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Messages - Professor Bear

#856
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
22 February, 2019, 11:59:19 PM
He was a Czech spy this time last year.
People who know him personally - including members of orthodox jewish groups with no political affiliations - say there's no substance to the claims, but right wing news outlets who have waged a four year hate campaign against him insist otherwise.  As you can imagine, it's impossible to know who to believe.

In more sensible times, that even his harshest critics won't directly call him an antisemite in a legally neutral venue would probably have been the end of the matter, though I guess you could do worse than Google "Joan Ryan bribe" to find the footage of her discussing the fabrication of antisemitism smears against the leadership of the Labour Party that she now insists doesn't exist.
Corbyn's a big boy, though, and he'll be fine - the real issue is the erasure of leftwing jews from this conversation.
#857
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
22 February, 2019, 01:05:16 PM
Bowsette cosplayers can stay.  Everyone else get out.
#858
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
21 February, 2019, 10:52:37 PM
Someone named Bowser now runs Nintendo America.  The whole world is going to Hell.
#859
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
21 February, 2019, 02:40:07 PM
Linehan is a cop.

Gaming Youtuber Jim Sterling has never made any secret of his left-wing leanings in his videos about the entertainment industry's products, but he may have reached a sweet crossover patch between his political beliefs and his hobby in his piece about how the business practices of AAA videogames publishers are deliberately destroying videogaming.
I absolutely fucking hate online multiplayer gaming, so this one struck a chord with me as someone watching the games industry ravage once-great studios and franchises in order to switch the default gaming model from "product" to "service" that they may stave off the inevitable and completely unavoidable collapse of their profit margin.
#860
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
19 February, 2019, 03:51:42 PM
To be fair, they all ran with the funny tinge thing, too.  Wait I meant they did the opposite of that.

In other news: up yours, Glinner, you wanker.  The icing on the cake is probably the higher visibility that both Mermaids and trans rights now have, and Hbomberguy's Donkey Kong livestream that raised an extra quarter million in funding.
#861
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
19 February, 2019, 02:13:41 PM
According to social media, he actually rejoined the party five weeks ago, it's just that it was widely reported yesterday for some reason.
#862
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
19 February, 2019, 12:24:45 PM
(TRIGGER WARNING)
[spoiler]The main issue of late seems to be attempts to attach Hatton to "rape apologism" because of his comments about removing anonymity for people who turn out to have made false rape allegations.[/spoiler]

Hatton self-describes himself as "a capitalist" (he made his money in property development) and is critical of Corbyn because of Brexit, so I would have thought the sensibles would welcome him with open arms regardless of his transgressions - I mean, if the blood of a million dead Iraqis can be washed from Tony Blair's hands on the grounds of sensible politics, I would imagine forgiving the hiring of taxis to deliver P45s should be a no-brainer.
Liverpudlians seem to have a higher opinion of him than the rest of the UK's media.  Make of that (admittedly low bar) what you will.
#863
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
18 February, 2019, 10:04:26 PM
Monday morning: "We are leaving the Labour Party because it is racist."
Monday evening: "I would like to apologise for using the words "funny tinge" to describe black people's skin."
#864
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
17 February, 2019, 05:45:47 PM
That's Brexit solved now.
#865
Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
16 February, 2019, 11:43:53 PM
Cloak and Dagger is probably best enjoyed if you don't "do" much US teen telly, but if you do, its formulaic characters and tropes might stand out because of the lack of actual Cloak and Dagger appearances across the season.  Like the Runaways adaptation, it's more of a generic teen thriller with the Marvel licence bolted on.
#866
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
15 February, 2019, 07:14:49 PM
All the kids nicked off school to chant "fuck Theresa May" as they marched through London, apparently.  I don't think we can really blame the BBC for not airing footage of this one.
#867
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
14 February, 2019, 02:38:38 PM
"Plunged the court into chaos" - it can't have been a particularly stable work envirenment, then.

I kind of see his point that the court's authority is derived from coercion rather than the consent of all parties to abide by its arbitration.  Much like our politics, the UK's legal system is a joke based on deference to some rando in a wig.  That'd be stupid if you saw it in Star Wars, yet it's pretty much the basis of all legal authority in a supposedly first world nation.
#868
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
11 February, 2019, 02:04:38 PM
No love for the Burton Apes movie?  I found I liked it once I got past the whole "this is dreadful" thing.

I am pretty sure that Aquaman overall was quite rubbish, but I enjoyed it anyway, as it had good action and likeable characters to offset its shite story.  What foul sorcery does Nicole Kidman practice to still look this way?
Nice to see a DC movie with amiable characters, and a protagonist that actually grows throughout the film and learns a worthwhile lesson, but sweet Christmas did the whole "let's do Arthurian myth because his name is Arthur" thing drop out of a cereal packet?  I sincerely hope so, because I would be deeply worried if someone was paid money for it.
Momoa is very affable in this even when his whole deal at the start of the film is that he's an angry loner who shuns people because of his angry loner pain - and then the first thing he goes and does after saving the lives of a bunch of sailors is take his dad for a pint and then takes goofy selfies with bikers and then when Mera shows up sounding like a gothy teen saying people are rubbish, Arthur spends his time defending people and insisting they are inherently good and capable of change.  He's like the antithesis of Clint Eastwood's arsehole character from those bare knuckle boxing films with the orange monkey, in that all the elements are there for a dreadful and unlikable character, but then he just does nice things and is nice to people.  I mean, this is the exact opposite of what the script seems to want at that point (the point of contention between Arthur and Manta hinges on his being a darker, harder character), but I don't really mind, and I don't think most people would, either.

It is all over the place, but I suppose that helps when it turns into a mid-90s heavy metal album cover at the end complete with sick guitar riffs, warring monsters, and stacked ladies, and especial kudos to the makers for correctly identifying that mid-90s metal suffered from a severe lack of Dolph Lundgren with a pink beard.  There are plenty of films coming out of Asia that look like this now that SFX technology is so cheap and easy to implement*, which kind of makes me wonder where they spent all the cash - and more importantly, why, as the Sicily action sequence is probably the best one in the whole film, and only the bit with the fish aliens in the storm seemed like it took advantage of the budget to do something memorable rather than large-scale cgi for its own sake.  Some of the cgi is a bit ropey, but what can you do?
Anyway, like I say, this is probably complete rubbish, but it's enjoyable rubbish, and it often illustrates that its heart is in the right place.  Probably my favorite of the DCMU films so far.


* Though sadly nothing worth your time since Space battleship Yamato, and while the likes of Enthiran and Ra.One were fun distractions, I have high hopes for The Wandering Earth, though any breakout success for it will surely spell doom for that Seveneaves adaptation.
#869
Off Topic / Re: Y'know what really grinds my gears?
06 February, 2019, 10:39:07 PM
Everybody grows up with media created by those who lived through previous decades, and that media to a certain extent fetishises the culture and attitudes of those decades.  It's a little more full-on this time around because all of previous culture is in one way or another practically on tap for younger generations.  I just wish they'd stop fetishising the 1980s, a garbage decade full of garbage culture that practically enshrined the notion of it being admirable to be an asshole.  Any fucking wonder the internet turned out like it has.
#870
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
04 February, 2019, 11:37:34 AM
This is fine.