DataNinja's Scintillating Digital Random Banter #231

[Form]

May I recommend Lindsay Ellis's video on the matter?

Thanks for the recommendation. That was enlightening and I understand people's objection to that musical + film based on the musical now. I am now resolved to never lay eyes upon Rent and poison my headspace with it.

And the more I learn about the 80s and 90s, the more I get the sense that things are horrible in many ways that are not really that different from back then.

Now do you have any tips for unburning things from your memory? That's the part I struggle with. If I get rid of some of that old useless trivia, maybe I can make room for some new useless trivia.

There are a variety of ways, but they all tend to take a lot of other things with them. So, uh, how badly do you want it gone?

[Civis Mundi]

There are a variety of ways, but they all tend to take a lot of other things with them. So, uh, how badly do you want it gone?

I'd say just badly enough to justify my existing vices, but not badly enough to take up any new ones.

[Form]

I'd say just badly enough to justify my existing vices, but not badly enough to take up any new ones.

Tsk, Slaanesh would be disappointed.

[Peelee]

You know, if you'd enjoy a deep dive, I don't think I'd mind that at all. You sold the show well, and I'm grasipng for media that can actually hold my attention these days -- my brain is so frazzled from stress recovery, it's like opening a packed fridge and seeing nothing you want to eat or have the energy to cook. I'd also be very interested in any L&O UK episodes you recommend.

HUZZAH! It may take a short time, but I'll definitely get back to you on it (though if I haven't said anything in a week or so, a reminder wouldn't hurt).

If I can lob a recommendation back at you, have you ever seen the show Yes, Minister? It's as relevant now as it's ever been, and it's hilarious to boot.

One the one hand, who loves British TV and hasn't seen Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister? On the other hand, as a lover of British TV, feel free to toss out recommendations regardless just in case!

I'm hard up for brain cells these days, so I'll just have to live with all the lyrics to "Seasons of Love."

And, in the vein of recommending things that have probably been seen but screw it because in the rare event it hasn't been then it's all worth it, can I recommend the second best musical of all time (behind only The Blues Brothers but much more befitting an actually proper musical... might I recommend The Producers (the 2005 version), so that whenever you remember Seasons of Love, you can simply replace it with Prisoners of Love? Or any of the other absolute knockout musical numbers in that production?

Honestly, in a movie entirely full of absolute top-notch delivery of some of the best lines ever written, my favorite part may be John Barrowman just belting out the title song and I always, always completely lose it at his eyebrow wiggle and wry smile when he sings "Fraaaaaance". Every actor is at the top of their game in it, it is the pinnacle of Mel Brooks comedy, the stylistic choices to make it seem like a Broadway play in every scene nails it, every single aspect of this movie fires on all cylinders and it results in what can only be described as a masterpiece.

In fact, the only thing I dislike about it is the trailers, which are far too spoiler-ific for my tastes (for both the remake and the original). I rather pointedly avoided putting any possible spoilers in there just in case you haven't seen it, because the surprise is worth it IMO.

[Rater202]

On Rent: From what I've heard the sequel is much better.

On Law and Order: My experience with the Mothership series was a mystery-solving point and click game that nobody in my family could figure out. Made us file realistic warrants to search for evidence and there wasn't jack at the crime scene to go on other than names of potential suspects.

"We have his driver's license at the crime scene, an eye witness to him threatening the victim, and the timestamp on security footage shows him going into the locker room at the time the victim was murdered. All we need to put his ass away is to match his DNA to the blood under th victim's fingernails... What do you mean we don't have enough for a warrant!?"

Watching it I was only able to get into SVU. Mostly because that was the first one I saw and the others were too different from what I was used to. I saw one episode of criminal intent and it pissed me off because you know who did it from the beginning and the whodunnit aspect is the whole reason to watch a cop show.

And I've lost interest in SVU slowly over the last decade or so, seeing as almost all of the original/long-term cast has been replaced. There is exactly one character on the show currently who was there from the first episode.

