Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Not much use to that, they just repeat the same on and on. I can understand that they didn't want to have this: 

 

Or that apparently the sign is copyrighted:

 

So I made my own

 

 

Still not good.

 

And what the heck is wrong with this?

 

 

I will look somewhere else. Or let it be.

 

Right, I can understand them not accepting the wallpaper one, especially since the wallpaper itself may be copyrighted, to say nothing of Mr. Smiley clearly being from Sherlock.  However I bought a Tshirt with that same basic design from Etsy, so sites do vary.

 

The concept of a Mind Palace is not original with Sherlock, and neither is the name -- so if they're rejecting that design on the grounds of copyright infringement  maybe the hand is still under copyright?

 

And even though the other Tshirt would be recognized as Sherlock reference by fans, it couldn't possibly be a copyright infringement either.  But it is very clever!

 

Maybe they simply do not share your taste?

 

[T.o.b.y]

The t-shirt rocks!

[T.o.b.y]

Right. I have a rant about entertainment and perceived quality thereof. Why is it that to become really popular and receive widespread critical acclaim, a television series apparently has to have some fundamentally unpleasant topic? It seems to me as if anything that was "big" within the last few years was either about terminally ill teachers selling drugs, quasi-medieval torture porn, zombies and / or serial killers (preferably cannibalistic ones).

 

What is wrong with us as an audience? Is everyone so cushioned and sheltered that they crave a world full of hardship, cruelty and existential problems? Or are we so numb and decadent that nothing short of a graphic depiction of meticulously planned mass homicide will rouse us?

 

I don't deny that some amazing writing, acting, directing and editing goes into those productions. The quality truly is high in that sense. All I wonder about is why there's little comparable effort put into adding something to the world that would actually make it a bit better and brighter. After a hard day, I don't really feel entertained by murder, rape and disaster.

 

It's not even that I don't have my share of appreciation for darkness. But... I need some specks of light here and there and I certainly do not need a fictional world that is even worse than the one I live in. I also don't see why bleak, dreary, scary and shocking material is often considered more "artistic", more aesthetically valuable / high brow / whatever than anything remotely likely to cheer a person up.

 

Oh well. A lot of people must like fictional gore, cruelty, violence and horror and if it makes their day better somehow to see tremendous suffering on their screens, so be it. I'll just return to my children's books, Austen novels and Sherlock. :lol:

[Carol the Dabbler]

Is everyone so cushioned and sheltered that they crave a world full of hardship, cruelty and existential problems? Or are we so numb and decadent that nothing short of a graphic depiction of meticulously planned mass homicide will rouse us?

The latter, I suspect. That's why television and movies keep getting louder and louder, faster and faster, and more and more violent.

 

I also don't see why bleak, dreary, scary and shocking material is often considered more "artistic", more aesthetically valuable / high brow / whatever than anything remotely likely to cheer a person up.

That's nothing new, I'm afraid. Back in the 80's, I knew a fellow who didn't want to see anything except what I'd consider depressing as hell. One night he and I and a few other people decided to go to a movie together. He was outvoted and had to sit through a comedy. He spent the entire evening sulking -- apparently he finds comedies depressing!

 

[Arcadia]

Right. I have a rant about entertainment and perceived quality thereof. Why is it that to become really popular and receive widespread critical acclaim, a television series apparently has to have some fundamentally unpleasant topic? It seems to me as if anything that was "big" within the last few years was either about terminally ill teachers selling drugs, quasi-medieval torture porn, zombies and / or serial killers (preferably cannibalistic ones).

 

What is wrong with us as an audience? Is everyone so cushioned and sheltered that they crave a world full of hardship, cruelty and existential problems? Or are we so numb and decadent that nothing short of a graphic depiction of meticulously planned mass homicide will rouse us?

 

I don't deny that some amazing writing, acting, directing and editing goes into those productions. The quality truly is high in that sense. All I wonder about is why there's little comparable effort put into adding something to the world that would actually make it a bit better and brighter. After a hard day, I don't really feel entertained by murder, rape and disaster.

 

It's not even that I don't have my share of appreciation for darkness. But... I need some specks of light here and there and I certainly do not need a fictional world that is even worse than the one I live in. I also don't see why bleak, dreary, scary and shocking material is often considered more "artistic", more aesthetically valuable / high brow / whatever than anything remotely likely to cheer a person up.

 

Oh well. A lot of people must like fictional gore, cruelty, violence and horror and if it makes their day better somehow to see tremendous suffering on their screens, so be it. I'll just return to my children's books, Austen novels and Sherlock. :lol:

 

Beats me, I've been complaining about that for forty years. And now they have all these "reality" shows, which I consider even worse.

