Red Band trailer, so NSFW.
Shōgun Improves on a Notorious Orientalist Blockbuster
Clavell’s Shōgun is a primo dad book. It’s a historical novel led by a burly white dude upon whom men can project themselves, over whom women fawn, and who ultimately lands a total babe. Granted, this white dude is based on a real figure—William Adams, also known as Miura Anjin, who became a Western samurai and advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu—but beyond the bare bones of the historical events, Clavell made the tale his own. That’s a nice way of saying he wrapped the story in enough overt racism to make a certain kind of man feel both superior (because they’d never say that kind of thing, honest!) and yet seen (because they absolutely would—and do). Japanese characters stutter through European names—something Clavell seemed to get a kick out of, given how often he styled Blackthorne as some uncomfortable variation of “B’rack’forn” in a phonetic mockery of Japanese people’s accented English. That’s not to mention the book’s fascination with Blackthorne’s enormous white penis (really), just one of many strange ways that the novel reduces Japanese women to exotic, wanton dolls who apparently have no word for “love.”
It’s the Millennial gooner sweet spot:
1. Everything from the past is racist and bad and racist.
2. If an old straight White man created it see (1)
3. If old straight White men enjoy it see (1)
Language also plays a pivotal role in this recentering of the Japanese perspective. The Japanese language in Clavell’s novel is, like his grasp of history, clumsy at best. FX’s Shōgun, by contrast, takes place almost exclusively in Japanese, spoken by an overwhelmingly Japanese cast. For all its Western pomp and big-budget production value—the series was filmed in Vancouver—it is, at its heart, a Japanese series. It’s a dramatic shift, one that feels almost like a reclamation of a story that was only ever Eurocentric in the author’s narrow-minded thinking. All of this coalesces into a story that is both historically and artistically more authentic in time and place than its source material—and even, I would hazard to say, any previous depiction of Japan in Western cinema and television
The Goonlennial doesn’t seem aware that there was a previous adaptation at all. Them must be kicking theyself for the missed thempurtunnity to make clownself over a miniseries filmed 43-years-ago. In Japan. Where the cast of Japanese people from Japan spoke Japanese without subtitles for the most part.
I hate the future. Instead of flying cars and laser guns, we got lazy idiots with the IQ of an ass polyp doing moronic media criticism.
Also, you know that dipshit didn’t actually read. __Shōgun.__
McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”
MASSIE FOR SENATE
Wasn’t there a very similar movie with Tom Cruise?
That was Last Samurai, a totally different white savior story.
Read the book. Watched the first adaption. I may need to watch the new one. I hate the idea of subscribing to another service. But I fucking hate disney so much I need to find out how to watch it without paying them anything.
[cough]torrents[cough]
But, I’d have to actually learn something new to do that.
Yeah, that is a huge drawback.
Throw away e-mail address + Free trial?
If I can sneak in Andor at the same time . . . . .
Something to investigate.
I’m so tired of this shit. Ukrainians? Palestinians? Who cares? Time to unify the belts. It’s Germans vs. Mongols, and every country has to take a side. Let’s settle this thing once and for all.
Settle it? Fuck that. Where is the money laundering for the ruling scum to be had in that?
Really. That would be like a pharma curing cancer – no money in that.
So long as the Celts get their territory back, I’m in.
South Boston?
/breaks out a copy of
ShogunSamurai SwordsIkusa.The flat-pack book you assemble yourself?
Oh, shit. I forgot. The FX adaptation is so authentic the lead actress is from New Zealand.
And was in a J-Pop band called “Fakey.” Which is irony so thick you could spread it on toast.
It appears you have succumbed to a sudden case of Alanis Morissette Syndrome. What a shame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32LCwZFoKio
Actual irony: “it’s like a black fly, in your chardonnay…that was specifically purchased, to repel black flies…”
I’m prescribing you this video as treatment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T0aJnJU7-c
You mean less than nothing to me. Am I being ironic?
I’d say you’re just being negative.
I read that in the voice of Hedonismbot.
And when people type in ALL CAPS, I read it in the voice of Julia Child.
And when people type in ALL CAPS, I read it in the voice of Julia Child.
I always “hear” it as shouting, but now it’s gonna be Julia, all the time.
