Mrs Whiggins

Plot spoiler. The machine technician was Magneto ensuring that only the victim would be harmed.

You gluttonous delusional ditchpig. Bringing Mr. Rogers in here like some kind of gotcha. Couple of things about Fred Rogers--he was someone who deeply cared for and most importantly listened to people, especially and always children. His willingness to discuss topics ("anything mentionable is manageable") included learning and growing his own mind. It wasn't always easy, if you read the story about Mr. Rogers and Francois Clemmons, the gay African American actor who portrayed Officer Clemmons, there exist some hard to avoid truths about how their friendship evolved over time, but ultimately Rogers' message to children was that 'you make each day a special day just by being you.' Mr. Rogers was a pastor and an advocate for children in ways that I do not see the loudest screaming voices enacting legislation against families endorsing. These so called focus on the family type activists aren't listening at all, they've put their hands over their ears. Oh, and with respect to the song in the video--were you aware of the discussion (away from the show) that Rogers had in interviews regarding that song? He was very familiar with various fears that children have, ones that parents may have forgotten they themselves may have had (i.e. going down the bathtub drain, etc). As children grow and discover their bodies and the differences between male and female genitalia, some develop the fear that their penis may go away or that they don't have one because something happened to it, or that they should or should not have breasts etc. All completely normal because children are born with brains and those brains have questions. His song addresses those particular fears and not specifically the dysphoria discussed in this thread. I could go on, but I don't think it very helpful. Fred Rogers was an imperfect human as are we all, but he was foremost a kind and humble servant to humanity.

For me, the ending was foreshadowed by the conversation Chef Julian and Margot shared in his office. When he was asking her about her job and she his. We 'get' that later when she spies the newspaper article of the young Julian flipping burgers and then our 'aha' moment when she orders the cheeseburger that he happily cooks. They gave each other 'pleasure' in their own way; his was creating artistry through food that people enjoyed eating and hers was making people 'happy' if only for a moment (and usually for a price). So she lives. We really liked the movie. I had read that initially Emma Stone was cast for Margot but had to drop out due to a conflict. Although I admire Stone's acting, I think Anya Taylor-Joy was great. She and Nicholas Hoult played off each other very well.

This thread frequently reminds me of a book that I haven't read in quite awhile as my children are older and I read it myself as a child. It really stayed with me. For one, because the protagonist is a female and was going through some things--so relatable to me as a young person, but also because the message in the book was an important one. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. It's probably in the process of being banned and removed from school libraries that have not yet done so, but a scene in that book, a boy bouncing a ball, out of rhythm to all the other children on the sidewalk in front of their houses bouncing balls, and he accidentally drops this ball. Later i the novel, he is spotted by Meg and Calvin (two of the main characters) and he is being tortured in a cell with pulsing walls. He is required to bounce his ball in time with each pulse of the wall so as to learn how to do it as the other children do and each time he does so it causes him great pain and he is screaming in anguish. In order to create order, the society where Meg and Calvin are visiting has decided to 'kill' difference. Uniformity leads to happiness is their mindset. There is, of course, more to the story, but it is a wonderful book and I have probably forgotten more than I remember but that scene has always always lingered. One in five children suffers from anxiety. Almost five million children live in households with unlocked and accessible guns. But Christopher Rufo knows that he can flood the airwaves with cries of CRT, "gay groomers", and transgender children, others will parrot his outcry and the larger society will push the various 'out' groups into cells so that he can be happy with the order he has created. Just so damn sad. If you haven't ever read the book (it won the Newbery Award), I can recommend it and to your children as well. I looked up the reading level because it has been so long and it's around grades 5-7 but I wouldn't let that deter an adult who enjoys a good read.

