CuriousCat Archive Page 191 of 202

  2. what comics do you read

    For webcomics, I read Sluggy Freelance and XKCD, though I can't really vouch for the former and the latter jumped the shark years ago.

    I don't really read more traditional comics on the regular, more find something good sometime after it's finished its run and consume it in its entirety. I adored Sandman, read through all of Y: The Last Man (had problems with the ending), and I've read the first volume of the current Legend of Korra arc and will be getting to the others soon.

    I used to own a crapton of Calvin & Hobbes books before they got ruined in a flooded basement, and I have a volume of Hark! A Vagrant. I have several Craig Thompson books, and the famous classics, Maus and Watchmen. And I've read The Killing Joke and Return of the Dark Knight, like a lot of people. And I've actually read the entire trilogy by Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics.

    I dunno, other stuff. It's not my area of expertise, but I like comics.

  3. What do you think of women in combat?

    If women want to go into combat they should be given the same access as anyone.

  4. I mean why not have a dictatorship of the proletariat?

    because words mean things

  5. I can't read the word everything without my brain transitioning into reading the rest of the sentence to the tune of one of several Radiohead songs and that made reading those last couple of asks from whoever the hell was asking those weird questions an interesting experience

    everythiiiiiiiiiiing
    everythiiiiiiiiiiing
    it is riiiiiight gaaaaaaaaaay

  6. Whats the main advantage of being a youtuber other than not needing to wear pants?

    Not needing to wear shirts.

  7. What do you about this video?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hES9IBTPbcw

    It's certainly well-animated.

    I dunno, it's not exactly Nazi Punks Fuck Off, but it's better than American Idiot, so I guess I'm in favor.

  8. So everything is gay not transgender on non-binary?

    Is there a percentage system?

    hmmm?

    do... do you think trans and non-binary can't also be gay?

  9. is it gay to breathe?

    i mean you letting something go in and out of you

    we need to accept that basically everything is gay, and it's better that way

  10. Have you read The Unwritten, Wicked & Divine or DMZ, and if so what did you think of them?

    I haven't, though I might read The Wicked + The Divine one of these days, since I know a lot of fans of it.

  11. I've been having recurring nightmares about seeing "8 times Ben Shapiro went BEAST MODE on Undocumented Immigrant Toddler Snowflake" videos. I have to ask: do you think dreams are prophetic?

    If they were, you'd see a lot more people flying and showing up naked to school.

  12. So would you have paid me for the shipping of MAGA hats?

    Should I wipe out the blood?

    If you can't take a hat off a head without making the head bleed, you're a poor thief.

  13. Do you think Mexico should annex Texas?

    omg! It is sooo filled with rednecks I wanna barf!

    Shitting on "rednecks" is classist, fam.

  14. Party for Socialism and Liberation comrade.

    Is that like a theme for a Halloween party? Can I go as Lenin?

  15. Russia wouldn't have to ship overseas, they can smuggle them into Canada and can be brought down when the federal government falls. A lot of empty tundra in Canada

    Pretty sure the government has those, whatchamacallits... satellites.

  16. "Do you mean grants, UBI, or government commissions?"

    grants and government commisssions

    Depending on where they come from, grants can be pretty cool. Commissions are - to my limited understanding - likely to have more strings attached to what kind of art you can make and whether it should depict the government/military/administration in a flattering light.

    Mostly I'm a fan of artists getting paid, and if there is work they want to do that can fit within a grant or a commission's strictures, I'm in favor of it. The work that they can't do within those strictures they are still free to do with other funding sources.

  17. So how do you feel about artists being paid by the state?

    Do you mean grants, UBI, or government commissions?

  18. What do you think of the PSL?

    Portable Standard Lisp? I only know a little Python, I'm afraid.

  19. "I would need to know more about her position on guns. Like, my girlfriend is a pretty staunch progressive, but she was raised by a gun nut and did, at least for a while, agree with him in precisely ONE area, which was that an armed public would be necessary in case we need to overthrow the government.

