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a friend of mine threw a 4th of july party and their 8 y/o nephew was on the guest list. no idea what prompted this, but he was yelling “I’M BOB DYLAN (20 seconds of obnoxious noise)”

if you’re referring to the youtube complaint, the specific example i referenced was lindsay ellis’s mask off video. she took it down from her channel, but iirc it still is there on nebula.

don’t remember off the top of my head who made the male gaze video i didn’t like, but i always hate when people discuss that topic without acknowledging that the essay that spurred the whole conversation wades deep into dubious freudian nonsense. “straight men like to look at beautiful women because of something something castration anxiety”. give me a break. what i would give for a mass understanding that this stuff is closer to airy literary criticism than truth claims about how the world works on plates handed down by god…

like, what the hell is even this:

that said, there is an argument to be made that this use case works with philadelphia. there’s currently a junkyard on fire in delco (seriously, i’m not making this up) and this whole place smells worse than usual because of it.

“i disagree with israel’s government and actions, but i believe that peace is possible, albeit hard-won. i don’t think the country should be dissolved.” i think that this is a completely fine position to hold. i also can’t say that much because i live in the usa and it’s not that far from my opinions of my own leadership.

on the other end of the spectrum, you get people treating israel like a stoned out of their mind hippie parent treats their child: “do whatever you want, baby. mommy supports you.” this is, in polite terms, “welcome to crazy town. population: you.”

however…

can’t say no to this dog:

i know i’m coming by it as someone who is sensitive about the topic of divorce – in other words, it’s something that exists in the context of horrible nightmares to me – but the usage of “larger than life” is interesting here, especially when juxtaposed against “refusing to settle”. it’s one of those moments that make you feel as though psychoanalysis is onto something. refuse to settle for anything other than something that cannot be real… got it. do you, by chance, have stock investing advice?

what’s strange in particular is that twilight is a series about teenagers, for teenagers. in the case of the “widowers” in question, their wives/girlfriends/whatever left them because they were lost in their heads and reimagining their teenage experiences. this is deeply selfish and psychotic, but the essay doesn’t engage with how unhinged this is. the author wants to reserve judgment, but at a point, it becomes an elephant in the room. then she moves on. why?