Still don’t approve of ALL CAPS, but that massively improves it.
Best adaption
The lead actress in the first adaptation wasn’t even fluent in English. She had to memorize her English lines by sound.
+1 Doug Jones
+1 Gert Frobe
And ended up during porn later in her career. [hat tip: Heroic Mulatto]
Just the tip?
Huh. Did not know that.
One of the Jesus Christ Superstar, Paul Thomas, ended up a porn star.
Now, that you can spread on toast!
But did she take BWC?
+1 Sly Stallone
“Language also plays a pivotal role in this recentering of the Japanese perspective. The Japanese language in Clavell’s novel is, like his grasp of history, clumsy at best. FX’s Shōgun, by contrast, takes place almost exclusively in Japanese, spoken by an overwhelmingly Japanese cast. For all its Western pomp and big-budget production value—the series was filmed in Vancouver—it is, at its heart, a Japanese series. It’s a dramatic shift, one that feels almost like a reclamation of a story that was only ever Eurocentric in the author’s narrow-minded thinking. All of this coalesces into a story that is both historically and artistically more authentic in time and place than its source material—and even, I would hazard to say, any previous depiction of Japan in Western cinema and television”
Yes, but they decided to use the equivalent of Elizabethan English for the Japanese. And they also decided that they wouldn’t have the women sitting the way did in period. Or be made up with period correct make up or the blackened teeth that was the style. Because…
Blackened teeth?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth_blackening
This was references in Blue Eye Samurai. The high-class women stained their teach black.
So will eating betel nuts, ala Vietnamese older generation
…and they don’t use Pepsodent.
Now ain’t that too damn bad.
I also enjoyed how them completely missed the point of Lost In Translation. You know, the point that was literally in the fucking title.
Missed that!
Loved that film even before I started studying Japanese.
*hate-clicks through to the article*
Oh, FFS. As you say, that was the entire gorram point of that movie.
I love that movie because it so very perfectly captured how out-of-place I felt in Tokyo, as in no other foreign city I visited.
There were times in Italy or Germany where I could think I was home or at least somewhere in the US. I _never_ felt that in Tokyo.
“recentering of _________”
gets an immediate banhammer from me. I know not to waste my precious time any further.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said.
Why would he say this.
Shaming Biden and his caretakers.
President Joe Biden, who has had a productive working relationship with McConnell, said he was sorry to hear the news.
“I’ve trusted him and we have a great relationship,” the Democratic president said. “We fight like hell. But he has never, never, never misrepresented anything.”
Maybe if it wasn’t from one 80 year old to another, but also sounds like they are bros.
Fight like hell? Sounds like insurrectionist talk to me.
Well, that would mean Joe is the only person he never lied to.
Too bad McConnell didn’t recognize that 30 years ago
I am linking this again because fucking awesomeness
High speed camera drone chasing Max Verstappen’s F1 car.
I watched that earlier, fucking awesome. I will watch it again.
“the novel reduces Japanese women to exotic, wanton dolls”
Or would that be exotic won-ton dolls? Totally not trolling Swiss, I swear.
Gyoza Dolls
One ton dolls? Paging Tres Cool.
[golf clap]
That would be Suki-yucky!
*gets hot mustard and duck sauce ready*
To paraphrase Wayne and Garth — of course not… that would be gay, shyeah!
Or celebrate them?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri
Also, you know that dipshit didn’t actually read. __Shōgun.__
Yep. Zero chance he actually read it himself.
Also, I guarantee that twerp owns a waifu pillow. Probably with a loli on it.
Shotacon.
It is a rather long book, with many viewpoints that are difficult for a small, simple mind to manage.
DEI means never to have to read the book!
That is how it goes, right?
Appeals court denies request to delay $464M fraud judgment after Trump offers to post $100M bond
The former president had sought to post a fraction of the bond amount.
Got him on the ropes now.
Sell all the buildings in NY to Russians, hand the money to the judge.
That’s a nice way of saying he wrapped the story in enough overt racism to make a certain kind of man feel both superior (because they’d never say that kind of thing, honest!) and yet seen (because they absolutely would—and do)
Huh. As I recall the book, the Japanese devoted a lot of their time to laughing up their sleeves about what an uncouth savage he was.