    The age of police militarization has somewhat disabused us of the idea that the revolution will be fought with handguns, but there are still people who believe in the "armed militia" argument."

    2 questions:

    Is her father still alive?

    Did you tell him he was a nut to his face?

    Also oversimplifying by saying hadguns. We'll get support tanks from Russia for sure and maybe North Korea.

    I'm not answering follow-up questions on my girlfriend's family life, sorry.

    And I'm trying to imagine a scenario where Russia and North Korea - who are both cozying up to our current President - ship tanks overseas to the US citizenry without the government noticing.

  20. "My only grievance with the stolen hat at WhatABurger is that it didn't get mailed to me."

    Well he's got plenty of time on his hands now that he lost his job and was kicked out of the green party.

    So you'd have other people do your dirty work for you?

    Picasso you are not.

    I just don't think I could get 100 on my own; not a lot of MAGA hats in Boston. Crowdsourcing is the millennial way!

    Also Picasso was a misogynist chode and I'm not interested in being him.

  21. "I can't predict the future. Republicans are going to try"

    So the Dems would leave it alone?

    Once again, I can't predict the future. Some Democrats have been arguing that we should be more flexible on issues of abortion in order to meet Republicans halfway - even lefty goldenboy Bernie Sanders has been making this argument. This argument is, and always shall be, crap. I still suspect Roe v. Wade is too symbolically tied to Democrats' identities for them to let it be overruled without a fight. It remains to be seen how hard Dems will fight to protect it, or how dirty Republicans will fight to have it overturned.

  22. Do you have any insights into how some people can lean left on some issues and right on others? For example, I have a female friend who frequently post on facebook about her experiences with sexism and rape culture, but is also pro-gun ownership etc. I can't make sense of it. Do you have any thoughts?

    I would need to know more about her position on guns. Like, my girlfriend is a pretty staunch progressive, but she was raised by a gun nut and did, at least for a while, agree with him in precisely ONE area, which was that an armed public would be necessary in case we need to overthrow the government.

    The age of police militarization has somewhat disabused us of the idea that the revolution will be fought with handguns, but there are still people who believe in the "armed militia" argument.

  23. So you think Roe v Wade is going to be overturned?

    I can't predict the future. Republicans are going to try.

  24. Listened to this already

    You'll love it

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcLunQv-ESQ

    it good

  25. What do you think of the gentleman who stole and some say burned a MAGA hat taken from a guy at a WhataBurger restaurant?

    There was an art project I wanted to do around the time of the inauguration, where I would ask people to steal MAGA hats and send them to me. I was going to stick as many as I could to the wall of a gallery with knives and blocks of text explaining when and where each was stolen.

    The piece was going to be called "100 Nazi Scalps."

    My only grievance with the stolen hat at WhatABurger is that it didn't get mailed to me.

  26. Is Bumble a good dating service?

    Never used it, but it sounds good on paper.

  27. Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away?

    They're both wonderful. Mononoke is the more substantial film, but Spirited Away is more joyful.

  28. Read anything from Paul Auster?

    Personal favorite?

    Mine was Moon Palace (although his latest book 4 3 2 1 being the closest)

    'fraid not

  29. Do you think Sam Harris is a covert white supremacist?

    Doesn't seem that covert.

  30. You're from Boston, and I've always wanted to ask this to someone who's genuinely from that area, so here goes:
    what's Southie actually like? Is it really as rough as its often depicted in stuff like 'The Departed' or 'Black Mass'?

    I live in Boston, but I'm *from* California. 'fraid I don't have much firsthand experience with Southie.

  31. Super Mario?

    He sure is.

  32. Ever worked in a factory of any sort?

    I work in the culture industry.

  33. What u think of James Corden?

    No strong opinion. I enjoy him as an actor, not so much as a talk show host.

