Prelude to the Apocalypse

[BryanM]

I didn't know Loyd and Troma were involved with My Dinner With Anre~

Where I really fucked up with that story is that it was Jean Claude Van Damme and not Stevie who was the douche in question. I really can't tell movie critters apart. Apologies for portraying Steezie as more of a try-hard than he really is.

The Sonny Bono Mickey Mouse Protection Act runs out in a year. So, another thing to track in the middle of this year's circus. It's likely another extension will try to sneak in under the radar.

[orange808]

They won't extend it again. I think we're going to let it go to court later on, where Disney will win de facto permanent copyright protection using other grounds. Depending on how they go about it, they may be able to secure permanent copyright protections for almost every extremely large media corporation and almost all their IP, but that's a longshot, or is it?

[Sima Tuna]

Disney is more "in charge" of this country than any President. Whatever they want copyright laws to be is what they will be.

[Sengoku Strider]

I really can't tell movie critters apart. Apologies for portraying Steezie as more of a try-hard than he really is.

There are few human beings alive who deserve that particular apology less that Steven Segal does.

Jean Claude Van Damme is a complicated dude who was struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder that he was self-medicating with serious cocaine & alcohol addictions. He is painfully self-aware of his flaws and got back together with an ex-wife, turned to the church and worked to turn his life around.

Steven Segal is outright delusional, but also a terrible human being in almost every facet of his life. He is a pathological liar, raging narcissist, Putin apologist, probable rapist, and worst of all the man is lazy AF.

JCVD, coke-addled hero we can all believe in:



Steven Segal, who quite literally never attempted a stunt this intense again:



Yes, that slide is completely serious.
Watch this rather hilarious video of the various bizarre ethnicities and personae Segal has attempted to portray himself as IRL, and you will never confuse the two again:

https://youtu.be/b2Dl0IpjXtA

[BryanM]

There are few human beings alive who deserve that particular apology less that Steven Segal does.

Yeah, I was saying it was ridiculous of me to think he'd go to the effort of standing on a boat.

God, I love Will Sasso's interpretation of the man. Sasso could be funny just by walking without moving his arms. So underrated.

[Sima Tuna]

I will always respect the sheer athleticism Van Damme displayed in Kickboxer.

[BulletMagnet]

Depending on how they go about it, they may be able to secure permanent copyright protections for almost every extremely large media corporation and almost all their IP, but that's a longshot, or is it?

As luck would have it I stumbled upon this video earlier today; long story short, yeah, they have a plan very much in motion.

[orange808]

Depending on how they go about it, they may be able to secure permanent copyright protections for almost every extremely large media corporation and almost all their IP, but that's a longshot, or is it?

As luck would have it I stumbled upon this video earlier today; long story short, yeah, they have a plan very much in motion.

Indeed. There's a few ways to go at it. I agree with the video and I was alluding to trademark. At the very least, the mouse is so closely recognized and associated with Disney that they can win a "slam dunk" trademark case. Even I'd sit on a jury and hand them trademark protection. Same thing with Mario and Nintendo, the 20 Century Fox musical fanfare, or the THX sliding note. Some things get so closely associated with a brand that the trademark is difficult to argue.

----------

In other news, I'm already exhausted with the Rube Goldberg machine we construct around the deficit. There's a dead simple way to look at tax revenue. We can look at taxation as a percentage of GDP. No surprise that America's last GOP debt ceiling terrorist hostage situation happened in the middle of a serious dip in tax revenues--created by the GOP in 2011.

America has been debt free, but it was a Democrat that paid it. The debt was completely paid off and our surplus peaked in around 2000. No one should be surprised what paid the debt: tax money. No Republican president since Nixon has had a balanced budget--ever. That proves what Republicans are: complacent and/or thick morons, that let liars take advantage of them.

Not satisfied to maintain taxes near Ronald Reagan's chosen levels, today's GOP idiots demand draconian budget cuts and more tax cuts, despite the COVID crisis and the constant wars that have tugged at America's bottom line. It's insanity and ignorance, simultaneously demanding a return to record low taxes and demanding draconian domestic spending cuts; all the while, they beg for more cops to lock up dark people and more military hardware for Ukraine. It's fucking bonkers.

Anyhow, the tax receipts are easy to track and see:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GC ... cations=US

Nobody mentions that it's easy to see. They create Rube Goldberg machines. The democrats want to negotiate and make more domestic cuts to satisfy their corporate masters. That's why the press doesn't tell you. They want to sell the crisis and keep fucking everyone over, too. That's why Manchin is being allowed to "negotiate". The fucking answer is dead simple: raise taxes. We can't afford it? The graph says we can--and we can cut taxes in the case of a surplus afterwards. It's exactly as easy and straightforward as it sounds. Unlike some third world shithole (yeah, I said something true, sue me), the United States doesn't have a debt that's too big to handle with tax revenue. Want to pay debts? Pay them.