 

I don't know about the audience, but I do think some critics conflate "things that make you squirm" with "realistic" ... and "realistic" with "better." And to some extent that even makes sense. But it's a rather narrow p.o.v., imo. And, of course, a matter of taste.

[Caya]

Amen on Gritty Is the New Sexy . I miss the old science fiction so much - back when people really believed that by now, we'd have colonies on many planets (*deep sigh* the fact that we don't is a different rant) and wrote futuristic, optimistic novels and shows. Nowadays, I hardly ever even pick up a sci-fi novel because there seems to be some unspoken consensus that sci-fi equals dystopian, and that the future portrayed has to involve some dictatorship / catastrophe / rigid caste-organized society / brutal robot/alien overlords etc. (take your pick). I'd like to think of our future descendants as having a better life, thank you very much.

[J.P.]

 

What is wrong with us as an audience? Is everyone so cushioned and sheltered that they crave a world full of hardship, cruelty and existential problems? Or are we so numb and decadent that nothing short of a graphic depiction of meticulously planned mass homicide will rouse us?

 

Well, there is something wrong with us as species. Before we've had TV, there were public executions. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

What is wrong with us as an audience? Is everyone so cushioned and sheltered that they crave a world full of hardship, cruelty and existential problems? Or are we so numb and decadent that nothing short of a graphic depiction of meticulously planned mass homicide will rouse us?

 

Well, there is something wrong with us as species. Before we've had TV, there were public executions. 

 

To be perfectly fair, there was quite a long era, at least in much of the world, between the end of public executions and the beginning of "reality" programming.  Most of us have lived most of our lives in that era.

 

[Arcadia]

That's why now is so discouraging, don't you think ... we seem to be regressing in our notion of entertainment? I suppose the "realists" would say we've always been that way. To which I would answer, the world is what you make it. That's why I chafe so much against turning Sherlock into an avenging MI6 angel, guns a-blazin' ... I prefer stories that say we can be better than that. Ah, well, ya takes what you can get, I guess.

[Arcadia]

Amen on Gritty Is the New Sexy . I miss the old science fiction so much - back when people really believed that by now, we'd have colonies on many planets (*deep sigh* the fact that we don't is a different rant) and wrote futuristic, optimistic novels and shows. Nowadays, I hardly ever even pick up a sci-fi novel because there seems to be some unspoken consensus that sci-fi equals dystopian, and that the future portrayed has to involve some dictatorship / catastrophe / rigid caste-organized society / brutal robot/alien overlords etc. (take your pick). I'd like to think of our future descendants as having a better life, thank you very much.

 

I hate to say it, but to some extent I blame the popularity of Star Wars .... futuristic gadgets mashed together with cowboy attitudes. Not that I don't love it, but it seems to have encouraged Hollywood to emphasize the attitude and not the futurism. And when did sci fi become synonymous with horror? I stopped watching the SciFy channel ages ago because it seemed like it had become 24/7 horror. Ugh.

[sittything]

So much for the weather report today.  It was supposed to be in the 70's today.  It's like 53 right now.  I somehow don't think it's going to make it.  

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Reminds me of my yesterday only instead of temp is was precipitation.  It called for rain, we had sleet and snow as well and I had to drive in all 3 :(

[Carol the Dabbler]

Bleh!  You have my sympathy!  We've had some thunderstorms, but otherwise it's been nice here.  Sunny again today, so I think we'll go for a walk when Alex gets home from work.

 

I have a rant with a humorous spin.  The phone rang yesterday, and a man with an unmistakable Indian Subcontinent accent introduced himself as "Sam Cooper."  I'm used to outsourced customer-service reps using American-style first names, and I can understand why they do it, but somehow the addition of "Cooper" struck me as hilarious, and I ended the conversation quickly, before I broke down in a giggling fit.

 

The rant part is that it was apparently the current big scam.  "Sam" said he was calling for "The Windows Computer Company," and wanted to know if I had a Windows Computer.  If I had said yes, I'm 99% certain that he would have offered to help me "fix" a "problem," thus allowing his employers to monitor my online activity, including credit-card use and such.

 

[sittything]

 

The rant part is that it was apparently the current big scam.  "Sam" said he was calling for "The Windows Computer Company," and wanted to know if I had a Windows Computer.  If I had said yes, I'm 99% certain that he would have offered to help me "fix" a "problem," thus allowing his employers to monitor my online activity, including credit-card use and such.

