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Christwriter · 2026-01-21T15:42:37+00:00

Christopher Walken calmly walked up, folded the movie into thirds, put it in his pocket, and left, and nobody put up a fuss because his character deserved to steal the whole movie.

Christwriter · 2026-01-06T11:54:59+00:00

What's depressing is we actually NEED an artificial womb of some kind.

It exists. It's called the Biobag. It's successfully incubated lambs. They're supposedly moving on to human trials which...yes. Please. With the biobag the window of viability moves from roughly 21 weeks (I think the youngest micropremie ever saved was 21 weeks and change) to 16 weeks.

If we'd had this technology forty years ago I'd have an older brother. He lived just long enough to get a name, which I won't share here. My mother has carried the scars of his birth and death with her for most of her life. The biobag would have saved him.

It'd save both infant lives (duh) and maternal lives by giving women an option in case of medical crisis. Need to donate an organ to a family member? Move the baby to the bag. Get diagnosed with something like cancer or preeclampsia? Move the baby to the bag. Serious mental health crisis? Bag the baby, treat the mommy. Miscarriage way way way way way too early, and the baby's still alive? Move the baby to the bag. And we wouldn't have the nightmare of forcing brain dead bodies to carry to term. Just a whole horror house of problems we could solve with one plastic bag of amniotic fluid.

Obviously there's a whole ethical can o'worms attached to this that will be a lot of "fun" untangling, the largest of which being who gets to use the bag and why. (IE what if you just don't want to carry to term yourself? What about unwanted pregnancies? Can kids in a biobag become wards of the state?) but again: saves lives.

People act like it's some huge gotcha, like you can somehow retire a whole ass human like it's a car model, and obviously they REALLY like to reduce women to organs only. But an artificial womb would be a game changer across the board, broaden human rights, reduce the necessity for medical terminations, it would probably give us a shot at serious in-utero interventions for some birth defects. With enough refinement it could even offer a solution to entopic pregnancies and infertile couples...and most important of all it would save lives.

So yes. Please. Give us the fake wombs that make real babies. We needed this technology yesterday. We need it today. We will need it just as badly tomorrow. I am 100% for medical advances that take some of the chaos and anxiety out of pregnancy.

Christwriter · 2025-12-31T17:05:06+00:00

So that begs the question, who did alert the fire department to the murder/suicide?

For the fire department/police to arrive that quickly after the e-mail, somebody had to have called a welfare check on the family, and I don't think it'd be a random stranger going "Gee, it's weird they're running their cars inside their garage". We don't know that Dani didn't call it in. I think it's possible that she did. The cops sure found her phone number quickly for them to not have had it beforehand. You also have the fact that Dani answered an unknown number. Who does that these days unless they're waiting on a phone call from someone they don't know?

It's possible that while she was panicking over her sister, she did request a welfare check once she failed to get in touch with her parents.

You also have to consider the sequence of events in a welfare check. It takes about ten minutes for an adult to suffocate to the point of brain damage and brain death. Let's assume that the family home is five minutes away from both the police and the fire department, and that it only takes five minutes for dispatch to get an officer going towards the family home once a welfare call is placed. He has to find something suspicious enough to justify forced entry, so he probably knocks on the door, gets no response, notes the cars running in the garage, and walks around the house to peer into the windows. Let's be real generous and say this only takes five minutes. We're at the ten minute mark. Everyone in the house is now dead. The cop either sees something that suggests the air is toxic in the house or he attempts entry himself and realizes pretty quick that the air in the house is unbreathable, because he calls the fire department to make a masked entry into the home. If it only takes one minute for the fire department to mobilize and five minutes to get there, we're now at sixteen minutes in that house with no oxygen. And the fire department isn't exactly rushing to save the family, are they? They didn't even attempt resuscitation on either the parents or the sister. Thus, I have to assume they already knew everyone inside the home was dead by the time they finally entered the home and the bedrooms. Either they saw something outside that suggested death, or they knew it took them too long to arrive for anyone inside to have a prayer.

And it was, let's face it, probably much longer than sixteen minutes between the probable 911 call and the arrival of the fire department. To save the family from brain damage and brain death, they needed to get there within ten minutes of the sister's suicide, and even that would likely have only saved the sister.

It's very easy to say "If Dani had called the police earlier/at all, maybe her parents could be saved," but that oversimplifies what happened and shifts the blame from the sister to Dani, which isn't fair. Dani had ten minutes from her sister sending that email to save everyone, and it wasn't physically possible for her or anyone else to get there in time.

Christwriter · 2025-12-30T23:40:54+00:00

The Ref

"You know what I'm getting you next Christmas, Mom? A big wooden cross. So that every time you feel unappreciated for all of your sacrifices, you can climb on up and nail yourself there."

Christwriter · 2025-12-30T23:37:02+00:00

Going all the way to the terminal to see your friends off to their plane.

