u/polp54

I know that evolution is random and the only thing it favors is survival and reproduction, but in terms of those intelligence has been a huge success for humans. I mean we are on every continent, have a population in the billions putting us vastly ahead of other primates and making us the most common mammal, our lifespan is much longer and our infant survival rate has skyrocketed.

I also know that evolution takes a while but life on earth has been around for hundreds of millions of years, how is it that we are the first species to ever get this smart? Even if there was a species that had advanced as far as we have that went extinct wouldn't there be at least some evidence of that species existing

Before season 1 of Game of Thrones came out, were there any casting decisions that fans were against? I could see people being upset with Peter Dinklage as Tyrion given that book Tyrion is much more ugly than Peter Dinklage

A big complaint I keep seeing for this show is “but so and so isn’t like this normally” and I think people are missing the point, that’s intentional.

Caped Crusader is a very low stakes adaptation, it doesn’t have a cinematic universe riding on it and is made for somewhat of a niche audience fo more devoted Batman fans so because of this the creators can take risks

When Matt Reeves or Andy Muschetti is writing a Batman movie, they can’t take these risks. They can’t have a joker who doesn’t laugh or a two face that has the scarred side be the good side, it’s too alienating for the general public and too risky for a production that large.

Caped crusader is taking these risks and making new versions of characters that have had relatively the same portrayal in adaptations for the last few decades. Like each actor had their own take on the joker in all the adaptations but they are all roughly the same. Caped Crusader Joker is completely different, a total reimagining of the character. And sometimes that works like with Joker, Two-Face, Batman, Alfred (obviously just my opinion) but sometimes it doesn’t work like with riddler or Harley Quinn (again my opinion)

I guess what I’m saying is yes these versions of the characters are wildly different from other versions of them, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, but given that this is a rare opportunity to actually try something new with Batman I am all for it

I’m sure this has been posted plenty of times before but as an American Jew I feel incredibly alienated in US politics.

Realistically I have two choices, democrats or republicans. Now personally I typically agree with the policies of Democrats, always have and probably always will. I think it lines up with the ideas of compassion I was raised to believe as a Jew but now with the rise of the DSA I feel like I’m being iced out. AIPAC support is becoming a litmus test for every politician, representatives are boldly spreading propaganda and not even apologizing when it’s disproven. Do you know how scary it is to hear people you know talk about AIPAC like it’s this evil entity dedicated to eating babies while knowing that your parents are proud AIPAC supporters. There are many Israel supporters in the Democratic Party but they are being pushed out as we saw last night. Like I hope the democrats take the house and senate but then I have to think “well what if they vote to cut ties with Israel?”. I’m tired of being told that a party that thinks my family in Israel shouldn’t defend themselves and that keeps telling my family in New York’s fear of the rapidly increasing number of antisemitic attacks is overblown.

And the double standard infuriates me. Could you imagine anyone telling any other group “you actually don’t get to decide what’s offensive?” It’s preposterous.

And the seemingly obvious solution is to vote republican but not only have they had some serious issues with antisemitism (looking at you Tucker Carlson wing) their policies repulse me as a Jew. After all the suffering we have been through as a diaspora people it is abhorrent to me the way they are treating immigrants. Not to mention the way that Trump has royally screwed Israel over in Iran.

And the third option is just to not vote but that feels like letting them win

I was recently at the Anne Frank exhibit at Griffith Museum in Chicago (an incredibly powerful exhibit by the way) and they talk a lot about the rise of nazism and how antisemitism became so powerful in Germany and I couldn’t think about how similar that feels to what I see in the news now and I keep thinking that if it happens again will anyone stand up for me? Will I have to uproot my entire life and move to Israel? Will Israel even be safe?

It’s terrifying to be a Jew right now and the people who claim to care about my rights as a minority are doing nothing about it

I mean this seems like a great way to kill them quickly

Out of all the Targaryen rulers, Aenys I and Daeron I were the only kings to ever be “born to the throne”. By this I mean that we’re neither a younger brother of someone else who had to either die or be disinherited for them to rule nor were they born to an at the time of their birth lesser branch of House Targaryen.

For clarification: Maegor I, Jaehaerys I, Aegon III, Viserys II, Baelor I, Aerys I, Maekar I, Aegon V, and Jaehaerys II all had older male siblings and Viserys I, Aegon II, Aegon IV and Daeron II while all being the eldest child were born into what was at the time a lesser branch of House Targaryen

Honorable mention to Aerys I (ETA meant to say Aerys II) who was technically born into the major branch of House Targaryen as Duncan Targaryen had already been disinherited by the time he was born

Assume in some alternate reality Ned is allowed to take the black, tells Robb to stand down and joins the nights watch. If Jon Snow or someone else goes up to him and asks “Did you really betray Robert and try to take the throne?” Will he lie like he did at Baelor or say the truth?

So GRRM has come out and said that if he dies he doesn't want the series to be written by another author but hypothetically if he were pass and a publishing company decided to go against his wishes and hire a well respected author to use his notes to finish the series, would you read the books knowing its not what GRRM wanted for the series