Re: Random Thoughts

[Blackcyclops]

I'll be in London for the beginning of April...but sheesh is it hard to find an affordable hotel near the city.

[tokenBG1009]

Wakanda Forever won the Oscar for Costume Design. Is Black Panther the only Marvel property to win an Oscar? And now to have done it twice?

(It did not win Original Song, but "Naatu Naatu" is a certified BANGER and I can't complain about that. I've listened to that song on repeat.)

[Cable]

Finally a good Oscars. Everything Everywhere All At Once deserved all it got. And I saw Irish Goodbye at the Manhattan International Short Film Festival and immediately thought it deserved to win too.

[Gremlin]

This was one of the first Oscars in a long time where I agreed with all the winners. It’s a shame Angela Bassett didn’t win as she performed the hell out of the Queen in Wakanda Forever. But Jamie Lee Curtis is so versatile and amazing she also deserves the win. I am so glad for Brendan Fraser too, comeback do the century.

[Spectral Knight]

@ SK— I expected better than a Dennis meme from you :-p

Find me a barrel, and I'll scrape the bottom of it.

I figure I'd help us pay for the house and so if we ever breed I'll sell the naming rights like they do with sports stadiums lol

"This is my son AT&T Presents McDonalds Sony BardicSon"

This reminds me of when Dead Men Talking (a very dark comedy podcast) were in the hunt to sponsor a lower league team's stands. Including setting up a fictitious company with which they could brand it as the "F. West Patio Services Stand"..

I'll be in London for the beginning of April...but sheesh is it hard to find an affordable hotel near the city.

As long as you're not travelling during a train strike, I really wouldn't suggest staying near the city anyway. Transport links (when they're working) mean you don't need to, honestly.

[das_boot]

I'll be in London for the beginning of April...but sheesh is it hard to find an affordable hotel near the city.

Air bnb is probably better, although if you’re staying outside of the city itself, steer clear of Luton, it’s a hell hole

[Blackcyclops]

I'll be in London for the beginning of April...but sheesh is it hard to find an affordable hotel near the city.

Air bnb is probably better, although if you’re staying outside of the city itself, steer clear of Luton, it’s a hell hole

Okay that’s good to know. I need to know what are the “good” and “bad” areas near the city.

[EphemeristX]

That reminds me of the time I visited New Orleans and stayed in Metarie. The side eye I got from the residents, lol. The bed was held up by phone books and there was a constant smell of food from the family that had a fryer sitting on the sidewalk outside my door, but I had a great time. I just, you know, left nothing of value in my room when I wasn't there.

[Spectral Knight]

I'll be in London for the beginning of April...but sheesh is it hard to find an affordable hotel near the city.

Air bnb is probably better, although if you’re staying outside of the city itself, steer clear of Luton, it’s a hell hole

Okay that’s good to know. I need to know what are the “good” and “bad” areas near the city.

What you got planned for when you're over? In Lahndahn you don't have to go far between the nice bits, the alright bits and the shitholes.

Central is well expensive so wouldn't necessarily recommend staying there if you don't mind spending a bit longer getting home in the evenings. I'd recommend zones 5 and 6 on the tube map, and personally I'd suggest looking west/north west for the balance of nice, convenience and budget. If you're thinking south of the river make sure its SW rather than SE!

[Blackcyclops]

I’m moreso concerned about thieves than anything. I’m Black and live right outside a major American city. Like I know without a shadow of a doubt I am more likely to be shot either by a mass-shooter or from a carjacker than I am to be shot in the toughest hood in the UK.

@SK: well we’ve been to London before so we’re not going to spend alot of time in the city except for my wife’s bday dinner. Otherwise I want to explore the rest of your country. Basically anywhere 1-2 hrs from the London area…last time we spent two days in Bath and it was such a great time. I told you guys I’m a sucker for “quaint”.

[Spectral Knight]

If you're after quaint, I'd suggest you try out St Alban's. It's very pretty in an old fashioned English way with a cathedral of its own (technically it's a city but the population is less than a third of the borough of London I grew up in) and it's dead easy to get into central London too (less than an hour on the Thameslink).

It's also not far at all from the Harry Potter Studio Tour thing at Leavesden (about twenty minutes drive but you can also get public transport too in just over an hour) if that'd take your fancy. It's fun if you're a Potter fan (I'm not particularly) or just interested in the craft of movie making (which I am).

[Blackcyclops]

Having just finished the Luther movie on Netflix…I can say without any doubt that Luther is Britain’s Batman. Detective? Check. Genius? Check. Violent? Check. Dedicated? Check. Doesn’t sleep? Check. And like a true modern Brit, he wears sensible clothes instead of a damn costume. His coat is a cape even.


Like why would Idris Elba play Bond? That’s kind of a downgrade to be honest.

And connecting back to my other post: I do appreciate that with the lack of guns in your country, TV shows have to get more inventive when creating threats or menacing bad guys.