I'm kind of looking forward to Law and Order: Organized crime since they're bringing back Meloni's Elliot Stabler to be the lead... But Stabler retired from SVU for a damn good reason(being forced to shoot and kill a teenage girl because she went off the deep end and started shooting up the percent in an attempt to kill her mother's rapist and the man said attacker hired to kill her mom) and the synopsis says he's coming out of retirement becuase of a personal tragedy which is making me wonder what the frick happened now.

[Fyraltari]

Thanks for the recommendation.

You are welcome.

[Bartmanhomer]

Hey everyone. My female friend told me on the phone that she and her niece tested positive for COVID. She got all the symptoms and they're resting for quarantine at the moment.

[Mystic Muse]

Hey everyone. My female told me on the phone that she and her niece tested positive for COVID. She got all the symptoms and they're resting for quarantine at the moment.

I'm sorry, your what?

I am very sirry to hear it though, abd hooe they recover quickly, without lingering issues.

[Bartmanhomer]

I'm sorry, your what?

I am very sirry to hear it though, abd hooe they recover quickly, without lingering issues.

My female friend. Sorry about that. I edit it that part.

[Civis Mundi]

On Rent: From what I've heard the sequel is much better.

You are not wrong.

It's also been a long time since I've seen any SVU. It's a very bingeable show, but it doesn't put me in a great headspace, for unsurprising reasons. And like most things that run too long, I found it gets repetitive after a while. That combined feeling -- "fatigued by abject horrors" -- is not my favorite.

HUZZAH! It may take a short time, but I'll definitely get back to you on it (though if I haven't said anything in a week or so, a reminder wouldn't hurt).

I'm looking forward to it! Take your time. And I'll poke you in a week. I survive on reminders myself.

And, in the vein of recommending things that have probably been seen but screw it because in the rare event it hasn't been then it's all worth it, can I recommend the second best musical of all time (behind only The Blues Brothers but much more befitting an actually proper musical... might I recommend The Producers (the 2005 version), so that whenever you remember Seasons of Love, you can simply replace it with Prisoners of Love? Or any of the other absolute knockout musical numbers in that production?

I love me some Producers. I enjoyed the remake, but the original will always come first for me. Hard to beat Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

I used to be one of those theater kids, though, the kind that worships Sondheim. Sunday in the Park with George is kind of a masterpiece. So many of those songs make me cry every time. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are, like Sam Waterston, absolute treasures.

EDIT: I edited out my clarification, but I didn't mean to remove my wellwishes!

Bartman, I'm so sorry to hear that. Hoping all the best for you and the people close to you and the people close to them.

[Anonymouswizard]

My female friend. Sorry about that. I edit it that part.

You have a ladyfriend now? Well done This post is brought to you by the Committee for Intentionally Misunderstanding Other People's Sentences in Obviously Incorrect Ways.

I hope they don't get serious symptoms and get well soon.


I am now mostly COVID-resistant, I had my second dose last week so it should have started kicking in by now. Now I'm just waiting until I'm allowed to go and see people.

CIMOPSOIW out.

[Bartmanhomer]

You have a ladyfriend now? Well done This post is brought to you by the Committee for Intentionally Misunderstanding Other People's Sentences in Obviously Incorrect Ways.

I hope they don't get serious symptoms and get well soon.


I am now mostly COVID-resistant, I had my second dose last week so it should have started kicking in by now. Now I'm just waiting until I'm allowed to go and see people.

CIMOPSOIW out.

She a female who's a friend of mine. Not my girlfriend by the way and besides she already got a boyfriend.

[Anonymouswizard]

She a female who's a friend of mine. Not my girlfriend by the way and besides she already got a boyfriend.

I know, as my post said in completely clear and easily readable white text I was intentionally misreading for humour.

[DataNinja]

She a female who's a friend of mine. Not my girlfriend by the way and besides she already got a boyfriend.

