culturedleftfoot's recent activity
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Comment on Barcelona have completed the controversial emergency signing of Danish striker Martin Braithwaite from Leganes for 18m euros in ~sports
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
culturedleftfoot Link ParentI just realized the sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, finally has a release date and is available for pre-order on Steam! I never preorder anything, but I was totally ready to throw my wallet...The last 2D platformer I played was Ori and the Blind Forest; it was just so incredible!
I just realized the sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, finally has a release date and is available for pre-order on Steam! I never preorder anything, but I was totally ready to throw my wallet at my screen over here until I saw you need Windows 10 to play it. Fuuuuuuck that.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
culturedleftfoot Link ParentI think more than anything the game took people by surprise when they first played it without all the hype, and it FAR exceeded anyone's reasonable expectations at that time, especially since it's...I think more than anything the game took people by surprise when they first played it without all the hype, and it FAR exceeded anyone's reasonable expectations at that time, especially since it's entirely the work of one person. Having had years of rabid fandom, however, you might find it doesn't live up to all their praise... but it's still a charming, very well-written, and challenging (if you want it to be) game.
Also, if it makes any difference, the creator has said he didn't set out to make a retro-looking game or anything, it's just that he isn't that great with graphics so that was the easiest route.
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Comment on The laptop market is in an atrocious state in ~tech
culturedleftfoot Link ParentPatents, maybe?I'm just surprised that in 2020, a non-MacBook laptop has yet to replicate the trackpad experience MacBooks had 20 freaking years ago. They're all so awful.
Patents, maybe?
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Comment on In retrospect it seems hard to overstate the cultural damage done by South Park in ~tv
culturedleftfoot LinkI've never particularly been a fan of South Park, having just watched the odd episode here and there, but this seems a pretty textbook blame-the-symptom-not-the-cause scenario. I'm not familiar...I've never particularly been a fan of South Park, having just watched the odd episode here and there, but this seems a pretty textbook blame-the-symptom-not-the-cause scenario. I'm not familiar with this person or her work, so I've reached a couple questions since looking her up.
- How exactly should I take her retrospective seriously if the show came out when she was four years old? in other words, what frame of cultural reference does she have for a world without/before SP?
- Why is her opinion any more (un)notable than any other rando on Twitter? I'm not sure why I should care about her having a possibly misguided, mildly controversial opinion.
The Twitter thread isn't helping me figure out the answer to either. *shrug*
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Comment on What is your favorite opening scene in a movie? in ~movies
culturedleftfoot LinkI can't remember if it was the absolute very opening scene but Inception is what came to mind. There was so much going on and yet so well layered, it absolutely pulled me in and made me want to...I can't remember if it was the absolute very opening scene but Inception is what came to mind. There was so much going on and yet so well layered, it absolutely pulled me in and made me want to know what the hell was happening.
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Comment on New Final Fantasy VII Remake Trailer (Japanese) in ~games
culturedleftfoot LinkI want to believe!!!I want to believe!!!
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Comment on I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control in ~health
culturedleftfoot Link ParentI'm saying her concern may be overblown; the blind spot I referred to is her not recognizing her own ignorance of the male experience. I think your personal resonance with this issue is reading...I'm saying her concern may be overblown; the blind spot I referred to is her not recognizing her own ignorance of the male experience.
In short: why are you gate-keeping what is considered an 'important issue' to the experience of males or what's problematic to male society? Why does simply the fact that the commenter is female matter at all? Are females entirely incapable of being educated in or informed of the male experience?
I think your personal resonance with this issue is reading bad faith into my posts. Again, I'm not saying whether or not she's right or wrong. My point is that this article is not convincing to me, someone who knows the issue is more complicated than laid out here... and I happen to know that largely because of my being male. She does not demonstrate any real understanding of the male experience and admits her concern comes primarily from her personal experience as a young girl. If it were a man who wrote the article I'd judge the claim to have a different weight only because I could reasonably assume he'd have engaged with a thousand other factors which are not mentioned here. Any woman writer can demonstrate that explicitly (if they actually have done that thinking) but this one has not, and I don't support handling the issues facing our young boys and girls based on untested assumptions.
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Comment on I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control in ~health
culturedleftfoot Link ParentOnline dating and its baggage (selfies, curated profiles, etc) has become such a part of the zeitgeist that I think it's part of said socialization. Teens aren't shielded from it until they hit...Online dating and its baggage (selfies, curated profiles, etc) has become such a part of the zeitgeist that I think it's part of said socialization. Teens aren't shielded from it until they hit 18, it's on Facebook, IG, and whatever else the kids are using these days.
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Comment on I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control in ~health
culturedleftfoot Link ParentOkay, but I'm not saying she is wrong, simply that I remain skeptical, and I said why. As I read it, the article serves as that launching point because she is able to find stats that support her...Okay, but I'm not saying she is wrong, simply that I remain skeptical, and I said why.
As I read it, the article serves as that launching point because she is able to find stats that support her concerns. There may (or may not) be stats that don't, and I'm not sure that she would have parsed them properly or even found them simply because she is approaching the issue with a blind spot that it seems she's not acknowledged. To me, there is so much relevant info that the article does not broach that I'm not sure how much value it has other than the general idea that contemporary exposure to unreal beauty standards is a thing.
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Comment on I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control in ~health
culturedleftfoot Link ParentIt's perspective, in much the same way a mother will be worried about her boys playing too rough whereas a father will tolerate a few scraped knees and busted lips so that they know how to scrap...It's perspective, in much the same way a mother will be worried about her boys playing too rough whereas a father will tolerate a few scraped knees and busted lips so that they know how to scrap if they really need to. Her fears are primarily based on her intimate understanding of how (much) beauty standards impact girls, not an intimate understanding of how (much) it affects boys. It's comparable but only up to a point, and she doesn't seem to acknowledge that.
