KinkyDinky

I keep getting Trivago commercials, and at first, they're weird, and a bit unsettling, but you can't place a finger on why, but after the 500th advertisement, you notice why it's unsettling.

The actors move robotically, their lips are synchronized with the words strangely, lining up, but out of sync, yet the most unsettling part is the actors are too detailed but look fake.

So, after some googling, I discovered my gut feeling is right, Trivago uses one actor, they record the lines, and then they use AI to modify the actor's voice, and then create multiple people generated from previous, real Trivago commercials, where they hired real actors.

They also use AI to edit out actors from old, and real commercials, which I didn't notice as I'd seen the same commercial hundreds of times that they blur together;

He’s a street smart detective with a slight cockney accent. Basically, to the writer, he’s didn’t seem posh enough to be James Bond. I think its dumb, and I think he’d make a great Bond and that he’s not too street to play Bond well, but his blackness is not the reason.

God damn people, read the whole quote before you pull the race card.

He added: “I’m really sorry my comments about Idris Elba have caused offence. That wasn’t my intention.

“I was asked in my interview if Idris Elba would make a good James Bond. In the article I expressed the opinion that to my mind Adrian Lester would be a better choice, but I’m a writer not a casting director so what do I know?”

The author, who has written “continuation” Bond novels, including the latest Trigger Mortis, and said Lester would be a more “suave” Bond, explained his use of the word “street” to describe Elba.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/01/anthony-horowitz-apologises-idris-elba-too-street-bond

You know what Adrian Lester looks like?

No of course you didn’t.

Idris Alba responded saying “Always keep smiling!! It takes no energy and never hurts! Learned that from the Street!! #septemberstillloveyou.”

Look, if the fucking actor doesn’t think its racism that the writer would prefer a different black actor then its not racism. 

Just because YOU think ‘street = black’ doesn’t mean everyone else does.

Also, AFAIK, the last two Bonds have been talented actors, but not A-list when hired. Idris is decidedly A-list, Lester not so much.

Incidentally, Lester stared in a production of Sweeney Todd, and in Hamlet as the title character. In both cases, he was playing characters that are traditionally white.

Misplaced empathy leads to opening your borders to rapine beasts that ruin the future of your children.

While Musk said he believes in empathy and that “you should care about other people,” he also thinks it’s destroying society. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk said. “There it’s they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.” Empathy, he said, has been “weaponized.”

He's not saying empathy itself is wrong, he's saying people can abuse it. He also said it's complicated.

Empathy should be for everyone or no one. Meeting the needs of one person shouldn't mean dismissing the needs of another.

And there are ways to make sure that this doesn't happen, if we bother to look for them.

What are we supposed to do/say then?

Are we supposed to be nice to Nazis? Are we expected to be polite to fascists?

Assuming my age and calling me stupid simply because I am willing to insult bad people is astoundingly hypocritical, btw.

If I called Fuentes a racist he'd probably say "yes, I am." I don't call him closeted because that's not relevant. Side note, leftists have this funny thing where being gay is only bad when right wingers do it, in a words-as-spells sort of way.

Fascism lacks reason. Not only is it wholly destructive to everyone else, it also eats itself alive. It is a cruel, impractical, doomed ideology, and those trait are self evident from the start. Anyone who believes in fascism either revels in the cruelty, or la ks fundamental reasoning skills necessary to engage in debates. (Often times, it's both.)

Trying to argue with them is worse than useless. It just platforms and legitimizes a wholly illegitimate ideology.

The argument is that the nation exists as a super-organism of the collective will of the people. And that anything against the nation should evoke an immune response. If you don't understand that a powerful and aesthetically symbolic system can engender a sense of belonging that outweighs all else... Basically my take on what Mussolini meant by "Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state."

This is all besides the point, since this is just a detour from the main point that if you want to convince people, personal attacks aren't the way because they alienate people into weird insular groups.

I'm not sure why she thinks shaming people will work. It's nto exactly like fascism and Nazis are popular. Even violence often leads to violent escalation in return.

