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"So this is how liberty dies... With thunderous applause."

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The silver lining of Kamala's loss was my partner switching from, "I wasn't cool in high school so I kinda get it" to "… okay yeah I see it now, they not like us, it's a them problem"

The other day a video came up on my boyfriend's For You feed countering a video by a woman on how male friendships where guys don't even know, say, each other's birthdays, are shallow and therefore last longer. At one point he even argued that girl friendships could be considered the more shallow ones (I think he was fixating on birthdays as an example and using it make girl friendships look petty).

It definitely did not sit well with me.

My boyfriend and I are on different sides of this—he has pretty close friendships so for him, the girl's claims did not align with his experience and he thought her argument was stupid. My thought is that the exception doesn't make the rule and it sounded like she was trying to defend girl friendships from criticism that they must be shallow because they don't last forever. And it makes sense to me that the more you truly know someone, the more likely it is that a disconnect will arise.

Well, today there was a comment on a totally different video (about political moderates) and the commenter shared that he had spent years unknowingly being buds with a both-sides-ist because they only talked about nerd stuff, and this discovery ended the friendship. That comment illustrates exactly her point.

Like imagine having lupus, spending years thinking your buddy's a great guy because you find him a likable fellow nerd, not knowing that he thinks antivaxxers have a right to an "opinion" that endangers your very LIFE because he wants to be "fair" to both sides. He can be your friendLY nerd acquaintance, but you cannot make your natural enemy your true, close friend.

There is nothing shallow about choosing not to surround yourself with your natural enemies. It's not about the birthday. The birthday is just a gateway milestone thing—how can you know their values & beliefs if you didn't even know the most basic shallow facts about them.

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Drama peeve list

[Korean] dragged out OST scenes

[Chinese] fussing over someone about injuries when they're clearly unscathed, and not only are they unscathed, but they're just randomly patting the patient's clothes and looking around the patient's shoulder

Influencer face, especially douyin eyes in a chinese period drama

Some people have mastered the perfect balance of cuteness (e.g. IU, Yue Yu-Ting), some people have not (Park Shin-hye, Esther Yu)

Random background cast yes men who unconvincingly recite overly contrived lines supporting whoever's speaking with zero integrity and occasionally narrating context

Fist clench shots using the sound of creaking leather (imagine the fingers twitch into claws for a split second, or tapping out a count of five, or impatiently drumming the fingers, or a hidden rude symbol, or crossed fingers)

Anachronistic portrait paintings in period dramas that are drawn like the modern fairy style (with large eyes and elfin chins)

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I had a dream I was a substitute teacher who kept needing to go to the bathroom. The school was like an old lecture building, labyrinth of giant lecture rooms, little classrooms, ugly carpeted open risers for stairs to get from floor to floor, and dingy restrooms with rust on the stalls.

Oddly enough the first place I attended was a court hearing of some kind where they were talking about someone I know (don't remember who) reporting someone else for something, and I had a start when I recognized my coworker's name, but then "remembered" overhearing my coworker being comforted about some family crisis, and surmised one of her relatives got snatched by ICE.

I don't remember why I couldn't finish up at the first few bathrooms I found. Dream logic? I'll skip the embarrassing dream logic bits.

My supervisor was a thin young overachiever sort of lady with emotionally frayed nerves hauling a massive binder. I met at least two coordinators, the first being Ross Geller but I don't know if he was her subordinate or on the school side, and the other being Jack Black who was definitely on the school side.

She caught me on my way to find another bathroom and expressing relief, immediately assigned me a classroom.

I actually found it rather quickly (at first), and there was a dream logic bit that was embarrassing but my takeaway was that I noticed all the girls were blonde with bobbed haircuts, most with straight bangs. Not important but just a detail I want to remember so I'm jotting it down here.

I wrote a name on the board but while introducing myself, suddenly remembered my real name and started babbling about, that's your usual teacher isn't it?, but more or less made it through introductions, immediately after which every student turned around, announcing that they were engaging in civil disobedience in solidarity with a missing classmate.

They had a challenging attitude but I assured them I wasn't going to stop them and started digging through my bag for something to do, noting that the nearest student was reading The Sound and the Fury (which I've never read but the title sounded academic enough) and everyone was quietly reading various books. I paused and thought perhaps I could get away with a bathroom break, since it seemed they were all kids serious about learning on their own, curriculum or no.

