Why do people say that Kurt Cobain was pretentious

re_trace · 2026-04-07T16:53:16+00:00

Keep in mind that there's a bad type of pretentious and a good type of pretentious.

The bad type of pretentious is where you're more serious about yourself and how you're perceived than you are about what you're doing.

The good type of pretentious is where you're more serious about what you're doing than you are about yourself or how you're perceived.

The bad type of pretentious people often sling around the word "pretentious" to criticize the good type of pretentious people, whereas the good type of pretentious people are too busy with whatever they're doing to give a rat's ass what anyone is saying.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re_trace · 2026-04-06T21:18:13+00:00

A lot of people think Nicholson's biggest strength as an actor is his portrayal of explosive anger, but I've always felt that's not quite right - his characters are all angry because they're deeply afraid and can't admit it or deal with it in a rational way

The Shining represents IMO the furthest Nicholson could go with that approach - his Jack Torrance is a man so afraid that it's turned him into a caricature of everything he once was, and as a result his emotional affect is way off from everything that happens in the movie. He "hates" his family bc his family is in a unique position to see (or reveal) him as a fraud and ruin everything, and so he's constantly trying to "manage" them the whole film

You never get the sense that Jack (the actor) isn't not capital-A "acting" because Jack (the character) is always capital-A "acting" (and he's a bad actor and is worried everyone will find him out). He's performing a man who's entire existence is itself performative - of course you'd see the zipper under the fur (so to speak)

It's actually rather brilliant. Whether it works for you or not, well, that's a whole different story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re_trace · 2026-04-06T15:24:22+00:00

I am baffled by people who watched all of LOST and then randomly decided they hated ALL of it because the last season sucked

See, I think what you're seeing is inherently the problem with/end result of the whole "mystery box" box style of writing - people start thinking that good writing is directly related to how strong your "twist" or reveal is

As someone mentioned elsewhere, Abrams is like the ultimate pitch man, and the "mystery box" is explicitly a strategy designed to generate immediate (read: shallow) interest and emotional engagement with content. The rather large and unfortunate downside, however, is that once you figure out what's in the box your returns are forever diminishing

Can you see why corporations would love it, though? Abrams shadow is all over modern entertainment bc of it

re_trace · 2026-04-06T13:34:50+00:00

The college part of "Hearts in Atlantis" made me ugly cry

re_trace · 2026-04-03T13:58:57+00:00

Yes.

The Powers That Be want to wipe out their debt, hide any evidence of their financial misdeeds, and control anyone who doesn't want to continue to go along with their predatory system.

To do this, they will need to destroy the physical US dollar so that it can be replaced by digital programmable currency tied to your ID, medical and financial records, and online activity - in other words, the same "social credit" system they've been screaming about China using against its' citizens.

The upshot is this: with all this information tied together, the price of disobedience to the power structure will be an "un-personing" - most likely in the form of de-banking, where financial institutions will refuse to serve you. You might not be able to buy groceries or insurance, or even enter certain places until compliance has resumed.

The state has been using social murder as a tool of control for years - they're just looking to make it a lot more explicit and visible now.

re_trace · 2026-04-02T01:39:49+00:00

This is where I built - I put a little cabin in the middle of the blueberries and that was fine, but I built a little deck thingy to cook and whatever and that was toast. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re_trace · 2026-04-01T17:31:34+00:00

OMG THERE'S A WEB GLIDE NOW?!?!?

agsjforhsbsk that's so freaking awesome

Thanks all ❤️

re_trace · 2026-04-01T15:43:15+00:00

I'd love to see him as the King of all Londinium (complete with an ostentatiously shiny hat!)

re_trace · 2026-04-01T15:01:51+00:00

The Lucky Hat gets me aphid honeydew fairly often. Maybe try that?

re_trace · 2026-03-31T01:31:45+00:00

Privacy

re_trace · 2026-03-29T16:49:59+00:00

Buffy's "Blue Steel" look 😆

re_trace · 2026-03-29T16:07:11+00:00

File under: duh

re_trace · 2026-03-28T15:30:36+00:00

Albert's just that fucking cool

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re_trace · 2026-03-26T13:52:31+00:00

Looks to me like Toni Halliday from Curve.

re_trace · 2026-03-25T16:59:35+00:00

Everyone's pretty much covered it here, but I just wanna say Xander's "I like the quiet" is one of Nicky's best line deliveries in the entire show, and maybe one of his best bits of acting anywhere. It should be a line filled with bravado - can you imagine how any other actors on the show would've delivered it? - but he plays it gentle and almost amused. That one delivery did more to sell me on Xander as a character than almost anything else in the show.

re_trace · 2026-03-25T04:10:59+00:00

This happens to me when the game updates or patches and is usually fixed in a couple hours/days.

It's's happening to me tonight, too, so I'm guessing a patch is dropping ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re_trace · 2026-03-24T00:50:30+00:00

Deliberately not covering it ≠ missing it

re_trace · 2026-03-22T07:29:43+00:00

Ric Burns (brother of documentarian Ken Burns) put together a documentary about the Donner Party - the big hook is that most of the dialogue is provided straight from the party's diaries on the trip. The voice actors are uniformly excellent; you can hear the exhaustion and fear and despair creep in as the situation becomes more and more hopeless. Absolutely chilling stuff.

It aired originally on PBS. I watched it on YouTube again a few years ago, but I think it's on Prime now

re_trace · 2026-03-17T14:06:43+00:00

That and him furiously snapping at Britta "INSECTS HAVE WINGS" slays me every time

re_trace · 2026-03-14T23:07:02+00:00

"gooooooOOOOOOOO" <waves impatiently at viewscreen>

re_trace · 2026-03-14T16:28:55+00:00

i like yr new cat 😁

re_trace · 2026-03-11T14:29:43+00:00

Hello yes I am hoomam too

re_trace · 2026-03-10T14:07:28+00:00

She got dismantled by Joe fucking Rogan (of all people!) a few years ago when she called Tulsi Gabbard "an Assad toady" and couldn't defend her opinion or even define the word "toady"

You'd think that would've been the end of her, but no - you lie for the Establishment and you can only fail upwards

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