Mawd

We put a bell on her to appease his concerns soon after we moved in. Obviously there's no way to know for sure she's been injured by him but.. Well we won't do anything when all we have is our suspicions. We are planning to keep her inside a lot more now. We already made sure to the best of our abilities that she didn't go outside at night. She's a people cat and gets very anxious when we leave rooms or close doors on her so she's usually fine with that. But this has just made me so angry. I hate having this level of toxic, inane rage in me. We have a year on our lease and we're too poor to voluntarily move right now. I fear none of our efforts to contain our cat are going to be met with anything but contempt. Of course we'll get an angry rant every time a bird dies. A cat (likely someone else's given our kitten's youth, bell, day time only access, and the storm we didn't let her out in that previous night) has already supposedly killed a tui; he came across it in his garden before finding my mum and condescendingly talking at her and making threatening hints to our kitten's existence. So I don't have a tonne of confidence in him.

Yesterday our kitten came in from outside hobbling and shaking from pain. We suspect she's either fallen or suffered an injury from our 85 year old landlord who has directly told us that "It won't be in this world for long". We're worried about what happened to our cat, twitching in shock and barely making the effort to eat or drink let alone use the bathroom. She's going to the vet tomorrow and we think she's had some type of green stick fracture on a hind leg. We've come to see our landlord as quietly mean unhelpful at best. He's often tending to a garden and he loves the wild birds that gather there so it's understandable he's not happy with our cat. However blaming or injuring a kitten for the risk it might pose one day to a bird, when already several roaming cats live in the neighbourhood is not okay. The tenancy agreement said that pets were negotiable and his property manager didn't bring up animals at all when originally viewing the place. We agreed to move in when we didn't have the kitten but mum was gifted the cat in the interim before moving. We think he's kicked her while she was going to the bathroom in the garden; hard enough to be in a lot of pain. We'll obviously have to police her comings and goings even more now and we're definitely not letting her into the garden without supervision. If he is caught hurting her again I suppose we can go to the SPCA and have him charged with animal cruelty or something but I'm sceptical that there's any real legal deterrent to his actions there's plenty of opportunity for him to bait a possum trap with cat food and have it break her neck one day. I swear if I find proof that he's hurting her and still trying to I'll salt every inch of his fucking garden.

If we're talking about important main characters I'd say there were between 1-4 poc characters per season. If we're talking about lead characters it is more like one or two for the first two seasons, I don't remember any for season three and then you have 2 or 3 characters who have a point of view (as in scenes are shown we're they're the most important wrt the story) around season four. By season five we have possibly around 8 characters of colour who feature regularly-ish as very important people, 3 or 4 to date who have the most agency in a scene granted that around 5 people are part of a family unit. That would be my rough approximation of the cast that usually does include something like 20-30 important characters at one time with about 10 audience view characters at most times. I'm just doing this from memory so I'm likely wrong on more than some things. But that's an idea on the diversity and status of poc cast members. Dorne kind of feels like moorish spain to me. I've heard similar comments with the addition that fantasy Dorne has social values that don't reflect those locations.

Just finished The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me about what I get from video games; why I usually play them at least. Anyway I'm off to read a trashy warhammer novel (although the last one I read felt genuinely good) before jumping into The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss.

Yeah? That sucks. Still I'll check out the music

Just finished reading this article on how much Cowboy Bebop's soundtrack cemented and helped form the show. It's probably about time to revisit Bebop. I was wondering what soundtracks y'all thought were stellar.

Wait so we're talking about a movie that could have had as much fun with reality as Scott Pilgrim did; and then they made that? Harrumph.

I'm so glad there's more UMO.

Well with the fight you mention As to that fight from first season I rather liked it. Although seeing them square off properly definitely would have been a great fight. I think youth might have prevailed in that case though. More than an end to GoT I'd be keen to read about the mythical figures like the Sword of the Morning and the Smiling Knight. To go off tangent I can't explain why I like reading about larger than life prequel characters while feeling drawn to write stories with much more diminished 'present day' characters. With the Dorne thing, yeah I'll try to see it like that more. It still feels like an odd, mostly for the audience way of going about it. I'm keen to see more of Dorne since the characters there were some of my favourites in ADwD.

