George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
The things you lean on / are things that don't last
User ID: 107
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
I went through a phase in the Asashoryu years where I kept a log each basho, bought a book on moves, and would attend every year the March basho in Osaka. I've been many times. Great fun; I usually imbibe on these days and am well into my cups by the last bout at 6.
This and that occured, and all the wrestlers I used to follow are now either ringside judges or back to Mongolia. I once shook Ama's hand (he would later be Harumafuji) in a back alley in Tokyo day before his match. He was with two very large tsukebito (lower ranked wrestlers who are essentially lackeys) leaning up against a massive obsidian SUV that looked as if it could carry a black Op wet team into the PM's office. Anyway he lost the next day (so much for my handshake being lucky.)
It's rumored to be a world of hookers and gangsters, hardcore tradition mixed with courtesy, violence, extortion, and quietly ignored prostitution. That said many top wrestlers end up marrying announcers, actresses, or models and retire to a life of television guest spots, reasonable dieting, and possibly a position as a stable oyakata.
The Freakonomics guys were insistent that at least during the era they were doing their data collection there were (to them) clear cases of fraud (in this case match throwing). A sumotori must have a winning record to avoid demotion, which means 8/15 by the final day at least. It is my understanding that they analyzed many bouts and cases where wrestlers just happened to win on days when it was do or die were statistically improbable unless something was awry. Combine this with the reality that it's man-to-man, and no one can get inside the head of either wrestler, and matches can be over in a few seconds. I personally suspect it's happened, but isn't commonplace, particularly now.
There's currently an ethnically Japanese yokozuna (the highest rank) which has been rare since the Takanohana days (lots of Mongolian or Pacific Islander guys) and that generates local interest. Though alas, young people are often disinterested in this traditional sport and focus more on soccer, volleyball, basketball, or even judo. It doesn't help that not just any kid can do sumo or even play around at it. You have to be big, and the professional guys are packing away food and booze in impressive proportions.
There are other more culture warry scandals but this isn't the thread for it.
edit: typos
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Not to derail this but I had thought you had Crohn's, not UC. Of the two, UC seems preferable (in that it does not run the length of the digestive tract) but of course both seem extremely uncomfortable. I'm continually amazed at the US healthcare system and I think one of the many benefits of living in Japan is this kind of situation. I could probably get a colonoscopy in less than a week if I needed to, and would be charged a few hundred bucks at most after insurance. In any case you have my sympathies.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Kind of you to say, thanks.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
I love this site.
I don't contribute even remotely the same level of thoughtful and well-considered effortposts that many do, I disagree with shit tons of bad takes (that are almost always well-argued) and in some cases I just nod with awe at not only the intellect (by which I mean an ability to read, remember, and consolidate massive amounts of text, both discrete and historical) on display here at times. Fuck the haters.
Thanks to all for making my online experience richer, regardless of the timbre of your political sensitivities and whether they skew differently from my own.
Also happy birthday to that one Mottizen (you know who you are)!
Great write-up. Thanks for putting in the considerable amount of time it must have taken. I read Mere Christianity many years ago a few times along with whatever else was in the small box set. The Abolition of Man, The Problem of Pain, and I think Screwtape Letters, and eventually A Grief Observed, and all were extremely readable in a way I have often wished other writers, more prone to a desire to be clever or profound, would mimic. Now I feel like I should read them again.
Edit: Or, perhaps, listen
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Indeed. I suppose I'm just averse to talking behind backs, as it were. A lesson learned the hard way, along with "do what you say you're going to do." (Which is irrelevant here but a lesson I learned nonetheless.)
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
My assumption. Bad form to hit at someone not present to defend himself.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
My assumption
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
I felt like this was an allusion to something I didn't understand.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
My follow up comment would simply be "I am appalled that you sat through the plant-fucking thing three times."
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki. Slowly getting out there.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Headland helmed The Acolyte, which I have never seen and can't judge, but as you say that show was cancelled after its first season. She is hardly representative of the entire franchise.
I'm not sure what your definition of "a bad person" is when you relegate Kennedy to that position. She worked with Steven Spielberg on many of the classic films of my youth, including Close Encounters, E.T., and the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Just as an aside, your evisceration of the most recent film is I believe overly negative. I saw it and enjoyed it. It was clearly Ford's film from start to finish, he was never "outdone" by Waller-Bridge [whose relative beauty I might also disagree with you on], they brought back the very welcome Karen Allen--and John Rhys-Davies--from the first film, and generally Dial of Destiny was one of the best in the series apart from the first. As well, the vast majority of any action done by "80-year old" Ford was when he was young. The de-aging was the best on this film of any I've ever seen. Having said this, you are of course free to dislike the film as much as you like.)
