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off topic open thread

Giving some thanks! Open thread

Dig in!

By David Futrelle

Happy Thanksgiving, if you’re doing that! Otherwise, enjoy your Thursday! I’m very thankful for everyone who reads and supports this blog, for my friends, for everyone who works to make this rough world a better place, for everyone who voted against the GOP in the election. And for cats, my own two lovely cats and cats in general. Dogs are cool too. And capybaras.

Anyway, an open thread.

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Kevin
Kevin
5 years ago

I’m thankful for the medication keeping the worst of the neurological embuggerance at bay, and being less paralyzed than I was this time last year.

Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
5 years ago

@WWTH

as an 80s child I can confirm that (in my neck of the woods, anyway) no 80s boy would be caught dead watching She-Ra, because EW! IT’S RUBBISH! SHE’S A GIRL! COOTIES!

So any dude-bro who has co-opted it as a thing to shake his head over sadly either wasn’t there, or is making up something to be aggrieved about*

*my money is on the second

Also, I have never understood how remakes and cover versions undermine an original. I do not understand why anyone would want to remake Suspiria (possibly one of my favourite films ever) but the existence of another interpretation of Suspiria does not affect the first version. Why would it? Why does it affect anything?

Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
5 years ago

Well, since I’m British, we didn’t say “cooties”, but I’m too old to remember what we did say, so “cooties” will do.

Possibly “the lurgy”?

Katamount
Katamount
5 years ago

It’s not Thanksgiving up here in Canada, but I am thankful for the little things that make life a marvellous adventure up here in Hogtown… as frenetic as it can get up here between Ford regimes.

as an 80s child I can confirm that (in my neck of the woods, anyway) no 80s boy would be caught dead watching She-Ra, because EW! IT’S RUBBISH! SHE’S A GIRL! COOTIES!

That’s the odd thing, innit? Why do these guys care so much? It’s not actual factual nostalgia, given they didn’t watch it as a child. If anything, it strikes me that She-Ra was just a periphery of their “Masters of the Universe” viewing: like they’d watch a crossover episode and that’s enough to be considered “fans” of the original.

For all their demands to “stay out of our fandoms”, they seem to want to shove their noses into every halfway nostalgic fandom no matter how little they actually belonged to it.

I probably watched more Sailor Moon as a kid than these guys watched She-Ra or Jem, and I don’t consider myself part of that fandom despite my enjoyment of the episodes I saw.

Jo
Jo
5 years ago

Oh, it’s that time of year when I’m reminded that ‘American’ is the default global nationality.

Moggie
Moggie
5 years ago

No, silly, that was a month ago, when kids were running down my non-American street trick-or-treating.

weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee

I’m confused. Is David supposed to not post an open thread on Thanksgiving?

Moggie
Moggie
5 years ago

I don’t see any problem with giving thanks, wherever in the world we are. Surely it’s one of the more benign cultural exports?

rugbyyogi
rugbyyogi
5 years ago

Oh to the Finnish readers – I’m also thankful that tomorrow we’re all going to the Finnish Christmas fair. Stocking up on cardamom, rye bread and karjalanpiirakat. Yay!

Sure, it’s advertised as the Scandinavian Christmas Fair, but I won’t be spending any of my money with the Norwegians.

Moggie
Moggie
5 years ago

Ah, Finland, home of neatly-raked forests!

Robert
Robert
5 years ago

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate Thanksgiving more. It’s the simplest holiday, in some ways. If you are with people you like being with, eating food you like to eat, and are consciously thankful for both, you’re doing it ‘right’.

There are no movies about curmudgeons learning the true meaning of Thanksgiving, nobody ever has to rescue or save it, and there’s no frantic effort to make it the ‘best Thanksgiving ever!’

It may help that I never experienced the cultural trope of the hateful older relative spoiling everyone’s mood by ranting about politics or religion at the dinner table.

Full Metal Ox
5 years ago

@weirwoodtreehugger; @FelineFinethePunLioness; @Katamount:

Don’t forget another animated series set to begin a new season this December; I assumed that FelineFine meant the upcoming Steven Universe Bomb beginning December 17th, given the reference in their icon (and possibly their username.)

I’ve been somewhat sourly amused by the Fake Geek Boys crawling out of the woodwork to gatekeep fandoms that they plainly know nothing about and never took part in begin with. “Fake Geek” is itself a gatekeeping pejorative (as demonstrated by its customarily preceding “girl”) and so I take pains to use it very specifically.