Thanks for the reply. When you talk about not having to share your opinion you mean that there's no reason to chip in unless you not only think you have something that adds to the discussion but is undoubtedly adding beneficial newness rather than confounding a discussion? I guess as an example I mean when a man would speak out from inexperience and contribute something new to them but ultimately very familiar to the group at large who likely in the man's viewpoint would 'politely' take the time to explain to the man the possibly derailing issue. But I guess the answer is muddied since not derailing would obviously be ideal, 'lurk more' might be the correct response; and that some people would be uncomfortable with the idea that in the feminist group people still end up explaining to men all the time; when ideally those men would inform themselves. Presence is an interesting idea since it links back to something I was going to ask about just what a safe space means. To run something like a feminist social club I would imagine there to already be an intersection between a safe® space and an open-interest group. But I'll tentatively posit that you mean safe® space in the sense that: as a safe® space a women's refuge would be very particular with the idea of employing a male staff member since the women there would likely be at their most vulnerable and men around them would exacerbate that. I suppose the more imperfect version of safe space I would imagine in an open interest, or completely safe space oriented social club is that the safe space is being created through facilitation of the conversation through multiple people with the mana to steer the discussion. So I guess the idea of an established male co-lead of a group being given mana to say what is and is not conducive would be cruelly ironic. Still I guess I'm interested in how someone in the position of the teen in the article could ethically co-lead despite it likely being oxymoronic. Anyway I'm still interested in people's views on this despite questions of mine being answered so please share. I'm just hungering for some discussion whether its having specific misunderstandings being clarified or listening to the broadcast. Speaking of broadcast I'm still very interested in being pointed to sources that aren't based on 140 character limits (I'm sorry I just really don't like twitter). I've been gaming a lot to podcasts lately so feminist think tanks would be very cool too.

I'm not sure how spoilery this is but all of the fight scenes in that episode struck me as too artificial. Also it was weird to have Keisha Castle Hughs' character introduction to be a character defining monologue given to close family members who likely all know her and are familiar with the events from decades ago.

It's BIG! It doesn't have two doors or anything but you can fit multiple, yes multiple 1kg bags of frozen vegetables along with Mum's requisite tub of ice-cream! But wait there's more; you can even store perishable plants and vegetables in their own square foot chiller. There's even space by about one foot by a half to store your milk products! But seriously to even have a fridge after having barely any food in the house and certainly no milk products larger than a half 1L carton for a month and a bit, any fridge is amazing. Adding to that is the fact that for the past 5 years I have mostly lived in either student halls or some of the dingiest crappy flats in the country and therefore never had access to a good fridge. The one time I did have access to a good fridge my partner and I shared a flat with five other people who all left food never to be used in a freezer or fridge to gather mould and take up space. For an entire year, if we were lucky we would have space to hold 1kg frozen veggies for use in a risotto made later that night. Ahhhh it's just. So, gooood to finally have a decent fridge.

I'm porting this over from the EiGJ thread largely to ask a probably misguided question and hopefully to have a good discussion come from it. I feel bad that this is largely a continuation of a derailment but I'm interested in what people who express at least one side of the above opinion on having a male co-leader in a mixed gender high school feminist social club. I posted a link to this story in the feminism thread but I didn't do a spectacularly great job in framing it and it may have been swallowed up amidst an interesting film club discussion. Yet still I think it's interesting that as the article puts it: The millennials, a social group largely regarded as politically apathetic are starting up social justice oriented groups focusing on feminism the label of a movement that has seen distancing even from people who share and agree with what it says on the tin yet don't actually want to be seen carrying that brand. To use some of the article's own words: Part of the resurgence can revolve around the increasing levels of visible public discussion, other parts revolve around the ease of access to feminist circles on the internet but as the article concludes it's largely to do with people already holding values that they then recognise as feminist. Anyway with that background out of the way; if one were to be in a position like a male co-lead of a feminist group whether by being the joint half in starting the club or a willingness to take up administrative roles how would one ethically behave in that role as a male? Or is the idea of a male facilitator of a feminist discussion whether it focuses on females or not to be disregarded on principle as it is cruelly ironic? I have a couple of followup questions in case the above is too inane. Firstly, through the miracle of the internet and wonderful prose that extends beyond a 140 character limit where and who would be good sources for cutting edge listening to happen? Secondly, when people qualify that white cis males are being singularly or rather symbolically incapable of holding authority within feminist discussions or even calling themselves feminist what actually defines someone as white? I suppose it's the perception that someone is white although in societies (sub concious racial bias still present) people of multiple ethnicities still grow up in contexts where they can end up holding the archetypical harmful male viewpoints and views borne of privilege that would or could bar them from speaking with authority. To be overly reductionist to simplify the last sentence: what would it be about the middle class maori cis male viewpoint that allows someone from that background to speak on feminist topics with mana (respect/authority -roughly translated). Furthermore what would stop someone from a quil(-)bag minority from sharing their observations, views within a feminist context. Is it that their essential maleness could prevent them from acknowledging or accessing insights that would progress the discussion? Or is it still mostly to do with the idea that given the history of males as oppressors someone who can naturally assume the privilege of the harmful system should not be speaking at the table for those that are naturally oppressed by the system to a historically far greater degree. Which I guess would feed back into anything I say about being a mixed race but culturally brought up largely to be Pakeha (of NZ European descent) while exhibiting mainly the visible Pakeha genetic traits therefore having a viewpoint veritably being indistinguishable from the more wrongfooted aspects of the white cis male viewpoint. Is the ideal method for the cis white male who wants to be involved in feminism to on principle not seek a voice in discussion but to subscribe and share the weekly newsletters? The last follow up question (I promise) is how does one communicate feminism via the conceptual newsletter without muddying and filtering the concepts through an innate male-ness? It's possible (probable ? ) that I've just asked a red-herring of a last question. But it's interesting to me to ask how does one communicate without filtering, adding, reiterating and possibly mansplaining a message outlined by someone who should rightly have authority without co-opting and impurifying the message? I'm aware through being repeatedly told that I am an imperfect being that I may have just written the biggest piece of ill thought out balonie that I never intended to create. But some thoughts would be nice. Thankyou and apologies for subjecting you to this possibly ill-fated thought train.