After I finally found a bathroom, I forgot the way back and stumbled into Jack Black who engaged me in conversation. I mentioned what my students were up to and he blamed himself, saying he'd brought the boy along to a protest where they ran into trouble. By the time we finished chatting, it was quite late and as I raced around looking for my classroom, I overheard my supervisor sounding like she was on the verge of emotional breakdown about the high percentage of missing students in each cohort.

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Search: WWW ep. 4

Nobody thought of option 3: keep the real time search but add a warning reminding users about legal consequences to defamatory rumormongering. Also, they could have taken down the additional search terms and only left the one that had his name.

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I don't understand why Tami (Tammy?) dropped her phone over being the top search result. I would've expected her to freeze and flashback to the hearing, trying to make connections, and then gather the resolve to find out what they're saying first. She's a decisive woman whose first reflex is quiet anger.

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Love Game in Eastern Fantasy ep20

YEEEEEES YOU GO BOY YOU BEAUTIFUL SIMP I BELIEVED ON YOU

As for you directors though

When the situation is urgent, you should make it look like everything is happening in a flash in slow-mo, or it's boring. Who wants to watch her fondle a rose when she needs to run to the airport city gates? You're just making us sweat pointlessly because in real life, a slow short girl is not catching up to a leggy half-demon on horseback.

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Love Game in Eastern Fantasy ep. 18

OH NO ATTACC PUPPY IS SAD

Off topic but I absolutely adore the scam cultivator, he's like rogue-ish but also surprisingly genuine and something about that just gets me and makes me want to believe he's got a noble core inextricably intertwined with the scoundrel-iness. Of course I'm invested in this ridiculous show with its excessive sajiao and female gaze thirst trap hair too, but his character is more interesting to me.

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House of the Dragon s2e3

I swear the actress for Rhaena is the spitting image of the actor for Laenor

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I'm gonna start a running list of hypothetical laws that would make sense to me:

1. Apps that facilitate offline interaction should be mandated to report users who are accused of nonconsensual acts or else held liable, fined… something. Dating apps, rideshare, travel rentals (undisclosed hidden cameras)

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House of the Dragon s1e9

Alicent heard what she wanted to hear.

She knew he was following up on a conversation she didn't recognize.

She knew he had used up his last strength to double down on Rhaenyra's succession.

She knew that she DIDN'T know about any Song of Ice and Fire and even if she didn't know what he meant by the prince that was promised, she knew that he never once promised anyone that Aegon would replace Rhaenyra.

The Targaryens are fairly stuffed with Aegons. The name Aegon without any stylings or intelligible context is not an identifier.

Alicent's not stupid but the fears planted by Otto have brought her to a point where she believes that her “imbecile” crowned king is the greater good. Good grief.

Now, what the hell is Mysaria's accent supposed to sound like? It's like a grotesque chimera of Tia Dalma and posh english.

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What this drama misunderstood (and somehow the low budget Chinese shorts managed to 抓住重點… 實在是丟臉) was that revenge stories are are for escapism and catharsis. Not for trauma p**n.

Perfect Marriage Revenge ep. 1 bits

They're doing too much and changing too much.

Make up your mind, did they have a contingency plan for Iju to be the scapegoat, TODAY, or were they caught off guard by the other lady?

Obvious continuity hole that requires Iju to somehow not get arrested and then run from the cops?

Everything medical being misinformation??

What gets me is that none of this was necessary. The original intro was not this complicated. There are too many moving parts.

The actor for Sehyuk seems to be unable to play someone good at pretending to love Iju, he doesn't smile at her once. He just has a dull cross-eyed look on his face.

And why is everyone making crazy eyes even when they're not having a psychotic break?

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House of the Dragon s1e5

I really wanted to like Criston Cole what with him being a talented underdog handpicked by Rhaenyra, but his shortsightedness, and of course selfishness, seriously let me down.

I get it, the dishonor is hard to live with, but the first ever Crown Princess doesn't get to just ghost the throne. Pops has spies and dragon riders at his disposal, kind of hard to outrun those, especially when you're such a high profile figure that you won't get much of a head start before they find out. It's a stupid, rash idea whether or not Rhaenyra's on board.

Which she's not. If he loved her, he would've been prepared for the possibility that she'd reject his "plan".

He'd appreciate that if she saw him as her whore, she'd lie to him or throw him away, but instead she's trying to make it work. He'd look for silver linings, e.g. at least he's a man who can't bear illegitimate children would be essentially fatherless.

