"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
*munches popcorn-sips beer* Watching all the Hivemind Podpeople flipping the cover they’ve run for CwaZy (pervy, racist) UnKa JoE, ZOMBIE POOPY-PANTS President in Name Only for years (even before his puppet presidency) is entertaining. Cannibals consuming one of their own. Finally CwaZy (pervy, racist) UnKa JoE, ZOMBIE POOPY-PANTS President in Name Only gets a reunion with Uncle Josie.
One could not ask for a better reveal of the Hivemind’s basic nature as a Fake News Machine®.
Filed under “That’s Entertainment”. . . or not. *sigh*
Watching Episode 1 of “Gogol”–a Russian serial featuring a fantasy take on Nikolai Gogol (19th Century Russian author) as a paranormal investigator–via Amazon Prime Video: mixed bag.
The good/not-so-good: great atmosphere for a pseudo-Gothic 19th Century paranormal piece. Sets, locations, dark videographing, music, even costuming, props and etc. All excellent. All dialog in Russian: good (perfectly suits the atmosphere). Subtitles: OK, but with some problematic idiomatic translation issues (English idioms, not Russian. My familiarity with Russian is scant, depending on a brief flirtation with 19th Century Russian art songs ~ 50 years ago.) The English subtitles sometimes intrude in a jarring fashion.
Not good: Details that irk: “business” that conflicts Scene 1: guy hits another guy on head with ladle. Guy hit grabs OPPOSITE side of head and ladle strike sounds wrong, as well–little things like that; only visible wound on a dead body high on the chest–“above her breasts” is the line. Nevertheless, the investigator, after cracking open the body’s chest says “the aorta is severed.” From the location and size of the visible wound, the ascending aorta would be difficult to reach. Unlikely. (The ascending aorta is not large in any case, and is not found in the almost exact center of the chest where the wound was shown. In addition, after cracking the chest, the investigator was NOT looking anywhere NEAR the wound which was a bit above the pulmonary trunk, but much lower, where the throacic and abdominal aorta could be seen. Hence, I thought when the line was uttered, “Doesn’t EVERYONE find this odd?” *shrugs*)
More? “It was a dark and stormy night. . . ” *heh* OK, as to atmosphere, it worked. “You can ride a horse?” Urm, no he cannot. Runs into a windmill and falls off. Clouds blowing through the windmill blades, and. . . they do not move.
*sigh*
Sometimes it’s just the little things that throw one out of suspension of disbelief, you know?
But, though more interesting than usual TV fare, I don’t think I am interested enough to watch more than one episode (and I had to take a break from the irritating “little things” to write this, so I might well not finish Episode 1).
Most amusing line so far, “We got carried away by the local flavor.”
OK, fast forwarded through #2. Caught the gist and ditched a lot of less interesting stuff. Blacksmith picks lock on mystery trunk toward the end of the episode. Needs a pick and a torsion wrench (or another tool to provide tension) to do it with but only used a pick. Sad. As I have said, it’s the little things.
But I REFUSE to be stuck in the middle of them.
There is almost no real news anymore. Almost all that purports to be so is Hivemind propaganda. It’s to the point that such sites as The Onion, Duffleblog, and The Babylon Bee are as reliable (or seemingly more so *sigh*) than “accredited” media sources.
And the so-called “right” end of the spectrum is little more reliable than the so-called “left” end of the media spectrum. While the opinion columnists at Townhall are generally more truthful than front page “news” at the New York Slimes, so-called “news” sites/organs such as Worldnet Daily, Breitbart, The Blaze,and ZeroHedge are all, to varying degrees, propaganda for the putative “right.”
Frankly, I don’t ascribe to Zero Hedge, for example, any more credibility than any other Hivemind “reporting.” Sure, like ABCNBCCBSMSNBCFOX, etc., it is propaganda, but every lie at least has a truthful counter. Zero Hedge can serve as a source of “idiot bait” research. In that, it can also be a “serious” source of info. . . of sorts (about as much as with any other Hivemind organ, give or take), if one really digs. 😉 Also, just like other aspects of the Hivemind (reflecting the biases of every point on Pournelle’s Political Axes), it can serve as a way of checking on what the Hivemind (at least its portion) is trying to obscure, twist, or otherwise outright lie about. Pulling the threads for amusement, if nothing else, can provide a few moments of entertainment, at least, and occasionally, as with other Hivemind elements, the facts it twists can be verified and lead to real and useful information when placed in their original context.
I laugh at the times I took Walter Cronkite seriously (as anything but an effective propagandist).
“Die, my dear? Why, that’s the last thing I’ll do!” ~ Groucho Marx.
Well, even in this life, I don’t plan on dying being the last thing I “do.” I plan to rig the “urn” (a coffee can, of course) designated for my cremains to prank the person who opens it to dump my ashes in. THAT’S the last thing I’ll do. . . from beyond the “fiery trial.” Well, unless someone in my family spoils the surprise. . . I probably need to have some backup pranks set up, just in case. Maybe I can stretch my “presence” out a few years that way. 😉 Kinda leave an active legacy, ya know.
This olde pharte needs to get busy. . .
Award shows (all of them, not just the Emmys) do a very good job of helping me narrow my selection of TV shows to watch. The best thing on last night was actually the listing blurb describing an episode of The Orville: “Ed and Kelly are deceived by a hologram of a ship and [No, IN] distress and become held prisoner. . . ” The epi wasn’t bad, but the listing blurb was more amusing.
And then. . . another book and lights out.
As for the annual tempest in a teacup about how Emmy pseudo-entertainers dress? I just DGARA.