Write a controversial opinion

[PennyThompson]

There’s even a film in American theaters right now, One Battle After Another, which blows away anything that Broadway is doing right now.

omg One Battle deserves its own thread, best movie i've seen in several years

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

omg One Battle deserves its own thread, best movie i've seen in several years

It’s very good, isn’t!

I saw it with a packed cinema, not a free seat in the house, and there was whooping and cheering and applause at the end. Phenomenal experience. Seriously fun.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

I wouldn't say that. Live theatre requires so many skills. Yes, there's some mediocrity on Broadway, but live theatre is simply a higher art form.

There have been many filmmakers in cinema history who have treated film as filmed theater - making use of the live, documentary qualities.

 

[PennyThompson]

It’s very good, isn’t!

I saw it with a packed cinema, not a free seat in the house, and there was whooping and cheering and applause at the end. Phenomenal experience. Seriously fun.

"American Girl" playing during the credits made me ugly cry

 

[Actingup]

That's a fair point about about certain eras getting to sweep up all of the low-hanging fruit when a new kind of music gets developed. But 60s rock isn't the only new genre that got to do this, there was all kinds of innovative stuff happening in 1970's punk, 1980's rap, 2000's electronica, 2010's bedroom-and-laptop music... you never know what's coming next until it happens!

For that reason, I like to maintain some optimism despite the difficulties faced by the creative arts. I think that we'll find that there's still scope for innovation and (particularly) subversion. Music might be travelling underground in interesting ways. I also believe that authenticity will be more and more valued. I saw a stage musical last night in a small venue that was sung and played by five musicians with a wonderful assortment of instruments - nothing prerecorded. It was wonderful, hilarious, moving, and sold out. I saw something similar on an opera stage several months ago, and the reaction was similar - everybody left the show gushing and flushed with excitement (plot bunnies! settle down!).

Regarding the different decades and forms... I think that quality often finds a way, even in a three minute pop song. There are masterpieces of the form that still thrill me. The Turtles 'Happy Together' (1967), as a random example, is so beautifully constructed and harmonised that it's difficult to imagine it not being a hit in any decade. Some of Taylor's famous bridges could have supported the D-Day landings had they been around at the time. And if you follow Eurovision with its mandatory 3 minute songs and live vocals, there is almost always something that is genuinely exciting even if most of the songs are formulatic.

So... I have hope.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

"American Girl" playing during the credits made me ugly cry

I liked the whole ‘what time is it?’ conceit. 60s radicals but kind of today and then it skips forward 16 years but nothing has really changed (that was a real oof moment). And he can never answer the question. Just a perpetual fight against it all.

 

[Bramblethorn]

All colas suck. They're like drink carbonated used motor oil cut 50% with corn syrup.

*in the USA

Coke in Australia, for instance, uses cane sugar rather than corn syrup as a sweetener, which means more sucrose and less fructose. Some people prefer the taste of the cane sugar version although I haven't tried the US version to compare; some argue for the sucrose version being healthier, although neither version is remotely healthy to drink regularly.

 

[MelissaBaby]

*in the USA

Coke in Australia, for instance, uses cane sugar rather than corn syrup as a sweetener, which means more sucrose and less fructose. Some people prefer the taste of the cane sugar version although I haven't tried the US version to compare; some argue for the sucrose version being healthier, although neither version is remotely healthy to drink regularly.

Mexican Coke is made with cane sugar as well, and is available in the USA, but not widely distributed. It is sold at Meijer's, which is a WalMart type chain in the Midwest, and in a lot of Mexican markers.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'll be controversial and defend the 80s as the best musical decade. The rise of the synthesiser, flamboyant camp, heavy metal getting into its stride...

Also, I resent being lumped in with Gen X. I read Generation X when it was first published (1991) and the people in it were not me and my cohort - it was about people a decade older, born in the 60s. When Microserfs came out, that captured my generation. When the idle chat about Millennials vs Gen X first came out, us kids of the mid 70s were called Gen Y. And then forgotten.

Ironically they're now calling us the Forgotten Generation but have skipped to GenZ like they don't even know the sodding alphabet.

Wagner is good, though. I find the Youth of Today often don't even know what's new vs old, unless the videos on YouTube show hairstyles. No, Adele and Janis Joplin aren't the same age. Queen and Beethoven weren't contemporaries either. Yes, Diana Ross is famous enough that even I've heard of her - and Grandpa listened to her in high school (teenage mind blown...!)