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Comment on I worry for my teenage boys – the beauty standards for young men are out of control in ~health
culturedleftfoot LinkNot sure how sexist I am being here, but I'm very hesitant to believe this is too much more than a mother getting some insight into the world of boys becoming men... I'd have taken this a lot more...Not sure how sexist I am being here, but I'm very hesitant to believe this is too much more than a mother getting some insight into the world of boys becoming men... I'd have taken this a lot more seriously if it were coming from a father. What she points to seems your standard commercialization of insecurities (which is not to be applauded either), but I'm sure the rise of dating apps like Tinder have done significantly more to increase the pressure to compete visually by expanding access to a near-infinite supply of supposedly-available potentials. Still, there is no getting around the fact that beauty simply doesn't hold the same priority for boys as girls, so the impact will necessarily differ.
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Comment on What are your favorite concept albums? in ~music
culturedleftfoot LinkThe Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd. I can't say anything meaningful about this that hasn't already been said. One of the greatest albums of all time. Two from Lupe Fiasco. Neither one is...The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd. I can't say anything meaningful about this that hasn't already been said. One of the greatest albums of all time.
Two from Lupe Fiasco. Neither one is actually a full-on, total concept album but I'll still include them.
Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
The Cool is a loose concept album based on a song of the same name from his debut album where Lupe raps about a resurrected victim of street life. The Cool expands the narrative and personifies The Streets and The Game:
I expand on the story, I introduce two other characters, the Game and the Streets. The Streets is a female. She's like the action personification of the streets, the street life, the call of the streets. The Game is the same way. The Game is the personification of the game. The pimp's game, the hustler's game, the con man's game, whatever. Then they've got supernatural characteristics. Like the Cool, his right hand is rotted away. The only thing that rotted away was his right hand. It represents the rotting away of his righteousness, of his good. And the Streets and the Cool kind of have a love affair going on. So she's represented by this locket. And the locket has a key and it's on fire. And as a gift to the Cool on his rise to fame, she gave him the key. And the key represents the key to the Streets. So she wears a locket around her neck at all times. And the way the story goes, she has given that key to tons of people throughout time. Al Capone, Alexander the Great, whatever. She's giving them the key to the Streets. Fame and fortune — but also the prices. The Game, he's represented by a stripped-down skull, a skull with dice in his eyes and smoke coming out of his mouth. The billowing smoke is actually crack smoke. It's not a full concept album; it's more spread over like five [tracks], really abstractly.
Drogas Wave
Drogas Wave is, if I'm remembering correctly, the second half of the remnants of another concept album Lupe originally thought up as DROGAS, but evolved primarily due to disputes with his label. Only the first 1/3 of this incarnation is relevant as concept here, but these eight tracks are built on an impressive premise:
It’s about a group of slaves on a slave ship on their way [from] Africa to the West Indies and they are thrown off the boat. But they didn’t die. They stayed alive and they lived under the sea. And they dedicated their lives to sinking slave ships -- so they became this super, underwater force against slavery.
By the time the seventh song, Down, comes around, a chorus that looks utterly ridiculous in print is an absolutely brilliant earworm in context:
Fish is my friends and the whales is my homies
Octopus is my people, the shrimp they all know meThe other 2/3 of the album doesn't disappoint either.
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Comment on What are your favorite concept albums? in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentHow is 36 Chambers a concept album?How is 36 Chambers a concept album?
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Is France still at the center of the French-language literary world? Or, to ask a broader question, is there a center at all?
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Comment on Recommend me a song based just on one line (or couplet) in its lyrics. in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentThis sounds like the lyrics are probably the least consequential element of the song, judging from the difficulty to hear much of them.This sounds like the lyrics are probably the least consequential element of the song, judging from the difficulty to hear much of them.
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Comment on Recommend me a song based just on one line (or couplet) in its lyrics. in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentThis kind of world-weary, lazy drawl indie rock is right up my alley, and I think this song has possibly the best opening line I've ever heard. Great stuff, thanks.This kind of world-weary, lazy drawl indie rock is right up my alley, and I think this song has possibly the best opening line I've ever heard. Great stuff, thanks.
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Comment on Recommend me a song based just on one line (or couplet) in its lyrics. in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentI now fully realize I've been an idiot for ignoring Rush all this time. Any guidance for how to educate myself should I just go through the entire catalog in chronological order?I now fully realize I've been an idiot for ignoring Rush all this time. Any guidance for how to educate myself should I just go through the entire catalog in chronological order?
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Comment on Recommend me a song based just on one line (or couplet) in its lyrics. in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentNot gonna lie, sounds pretty generic on first impression... but I love the lines and the song title, and about 3/4 way through I connected the dots and realized what the concept of the album must...Not gonna lie, sounds pretty generic on first impression... but I love the lines and the song title, and about 3/4 way through I connected the dots and realized what the concept of the album must be, so I'm gonna look it up. Thanks.
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Comment on Recommend me a song based just on one line (or couplet) in its lyrics. in ~music
culturedleftfoot Link ParentAhh ok, I'm impressed. Another band I've heard of forever and never delved into, but you've convinced me to change that. Cheers!Ahh ok, I'm impressed. Another band I've heard of forever and never delved into, but you've convinced me to change that. Cheers!
Wow, they've actually gone and done it. Barca looks more like a circus by the day.
That's a very, very valid point. At the very least it's an oversight to allow clubs to make these emergency signings by triggering buyout clauses.
Fair play to Braithwaite though. What a journey for him, and what an opportunity. I imagine he got himself a nice contract out of the deal as well. If anyone is interested in hearing more about and from him, this episode of The Spanish Football Podcast from back in October has a good interview with him about life in Leganés and La Liga in general.