Correct. His crew was beyond redemption. And it took a lot of effort to civilize the main character.
That’s the way I remember it too. There was mutual aversion and puzzlement, but it’s only racism when white people do it. When others do it in the direction of white people, it’s just sound judgement.
This reviewer clearly identified with the Jesuit.
I distinctly remember them being disgusted by his preferred diet.
There is a thing in human nature….to ensure genetic diversity. It manifests as stag rituals where men of one remote community change places one night each year with the men of neighboring communities. It also manifest most visibly today in interracial sexual interests and STEVE SMITH rape fantasies.
If you step back and think about it the whole of human sexuality bit is kinda gross and bothersome.
“If you knew all of the sexual proclivities of everyone on earth there is no person you would not consider a pervert.” – Samuel Clemens
Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to get laid. Back in a while…
‘stag rituals where men of one remote community change places one night each year with the men of neighboring communities’
I’ve never heard of this. Where is this practiced?
“the novel reduces Japanese women to exotic, wanton dolls”
Wait. Is that supposed to be bad?
Probably the truest aspect of the story.
I am not aware of any primitive cultures that do not treat women as property.
Progressivism is very primitive.
Speaking of aging out
President Joe Biden faces a clear and present physical danger to his person due to his decline. But the public spectacle of his enfeebled nature also begs a different question: Why is the First Lady not putting an end to her husband’s repeated and consistent public humiliation? Why aren’t his children or grandchildren doing the right thing for their loved one?
President Biden needs an intervention.
——-
If insisting on keeping a frail and doddering senior in the White House (or any job for that matter), exposing him to daily physical risk, demanding he perform tasks beyond his mental and physical capacity or stamina and world ridicule isn’t elder abuse, what is? Are there any adults in the Biden family “room” who will finally call a lid not just on the President’s repeated public humiliations but on his tenure writ large?
Doktor Grandma knows best.
It would be sad if he didn’t deserve the public humiliation.
It does not ‘beg the question’.
When I hear people use that phrase in the context the first word that pops in my head is ‘ignoramus’.
Hmmm…Cohen went to Toronto U, not Columbia. That explains it.
What about when Huntress really wants a night on the town?
“loved one”
Assumes facts not in evidence
I can’t help thinking The Turtle set the step down time when he did to maximize the time to mess up the Stupid Party before the election.
I suppose we’ll see…
The Turtle Moves.
May a screaming eagle pick up the turtle and drop him from a great height onto a rock.
+1
It makes sense that he can’t do it immediately.
I was thinking that giant bill to send $billions to every warzone felt like a last shot at a big kickback payday.
“Researchers in Massachusetts and California spent four years evaluating more than 400,000 US adults in 27 states to examine the link between cannabis use and issues like heart disease and stroke.
The team found that any type of cannabis use – smoking, vaping, or edibles – was ‘associated with a higher number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.’
And those who used weed daily had a 25 percent higher risk of heart attack and 42 percent increased chance of suffering a stroke.
This could be because the active ingredient in cannabis, THC, has been thought to trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, which raises heart rate and blood pressure. Over time, this wears away at the heart.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13135909/cannabis-heart-attack-stroke-risk-marijuana.html
Maybe because they spend more time on their ass eating junk food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp6gaB-YmVA
So just drink alcohol instead. That is much healthier.
You don’t get juicy research grants for figuring out the Occam’s Razor explanation. You get grants for twisting yourself into knots to avoid obvious explanations. SCIENCE!
“‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ star and comedy legend Richard Lewis dead at 76 ”
https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/entertainment/richard-lewis-dead-curb-your-enthusiasm-actor-dies-at-76/
RIP
Yeah, RIP. He was a funny guy.
Cunning plan: one each
In Chicago in 1968, amid toxic national divisions, on a sweltering August day, Democratic party leaders chose someone other than the sitting U.S. president as their nominee. By following Lyndon Johnson’s example of stepping aside, and endorsing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in this year’s election, President Joe Biden could save the country he loves and has served faithfully for five decades.
Another Donald Trump presidency would be a global disaster. Trump is a criminal defendant who will destroy NATO, encourage China and Russia to harm our allies, mutate the U.S. into an authoritarian country by continuing to sabotage democracy, and use the government as a tool for his enrichment. Yet despite the risks, polls suggest Biden’s age gives Trump a decent chance of winning in November.
