#when I was younger I even believed some of these before rewatching/re-reading and realizing 'oh no these takes are outright wrong actually'

[revenge-of-the-shit]

So after seeing some more rancid takes + after seeing the results of my previous poll, I need to ask:

For what it's worth, if you think attachment DOES equal love, take a look at this post.

Second edit:

Attachment is defined as possessive love. If you start the conversation by assuming that attachment = regular, healthy love, we're already on a different page.

Nowhere in this post does it say that Luke/Leia/Han were perfect or even great parents/guardians

In any case, you can keep talking in good faith, I don't mind. I'm not replying any more though, I'm returning to my Star Wars divorce

[prongsmydeer]

Ayesha Liveblogs Tiger King 

“I think it would be fair to say that Carole is the Mother Teresa of cats” now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear

“I’d never been a person who had friends” statements like this always perplex me because surely there had to be ONE other person in however long you quantify childhood that you identified with. Like not one whole ass person? You’re not the only person who loves cats Carole

The juxtaposition between Carole Baskin’s “Animal Print for Animal Rights” and Joe Exotic’s “Tiger King underwear is our bestseller” is poetic cinema

Okay this isn’t a reflection of my opinions on this man but I Saw a Tiger is a good country ballad there I said it 

“When I first met Joe, I was like a month out of high school” well that’s not good

[Joe Exotic voice] Some people have tigers to cope

Doc Antle has only been on screen for 30 seconds and already he has made himself memorable by directing the film crew

Is Bhagavan Antle Indian in some way or did he just have a really intense Eat Pray Love journey with his guru

Also is he really a doctor orrrrrrrrr

“I am out there in the forefront so known of being this guy that is in love with big cats and has them love him back” please don’t tell me this guy does anything weird to his animals

“People only care about saving what affects them” 

“You can’t put a price on holding a baby tiger” but you did and apparently it’s $625 

The fact that multiple tigers have had albinism is probably a sign of major inbreeding practices at these zoos

You know, even if I ate meat*, there is no way I would be able to handle any kind of early prep stage of it bc seeing these cow carcasses is A Lot

*If u r reading this I don’t care if u eat meat leave me alone

“Animals just wasn’t enough, okay? So then I started adding magic” well that took an unexpected turn

I don’t know if it’s for real fair to criticize every person who has brought a big cat out in a public venue/talk show because I know at least like Dave Sal/moni is always going “THESE ANIMALS MAKE TERRIBLE PETS” 

As a sidenote from what I understand this Saff person keeps being deadnamed/misgendered throughout this documentary and I do not appreciate it 

“I grew up a professional cowboy in a family of professional cowboys” every sentence on this show is a journey

WHO is letting their ONE-YEAR-OLD lay on top of a tiger cub I know you’re at a zoo but BRUH

“It’s going to be a small Waco” to say this ON THE NEWS

This 2 minute stretch of episode is all the PSA anyone ever needs to never own a gun

Well I think we can all agree that PETA is a fucking mess

God this is like battle of the people who are terrible at doing anything good for animals

“What do you carry that gun for?” “People” AHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!!!!?!?

“I sleep with an AK-47 under my mattress, loaded, ready to roll” WILL SOMEONE HELP THE U.S. OF A

I was warned about this show and yet I was still not prepared for the level of UNHINGED it would be 

How in the FUCK does a place like this not have an on-site medic

“Why don’t you come back on another day” he said, after telling the public an employee had his arm taken off 

“I am never gonna financially recover from this” SURE JOE THIS IS ABOUT YOU

To go back to work a WEEK after getting your arm amputated... BRUH

“Any law that you think’s unfair or unjustice, it is your obligation, it is your responsibility to stand up against that bullshit law” well Thomas Jefferson was a slaveowner so clearly the injustice thing was relative for him

Traditionally don’t drug addictions fuel people choosing extreme paths with their life rather than the other way around? 

JKHGKJHGKJH this whole exchange:

Interviewer: What kind of doctor is he?

Maria: Mystical science.

Interviewer: Mystical science?

Maria, nodding: Yeah.