Back to Kennedy: I completely agree with you that she has made some fairly disastrous decisions when it comes to the new-and-enlightened Star Wars films. The disappointment comes on two levels: 1) Woke nonsense that you so accurately pinpoint in your parent post and 2) so many had such high hopes after a general disappointment in Lucas's decisions about storyline in the prequels--this disappointment is less noticeable now, a barely passing odor in the air, as so many rageposting now cut their teeth on the prequels and see those films (and not the OT) as the best Star Wars. For a while, and maybe even now on reddit, you could/can generate many upvotes for yourself by asking "Wasn't Han actually an abuser showcasing toxic masculinity?" The younger fanbase is not what the older fanbase used to be.
I am not familiar with The Despot of Antrim that you mention in your last paragraph, but that's just because i'm pretty out-of-touch.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
Your quote tags are screwy.
People invent all sorts of words all the time to set people apart and set up tribes. I agree this is true. I don't find it particularly helpful, pro social, or compelling to use terms like quadroon. You do, presumably.
My saying the terms are useful to you is antagonistic (to say nothing of unnecessarily) exactly how? I don't see it. Please mod report me if you think I've breached the spirit of the Motte, and let the cards fall where they may.
I don't care if you use the terms you've suggested, and only commented at all because I occasionally read things here and wish to push back that I personally don't see the world as some see it. However, I long ago learned that arguing online with certain viewpoints is utterly pointless. And I'm not at all interested in banging my head against a wall to try and change your mind.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
So if I'm getting this straight, a person with a 'weird life,' as you're terming it, isn't capable of making good art? And being a "pariah" in high school is an explanation of Kathleen Kennedy's bad choices in making executive decisions regarding Star Wars? This seems like a very superficial, even adolescent take. Kennedy has, I agree, made a lot of poorly considered decisions, but they were probably driven by her personal sincerely held views. But let's not forget that she was in the same position when she greenlit both Rogue One and later Andor, which in my view rank with the first two OT films. And both contain strong female characters.
The issue isn't "feisty women" in film. Strong women are neither a myth nor something new in cinema. The issue is bad writing and caving in to unrealistic progressive norms, making women into stereotypes of men rather than writing them realistically--the points you made in your main post were rather more compelling than what you're suggesting here.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
4mo ago
That would require me to examine my preferences in depth, and I'm not sure I'll produce an acceptable reason to anime fans. Basically it's never been a genre I've sought out. I appreciate manga for the artwork, and it drives me nuts seeing people now scroll so quickly through the panels. Short answer is probably I'm old.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
I armchair psychologize that many girls who are more well-endowed here (not simply big) develop a kind of hunched-over posture to de-emphasize their tits. Onsen (hot springs) and public bathing are not uncommon here, and a girl who develops breasts larger than the norm will 100 % have this commented on by other girls. While this is also true back in the states (or used to be, I've no idea now) there is a cultural tendency in Japan to avoid standing out. What you describe is not that surprising.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
Interesting take. I don't presume anyone wants a full breakdown of my personal lack of interest in most anime, and my comment was meant to be humorous. If it struck you as dumb instead, erase one off the board for my wit.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
I feel like it's a show I'd have watched when younger, and I understand their interest in it. My wife's stereotype of me is that I like dark depressing films that require thought. This isn't wrong, but it's hardly the only genre I am interested in. I expect they (my sons) have some of my traits, but also Boys.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
As I said the 16 year old had already seen the full series.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
Ghibli is amazing, and they're all so different. I've no qualms with Ghibli.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
My youngest boy was watching Attack on Titan the other day. I was watching in horror as what I assumed was the hero was... eaten. This continued several times until I asked what was up, not wanting to be that dad who just lets his kids watch anything. Apparently my older boy had seen the entire series, and explained to me various spoiler things I won't reveal, but in general I was left with a rather empty desolate feeling and wondered where the hell I had been when my oldest (now 16) had been bingeing the series. I'd probably also have watched it back when younger, but the arc of that story is not exactly an upper.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
And this, this is why I have no interest in anime.
George_E_Hale
insufferable blowhard
5mo ago
Maybe. I tend to remember certain things but I don't remember much in this case. I have him as a family man but picturing "family man" isn't a visual image.
I don't know of any outcry of anyone "upset" as such, because many of the yokozuna of the past have been not-fully-Japanese, but I think after such a spell of Mongolian powerhouses (Asashoryu, Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu, Terunofuji, etc.) having a Japanese yokozuna brings in fans who like to root for a wrestler who is fully Japanese (though he sucked this last basho as I'm sure you are aware).
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