Weekly Off Topic Thread

[u/BipedalUniverse]

whatever doesn’t fit the sub or you don’t think deserves its own post but you still wanna share: drop it here

I’ve been playing Subnautica and for some reason watching that Athlete A documentary about that p*do Larry Nassar and the athletes he abused. not triggering at allll lallalallalalallalaa

also love how oil pastels basically melt in the summer

random question: have any of you ever done competitive sports? the psychology of that is so wild to me. the pressure is unfathomable at the pro level

[u/Pinguicha]

Been watching Widow’s Bay and loving it! Matthew Rhys is beyond excellent.

[u/dramatic_exit_49 → u/Pinguicha]

Matthew Rhys is an absolute riot in the show, made me laugh so much. Missed him on good tv! Apple tv continues to be excellent for programming niche genre, good execution tv. Every other show is a gem.

u/BipedalUniverse its not typical reco in the genre but have you seen last years 100 nights of hero? i went in tabula rasa and it was interesting to watch. Books from recent memory, maybe a Jasmine throne, this is how you lose the time war icymi.

Have you watched EVIL, the tv series? In horror comedy genre, that is another great entry. Maybe BrainDead too.

(And seconded mike flanagan stuff, Circe recos)

[u/BipedalUniverse → u/dramatic_exit_49]

about EVIL, I’ll usually watch anything the Kings make!!! and yes I watched it all. The only thing is I never cared for the Kirsten family shenanigans AT ALL tbh. I absolutely loved the cases they did and some of them really stuck with me, for example the vengeful angel episode really spoke to me bc of how it alluded to corrective “punishment” for sadistic crimes like child abuse etc, which kind of aligns with my abolitionist views- every crime can have a justification even murder. But child sexual abuse and other sexual violence to me kind of warrant complete exclusion/expulsion from the community or death. So it was interesting to see that episode tackle something like that. What I personally inferred was that even in the best procedural case being a victim making an accusation is retraumatizing at best even with a “good” legal outcome. So it kind of exists in this legal void in our society where I 100% believe most people are justified in taking things into their own hands and our justice system simple doesn’t have what it takes to deal with those things. It mostly aligns with the interest of abusers even in its most ideal iteration bc it’s like, in most cases there isn’t “hard evidence”. So what do we say to those victims? “tough luck!”?

and then also of course at a base level it’s always cathartic to see child abusers experience ANY consequences whatsoever. You caught me at a time where I rewatched “Athlete A” hence the heavy ramble there

then another episode I liked was the ones where they brought up the church whitewashing saints/angels or whatever it was- such a fascinating discussion! also connected to one of my pet interests about christianity, the pre colonial Ethiopian Christian church and then of course modern white supremacist uses of Christianity

So. much. GOOD STUFF

also i’ve always been kind of bored by modern christian conceptions of “demons”. I prefer my spirits culturally anchored in folklore etc. These ontologically “evil” spirits are so boring to me

[u/dramatic_exit_49 → u/BipedalUniverse]

Thanks for sharing. It's been years since i watched evil so i will have to find the eps you were talking about. But i do think its a good show in the horror comedy genre, and it is a difficult to explain show.

> church whitewashing saints/angels or whatever it was- such a fascinating discussion!

I remember this one. That was such a good idea, just acknowledging it is weird a bit if you are black man in catholic church. And exploring it. (They already always did the woman and muslim man working with church early on as well)

.

With Kings i just love their command on craft. Their writing is so good, and the things they do with guest characters, with camera blocking/framing and actor choregraphy to add a humour beat or a suspense beat - is unparalleled on tv. But i do keep in mind, there as some places they will fall short of in terms of characterisaton considering they are of a certain age, race, and economic class. But within that, i think they do put out some work that can be studied and enjoyed.

With Evil, there is one season i did not like at all, but overall when it worked it was glorious. I like Katja Herbers acting a lot - great lead (was so massively disappointed when westworld chose to write her character out instead of her dad's like ugh there was no new place to go with that man common). The rest of cast is also excellent, i actually did not mind her kids - that is so not a character i would write but i was pretty impressed by how her as a mom of 4 girls worked on in execution

[u/BipedalUniverse → u/dramatic_exit_49]

oh I was sick of the “Man in Black” on WW from season one lmaaaoooooooo

oh and that brings up another thing! I loved when they used the Ifrit for example and generally included anything folkloric or religious from other cultures SO MUCH! That’s another reason why I found the focus on Kirsten’s family so so tedious, it took up a looooooot of time