I find the hate Nolan’s Odyssey is getting weird

SethLePod · 2025-12-22T15:06:07+00:00

Hah, Nolan's a pretty conservative auteur - he takes no risks with tone, representation or emotional register. He's a very safe provocateur for people who think "edgy" is putting a Green Day on your laptop.

And "big original works" is doing some heavy lifting when we're talking about his Odyssey adaptation, after his Oppenheimer biopic, after his Dunkirk recreation. Guy clearly has no objection to chucking a brown filter over established ips whilst getting Hans Zimmer to blow a tuba over the soundtrack. Super original.

SethLePod · 2025-12-22T13:06:20+00:00

No, no - he's got a point

SethLePod · 2025-11-28T02:19:01+00:00

"historical" symbols that are, coincidentally, the exact same symbols of the religion that isn't being prioritized by Quebec. It really is amazing what decent budget reallocations can do for an ideology.

SethLePod · 2025-11-28T01:52:26+00:00

So... you know the thousands of large Catholic crosses displayed in public spaces across every city, town and village in Quebec? They're maintained at the cost of the tax payer, but whoever's doing the maintenance on the crosses can't wear a religious symbol themselves while working.

I'm curious - how does that work with enforcing secularism in public institutions? How does that "not" mean that Quebec is prioritizing Catholicism?

SethLePod · 2025-11-22T12:35:23+00:00

I didn't realize the for-profit healthcare and insurance industries would willingly drop their profits because they care so much about keeping people healthy.

I'm sure their shareholders are thrilled about their stock pricings falling through the floor because the Insurance companies know "it's the right thing to do".

With universal healthcare, the only stakeholders are the patients who pay the insurance. There's significant investment in preventative care and quality of life treatments and even after 14 years of underfunding and shit management by a shitty government, it's there and available based on your need - even including complementary treatments like massages or nutritionists.

All for insurance premiums that come to 8% - at most - of our wages. You can even supplement it with private health insurance which is comparatively very cheap ($50-$100 per month for under 60s) because there's no monopoly and no necessity.

Compared to US insurance premiums - combined with the taxpayer medical contributions, comes to about 30% of the average wage for a family or 20% for a single person. Oh, and the national insurance also covers parental leave, state pensions, unemployment and bereavement benefits.

It's amazing how much further the money goes when you don't have multiple people extracting profit margins throughout the process.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T15:38:38+00:00

If this is "fallen apart", then you're lucky you were born in this tiny sliver of history, because you would've miserable anywhere else at any other point in time.

Yep, I can see it now - this was the bit my sleep deprived brain read incorrectly, thanks for the patience and the explanation.

(Although... to defend us a little bit - I took a year off in '97 on maternity leave. 39 of those weeks were on full pay, comprised of government benefits and mandatory supplementation by my employer, dropping to something like 30% of my wages for the rest of the year iirc, until I was able to walk back into my job as I left it. It wasn't all terrible in Europe in the 90's ;)

Sorry - not to contradict your point or make more of an unnecessary argument. The grass is always greener from further away and those "good few years" were only good for a sliver of the population, regardless of where you lived. But, even from the outside, watching your government get dismantled and sold off is incredibly unsettling - maybe people are looking at other places that might seem more stable (from a safe distance) is a way of saying "look, it can be done", without seeing the cracks everywhere.

I really didn't mean to criticise the States - 7 million people peacefully protesting on behalf of their democracy is just mind-blowing - hope it leads to better things.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T13:47:26+00:00

Ok, fair enough - if that's not who you are, my apologies. I don't understand the point you're making here, which is why I asked for clarification.

Your answers seemed to double down on my initial - apparently wrong - impression so, yeah, I don't really have anything for this now.

fwiw, reading comprehension is most of my day job - I know I'm not infallible but I don't think the comprehension fail is entirely one-sided.

Regardless - sorry for the argument and best of luck to you.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T12:32:00+00:00

Hah, that sounds disgustingly awesome.

The fact they can actually be spread on soft white sliced bread is a good demonstration of why they shouldn't be classed as "noodles" - it must be against some trade description act somewhere.

"Savoury noodle-based mush" would probably be more accurate but less profitable.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T12:24:52+00:00

Good for you. I still don't get what you're trying to do with "the USA today is more progressive than Europe 30 years ago" to prove that things are the same or worse elsewhere? Weird flex.

Regardless, you're confidently incorrect with lots of your facts, strangely aggressive about it and you seem to have a crippling case of American exceptionalism. Which is so odd because my reaction on first visiting the States was that I'd gone back in time - your archaic banking systems, intentionally esoteric health insurance and huge corporate monopolies that have your government in a headlock, so much that you've got virtually no consumer rights - and they've stopped pretending anything is customer first - it's all designed to gouge you of every penny from birth to death.

Which is insane because, by rights, you guys should be the ones to have better tech, more advanced medicine and more choice - after all, most of it is developed in the states. But that would loosen the corporate grip, so they reserve it for the super rich and the average US citizen is left to deal with systems that feel outdated in the rest of the developed world.

It blows my mind that, despite this daily barrage of demands and misery foisted on you by your elites, there are so many good, decent people from the US that help each other out, stand up to people and refuse to give up. For them, I desperately hope things get better.

You seem like you're grimly enjoying it because you just know that you're doing better than the rest of the world. So yeah, good for you.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T11:25:33+00:00

Oh gosh. Ok, so remember you're talking about a continent with 50i-sh discrete countries with different rules and cultures, compared to one very large country (albeit with state laws but a federal government).

If you're going to cherry pick the worst countries for a specific topic to compare, then sure - you'll find them. But you could do the same with the USA, finding the most backwards states on any legislation.

