Author: mongreldogs
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Subverting Stereotypes on the Fury Road
I just finished rewatching Mad Max: Fury Road. I have to say, I can understand why the film earned the online ire of the so-called men’s rights activists (MRAs). It takes all the high-octane testosterone-drenched tropes of the typical action flick, ramps them up to 11 and, in so doing, exposes the madness that lies at…
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Review: The Man in the High Castle (TV)
amazon’s The Man in the High Castle (2015) Insta-score: 4 out of 5. Short form: After a slow start, this builds to an excellent show. Spoilers below the fold.
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Review: Agents of SHIELD season finale
I caught up on the end of the season for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. (Yes, it’s that time of summer when I get to catch up on the shows I missed.) The first season ended with the fallout from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when the entire Marvel universe was scrambled. Could Season Two match it? Short…
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… and a movie?
I finally caught the last episode of the weird Season 6 of Community as streaming on Yahoo! Stream, called “Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television”. As could be expected of Community, it was wonderfully meta and self-referential. As could be expected of a series finale, it was actually quite touching.
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Regarding >> “America has a simple ideology”: how one of Russia’s top US experts tries to explain America – Vox
A couple of observations: What might underlie this Russian perception — which I think is over the top — is something far more threatening to the Russian psyche than the idea that America is scheming and plotting to topple them. Far worse indeed is the truth, which is that since the end of the Cold…
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On riots, protests, and the legitimacy of violence (short)
For everyone who has counseled the citizens of Baltimore (and Ferguson and…) that “violence is not the answer” and that it would be better if everyone just protested peacefully: 1) As has now been documented extensively, the protests were by and large peaceful — and even more by and large, ignored by the national media.…
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re: Sexism in science: Peer editor tells female researchers their study needs a male author – The Washington Post
Apparently the study was so flawed that only a man could fix it. Just ’cause, you know, it isn’t science without at least a trace amount of testosterone spilled on it. Or — and this seems more likely to me — the editor is himself hard up for papers with his name on them, and…
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Regarding “Huckabee: The Supreme Court ‘Cannot Overrule God’ On Gay Marriage”
Gov. Huckabee is entirely correct: SCOTUS cannot overrule God. The justices can’t make a gay marriage sanctified. But then, they can’t make a straight marriage sanctified either. It’s really quite simple: To the extend that marriage is a sacrament, the government cannot have an opinion, and the marriage-equality suits do not speak to this. To…
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Josh Marshall, spot-on as always
From Talking Points Memo: Yes, George W. Really Should Remain Silent For all my many criticisms of him during his presidency, I have come to respect President Bush’s post-presidency. He’s kept out of the toxic political battles that came after he left office. He’s had the confidence or perhaps simply the realism and detachment to…
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The madness of World War I
This piece helps make clear how criminally incompetent the leaders of the Allies were during the opening years of World War I and how unworthy they were of the brave men who fought and died under their command.