At this point I am wondering if perhaps Mr. Santos and Mr. Musk ought to get together and have a television show. Instead of those other reality shows that focus on private businesses like bars and restaurants or product pitches, the duo could travel to small towns across America and 'fix' the town's government. (I mean neither are doing anything of consequence right now anyway--they're just tweeting (Musk) and appearing on television (Santos) for the most part). After firing most of the staff but leaving elected administration in place, citizens could see that sometimes the government you don't see is the machinery that actually gets things done and that lying and grifting and creating bureaucratic obstacles to overcome problems is a pretty sorry use for your tax dollars. But this is idiocracy and something tells me it would be a huge hit for the wrong reasons and leave no one the wiser while the two Gilderoy Lockharts take to the highway.

It's like *Norma McCovey the sequel. *For those unaware, McCovey (AKA Roe) was the Texan who confessed she only became an anti-abortion advocate because she was paid by Christian evangelicals.

(Burnett with a second 't') I love her sketches with guest stars and supporting cast. Tim Conway was gold. I watch them on YouTube whenever I need a laugh. We haven't gotten Hulu, but we have thought about it and this show would be on our list, along with Under The Banner of Heaven (big Garfield fan, too. That actor is so talented) . I am an Eisenberg fan for his work (brilliant in The Social Network) but also his commitment to the Child Mind Institute--he has OCD and has been a spokesperson for mental health (along with his Zombieland costar Emma Stone) and give major points for that. I would watch an hour of nothing but Timothee Chalamet Apple TV commercials. Not even my type, but I could change my type I think....yes I think I could...

For you, I can understand perhaps. But me, I gotta go with this: That first reboot of the franchise was a nice one, in more ways than one.

Those are all good and I think ours have seen them all at some time or another. Some others that ours (older than your children now) also watched with us were Coneheads (my oldest loves that movie and she and her dad quote it often) and Ghostbusters (the original). Those two were funny and constantly quotable, something they seemed to enjoy doing with regularity. They also watched a lot of the older classics with us like Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, The African Queen, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Bridge on The River Kwai, Paper Moon, Shane (one of my favorites), Breaking Away (we all love this movie), Chariots of Fire, etc. I don't recall exactly the age they were watching some of these though. I would nominate Glory and also Philadelphia, but I haven't seen either in a while so don't recall if there were any visuals that might be inappropriate depending upon ages of viewers. There's a few with Gary Cooper that my youngest and I watched and he developed a fondness for Cooper's films. The one where he is a good shot in the Army during the war, what was that one called? Dang, can't remember the title. Anyway, that one and High Noon he liked and also The Ox-Bow Incident with Henry Fonda. One we haven't ever gotten around to watching together (I haven't seen it in ages and ages) was The Cowboys (John Wayne). I saw it mentioned on the other thread (one that has scenes that give you dusty allergies). My late father loved to watch Westerns and so I saw a lot of Wayne films with him. A more recent one, The Adam Project (Netflix) with Ryan Reynolds is pretty funny if you haven't seen it. Won't make a top 100 list, but its enjoyable enough.

Ummm, you want to clarify your idea of what your definition of species is? Because we are all one species and that is not going extinct even if global birthrates drop. Now, one might argue that we could anti-intellectual ourselves into a viral or bacterial pandemic that decimates the population, but maybe slow down on trying to raise your stock prices in your Sex Tent company.

If one looks at Disney's global total revenue, (save perhaps for the pandemic/travel restriction years for their theme parks specifically) while the US/Canada leads, the other regions have grown a lot over the last decade. The company makes the decision to create *content that represents global perspectives,etc so as to increase their $82.7 billion in revenue (2022) and a certain portion of US customers lose their shit over a private company's market research. DeSantis decides to capitalize on that situation and here we are. DeSantis is and always has been an opportunist. IMO, he is not particularly bad at that when it comes to people who like to believe what he's selling. However, he lacks charisma and that is something that is hard to overcome when the stage gets bigger. *their media & entertainment division earns a lot more than their theme parks.

Okay, during a discussion of the films of Ryan Gosling (maybe on the Netflix thread when The Gray Man came out??) several of y'all said 'you have to have to watch The Nice Guys.' Ryan G. plus Russell Crowe, et al. You all were right, so very right because we laughed so hard we were crying. I had gotten busy and forgotten about the movie and it showed up on the suggestions (on Netflix), it rang a bell, and we loved it, absolutely loved it. Crazy events but couldn't look away because what insane thing was going to happen next. Also thought the young actress that played his teen daughter was pretty good in her role. Will probably watch it again before they remove it. Thanks for the rec.

