This is not a "hip" listener either (not a jab, I sure am not one), she loves her piped-in MOR, so it felt especially significant she can't stand that shit either

When I, a resident of an Indiana suburb, have a middle-aged dental hygienist spontaneously start talking to me during a cleaning about how much she hates bro-country you know a cultural moment is over

!!

If these folks get what they seem to want & alternative third spaces have to revert to vetted word-of-mouth invitations to private residences (not that those are at all free of danger), they'll be bored out of their tiny skulls--all that blue-haired cat-girl action happening & THEY CAN'T GET TO IT.

That's maybe the only Bond film you could watch as a stand-alone spy movie with a tragic ending, it's a real pity it was so dismissed when it was released

As one of the types of people you're (successfully) speaking to I'd answer you both by saying "read history" has to be as big as push or more so as "read theory," & also that it's a lift sometimes to realize & accept you've been as thoroughly culturally conditioned as a Brave New World character

It's both fortunate & unfortunate I've been reading Black Reconstruction in America because it's a masterclass in our ruthless cultural efficiency in memory-holing this shit. Still, at least I can say a lot of folks actually never will spend another Thanksgiving with QAnon Grandma ever again.

I can type out this part: actual "traditional" societies often deal with taboo-breakers by ostracizing them permanently, which is what needs to happen when MAGA voters start pretending they never really chose or wanted this. You can see the effect it has on them from the rage at NC adult children.

(This is not to say there's anything remotely "feminist" about the movie, just I liked that even they realized that had been pretty egregious even for this character)

The Thunderball encounter was genuinely disturbing rewatching it as an adult, this one was "oh gosh, I just happened to be going about my rounds & thought I'd stop by oh whoops there go my knickers tee-hee!"

The whole point is to do things that would make your opponent die of shame proudly, openly, with no hesitation whatsoever--scruples & conscience are for pussies. It's toxic rightism/masculinity boiled down to its essence. This isn't hard unless someone makes it hard.

If anyone who's actually seen Moonraker is claiming that I'll laugh them out of the room

This is rapidly becoming science fiction now but there's a reason for a while they were trial-ballooning "uh.....maybe a Felix Leitner franchise now instead?"

Make Taylor Swift James Bond, finally her life's journey is complete

Also I'm old enough that I burst out laughing when Judi Dench said in Casino Royale, "CHRIST, I miss the Cold War!", I really can't see what the franchise has to offer for anyone younger

"There are many cheesy stupid nostalgia-fueled pop culture franchises whose reactionary politics don't withstand even a passing glance but this one is mine"

Speaking as someone who has genuinely enjoyed most of the franchise since childhood, you never need to

Thank you, Frenchy, for keeping us safe

Something I do genuinely like about Never Say Never Again is in its remit as an unspoken Thunderball remake, it took the encounter with the spa worker that in Thunderball was an unambiguous rape & reworked it so she was insanely horny for him at the get-go & engineered the whole encounter herself.