macheresin for the macherewin

It's actually named after the creators, Stan and Jan Berens-- Does this fuckin' matter? No, sir. .....It's Berenstein. I don't mean to correct you, sir, but it-- Shut up.

Spin the wheel again. That’s who’s trying to protect you.

(If you have zero idea about a name you got, spin until you see someone you recognize.)

Regular people: Wait, the King has easily stolen potatoes? How do I get in on this?

Tobacco companies fund them because the US government used to actually punish corporations. It's...pretty well known. The truth is much cooler than a conspiracy theory!

Like, I would say that the film is both in direct conversation with classic superhero media and stands alone well. The movie DOES serve as a perfectly introduction to its genre, because it's a well-written movie that introduces all of its worldbuilding elements pretty clearly, but it also... it both moves pretty fast, operating under the assumption that you are roughly familiar with superhero media already, and doesn't seem to feel the need to justify itself.

People have flashy powers and improbable secret identities and silly costumes and superspy technology, and it's just... there. That's how this world works. It doesn't matter how Mr. Incredible or Elastigirl developed powers or started fighting crime or built relationships within the community, because that's not what the movie is about; that's the starting line. While the movie pokes fun at many of its own spec fic elements, it also hits the ground running, trusting the audience to catch up to "this is an established superhero" as it establishes the film's relevant problems.

I don't know. I feel like I've watched more than a few live-action superhero movies that I'd describe as "scared of their own basic concepts" and treat the audience as incapable of easily digesting the idea of some guy having superpowers or fighting big scary guys, as though that's not one of the oldest concepts on the clay tablets or in oral storytelling traditions. And so these films VERY slowly handhold the audience through an origin story. I'm bored of that; especially since it's been 22 YEARS since "The Incredibles" kicked off in medias res.

“You feel the bulge in his pants” - implies that you are feeling some guy’s penis, may be sexy depending on context

I don’t really worry about… we’ll say most of you. Excepting some people who I have blocked, most people following me or who I follow have their eyes on the ball. But then I see the normies on Instagram who believe every single social media graphic that gets posted by some idiot about politics. I worry about the kind of people like my friend who was so upset that Joe Biden was the nominee, not because she didn’t like his policies, but because she believed that the DNC chose the president and “Why did they pick him if he’s too old?” I worry about those people. The ones too dumb to know how dumb they are, but just smart enough to vote.

I think things are bad enough that Democrats will do well in the midterms. But one thing that people have refused to accept is that all of their posts have an effect. They think they’re just one nobody online and that no one listens to them, plus they’re in a blue state, so it’s fine, they can say whatever they want and their “vote doesn’t matter” while not recognizing that their words do, and that what they’re engaging in is a years-long campaign to stifle enthusiasm for the exact political changes that they claim to want.

We can gain a lot of information from more precise break downs of how people voted, but just these raw numbers tell us something important. They tell us that about 3 million people who voted for Biden in 2020 decided to vote for Trump in 2024*, and they tell us that about 3 million people who voted for Biden in 2020 just didn't vote at all in 2024.

And it's very likely that at least some of those votes were from people living in states that went blue anyway, but it's even more likely that a lot of those votes were not. Yes, it's very rare that presidential elections are won by one or two votes and so it's easy to say that "my one vote doesn't matter," and that's true of any one individual person, but when you and your friend and 3 million other people all feel the same way - well, that's how elections are lost.

Yes, your one vote doesn't matter by itself. But in a democracy, you have to get rid of that hyperindividualist way of thinking for elections. Your vote is on a team - not in the fandomization of politics red vs blue sense, but in the you can't win a football game with just the QB sense. The team needs your vote to do its part so that their votes can do their part, and anyone who is telling you to not vote is doing so in an attempt to undermine your team. And if you're telling people not to vote, then you're actively working to undermine your team as well.

I get being disappointed with your party. I get being incredibly frustrated with the state of politics in the US right now. But it is still obvious that one party is significantly worse than the other, and as long as that's true, I need you to let your vote do its part, so that my vote can as well.