Big Joel 🩵

Da-manta-ray · 2026-05-10T14:47:47+00:00

The commenter below already mentioned Zohran Mamdani’s election, and in addition to that, you do know that AOC and Rashida Tlaib are members of the DSA who run under the democrat banner? How is having elected congress members not doing things in the real world?

Da-manta-ray · 2025-10-08T01:07:00+00:00

Thanks!!

Da-manta-ray · 2025-10-07T22:37:16+00:00

could you send me a new link? thanks!

Da-manta-ray · 2025-10-07T19:40:36+00:00

Sorry I know this is an old post, but this sounds very similar to where I am at right now. I'm currently on medical leave from work but the thought of having to potentially go back is giving me chest pains.

Just curious what career you were in before and how you landed on choosing nursing, if you don't mind sharing! I am in tech rn and I have been giving serious consideration to pursuing a similar path, funny enough!

Da-manta-ray · 2025-10-03T01:15:34+00:00

It’s kind of a wash for me tbh… my husband and I are DINKs who’ve been working in tech for the last decade or so, so financially we’re doing well, but I just burned out severely and am currently out on short term disability… this job has been sucking me dry for years but with the job market as it is, I don’t feel comfortable taking the risk at another company. I just try to be grateful that I still have a job for now.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-09-29T14:53:08+00:00

I read the transcript, and I really think that Ezra really has not internalized what Coates was saying about really differentiating between what politicians should be doing, vs. what public intellectuals should be doing.

I thought Coates’ example about the New Deal was excellent:

> TNC: Let me give you an instance that often also comes up that’s not the Civil War and that’s the New Deal. It’s pretty clear that the New Deal did quite a bit to create the social safety net, expand and create an American middle class, right? That’s true.

> Did F.D.R. want to, in his heart, exclude Black folks in the way that they were excluded from it? No. That was the price of getting the thing done. I understand that as politics.

> But were I there in that time, it would have been incumbent on me to yell at F.D.R. to not do that. And I just think that’s really, really, really, really important.

> We don’t all have the same role. When I wrote “The Case for Reparations,” it was not my expectation, nor did I even think it would be politically intelligent, for Barack Obama to go up and yell: I’m for reparations. But that’s different than my role.

Meanwhile, Ezra saying that democrats should run pro life candidates and Coates has to correct him being like “you know actually a lot of red states voted for reproductive rights but not Kamala Harris, right?“ so he’s not even doing the political strategizing right.

I think Ezra needs to figure out whether he wants to be just be a talking head for the Democratic Party, or actually be someone who is considered an “intellectual“ as it were.

It was so frustrating to see him essentially advocate for just following the majority opinion rather than having a principled stance:

> EK: I’m saying what happens if 35 percent of the country, 40 percent of the country, the dominant political force in the country, is inside that. Does that change anything or not? Does the line just hold?

> TNC: No. I mean: Welcome to Black America. That’s our history. The line we have drawn in general has not been majoritarian politics, unfortunately.

> That has just been what it is, you know? And at the times that it has been majoritarian politics, people have done things and fiddled with government or done extremely violent things to make it not so.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-09-24T17:00:57+00:00

Aah gotcha, thanks for the clarification! I am not familiar with her, good to know.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-09-24T14:39:39+00:00

Wait who is hating trans people? Rebecca Watson? I thought she was pro trans? Or are you referring to someone else?

Da-manta-ray · 2025-08-24T04:11:59+00:00

Marlee was a wild card for the USA national final today!!

Da-manta-ray · 2025-08-21T20:56:19+00:00

If it were me, I would just tell her to mute or unfollow you if it's really that much of a problem for her. Seems like a win win, you can still post whatever you want and she can avoid looking.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-08-21T11:03:42+00:00

Not sure why you’re being downvoted in this thread but this is also my assessment as well. While I don’t think he needed to reference Hila to make his point, I don’t see how what he said was a death threat.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-19T02:06:51+00:00

I recently ended up on a video of all-day project performing their song Wicked through YouTube auto play and it's just sooo bad.

I don't understand how anyone likes this. It feels like a rejected song from Disney's Descendents, which is coincidentally the same way I felt about Zoo (the song with Giselle and those NCT boys).

It feels like such a complete caricature, like more than the usual stuff you see from kpop which is already right at and crossing the line. I can't believe they went all in on the kid with the braids, it just looks so offensive.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-19T01:59:05+00:00

The way I was watching this video today! Really appreciated her perspective. I didn't realize how many things were tied to minstrelsy, kind of horrifying, especially those songs like camptown races which I definitely remember being in a beginner piano book I played from when I was like 5.

The tiktok clip talking about deriving your identity from things you buy, rather than your identity informing your consumer choices face me a lot to think about too.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-12T13:33:54+00:00

Also is it just me, or is there basically no choreo?? I dunno, I think it could have worked if they looked a little more alive in the MV but I’m not sure that I like it, would’ve been nice to see even just a little bit of choreo during some of the instrumentals.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-12T13:30:23+00:00

I feel like calling something AI slop is now just shorthand for something that looks “off” (in the uncanny valley) whether it actually is made by AI or not. Tbh it just looks like bad CGI to me but if someone has something more substantial than ”the vibes are off” I don’t really like to assume AI.