You should probably know that calling women 'females' tends to... not be taken greatly. It's often a signpost for those who... don't exactly treat women as equals, and so is something that we tend to be wary of. It's often a red flag, so... just figured I'd let you know. That it does tend to feel dehumanising.

For instance, you could have said "My friend told me on the phone that she and her niece tested positive for COVID." Now it sounds like the important part is that it's your friend, and there's not an emphasis that she's a woman. Even if that was important, you've still said "she and her niece", so we do know she's a woman.

In general, just good advice is that if it's not necessary to call out someone's gender or whatever when doing something, it's usually better to not.

...and 'female' in general is probably not great to use when referring to people in everyday life, unless you're going to a Ferengi convention.

[Bartmanhomer]

You should probably know that calling women 'females' tends to... not be taken greatly. It's often a signpost for those who... don't exactly treat women as equals, and so is something that we tend to be wary of. It's often a red flag, so... just figured I'd let you know. That it does tend to feel dehumanising.

For instance, you could have said "My friend told me on the phone that she and her niece tested positive for COVID." Now it sounds like the important part is that it's your friend, and there's not an emphasis that she's a woman. Even if that was important, you've still said "she and her niece", so we do know she's a woman.

In general, just good advice is that if it's not necessary to call out someone's gender or whatever when doing something, it's usually better to not.

...and 'female' in general is probably not great to use when referring to people in everyday life, unless you're going to a Ferengi convention.

Really? What was the problem?

[Anonymouswizard]

Really? What was the problem?

It's associated with certain not particularly pleasant subcultures, the one that springs to mind has a very toxic attitude towards women, an incredibly reductive (and, needless to say, almost completely wrong) view on attraction and relationships, and assorted other unpleasantness. Although that group also has other terms it uses to dehumanise women.

Now gender might be personally important to you, but in this case it is better to indicate gender via pronouns or gendered terms.if you absolutely must gender somebody and can't use either ogf those methods, which should be a very rare occurance, 'woman'(/man) is the best word to use, 'lady' is somewhat less safe, and 'dame' if they happen to own one of those small patches of land in Scotland.

Although bare in mind that you need to factor the other person's preferences into it, if they don't like gendered terms don';t use them. I'm dating three women, but one of them doesn't like the use of boyfriend/girlfriend, so she is almost always referred to as my partner (the other two get whichever term comes to mind first due to having no stated preference).

[Bartmanhomer]

It's associated with certain not particularly pleasant subcultures, the one that springs to mind has a very toxic attitude towards women, an incredibly reductive (and, needless to say, almost completely wrong) view on attraction and relationships, and assorted other unpleasantness. Although that group also has other terms it uses to dehumanise women.

Now gender might be personally important to you, but in this case it is better to indicate gender via pronouns or gendered terms.if you absolutely must gender somebody and can't use either ogf those methods, which should be a very rare occurance, 'woman'(/man) is the best word to use, 'lady' is somewhat less safe, and 'dame' if they happen to own one of those small patches of land in Scotland.

Although bare in mind that you need to factor the other person's preferences into it, if they don't like gendered terms don';t use them. I'm dating three women, but one of them doesn't like the use of boyfriend/girlfriend, so she is almost always referred to as my partner (the other two get whichever term comes to mind first due to having no stated preference).

Oh, I didn't know that. But she does identify as a woman because she's a woman and I thought saying a gender wasn't that much of an issue.

[Anonymouswizard]

she does identify as a woman because she's a woman

Here's me thinking it worked the other way round. But society is complicated, and word choices can have unintended readings.

Like, the fact you called her your female friend doesn't (just) tell me that she's a woman, it tells me that you care that she's a woman. There's quite a few ways to read that, and knowing you aren't the best an communication I'm choosing to believe it's for benign reasons.

Now I know what you're thinking, doesn't the fact that I will refer to (two of) my partners as my girlfriends mean that I care about their gender? Yes, but this is considered more socially acceptable, although partially for reasons I'm uncomfortable with because I'm expected to care a lot more than I do (I'm dating three women through happenstance and being really bad at meeting people).