It doesn’t mean “dadgum kid on the lawn who’s unaware of the franchise’s history”, because hey, everyone starts at zero–and current kids aren’t you and will have been steeped in an entirely different cultural atmosphere.

It doesn’t mean “someone who regards the fandom as something less than tribal identity and religion.”

It doesn’t mean “oh noes–how dare you play house with my ACTION FIGURES!”

It doesn’t even mean “gatekeeping old fart determined to take their fandom to their grave rather than see it compromised by n00bs“–odious though that sort is. (That, I suspect, may have a lot to do with certain fans’ reaction to The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi–the latter film, in particular, is very much about the inevitability of mortality, the necessity of passing the torch, and the certainty that heirs will interpret their predecessors’ legacy diffferently.)

No; it means the sort of supercilious fanbros who ridiculed this female cosplayer: “Female! Steampunk! Joker? Is that even a thing LOL!”: https://darlingstewie.com/2013/09/that-awkward-moment-when-george-takeis-duela-dent-facebook-post-turned-into-a-geek-girl-gender-war/

It means the guys whose response to the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor was to hoot, “Women don’t belong on the TARDIS!”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010zvrz/p010zttb

It means the fanbrats who, if they watched He-Man and She-Ra at all, absorbed nothing of what those shows were expressly teaching as they peddled action figures; this one, featuring both characters, seems singularly apropos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzB9NjVcJi4

Jenora Feuer
Jenora Feuer
5 years ago

Of course, in Canada, Thanksgiving was over a month and a half ago… (as I tell people, it is fundamentally a harvest festival, and first frost is earlier up here.)

In any case, one thing to be thankful for is increasing awareness in general. As an example, earlier today I got an automated phone survey call: I pretty much always answer these things because I want to do my part to shape how public opinion polls go. Most of the call was the questions about holiday and online shopping, but at the end there was the usual demographic questions so they can mark off boxes. One of the questions was for sex, and went ‘Press 1 for male. Press 2 for female. Press 3 for non-binary.’

When pre-programmed public surveys treat non-binary as a thing, we know progress has happened.

@Violet the Vile:
The lurgy? Could I possibly sell you this brass musical instrument?

(Why, yes, I am an old Goon Show fan.)

@FelineFine, WWTH, Katamount, regarding She-Ra:
I’ve been hearing little but good reviews about it. And to quote the Vox story at https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/11/21/18105176/she-ra-princesses-of-power-reboot-review

This kind of representation won’t please those transphobic and homophobic critics who claim that their beloved show has been corrupted. But with that said, one could pretty easily argue that She-Ra and, for the matter, He-Man have always had an LGBTQ following because of its aesthetics — crop tops, boots, loincloths, muscles, rainbows — and themes like transformation.

[…]

To be frank, I don’t see how the reboot can be any gayer than Bow from the original show:
http://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13461508/Screen_Shot_2018_11_20_at_10.35.42_AM.png

Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
5 years ago

@Jenora

I never knew it came from the Goon Show, but I’ve now looked it up! That’s brilliant!

You might know this already, but just in case you don’t (or some other Goon Show fan doesn’t): “the lurgy”, as invented by Milligan and Co, has evolved over the years into an actual British word in everyday usage. It is used to describe a) a non-specific minor viral illness (use like: “I can’t come in to work today, I’ve got the lurgy/Brian gave me the lurgy/stay away from me, I’m full of lurgy”) or b) in the playground, by children, in the style of cooties (use like: “AAAH ALEX HAS THE LURGY!” everyone runs away screaming/poke friend with finger “You’ve got the lurgy” everyone runs away screaming)

I completely love that it was, in fact, invented by Spike Milligan. Thank you so much for alerting me to this 😀

Catalpa
Catalpa
5 years ago

Cynicism/negativity post, feel free to skip.

Being thankful is a good thing, though for me thanksgiving smacks too much of colonialism and the whitewashing of the genocide of indigenous peoples for me to really enjoy it. The saccharine portrayals of “pilgrims and indians” sets my teeth on edge.

Not to mention that American thanksgiving is the harbinger of Black Friday, which is an awful consumerist shitshow that exploits retail workers even more than usual and is infecting Canada too. (Also, what is up with the scheduling of it? “Hey you just finished spending a day being grateful for what you have, now come on down and buy a ton of shit you don’t need!”) Not a big fan.

Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
Violet the Vile, Moonbat Screech Junky
5 years ago

@Jenora

Indeed, but apparently He-Man prefers Duncan

Dreamer
Dreamer
5 years ago

I’m thankful to be moving into a house soon for the first time in my life as an old woman! I’m thankful for my cats and my family. I’m thankful I haven’t had a panic attack in months. I’m thankful I wasn’t born into the Trump family.

