ponderer.bsky.social
Filmmaker-type person
442 posts
445 followers
1,211 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Didn't Gunn say specifically just the other day that it does have some of John Williams' music, or am I missing something?
comment in response to
post
The thing is, there’s a scenario where regime change works. Iran, somehow, remains culturally Westernized. There are friendly elements ready to step into a power vacuum. But Trump telling Iran to evacuate Tehran is a disaster scenario guaranteed to turn the entire country against us.
comment in response to
post
My first thought is it's because they shot it in 2022 and they feel like they're trying to cut their losses. I don't know why it's getting the promotional push though. Feels like there's multiple competing factions in the company trying to get their way.
comment in response to
post
Some of us have been telling y'all that a nuclear war in the Middle East to trigger the return of Jesus has been THE top priority for Dominionists for at least 40 years.
comment in response to
post
I mean, the claims aren’t too shaky as far as I can tell - the IEAE reported their 60% enriched uranium supply skyrocketed since Feb (I wonder why) - but also Biden was working fucking overtime, sending out Blinken constantly, to prevent Netanyahu’s real goal, which was a full-on regional war.
comment in response to
post
From what I understand, the murder has to be committed in concert with other felonies to get first degree - for example, if the felon is also committing burglary or sexual assault.
comment in response to
post
Like when the GOP said it was fine for 9ld people to drop dead during COVID, this was always the plan. To eradicate the vulnerable.
comment in response to
post
At pondlife’s 5) I’m seriously depressed
comment in response to
post
I felt so lucky to see Brian perform this with Blondie Chaplin during his Pet Sounds tour. Just heavenly.
comment in response to
post
Possibly, though he was self-destructing pretty spectacularly at the end. The last year of his life, everyone agrees that his voice was functionally destroyed from his drinking. (His death from a presumed "shallow water blackout" is one of the most haunting ways to go that I can think of.)
comment in response to
post
Oh god, thank you so much for this. You moved me.
comment in response to
post
Brilliant. I was going to post this myself. (And let's not forget that Glen was an actual, honest to God Beach Boy for about six months or so.)
comment in response to
post
I'm into all the Brian Wilson deep cuts, but those two have never stopped being my all-timers.
This one would probably round out my top 3. It's my life anthem, I think. "They say I got brains/But they ain't doin' me much good/I wish they would"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZGv...
comment in response to
post
It's the whole last week, from the "arrest me bro" to the "we're not going to pay federal taxes" the week before (which, frankly, I think is more of the reason Trump is targeting LA than anything else). It's starting to add up.
comment in response to
post
Dano embodied Wilson in a way that was almost spooky. Just perfect.
comment in response to
post
His trans actions were contemptible and we should never forget that.
I think I’m understanding now how other generarions backed a shithead as a wartime leader bc they were the one who stepped up and understood the moment.
Sigh. What a world.
comment in response to
post
I want to Nuremberg his fascist ass so bad
comment in response to
post
It all fell apart the minute we decided to go with parties after all, checks and balances were predicated on NOT having them and they never adjusted the system after we went down that road
comment in response to
post
I just wish we'd called it something else like consequence culture. "Cancel" felt too clever and nebulous and I think gave shitheads an opening to push back. Consequences are, like, something people can understand. You do something and you have to pay the appropriate consequences. People get that.
comment in response to
post
It's bad, though as an aside, I got notes like that all the time long before GPT was a thing. There was one from a paid read back in 2014 that referenced characters that literally didn't exist in my script. (I got my money back.) It can be tricky to zoom in on crap like that as definitive evidence.
comment in response to
post
COVID causes brain damage.
comment in response to
post
I think it's kind of a reaction to Trump's first term, where he was a fundamentally unserious person who floated ideas that had no chance of ever becoming reality. It's different now when he has no guardrails and a cabal of henchmen willing to accomplish his most ludicrous ideas.
comment in response to
post
When Newsom suggested cutting off federal taxes last Friday, I saw that as the first test balloon for that idea. I mean, part of the whole point of the Union is financial interdependency. You break that? It's functionally a form of secession.
comment in response to
post
Crediting him with two moments of backbone in 25 years is not exactly shouting hosannas from the mountaintop.
comment in response to
post
Oh good grief. I'm not lionizing the transphobic shithead.
comment in response to
post
Risking arrest, as he did back in his SF days, still takes something resembling a spine. Trump loves the camera, but he would never purposefully put himself at personal jeopardy. There are easier ways to get yourself in a spotlight.
comment in response to
post
Yup. Gay marriage around 2006, and now this, I guess.
comment in response to
post
He does something like this every 20 years or so. He made his name as a politician by marrying gay couples even though he was risking arrest. He’s a shitbird, but sometimes he has a spine.
comment in response to
post
Newsom started floating that idea in public two days ago. That’s really what this hyperbolic reaction is about.
comment in response to
post
That’s true. Still, we’ve seen a lot of other institutions choose more cautious options or groveling. He could’ve just said, “See you in court.” He saw reality and drew a red line instead. I don’t credit him often - shit, not since he put it out there for gay marriage - but it’s the right instinct.
comment in response to
post
(And yes, I know, he doesn’t actually use that word, but once you withhold federal tax contributions? You’re functionally cutting yourself off from the Union.)
comment in response to
post
While I agree with what you’re saying, this new thing from Newsom is also kind of the closest to secession talk I’ve heard from anyone. I don’t know if I’d call it a pivot, but it’s very surprising from him after going out of his way to mollify Trumpians.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
comment in response to
post
The revisionism drives me nuts. My mom’s family lives most in Greece. THEY had a lockdown. She would tell me about how you could get a $500 euro citation for leaving your house for months, and she was astonished that we could just go wherever we wanted we no penalty.
comment in response to
post
True, but other systems can be affected. The GPS can be spoofed, theoretically.
comment in response to
post
Any decent-sized endeavor costs tens of millions. Like, your average no-drama European parliamentary election costs 150-200 million.
Of course it's out of control and there are too many consultants to pay, but WHERE the money comes from is my ongoing concern.
comment in response to
post
I think maybe you’re underestimating how much easier it will be to penetrate this stupid Qatari plane than virtually anything else they hack into on a daily basis. But then again, I’m not a tech bro, so what do I know? :)