I did not have "learn Mandarin" on my 2025 to-do list

[pinstripe_bindi]

48 hours on RedNote and you're already starting to see posts by Americans that are like GUYS I THINK WE MIGHT NOT ACTUALLY BE A FIRST WORLD COUNTRY. LOL there's that "Chinese soft power", but also... we are sort of the absolute very worst first world country there is, and I don't think it's bad if more Americans realize that

Comments

[liminal_space]

at this point, i almost wish NO celebrities had lost their houses -- they have a platform to take their traumatized selves and gain national attention. some do it to raise awareness and keep the donations coming in for people...but others use their voice to fill the void with their conspiracy nonsense.

i hope your mom's surgery goes seamlessly and her healing is quick. :)

[pinstripe_bindi]

I mean if they act like narcissistic grifters afterwards, sure, roast their asses. I just won't be gloating in the fact of their houses burning down, because karma drives a big bus and she knows where everyone lives.

[liminal_space]

i can't gloat either. there is a visceral shake-up about being displaced by fire...i can't even imagine what losing a home feels like. ugh.

[amw]

Have you read Paul Theroux's Deep South? Personally i didn't find it as compelling as his other books, but that's partly because his style has changed as he aged and i have changed too. He is a real pompous ass. But i still found it to be an interesting snapshot of some poorer parts of America written from the context of a global travel writer and wealthy, upper middle class American. Something that stuck with me from the book that i have also witnessed to a certain extent is how parts of America really don't feel much different to the popular imagination of the so-called Third World.

One of the reasons why i liked the show P-Valley is that it put a bit of a modern spin on southern gothic, showing smalltown life in a way that was of course completely sensationalized for entertainment purposes but still felt honest, not trying to paint a tradwife influencer's pretty picture of how shitty life is for Americans at the bottom of the economic ladder, but also not acting like everyone "down there" is an uneducated buffoon. I contrast it

[pinstripe_bindi]

I think the only Theroux I ever read was Mosquito Coast, and that had to have been over 25 years ago. I'll put Deep South on my list. My mother liked Landman so I figured it had to be dumb as rocks. She likes to romanticize growing up in a small east Texas town, and I'm like Mom, you dropped out of high school, ran away to California and got married at 16. Do girls having a good childhood usually do that??

I've heard North of North was good, I'll add it to my list for after whenever I finally get around to watching Reservation Dogs.