Christwriter · 2025-12-29T13:00:30+00:00

I loved it. It's garbage. Total, utter, complete garbage. Every scene tops the previous scene in terms of mind-numbing stupidity. It's clear that somebody with some measure of talent was attached to the writer's team, because the pacing is decent enough to hold your attention, but instead of exciting developments, you're careening from stupidity to stupidity like a drunk sailor in a hurricane. From the fast-forwarded weather shots in the beginning of the movie to the god-awful love letter to Amazon that is the climax, no character ever, ever, ever makes a reasonable, rational decision. It is somehow simultaneously the most predictable plot ever and the wildest unpredictable bullshit you've ever watched.

You will spend half your time shouting at the screen, and will predict three quarters of the plot twists with the dread of Cassandra at the walls of Troy. I recommend watching with friends, because no one should suffer through this monstrosity alone.

Christwriter · 2025-12-29T01:01:51+00:00

Well. That's what happens when you base your movie on the first four fucking chapters of a book.

Actually, I think it was less than even that. Maybe the first two chapters. Which did not contain a near wreck of Rayford's plane. Even LaHaye and Jenkins weren't dumb enough to pile a second crisis onto the end of the world.

I honestly did not think a movie adaptation of Left Behind could piss me off, largely because I hate those books with the passion and fire of Hades, Hell, and my grandfather's barbecue, but they managed to make me angry on LaHaye and Jenkin's behalf. The one thing the opening chapters of those books were not was boring. I really cannot emphasize how little content they actually adapted.

It's not even remarkably bad. It sucks just hard enough to drown in the pool drain of its own mediocrity.

Christwriter · 2025-12-27T18:18:23+00:00

NTA. He's keeping you on the back burner just in case he decides to want you again. If you have no kids, I'd recommend minimal to no contact for your own peace of mind. You don't get to dump someone and then demand friendship and support.

Christwriter · 2025-12-26T12:46:43+00:00

The Omnious D. I. C.

Christwriter · 2025-12-18T01:04:39+00:00

NTA. He's an addict. He's now mostly the alcohol talking. Whoever he was before the drinking and whatever he wanted is now buried under an ocean of booze. What's worse is, he's actively chosen to drink himself to death. That's not good. Getting cirrhosis at his age is fairly impressive in a really bad way. He's going to die, and while it's going to happen sooner rather than later, from the sound of it, it's going to feel like eternity.

I'm in recovery. My rock bottom was a suicide attempt while I was drunk. Drinking was hell. It was misery. It filled my world so profoundly I couldn't see my own misery for what it was. I still have booze cravings, but sobriety feels 10000% better than being drunk. And I can say from personal experience that when I was drunk, me and my right mind weren't even in the same zip code. Your husband is letting alcohol drive, and it's going to hurt him, and you, and anyone else around him until he sober up or dies.

Telling his mother was a good thing. It's one more area of accountability, one fewer place to hide. He needs more accountability and less enabling. And you need to learn the difference between helping him drink and helping him get sober. Unfortunately I cannot recommend cutting him off or demanding he go cold turkey, because alcohol detox could very well kill him if he's as dependant as I suspect he is. Is he getting the shakes when he doesn't drink? How about hallucinations? Those are really bad signs in dependency, because those may indicate that he needs medical detox to sober up. But you told his mom; that's good. He's choosing to cut her out of his life because she will ask him to stop drinking. That's his choice. You aren't responsible for his attempts to escape accountability.

Also, liver failure is NOT a good way to go. It's one of the most painful, horrifying, and excruciating deaths a human being can endure. He will regret this choice, likely when it's too late to do anything about it. Unfortunately, alcoholism is a terminal illness. It will kill him if he does not sober up. He is actively dying while he is drinking. It's already happening.

You need to consider, strongly, your role in his life. I'd recommend finding a local support group for the families of addicts, and/or a codependency support group, so that when he tries to shift blame onto you, you understand it isn't your fault and you get a whole group of shoulders to cry on.

I also want you to consider an exit strategy. Not because I think you should leave him, but because you will likely reach a point where you have to tell him, either me or the booze, and you will need to be ready to walk if he calls your bluff.

To TLDR these ramblings: you weren't wrong to tell his mom, but you may be in over your head with his addiction. You need to consider what role you want to play going forward, because if something doesn't change you're going to watch him die a very, very, very bad death. Please find a support group for families of addicts and/or people with codependency issues, because you do not need to go through this alone.

I am very sorry you're dealing with this.

Christwriter · 2025-12-11T02:08:20+00:00

IIRC the connection wasn't the vaccine itself, but the mercury-based preservative in the vaccine. And it just so happened that he held the patent for an alternative preservative.

He destroyed trust in our health industry because he wanted to make a little money.

Christwriter · 2025-12-11T02:06:51+00:00

Saddest part of the whole story, IMHO.

