Crixus

He did kill the Republic, that's plenty memorable

Agree with all your points. TT extended is the best one for me and really improves the film. For ROTK, I liked a couple of the Aragorn additions like Palantir and the Houses of Healing but otherwise, it drags a bit for me.

I used to drive stoned back when I was in Uni in Pakistan - where the law is lax at best lol (plus I was a stupid kid). Luckily nothing bad ever happened, but I do remember staring into space with glazed eyes whilst people honked angrily at me since I'd utterly missed the changing traffic signals. I also remember feeling like a 10 minute drive actually took an hour or alternately, an hour long drive passed in minutes. So not advisable, imo.

I was going to write something very similar. I consider myself a feminist and a confident person who stands up for herself - yet when I was harassed at work it took me weeks of agonising whilst I tried to decide what to do about it. There were complex feelings: anger (how dare he), uncertainty and shame (did I encourage this) and guilt (I keep talking about being a feminist and standing up for myself and yet I haven't done anything about this) etc. When I finally decided to complain, I did so anonymously and mainly because I felt I was obliged to do something after witnessing the same behaviour by that asshole toward much younger women. Suffice to say, it wasn't as cut and dried as it might seem. Basically, keyboard activism is far easier than in real life. Also, the consequences of complaining/calling out someone as a straight cis male are markedly different than they are for the rest of us. And no, I'm not saying straight cis men don't have problems, before I get accused of such

It's Bryson, not Bryant - for someone who's arguing so passionately about accurately identifying someone, maybe you should get their name right? In this specific case, the victim believes the rapist was 'faking it' - and to me the victim's horrific ordeal surpasses the potential mis-gendering of a rapist by said victim by a long shot. As far as I am concerned, the victim can call their rapist whatever the fuck they want to. Also, if that shitty human being is indeed 'faking it' then I'd argue that hurts transpeople far more than their misgendering by the victim. You've made this point in earlier posts, how someone who's been raped still shouldn't 'use slurs'; that doesn't seem to account for the horrific trauma a rape victim suffers, and to me expecting political correctness or politeness from them is not only unrealistic, but quite insensitive. Rape isn't an offence equal to using a slur, especially by the actual victim, ffs. Whether the victim is correct in their assertion that the rapist was pretending to be a woman is something we won't ever know most likely, unless there is concrete evidence made public. And that's why I agree it costs us, people who are not their victims, nothing to refer to this shitty human being of a rapist by their preferred gender. I don't personally give two fucks about being polite to rapists, but I see the overall point so yeah, fine. And finally, as @mormont said, we should spare a few seconds to think of how our trans fellow board members might feel as we argue furiously on/against their behalf without their input or consent to score points. I know my post can be held us an example of this too, so mea culpa. ETA @karaddin, thank you for your post. I'm a cis woman and infertile as they come, and I've never felt for a second that this somehow limits me from being a woman. You're as much a woman as I am, IOW (I hope this doesn't seem condescending; it was meant to show solidarity).

I absolutely adore this show and have watched it several times. Even though they deviated from history, the show had such an authentic, lived-in feel that I have to find in any other depiction of Ancient Rome, sadly. It's such a shame they rushed through S2 and ended it after - it would've been brilliant to trace Augustus' ascent all the way through. If you can recc any similar shows on that time period, do share. Sandman was a bit of a slog for me after the diner episode. His Dark Materials last season was actually pretty good, particularly the last few episodes. It captured the essence of the trilogy in many ways, for me.

What does this even mean? If you're trying to draw some sort of equivalency it's coming across painfully contorted and forced, or maybe I'm too stupid to get it. Are you saying there are cases where a cis woman has raped another person, and then been referred to wrongly and deliberately as a cis man instead of woman? Or are you saying transwomen are women (I agree) and therefore they shouldn't be mis-gendered regardless of what crime they've committed? If the latter, surely there are clearer, simpler ways of putting this perfectly reasonable statement instead of trying to twist it into some sort of clever 'gotcha' thing?

Rubicon by Tom Holland - on a bit of a Roman history kick lately. Next up: The Rise of Rome by Kathryn Lomas. Someone upthread mentioned the 'Masters of Rome' series. I absolutely love this series. It's what got me into this period. So amazing. I recently read Longbourn by Jo Baker. It's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the POV of the staff. I really enjoyed it. Also re-read Circe by Madeline Miller. I find her writing lyrical and gorgeous, and cannot wait for her next book on Persephone.

True. If you aren't really into the Marvel thing then it definitely could be quite a drag to watch. This was the last Marvel content I had on my list, I haven't watched any of the other shit they've put out post Endgame as it is really too much now. And I am tired of CGI too - one of the reasons I enjoyed Maverick is that it also had real stunts etc.

