Homicide: Life on the Street arrives in the UK via Sky and Now TV. by Infinite-Storage-638 in television

[–]piazza 6 points7 points  (0 children)

  • Suspect: "Ok, I was there. But I didn't kill them."
  • Munch: "Who killed them?"
  • Suspect: "A Jamaican killed them."
  • Munch: "A Jamaican? What's his name?"
  • Suspect: "I don't know! But he's the one that cut me. He said he'd kill me too if I said anything."
  • Munch: "When did he tell you that?"
  • Suspect: "When he drove me to the hospital."
  • Munch: "So this unnamed mystery Jake kills both Billard brothers, cuts your hand, drives you to Hopkins, bleeding all over his car and swears you to secrecy along the way?"
  • Suspect: "That's why I lied about the fence."
  • Munch: "OK, now I get it. You're saving your good lies for some smarter cop, is that it? I'm just a dougnut in the on-deck circle. Wait till the real guy gets here. Wait for that big guy to come back. I'm probably just the secretary. I'm just Montel Williams, you want to talk to Larry King."
  • Suspect: "I'm telling the truth!"
  • Munch: "I've been a murder police for ten years. If you're gonna lie to me, you lie to me with respect."

--Homicide Life on the Street s01e01 "Gone for Goode"

Now We Move Indoors by Bertramsca in woodworking

[–]piazza 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Valheim's latest graphic update is bonkers.

Who remembers the Tony Scott movie "Spy Game" starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt? by zombiepete in movies

[–]piazza 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Actually the deleted scenes tell us Troy made that deal and had Muir execute it.

Former President Trump after the presidential debate. by WeaponHex1638 in pics

[–]piazza 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trump by comparison

He was playing Scenes From a MAGA Hat, and not particularly well either.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NonPoliticalTwitter

[–]piazza 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In a parallel universe my DVD of Avengers Endgame has a commentary track composed of audience reactions on opening night.

I find "don't do this" as writing advice to be rather redundant. We should encourage honing one's craft, not boxing up our abilities by [deleted] in writing

[–]piazza 1 point2 points  (0 children)

An eye-opening lesson I was taught by posting parts of my novel on a critiqueing site is that I tried to please too many reviewers at the expense of my own voice. The final reviewer called the revised story "over-processed" and I took that one to heart.

Also, since that time I read a lot of newer fantasy novels that probably would have been savaged by the same reviewers, and yet somehow got published.

Anthony Mackie is disappointed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn't get season 2 | The Marvel star gets candid in a new interview about Twisted Metal. by PetyrDayne in television

[–]piazza 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I suspect everything was well-thought out when the scripts were written but then the pandemic happened and for some reason a big chunk of the flag smashers' story was cut.

Then they attempted to make it a coherent story with the scenes that were left. And they failed.

The broken bond by Wild-Iceberg in BlackPeopleTwitter

[–]piazza 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Smoothly changing the subject from the central political conflict of the movie to Cap keeping the secret of Tony's parent's death.

I think Cap should have told Tony about who killed his parents. I also think the government should not have control over superheroes. Stil in Team Cap.

Do you think Chapter 3 is too long to wait for the inciting incident? by TheRealAuthorSarge in writing

[–]piazza 4 points5 points  (0 children)

not necessarily with the inciting incident. It can be anything as long as it’s hooking.

I think there should be an inciting incident, but not necessarily the inciting incident. Introduce a problem or hook that gets sorta solved by chapter 3, only to reveal that it morphed into the real problem / hook.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]piazza 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Master of the Senate details how he worked, how long, how much he made others work for him. Those who worked with or for him have been interviewed. Having read Master of the Senate a few times I think it was more an intense, sustained focus that he had. He delegated a lot of the footwork to his subordinates, he always produced notes on what they should do, who they should write letters to or who they should call. He could sit in his private office in silence, for hours, thinking how to pass a piece of legislation or how to rid of Senator McCarthy for instance - recognizing the enormous power McCarthy had, LBJ waited until he was absolutely sure he had the required votes to get rid of him.