Biden is perfectly capable of making good decisions, and on his worst day is infinitely more reliable a steward than the conman Trump. He has successfully shepherded a post-pandemic economic recovery, helped Ukraine to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperial visions, and is finally moving to somehow ease the border crisis—despite a faction of House Republicans whose organizing principle is nihilism.
WHEEEEEEEE!
“Biden is perfectly capable of making good decisions”
Stated without evidence.
I was thinking “Oh? When will he start doing that?”
That they think Frau Statsfuhrer Whitmer…. she of the “Thou shalt not buy gardening supplies unless I feel like letting you.”… “Thou shalt not travel (unless thou art my husband, that’s fine)…”, etc. is a credible candidate is such a depressing commentary on the state of the country it isn’t even funny.
I mean, just dig up Lenin’s corpse and be done with it already, Evil Party.
What drugs is he on?
polls suggest Biden’s age gives Trump a decent chance of winning in November.
He’s really the perfect candidate otherwise.
People love this administration’s policies, but they just can’t help being ageist.
No disrespect SF, but today’s music from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYh0XAoIi1U
Also, you know that dipshit didn’t actually read. __Shōgun.__
That’s like saying water is wet.
It might be helpful to note that Clavell spent years in a Japanese POW camp, so perhaps the Japanese people he met were not the most cordial.
From a recent MSN article:
***
As a British prisoner of war in Changi Jail during the Second World War, James Clavell was approached one day by a Japanese officer, who offered to lend him his samurai sword. Clavell declined this opportunity to commit hara-kiri; but he was struck by the thoughtfulness of this officer, who assumed Clavell would be eaten up with shame at having allowed himself to be captured.
Incarcerated by the Japanese in one of the most notorious prisons of all time, Clavell developed a fascination with his captors, finding their ruthlessness and rigid codes of honour both repellent and inspiring.
***
And so once more we see that the so-called tolerant are appallingly and willfully ignorant of other cultures.
link
In 1980 Clavell oversaw the making of a five-part television adaptation of Shōgun, filmed entirely in Japan and starring the leading swashbuckler of the era Richard Chamberlain as Blackthorne, alongside Toshiro Mifune and Yoko Shimada. As executive producer, Clavell insisted against the advice of the network executives that long stretches of the series should be in Japanese without subtitles, to emphasise the disorientating effect on Blackthorne of finding himself in this alien world after being shipwrecked.
or the blackened teeth that was the style. Because…
I have seen this in movies and wondered WTF? I thought maybe it was some sort of dietary phenomenon.
Just ahead of their time.
Someone above linked to a description of practice. It preserved the teeth. So, black teeth would mean that you well to do and that your teeth would last your life time.
Betel nut consumption also discolors the teeth
https://www.healthline.com/health/betel-nut-dangers#takeaway
Speaking of SCIENCE!-
There is a new study making the media rounds about boiling your drinking water to “neutralize” the microplastic “toxins” with which it is saturated.
If those microplastics were half as lethal as some people want to make them out to be, we’d all be long dead.
I know someone who studies that. There are bits of plastic in EVERY sample of water. Even water from the store that comes in glass bottles. But, we don’t know what harm it does, if any.
How would boiling do anything, unless you ran it through a still with no plastic parts, that was cleaned with water that was also distilled?
Mrs. TOK is under the weather and watching a streaming series in the other room. Several episodes of two people who should get together but don’t, and when they finally do they immediately kill off one of the characters. She HATES that. I have seen her throw a book across the room for this reason. This time she threw the remote.
In fact, in all the swing states—the only ones that matter for America’s bizarre and antiquated Electoral College system—polls show Trump is generally ahead. Meanwhile, the same polls show Trump losing to almost any generic Democrat.
So, just as Biden’s case in 2020 was that he was the one who could beat Trump—a challenge because of the fanaticism of the MAGA cult—now he is the one who just possibly cannot. Like Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame, Biden can decide to sacrifice himself for the good of the universe.
Serious journalism, for serious people.
It doesn’t matter. The dems will cheat. Biden will win. The system will destroy Trump. There will be no recourse.
I see we have taken the same black medication.