 

[CuriouslyAZ]

Most US chocolate is disgusting. .

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Most US chocolate is disgusting. .

They created recipes which could cope with long travel and storage in the heat without going rancid, but that used butyric acid - the classic scent from vomit.

But even chocolate without that is often not great (glares at Mondelez who have ruined Dairy Milk after Kraft promised to keep the recipe), using palm oil and crap. Even Ghirardelli is mostly sugar with little cocoa mass.

Aldi is the place to go (or Lidl, in the UK).

 

[CuriouslyAZ]

They created recipes which could cope with long travel and storage in the heat without going rancid, but that used butyric acid - the classic scent from vomit.

But even chocolate without that is often not great (glares at Mondelez who have ruined Dairy Milk after Kraft promised to keep the recipe), using palm oil and crap. Even Ghirardelli is mostly sugar with little cocoa mass.

Aldi is the place to go (or Lidl, in the UK).

Excuse me, but please don’t flirt with me right now. My headspace is messed up after reading My Dom, In Boots and Tell Me what You Want.

Also, facts (re: your post)

To be classified as chocolate European milk chocolate is required to have at least 25% total dry cocoa, while U.S. regulations only require 10% and most manufacturers has way more sugar in their chocolate compared to European manufacturers.

The US also uses a bunch of vegetable fats in it whereas European chocolate has a lot more cocoa butter which gives it that (chefs kiss) creamier taste.

I’m done confusing my sexual language with my chocolate language.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

 

[Kelliezgirl]

There were definitely people getting off on jazz from the 20's.

And if you shift just a little later, Clapton did an album (in 95?) covering Robert Johnson songs from the mid 30's.

True, but that was niche, not something mainstream. Some people still listen to tin pan alley stuff. But it isn't common.

 

[CuriouslyAZ]

If Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so is Lethal Weapon. View attachment 2571318

My favorite Christmas tradition is going to see ”Die Hard, A Christmas Carol”

It’s the most outrageous, cheek achingly funny, and x-rated “puppet musical for adults” show that you could ever imagine.

 

[XerXesXu]

The best decade for popular music was 2009 to 2019. The next best decade will be 2020 to 2030.
Back in the day, the only people who listened to prog-rock smoked weed and didn't have girlfriends.
Music you can listen to sitting down is oxymoronic, laying down, yet more moronic.

 

[iwatchus]

Back in the day, the only people who listened to prog-rock smoked weed and didn't have girlfriends.

I can personally attest that half of that statement is false. And I guess I gave up weed before I stopped listening, so both halves are false.
(For the record, I gave up weed on 8/8/1974, which was also the date of a historic event and the best concert I ever went to.)

 

[XerXesXu]

I can personally attest that half of that statement is false. And I guess I gave up weed before I stopped listening, so both halves are false.
(For the record, I gave up weed on 8/8/1974, which was also the date of a historic event and the best concert I ever went to.)

One swallow does not a summer make.

 

[iwatchus]

One swallow does not a summer make.

From my extended acquaintance group, Prog rock listeners (the males at least) were more likely to have romantic relationships than those who listened to early metal. I don't think I can think of any females who listened to metal in those days. Maybe why the males didn't have romantic entanglements.

I won't say that all of the prog rock folks were non-imbibers (or didn't inhale or something), but most of the people that age (late HS/college) were smoking pot then. Certainly prog-rock folks were not dead-heads. Deadheads had a seriously oversized consumption of illegal substances.

The third major listening group circa 1974 was soft rock (think Eagles). There was no less pot smoking there. They probably did have a higher percentage of guys with girlfriends. But I knew more than one male who claimed to like the Eagles because it was an easy way to get a girl.

And then disco came out, but half the guys I knew who liked disco were gay. And half of the other guys just didn't realize they were. Very low girlfriend rate, but much higher boyfriend rate.

 

[Angelina_Softly]

Authors have some responsibility for how readers interpret their stories.

I get what you mean, but readers also bring their own experiences and biases. I think it’s a shared responsibility between author and reader

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I'll be controversial and defend the 80s as the best musical decade. The rise of the synthesiser, flamboyant camp, heavy metal getting into its stride...

How could this be controversial? I mean, without the 80s, there wouldn't be Outrun music, Scandroid, Hotline Miami, Drive... Just the GTA Vice City radio alone curated so much good music from the era. I still put the soundtrack from time to time and I still end up shifting through albums from the era. This is how I got into New Wave in the first place.

The 80s was also damn fine when it came to movies. Thief and Blade Runner were released in this decade, thus effectively creating two new genres: Cyberpunk, and Neon-noir. Then Neuromancer came out...

I owe so much of my creative body of work to a decade in which I wasn't even alive...

 

[SkyBubble]

Most US chocolate is disgusting. .

I've actually found it quite good.

 

[XerXesXu]

From my extended acquaintance group, Prog rock listeners (the males at least) were more likely to have romantic relationships than those who listened to early metal. I don't think I can think of any females who listened to metal in those days. Maybe why the males didn't have romantic entanglements.

I won't say that all of the prog rock folks were non-imbibers (or didn't inhale or something), but most of the people that age (late HS/college) were smoking pot then. Certainly prog-rock folks were not dead-heads. Deadheads had a seriously oversized consumption of illegal substances.

The third major listening group circa 1974 was soft rock (think Eagles). There was no less pot smoking there. They probably did have a higher percentage of guys with girlfriends. But I knew more than one male who claimed to like the Eagles because it was an easy way to get a girl.

And then disco came out, but half the guys I knew who liked disco were gay. And half of the other guys just didn't realize they were. Very low girlfriend rate, but much higher boyfriend rate.

I met my teen girlfriend in 1964 - at a disco - before gays were invented.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I met my teen girlfriend in 1964 - at a disco - before gays were invented.

What utter nonsense, everyone knows Oscar Wilde invented homosexuality.

 

[XerXesXu]

What utter nonsense, everyone knows Oscar Wilde invented homosexuality.

But not gays.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

They created recipes which could cope with long travel and storage in the heat without going rancid, but that used butyric acid - the classic scent from vomit.

But even chocolate without that is often not great (glares at Mondelez who have ruined Dairy Milk after Kraft promised to keep the recipe), using palm oil and crap. Even Ghirardelli is mostly sugar with little cocoa mass.

Aldi is the place to go (or Lidl, in the UK).

There’s a restaurant in Paris called L’Amarante that makes chocolate mousse with chocolate from Sao Tome, made by an Italian man called Claudio Corallo.

I was told that this chocolate mousse was one of the city’s greatest culinary experiences. A secret that very few people knew about. So one evening I made my way there. It’s a tiny place, and I was one of only two tables that were occupied that night - me, alone, and a couple. I ordered the obligatory hunk of meat with no vegetables that passes for a main course in France. Got it down. Ordered the chocolate mousse.

I was a bit self-conscious because this was their signature dish and I was only 1 of 3 customers in the restaurant and it was so small a space. So small in fact, the chef himself brought the food to your table. It almost felt crass to be ordering it but there was to be no hiding why was there. Anyway, the mousse arrived. I was genuinely excited. The chef pretended not to be looking at me. I took my first bite and I immediately closed my eyes and put the spoon down and inhaled deeply through my nose. I could barely believe what I was experiencing.

It was one of the most disgusting things I’d ever paid to put in my mouth.

Feral, herbaceous, funky, no words can do it justice. It was dirt. With zero sweetness. Dirty dirt. The stuff you tell children to wash off their hands lest they get sick. Careful, don’t gag. Oh god don’t gag. Not here. Christ, it’s in my mouth.

Fuck, I thought. Am I really going to have to eat this to save everyone a bit of dignity? Maybe it’s a joke? Surely it’s a joke? The French can be strange like that. I can’t seriously take one bite and push it away, though. I can be rude but I can’t be that rude. Ugh. Take another bite. Make some headway at least. Be a good soldier, I told myself. Have some grit.

I scraped a little more dirt onto the spoon and raised it to my lips. I can’t remember the next two minutes. Honestly, it’s gone. It’s a blank.

The next thing I knew I was licking the bottom of the bowl. I was like a crack addict whose high had just worn off and was desperately searching about for some stray crystal I may have let fall by mistake.

It was the greatest thing I have ever eaten. Frankly, it was like a tear in the skrim between this world and the next: it transported you to another plane of existence. One where everything might look like everyday reality but somehow, suddenly, everything had become just exactly as it should be. Everything was just right. It was that thing that entire religions are based on, around which whole mythologies created. Something complex, serious, magical. You could only grasp it fleetingly. The world may have kept spinning but I will forever be haunted by the knowledge.

So, yeah, anyway, chocolate…sometimes quite good.

[edit from the morning after I posted this: I may or may not have been a little bit drunk when wrote it]