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I've been workshopping a metaphor as an expectant mother to explain some of my worries (so many worries).

Children are like plants in some ways. Our society has decided to hit the boys with weed killer, while trying to bind and trim and shepherd the girls' growth into unhealthy shapes of one kind or another. Both these are counter to true flourishing.

Needs work.

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I suppose this will make someone mad, but MCU Iron Heart should have been Tony's daughter, Morgan. Just retcon the character entirely.

Why is Morgan a genius? Because she's Tony's daughter and her dad taught her as much as he could before he died, which we saw glimpses of in Endgame. She's also his heir, so he has his resources; she's not scraping together a high-tech suit in a dingy garage.

I could see Tony leaving her a whole lab (with an AI version of himself, hmm? That's more organic way to pull in RDJ than Doctor Doom of all things).

Morgan Stark also comes with whole character arcs built in. Her dad is THE Big Damn Hero...but she's lived most of her life without him (I'd say she'd be 16-18 in her introduction) and she loved him dearly as a child. There's so much angst and pressure from that.

Give her a cute boy as a love interest, give her some villains out to take revenge on her father. Have the other Avengers try to be protective or mentors by turns. Have her butt heads with her protective mother, who already lost her husband to heroing. These things have not been done with a female character on the big screen for a long time. Plus she's Tony's daughter, with all the snark and sarcasm and independent spirit.

Of course, the writers Disney has aren't up to any of this; she'd just be annoying. But clever and snarky female characters with serious arcs are certainly possible; many books have them.

I know Riri Williams was originally a tribute to the comic writer's daughter, and that's sweet, but she has never been a popular character with fans and seems to be handled poorly in every iteration, treated not like a character, but a totem for this and that. It seems no writer for her can help themselves. I think Morgan Stark would be a way better 'female Iron Man' than Riri and- if handled properly, a massive if there- could revitalize the MCU by giving people a character with a real sincere connection to the past and, as it were, real heart.

Don't tell me it can't be done because 'comics retcon', the MCU retcons all sorts of things all the time, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but they're there. All. The. Time.

Moot point- the MCU has gone with Riri and it seems it hasn't been done well, what a shock.

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FWIW once you actually speak to a recruiter at a company, I have found they are pretty reliable in keeping you in the loop. The problem is just getting to that point.

Right now...1/I have no idea how many + 1 scam.

I HATE JOB HUNTING.

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I HATE JOB HUNTING.

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I must not respond to stupid comments on the internet. Responding to stupid comments on the internet is the mind-killer. Responding to stupid comments on the internet is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face the stupid comments on the internet. I will permit them to pass over me and through me. And when they have gone past I will turn the inner eye to see their path. Where the stupid comments on the internet have gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

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"The ____ craze is getting out of hand."

I have never heard of said craze until literally this moment.

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I got the lowdown on the full story of my extended family's tangle with immigration and not enforcing the border has so much more worse humanitarian results than enforcing it, holy shit.

It pretty much just enables the cartels- which are highly organized criminal organizations capable of real violence and devoured by greed in a way beyond any fictional corporation you can imagine; Weyland-Yutani is a kitten by comparison- to abuse very poor and vulnerable people very freely all the time.

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as a catholic. i hate everyone's obsession with so-called "catholic guilt" actually

that's called scrupulosity (or, in the common parlance, religious/moral ocd) and it's not supposed to be there. we have resources we'll help you

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I don't care what your politics are, stop making them into your religion.

I'm pretty sure, for instance, that my MIL is more infuriated by feeling betrayed by Donald Trump via-a-vis isolationism than she is excited for her coming granddaughter. I saw a post where a cute man's friends posted marriageable qualities- his love of cooking BBQ, how he likes to dance, handy around the house, etc.- to show why women should date him and most of the comments are women asking how he voted.

Stop making politics your religion. It is a teeny tiny facet of life and there's so much more going on than team red or team blue. You're going to wrap yourself up so tightly in that banner that you miss out on all the other amazing experiences life has to offer.

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I love when paranormal investigators appeal to their long experience for credibility. I've been playing pretend for seventeen years, and let me tell you in that time I've imagined some shit you wouldn't believe.

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There's lesson to be learned about Elio vs. Kpop Demon Hunters.

Both are original computer animated stories. While some people don't like the style of Kpop Demon Hunters, many seem to appreciate it, while most people seem to react to Elio's CalArts look and generic design language with a 'meh' at best. I do feel there was a lot more care put into KDH (it's a long name, okay) in an artistic sense.

Both stories are tropey for sure. Being tropey doesn't mean bad! Me, KDH's fun adventure story is way more appealing than yet another 'there's nowhere I belong!" sappy kids' story, but YMMV.

The ideal target audiences are different, though I think they were both made with intent for broad appeal.

The thing that needs to be factored in is theatrical (Elio) vs. streaming (KDH) release. Would viewers have been interested enough in KDH to go through the trouble to going to theaters?

Regardless of its merits, I think signs point to no. What does entice viewers to go see original media in theaters? Nostalgia bait simply works, the success of the artistically empty live-action remakes shows that, though it can't overcome very severe flaws. And if you evaluate those remakes against the originals with the correct adjustments, they're not doing nearly as well.

Have people's entertainment habits just changed on a fundamental level so much that the old approaches do not work anymore?

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I have an interview tomorrow for a job that I'm not too hot on. It's so frustrating to get rejections on things I am by the book qualified for.

I've been editing my resumes for keywords like no tomorrow, but it's tempting to use AI to do it. They're certainly using AI to screen...

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i think a really funny project that a statistics professor could have their class do is like. put a bunch of random, patently untrue demographic statements into a hat. "the most popular tv show among white men ages 24-27 is Bluey." "the majority of business majors are middle children." "bisexual women love hot chips." and each student picks one out of the hat and you gotta like. design a whole study and survey a group of people to specifically achieve that result. you have to prove it true. by whatever means necessary. you have to construct the most biased study possible and wrangle in your exact demographic to make that statement a statistical reality. i think people would learn a lot.

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how busy are you guys that you can't spend a few days sorting beetles?

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05.10 - Morningstar

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ngl my boomer take is that some things called “sensory activities” for kids seem to be the new marketing term for just like. a toy. do we know that it is okay for children to have toys or is this just to get the minimalist parents on board.

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The AI trolls seem to have spread to YouTube- at least, have spread to places I have noticed them.

More AI scraping? Some form of Wall-E style of lazy trolling? I can work out the logic with fanfic, stupid as it is. YouTube though?