[Air Master Burst]

Sasso could be funny just by walking without moving his arms. So underrated.

I unfairly compared him to Artie Lange for a long time but honestly he's pretty funny. MADtv was always at least decent but never managed to recapture the magic of those first two seasons.

Not sure how much Disney even care about the OG Steamboat version of Mickey going public domain at this point (there's enough embarassing stuff from that era I can see them not wanting to draw attention to), but any of their modern stuff is gonna have a lot of money thrown at it when the time eventually comes.

[orange808]

I've just seen the late news breaking on another shooting in California. Under normal circumstances, this would be amusing: Google News has a FAQ section that is supposed to link some details of a particular story at a glance. Right now, readers will find information about the identity of yesterday's shooter in the story FAQ, not information about today's mass shooting. Not even Google can keep up with all gun executions that all Americans love, create, encourage, and 100% condone through their complacent consent. (Oh, I'm sorry. Did someone actually say you're accountable?)

America is fucking bonkers.

When can we start curbing gun production and sales? We have to eventually start pulling more guns from circulation than we add. This isn't going to get better on its own. This arms race isn't making anyone any safer.

Fuck those people's jobs, by the way. We've exported a lot of honest jobs over the years and nobody cared. Fuck gun jobs.

[BulletMagnet]

Not even Google can keep up with all gun executions

I read one article that described it, verbatim, as "one of America's latest mass shootings". Not "worst" or "deadliest" or the like, just "latest".

[Sengoku Strider]

There's not really much any comedian can do to spoof Segal that's funnier than just slowing down the fights in his movies.

[BryanM]

Haha Trump really did complain about a funeral being boring >_< The chapo boys are right, Ron Desuckass is a longshot.

Do you guys think Bush will pick up the phone like Obama before him did, and order a ratfuck voltron before Trump walks away with it? I dunno if these crabs in a bucket have gotten their act together yet; they just never had this problem before and might be structurally incapable of working together to get 100% of what the banks want.

[Sima Tuna]

There's not really much any comedian can do to spoof Segal that's funnier than just slowing down the fights in his movies.

Awesome tutorial on how to break your fingers, bro!

[BulletMagnet]

Hell has officially frozen over: Joe Manchin is actually making some goddamn sense.

[BIL]

Burgerland's newest gun murderer's depraved hobbies include barking at passing cars and begging for treats 3;

[Mischief Maker]

Hey, remember "The Twitter Files?"

That big expose about how the old management at Twitter was removing and deprioritizing stories due to shady interactions with government officials, and how that's all over now that Elon's in charge?

"Elon Musk Caves to Pressure From India to Remove BBC Doc Critical of Modi"

[Rob]

Burgerland's newest gun murderer's depraved hobbies include barking at passing cars and begging for treats 3;

[BIL]

[Sengoku Strider]

Hey, remember "The Twitter Files?"

That big expose about how the old management at Twitter was removing and deprioritizing stories due to shady interactions with government officials, and how that's all over now that Elon's in charge?

"Elon Musk Caves to Pressure From India to Remove BBC Doc Critical of Modi"

Yeah, that sounds just like something a RADICAL LEFTIST would say. Elon evening up the scoreboard for the white hats again!!



Suck it libs!

I just love free speech so much *sniff*

[GaijinPunch]

Solid meme game, everyone. Pat yourselves on the back.

[BryanM]

All this talk about the actually good aspects of the old timey days got me thinking about The Jetsons. If one would call Star Trek an optimistic vision of the future, The Jetsons went a hundred times farther. A 2-hour work week at the button-pushing factory, a robot maid at home, a talking dog, etc etc. While these days anything scifi that isn't as miserable and grimdark as Black Mirror is rejected for being absurd. (Still love The Orville, though. It's a much needed change of pace, even if it's the end of the world and amounts to nothing more than a comfort blanket.)

It's a little surprising to me, that for something that's so ingrained in the culture, that The Jetsons was pretty much a miserable failure of a franchise. It had a lifespan comparable to the typical 80's Saturday morning children's shovelware.

It's an ant compared to something like Scooby-Doo.

[Air Master Burst]

It's a little surprising to me, that for something that's so ingrained in the culture, that The Jetsons was pretty much a miserable failure of a franchise. It had a lifespan comparable to the typical 80's Saturday morning children's shovelware.

The Jetsons was popular enough in reruns to get an entire second run of 50 episodes TWO DECADES LATER. I think Futurama and MST3K are the only other shows to pull that one off, and MST3K still did a cast change. Hell, The Jetsons even got a legit finale movie!

[BryanM]

There's a lot of nostalgia based sequels and revivals: Fuller House, Roseanne, That 90's Show, etc. Jetsons is remarkable for not having any investment put into it for over 30 years, except for that direct to DVD WWE crossover that I now... kinda want to watch. My instinct to crawl through garbage is just too strong.

