Random MetaBanter – Random Banter no. 236 (now with Flowers!)

[Metastachydium]

All money is real money, because money isn't real in the first place.

On the contrary. No money is real money because money isn't real in the first place. (But some currencies (I'm looking at you CAD)? They are less real than others.)

[LaZodiac]

The "we" is self and spouse, but only I work. The renter we have is a friend who had student loans and credit card debts and we rent to him severely under market value to help him out (which we can do because we don't rely on that at all, and is purely bonus income). Also, there's no functional difference between apartment and house for the second building for us, on how we use it. If you saw only the inside layout (which is actually hanging out on an old RB, actually), you'd see it as an apartment. It just happens to have no shared walls, washer dryer hookup, and garage parking. Heck, those three are the big reasons why we would be potentially be able to charge so much for it despite being 1b1br. Also we got a really nice stainless French door fridge/freezer in there, a really nice microwave, a nice sink/faucet set, and the contractor managed to score us an upgrade to granite countertops at no extra charge. Th lr toilet and vanity are also premium and the dishwasher is pretty good. Once I have that nice government job and am out of the probationary period I'll probably put in a nice new range in there, since we just used our old one when we got a new one in the main house. Our friend will probably appreciate that.


Though did you mentioned you have a 450 sq ft loft, that makes me jump back to "little on the high side of rent for that".

Fair.

I mean it's more space than I really need to be frank.

All money is real money, because money isn't real in the first place.

This is true- though as loath as I am to admit it I'd agree with the flower that it's really more "all money is fake because money isn't real", even if functionally our society is built on having to pretend it is real and true.

Anyway; I recently saw a video extolling "the hidden brilliance" of the Blues Traveler song "Hook" which...

Look. Hook is a really good song, and is in fact brilliant. But hidden? Really? The song explicitly explains what it is through every verse. How do these things happen?? Who are these for???

[Peelee]

All money is real money, because money isn't real in the first place.

Yeah, but Canadian dollars are looney.

[LaZodiac]

Yeah, but Canadian dollars are looney.

Don't forget our two dollar coin, the Twoonie!

[Peelee]

Don't forget our two dollar coin, the Twoonie!

Because that coin has the face of Mickey Rooney.

[Anonymouswizard]

Now I'm lost. Anybody care to explain how this all makes cents?

[LaZodiac]

Because that coin has the face of Mickey Rooney.

Ah, so that's what the Queen's new phase is.

It also has a polar bear on it!

Now I'm lost. Anybody care to explain how this all makes cents?

Roughly two hundred of them!

[halfeye]

On the contrary. No money is real money because money isn't real in the first place. (But some currencies (I'm looking at you CAD)? They are less real than others.)

What does that make Monopoly money?

[Cazero]

What does that make Monopoly money?

Real fake money for games of pretend. Not to be confused with fake real money pretending to the games.

[Metastachydium]

What does that make Monopoly money?

Fake money you can't buy stuff with?

[Anonymouswizard]

Fake money you can't buy stuff with?

What's my pension got to do with this?

[Metastachydium]

What's my pension got to do with this?

You'll have pension? Way cool!

[dafrca]

Rent in some places is real nice I see. Here in the insane county they call Los Angeles CA a two bedroom average rent as posted for the last three months of data is:

August 2021 - $2,834
September 2021 - $2,903
October 2021 - $2,943

That is in USD.

I am blessed in that I bought a house many years ago so my monthly mortgage payment is much less.

[Tvtyrant]

A studio apartment here goes for $950-$1100, and other housing options go up from there. Here it is deliberate though, there was a concerted effort to make housing expansion expensive and difficult in the 1970s.

[enderlord99]

Not only is this song's title relevant to today... for US Americans, so is the artist's surname.

[Peelee]

I'm very happy that my silly, harmless indiscretions as a youth aren't memorialized for all time on the internet, nor have they been seen by tens of millions of people. Even with how she turned things around, I still can bad for her. Her parents just wanted to give her a fun present, and for that she was mocked incessantly. If never want anything like that for my kid, no matter how it eventually turned out.

[dafrca]

Not only is this song's title relevant to today... for US Americans, so is the artist's surname.

Is it even more ironic that the video started with a Kohl's Black Friday Ad? LOL

[enderlord99]

Is it even more ironic that the video started with a Kohl's Black Friday Ad? LOL

No. It just means that my pointing-out of it was even less original than I expected.

I kinda want to see a mashup of it with a certain AC/DC song, the result being called "Back In Rebecca Black" but there's only two (maybe three) people I know of who might be able to pull it off well, and they're both(/all) unlikely to do it on request.

[dafrca]

I'm very happy that my silly, harmless indiscretions as a youth aren't memorialized for all time on the internet, nor have they been seen by tens of millions of people.

