I cannot relate to this experience at all. I can open up the TV app on my phone/tablet/laptop/TV and watch almost whatever I want pretty quickly, without ad breaks. It is far more convenient than the old set top box situation. I would say I wait a maximum of 60 seconds, and probably 30 seconds most of the time, to start watching what must be a considerably large portion of all professionally produced media in the US.
How do you do that without ads? Every single service has ads, even on paid tiers. And sponsored content that is recommended regardless of my actual tastes.
This is the reason I buy physical media, rip it to my home server and use Plex. No suggested bullshit. No ads at all.
How do you do that with paid services? What does your setup look like? Because I can't figure out how to do that using commercial products.
Obviously, product placement ads cannot be avoided.
The ads at the beginning of a show can be skipped pretty easily.
I can mentally ignore sponsored content, but you are right that it is an ad that. I almost never browse though, and just use the search function.
Apple tv+, Amazon prime with the extra $5 per month or whatever, and peacock’s higher tier paid through Apple don’t have ads breaks in the middle of the media for me. Neither did Max when I had it a couple years ago.
Other shows or seasons that are rented with a lifetime license from apple (what they call “buying”) don’t have ad breaks either.
> The U.S. used to have a bigger problem with organized crime, but it has been subdued before mass surveillance was an option.
I thought it was credit cards and electronic payments that subdued organized crime (or at least moved it into the realm of the white collar, lawyer-facilitated “legal” crimes through official channels), which greatly reduces the violence component.
A big part of this is that apparently, any president can unilaterally decide to go to war and spend $1B per day destroying things, but building infrastructure for Americans requires the agreement of 60 US Senators.
Pre-emptive strikes are “national security”, but ensuring nutritional food for children in schools, safe bridges and potable water, and healthcare are not “national security”.
Look what Biden had to do to try and get Americans a piddling amount of paid sick leave and paid parental leave. And still 60 votes couldn’t be mustered. But if he wanted to bomb another country to the stone age, that was well within his capacity.
US states are free to build infrastructure without any federal involvement or permission. California just spent $114M to build a wildlife crossing bridge over Highway 101.
Starting with CodingJeebus' comment, the context of the discussion is what the US federal government can and cannot do, or does and does not do, at the best of a single person (the US President). They have the power to direct destruction, but not the power to direct creation.
Not only is a state government's capabilities irrelevant, it is also incomparable to the might of the US federal government, given its unique ability to sell US Treasuries and issue US currency. State governments are also in competition with each other, unlike the federal government which is in competition with other countries and has more power to restrict and negotiate trade agreements.
There are far too many documentaries that omit or slant information for documentaries as a category to be considered informational. Especially ones on Netflix.
In the US, there is (and has been) a pretty solid route from academic achievement to high incomes, and from there, higher incomes leads to larger selection of potential mates.
I don’t see how boys are not rewarded socially for academic achievement. If anything, men have lower physical attractiveness standards, so men are more rewarded than women for the same amount of academic achievement.
I grew up with homogenized milk, and the mere smell of unhomogenized milk makes me want to vomit. Even boiled milk is awful. Unhomogenized cow milk was slightly more tolerable than unhomogenized ox milk.
Incredibly confused by this comment. Does homogenization alter the smell?
>Even boiled milk is awful
What does this have to do with homogenization? I wouldn't want boiled milk either unless it was to be used in a soup or something.
Are you confusing homogenization with pasteurization?
I thought slightly less of the casting for Fifth Element after I learned about the "Born Sexy Yesterday" thing in conjunction with Luc Besson's personal life. Same with Leon.
Hmm, I mean that "thing" appears to be the opinion of one guy on YouTube. Which he is entitled to of course, but I don't necessarily agree.
Especially considering he's using Leeloo as "the most quintessential example" but then also "emphasizes that the Born Sexy Yesterday trope intensifies the dynamic by positioning women as submissive rather than equal partners", which is clearly not really the case here.
Or for example a scene early on where Korben tries to kiss her, to which she reacts with a gun to his head and says "never without my permission". Doesn't really sound very innocent or without agency to me.
I get the point of the analysis and it's certainly not completely wrong, but it seems to be a bit far-fetched and incoherent to be honest.
That's a pretty wild take, but ok. I think you really have to be digging deep and "looking for trouble" to take issue with a fun and relatively wholesome movie like Fifth Element.
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