As I've said before; you can't stop people with a persecution complex by persecuting them.

so I think "nationalism is so dangerous" might be special pleading, unless you are equally suspicious of class consciousness. Like it is a weak argument, we have let slide because we oppose the Republicans (who love nationalism) and oppose racism (which is associated with nationalism)

on the other hand, "Have you seen my fellow Americans? I feel no brotherhood with them" is still valid, since it is attacking emotional appeal of nationalism.

The Jessica Yaniv case.

Seeing otherwise decent people circle the wagons and enable an obvious abuser because the person in question is one of theirs was illustrative like nothing before.

But here's the kicker: I don't think I've seen a person who's as chauvinistic about their Western nationality or white ethnicity as everyday randos on here are about their gender or orientation.

so I think "nationalism is so dangerous" might be special pleading, unless you are equally suspicious of class consciousness

Many of the people who constantly talk about CC effectively believe the 1% are highly class conscious and busily work night and day to hold everyone else down.

Even when logic would dictate it would actually make things worse for those rich people.

Okay, so let's actually elaborate on this a bit to hopefully assuage some concerns.

It's important to acknowledge the distinction between 'comic relief for the sake of providing levity', 'anachronisms for the sake of reader comprehension', and 'lol so quirky' in writing.

Even some of the most serious, grimmest stories can incorporate brief moments of humor for the sake of providing space for readers to breathe and actually digest the misery, violence, and turmoil they're witnessing. This is fine.

Anachronisms, while they should be used as sparingly as possible, can be used for the sake of making sure that your audience is following along during complex concepts or really convoluted (positive) worldbuilding or lore recollections. Something like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is full of effective examples.

'Lol, so quirky' writing is what happens when you have a writer trying to combine the ^previous standpoints in order to force humor, pop-culture references, or ironic genre observations to the detriment of the reader's immersion and the flow of the story at large. This would be like you reading an epic fantasy adventure where a brave youth is on their way to save a princess, and the author pulls everything to a halt to write a scene like:

'And, thus, the youth rode his stallion -- though, really, what farmer's son in medieval Europe could actually afford a stallion; it was probably more like a really grey pony -- toward the castle to seek out the fair maiden's favor. We could ask if the fair maiden really wanted to be rescued, maybe she was enjoying being held captive and actually enjoying a five-star resort vacation with avocado toast and bottomless mimosas, but the average fan of this genre doesn't want to think that deeply about things. Where were we? Ah, yes: brave youth, maiden without agency, fantasy cliches abound.'

For reference sake, of course

So the one I'm currently halfway through is the first volume of My Husband and I Sleep in a Coffin, which is about a guy who wakes up to find that he has been placed into the undead body of an immortal warrior's beloved (said immortal warrior may or may not be a little mentally unhinged, but don't worry about it).

Such immersion-breaking examples of 'lol so quirky' writing I've come across include but are by no means limited to:

''Little shotas are so kawaii! I'll make sure to raise him into a well-rounded kid!' - An entry of a journal that was, supposedly, written by the MC's ancient incarnation 'I'm mindin' my own business using the restroom in my own tomb, when a whole-ass man comes falling from the sky and won't stop yelling, scaring me so bad I can't even poop in peace!' - The MC's thoughts when a graverobber stumbles into the bathroom where he's trying to take a shit. "I really didn't mean it. Wh-why is a big boss man like you acting like a shojo character?! Wait! Don't tell me you're a bottom, that's not gonna work! Two bottoms won't equal a happy ending!" - The MC during a scene where he's trying to calm the love-interest down from a murderous rage.

Dang, looks like I saw this post too late and the cowards over at the ALA have already disabled replies and quote-reposts.

... Oh well, I'll just share my sentiments here!

Is the thought-process behind this list, spotlighting more cozy, wholesome Romantasy for people not wanting so much kink and hardcore smut, a viable endeavor? Yes, of course!

Is the wording that they used ('ethical', 'ick', 'mature grounded', 'modern sensibilities') particularly tone-deaf not only because of the current hellscape that sees anything more transgressive than an M/F story where the guy is a little bit grumpy censored or denied proper industry representation but also because this is LITERALLY FROM THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION saying this?

The whole metaverse can no longer be properly viewed without an account and I am definitely not making one just to see your contact info or opening hours.