 

[HeroinOrHeroine]

My son turned 10 today so he had a few friends over for pizza and video games. They were all great, except one kid who had to be asked repeatedly not to scream, nor say inappropriate things, nor touch the collectibles. Guess which kid got picked up from the party 45 minutes late? I'm pretty sure his parents were contemplating abandoning him.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

My son turned 10 today so he had a few friends over for pizza and video games. They were all great, except one kid who had to be asked repeatedly not to scream, nor say inappropriate things, nor touch the collectibles. Guess which kid got picked up from the party 45 minutes late? I'm pretty sure his parents were contemplating abandoning him.

 

I don't envy you at all.

 

 

 

 

 

So today I had my first round of 100% spam comments on my site where I post my Sherlock related pics all on 1 post.  It was so nice marking 27 comments as spam then remembering there was a plugin I needed to add to that part of my site so that it was not being followed/tracked by search engines.  I also need to activate another plugin but will do that later.

[T.o.b.y]

I have a rant that's actually a plea: Please, please, please never ever say "he / she can't understand you anyway" about someone and then continue to talk about him / her in the person's presence as if the human being in question were an inanimate object. Just don't do that. No matter how "retarded" the person is. Even if he / she gives off the impression of being a human vegetable, it is still rude and disrespectful and if I am in the room, I will get very angry and upset. If you are someone's spokesperson, please pretend the person you are speaking for can hear and understand what you say about them. If you are unsure whether someone can hear and / or understand you, talk kindly and politely anyway. It can't hurt, and your voice and manner might be beneficial. It makes sense to use simple sentences with people who have low intelligence, or to speak loud and clear with people who are hard of hearing, but there's no need to talk to grown-ups as if they were babies, either.

 

Just treat everybody with respect for their dignity as human beings. Thank you.

 

(Sorry, but that needed out. I have had a rough day and I am like John a bit in that my compassion often takes the shape of anger.)

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree with every word you said, T.o.b.y.

 

Also:

 

Don't talk about old people as though they can't hear you (even if they can't).  Especially, don't talk about them (or to them) as though they were children.  They may not remember what they had for breakfast, but they still have a lifetime of experience and wisdom that you can only hope to attain someday.  So direct your questions to them, and if their representative needs to do the answering, let that be their choice, not yours.

 

Most blind people can hear and speak just fine -- so direct your questions to them, not to their escort.

 

In fact, don't talk about people in their presence even if they're in a coma or under heavy sedation.  They may be able to hear you, even if they're unable to respond.  (I recall hearing a nurse-anesthesiologist tell the doctor that I was "out cold.")

 

[HeroinOrHeroine]

The old people part really resonates with me. I get disgusted by how patronizing people are to seniors, especially seniors in hospice care. All the accomplishments of their lives are forgotten and they are afforded no dignity in their last days and are infantilized. It really bothers me.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think some people think they're being compassionate but end up being patronizing.

 

Back when Mom was still running her own errands (with me as chauffeur), there was one gal at the pharmacy who consistently addressed her as "Hon," even though her actual name was clearly printed right on the package.  My dear sweet soft-spoken 80-something mother would smile graciously until we were halfway back to the exit, and then growl under her breath.

 

[T.o.b.y]

There are some people who seem to be way too fond of endearments... I have a colleague who keeps calling me "Süße", which is German for "sweetie". It's a term very good (female) friends use a lot around here, but the thing is, I don't even know her outside of work and I don't want to. But I don't dare say anything, because she means well and I'd feel petty and bitchy if I made a fuss about something like that.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I know people who use Hon, Honey, Sweetie, Dearie or Dear with anyone equally.  I'm used to it so it doesn't faze me, but I can understand some people not liking that if they don't know you well enough.

[T.o.b.y]

Well, I'm unfair, because it doesn't bug me with some people, either. There's a certain type of elderly, motherly woman whom I do not mind calling me any of the above. It depends on who says it. Isn't that silly of me. I should just be glad that people try to be nice to me at all...

[Carol the Dabbler]

You're right, T.o.b.y, -- I sure wouldn't mind if a nice lady about my mother's age called me "honey" -- but it does strike me as presumptuous (and even a bit creepy) from men of any age.  From people who are clearly younger than me, it tends to sound patronizing -- a verbal pat on the head.  From people my own age -- well, I guess it depends on how whether I feel any rapport with them.

 

[Shadow Dweller]

[Rant]

 

If once again I have to hammer down "You are working for the company, do not give away all our bargaining points like that. For God's sake, use your brain and think!" to fools with overdeveloped tendency to please others then some people will find themselves out of job, fast.

[/Rant]

Back to damage control.