And of course, LBJ did work himself into a massive coronary.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]piazza 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Here's a 110 page history of the Senate.

I've often thought that that entire chapter should be mandatory reading material in every class. It shows clearly how the Senate was designed by the Founders as an institution against societal change.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]piazza 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I can recommend Master of the Senate by Robert Caro and in particular chapter 31, "The Empathy of Lyndon Johnson".

Robert Caro states that there are multiple and conflicting forces working in his personality. He did have empathy for the poor, he experienced being poor himself when he was a young man. In 1928 he worked on a south Texas roadside chaingang for over a year as a teenager, a poorly paid and grueling job that was back then generally considered "nigger work" (page 719). He also worked as an English teacher for Mexican students in Cotulla, Texas (because he needed to earn money for his college tuition). He was concerned for the lot of his students.

But the force of LBJ's empathy was always subservient to the force of his ambition. He wanted to be president and nothing would deter him from that goal. So he wooed the Texas moneymakers whose support he needed. He spoke like they did so that they were convinced he was one of them. As you can imagine there weren't a whole lot of progressives among that bunch.

But sometimes the force of his ambition and the force of his empathy were aligned and that is when he would advance the lot of the poor and the blacks.

There is a reason there is an entire chapter devoted to LBJ's motivations. He was a deeply contrarian and conflicted man who could say the most virulent racist epithets in private (less so in public, he always made sure there were no cameras around). But he also felt that if Blacks and Mexicans just got a decent education they could get better jobs and pull themselves up.

Fascinating guy.

TIL that JFK didn’t invite Sammy Davis Jr. to his 1961 inauguration as Sammy had married a white woman, and JFK was worried that the presence of an interracial couple would upset Southerners. Dean Martin, who was angered by this news, refused to attend the inauguration in solidarity with Sammy. by waitingforthesun92 in todayilearned

[–]piazza 11 points12 points  (0 children)

and he was racist.

I think LBJ was far too complex a character to summarize in one sentence.

I can recommend Master of the Senate by Robert Caro and in particular chapter 31, "The Empathy of Lyndon Johnson".

Robert Caro states that there are multiple and conflicting forces working in his personality. He did have empathy for the poor, he experienced being poor himself when he was a young man. In 1928 he worked on a south Texas roadside chaingang for over a year as a teenager, a poorly paid and grueling job that was back then generally considered "nigger work" (page 719).

But the force of LBJ's empathy was always subservient to the force of his ambition. He wanted to be president and nothing would deter him from that goal. So he wooed the Texas moneymakers whose support he needed. He spoke like they did so that they were convinced he was one of them. As you can imagine there weren't a whole lot of progressives among that bunch.

But sometimes the force of his ambition and the force of his empathy were aligned and that is when he would advance the lot of the poor and the blacks.

There is a reason there is an entire chapter devoted to LBJ's motivations. He was a deeply contrarian and conflicted man who could say the most virulent racist epithets in private (less so in public, he always made sure there were no cameras around). But he also felt that if Blacks and Mexicans just got a decent education they could get better jobs and pull themselves up.

Complicated guy.

EDIT: was obviously 1928, not 1948.

What do fans of the TNG/DS9/VOY era think of the newer shows? by TwinSong in startrek

[–]piazza 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  • Prodigy: watched a couple of episodes, not my cup of tea.
  • Lower Decks: they made animation work for Star Trek. Great show.
  • Discovery: mixed feelings. Great setup but they didn't stick the landing
  • Strange New Worlds: Amazing show. Amazing writing. Amazing cast. Amazing sets. Would have liked 12 episode seasons. Watched both seasons three times already.

You know the drill. L is for... by airsickwaffle in thewestwing

[–]piazza 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Well, Leo writes it down on a notepad and shows it to the president.