swanpride

Frankly the whole thing goes way deeper than just debt forgiveness. Because the real question here is: Where is all the money from the students going? Can't be just in nice facilities. There are some people pocketing a lot of money, starting by the banks themselves. And yes, I get young people being quite naive about the issue because as a rule, American children aren't really raised to be independent, at least not raised in what is considered middle class. They spend their whole youth in some sort of bubble at school, otherwise trapped in some suburban home where they need a parent to drive them around to get anywhere. And in this bubble they are constantly told that going to college is the thing to do, because this is the path to a well-paying job.

I think it is quite telling that a company which was originally founded by the son of a German immigrant was operating for years really successfully under a "think long term" business approach which is very typical for German companies and then literally got swallowed up by the American mind-set. Guess that means that Airbus will now take the place Boing used to have. Quite a shame, I still remember the awe I felt the first time I saw a 747.

Thing is, I am not Superhero fatigued at all...I just don't appreciate that Marvel is now doing all the things I hated about the DCEU. Setting up future stories without caring about telling the story at hand, focussing on action scenes as opposed to characters, an then there is the butchering of great characters like Wanda, Dr. Strange and Thor. I would love to get something I can really enjoy again, but Marvel has been so focussed on getting bigger and bigger that they have forgotten that most of the most beloved moments in the MCU are actually quite small moments of character interaction. It REALLY bothered me that even Ant-man, which used to be the palate cleanser between the big stuff totally forgot that a story about Scott having to reconnect with his daughter after missing nearly her whole childhood after all is a way better story than any big battle they could come up with.

Regarding the "softballing" in later seasons...I am actually not sure if they really did it less in the first seasons. Yeah, they picked up some scandals again, but all of them were given a twist to show the royal family in a better light. The Nazi connection was there, but the show made sure to emphasis on how much the part of the family which was currently ruling was not part of it, distancing them as much as possible. Yes the show talked about the unwanted crazy inlaws, but all of this was basically spun into a sympathy story for Magsreth and again, with a heavy emphasis on "nobody currently alive was actually responsible". Even Aberfan put a heavy emphasis on how much the royal family was supposedly grieving in the background. I suspect it just becomes more obvious now because they can't hide behind the "another generation was responsible" wall, and because they have gotten closer to very current discussions, starting with the question how much the royals cost the tax payer. It isn't really surprising that the show spends a whole episode to address this question, landing firmly on "all this is important" without addressing the actual issue which is why the royal family shouldn't pay for a lot of those things with their own damned money instead of billing the state. I think the glossing over just got more obvious because more recent events are better remembered.

As nice and touching it was to see all the actresses in the end, it mostly served to remind me how interesting the show was in the beginning, how much it lost steam in the first change by making really odd choices which historical events it included and how much I started to dislike it towards the end, partly because the last actress lost me completely (she just was too cold for my taste), partly because it was just a collection of tabloid gossip and monarchy apologia. Though I guess that might be what the show was from the start, perhaps I simply didn't notice because I was less familiar with the gossip from 50 years ago.... I also felt that it is kind of cowardly to not cover what are actually the most turbulent years of the regency. In a way I would be okay with it, if they had made a clean cut at that point, but what bothered me was that they tried to have their cake and eat it too by having all those William and Harry moments hinting towards later events (just like they hinted towards Prince Andrews future in an earlier season). If you want to gloss over those things anyway, why bother reminding the audience of them in the First place, especially in the very last episode? I mean they say that a happy end always depends on where you end the story, but this didn't really feel like an end, more like a very sudden cut, with a reminder that there is at least one chapter which will never be told. (no, this is not intended as an invention to discuss those events here - head the mods - I am trying to voice why the ending of the episode left me so dissatisfied, hopefully without stepping over the line).

Not sure how I feel about the segments..it was kind of surface? I mean, there is so much to say about this guy which goes way beyond bothering top employees whenever he feels like it. This is also the guy who kept the company open during a pandemic mainly so that he could get his bonus, who is currently in a fight with the unions of Sweden (supported by the unions of Denmark), and whose ability at inventions are mostly questionable in the first place. Musk is above all a world class pretender who has managed to put the stocks of a number of companies through the roof by selling dreams. And now that more and more people have caught onto his nonsense, his star is predictably sinking. The only shocking thing imho is that it isn't sinking faster. Plus, I don't appreciate the idea that you have to be a Maverik to push forward inventions. People invent stuff all the time without recklessly endangering everyone else. Well, if you consider streamlining what is already there inventing in the first place...

Hard to imagine the show without June and Mozzie - on the other hand, they could bring back Alex as "Neal's problematic criminal friend", providing a new and different dynamic which could put quite a spin on the show. Would make it much harder on the writers to create quirky situations, though....

Honestly this was the best segment about this war I have seen so far. Good job not vilifying either side but still making clear that the Hamas are terrorists and what Netanyahu stand for.

