Wasting Time Always

Smart alecs using their pesky "lived experiences" of having "more than four grandparents via marriage, divorce, infidelity and polyamory" to bludgeon my poor, defenseless joke into paste

I wish the tub would expand so I could go swimming, like I used to on hot summer Sundays in the woods with my father.... We would leave early in the morning and hike farther into the woods than usual to a small lake he'd found while hunting.

i can't think of a plausible reason he would lie to his daughter about how he came across the lake, so i doubt anyone from the covey took him there. he probably did find it on his own, as we know he has been in the woods since before ten years old.

It was the fall after I’d turned ten and the first time I’d ever snuck under the fence that surrounds our district.... My friend Burdock had finally worn me down, saying he did it all the time and there was nothing to it and there were still apples if you could climb.

That’s actually really interesting, because the show has repeatedly shown June’s emotional reactions to the fact that Nick is married (has another woman) and those were big scenes. The first time she found out he had a wife, she completely broke down crying (503) And it was something she had already been fearing especially after seeing that guy running back to Gilead to be with his wife and child, she already started crying before learning the truth!!! It’s like she had felt it way before, it had been her biggest fear, losing him

Later, she also reacted really strongly when she found out he was going to have a child. I actually rewatched that episode recently, and her reaction was really loud!!! She cried when he left. it was so emotional and painful, like she could barely get the words out. And “wished the world just goes away, even for a little bit” gosh so beautiful

Then we see the same kind of reaction again in season 6, episode 3, when she says, “you have a wife, you have a baby.” It’s like this whole buildup of grief and jealousy that’s been growing for seasons. Even when Eden was in the picture, she was clearly affected, we saw that too. She was completely devastated during his marriage and almost had a miscarriage. And When she begged him to sleep with her and then when she found out he actually did she was really hurt we could tell

So now, seeing him lead his wife down the aisle, hearing him say kind things about her, thank God for their union, express joy for their unborn child of course that hits June like a knife. These reactions make complete sense in the context of that long-running arc. She’s always struggled with the idea that he belongs to someone else 😭. It’s a deeply painful theme for her.

Taskmaster in the comics  was introduced as an answer to the question of who, exactly, was responsible for training up and hiring out all the hordes of disposable minions all the big-name mastermind villians seemed to be pulling out of thin air. Taskmaster is fun because despite having the same flair and sense of theatrics as normal supervillians, he’s also a very intelligent guy who’s developed a sense of how the rules of the genre work and how to game them. He became a supervillian instead of a superhero because it was more money for less work; he retired from active supervilliany and set up a minion temp agency because it presents more money, less danger, and makes him invaluable to the supervillian community without having to stick his neck out. He’s feeding and enabling a status quo he views as being populated by suckers; he dips his toe in by having a costume and codename, but he’s emotionally detatched enough to cut and run when things are going to hell. He’s an amiable cockroach, skilled and powerful enough that you can never get rid of him, popping up whenever anyone, hero or villian, needs training and has some cash. He’s reasonably good friends with Deadpool because they both sort of exist in this uncomfortable fringe where they play by the “rules” but not really, and no one is really sure what to do with them or what terms to engage with them on. He could show up anywhere and as long as money is involved it all sort of makes sense.

None of the dynamics that make comics Taskmaster fun and interesting exist in the MCU. The only really goon-heavy enemy groups were SHIELD and HYDRA, both of which have the explanation for their goons built into the premise. There isn’t the same ecosystem of one-off masterminds who pop up with replenished resources time and time again. Supervillains are rare enough that you can give each movie’s bad guy a one-time explanation for where they got their underlings from, and after the movie is over you never have to justify a comeback because they’re usually in jail for good or dead. The cape scene doesn’t have norms for Taskmaster to game, exploit or break, because there is no cape scene- there’s twenty-something quasi-mercenaries running around lancing one-time major threats, some of which they’re responsible for in the first place. 

The MCU is not a setting with much tolerance for free agents; if they’d tried to adapt Taskmaster faithfully, as a self-employed, self-directed freelancer who sees himself as having risen above the fray, they’d be answering a question the movies never really raised in the first place. 

If you actually have substantial things to say, you don't have to do that. I mean, not for nothing, but what we're watching here is a man doing the job he was elected to do. Our public officials work for us, the people. It's nice to see some of them take that obligation seriously.

Booker is standing there with a binder that he's not even halfway through reading. *Over 42k people are watching it just on YouTube. I haven't watched the news yet today, but I've got the live feed of this open on my computer.

I hope he has a catheter and/or a diaper on. He said he'd continue as long as he's physically able. Probably he's been on a liquid diet for a day or so. I would plan ahead for this.

If Republicans are going to refuse to do the work, if they're going to refuse to take up serious business and would like instead to fuck shit up... Well, we've got a choice to make, don't we? I don't know what the long-term solution looks like. But we can and should talk about it. We can and should take steps to make sure the public record reflects reality to the extent possible.

