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General Discussion / Re: Current Events
« Last post by smokester on March 25, 2024, 02:49:24 AM »
The traditional media are trying to reflect online discussion, in a vain attempt to stop from being obsolete and redundant. To do this they take stuff that is popular on social media, and try to "explain" it to old folk that don't TokTik. This, combined with the current fad for "each-sides"-ism leads to ridiculous importance being given to no-event "news", particularly to the part of the discussion that anyone with any common sense would disregard as moronic. Certain psychotic and conspiracy-bound parts of the internet seems to think that Catherine has followed Avril Lavigne's example, by disappearing and being replaced by a body double, and so examine/ analyse/ deconstruct everything that is reported about her with microscopic idiocy (filtered through a tinfoil hat). The mainstreamers feel the need to explain this to those that don't participate, resulting in a huge - and totally unnecessary - concentration on the amended family snap, and then the paparazzi film of a shopping princess.

It doesn't help that the media (mainstream and otherwise) feel released from any pretence of respect for the royal family by the diminished nature of the new King (compared to his Mother) and the reported antics of Andrew and Harry, and the perceived public dislike of Andrew (again) and Harry's wife (who, as an American*, is perceived differently over here - we all remember Wallis Simpson). Thus the media feel that any speculation is fair game.

* for the majority over here her skin colour is not an issue, but for the commentariat any reported or perceived dislike must be conflated with a colour bias, because that is the vogue.

The "news" for me is becoming truly painful. My wife actually cries when watching reports from Gaza. To be honest, the Kate story was a welcomed relief.
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General Discussion / Re: Current Events
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 24, 2024, 04:49:43 PM »
Perhaps that's why Kate is so popular over here.  She's lots better looking than Bebe the war criminal. 
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General Discussion / Re: Current Events
« Last post by smokester on March 24, 2024, 03:49:49 PM »
So, as an American, or, if the local media is any indicator, a lapsed Brit, I wonder at the mammoth media coverage of Princess Catherine.  She seems like someone who just wants to raise her kids in peace out of the spotlight.  I just don't get the obsession with her health.  If she's sick, all the more reason to just leave her alone.  If anyone here can shed some light on why the crazed media spotlight won't let her be, I'd appreciate it.

Strange, but on tonight's news Catherine wasn't mentioned once. Yesterday was a different matter altogether. I guess the furore is now over and we can go back to watching thousands of people being massacred instead.

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General Discussion / Re: Current Events
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 24, 2024, 03:42:57 PM »
If gossip shows like the youtube Popcorned Planet are any indication, Meghan Markle is not particularly well liked in America either.   She comes across as spoiled, precious and doing everything in her power to monetize her fame while pleading for privacy.

South Park did a hilarious send up of the couple, dubbing them the Prince and Princess of Canada on a "Worldwide Privacy Tour."

Still the idea that Princess Kate was replaced by a body double (to what end?) and whatever nutty conspiracy speculations might arise, are pretty wacky.  I feel for her in her quest for peace and solitude.
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General Discussion / Re: Current Events
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 24, 2024, 08:04:47 AM »
So, as an American, or, if the local media is any indicator, a lapsed Brit, I wonder at the mammoth media coverage of Princess Catherine.  She seems like someone who just wants to raise her kids in peace out of the spotlight.  I just don't get the obsession with her health.  If she's sick, all the more reason to just leave her alone.  If anyone here can shed some light on why the crazed media spotlight won't let her be, I'd appreciate it.
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General Discussion / Re: Reader's Nook
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 24, 2024, 07:57:29 AM »
I was recently stuck without internet for a couple of weeks so got in a bunch of reading.
Emile Zola:  The Belly of Paris (plot summary:  people are assholes);  The Happiness of Women (young girl from a small town has to fend for self and two younger brothers in the big city by working at a big dept store).  Both well worth reading.  They deal, respectively, with Les Halles, the Second Empire covered market that facilitated food distribution for Paris, and a large department store (grand magasin) modeled after Le Bon Marché.

Friedrich Durrenmatt; The Judge and his Hangman.  Probably best as a movie script.  I found it kind of lacking as a noir detective novel. 

Tim Powers:  Dinner at Deviant's Palace.  Recommended by a friend and a winner of the Philip K. richard prize.  It has faint reminiscences of richard's shifting reality and deals with a cult manipulated by an alien, but I prefer the darker perspective of PKD's fiction.  It was ok for a quick scifi novel.

Jonathan Karl:  Betrayal:  the last act of the Trump show.  More engaging insights into the megalomaniacal former President's inability to believe he lost the last election and his crew of enablers.  It's readable and depressing.  If Trump wins another time, I may be joining you guys across the pond.

The only Vonegut novel I read was pretty depressing.  Slaughterhouse Five.  I wasn't inspired to read anything else by him.  I just checked the plot of Harrison Bergeron and wasn't tempted.  It sounds like a downer.  He was amusing in the film, "Back to School," featuring Rodney Dangerfield and with an appearance by Oingo Boingo.
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Chaos / Re: Last Person to Speak Wins! 最后发言者获胜
« Last post by smokester on March 22, 2024, 03:18:09 PM »
That's really sad.

There is so much pointless death all around us these days. I can see why some people want to stop the world and get off.
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Chaos / Re: Last Person to Speak Wins! 最后发言者获胜
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 22, 2024, 09:28:08 AM »
That's really sad.
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General Discussion / Re: Local News
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 22, 2024, 09:27:02 AM »
I'm sorry to hear about your mother, goldie.  This is a really difficult thing to deal with since your mother is still living but slowly going away.  I feel for you.

We spent a year caring for my husband's father before he passed away.  I don't know why there seems to be a rash of this malady, but both his parents suffered from it.  The only positive thing about it is that these patients seem to thrive as long as they are well fed and cared for by people who love them, so it sounds like you are in a good place there.
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Food and Drink / Re: What are you eating / What did you eat.
« Last post by 6pairsofshoes on March 22, 2024, 09:23:15 AM »
Scones with marmalade and tea.  So happy.
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