“How many wives does Doc Antle have?” I didn’t expect this but somehow it tracks

I’m gonna bet none of these people with subcontinental names have a single bit of South Asian heritage like okay “Moksha” and “Rajnee” did Bhagavan name you

On a more serious note: It’s really fucked up that these men keep meeting literal teenagers, making them their employees, and then also get into relationships with them. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough THIS IS NOT GOOD OR HEALTHY

It’s pretty weird that Doc Antle keeps emphasizing so frequently that one of his partners is Italian 

“I’m gonna go be a yoga animal trainer” ah, white people bullshit

“Goodbye. Don’t fall in love with your boss.” Good advice, Dad

I was not expecting all this subcontinental imagery to get under my skin this badly but what’s your problem dude can’t u be normal for like a second 

“You’re this garbage person, but if you listen to me, I’ll make you great” again this tracks but gross

Again, on a more serious note: if a partner ever talks to you this way please call a domestic abuse hotline 

Not that India is at all in a good place right now but I personally ban Doc Antle from ever entering India. Banned. Forever. I will not be accepting constructive criticism at this time

“I didn’t really know any better” is a really good way of summarizing what all of these younger partners have been through

Wow Carole is really explaining this abuse issue succinctly 

Antle’s indignation at being implied to be a cult leader despite the fact he is most definitely a cult leader

Joe’s story in his documentary is constantly “is this going to be a humanizing moment PSYCH it’s still terrible”

HOW IS THIS LEGAL PAY YOUR WORKERS A LIVING WAGE

Why is this husband-killing thing JUST A FOOTNOTE AT THE END OF THIS EPISODE OH MY GOD

We have deviated so far from the tiger thing oh my god

Why is the only man in this documentary who is faithful to his spouse the man that smuggled drugs inside of snakes

Every time I learn a new thing about a person in this documentary I have to reorient myself

This whole episode has been about this murder and I’m concerned that its title, “The Secret,” hasn’t even been revealed yet

GOD I take back what I said about I Saw Tiger, the concept of this song/music video for Here Kitty Kitty is so disturbing that this man deserves no credit whatsoever as a musician 

CAROLE WHY ARE YOU GIGGLING ABOUT THE MEAT GRINDER IT’S NOT FUNNY

Well I don’t have much to say about this episode other than yikes

I guess if you’re really out to spite someone stealing their brand and posting exactly the opposite of everything they stand for is an effective if weird and petty way to do it

Do you think the whole throne footage moment was a “Frankenstein realizing what he has wrought” kind of thing for Kirkham

This is really like watching a sports game of two teams you can’t stand except the sport is murder and other miscellaneous crime

If we’re all being real with ourselves the documentary filmmakers themselves MUST have had some issues going on to be able to walk into this situation and not do anything about it

This series really seems to present a compelling case for why every major figure in this documentary has potentially committed at least one terrible crime

Ah there’s the judgment from the woman in Florida I guess it’s two crimes with one stone

God these poor animals they do not deserve anything happening to them

While obviously people are enticed by the prospect of someone they’re into having an animal JUST GET AN ALREADY DOMESTICATED ANIMAL LIKE DOMESTICATED CATS AND DOGS EXIST OH MY GOD DO NOT USE EXOTIC PETS AS DATE BAIT

 It has been so long since we heard about Travis ngl I already forgot about him 

Why is every single person in this show SO OFF THE WALLS I mean I know why but also WHY

This documentary is also a treatise in the flaws of the U.S. prison system and how it sets up people up to fail or re-offend upon release

Take a shot every time a middle-aged man in this show mentions that he casually bought himself a big cat as a teen

“Joe was the entertainment director.... by title” I don’t think this was meant to be a burn but what a burn

I am almost certain I WATCHED that Last Week Tonight episode during that election and if u told me that 4-5 years later I would be rewatching that clip in a documentary about this man’s journey to being convicted for murder then I cannot say I wouldn’t be surprised but I would probably believe it 

Also I have to wonder what John Oliver thinks about being part of this 

[“Beyonce?” voice] Shaun Majumder?

Sidenote: Until this exact moment I thought of Shaun Majumder as Ben Mulroney even though Brian Mulroney is white as hell I guess I have faceblindness but only for Canadian talkshow personalities

I have been aware of this before now but the fact you can buy a GUN at a Walmart what in the FUCK is U.S.A. doing

Man does this campaign manager really want to take ownership of anything Joe Exotic has ever done

Ngl I was wondering why someone who had at one point clearly had a lot of money seemed to have such poor dental care access but meth certainly does explain it

I mean people can be attracted to both men and women (hello) but since Joe was fuelling their drug addictions since they were teenagers attraction is at best a null factor and at worst an added layer of terrible to this whole mess

It’s hard to even respond to this in a meaningful way because this is so fucked up. Don’t own guns.

