(no subject)

[conuly]

UNESCO recognizes Panama's hats - no, not those ones

How to keep a family business running after 200 years

Why I Stopped Reading The Queen’s Thief Series (And Why I’m Diving Back In)

I don't know why, but I always love breakingcatnews_feed

It all makes so much sense now!

7 Brilliantly Useless Websites You Won't Believe Exist

Tilt! Old-school pinball is no longer old-school

Young gardeners eat more greens in first year at college

17 Questions For People With Strong Opinions About Condiments

How Did Fans React To The Empire Strikes Back In 1980? (The last section is the most interesting, and you should read it even if you skip the rest

Military turns to oyster reefs to protect against storms

This Georgetown freshman is 63, and attending the school that enslaved her ancestors

Starfish making comeback after syndrome killed millions

32 Sweet Photos That Capture Christmas at St. Joseph Orphanage, Louisville in the 1960s

The Hidden Biases That Shape Natural History Museums

We pitted 50 movies against 12 new ways of measuring Hollywood’s gender imbalance.

As child care costs soar, public preschool spots are limited

"The rainbow color map can significantly reduce a person’s accuracy and efficiency"

Crime victims' rights campaign faces fresh local backlash

Why people really want to move to Idaho but are fleeing its neighbor, Wyoming

Northeast states sue EPA over air pollution from Midwest

Where we've failed to live up to the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Cities, volunteers clash over feeding homeless in public

Chinese report says South China Sea islands expanded 'reasonably' (And we all know they're so unbiased in this matter!)

South China Sea: How 2017's forgotten flashpoint could flare again

One Target in Beijing’s Migrant Crackdown: Schoolchildren

In the heart of Trump Country, his base's faith is unshaken

A Twitter Tirade on Christmas Eve

Winds of worry: US fishermen fear forests of power turbines

Could Brain Surgery Save A Father And Son?

These Children Of Central America Wonder Why Trump Is So Afraid Of Them

After Going from Church to Church Seeking Help, A Mexican Family Finds Sanctuary in Philadelphia

Cities sue Defense Dept. over gun-check system failures

The Criminalization of Gentrifying Neighborhoods

Hundreds Of People Told Us How Sexual Harassment In Tech Derailed Their Careers

Rohingya refugees have only memories, saved on cellphones

Comments

[zesty_pinto]

7 useless websites and Zombo isn't even one of them?! No one respects their elders.

I read the Politico article about Trump voters in Johnstown, PA and I'm convinced they're all basically one penny nail bomb away from suicidal fanaticism towards Trump at this point. A lot of them already know they're going to lose everything, they want to see this whole ship sink with them.

[conuly]

Zombo?

[zesty_pinto]

Behold, Zombocom! An artifact of our dotcom days!

In case you don't have flash, Wikipedia talked about it to some length.

Fun fact: I used to go up to people and go, "THIS IS ZOMBOCOM, WELCOME!!"

[conuly]

And if we're going to have ridiculous suicidal fanaticism - which I deplore! - could it at least be directed towards him rather than against? I mean, sure, that would be monumentally unhelpful, but it's better than the alternative.

[zesty_pinto]

I'm surprised we haven't yet, though the administration is still young...

[larryhammer]

The first thing Natalie Zutter did while writing this piece was look up The Queen’s Thief fanfiction, and oh boy did Archive of Our Own deliver.

Heh. Yes, it does.

[conuly]

Honestly, I had no idea the series was so very popular until Thick of Thieves came out.

[larryhammer]

I've been watching with delight the cover makeovers with each new volume. That was my signal.

[greghousesgf]

isn't 15 kind of old to believe in Santa?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I thought The Empire Strikes Back rocked, back in 1980 - woot, the ice planet Hoth! Imperial Walkers! Dagobah! The sky city, whatever it was called! Han Solo getting sealed in carbonite! Boba Fett, yayyy! Darth Vader being Luke's father! It was all good; so much better than the first movie had been.

Of course, then for Return of the Jedi they had to drag in a bunch of stupid cannibal teddy-bears, which dropped the tone of the whole thing right down the tube again. These movie-makers can't seem to decide if they're making movies for adults or for kiddies, or else they assume there's no important difference between the two.

[conuly]

In 1980, I was so deprived, my parents hadn't ever taken me to a movie. *sniff*

Of course, when I asked my mother she said I wasn't even conceived yet, much yet born, but she's just making excuses.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

LOL, for my 32nd birthday, my husband took me to see Batman, which had just come out. When the opening theme was playing, my daughter (who would be born 20 days later) started kicking up a storm! Then when she was about 3 months old, the movie came out on video, so we rented it - my baby was sitting in her little bouncy-seat (facing away from the screen, of course) and when she heard the theme, she started kicking again - too funny! Anyway, she can't say we never took her to any movies before she was born.

I wouldn't let my daughter watch the Star Wars movies when she was a kid. C'mon, they're WAR movies! and they're not even honest war movies; they make it all look like great exciting fun. How many people does the beautiful young Princess from the totally-peaceful planet Alderaan kill in that movie? Nobody knows, nobody cares, because she doesn't know or care; she shows not a single trace of emotion about any of those deaths, nor about much of anything else - including the destruction of Alderaan, which is never mentioned again. One can only conclude that the beautiful Princess is some kind of psychopath, and I didn't want my girlie to look on her as a role-model.

[conuly]

Or maybe Leia's in great shock and has trouble processing those emotions. PTSD, that sort of thing. I mean, what's even the timeframe between the beginning and end of the first trilogy?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

It would certainly make sense if Leia was in great shock and having difficulty processing it all, which would be the normal, healthy reaction to everything she goes through. However, there is absolutely zero indication of this given in any scene in the original trilogy - not so much as a facial expression or vocal intonation, let alone "I keep thinking about my parents" or "So many deaths", or even "I want to kill them all for what they did". Just nothing.

Time-frame from Vader's attack on Leia's ship to the destruction of the second Death Star is at least a few months, and possibly more than a year, depending on how much time is presumed to have elapsed between the scenes we actually see. There has to be quite a bit - consider, we never see anybody eat or sleep in any of those movies, let alone wash or go to the bathroom. How long were the rebels on Hoth? How long was Luke on Dagobah? How long from the escape from Cloud City to the attack on Jabba's stronghold? Nobody knows.

Leia's demeanor might make sense if she was a battle-hardened veteran who'd already been through everything she goes through in those movies. But she is totally NOT presented that way, especially in the first movie, nor is there any indication in any of the movies that she's experiencing any distress about either her home planet being blown up before her eyes, or the hundreds of other lives she's taken. And at the end, the stupid cannibal teddy-bears are partying with fire in the trees, not keening for their slain.

It's all pretty creepy, but the creepiest thing of all is the Medal Ceremony at the end of the first movie, which appears to be copied directly from the Nazis. A lot of people had problems with that when it first came out; no doubt a lot still do. Myself, I have a problem with the entire concept of making a war movie for children, in which the horrors of war are erased, and killing is presented as fun, easy, and without emotional consequences.

Do we wonder why there's a gun problem in this country, when most of the kids in America grow up watching people making wisecracks as they shoot each other?

[conuly]

Also, isn't the sky city just Cloud City? Boring name.

Of course, then for Return of the Jedi they had to drag in a bunch of stupid cannibal teddy-bears, which dropped the tone of the whole thing right down the tube again. These movie-makers can't seem to decide if they're making movies for adults or for kiddies, or else they assume there's no important difference between the two.

This is typical, really. The first of a set is okay, the second is AWESOME, and then the third is the slump. I find that happens with TV seasons all the time.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so it is; very boring indeed - no wonder I forgot it. ^^