Cobalt Stargazer

"Ransom? Are you back again already?"

I do feel bad for Lady Gaga, who for a non-actress has some acting talent and screen presence. But this is not the project she should have chosen.

'Course, her presence does give us this: "I'm Lori Craven, and I'm an actress." "An actress! Really! How nice for you. I'm Betsy Faye Sharon, and I'm a bitch. Now get out of here."

"Maybe I should have sent a memo."

"Apes don't read philosophy!" "Yes they do, Otto, they just don't understand it."

Book spoilers, because I don't know if Villeneuve will follow that storyline. Really, the changes to Chani are because Zendaya was cast, and that's not a bad thing. Chalamet needs strong scene partners to interact with, and as a character Paul needs the pushback from someone. Might as well be the woman he claims to love, wife or no wife. Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing Chani and Irulan interact a lot more, because there's a moment where they make eye contact before Chani leaves, both furious and heartbroken. They'd be tied together through Paul, especially as the war starts.

Which is valid, but that would include Michael Stipe, Bruce Springsteen and U2's Bono. There's others, but people have mocked Bono for years because of his activism, his involvement in political causes far beyond anything that's about music. 'Course, they're all old, rich white dudes, so that could play into it just a tiny bit. Maybe? There's a piece in there where it becomes about wanting an echo chamber, and I mean that for both sides. If you (the general You) already agree with what someone else is saying, you (again the general You) are way more likely to say, Hey, keep talking, I like where you're going with this. The stuff about COVID is an extreme example since it's proven to be deadly, a threat to public health, but there's other stuff that's way less serious, and yet it can elicit the same reaction. There's a reason there were all those memes in the wake of Justin Timberlake's arrest, even though DUI is a thing that happens to people who aren't celebrities and there's no real fuss over it. It's easier to make fun of him for being an idiot than it is to consider he might have a problem with drinking, and I was guilty of it too. The echo chamber effect.

Yeah, but that just brings Amber Heard coming off like an asshole, or at least deeply unpleasant, into it. There's a piece in there where his actions were offset by her seeming like an equally horrible person, and his drinking was used against him in the court of public opinion by the people who would probably have believed her regardless. Like it or not, we haven't discarded the notion that victims should be quiet and retiring, and Amber is clearly neither.

None of the stuff Buffy was having to take care of or worry about (Joyce's illness, Dawn, Glory) was an issue when Who Are You? happened, though, and I don't believe her relationship with Riley ever recovered. His pre-existing insecurities were exacerbated in the aftermath, and Buffy's stoicism once those things did come into play didn't help. I agree with what you're saying in general, but it really is okay to admit that Buffy is a flawed character. 🙂

Except pretending that Agatha Harkness is a helpless victim is not the answer. Hypothetical: Agatha succeeds at stealing Wanda's abilities for herself, which is what she wanted to do. What happens to Westview then? Even putting aside that the kids weren't real and that Vision was somewhere in between, the other citizens of the town would have been in much greater danger from Agatha, who only got boxed in because Wanda outsmarted her. But sure, let's all join her fan club. Sam was on the run with Wanda for at least part of the time between Civil War and Thanos finally making his move. I would like to think they bonded during that time, became friends, just because I don't think Sam's a jerk. That still leaves the issue of, If Wanda was so unstable/irrational that the first thing she does is take over a town in her immense grief, why was there no one to look in on her, just to make sure she's not doing that? I'm bothered by the notion that you have to live in someone's back pocket to be concerned if you know someone is very powerful (much more so than Clint) and that they've just been through this enormous trauma. Particularly Sam, who was dusted as well. And really? I would find it much less grating if we hadn't we hadn't segued from WandaVision to Falcon and the Winter Soldier. As an estimate, how much time have we wasted on the fiction within the fiction that the only reason Bucky Barnes did things he wasn't supposed to was because he was brainwashed by Hydra? Civil War hinges not only on, "The Sokovia Accords are bad because Steve Rogers says so", but on, "Bucky wouldn't even jaywalk if it wasn't for being mind controlled because Steve Rogers says so." Except, well, yes he would, as evidenced by him helping known terrorist Helmut Zemo escape from prison, and yet Barnes is still wandering around loose. Within the story, you would think that he felt enough guilt over things not actually his fault, enough guilt that he would want to never do anything he wasn't supposed to again, but clearly not. I'm hardly suggesting a mountain should fall on him, because that would be unreasonable. What I would like is for the characters we're supposed to like and care about to stop falling all over themselves to take care of this clown, because he's the glaring exception to "No one reaches out unless they need something." I have nothing against Sebastian Stan as an actor. I think he's done the best he can with the teaspoon of characterization he's been allowed to have. But I don't believe it's about Who Did What either, at least not in the way it seems.

Was it Ben Shapiro? Asking for a friend.

If the earth was really flat, the edge would be lined with cats knocking things off of it.

I'm the tiniest bit uncomfortable with the suggestion that she's off her meds, but that's just me. Like, why is it that she's ill and not just an asshole?

If the pig don't fit, you must acquit.

They really don't. The TMZ article I found makes it sound like a Costco lawyer rushed to the first phone or laptop they could find so the company could distance themselves from this mess.