Still waiting on some of the movies listed above, but the ones I've seen thus far (especially The Menu) have been alright and enjoyable. Wes Anderson taaaaakes foooorever, but I do enjoy his work so my impatient self can just sit down and shut up til it happens. Anyway, saw a few upcoming that piqued my interest: Devil's Peak (Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, Jackie Earle Haley, Hopper Penn). It's mother and son (Wright & Penn) acting together in a crime/thriller set in Appalachia. Jesus Revolution (good vibes drama) Fast Charlie (Morena Baccarin, Pierce Brosnan). No idea what it is about, but am bookmarking it for my spouse cause he'll watch anything she's in. Don't want to miss the latest John Wick installment due out next month or so. Love Keanu Reeves' character. There's some more coming out later, Renfield with Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Awkwafina coming out towards summer. Hoult and Awkwafina are two of the younger crowd I like to watch and seem to have some range. There's quite a bit more heading into summer...

Part 2 is at this link: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/02/02/alex-jones-texts-highlight-infowars-overlap-proud-boys The rest is due to be published next week.

Article from this week on Alex Jones from SPLC that is an interesting read. Title: Infowars' Alex Jones says he lives "in hell" texts show Link: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/02/01/infowars-alex-jones-says-he-lives-hell-texts-show Brief synopsis: he's paranoid, and susceptible to manipulation by malicious agents pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories. Now there's a surprise. Texts surrounding his wife and his paramour are included in the article for the juicy gossip crowd.

Oh my dear Mr *checks notes* Paul Callahan; would that it were so simple....

In several posts the Tulsa ice storm in 2007 was mentioned for those of us that remember it, and given that it looks like the power will be out for some Austin area residents for more days, here is a self- abridged excerpt from an article (seven years later) where PSO (the electric utility in OK) workers talk about the storm and also what they learned from it: As I stated previously, my folks were without power for a week....

I don't know if this will help any; on Txag there is an Austin forum and a user there seems to work for AE in some capacity. I grabbed a shot of a recent post, and the location after someone asked where the photo was taken. Looks like there is a lot to do to get things operational in some neighborhoods.

That was when I was young and don't really remember, the one I 'm talking about was around 2007/08 but Tulsa has had these storms a little more frequently compared to central Texas, due to the way the jet stream typically would drop south in Dec thru Feb. My folks lived in the southern hilly part of the city with no guardrails or curbs and what was thrilling as a kid became rather terrifying after I learned how to drive.

Sad to see all the trees down and I know it's frustrating to be w/o electricity. When my folks were alive, Tulsa had a really bad storm that dumped ice for three days and knocked power out for practically the entire city. I think my parents were w/o for a week but managed to get along (I have a sibling who lived nearby that moved them into his house). When I took the children to visit some time later, all of the parks grounds were filled with massive piles of mulch from the shredded trees the city had collected. It was both sad and rather stupefying at the same time to see so how large the piles were. IIRC, the city ended up burning a lot of it as there was more than could be utilized by residents and parks maintenance. My folks had many nut trees (oak, pecan, walnut, hickory) on their property but my dad had always been scrupulous about keeping them trimmed and although they lost some branches, I don't think they lost a single tree in its entirety, which considering the age and size of some of them was pretty lucky. The soil there has less clay and I think that helped, but seeing these pics of the huge live oaks toppled over and split sure does bring back memories of the photos my parents took of their neighborhood of the gigantic branches that stove in roofs and cars. Hang in there folks. Here's a pic from back then from the local news:

Was I the only one who thought the driver was going to just stay in reverse and drive the opposite way?

Related but still off topic, if anyone loses one of those Bradford Pear trees, apparently they make good firewood so don't toss any decent limbs to the curb.

It depends. Any damage to structures on your property? That one is usually covered. For the rest, I think it is policy dependent.

Mother Nature sees your buried power lines and says: