Arthur's recent activity

  1. Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv

    Arthur
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    Just finished watching Raising Dion season 2 so mild spoilers throughout. I was disapointed to be honest. What I loved about season one's focus on the small town life, a couple small people...

    Just finished watching Raising Dion season 2 so mild spoilers throughout. I was disapointed to be honest. What I loved about season one's focus on the small town life, a couple small people affected by some really big things. Even at the hight of the chaos, nothing felt world ending. As the title implied, it was more about powers affecting one family, and how each of their roles change in the process. Now, it feels more tropey. Clear bad guys, the characters are more powerful, and have to band up against a more powerful villian. I also think it lost a lot of the charm that came with the skills of the child actors in season 1. I can't quite describe it, but the acting seems worse two years later?
    I'm not sure what I was expecting for season two... but I just feel really let down.

    4 votes

  2. Comment on BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen in ~tv

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    I'm genuinely confused as to who this is supposed to please. Most people I know like the BBC, or at least the content it creates. Almost everyone I know often checks the BBC news website or the...

    I'm genuinely confused as to who this is supposed to please. Most people I know like the BBC, or at least the content it creates. Almost everyone I know often checks the BBC news website or the older generation tune in to BBC news at 10 every evening... And I live in an overwhelmingly Conservative area. Sure, theres plently of people who complain about the BBC from both sides of the spectrum, but overall in my experiance its well liked, at the very least tolerated. I dont understand this move then. Who is this targeted at? Won't this just backfire and make people even angrier?

    8 votes

  3. Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv

    Arthur
    Link
    Started watching The Handmaids Tale earlier this week, and have been enjoying it quite a lot but, unfortunately my Internet has gone down and will probably be down for quite some time so I doubt...

    Started watching The Handmaids Tale earlier this week, and have been enjoying it quite a lot but, unfortunately my Internet has gone down and will probably be down for quite some time so I doubt I'll be able to watch any more for a few weeks and I'll probably lose interest in watching it after that which is a shame but so far I've been really enjoying it.

    It's weird to me that the plot seems to progress more as a book turned into a TV show than other shows of the like m, such as game of thrones do. The dialogue often feels forced and out of place but I genuinely can't tell if that's the writing or the setting. I love the imagery and the colours though. All in all I woukd reccomend it for anyone who likes dystopian setting TV and film, as it seems very well made to me.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Recommend me a movie that _________ in ~movies

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Its been a long time since I watched it, so the dinosaurs might not be as realistic as I remembered, and its not a movie but a TV show, but I remember when it came out I really enjoyed Terra Nova....

    Its been a long time since I watched it, so the dinosaurs might not be as realistic as I remembered, and its not a movie but a TV show, but I remember when it came out I really enjoyed Terra Nova. Sorry if this potentially doesn't fulfil either of your requests but its one of the few pieces of dinosaur related media I've ever consumed and I thought it was quite fun at the time of watching.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on More than a fifth of people in England believe Covid-19 is a hoax in ~health

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Both our government and the American government have been pumping out propaganda for the past few months, both positive and negative. Although arguably America's has been much more negative....

    Both our government and the American government have been pumping out propaganda for the past few months, both positive and negative. Although arguably America's has been much more negative. Furthermore, our Prime Minister has a reputation for being a lair and or distorter of truth. It would be nice if it were so simple as to just 'believe the government', but as it is we don't always feel safe under them and until the government gives the public good reason to trust them it makes sense that people are believing conspiracy theories like these.
    To be clear, I don't personally believe any of these conspiracies but I do understand how its very easy not to trust the government.

    9 votes

  6. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~lgbt

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Thank you for that, you explained it well. I guess in my head I had made a distinction between gender roles and gender identity because I didn't think they were the same thing, but linguisticly I...

    Thank you for that, you explained it well. I guess in my head I had made a distinction between gender roles and gender identity because I didn't think they were the same thing, but linguisticly I hadn't separated the two concepts. With so many different ways that people use words, especially in cases like this, it doesn't surprise me that there's so much confusion on the topic.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~lgbt

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    At the risk of seeming ignorant, what evidence do you have to support that claim? I used to think that gender was an entirely made up social construct, until I started talking about it with my...

    At the risk of seeming ignorant, what evidence do you have to support that claim? I used to think that gender was an entirely made up social construct, until I started talking about it with my trans friend.