  34. Do you think plumbers have a harder job than say a factory worker?

    it's not a competition

  35. I think abolishing the 'free market' is a nonsense proposition because there is no such thing, and there could never be such a thing. The market will always use the state to enforce the market. The state enforces property laws, copyright laws (which I guess are just property laws but they bear special mentions because it's the only way digital distribution is possible while still making profit, when something can just be copied with no labor on a computer) currency and exchange, trade laws, and the state even provides a military so businesses don't have to worry about having their capital stolen by imperial nations. I don't think it's possible for any market system to survive without being propped up by the state.

    Does that make any sense or am I entirely off base?

    I don't know.

    Like, in theory, the idea of democracy is that "the public" and "the state" aren't supposed to be separate entities; the public *is* the state. Obviously that's not the way anyone actually experiences the state, but that's the idea, and it's part of the argument for democratic socialism. But I'm not exactly up on my socialist theory, so I'm sure it's more complicated than that.

    I know the natural trend of capitalism is for money to pool into a small number of hands unless the market is regulated to prevent this. So, in that sense, a market is freer when the state is deeply involved in keeping it free. I think there are limits on how free a market can ever be within capitalism, because the incentives of capitalism require businesses to push against regulations, and work to make the state the arm of the wealthy instead of the market's regulating force. I don't know what a market looks like under socialism, or anarchy, or syndicalism, so I can't speak to them.

    In short: fuck if I know.

  36. How do you feel about Trevor Noah?

    I am unimpressed.

  37. Do you think competition is bullshit and is just divisive?

    Similarly: competition is a naturally occurring drive that is probably going to keep occurring regardless of what we think about it, so we should put more thought into what we want competition to look like than whether or not it is intrinsically good or bad.

  38. Any opinions on censorship?

    Censorship is bad. The stuff a lot of people claim is censorship is not.

  39. Why do we even need a society?

    "Need" doesn't come into it. As long as we have people, they will probably form societies. The question is just what we want those societies to look like.

  40. Should we give up on video games?

    I'm increasingly wondering whether "gaming" needs to be a culture.

  41. Should more people on the left just go off the grid?

    What? No. You can't actually fix things by going off to Walden Pond.

  42. Re: the Arenanet debacle,
    Do you think this whole situation was hijacked by gamergate/anti-social-justice reddit and twitter to get Jessica fired (and then Arenanet took the bait, hook line and sinker)? A bit ago, Jessica Price made a twitter comment about totalbiscuit, and I feel like that movement has been out to get her ever since.

    I don't know about "hijacked," since this behavior is so pervasive in gaming. But yes, misogyny and resentment over her political positions played a huge role in resentment against her, and I'm sure at least some of the people leading the charge against her were gators.

  44. Any thoughts on Flat Earth?

    Flat Earth does not involve thoughts.

  45. Have you ever tried cocaine?

    No. Can you imagine how insufferable I'd be on cocaine?

  46. Do you suport abolishing the free market and the New York Stock Exchange?

    I support *regulating* the market, because unregulated markets are anything but free. I haven't done much research on the NYSE, but, from my limited information, I don't see that it contributes anything to society.

  47. I am torn on whether or not to continue playing Guild Wars 2. It brings me a lot of joy and seems like the only mmo that is overtly lgbt-friendly in-universe and amongst most of its playerbase, and has been a safe space for me for a long time. However the recent vitriol towards Jessica Price leading to her being let go has made me question practically all of that. Is it wrong for me to consider keeping playing? Do you have any suggestions for mmos with lgbt representation that I can share with people looking to switch to something else?

    I don't play MMOs, so I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations for you. As for continuing to play GW2, I don't think there's a right answer. Continuing to play because the community is personally valuable to you is a valid decision. Quitting because other parts of the community are toxic and the company is being horrible is a valid decision. And it sucks, because, no matter what you do, you're sacrificing something: you're either losing a safe space or bending your ethics to keep it.

