First time I’ve seen this guy not mugging for the picture while sporting a trying-too-hard haircut. I like it. I can’t imagine being in my fifties, looking in the mirror and spiking my hair up with gel like it's 1997, I’m a fourteen year old with a hot date at the roller rink and about to douse myself with whatever…

It’s called review boosting and, despite what others may tell you, is a real phenomenon. It’s generally associated with paid reviews rather than botnet activity but it’s certainly possible to use the same technology to artificially support a film. Whether that has happened I don’t know but both bots and paid reviews…

I seem to recall the discussion being less if Gosling is right for the role and more how he looks too old and busted to be playing Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie. But maybe looking like a badly aging pretty boy is essential to the character, idk.

Rude and dehumanizing? Settle down, Beavis. Actors’ stock in trade is their physical appearance and it’s perfectly okay to criticize that. Lots of people say the same about Anya Taylor-Joy. Because it’s true. Her and Bailey appear to have eyes that are farther apart than average or perhaps have a combination of eye…

From watching someone stream it there seem to be QuickTime choice events that are similar to what you describe where the player has to do a mini game to pick between “Gollum” and “Smeagol” options, with the “Gollum” option being the evil choice.

Do nothing instead, because this is a contractual dispute between guild members and their employers. It’s not oppression of a minority or even exploitation of the old mine and factory type where life and limb were at risk every day. It’s not like we, the consumers, even have the information to know what kind of…

He may not have dementia but he's old and slow. They all are. The gerontocracy lingers over the remains of our country like a Sunday buffet, popping the best bits in their purses for back home.

Hopefully the government will allow more research into chemicals commonly used as psychedelics because quite a few could have valuable psychiatric uses. I have a personality disorder for which there is no effective treatment so I decided to experiment with microdosing and found that a derivative of DMT could cause me…

Right. Just like how all the things you mentioned are equivalent, because nothing is more important than anything else. Shelter, transportation, video games. All necessities of equal value because being entertained is on the same level of the hierarchy of needs as basic survival.

It probably did leak out and it’s probably due to incompetence on someone’s part. Not only is ammonium nitrate not the preferred material for making explosive devices it would be considerably easier to steal it from farmers than from a moving train. No one does the James Bond/Oceans 11 type plans when a simple…

Hell even if they did smell like weed I’ve noticed worse body odor from people in public and no one asked them to leave. Or cloying perfumes and colognes. $500k each does seem a bit much but you got to aim high I guess.

I’ve never lived there but from what I’ve heard taking two hours to get from one place to another, “vehicles running red lights, driving on the sidewalk, and reversing down a one way street, among other traffic violations” and “multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD…

They’re referring to paparazzi photographers specifically rather than the general media. Saying the paparazzi treat people equally shitty isn’t denying the racism of others in the media.

I’m not sure if I misread something or what but yeah, I listened and was not a fan. It might sample Earle's song in the chorus but that's as far as I got.

Yeah, I listened to it and realized that. Well, listened until the chorus. I think that part may interpolate Earle’s version. I could swear I read it was a cover but it’s just as likely I misremembered.

Turns out Sheeran’s version uses the melody but not the lyrics as it’s a pop song with traditional accents in the chorus. So less of a connection than I thought.

As conspiracy theories go this one doesn't seem nearly as likely to subvert democracy, degrade social intercourse or poison people against one another as some others I could name so it's fine. People who are finding imaginary clues to Taylor Swift memoirs are too occupied to find imaginary clues telling them to…

“Galway Girl" was written by American country music star Steve Earle, best known for his hit song and album "Copperhead Road". So Sheeran has already ripped off country music. And apparently country singers can do Irish folk music that's indistinguishable from the real thing. It probably helps that a lot of the…

God forbid anyone discuss a topic without making it absolutely clear to the dumbest people in the room where they stand on it. Another pet peeve of mine is how it seems incumbent on people to say how fully they support a cause before making any sort of criticism, complaint or even question about that cause lest people…

As to your last point, I’m pretty sure Cicero met Cleopatra when she was in Rome and describes the event in his letters to his friends. He hated her though, so he’s not an impartial witness by any means. Also he was basically a professional slanderer so there is that too.