But no, he stormed off, brooded, threw a tantrum, KlLLED SOMEONE. Someone who was trying to be his ALLY. 😐 Bro. Ugh.

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I'M CACKLING someone on Viki commented, so this is what rich people do with their time instead of helping those in need

Perfect Marriage Revenge ep. 1 bits

They're doing too much and changing too much.

Make up your mind, did they have a contingency plan for Iju to be the scapegoat, TODAY, or were they caught off guard by the other lady?

Obvious continuity hole that requires Iju to somehow not get arrested and then run from the cops?

Everything medical being misinformation??

What gets me is that none of this was necessary. The original intro was not this complicated. There are too many moving parts.

The actor for Sehyuk seems to be unable to play someone good at pretending to love Iju, he doesn't smile at her once. He just has a dull cross-eyed look on his face.

And why is everyone making crazy eyes even when they're not having a psychotic break?

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HYJ: *promises to smile*

HYJ: *does not smile*

HYJ: *looks like she was forced into a loveless arranged marriage*

Me: *unable to comprehend how many "fans" consider this a minor improvement*

Perfect Marriage Revenge ep. 1 bits

They're doing too much and changing too much.

Make up your mind, did they have a contingency plan for Iju to be the scapegoat, TODAY, or were they caught off guard by the other lady?

Obvious continuity hole that requires Iju to somehow not get arrested and then run from the cops?

Everything medical being misinformation??

What gets me is that none of this was necessary. The original intro was not this complicated. There are too many moving parts.

The actor for Sehyuk seems to be unable to play someone good at pretending to love Iju, he doesn't smile at her once. He just has a dull cross-eyed look on his face.

And why is everyone making crazy eyes even when they're not having a psychotic break?

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Whyyyyyy did they make her a miserably depressed bride and not a triumphant one?! WHO APPROVED THIS??

Perfect Marriage Revenge ep. 1 bits

They're doing too much and changing too much.

Make up your mind, did they have a contingency plan for Iju to be the scapegoat, TODAY, or were they caught off guard by the other lady?

Obvious continuity hole that requires Iju to somehow not get arrested and then run from the cops?

Everything medical being misinformation??

What gets me is that none of this was necessary. The original intro was not this complicated. There are too many moving parts.

The actor for Sehyuk seems to be unable to play someone good at pretending to love Iju, he doesn't smile at her once. He just has a dull cross-eyed look on his face.

And why is everyone making crazy eyes even when they're not having a psychotic break?

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I feel like this verge-of-mental-breakdown wide-eyed cross-eyed facial expression is an odd choice, especially the choice to reuse that facial expression so much.

I don't remember Han Yiju being so empty-headed. "What?" "what?" with that deer-in-headlights look, I'm getting sick of it. Do they not know what confusion looks like? Where is the furrowed brow, the blinks?

And why does she have the same expression when she talks to his grandma? I can't help but compare the older actresses' facial expressions because they look like they don't know there's a camera in the room, while she looks like she's on a stage reading an invisible script taped to her nose.

Perfect Marriage Revenge ep. 1 bits

They're doing too much and changing too much.

Make up your mind, did they have a contingency plan for Iju to be the scapegoat, TODAY, or were they caught off guard by the other lady?

Obvious continuity hole that requires Iju to somehow not get arrested and then run from the cops?

Everything medical being misinformation??

What gets me is that none of this was necessary. The original intro was not this complicated. There are too many moving parts.

The actor for Sehyuk seems to be unable to play someone good at pretending to love Iju, he doesn't smile at her once. He just has a dull cross-eyed look on his face.

And why is everyone making crazy eyes even when they're not having a psychotic break?

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E3

I vote for Lyonel Strong as the new hand.

Hardly a triumphant hunt to skewer a terrified, Not Even White hart tied in place like one of the Crab guy's victims. Probably tastes off too, animals that die peacefully taste better.

House of the Dragon s1e2

I was not really prepared to like Rhaenyra (no particular reason, just like there was no particular reason I put off watching this spinoff) but at this point, I'm like fully,

WA CAO, JUST LET HER BE THE HEIR YOU STUPID NINCOMPOOPS AND STOP CREATING DRAMA, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GO UP AGAINST A DRAGON RIDER WITH NOTHING BUT A LITTLE BADGE AND SOME SWORDS, LET ALICNT HAVE HER FKING CHILDHOOD BACK