    He didn't agree that gender was entirely a social construct, and that it was at least to some extent biological. Which I can see actually, if gender is a social construct then it doesn't make sense for him to feel like a male trapped in a female body. Both his brother and sister are cis gender. Why is he trans and his siblings aren't? What was it about society specifically that constructed within him feelings of being a man rather than a woman? His argument is that there is something biologically within him that helps him know that he's a man not a woman.

    I know that debates around gender, and especially how trans people fit into that are very controversial, and especially since it's difficult to assess public opinion with the lack of votes currently, I want to be clear that my question is purely out of wanting to understand, rather than being provocative in nature.

    4 votes

  8. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~humanities

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Yeah this is kind of the problem I have with the idea. Growing up we'd often have no electricity or water or Internet for a few days to weeks and to be honest while it absolutely sucked, it didn't...

    Yeah this is kind of the problem I have with the idea. Growing up we'd often have no electricity or water or Internet for a few days to weeks and to be honest while it absolutely sucked, it didn't make me less happy because we always had everything we needed (the lack of water and electricity wasn't because of money it was where we were, the entire part of the city had their utilities cut off). There's research to suggest that earning more than 70,000 dollars a year doesn't make you happier. So that part of the hedonic treadmill I can see, that humans have a tendency to adapt to the situations they're in.

    But if someone told me that people in extreme poverty, always hungry, with people they know starving to death and dying of disease were actually just as happy as somebody in a nice rural home with a swimming pool and 5 bedrooms, I would be very upset that such a claim could be made. Because it doesn't take much to know that it's just not true. I think you're right when you say it's a rich person philosophy, in that I think there's some truth in it once you have enough money to provide for your family and take time to do luxury activities.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~humanities

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Something that's especially worth considering when utilitarianism, but more specifically, hedonism arises is the idea of the hedonic treadmill. How valid is the hedonic treadmill? Do humans really...

    Something that's especially worth considering when utilitarianism, but more specifically, hedonism arises is the idea of the hedonic treadmill.

    How valid is the hedonic treadmill?

    Do humans really have a baseline of happiness that we don't generally deviate from?

    Do people living in extreme poverty tend to be equally happy after coming out of such a situation?

    I'll be honest I don't know much about what the hedonic treadmill specifically is and should probably read more about it before writing this comment. But if the hedonic treadmill holds true, isn't hedonic utilitarianism as a theory pointless? How can there be net gains and losses when everything always returns to centre ground?

    I have my doubts about the validity of the hedonic treadmill but again, that might just be because I don't know much about it.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 discussion thread in ~tv

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Yeah that's fair enough. I guess my point isn't so much that Varys didn't break the law but more that Danny acting the way she did was symptomatic of her power complex. She wouldn't be in that...

    Yeah that's fair enough. I guess my point isn't so much that Varys didn't break the law but more that Danny acting the way she did was symptomatic of her power complex. She wouldn't be in that situation if she was doing the moral thing imo.
    And I mean you're right, if Varys was trying to poison her then she should take immediate action in self defense, but there's no way she would know that he was. All she knew was that he was plotting against her and planning to use Jon's secret against her.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 discussion thread in ~tv

    Arthur
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Ned Stark was also arrested and murdered for treason though. He was doing a very similar thing to Varys, uncovering the truth about a government that shouldn't be in power. Yet most people regard...

    Ned Stark was also arrested and murdered for treason though. He was doing a very similar thing to Varys, uncovering the truth about a government that shouldn't be in power. Yet most people regard the execution of Ned to be unjust. In my eyes both are instances of people trying to do the right thing, but being murdered for it by a tyrannical government which must lie to their subjects about their most basic claim to kingship. From a modern perspective that's not okay, but even in Westeros Ned wasn't okay with it.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on What are some quality mobile games? in ~games

    Arthur
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    I have seedship on my phone as a fun low battery, no WiFi game to play when I've got a few minutes to burn but I don't quite understand if I'm playing it right. In terms of story it's more fun to...

    I have seedship on my phone as a fun low battery, no WiFi game to play when I've got a few minutes to burn but I don't quite understand if I'm playing it right. In terms of story it's more fun to look for the perfect planet, but the longer you play the harder it is to get a high score. The highest number of points I have is 11300 (is that actually high?) and I got that from randomly lucking out on a good planet first time. I still like the game because I'll play anything that has to do with space, but the mechanics seem a bit broken.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 discussion thread in ~tv

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    I think there's two ways to look at these episodes. You can compare them to what they were, which is a perfectly reasonable approach, and if you do you'll find they get progressly less satisfying...