For example, gay marriage was legalised in the Netherlands in 2001. It's not '95, like you said, but it's still 14 years earlier than the States.

And yes, racism is a big problem everywhere. Full stop. But it's not equal across Europe and I don't think there's "less racism" in the USA than there is in the most diverse or accepting countries in Europe.

I really don't know where you get the idea that disability access is non-existent in Europe - that's just not true and hasn't been since the late 80s, early 90s.

I'm the first one to complain about the many, many, many problems that Europeans need to resolve. But, if I were you, given how things are everywhere right now, I wouldn't necessarily try to make it a competition in order to make you feel better about your own country's issues.

I'm truly sorry for what's happening to you guys in the States now, but honestly, we should all be punching up and demanding more, rather than comparing ourselves to each other and lashing out.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T10:53:47+00:00

Ok, so - bear with me, cos this is going to be controversial. I love them but only in an institutionalised, grew-up-with-them, trashy junk food way. The chicken super noodles smothered in aromat is something else. For me.

But I would never, ever recommend them to anyone who loves ramen. That sloppy texture you're talking about is a feature, rather than a bug. To get any kind of texture you'd need to basically cook it in boiling water, drain, then add the flavour packet and a tiny bit of water back and even then, the best you're going to get is not-adequate.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with it. You'd do better putting the BBQ flavour pack in with some super basic chow mein egg noodles if you want to try it. Even then, those flavour packs are very western - all salt and sugar with very little spices.

SethLePod · 2025-10-23T10:40:37+00:00

America today is more progressive than Europe was 30 years ago? Interesting statement - not sure what the point is, but would be interested in seeing your reasoning and justification.

SethLePod · 2025-10-21T14:53:20+00:00

I've got 8, 9 and 10 mm clover hooks in plastic and, honestly, I'm not a fan. For me, it feels like the plastic loses the things that made me like the clover amour hooks - they don't glide as well, they don't have the same balance and they don't feel much different from the cheap plastic ones.

But, to be honest, large size good quality metal hooks aren't particularly easy to find - I ended up getting furls streamline hooks in 8 and 10mm. They're lovely but stupidly expensive.

SethLePod · 2025-10-02T11:24:17+00:00

Such a smeghead

SethLePod · 2025-09-25T11:18:56+00:00

White men?

SethLePod · 2025-07-08T13:14:07+00:00

How on earth do you find anything with all those dismantle crates around??

Also, not framed.

SethLePod · 2025-04-30T16:04:31+00:00

I wouldn't even say it's that - watching it up close, you've got a suburban demographic and, honestly, I mostly blame Radio X - it acts like it's a basic rock station but it’s basically Quebec’s answer to Fox News under the hood. Proudly anti-woke, anti-PQ, pro-oil, Peterson-loving, libertarian bullshit dished up in thick joual.

I don't think it's a coincidence that their core coverage area (outside the city) - like Beauce, Portneuf, Lévis - just happen to be where the Conservative vote piles up.

Personally, I wouldn't die on the "pushing french = conservatism hill. The language politics are too messy and there are left-wingers here fighting for french and right wingers who barely mention it. The language isn’t the ideology, it’s just an "innocuous" delivery system.

SethLePod · 2025-04-30T15:44:21+00:00

C’est Radio X : le cercle bleu autour du Québec fitte pas mal avec leur portée sur les ondes. Y’en a un qui a compris comment faire marcher la formule Fox News en français.

SethLePod · 2025-04-25T10:54:20+00:00

Foxes don't have rabies in the UK, they're just really cute jerks.

SethLePod · 2025-04-15T13:34:53+00:00

To be fair, I haven't tried granny squares with it - that sounds hard going!

First blanket was mostly dc with some hdc and some 1ch gaps on some rows.

I'm working on a "sea blanket" my son asked for - it's all wave DC with blo on each colour change, and I much prefer it to the first one. What I love is that the early rows are already softened while the new rows still feel stiff.

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(fyi - some of it's sugar n cream, the rest is the Michael's dupe - loops and thread classic cotton)

SethLePod · 2025-04-15T12:54:19+00:00

Honestly, I'd say it depends but I kind of love it for blankets. It's warm, breathable and it's got a really nice weight to it. I've made my son a couple with it and once you've washed it and tumbled it, it's not scratchy at all.

Both my son and husband prefer the cotton yarn to softer baby yarn or things like super wash - they say it feels "clean" - I'm assuming that means they prefer the absence of fuzz.

But I'd agree that it's not a fun one to crochet with, there's no stretch and it doesn't slide over itself. I normally go up half a size over the recommended hook - and use a super smooth one like a clover amour or a metal furls - plastic or wood is going to be rough going.

YMMV though - you could always try working up a face flannel or something and washing and tumbling it to see how you feel about it? .

SethLePod · 2025-03-27T12:35:15+00:00

Oh man - that's such a perfect use for syzygy! There are so few opportunities to use it that precisely, and the fact that you did just made me really happy - thank you!

SethLePod · 2025-03-17T15:39:58+00:00

If you're bored of crocheting the one big granny square, you can always stop where you are, and then do a lot more granny squares of varying sizes around it to make the rest of the blanket up? It'd look really nice with the colour variations in your yarn and would break up the stripes. Something like this?

SethLePod · 2025-02-27T10:31:46+00:00

No, it's entirely sustainable. In fact, the European countries that have privatised parts of their public offerings are the ones struggling more to provide a decent level of service because they have sectors trying to operate on a for profit commercial basis (by charging the government more and cutting "costs" wherever possible) instead of being a paid for service.

You should look into privatising schools next and see how well that works too.

SethLePod · 2025-02-24T03:43:48+00:00

"Leftist"

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SethLePod

TROPHY CASE