I told my son just a few weeks ago, it is not that my generation was smarter than his, we just didn't have phone cameras to capture our dumb moves and post them to social media sites. LOL

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm very happy that my silly, harmless indiscretions as a youth aren't memorialized for all time on the internet, nor have they been seen by tens of millions of people. Even with how she turned things around, I still can bad for her. Her parents just wanted to give her a fun present, and for that she was mocked incessantly. If never want anything like that for my kid, no matter how it eventually turned out.

Sadly the issue she faced was being the first, at least to get noticed. There are other kids who did it later and got nowhere near the attention.

But honestly? As a present it's cool.

I was unfortunate enough to be a teen when Facebook came around, but fortunately enough of an outcast that I have very little stupid stuff on there. Probably my biggest regrets out there on the internet were my teenaged attempts to write 'D&D but better', and eh. If anybody ever digs those up I can show them my current projects, like Miss Black I started somewhere and have now improved.

Although I'm just assuming she has. I honestly don't care enough to see if she's released other songs.

[HalfTangible]

What is your rent, then? And don't bother saying your pay because you have a government job those pay out the ass. Generally speaking I've always heard that rent in the states is really bad, especially given most jobs pay like garbage. Up here, my rent may seem a lot, but given I get paid a lot of money that's reasonable. If you're making under a certain amount the building I'm in only gives you a rent of 600 dollars.

I live in a nice suburban area. 3 cheapest apartments near me that have their prices listed are at 785, 875, and 900 USD. (992.68, 1106.69 and 1138.31 Canadian).

Rent in the US (like most everything else) varies from state to state, even city to city.

[Peelee]

I live in a nice suburban area. 3 cheapest apartments near me that have their prices listed are at 785, 875, and 900 USD. (992.68, 1106.69 and 1138.31 Canadian).

Rent in the US (like most everything else) varies from state to state, even city to city.

Location location location. It's a true as it is trite. Alabama has crazy low cost of living. Go into certain parts of Birmingham and you'd never realize it though.

[Rater202]

So weird thought that's been in my brain for a bit.

A lot of the Disney movies of the last couple of years have someone point to it and say that it's got Disney's first LGBT character in it... More than once, it's kind of offputting to say the same websites say the same thing about four or five different movies. (and all of those characters are in minor, easy-to-miss roles to boot.)

However, In the original animated Mulan from the late 90s Shang is very clearly falling in love with "Ping" before finding out that "he" is actually a woman. When Mulan is finally outed as a woman in disguise he honestly seems more personally hurt that she kept it from him than the fact that that was a crime and reacts as such. And, when he gets over those feelings, is still attracted to her.

So... Shang is the first LGBT character in a Disney movie. He's either Bi or... Has an attraction to specific individuals regardless of what their sex or gender is. Either way he's not straight. And he's the male lead with his attraction being a factor of the main plot They just didn't make a big deal about it or try to exploit it for Woke Points.

(Bonus points, the orignal animated Mulan had the theme of "gender roles are bull****, do what you want and/or need to do regardless" Three of the songs on the soundtrack amount to "women face unreasonable expectations," "the expectations of me just becuase of how I was born don't feel right for me," and "there are also a lot of unreasonable expectations of men.")

[Mystic Muse]

So, I am going to attempt to better myself this coming year and attempt to learn Bass guitar.

[LaZodiac]

Yeah Mulan is a queer as, and talks about a lot of stuff people should think about more often, and it is pretty rad.

EDIT: Good luck Mystic! Play the sweetest of songs!

[Peelee]

So, I am going to attempt to better myself this coming year and attempt to learn Bass guitar.

Oooo what kind you have? For basses, I'm a sucker for the Thunderbird.

[Keltest]

You know, money not being real WOULD explain how Scrooge McDuck can dive into a money pool and not die.

[Lord Raziere]

thats certainly a thought, Rater.

I've lately been watching a lot of the newer DC animated movies lately and they're pretty good. Batman Bad Blood having a lesbian gun-wielding batgirl was the last thing I ever expected but I love it. (huh, oddly same vein.) as well the Deathstroke movie having a random lesbian hive member gambling and the moments just pass by.

like I've been binging them on HBO max so I can really get the superhero genre formula drilled into my brain. anything with Constantine in it actually breaks the formula a bit because he is the Proto-dresden who solves things more wit than fists and doesn't have happy endings to anything he does, where Harry Dresden arguably is better received in his universe than Constantine is in his.

so far as I can tell at least for the movies I watched, the formula seems to be the superhero facing a personal problem and a superhero problem at the same time and how their life impacts them both, and whether it ends happily depends on the character: if its Superman it always ends well, Batman its well a lot of time but can be sad, and with antiheroes it has a high chance of ending bittersweet or poorly. and the more anti-heroic the protagonist the more likely the violence is going to be bloody and have people die, while the more they're heroic the more its toned down.

[Keltest]

where Harry Dresden arguably is better received in his universe than Constantine is in his.

And now i have to ask how up to date on the books you are before i engage this further.

[Lord Raziere]

And now i have to ask how up to date on the books you are before i engage this further.

Battle Ground. How dare you question my up to dateness sir. how dare.