I am kind of stunned - I mean, I knew that home schooling was allowed, but I wasn't aware that there weren't any tests or any oversight at all. And yes, so much for "think of the children". It stuns me that the so called "land of the free" treats children like the property of their parents. One of the reasons home schooling isn't allowed in my country (only if you go to a judge, proof that there are good reasons for it and that you are able to provide the necessary education), is that in our minds, children have right to socialise with other children from different backgrounds. They need the interaction to develop properly. And if you dislike how state school do it, there are options, but all those options involve said children being out if the family bubble.

It is really frustrating....Marvel had a great show to tie with the movies with Agent of Shield, and they just threw it away.

The problem is more that everything has been a really mixed back lately...I really enjoyed Wandavision and Hawkeye and Ms Marvel once I got around to watch it past the first episode, but the other shows and most of the movies had a tendency to walk over characters I actually like and I didn't want to see treated that way.

Well, it's not exactly a surprise that Disney skips comic-con - They have their own event after all, which is also supposed to be as special as possible due to the celebration of Disney's 100 anniversary.

Oh, I actually dislike Raimi as a director..his style is too cartoney for my taste and while it might sound out that I consider this a drawback in a comic book movie, well, there is a difference between, say, Gunns brand of cartoney and Raimis's...the main difference being that the latter ones style is kind of stupid.

Raimi's style simply doesn't fit the MCU. That has Multiverse proven. Nevermind his inability to handle female characters with even an ounce of dignity.

Endgame actually managed to do that for all the Avengers plus Nebula.

None of them got a proper arc either. Gamora's arc is still entirely informed by Peter's needs, Mantis comes kind of out of nowhere because nothing really happens which is particularly different from what happened before and Nebula is basically just hanging around and telling everyone they are idiots.

Movies in general don't do female characters very well. Sadly.

I have to agree with the assessment that Gunn isn't really all that good in writing women. Let's be honest here, the best written women in the GotG franchise ended up being Nebula, and she had her best moments in Endgame. A lot can be said about the way Gamora as a sacrifice was handled, but I don't really think that it is as much of a deal breaker as some people think it is. Because for me, it is a misconception that love and abusive relationships are exclusive. Love isn't this perfect thing a lot of people see in it, most versions if it are inherently toxic. Or, to put it differently, a problematic love is not the outlier, but achieving a love which isn't problematic is the goal we need to strife for.

That wasn't asparagus, that was artichoke.

Yeah, well, ages ago I more or less watched it, but that one was insane even by the standards of the show, plus, the recipes aren't as interesting anymore. Which apparently is related to the cooking expert being on maternal leave as the arc was written. It shows.

Well, while I have to agree that a Quiche is usually a pretty boring dish which is bound to leave you hungry unless you adjust the recipe by adding at least something more hearty in it, that is the most idiotic discussion I ever heard about. Oh, another actor who has fallen off the deep end. What happened? Not enough roles to support his life style? And who the hell is dying because of immigration other than the immigrants trying to reach a safe place in the hope that they won't end up exploited there (small reminder of the recent segment about farm workers). And frankly, what the hell is the US even complaining about? It is a huge country with a pretty small population density and only one border to protect (unless you count the one to Canada). Ironically at the same time there are adds running in the TV over here trying to convince people that the US is a great place to life (because apparently Europeans are welcome immigrants - or at least welcome workers). The world has gone crazy.

Yep, it was so obviously a ponzi scheme, I was honestly confused how it could run that long unhindered. Aren't Ponzi schemes illegal? The funniest aspect about the anti-woke crowd is that they used to call left leaning people "snow flakes" and similar names, and now they are the ones who nearly get a heart attack over pretty much everything. You just want to tell them "chill the f... out, it is just an add". I am kind of confused about the state of the Tennessee House of Representatives...If all those people are forced out or resign, how will they be replaced? will there be an election soon?

I was kind of amused about John saying that he had no idea that this is how a field of asparagus looks like...that is pretty much common knowledge in Germany (yeah, we are kind of obsessed with asparagus), except that it doesn't quite look like that since a huge chunk of asparagus sold here is white asparagus, which means it has to be harvested before it breaks through the earth, which in turn means that the farming is even more complicated. And yes, most of the workers aren't Germans, they are from eastern Europe (and usually are only in the country for the harvest). They get a minimum wage, though. And basic worker protection. There is certainly still exploitation, though, because the farmer organisations aren't really interested in acting against those who break the rules. But as usually, the US wants to be "better", meaning better at exploitation in this case. You can bet that the cases which are known are just the tip of the iceberg. Considering that we are talking about workers who need to be invisible or risk getting deported, as well as workers who are dependent on holding any job, there isn't much incentive to speak up - until someone dies.

As a foreigner, I finally understood what Chucky Cheese even is in the first place. It's a somewhat strange concept. I mean, even if I decided to go out with my children (and their friends) for birthday, I would pick something way more simple but also way more fun.

Well, his segment was about the power HOA's have, that they basically take over policing from the state and have the right to do so. Sharing maintenance bills is something completely different.