TID
https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/us-news/biden-heads-to-annual-physical-as-hunter-arrives-for-impeachment-deposition/
The president doesn’t need a cognitive test…
That sounds like: there is no voter fraud because we’re not going to look for it.
Pass the pills, plz.
There seem to be Dems I read that are quite concerned about losing. If the fix was in, they should all be talking about “relax, it’s not going to happen”, but they aren’t.
If you want a proper deconstruction of Shogun this is quite good.
https://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/learning/Learning_from_shogun_txt.pdf
Speaking of Warriors and Orientalism…
Do you like kung fu? Do you like naked Asian chicks? Warrior on Netflix has you covered!
First series is awesome. Remaining less so…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_Fantasy
Joint simultaneous Taiwan and Japan production. Thought it would suck, but the camp level was Saturday UHF perfection.
Speaking of stained dresses and presidue…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/02/27/monica-lewinsky-reformation-voter-campaign-fashion/72756003007/
In Romancelandia, there is a perpetual argument about the May-December romance and/or boss/underling romance about a power imbalance, making the whole trope problematic because the older/more powerful dude can pressure the ingenue into things she doesn’t really want to do. (Disclaimer: I fucking LOVE this trope and have spent quite a bit of time defending it.) The argument is usually that the ingenue just isn’t mature enough to fully consent and thus, is skirting the edge of rape. That, or her livelihood is dependent on doing what her boss wants.
Anyway.
The subject of Monica Lewinsky came up one day and boy, did she get dogpiled by a bunch of women who have made their hatred of the ingenue/experienced older man clear in the past.
I spoke up and said, “Now, wait a minute. If that were a romance novel, you all would be slamming it from sunrise to sunset. There is NOTHING different about that relationship than in the novels you hate, except the dude’s married. She’s fucking 20, and an unpaid intern, and he’s over twice her age, and the President of the United States and you think there’s no power imbalance there?”
“This isn’t a romance novel,” “She’s an adult and should know better,” and other noises making it clear she was fully in charge and Slick Willy was as good as a bystander.
That’s when I started to feel sorry for Monica Lewinsky.
The hypocrisy was breathtaking.
I’ve seen that shit a lot. Every woman is a victim except Monica. She preyed on that poor virtuous Bill Clinton. There’s drinking the Flavor-Aid and there’s out-right guzzling it.
Yes!
It’s disgusting.
The older I get, the more sympathy I have for Monica.
She was treated badly by… everyone.
Same.
I have sympathy for her. She has never been allowed to have a normal life, but seems to have made the best of it.
How does she look like Kari Lake all of a sudden?
It’s because she was chubby and unattractive, obviously if Bill was going to pressure some young thing into bumping uglies he’d go after a hot intern, ergo she was the instigator – chasing after Bill and taking advantage of the fact that all men are pigs. Bill was the victim.
You are absolutely right.
LOL
In DC, especially at that level, sex is 100% transactional. Nobody in the higher DC echelons finds sex pleasurable. Their best orgasms are when they’re jerking it to omnibus spending bills and such. So physical beauty plays no part. I’m guessing Bill was fucking all the interns, including ones way uglier and fatter. Just because he could.
Objection – based on other accusations, Bill’s totally into chubby chicks.
I mean, he’s not Tres, but Tres is a man of rare tastes.
On the one hand, she was an adult, and it didn’t seem that she was pressured into anything. On the other hand, if there was ever a power imbalance, that was it, and feminists had spent a lot of time convincing people that power imbalances in such relationships is bad. On the gripping hand, I always thought it was a lot of feigned outrage from the Republicans as revenge for Clarence Thomas and Senator Packwood.
As a 20yo, I would have had my head turned to have a powerful, charismatic man’s attention as an object of desire, especially if I was already feeling the high of being in rarefied air. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to think, “This guy’s gonna throw me under the bus.” Heaven knows what he said to her to seduce her. Maybe he didn’t have to say much of anything but “Wanna fud?” Maybe she just wanted a trophy, and if so, good on her, but I’m still not going to say she got what she deserved when she had the entirety of Capitol Hill, the White House, the media, and the country all up in her hoo-ha, with almost no allies.