After almost two months of living fridge-less; we finally have one! Not only was it a free fridge, it's the best fridge I've ever been associated with in yerrrs.

Yes it is. No extra gfx packages either. I never got around to playing with ENBs.

I guess I haven't been properly zoned out yet but i tend to lane just fine with axe. I've played few games though.

Play around with the active talents. You'll find something like wards there too.

I was safe in the knowledge that I was skipping this years compendium but now I'm playing Dota 2 again and the games seem more fun (with this patch I guess). Now I'm still going book less but feel more weird about it. But at least I found the two hero playstyles I was born to play - off lane Axe and any lane Weaver.

Found this an interesting read. The Rise of HighSchool Feminism

I was thinking of the Bancroft book too while reading that. Not just the way he flouted her boundaries or how he built her up. I was reminded most of all by a point Bancroft made that abusive men frequently attach adjectives that describe their own behaviour to their victims. Also the whole idea that he was pushing her until she 'forced' him to come out with a ~10,000 word screed (new word!) that he'd been carefully building over months. I wouldn't be surprised if he coldly calculate situations where he could act or be seen to act under emotional duress so he could be seen as having an 'understandable reason' for being as vicious as he has been. I'm not sure if this next statement is too harebrained but. I think there are people who know how to manipulate themselves for an overarching goal and that he may be one of them. I haven't actually read many of the articles from or about that time. I read one or two Gamers are Dead articles and RPS' word on the events because that was the main site I went to but didn't have much contact with it all outside of a few occasions where friends of mine who read /v/ linked me articles and expected me to share in their outrage. They weren't very happy with my replies.

The community can be pretty toxic; sure you get people saying horrible shite or trolling using abilities. But I find the best part of the game is when you group with mates. I've been jamming this game with my partner and a friend. We're currently talking about getting another one or two people and forming a proper team

Oh dear. Anyone feel like ritually burning an effigy right now? Same. Queer friends too.

I think I know what you mean. I am a huge fan of that movie but even in its slow moments basically every part of it was hugely uncomfortable. I'd have to give huge props to the actors for that reason alone. The two lead actors echo Wendy Torrence from The Shining only they feel like that during almost the whole film rather than near the end when Jack's breakdown finally becomes too apparent to ignore. Every bit of that film feels like a more unrelenting riff off of Tim Burton's usual schtick. I think what impresses me most though is how seamlessly the transition goes

Late reply but yeah its probably the best album I've heard so far this year (not that I've looked too hard). I think part of what drew me in was the live instrumentation. I think I was primed to accept it. Its a very New Zealand thing to have live instrumentation in hip hop/R&B/dub/soul/reggae and to blend most of those genres into a fusion. I'd say that most of our bands that do this might not have rap at the forefront. But even the most electronic heavy dub bands frequently have killer live versions ready to drop at their gigs. But I guess that's also because especially for the older bands coming from the 80's and 90's + earlier the musos got their start playing in pubs. For example the band Kora started out as a church band that escalated into a covers band for pubs & learnt all the typical hits from Hendrix and others, went through a heavy reggae upbringing, discovered metal and then came out with a few solid fusion albums. Awesome! I think my enjoyment of separate tracks is starting to level out again. When I first heard it I really couldn't think of a favourite; I had to accept the album as a whole. But now I've heard it for a few dozen times I'm starting to single out songs like 'Alright' & just enjoy things like the callbacks to other songs. Alright in particular is fun with the recap of the Wesley's Theory verse where Uncle Sam ends up being an analogue for Lucifer. I think one of the special things about this album for me is that it has me thinking in terms of economic disparity and racial separation. The former is something I still confront very often in my life But I don't think of the latter as much despite living in a highly multicultural society. I suppose that's because overwhelmingly most of the people I encounter are middle class and even though economically I'm probably at the lower end of the middle 'middle' I tend to associate with people who are firmly middle class & cultural differences are slightly more muted in the demographics I hang in. (I'm not terribly sure if this makes sense but again at least I'm starting to think about these things again.) Cultural Identity is a really cool issue for me to think about because it's something I've been confronted with over the past few years. Even if its just a generational cultural clash it would be interesting. But I've recently learned that I'm something like 1/16th Maori although through genetic quirks it's not too obvious (fun fact there are basically no pureblood Maori remaining). I'm not even very educated on where my ancestors are from; Maori society is heavily divided into regional groups of hapu (subclans), tribes, and iwi (groups of tribes) and when people identify as Maori its pretty much a given that they know down to the Hapu where their people are from. But as someone raised largely through my mother's WASP background I've never really questioned or formed much of an identity beyond NZ European. Edit: hah I've just realised that I just explained all that cultural breakdown to a fellow Kiwi. OT: Currently listening to Kiwi reggae vibes.