[das_boot]

I’m moreso concerned about thieves than anything. I’m Black and live right outside a major American city. Like I know without a shadow of a doubt I am more likely to be shot either by a mass-shooter or from a carjacker than I am to be shot in the toughest hood in the UK.

@SK: well we’ve been to London before so we’re not going to spend alot of time in the city except for my wife’s bday dinner. Otherwise I want to explore the rest of your country. Basically anywhere 1-2 hrs from the London area…last time we spent two days in Bath and it was such a great time. I told you guys I’m a sucker for “quaint”.

@BC— depending on where you end up staying, and if you’re willing to push to maybe slightly over 2 hours travel, I’m going to suggest York. You can get a train from King’s Cross that takes just over two hours to get there and honestly York is one of my favourite cities in the UK— very old, lots of awesome old buildings, and it was where they filmed “From Hell”. There’s a tonne of historical stuff there too, like York Minster (a big ol’ church), and you can walk across the city walls.

[Blackcyclops]

Awesome! *added to the list*

Is it worth to visit Edinburgh?

[Spectral Knight]

Yeah York is nice. Went there donkey's years ago on a school trip, and one of my good friends had his stag do there, loads of things to do there!

Edinburgh is meant to be nice (my parents had a lovely few days up there a while back), but it's a long way (4hrs plus) from London unless you're happy flying up.

[das_boot]

Awesome! *added to the list*

Is it worth to visit Edinburgh?

Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities in the UK. If you really wanted to maximise your time there I’m pretty sure you can still get sleeper trains up there from London to spend a full day there and then get one back the next day

[Cable]

I'm seeing a lot of doomers online lately. This has real world impacts like younger generations increasingly saying they won't have children and/or increases in teenage rates of depression/suicide. The truth is that the media knows that negativity and outrage sell and so that is what gets pushed and spread instead of sober analysis. Doomerism is not based on the facts and you should combat it when you see it. In almost all metrics the world is a better place than it has ever been before.

[tokenBG1009]

I get it.

Part of my desire to not have children is due to the state of the world. It may be safer, but I don't feel it's better. People are more emboldened online to say hateful things. Climate change shows no true sign of getting better. Money doesn't go as far as it once did and my paycheck ain't growing with inflation. America is more divided than ever and it's getting worse daily. Trans people are under attack as the new boogeyman of conservatives

I have no desire to bring a child into this world when they're already got a box checked against them for being a minority. Heaven forbid they're AFAB, gay, or trans.

(The rest of it is knowing I am, personally, an extremely selfish person and enjoy living my current lifestyle with lack of responsibilities for anyone besides myself and I don't have to split my money between myself and the needs of a child)

The above said, I could have gotten past the last paragraph if I felt confident about the world.

[Cable]

I get it.

Part of my desire to not have children is due to the state of the world. It may be safer, but I don't feel it's better. People are more emboldened online to say hateful things. Climate change shows no true sign of getting better. Money doesn't go as far as it once did and my paycheck ain't growing with inflation. America is more divided than ever and it's getting worse daily. Trans people are under attack as the new boogeyman of conservatives

I have no desire to bring a child into this world when they're already got a box checked against them for being a minority. Heaven forbid they're AFAB, gay, or trans.

(The rest of it is knowing I am, personally, an extremely selfish person and enjoy living my current lifestyle with lack of responsibilities for anyone besides myself and I don't have to split my money between myself and the needs of a child)

The above said, I could have gotten past the last paragraph if I felt confident about the world.

Well I will say you shouldn't get it lol. It is an overly negative skewed view of reality.

Many of the things you cite are things I again would say people think are worse than they really are because the media and politicians push narratives that they are because that is what gets the clicks and the donations. For example anyone who says climate change is apocalyptic are not basing that on any scientific model. Climate change is something the world is going to adapt to. Putting aside the absurdity of models that assume technology stays the same over the next 100 years (as if in 1923 they built models that said the world would be similar in 2023), the IPCC predicts that in 2100 world GDP will be 300% larger than it is now. If the temperature raises 4 degrees Celsius, considered on the high side of estimates, they model that would result in that amount decreasing by 5%. So if we do little to stop climate change the world for future generations is still going to be a wealthier place than exists now.

The idea that our generation is less wealthy than previous generations is another outrage thing that media pushes that doesn't reflect reality.

America being more divided than ever is another myth because of politicians being driven by the loudest smallest part of their particular factions. Most people overestimate how far apart our respective factions are on issues. (See another study from that same group debunking much of the education wars hype).
We need political reforms to stop these small factions from having power (open primaries, ranked choice voting, etc) but you fight for those things rather than give in to the doomerism mentality of letting go of the future. Radical conservatives I assure you are continuing to have kids.

[Spectral Knight]

I'm seeing a lot of doomers online lately. This has real world impacts like younger generations increasingly saying they won't have children and/or increases in teenage rates of depression/suicide. The truth is that the media knows that negativity and outrage sell and so that is what gets pushed and spread instead of sober analysis. Doomerism is not based on the facts and you should combat it when you see it. In almost all metrics the world is a better place than it has ever been before.