Really, if we want to come back from this, we have to talk about it. And we know that the official records during this time especially will be, shall we say, less than reliable. So there is value in speaking the truth into the public record.

I'm not in love with the Democratic party as an institution. But this can also be energizing and inspiring for people. He's setting an example, and hopefully his example will shame others into growing a backbone. Hopefully.

I really don't have any hope for Schumer. But Booker, along with folks like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, and Jasmine Crockett, are doing what they can do, and I respect it.

This is definitely a coordinated thing, though. Finally, Dems are showing that they have some strategic ability. Booker is the main speaker, but other Dems are asking questions, while allowing him to retain the floor. In this way, it's clear that they're working together, and several people in the room have jobs to do in support of Booker's efforts. They're expanding on his points and doing a call-and-response thing, which is an effective tactic in more ways than one, and it allows him to rest his voice for a few moments at a time.

So I'm not becoming a cheerleader for anybody yet. But what he's doing is important, even if it doesn't change anything directly.

Miss me with bipartisanship talk though. I really can't see that as a viable option at this point. Unless something radical changes, I wouldn't trust that at all. So anytime somebody like Schumer talks about Republicans coming to the table, I can't be bothered to listen. They have repeatedly shown us that they have no intention of doing that and that they further do not care about right and wrong at all. Or if they do, they think their actions are right, and I'm not sure which is worse, but in both cases, I would not call them trustworthy. Their priority is being in lockstep with Trump and the prescribed agenda of the party, not the American people.

At least Booker is trying to do something. Shit.

If I tell you this is a horror dance number it still won't prepare you. That last move was so terrifying even the judge was like "Let go! Let go!" If you told me they're actually possessed I'd believe you.

The music is a remix of the song Mere Dholna from the Bollywood movie Bhool Bhulaiyya, a remake of the classic Malayalam horror-comedy Manichitrathazhu. It's about a young bride that seemingly becomes possessed of Manjulika, a dancer of the ancient royal court whose tragic death has turned her into a vengeful spirit, one who evokes the wrath of the goddess Durga Kali. In the iconic scene that is repeated across remakes, the groom and his family discover his bride dancing in the dead of night in a manic, disassociative fugue, wearing a moth-eaten dancer's costume and a face smeared in kohl, ash and vermilion. She's hallucinating that she's Manjulika dancing carefree for the court with her lover. The upbeat music is deliberately incongruous with the pathos and creepiness of the scene in reality, especially as it crescendos in the bride's head to the moment when the king decapitates Manjulika's beloved in a fit of jealous rage.

This specific number is by the all-male troupe B Unique, performed for the Indian reality talent contest Hunabaarz. It's a modern fusion based on Bharatnatyam that turns up the creep factor by 200% and is basically a showcase of contortionism and synchronicity. One of the most perfectly choreographed and executed dances I have ever seen. Truly incredible!

Let these be the photos that mark tonight.

This evening, Rep. Al Green of Texas was forcibly removed from the joint session of Congress by the sergeant-at-arms for standing up and yelling “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” during the president’s address.

“He is a person who has consistently used incivility against civility,” Green said. 

“I’m willing to suffer whatever punishment is available to me,” he continued. “I didn’t say to anyone, ‘Don’t punish me.’ I’ve said I’ll accept the punishment, but it’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

1. I didn't like it.

2. I think Foggy is still alive because they cited Brubaker's run as an inspiration for this season. It was also so heavily telegraphed in interviews and marketing that it FEELS like a misdirect-or Marvel has gotten REALLY shitty with keeping things surprising and unexpected.

3. I think they needed to find a way to work around the original scripts which excluded Karen and Foggy without completely rewriting them and this is what they came up with. Doesn't hurt any less.

4. I can't see a world where Matt gives up being Daredevil because of Foggy's supposed death. The Matt I invision would go into overdrive, feeling like he has nothing to lose, completely succumbing to his persona of vegence and retribution. It feels out of character for him to just give up-even with the reason given.

5. These new characters are poor replacements for Karen and Foggy, I want to see THEM, not these people I don't know (I like Kirsten in the comics so I have nothing against her inclusion in theory.)

5. This didn't FEEL like Daredevil. It's not Daredevil without Foggy and Karen. I feel like I'm watching an imitation of the show I loved. The heart and soul are gone and whether or not they comes back is completely up to the writers.

6. Marvel was shitty for using the original cast in marketing only to do what they did with them. Which was A. Ship them to San Francisco and B. "Kill" them. And then they weren't even mentioned in the second episode to my recollection.

I couldn't even give these episodes my full attention. I'm pissed I'll have to wait weeks potentially to find out if Foggy is alive or not. I'm pissed they used the fan's love for these characters to emotionally exploit them and keep us watching. I'm pissed they didn't just give the fans what they wanted from the start so we wouldn't have to deal with this bullshit to work around the original scripts.