That woman is marvelously resilient. I would have run off to Europe with a backpack and a good pair of tennis shoes, changed my name, and maybe visited Russia in the winter.
It’s much better to visit Russia not in the winter.
You know, freezing to death isn’t the worst way to go. You shiver for a little while, then go to sleep.
“I’m still not going to say she got what she deserved when she had the entirety of Capitol Hill, the White House, the media, and the country all up in her hoo-ha, with almost no allies.”
Can’t disagree with you there.
I have mixed feelings. She came to DC To play the game, and play it at a very high level. No intern comes to DC, especially the WH, that doesn’t have burning hot ambition in some way or another. She got burned. It’s part of the game she thought she wanted to play.
On the other hand, she was very very young and intellectually and emotionally undeveloped. And I don’t think she deserved to take all of the heat while that gross grifter psychopathically charmed his way forward.
Bingo! But she like all of us at one time was young and stupid.
And thrown under the bus by who she thought was a friend.
Ray of sunshine. Harvard had to hit the old endowment.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13133891/Harvard-bond-sale-gay-ackman-donors-donations.html
Taibbi’s got a new piece out about Gemini, and the libels it generates. Google may have hit the self-destruct button.
One can hope.
Taibbi’s pen to gods ears.
By the way, Taibbi links a Matt Walsh video, who is someone I don’t normally pay attention to. But it that video there is a Google townhall (so lame calling it that) were ever employee is wearing a propeller beanie. Yeah, no wonder you are the most bigoted company that the US has ever seen. You have nitwits who have no idea about the rest of the world running the damn place. Single line of thought is so damn destructive. for you and for us.
I interviewed there in about 2006 and it felt incredibly woke then, even though I had never heard of the word. They assured me they only hired people from the best schools, which told me they were in a bubble. A very arrogant bubble.
Reckless disregard for truth baked into the AI – I just don’t think they have an escape clause for the libels it spits out.
Siri, what’s the quickest way to the beach?
A Canadian tourist is lucky to be alive after he apparently took a wrong turn on a remote road in Hawaii and drove his rental car off a 60-foot cliff, before falling out of the vehicle and getting washed out to sea, authorities said.
The 27-year-old man, whose name was not released, was rescued by firefighters and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew after several fishermen saw the crash and called 911, officials said.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
[J. G. Ballard is visibly erect]
[dead, yes]
[still erect]
Ah, by Green Sand Beach. My wife and I walk there a few years back – the locals will drive you (in blatant violation of the “no driving” rules) for a few bucks.
Were I a betting man I’d say he was trying to drive to Green Sand in violation of his rental agreement. “I took a wrong turn” tries to avoid voiding his rental insurance for going off-road.
“The president doesn’t need a cognitive test … that is the assessment of the president’s doctor, that is the assessment of the neurologist,” Jean-Pierre said.
He guessed correctly which door in the exam room was the exit, and did not get trapped in the closet.
Maybe he took his handlers into the exam room.
So he’s not as senile as many make him out to be? Good, then Hur can indict if Joe isn’t a frail old man with memory issues.
The argument is usually that the ingenue just isn’t mature enough to fully consent and thus, is skirting the edge of rape. That, or her livelihood is dependent on doing what her boss wants.
Woman as helpless mental cripple. That’s inspiring.
I love the trope because it’s a nostalgia thing for me. I was cutting my teeth on those Harlequins by the time I was 13/14/15. There was always the hint that the heroine could walk away if she wanted to, and he wasn’t pressing her for anything she didn’t want to give (or take for herself). I NEVER felt like the heroine was in a risky position, which, let’s face it, “be attractive, don’t be unattractive” was the absolute foundational rule for the dude.
Anyhoo, I wrote one as an homage to those little Harlequins and the gothic romances that had a bit of terror thrown in.
55yo me is a little “ew, gross,” but that’s what time does to you. Or should, if it’s working right.
It was always an option that Sally Hemings seduced the lonely widower.
Successful small businesses create wealth. We needed a study for this.
More Black-owned businesses would mean more Black-held jobs, researchers say, which would go a long way toward closing the economic gap in which the average white household owns $215,000 more wealth than the average Black household.
I wonder if there were more black-owned SMEs prior to passage of the Civil Rights Act? It could very well be that the CRA did to an important foundation of the black middle class what it did to the black nuclear family.
Biden’s in great shape
Would you let him drive your children or grandchildren to school?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-health-summary-released-white-house-president-called-healthy-robust
Well no. But I wouldn’t have allowed that 2 decades ago, either. He’s always been a creep.
(disclaimer: I don’t actually have children – but still…)
People who are healthy and robust often need help dressing themselves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87aPi_qwL1k
They also often fall down stairs or off bikes.
I remember when people joked about Ford…..
The good news is that they got there alive, the bad news is that they were molested en route.
There seem to be Dems I read that are quite concerned about losing. If the fix was in, they should all be talking about “relax, it’s not going to happen”, but they aren’t.
I have seen several articles recently about how Trump’s “victories” just show how weak and vulnerable he is. They have more than a tinge of whistling past the graveyard.
Tubi changed its logo. 😐
As I expect to have another teaching job soon, I present the following:
Spot the Not: reasons teachers have been fired/punished
1. Wearing an Indian headdress while chanting “socatoa!”
2. Explaining the meaning of the Gadsden Flag
3. Wearing a cardboard pirate hat, captioning it “drunken pirate” and posting a picture of it on MySpace
4. Showing excerpts from the graphic novel version of the Diary of Anne Frank
5. Teaching that white privilege is a fact of life
6. For not using a student’s preferred pronouns
#3
That’s the one I want teaching my kid.
Too easy – #5.
No teacher would get fired for that.
2 – Since all teachers are commie scum none of them would understand the meaning so they couldn’t possible explain it.
They all know better. Freedom is slavery. Obviously.
#6
#1 if it was a male teacher, white women can play Indian with minimal consequences.
“1. Wearing an Indian headdress while chanting “socatoa!””
I posted that video here a long time ago. She looked insane, but was just trying to teach trigonometry.
Wearing that silly placebo mask bothers me more than her goofy antics.
The Hyperbole wins it!
Here is a video of #1:
Oh, how hard she tried to make trigonometry interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h88YSHm466U
I found that an explanation of mils on an artillery compass got the attention of my students. Not quite trig, but it was a stepping stone.
No fair. My kid’s history teacher did, in fact, explain the meaning of the Gadsden flag that was hanging in his classroom.
Good for that teacher. Some of us aren’t commie scum.
In Tanzania, I was invited as the guest speaker when the students were learning about the Cold War. One question I got was: why does the US oppose socialist governments?
My answer was that such governments usually become tyrannical, nationalize foreign assets, and make it hard for American businesses to operate there.
But enough about the USA…
Fair’s got nothing to do with it.
James O’Keefe meets Judge Arthur Engoron
A friend sent me this with the tagline “scary”…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
Okay, great. End of democracy, etc. What really jumped out at me was this linked within…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Marxism_conspiracy_theory
“The term “Cultural Marxism” refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory that misrepresents the Frankfurt School as being responsible for modern progressive movements, identity politics, and political correctness.”
It gets better.
Project 2025 sounds pretty good. I’ll be in my bunk.
How is calling out Cultural Marxism anti-Semitic?
Because a bunch of the originators were Socialist Jews from Frankfurt, Germany, hence the term “Frankfurt School”.
***
Among Marxists, Gramsci is noted for his theory that cultural hegemony is the means to class dominance. In his view, a new “Communist man” had to be created through a changed culture before any political revolution was possible. This led to a focus on the efforts of intellectuals in the fields of education and media.
Georg Lukacs believed that for a new Marxist culture to emerge, the existing culture must be destroyed. He said, “I saw the revolutionary destruction of society as the one and only solution to the cultural contradictions of the epoch…. Such a worldwide overturning of values cannot take place without the annihilation of the old values and the creation of new ones by the revolutionaries.”
In 1923, Lukacs and other Marxist intellectuals associated with the Communist Party of Germany founded the Institute of Social Research at Frankfurt University in Frankfurt, Germany. The Institute, which became known as the Frankfurt School, was modeled after the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow. In 1933, when Nazis came to power in Germany, the members of the Frankfurt School fled. Most came to the United States and many became influential in American universities. The Frankfurt School’s studies combined Marxist analysis with Freudian psychoanalysis to form the basis of what became known as “Critical Theory.”