I think a lot of the time it comes down to perceptions.

I sometimes think about how "easy" my parent's generation had it, my parents (both of whom didn't have the easiest of starts, nor benefiting from any further education beyond basic high school level) had got married and had their own home in their early twenties, and could rely on my dad's wage alone when we were very little kids so my mum could be at home with us.

It took us until our early-mid thirties before we managed to get on the housing ladder, and I went to uni (and did my post grad MSc too) and in a white collar job compared to my old man's job as a bus driver.

But... I was lucky enough to travel the world as a young man, have enjoyed the privileges of that education, and generally speaking "basic" living feels a little bit more comfortable.

On the whole, I think it's a balancing act. There's pro's and con's but it'll never be a direct comparison in any case. Each generation will have it's own struggles or challenges, there's a tonne of opportunity out there and I generally feel lucky to be where I am. Would I want a bit more disposable income, more of a life balance, and a nicer home? No shit, but it's no point being defeatist about it, nor as I've seen some younger generations do, blame the "boomers" as if they had some sort of idyllic lifestyle because they didn't.

I don't think it's worth critiquing the doomers. Age and maturity will change their view in time, I'm sure. Life can be hard and it can be unfair. It can also be full of the most special moments, and having some darkness makes the light shine that much brighter I guess.

Catch me on another day, I'll probably be an angry raging cynic but today feeling pretty philosophical. Also, it's okay to be angry sometimes - anger is an energy to quote PiL, and it can really motivate change.

[Blackcyclops]

Yeah…even with Climate Change, there’s alot of evidence to show how much we have actually improved too. But conversely, it’s not an issue to be so flippant about either. Same thing as making sure we have proper AI controls, financial regulation, and other things that are actual things we should be making smart policy about. I don’t support doomerism but also I’m not naive either lol

Although just as a tick of mine, I hate the term “the media”…while it is true the old maxim “if it bleeds it leads” still holds true, depending on how you measure “negative”, not all media outlets or sources are created equally. Plus one person’s negative is another person’s positive or neutral.

[P-90]

Climate change doom/fear mongering is something that really annoys me TBH. Now I'm in no way a climate change denier, far from it, but this constant 'we're all going to die' narrative that seems to go hand in hand with almost any mention of the issue is just so unbelievably wrong.

[tokenBG1009]

Honestly, the personal issues I see in myself as a potential father are enough to make me not want children. Add on my opinions about the state of the world and my lack of faith in it improving? I'd need to see a massive shift in the public conscious before I even considered changing course.

[das_boot]

See I think it’s a difficult one.

From my perspective, I do think that things seem to be improving slightly, at least in the instance that we seem to have finally reached a place where both left and right are looking at the UK government and it feels like while the left are waiting to drop heavy-handed “I told you so”, the right who are right leaning but NOT thundering bigots are almost shaking their heads and saying “yeah we give up, there’s no defending this crap now”.

THAT SAID.

While I’m not a US citizen I’m absolutely dismayed at the incredibly regressive and frankly, clear attempt at legislating discriminations against trans people in certain states at the moment. It’s a literal regression back to the pre-Stonewall days, and if you think those laws are directed only at drag queens, you’re deluded.

[Spectral Knight]

See I think it’s a difficult one.

From my perspective, I do think that things seem to be improving slightly, at least in the instance that we seem to have finally reached a place where both left and right are looking at the UK government and it feels like while the left are waiting to drop heavy-handed “I told you so”, the right who are right leaning but NOT thundering bigots are almost shaking their heads and saying “yeah we give up, there’s no defending this crap now”.

I know we can be at... different... positions politically, but do you think the current dismay at the Government is in any way a left/right issue versus a competency / trust issue?

I've voted Tory at pretty much every election I've had a chance to vote in, as I've never trusted anyone else. Labour, at least in my voting lifetime, have never really understood working classes at all. Blair was probably closest but he definitely went for the Middle Class vote and whilst still won working class votes, it was kind of taken for granted and that was where the rot set in. I don't think Miliband or Corbyn's pitches were at all convincing (it was politics from a bygone age) and I don't think Starmer made any breakthroughs until #Partygate, but being leader of the Labour party for over two years I still don't feel I understand his policies at all and the ground he's made up in the polls is the Tories dropped balls, rather than anything AT ALL that they've done as a party.

Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely fed up with the Conservatives, primarily because of how they handled Covid and the 'one rule for us, another for everyone else' approach to the lockdowns etc. That blotted their copybook for me, for sure. But... does that motivate me to vote Labour? Not in the slightest. I honestly think politically, the current Labour party are nowhere near equipped to solve the structural economical issues that have persisted for 50+ years. So who will? Not the Lib Dems (who've never had an economic policy!), not the Greens, so who else?

I'm just fed up with the lot of them.