The history of a new followup always seems to be in development purgatory, winding a weird path touching on Kanye West to this thing. That it's something everyone remembers makes it seem like a fruit they'd like to squeeze for all it's worth, but they never do..

More in general, I think there's another aspect of utopian fiction that makes it hard for people to connect with the lucky bastards who get to live in such a world. Which also rolls over on any attempt to persuade improving the real world: if we could just "flip a switch" (we could) and give everyone healthcare or a place to live, it belittles the suffering people put themselves through to acquire just a fraction of those things.

But also scifi only seems to appeal to nerds. I try to think of trying to get a normie into The Culture, and it's like... gonna be worse than trying to explain what a hypotenuse is. Way worse. Orders of magnitude harder than The Expanse.

[Air Master Burst]

There's a lot of nostalgia based sequels and revivals: Fuller House, Roseanne, That 90's Show, etc. Jetsons is remarkable for not having any investment put into it for over 30 years, except for that direct to DVD WWE crossover that I now... kinda want to watch. My instinct to crawl through garbage is just too strong

Sure, but the Jetsons wasn't either of those things. They just straight-up made a new season, picking up right where they left off.

I think they abandoned it for a while because the Jetsons movie flopped pretty hard as a full theatrical release. Also, the early 90s had so many actual good cartoons nobody gave a shit about the stupid ass Jetsons anymore anyway. I admit to sharing a similar morbid curiosity about the WWE crossover; I was sold instantly upon seeing the cover:



There's also this glorious fucking screenshot which should probably be hung in the Smithsonian next to Archie Bunker's chair:

Spoiler

[BulletMagnet]

Speaking of the Twitter Files...

I admit to sharing a similar morbid curiosity about the WWE crossover

Is there a "wait, that's still around?" cartoon that pro wrestling hasn't done a cross-promo with at this point?

[BIL]

You lot are hardcore, I'm disgusted and horrified such a thing even exists.

Admittedly it's pretty tame compared to what Carl Winslow and his four homies did to Tyre Nichols the other night!



Brother man trimmed down, damn

[Rastan78]

Holy shit he does look like Carl. Now he's the one saying "Did I do that?"

This is where they try to act like this is a total anomaly carried out by rogue individuals. Nothing wrong with the system or culture that puts these fuckers out on the street with lethal weapons.

[GaijinPunch]

The horrendous bullshit (which is brutal) aside, here's a very random hot take.

As a hobbiest street photog, the story as of late has always come down to ethics as subjects are not consenting to the photo 99% of the time. Rock star (in my mind) photographer Issei Suda would often lament the old days in the forewords of his books, concluding that the days of being able to innocently approach a stranger with a camera and take a photo are long gone. I find this ironic as we are on cameras all the time, everywhere, and this video is proof.

So for the people that are ardently against my hobby (which are many) I am always a bit confused. But the fact that these 5 dip shits couldn't weigh in the probability that they were being recorded is baffling. Would you really want someone so stupid serving and protecting?

[BIL]

I have a broadly similar ongoing debate with an old friend, re: the UK's infamous proliferation of CCTV over the last quarter-century or so. He reckons the act of being filmed is innately intrusive... I'm fine with a degree of passive surveillance in public spaces with innately little-to-no assumption of privacy. EG, the kind of lightpole camera that documented this incident, and will likely secure convictions.

If the risk is: I might get Caught Jerking Off™ in the train station's waiting room, or even in the train station restroom's sink? Yeah that's fine. I don't do that stuff, or associate with those who do. They don't AFAIK, anyway! I'd rather people moderate themselves. If it makes some sick cunt think twice about attacking a lone drunk girl at 1AM, or at least gets him locked up and potentially shanked, should he be undeterred - good.

If it's to the point there's a pinhole camera in every flower vase of the restaurant, and seat-back in the cinema, never mind the train station's toilet stalls - then yeah, that's pretty fucked, and should be the domain of law enforcement with FOIA-traceable warrants, imo. But I'd argue that's well beyond the relatively hapless gaze of a lightpole or lobby camera that various scum wander into.

RE: the standard of these thugs, they're a fucking plague. Brings to mind the English copper who tried detaining a guy for no good reason, a couple years back during the height of lockdown, and when told he had no probable cause to, exploded "I'll make somefin' up then!" Beyond the cunt's innate stupidity in saying that out loud, you'd hope the standards of character, or at least discipline, were high enough that he'd never countenance a notion so despicable to begin with...

Tying it together, this is why I think corrupt authorities should be dealt with in especially harsh terms. I'm fine with giving up a degree of privacy to make their jobs easier, for the greater good. If they turn out to be criminals themselves? Throw the cheeky cunts in gen pop imo.