He wrote a book called Hocus Pocus. I saw it in the grocery store of all places (they used to put books in the end shelves at the checkout lines), and the name seemed cool, so I begged my mom to get it. I had gotten Guards! Guards! the same way lol.
It was my introduction to Vonnegut.
But the main character was named Eugene Debs Hartke. So I discovered both Vonnegut and socialism at the same time.
But it was one quote that stood out to me and still guides a lot of my thinking, "While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
That shit is real. That, to me, is the essence of what humans should keep in mind at all times. That we are no stronger than the least of us, and if we do not lift each other up, we all fall.
I’ve said a version of the idea in other ways since reading the quote in hocus pocus because I have this burning rage against bigotry. It’s this way of thinking I can’t shake, that as long as bigoted slurs exist, then I am of that group that is slurred. There’s a specific slur that got thrown around back when I was a bouncer and worked for a drag club, I’m sure you can guess what slur that is. That’s the one I first used the paraphrased quote with.
Anyway, Mr Debs, to me, exhibited everything that socialism is supposed to be, but very rarely lives up to. I’d be proud to share a cell with him.
You might like the book “American Midnight” by historian Adam Hothschild. Came out last year and all about the shit that went down in the US between 1917-1921.
Debs is talked about quite a bit and he is well regarded. It was how I learned about him and I just finished the book this week. It’s absolutely fantastic and also yes, absolutely fucking terrifying.
It’s nuts that we just kinda gloss over that time period in history. It also shows that some of the worst mindsets of today regarding things like immigration, unions, censorship/freedom of speech (the real kind, done by the government. Not the whiny cancel culture shit), prisons, etc, the list goes on, have not changed a bit in 100 years. And we’re still fighting the same battles and blaming all the bad things on all the wrong people.
Anyway, book was fantastic, cannot recommend it enough, and now as a result I’m reading “The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover” by Lerone A. Martin because I realized how little I knew about that asshole other than he was an asshole and FBI stuff.
That would be incredible. Most times I discuss with leftists there is always this extreme need they have to put everyone down in whichever way they can, be it financial, moral or intellectual. This speaks to me as virtue signaling and seems like an “special case” ideological stand point (in which no fault exists, with no self criticism whatsoever nor accountability) which basically puts me and others off of the hope of there existing any common ground with leftists
I really enjoyed it, the random pop culture references didn’t really feel natural to me, but you could say it makes sense in the context of the characters. Definitely excited to see where the sequel goes.
I’m not a fan of the Turtles but I do like them. I went to see this because my youngest had obviously got wind of it on YouTube and something about it grabbed him.
For a bit of perspective, I enjoyed the 90s cartoon, the first live action film (I love the animatronics) and the CGI film TMNT.
Mutant Mayhem was a brilliant film, even if your not a die hard fan. I love the colourful art style as well which was so fresh and different from anything else. It’s probably going to be a 4K release for me, that art needs to be appreciated.
The story went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and I loved Jackie Chan as Splinter. His fight scene involving an office chair was very Chan in style.
Of course there’s a mid credit tease and considering they were a character I was expecting to see all through the film, I hope we get a sequel.
I’m not a comic guy so I’m unreliable, but there are moments that to me felt reminiscent of that artstyle (there’s a few style changes throughout). I think the artstyle in general is trying to emulate that sort of rough sketchy artstyle the comics had but giving it that colourful makeover that people mostly know the turtles for from the cartoons. A nice middle ground that makes itself look rather unique in its execution.
The standard design of the turtles themselves feels like a unique take on them, trying to make them actually look and feel like teenaged turtles. I think it works really well.
Nice share, what a bastard of a vessel that was. Also sounds like, in addition to some fucked designs and procedures, there were a lot of powerful groups attempting to cover for it. Petromoney is never clean.
Whether the release date is connected, ticket sales were veering on scary as the comedic thriller debuted in third place to a lackluster $24 million. Competition was heightened as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” remained unexpectedly strong in their sophomore outings, collecting a combined $140 million over the weekend. Of course, nobody anticipated the power of “Barbenheimer” when setting the film calendar.
I did not see this movie, and have no intention of seeing it, but I wanted to thank you for making the discussion post. Discussion posts have been somewhat lacking on Lemmy so I really appreciate the effort :)
Don’t know if I should congratulate you or console you! 😜 But from your review here it didn’t seem a total loss. And thanks for the format thumbs-up! 🫶
Goddamn, I played and loved the first two Shadowruns by Harebrained, and then left Hong Kong at the start due to lack of time. Reading this makes me want to puck it up immediately!
According to the second video I linked, a resident of Kowloon spent the better part of six years mapping out the city. Here’s the timestamp: youtu.be/PcSBOUpgngM?t=794
en.wikipedia.org
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