Critical Theory was essentially destructive criticism of the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, authority, the family, patriarchy, hierarchy, morality, tradition, sexual restraint, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, heredity, ethnocentrism, convention and conservatism.
***
https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/other/political-correctness-cultural-marxism/
And it’s been taught in sociology classes ever since.
Demonstrable, documented history is a white-nationalist conspiracy theory. 100 years of academics writing enough books to fill giant tax-subsidized libraries full of this drivel and we’re all just imagining it. Because racism.
Saying people can’t criticize Cultural Marxism because it’s creators were Jewish sounds a lot like Cultural Marxism.
Such a worldwide overturning of values cannot take place without the annihilation of the old values and the creation of new ones by the revolutionaries.
Rather Nietzschean, yet to do so they have to abandon every aspect of Marxism which is rooted in those old values. A conundrum, no?
It’s like she never left
Author Marianne Williamson announced Wednesday that she is “unsuspending” her presidential campaign, claiming American voters are “watching a car crash in slow motion” with the current candidates.
“Hey, I have an important announcement to make. As of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Williamson said in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
——-
Williamson’s announcement came just after the Michigan primary election results, where former President Trump and President Biden easily won their respective primaries, but not without signs some voters from both parties are unhappy about their likely nominee.
In her video, the author called Trump a “fascist” who must be defeated. She also questioned Biden and his economic agenda.
“What’s going on here? Well, I’ll tell you what’s going on here: ‘We the People’ basically don’t own this country right now,” she said, adding that presidential politics has become corrupt with corporate interests.
——-
She argued Wednesday that “we need a president” who will eliminate student loan debt and provide Medicare for all, tuition-free college, paid family leave and guaranteed living wages, among other initiatives.
Williamson also highlighted the economic issues facing many Americans in her comeback message. A majority of Americans experience economic anxiety, and she argued that returning the country to a time when “we actually had a thriving middle class” is what it means to make America great again.
If Trump is a fascist, what does that make Biden?
I’d be kind of interested in her definition of the middle class. Teachers, cops and firemen, probably. Stalwart public servants, living from one government paycheck to another.
‘We the People’ basically don’t own this country right now,” she said, adding that presidential politics has become corrupt with corporate interests.”
She’s not wrong.
The new Fyre Festival – Willy Wonka “immersive” experience (TW CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/02/28/willy-wonka-experience-scam-scotland-hunt-foster-ctm-vpx.cnn
😆
https://x.com/DanManCarney/status/1762906441436799254
I LOL’d
Meh, $40 rip-off isn’t exactly Fyre.
Watched both the documentaries on that – it was wild, regardless of whose claims you believe.
The one where they showed him running the new email scam at the end was gobsmacking
Just incredible.
Highly recommended to any Glibs who haven’t watched either doc.
Along the same lines, the Polka King (on Netflix) is based on a guy who wound up starting a Ponzi scheme. An entertaining film,
Thanks, will add.
I love a good doc.
Ah, not a doc. But will still add.
The first thing I ever streamed on Netflix was the documentary “The King of Kong”, I just checked wiki it came out in 2007. This January the ponytailed guy and the record keeping arcade finally resolved the lawsuits. 17 years fighting about a video game high score.
That’s a fantastic doc, stupid lawsuits aside.
Agreed, surprisingly entertaining for a doc about nerds playing nerd games. They did a great job of setting up villain and hero, even if they (most likely) made ponytail guy out to be more of a douche than he actually was/is.
I watched that one twice and laughed uncontrollably for about the first half hour without taking a breath. I woke up the next morning giggling.
It’s the Wish dot com version of Fyre Festival
I’m-a get hours of entertainment out of this
* scrolls moar Tweeter *
https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-price-surges-past-60000/
Bitcoin is over $62k right now. It seems likely it will break its all time high of roughly $68k before the next halving in April.
Makes gold look downright reasonable.
I tried to post some prime derp, but the squirrels ate it. Hopefully this cleanses their palates.
From MSN this morning:
US Biology Textbooks Promoting ‘Misguided Assumptions’ on Sex and Gender
I’m tempted to write a gender ideology version of Inherit the Wind in response. Looks like a much dumber version of the Scopes Monkey Trial is on the way.