“That was a big fucking mistake,” he said, right after someone explained that he was driving large groups of people in an enclosed space in a busy city with wild animals that could maim or kill them

Padlock penls piercing really does not seem like a first date bombshell

“We went to dinner and he never went home” well if that doesn’t set you with a sense of foreboding

TWO MONTHS AFTER WHAT IN THE HELL OH MY GOD also I hope Dillon is okay

“It wasn’t about the animals anymore” you THINK

“It was sort of funny when they started but it’s gotten really dark” how meta

Of all the reasons Joe could’ve abandoned his zoo, I really didn’t think embezzlement would be what pushed him

“He won’t tell anyone where he’s at, not even me,” said Dial, with no acknowledgement of the fact that Joe is also theoretically still married and would maybe tell his husband???

Oh Dillon spotted??? Yikes get out dude

Take a shot every time a white person who really doesn’t understand where the word “karma” comes from starts talking about karma as if it is the Law of Revenge

The fact this man brings a film crew out with him while he’s on the run evading a federal investigation..... incomprehensible

“Joe just wanted to put it in somebody’s name and continue to be the tiger queen, I mean king,” really REALLY of all the reasons to object to Joe you’re going to choose homophobia wow

Is this about an attempt to have someone murdered or does something happen to Baskin it is very unclear

This documentary has an interesting format of switching focus from crime to crime to crime 

“I’ve never been as proud of being married to anyone as I am being married to you” It’s weird to compliment your husband by comparing him to all your other husbands

How is the lesson for Jeff Lowe in this “let’s build another zoo” surely at that point it’s better to just cut your losses

[Garretson voice]: You should pay me for being a bro, dude

“I’m a libertarian, so technically, fuck the Feds,” I’ve never heard an intonation that better suits a conservative millennial 

I mean I don’t think it was advisable but honestly why are people surprised Joe took the stand isn’t delusions of grandeur kind of his thing

Sometimes it’s just that they’ve added in other moments to break up the awful immoral crimes with just run of the mill douchebaggery like the nanny/gym thing huh

I guess the silver lining in this is that potentially these big cat zoos will shut down but like where do these animals who have been raised in captivity go??? I don’t trust anyone in this documentary to not exploit them in some way ugh 

“Not a single animal benefited from this war,” correct, Saff

“I was wrapped up in having a zoo,” not really an excuse but ok

[weekendwarriorblog]

30 Minute Experiment: Time #30ME

Today’s topic might seem more than a mite META because doing a timed writing experiment in tribute to actual TIME might seem like a good 30 minutes of wasted time on both our parts. Well, we’ll see.  Let’s do this...

The soundtrack for today’s #30ME is either Pink Floyd’s appropriately-named “Time” or Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” which starts with the immortal line “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.” I actually was on Google and saw that there was a site offering a “meaning” for that line... and it was simple enough: “That’s what time does.”

Yeah, time has become a bit of an issue under this pandemic quarantine, and to me, it’s not that I have too much time on my hands, as much as the fact that time is just going by so quickly but seemingly in such a boring and non-constructive way. Every night when I go to bed around the same time (somewhere between 11 and midnight), I reflect back on the day behind me and can’t even think or remember much of anything I did. I know I did stuff because writing gets done as does the appropriate movie watching to be able to write a Weekend Warrior column for Wednesday. And I know I hate a few things, and maybe did a little bit of cleaning. But I also did a lot of time-wasting in terms of playing one of the two games I have on my XBox: Overwatch and the 2015 edition of Magic the Gathering (which I just got a few weeks back!).

It’s fun (in a so not fun way) reflecting back on this and wondering where the day went and also wondering if the next few days will be more of the same, even though I fully know that it is. 

Not having anywhere to go and nothing particularly meaningful to do begins to wear on you even when you have various “projects” to get to, including working on a number of screenplays and now having so much time to do so. Heck, it was something I’ve been wanting to do for years now and now that I have the time, I just don’t feel motivated to do much of anything. This includes the probably hundreds or thousands of unread books and comics I have surrounding me both physical and on my Kindle.

If you’re one of the younger people reading this, you may not realize how time seems to speed by as you get older to the point where you’re no longer BORED by not having nothing to do as much as being unmotivated to actually do anything. I’m sure a lot of this has to do with not having any human contact, something that’s definitely starting to get to me, but I have tried to get on Skype/Zoom and do a bit of socializing when I can, as well as keeping in touch with family/friends. 

It’s just tough because there are days where even communicating with the outside world seems like a lot of work. Believe me, I’ve been trying to use my time constructively by setting aside 30 minutes a day to do this and 30 minutes a day to do other things (like cleaning my apartment) and 30 minutes to work on my screenplays or write to my penpal in prison... and I do that. Oh, and of course, my 2 hours to do the #TimsTwitterListeningParty of the day although the next couple days are artists like the Pogues and Billy Bragg, who I’ve never been that into but figure I should give another listen. (Discovered a terrific artist known Joan As Police Woman yesterday through Tim Burgess’ nightly listening parties and other artists to boot.)

A lot of my time issues is as much to do with what part of my brain do I want to try to stimulate at any given time whether it’s my ears by listening to music or eyes through reading/watching or brain through writing... all of this stuff should be getting me motivated and stimulated, especially after I turn off the TV every day post-Cuomo. At times, it feels like I just have too many options but other than housecleaning and working on my screenplays, none of them seem to offer a real positive outcome that makes it worth the time spent on them. 

Sure, I love writing the Weekend Warrior but far less than when I had movies where I could talk about the box office and it’s more about trying to be critical to write reviews and believe me, it gets harder to be critical when you regularly find yourself turning to Quibi to watch its quick and easy ADHD-friendly content. (Dishmantled and Chrissy’s Court are my two favorites so far but I’m hoping to get more into Sam Raimi’s anthology series, 50 States of Fear, as it goes along.)

I guess you could say that I’m trying to balance my time between doing important things that need to get done vs. things that keep me motivated to get up, get out of bed and do ANYTHING. It gets tough some days, especially when you’re going to sleep at night wondering where the time went...every single day.

The thing is that when we’re kids (and mind you, some of us were kids before the internet, smartphones, video games, etc.) I remember how bored we would get so quickly since we never felt like there was anything to do. This would lead to things like playing outside which usually meant running around and playing with other kids and using our imaginations for fun, and it’s amazing how much time you can use up doing things like this.

Nowadays, it’s not so easy, and I definitely feel for my friends with young kids who need to keep them entertained while also keeping themselves motivated and productive and doing their jobs. In some ways, it’s easier for me that I don’t have kids to keep entertained right now but I’m sure having kids also keeps one motivated to keep pushing forward since they need to do or get work to keep their families happy.

It’s a little crazy that with all the stuff I have on my plate from wanting to rewatch all the James Bond movies on Hulu, to catching up with all the shows that I’ve been meaning to catch up on (like Killing Eve, Westworld, etc) I just can’t find the time to just focus on doing these things. As I’ve said, part of it comes from my own unique form of ADHD where I get bored very easily if I’m doing something for too long and particularly when it’s the same thing like watching shows/movies. 

Heck, I could easily turn into a couch potato (or rather, futon couch/bed potato since I don’t have a couch) but that doesn’t help fight against the lethargy that is constantly on the verge of setting in permanently.

It wasn’t so hard when I had actual things to write, when I had movies to review or interviews to transcribe or write-up although i had time issues of a different kind when I was so busy from conducting too many interviews. I remember one of my last weeks at the Beat way back in January, I did four interviews in a single day on top of three movies and that was a normal day where I’d find time for all of it!

A lot of my time should be used looking for a job or my next source of income but even that’s become tough since surprise, surprise, the job listings have dried up completely. No one is posting for jobs since no one knows when this is going to end. Sure, there are a lot of nursing jobs and the like because hospitals still need people but I haven’t seen anything that might be worth applying for.

Part of my issues with how weird time has been behaving is not knowing when I’ll be able to get back to some semblance of normal, even if it’s having screenings to see  or concerts (a passion/hobby which generally require some sort of income to support)... for some reason, having concrete things in my calendar for the week helps me cope with the need to use my time constructively.

I do use some of my time to keep in touch with the outside world via social media and that always brings me some pleasure since it’s interacting with others that offers the type of stimulation of surprise, not knowing who you might interact with or how someone might react, that has generally kept me motivated, but man, it gets tough at time.

I have a few more minutes so not sure what else to talk about re: time. I just haven’t been able to explain why it’s behaving so oddly where there are days when I don’t really know if it’s Tuesday or Saturday, and that was never a problem even while spending the past 20 years not doing the typical 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. (Oddly, when I worked at Tracking Board, which was straight 9 to 5 five days a week, days would blow by even quicker since I always was on the clock and had work to do... except Saturdays where I had to create five or six original posts every day and sometimes, those days just DRAGGED.)

I’m slowly figuring out ways of dealing with time and using it constructively but I definitely find myself having to push myself especially after Blas comes on and talks about how everything will probably be cancelled through at least June. Believe me, I feel awful for the people who are more prone to contracting COVID, but I also have felt fine for weeks now and I’m ready to get back into some sort of better normal than what is going on right now. It’s just hard to do that just sitting around my apartment every day.

Anyway my time is up... hopefully I’ll have a better topic for tomorrow. :)