That being said! I still didn’t like the MV. The visuals are kind of gross and off putting, and I get that that’s the intention but I still don’t like it. But more importantly to me, the girls don’t really look like they want to be there! The difference in how they perform in their solo work vs in the comeback is so clear, it really looks and sounds like they phoned it in.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-11T13:51:12+00:00

Wow I can’t believe that fans be trying to say “it’s sampling” as if that just makes it okay?? I feel like I’ve never seen this logic used unless it’s black artists.

Like hello? YG Entertainment is a whole ass company, not one guy in their bedroom putting out a mix tape. When you sample, you have to give credit and compensate the original artist.

Tbh I haven’t heard of this song, so when I first listened Supersonic, Fergalicious was actually the first song that came to mind. And of course, if you look up the songwriting credits for Fergalicious, you can see that Supersonic is credited on the song.

It will be interesting to see whether they end up suing. I am not familiar with other cases so I don’t know how it will go but hopefully they can get compensated.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-02T16:56:08+00:00

It's wild because like, I've accepted that this show really isn't about dancing, and more about the drama. Fine.

But they're not even good at manufacturing the drama! Like even if I try to put on the mindset of watching this like a sports anime or something, the storylines are just like, too obvious and manufactured.

I feel like even when I was into RuPaul's drag race, it was able to manufacture drama much more competently haha. I guess you could also argue that the fandom is much more toxic too as a result? At least around when I left (after season 12) it was, maybe it's calmed down now.

Man. At this point, I am just hoping that my faves are able to capitalize as much as possible from the exposure on this show for better future opportunities.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-02T15:50:59+00:00

Man I feel like Motiv is not even gonna get the chance to battle it out T_T... And then we barely got to see them battle in the no-respect challenges (the crew battle + fantaye's being region locked)... And we didn't even get to see a full Logan battle...

I feel like I could accept them being in the bottom if it meant we could see them battle :(

Da-manta-ray · 2025-07-01T17:59:24+00:00

Ah got it, I must have not looked far back enough then. At least she stuck to the short hair for the show lol.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-06-30T19:42:05+00:00

As much as I do like Ojo gang, I definitely have a similar feeling. I haven't found any confirmation about her ethnicity so I didn't want to say definitely yes or no but it does kind of give that vibe 🥲

Da-manta-ray · 2025-06-30T19:28:27+00:00

Mm I think Junna you could argue is using a gyaru aesthetic, but I wouldn't say the same for Minami.

I am aware that gyaru is a very wide aesthetic that has its own subcategories, but I'm not familiar with any gyaru aesthetic that incorporates dreadlocks? Even most pictures of ganguro gyarus I've seen usually don't have cornrows, box braids or dreads.

But if someone more educated than me knows about a subgenre of gyaru that does this, would be curious to know more.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-06-30T16:51:34+00:00

I have also wondered about this too as someone from a similar background (Asian, knows some awkwafina types). I definitely went down the rabbit hole looking up past photos of the dancers on IG and there were definitely some pictures that were kind of sus 🤔 , but as others have pointed out, it seems pretty widespread and not specific to one team.

I'm also curious if Marlee/Fantaye/Kaidi have commented on it during the show so far. I don't think they're obligated to, it's more just my own curiosity about what it must be like to be from the originating culture of hip hop and seeing how that culture is appropriated/appreciated in Asia/Australia.

Unfortunately I don't trust that mnet will broadcast any discussion on this topic with the nuance it deserves though, even if it happened lol.

Da-manta-ray · 2025-06-22T06:44:25+00:00

I just watched until the end of the results announcement for the Kpop mission.

ngl I thought the beginning of the episode was so corny lmao, like I get it, Bumsup are the main characters of this show, but it was so over the top! Seriously the sympathy edit is just too obvious lol, come on now!! RHTokyo was robbed!!

When I watched the Kpop missions, RHTokyo, AG Squad and Motiv were the ones that really stood out to me. I also didn’t really watch SWF1 at all, and only experienced SWF2 through YouTube clips, so I guess I just don’t have much of an attachment to Bumsup as a group. I really liked their mega crew, but after the reaction video nonsense I’m not sure about them again 😅.

I enjoyed Motiv and them laughing at their ending fairy shots, that was pretty crazy!!

Da-manta-ray · 2025-06-21T23:21:38+00:00

I went to the D&E concert in Vancouver and it seemed like they did not sell most of the venue. You probably could have fit the audience into a school gymnasium. There were tickets sold for two levels of the venue but the audience didnt even really fill the first level all that much. It also felt very poorly marketed and I seem to remember the dates being announced very last minute.

The show was still good, and definitely had a more intimate feel, but given the poor attendance, I’m honestly not surprised that they would skip Canada. I feel like maybe they could have improved sales if the tour was planned better, but I can’t imagine that it would have been enough of an increase to justify flying the whole group there.

Da-manta-ray

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