Mish of the Catlady Ascendancy

One reason I love open threads – I get to catch up a bit with what everyone’s had going on (good and bad). I hope everyone dealing with embuggerances – their own, or loved ones’ – is coping okay and still finding the joy.

There’s so much horrible stuff going on that it’s sometimes hard to focus on what’s good. I’m thankful for my family, including my cats of course, who are floofy and silly and wonderful (Exhibit A below). My son just turned 16 this week, and my beautiful niece and her girlfriend got married at the foot of a waterfall, barefoot, and wearing purple pixie dresses.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2u9su4p.jpg

JessicaRed
JessicaRed
5 years ago

The Aboriginal story of their creation is insanely creepy.

Creepy to them because it’s an intentionally scary story? Or creepy to you because it’s someone else’s culture?

I still roll my eyes at how many American horror stories involve an old “Indian burial ground” (i.e. a cemetery used by indigenous Americans, not a cemetery in India), and how clear the exoticization and “fear of the Other” is inherent in the trope.

Be very careful. Indigenous people on both continents continue to be oppressed and have their land occupied and misused by the government (even land supposedly still reserved for them), and there is a long history – up to and including the present – of white people taking whatever they want from indigenous cultures, and harshly suppressing the rest.

I legitimately have indigenous ancestry on both sides of my family (and my mother and her family are visibly Canadian Métis people), but because I was raised “white” culturally, and almost always pass for white rather than mixed race, and therefore have been served white privilege on a platter whether I wanted any or not (and I do want it, because jeez it’s useful!) I personally stay away from writing stories that appropriate indigenous culture, even the cultures I’m directly descended from.

So again, be very careful.

Rei Malebario
Rei Malebario
5 years ago

I need to buy a new hoodie for my wife. A FedEx man came with a package yesterday while I was in the shower so my wife just grabbed the first thing to throw on her to open for the FedEx guy and that happened to be my favourite hoodie. And she found it so comfortable that she decided to keep it on.
So now I’ve had to find another hoodie in the same size and material to get for her so I can have mine back.

Kat, ambassador of the feminist government in exile
Kat, ambassador of the feminist government in exile
5 years ago

@Rei M.
A manospherian could have worked up several bitter, aggrieved posts about the ongoing saga of your hoodie.

Hambeast
Hambeast
5 years ago

As someone who worked as a retail wage slave for ten years, I’d like to second what Catalpa said.

It always tainted my enjoyment of the holiday to know I had to get up early the next morning to face hoards of Black Friday shoppers. I refuse to even leave my home on Black Friday now! I’m thankful I don’t have to do that anymore.

Husbeast and I went to a late celebration yesterday with some new friends and were treated to a gourmet feast that lasted most of the day and into the evening. On Thanksgiving day, we had ham with mac n’ cheese and mixed veg. It was nice.

We’re looking forward to attending a Hogswatch party early next month; Husbeast is going as Rincewind and yours truly is going as the goddess Anoia. Kidbeast is going as Buddy from Soul Music. We just found out last night that we will have a Hogfather, too!

Z&T
Z&T
5 years ago

Happy Belated TG, and Holiday Season All 🙂

Self and friends here caved on our diet today (for health, not weight loss) and got some beer. And a pizza. We strays (no close family or family who don’t do a big TG) made a special dinner for ourselves of: Mixed salad with blue cheese dressing, steak, with grilled mushrooms and red onion, baked potato, with butter and sour cream, roasted acorn squash (with butter and brown sugar), and fresh green beans. And Mexican Coke (is made with cane sugar rather than HFCS).

It was an excellent feast! 🙂
And relatively healthy too. I’m telling myself 😀

Dessert was vanilla cake + chocolate and mint ice cream.

The same as usual for us here, slogging along, can’t complain.

Hope everyone is doing well 🙂

Full Metal Ox
5 years ago

@Hambeast:

We’re looking forward to attending a Hogswatch party early next month; Husbeast is going as Rincewind and yours truly is going as the goddess Anoia. Kidbeast is going as Buddy from Soul Music. We just found out last night that we will have a Hogfather, too!

A crowning touch would be if someone could arrange for this little guy to put in an appearance:

http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/30500/Grim-Reaper-Mouse–30824.jpg

Mish of the Catlady Ascendancy

Aaaaaaaahhhhh that lil Death of Rats!!!

How does one dress up as Anoia I wonder…