    I think there's two ways to look at these episodes. You can compare them to what they were, which is a perfectly reasonable approach, and if you do you'll find they get progressly less satisfying and worse since about series 5 or 6, and 8 is kind of horrific. There's nothing wrong with that approach because a show needs to be held up to scrutiny.

    Or you can take the other approach, which is to just accept that the plot has gone to shit and appreciate the massive spending budget, the editing, the first fantasy show that's ever been any good, and the show itself as a cultural movement. And when you watch it like that series 8 becomes one of the best series in the show (I know, its blasphemy). I get that it can't be that way for every peice of media we consume, but the sheer epic-ness of this last series blew my mind a little. In my heart I want to hate it but I just can't, although I guess that's because I'm not a die hard fan who's read all the books and stuff. I get your point, and you're probably right but I just can't not enjoy these final episodes.

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 discussion thread in ~tv

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    I think the problem is that its not treason and she knows it. I'm not sure what the actual definition of treason is, but she isn't the true heir and she's doing everything she can to cover that...

    I think the problem is that its not treason and she knows it. I'm not sure what the actual definition of treason is, but she isn't the true heir and she's doing everything she can to cover that up. Ned killed the man for abandoning his post, something his job requires him to do. Danny killing Varys is covering up a mistake. The noble thing to do, which is what Ned would have done, would be to step down and accept that Jon is the rightful heir.

    7 votes

  15. Comment on Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 discussion thread in ~tv

    Arthur
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I'm not sure you're entirely correct though. I know people who were still rooting for Danny until this episode, but I've been saying since series 5 or 6 that Danny isn't the good guy anymore. It...

    I'm not sure you're entirely correct though. I know people who were still rooting for Danny until this episode, but I've been saying since series 5 or 6 that Danny isn't the good guy anymore. It was subtle things at the beginning (and tbh it's been so long since I've watched it that I can't actually remember them). We as the audience chose to ignore them though because we liked her. Earlier in this season she's been acting selfishly and power hungry, but it didn't start then. She's so bent on becoming the queen that she ignores the fact that she's not the best person for the job. She declares herself the true heir when she knows she's not. The fact that this happened doesn't surprise me at all, and I certainly don't think it's a failure of the writing that it did, I feel like if a lot of people who are surprised by this went back and re-watched the series they'd find that Danny wasn't the perfect Queen like they always thought she was. The burning of Varys was a perfect example of how far she'd gone so I'm not sure why people were shocked when she burnt the city as well. Danny never had to do any moral introspection because this was the person she'd spent the last few series becoming, and by this point she genuinely believes that was she did was right.

    Danny stopped being a good candidate for the throne a long time ago, and her insane and unstoppable desire to take it showed this. After all, any man who must say I am king is no true king. Given that quote, wasn't Jon the most likely person since the first time that he said he didn't want the throne?

    9 votes

  16. Comment on At least 200 dead in Sri Lanka church and hotel bombings in ~news

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Okay thanks, I've been out all day so haven't had a chance to update it. (don't think I even have the ability to edit titles anyway).

    Okay thanks, I've been out all day so haven't had a chance to update it. (don't think I even have the ability to edit titles anyway).

    1 vote

  17. Comment on At least 200 dead in Sri Lanka church and hotel bombings in ~news

    Arthur
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    According to the article death counts are as high as 137 and according to other sources expected to go higher. I've only written 100 in the title because that's whats currently shown on the front...

    According to the article death counts are as high as 137 and according to other sources expected to go higher. I've only written 100 in the title because that's whats currently shown on the front page of the BBC.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on For now. in ~creative

    Arthur
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    I'm not really saying anything new that hasn't already been said but just thought I'd write a little comment anyway. I'm really glad that things are going in the right direction even if things...

    I'm not really saying anything new that hasn't already been said but just thought I'd write a little comment anyway. I'm really glad that things are going in the right direction even if things still aren't great. It's nice to see this update and I hope therapy goes well for you. As others have said, we really love your writing and love seeing it on here, but what we care more about is that you're doing okay and if that means leaving tildes for a bit then we all support that.

    Thanks again, and I really hope things get better for you :)

    5 votes

  20. Comment on Cops scream 'get your f*****g hands up' during raid at 4-year-old boy's birthday party in ~news

    Arthur
    Link Parent
    Right, this was my thought. It makes me uneasy and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe because it's such a heavily biased and negative word. Using it outside of tags is one thing, but do we really...

    Right, this was my thought. It makes me uneasy and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe because it's such a heavily biased and negative word. Using it outside of tags is one thing, but do we really want to introduce that kind of thing into our tags?

    1 vote