    Having a space that feels safe to you is important, and I will say that you, personally, quitting the game won't have much effect on the community or the company. If you want to have an impact on ArenaNet, organize with other people. A boycott means a lot more than a bunch of random people quitting. There's maybe even collective action you can take from within the game, which might mean not quitting.

    This is all to say that all your options are defensible, and all involve sacrifices, and it's OK to weigh those against each other and decide what makes the most sense for you. Good luck!

  48. Why do you use mac when it apparently has no fucking games?

    I went to art school, and in art school all the computers are Macs, and many of the programs you learn are Mac-only, and if you want to use the knowledge you're paying tens of thousands of dollars to acquire, you need a computer that runs the programs you're being taught.

    This was more true when Final Cut was the go-to video editing software, but now everyone's made the switch to Premiere, which is cross-platform. I could theoretically make a switch now if I wanted to, but Macs are still more reliable for work use. I'm hoping to get a PC laptop soon that can run games, but that's going to require savings or crowdfunding.

    In short: video games aren't the only factor in what computer you buy.

  49. any concrete opinion, counter-opinion to this?

    this guy seems high above his ego explaining why movies today are mostly bad

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPMfCJpfhdo

    I'm sorry, I'm not going to watch an hour of this so I can give you an opinion on it. Though I find it hilarious that someone who complains that modern movies take too long to get to the point can't explain why that's bad in less than an hour.

  50. how do i talk to a depressed person? should i talk to him/her at all to begin with?

    The first rule of talking to depressed people is to not try to cheer them up, just let them know you're with them and you care for them and you accept the way they're feeling.

    Though if you're the type of person who thinks maybe they shouldn't talk to depressed people at all, that might not be very reassuring.

  51. What do you think of Scott Pruitt resigning?

    I know I shouldn't be happy because Trump will just replace him with another denialist paid for by the fossil fuels lobby but I just hate Pruitt so much.

    That more or less sums up my opinion.

  52. Is there any real point to owning more than a billion dollars as an individual?

    Over a certain level, the only reason to make more money is to watch a number that represents your status go up.

  53. any thoughts on video games like Halo and The Last of Us?

    Are they part of your favorite video games series of all time?

    they are not on mac or switch

  55. Should Ginuwine - Pony be America's national anthem?

    sure, whatevs

  56. Is being rich an inherently bad thing?

    Simply having lots of money doesn't make you a bad person (though there are a lot of studies that suggest, beyond a certain point, money decreases empathy). But, in this society, it's impossible to be wealthy without exploiting people, either actively, through business practices, or passively through inheritance of wealth earned thru exploitation.

    So, yes, wealth is a bad thing.

  58. I've seen a lot of calls for "casting trans actors as trans characters", but isn't the biggest issue casting women as trans men? I know there's an issue with trans actors being under-represented in the movie industry, but I feel like casting cis men as trans men is already a big step in representation and acknowledgment of trans identities.

    Calling "casting cis men as trans men" a big step strikes me as one of those "stick a knife in 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches" situations.

  59. What do you think of Montana?

    Montana Wildhack? Never saw many of her movies but I did see her at a zoo one time.

  60. Getting upset at Scarlett Johansson being cast as a trans character is just getting upset at Hollywood being Hollywood.

    Big names get projects green-lit. If anyone wants change then start supporting foreign and independent films instead

    "You gotta fight capitalism with capitalism" is a shit take.

  61. Do you think we all need to go back to an agrarian society and have seed banks?

    I think it's the only way at this point. Then we can have our commune-ism.

    I see you picked the Dark Age ending in Deus Ex.

  62. Do you support the burning of rich people's homes?

    Why burn what should be redistributed?

  63. Have you ever visited any states in the Appalachians or the Deep South?

    Yeah, I went on a road trip across pretty much the entire length of I-10 with my sister. Didn't spend very long in any one state, but we hit most of the South.