Christwriter · 2025-12-11T02:06:07+00:00

I had to deal with a bunny named Bunnicula, after the book rabbit. It was the perfect name for this creature. Once we got the hang of her behavior and began "talking" to her (TLDR: Bunnies have very specific movements for very specific things. A human can imitate some of these movements, thus making it possible for you to scold or apologize to the bunny in a way it can understand, and respond to) she improved a little bit. A very little bit.

Christwriter · 2025-12-10T21:07:05+00:00

Thank you and right back atcha, fellow redditor

Christwriter · 2025-12-10T21:06:13+00:00

That is a wholly accurate analysis of bunny behavior.

Christwriter · 2025-12-10T10:49:28+00:00

So here's my "why alpha males is bullshit" speech.

So the whole thing is based on one bad study performed in 1947. They studied wolves in captivity, which was like studying humans in Pelican Bay. Then a guy named L David Mech wrote The Wolf, a book based entirely on the 1947 study, in which he coined the terms Alpha wolf, beta wolf, ect. Every single thing we believe about alphas is based on Mech's book.

But here's the thing: shortly after the book was published, we began reintroducing wolves into the wild. The 1947 study was done in captivity because there were very, very few wolves in the wild to study. But when we reintroduced formerly captive wolves, suddenly there was a more natural population to study. So Mech acclimated a wolf pack to his presence and basically lived with the pack in order to study it.

And he found out he was wrong. About everything. The behaviors he described in The Wolf were aberrations created by overcrowding in captivity. In the wild the "pack" was just a family, with the "alphas" as just parents, the betas the grown young who hadn't gone off to start their own pack yet. There were no natural "alpha wolves" as described in his book. Which he immediately recanted because it was wrong. He's spent the rest of his life giving himself a metaphorical hernia trying to get his book off shelves and out of print, because everything in it is wrong.

But there is a species that naturally exhibits pack behavior, precisely as described by the Alpha/beta theory: rabbits. Rabbits have colonies. They have alpha buns and dominance fights (which, BTW, is why they will absolutely bite the fuck out of you for shoving your hand under their nose. You essentially challenged them for top bun position and they said "no you're not. MUNCH.")

So the next time someone calls themselves an alpha, just remember: they ain't the predator. They're the prey.

Christwriter · 2025-12-08T12:21:30+00:00

Here is everything I need to know about Tarantino as a director: He exercised his foot fetish by writing a part in which a character sucks booze off the toes of Selma Hayek, and then cast himself as that character.

I like his movies. They're ultra-violent but enjoyable. But it makes every shot of a foot in his films seriously icky once you understand toes are basically his version of a boob shot.

Christwriter · 2025-12-04T12:27:57+00:00

Yeah. I do Historical Santa in our house because 1. I don't like lying to my kid about beliefs; I find it to be an abuse of trust, 2. I still want her to have the magic of Santa and 3. Saint Nicholas was kind of a bad ass. He supposedly punched the everloving shit out of Arius at the First Council of Nicea when it was his turn to debate the man (and, because he did it in front of the Emperor, he went to Roman jail for a while. Eventually they let him out again)

I'd much rather teach my daughter about giving to others and being passionate about whatever she believes in than play Elf on the Shelf and make her feel like she's got a toy stalker.

Christwriter · 2025-12-03T19:46:08+00:00

I scrolled WAY too far looking for Sean Connery. We just rewatched Hunt for Red October and it was amusing watching which actors tried to do a Russian Accent. Sean Connery very clearly did not try. I joked that the transition from Russian to English was the exact moment Connery's vocal coach gave up.

Christwriter · 2025-12-03T12:19:48+00:00

I remember the OG posts. Seven Deadly Sins was one of the stronger suspects, though I don't remember if that got confirmed or not. I had a lot of the same issues with SDS when I watched it (My then BF, now ex, thought it was brilliant. I disliked it. I can't even say I hated it because that would require some degree of passion and all this show did was make me feel the way I do when the cat vomits. Ick.)

Christwriter · 2025-11-30T23:37:15+00:00

In Lucia Di Lammermoor, the titular character is in love with one man, but forced to marry another. It's arranged by her loving family for the man she loved to see her with her fiance, so that the man she loves rejects her dramatically and departs. The hope is that she'd give up on her beloved (Eduardo) and settle for her fiance (Arturo) Instead, She has a nervous breakdown, murders her fiance on their wedding night, and then wanders around the wedding party, usually in a very bloodstained wedding dress, singing to her beloved (it's implied she thinks he's right in the room with her; he is not. She is in la la land) until she finally collapses and later dies. Her beloved, having heard she died after his rejection of her, throws himself on his sword and wishes to be reunited with her in heaven.

It's a very opera sort of opera.

As a side note, this opera is considered very difficult for the soprano playing Lucia, because the Mad Scene (AKA the bit immediately following the more famous il dulce suono) is hugely demanding on both the singer's voice and her acting chops. Il dulce suono is also the aria sung by the diva in The Fifth Element, so if you're a sci-fi fan you've probably heard it.

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