[Bartmanhomer]

Here's me thinking it worked the other way round. But society is complicated, and word choices can have unintended readings.

Like, the fact you called her your female friend doesn't (just) tell me that she's a woman, it tells me that you care that she's a woman. There's quite a few ways to read that, and knowing you aren't the best an communication I'm choosing to believe it's for benign reasons.

Now I know what you're thinking, doesn't the fact that I will refer to (two of) my partners as my girlfriends mean that I care about their gender? Yes, but this is considered more socially acceptable, although partially for reasons I'm uncomfortable with because I'm expected to care a lot more than I do (I'm dating three women through happenstance and being bad at meeting people).

Well that what my friend identified herself as a woman and I know my friend for so many years and I don't think it wouldn't make any difference if she was a man and non-binary.

[Peelee]

Well that what my friend identified herself as a woman and I know my friend for so many years and I don't think it wouldn't make any difference if she was a man and non-binary.

Let me try this a different way. Let's say you had lunch with a male friend. Would you day "I had lunch with a male friend today", or would you say "I had lunch with a friend today"?

[Bartmanhomer]

Let me try this a different way. Let's say you had lunch with a male friend. Would you day "I had lunch with a male friend today", or would you say "I had lunch with a friend today"?

Oh, I see what you did here. I have lunch with a friend.

[Mystic Muse]

You also initially said "my female" which has a whole host of unpleasant implications I know you didn't intend. I know we've establishdd you forgot the "friend" part, just saying.

[Bartmanhomer]

You also initially said "my female" which has a whole host of unpleasant implications I know you didn't intend. I know we've establishdd you forgot the "friend" part, just saying.

Yes, I forgot to add the friend part, my bad. I should have said my friend instead but still, my friend and my friend's niece got COVID.

[Anonymouswizard]

I've been messing about with RPGMaker because a) I'm too incompetent to learn how to make games properly and b) I quite like the basics of JRPG gameplay anyway.

Sadly I'm too incompetent to write four+ believable characters. Still fun to mess around with.

[Peelee]

I've been messing about with RPGMaker because a) I'm too incompetent to learn how to make games properly and b) I quite like the basics of JRPG gameplay anyway.

Sadly I'm too incompetent to write four+ believable characters. Still fun to mess around with.

Super Mario Bros has an Italian plumber who shoots fireballs when he grabs a flower and whose archnemesis is a giant turtle.

Sonic the Hedgehog has a superfast animal that looks nothing like a hedgehog who fights robots.

Pokemon has a rat that shoots lightning.

What I'm saying is, don't be overly concerned with realism.

[Bartmanhomer]

Super Mario Bros has an Italian plumber who shoots fireballs when he grabs a flower and whose archnemesis is a giant turtle.

Sonic the Hedgehog has a superfast animal that looks nothing like a hedgehog who fights robots.

Pokemon has a rat that shoots lightning.

What I'm saying is, don't be overly concerned with realism.

I love Super Mario Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and Pokemon.

[Peelee]

I love Super Mario Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and Pokemon.

Yep! I deliberately chose incredibly successful, super famous franchises to help my point.

[LaZodiac]

I've been messing about with RPGMaker because a) I'm too incompetent to learn how to make games properly and b) I quite like the basics of JRPG gameplay anyway.

Sadly I'm too incompetent to write four+ believable characters. Still fun to mess around with.

Neither can most professional RPGs. You'll be fine.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yep! I deliberately chose incredibly successful, super famous franchises to help my point.

And you made very great choices to help your point by choosing these wonderful video games.

[Rater202]

I've spent the last month trying to ID a page full of cameos in the last page of a comic book.

(I like to keep a running tab of which characters have had Symbiotes. SWORD #3 ends with like, a dozen X-Men affiliates wrapped up in Symbiote goo but only five of them are clearly identifiable.)