  64. Do you do drugs? If so what kinds?

    escitalopram

  65. The ultimate goal of socialism is to be free from all chains created by man incuding not spending all day watching anime

    agreed?

    it's good in theory but it would never work in practice

  66. It was pretty cool to see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley last week. I live in Pittsburgh and something similar happened with a couple state house members last month.
    Since she won, people have been talking up a couple of other Dem primary challenges as the next potential upsets, and the one with the most potential sounds like Adriana Pressley running against Mike Capuano, who I remembered you said was your rep. It's my impression that Capuano doesn't have the issues that Crowley did and that Pressley is running a less explicitly ideological campaign than AOC was. I was just curious about your thoughts on the race as someone who lives there.

    Yeah, Capuano is the Representative for my district, so that's an election I'd get to vote in. I don't know a lot about his voting history, but, while he's generally been on the right side of a lot of the Big Issues, he hasn't impressed me with anything. My two Senators, Markey and Warren, have taken much stronger stances on issues like Net Neutrality and the bombing of Syria. I'm generally in favor of primarying Democrats with more left-leaning candidates.

    I don't know a ton about Ayanna Pressley. Her website puts her on the right side of a whole lot of issues I care about, and taking a stronger stance on some of them than most politicians do, but it's hard to tell which concrete policies she would support for addressing them, and I haven't researched her voting history. She has a section talking about "fighting human trafficking," which worries me because that's often a euphemism for screwing over sex workers.

    I'll have to investigate her further.

    I've noticed that, when an election has a Republican running against a Democrat, the Democrat has been doing pretty well of late, since a lot of the country is unhappy with Republicans right now. And people aren't picky about their Democrats, which makes it a really safe election to run someone further Left than usual. But, when two Democrats run head to head, it seems people tend to stick with the devil they know - this is what happened in the Boston Mayoral election last year, where we kept the problematic Marty Walsh instead of electing the more progressive Tito Jackson. I got word from friends in other states they they saw the same phenomenon of centrist incumbents keeping their seats when challenged by progressives of the same Party.

    Ocasio-Cortez is exciting because it's the first high-profile example I've seen recently of people choosing a Leftist over a sitting Democrat, meaning that people might not just want Left over Right, but might even want Left over Center, which is important. I need to look deeper into Pressley's policies to figure out how Left she is, but it sounds like she's at least Left of Capuano, so I'm hopeful either way.

  67. Do you like Death Grips?

    No opinion.

  68. whats the difference between the terms 'film' and 'movie'?

    Pretense.

  69. ellen ripley or rey or rose?

    Yes.

  70. colonel hicks or finn or poe dameron?

    Finn AND Poe Dameron.

  71. the last jedi or empire strikes back?

    Last Jedi

  72. avatar or the last jedi?

    Last Jedi

  73. Why do you think people don't consider being an artist a real job like installing pipes or fixing cars?

    (I've done manual and artistic labor, and honestly consider the latter to be harder and more exhausting)

    Creative labor is often hard to understand for people who don't do it.

  74. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure most psychologists consider Freud's work to be completely unempirical, science has moved on, and his writing is worthless now. Why do people still talk about, reference, teach, and make art based on the theories of someone who go almost every thing wrong?

    Because he formulated the very concept of psychoanalysis? Like, it's impossible to sit in a room and ask someone about their feelings and memories to treat their psychological problems without following in Freud's footsteps. He formulated the entire idea of the unconscious and repression. Yes, he got a long wrong - arguably, almost nothing he said wasn't at least partially wrong - but as with most any area of study, the wrong theory is still the foundation on which the correct theory is based. He may have been wrong about the unconscious being formulated by repression of Oedipal desire, but he wasn't wrong that the unconscious EXISTS, which was A Big Deal.

    Also, if you want empirical work, I suggest looking elsewhere from psychology.

  75. Seen any Takashi Miike film yet?

    If so, is his film Audition worth watching?

    Come to think of it, no, I haven't. I saw the beginning of 13 Assassins, but didn't get very far into it.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: