Aaaand a song I haven’t heard or thought about in almost 20 years is now stuck in my head. Fuck. xD

It’s like gambling except it’s considered classy instead of trashy.

Not just the Palpatine/Skywalker story, but the Jedi and Sith / light side vs dark side as a whole are all a dusty crater that used to be the site of a beaten, dead horse.

Space wizards and laser swords have been WAAAAY overdone.

I fucking loved Rogue One and Andor, in part because they did such a good job of showcasing other elements of the Star Wars universe in a way that isn’t the same tired good guy vs bad guy schtick. In both productions, we see both the dirty side of the Republic and the albeit hyperauthoritarian but not evil side of the Empire.

The Acolyte is back to space wizards… the little I’ve read about it sounds like kind of a space CSI type show, and honestly I can see the potential in that so long as it’s not too heavy on the same tropes they keep trying to redo.

I’d really like to see more stuff that showcases members of the empire as being totally sold on their cause. Dedra Meero and Syril Karn are fucking fantastic examples - they weren’t strong-armed into submission by the Empire, they were completely indoctrinated and served with pride and patriotism: from their perspective, they’re believably the ‘good guys’ doing their best to fight the ‘dirty Rebel terrorists’.

We see a touch of this in EA’s SW Battlefront II with Iden Versio and her squad: basically special ops Storm Troopers doing their job professionally and with camaraderie amongst each other. The scene with the death star exploding, unexpectedly for the squad on the planet below, was great: they just watched all their friends get obliterated before their eyes, and they go through a quick transition from speechless to “our friends are all dead” to “oh fuck we gotta MOVE or we’re dead too!”. Again, their perspective is believably not evil - they’re serving what they genuinely feel are the ‘good guys’. Then the switch to the light side arch kicks in and we’re back to old SW tropes, but the first hour or so is pretty solid!

Something like that adapted as a TV series or movie has a lot of potential imo. Showcase Storm Troopers as a legit military force and not just a bunch of bumbling idiots who can’t shoot straight. Pull inspiration from things like Jarhead, Band of Brothers or even fucking MASH lol.

There’s so much more to SW than space wizards and light v dark!

He always supported Israel… I think the ‘until’ is in reference to Israel’s more recent and more blatant attack on Gaza - prior to that, Biden’s support for Israel wasn’t nearly as flagrant as it is now.

Like, no one would bat an eye if I told them I support my wife’s decisions, but if she started breaking into the local NICUs and stomping on people’s babies, my continued support for her decisions would be a tad sus. …especially if I regularly said “honey could you tone the baby-stomping down a bit?” as I handed her a new pair of baby-stomping boots.

I’m not a both-sides’er (unless I’m talking to a trumpanzee in an attempt to steer votes away from Agent Orange). My vote is going to Biden and I encourage anyone reading this to do the same, but our complicity in the genocide on Gaza is genuinely upsetting, partly because it’s complicity in a fucking genocide, and partly because this WILL cause voter disengagement and could hand that other dipshit the presidency on a silver platter.

Corrupt politicians, corrupt law makers, and billionaires get a gram of francium magicked into the center of their brain.

All religious writing becomes saturated with an enzyme that dissolves the paper; hard drives with religious text saved to it become filled with the strongest magnetic material known, destroying their contents and shorting every circuit within; religious carvings are filled in with the missing material, etc. All of it, gone. Attempts to recreate get the francium. Attempts to spread it verbally get a few drops of water in the trachea.

Then it’s straight to NASA to demonstrate the ability and put it to work doing things like manifesting materials in space and otherwise following the guidance of people much smarter than myself.

His name is Blizzard.

Blind Guardian, Wheel Of Time

Totally sold on the Darth Jar Jar theory. So much supporting evidence, and it makes the shit that character does make so much more sense.

Re-watching Ep 1 through that lense made it a much better film imo.

Try to identify your local ethnic/cultural organizations, and follow their events schedules.

There are pretty large Indian and Vietnamese populations where I live, and they each have an association to share their cultural highlights with the larger pop. The Holi and Festival of Lights celebrations (Indian) and Lunar New Year (Vietnamese) were all an absolute blast and had amazing food.

Good way to get intel on your local organizations is to hit up the respective restaurants/grocery stores from whichever cultures are well represented in your area - look for pamphlets and ask the staff.

As a pasty white dude who’s only recently started tuning in to events like that, everything feels very new and unique - highly recommend!

Holy shit, Freeman’s Mind!! Those started dropping when I was in HS, but there were only like 5 of them then. Looks like almost 100 now??

I recall getting a good laugh out of the ones I saw. Completely forgot about those! Definitely on the list now!

Unless you specifically want content made using newer games?

Don’t so much care about old vs new; I’m more about the quality of presentation. Idr how I stumbled across the Neebs Subnautica series - diving sims weren’t really on my radar, so it’s not something I’d normally have had any desire to click on, but it sucked me in quick cuz their voice acting paired with the game environment was pretty great.

Title fixed, I was barely walking in the early 90s, not watching internet videos lol. Idk why I hit that 9 key.

Yeah, I fucked up the title. It’s fixed now.

Oh god damnit, not early 90s… I was barley walking then.

Early 00’s is what the title should say. I’ll fix it.

Did I mention my brain is melting?

Pretty much how non-billionaires who give a shit about climate change feel about climate change…

🇫🇷🫠🪓🧺🇫🇷

Yeah idk why you’re getting downvoted so hard. My post was just a piggy-back off of yours, not a rebuttal or anything. /shrug.

I mean, even if you’re financially well off, your income isn’t going to make you blind to things like climate collapse or the prevalence of right wing neonazis.

There are a lot more factors than just money that make this planet not a suitable place to raise children.

The eclipse was supposed to be apocalyptic? I missed the memo this time. We seem to collect those things like they’re Pokemon.

Yeah usually TLDR means “here’s a short summary” but in this case it’s “here’s where to start reading if you don’t care about the context and want to just dive right into the questions”.

I’m struggling & demotivated at university

Of all the stuff you’ve mentioned, this is the one with a price tag attached to it (unless you’re in one of those cool countries that actually takes care of its people), so I’d make top priority getting the school shit figured out first, whether it’s restructuring your study schedule, reducing your course load, or even dropping out to come back later when the other shit calms down a bit – what you DON’T want to do is just stay in classes you’re not passing, or you’ll wrack up an enormous bill (again, depending on country).

That said, your school might have the resources you need - some offer mental health services to students… whether its the specific flavor of mental health that you need I guess’ll depend on their staff, but it’s worth looking into at the very least. I’d make an appointment with your academic adviser and see if they can point you in the right direction.