else who's seen it.

It's just one of those films where the best part is delving into all the little bits of symbolism and allegory for weeks afterwards... I feel like there's so much that *might* have been portentous and I totally missed.

Like what was up with Tethered Kitty threatening Adelaide, then turning the scissors on herself? Was there symbolism there beyond "This person is disturbed and deeply creepy?" Was it related to the lip-gloss scene?

And one tiny thing that bothered me was how many times Red delayed what could have been an easy kill... yet, it felt like there may have been some good explanations, like the line about "We want to take our time." She didn't kill Jason right after abducting him, which seemed off... yet, could it have been due to the same maternal instinct that had Adelaide mourning for Pluto and Umbrae?

But the thing that really fascinated me is how lovably, capably WEIRD Jason and Zora were, ESPECIALLY Jason. Am I off the rails, or was there some implication that they both might be, you know, kinda attuned to Something Weird because they're effectively the kids of a changeling?

I absolutely fucking loved them both and the implication that They Weren't Like The Other Kids and that this was almost entirely *positive*, is maybe part of the reason they lived and so many other families died. Jason and his mask gave me SO MANY FEELS for my fantasy-prone childhood, my supportive and patient mom, and especially my weird-ass changeling friends like you all. <3 <3 <3

@zx3 Let's see, if you were related to Lynn Tanner from ALF, there's NO WAY you of all people would have never mentioned this in all the years I've known you...

@zx3 I'm gonna guess Jeffrey Jacquet just because that's the coolest option. :D

@xinjinmeng Yup, basically ALL the negative comments in its Wikipedia "Reception" section are classic 80s moral panic..

Gods help me, I'm about to watch a show about "computer hackers" from 1983...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiz_Kids_(TV_series)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDdVbOcUlTo

"Bullshit makes the flowers grow, and that's beautiful."