I really enjoyed it too. Great chemistry between Lestat and Greyworm (sorry lol). I saw some online moaning about how it was so different from the book, but I think they did well to adapt and update.

I enjoyed it. It is a tad too long but was entertaining enough that it didn't feel tedious.

Terror attacks have been ramping up over the past few months especially in the NW of PK, hand in hand with an ever-worsening economy on the verge of (or according to many, already done) default, the once-in-a-lifetime floods, and the blatant corruption amongst politicians/government. PK is headed for a catastrophic meltdown, sadly. Also, for the first time ever and deviating from the norm, the media and public are openly questioning the role of the military, specifically their ridiculous defence spending budget allocations all justified because of 'India/Kashmir' bs, their ownership and involvement in valuable real estate and other sectors, and the fact that they have nurtured these same terrorists for decades under the guise of 'freedom fighters' (starting of course with the USSR occupation of AFG). In fact, many think these attacks are being orchestrated by the military to revive their flagging relevance. I wouldn't be surprised at all. It isn't the first time. Now though, people are aware of and demanding answers to the role the military has played in destroying this already embattled country. The cluster fuck is unavoidable, however, imo. The average person cannot feed their family any longer due to massive inflation but those in charge are still wholly occupied with the power tussle - because that's when they make all the money, being in charge. And when you have the finance minister literally throw his hands up and say 'God created PK so he will save us from default' instead of, I don't know, sharing some actual policy and ideas, then wtf can you do? Decades of wholesale corruption, poor education, mass illiteracy and a disgusting pivot to laws based on ever increasing bizarre interpretations of Islam have led to an indoctrinated population who seem to be patiently waiting for death and the funtimes to be had with 70 hot chicks in heaven. This is what you get for 'founding a nation based on religion'. Apologies for the rant - as a Pakistani I am quite depressed these days.

I don't know... I mean, can we be done with tragiporn movies about MM and Princess Di? It seems every couple of years there's a new one out in time for awards season. I tried watching this but I literally could not stomach it. I found it overwrought, exploitative, and reductive. Far from being an insightful portrayal of someone I am sure was a layered and complex human being, it seemed to linger way too long on certain scenes which reduced her to being a gorgeous naked mess*. And the abortion/imaginary fetus scene was frankly ludicrous and literally beating the audience over the head with 'abortionisabadchoice!1'. That's just my reading, of course, and purely subjective. But as a woman, I'd love to see more renditions of famous women - biopic or imagined - who didn't end up dying horrifically. This fixation on 2 specific women seems bizarre, tbh. *I'm aware this was based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel and isn't meant to be biographical in the traditional sense.

Pretty much exactly what I was trying to say: it's interesting to talk about for many people, and that doesn't equal an unhealthy obsession for most either - it's literally a frivolous way to pass the time between dull work calls for me, just like many other topics I read on this amazing forum populated by a richly diverse group of assholes*. And so one can comment on this thread without feeling the need to somehow portray their discourse as being morally superior or better than another commenter on said thread. I just found the various comments essentially claiming 'I don't care about this topic, it's beneath me/also here is what I think' amusing. It's fine to gossip! We all do it. *including me (obligatory disclaimer)

I get it. I'm a POC woman who works in an overwhelmingly white, very old British organisation and I deal almost 90% of the time with white men of a certain age. So I have quite a lot of experience in dealing with bias, often unconscious but also deliberate. There have been many instances where I've had to 'prove' my worth to such colleagues even if they seem perfectly friendly and nice. Just yesterday I gave a presentation to a room full of such people and they began talking over me until I firmly cut across them to remind them of time constraints so I could proceed without interruption. I joined a 'women's network' internally, something that's been set up to address the glaring gender inequality in terms of senior positions, representation and pay, and we talk a good game on stuff like inclusivity and intersectionality - yet it's almost always the white women who talk the most and loudest. Luckily I'm assertive and thick-skinned so I just carry on sharing my opinions. Often quite loudly too, I confess. All this to say, I know a lot of the criticism around Meghan stems from such factors. But that certainly doesn't mean she is a saint or that one isn't allowed to criticise her - or any other POC - at all? To me that seems like another sort of patronising marginalisation. Hell, I didn't get a particularly great impression of her (or him) when I watched the Netflix thing - she came off very conscious and mannered and not real in the slightest, and he just seemed highly self-absorbed and oblivious. And that's fine. I'm allowed to dislike them because they're putting themselves out there. And they'll survive, I'm sure.