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Sean Connery has died

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Re: Sean Connery has died

#181
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget he was also an unapologetic advocate of spousal abuse, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzXkbJwrN38

Any living person can hold a reprehensible point of view, and as much as I may disagree with it, I really can't stand this attitude of writing people off because of a flawed perspective. That doesn't mean I support spousal abuse by association, it means I recognise he has a shitty point of view amongst all of his other flaws, as well as his qualities. There isn't a single person in history that can meet this standard…

I hate the recent “Cancel Culture” thing (that the phenomenon you descrive is an instance of).

Firstly, and beside the point, the term itself is wonderfully (though I suspect accidentally) ambiguous and self-defeating, as one can read it as “the culture of a cancelling” (as intended) or “this will cancel culure” (a possible side-effect).

Anyway... yes, cancel culture... I criticised it here once previously and amongst the various responses, most contrarian, was one that stuck with me: paraphrasing, it read “you’ve always told us to vote with our feet and now you’re complaining about cancel culture?”

Clearly this responder considered “cancel culture” to be the latest term for “boycot”, but I don’t think that’s accurate. I cannot (yet?) justify even to myself what utterly subtle distinction must exist between the two, but until I do and probably even thereafter I will accept that they do have a point.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#182

The guy defined what it meant to be classy, hip, and bad ass all at the same time. Mere mortals can barely do just a single one of those.

As far as I understand, James Bond personifies the classic male upper class ideal.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And those descendants will be viewed in horror by their descendants in turn, when they prove that plants have sentience and thoughts.

Not to drift too far off topic, but you may be surprised to learn about biomass transfer efficiency. It takes a lot more plant mass to feed to animals than eating those plants directly. This "plants might feel pain too" gotcha doesn't really play out.

Ruminants are the most efficient fiber processors, and we are some of the most efficient ruminant-meat processors. We also cannot process fiber.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#184
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he did that So it's because of him you have to bad mouth him. It must be hard. Sean denounced domestic abuse afterwards. Does he get points for that? https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12430892.i-dont-believe-...

Yes, it is hard because even here in supposedly enlightened and fair minded Hacker News, even just making comments about his unequivocal support for slapping women, it is met with ridiculous downvotes, claims that there’s “a time and a place” to criticize abuse (and that this apparently isn’t it) and various other mental gymnastics that either tacitly support misogyny or try to deflect rightful criticism of misogyny…

> It’s obviously a quick PR filler piece

Now that you've made up your mind, anything to the contrary is a conspiracy.

Did you actually listen to what Sean said? He starts by saying it's wrong to hit women. He knows it's wrong. What he's saying is if a woman doesn't know when to shut up, they could get themselves slapped and it wasn't beneath him either. He's justifying physical retaliation to verbal abuse. That's very different from straight DV. In fact, maybe he doesn't want any women to be slapped. Maybe they do it to themselves just as he made you publicly shame him?

Which brings us to another nuanced topic. Is public shaming non-violent?

Of course, maybe he hit first or just uses that as an excuse, who knows. His first wife's autobiography has some dirt, but then again, was it PR filler to sell her book? Or maybe he never hit anyone in his life, but just said something he believed which just happened to no longer be in fashion.

My only point is, demonizing or idolizing is all absurd. It's an act that only gets easier when nuance is removed and positions are deemed absolute. Because ultimately that's what it is. Removal of all nuance.

Today it's still okay by most for a woman to hit a man. Tomorrow will men get the justice they deserve? Also my 2yo hits me and I have video evidence. Should I hold on to it?

If someone needs help, let's help them. Public shaming helps no one.

> supposedly enlightened and fair minded Hacker News

I almost spilled my coffee.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#186

Whenever someone of this stature goes, I tend to gather together their films, what I have of them, and work through them. So here I am looking at Outland (which isn't as terrible as Harlan Ellison said but goodness it isn't great), Zardoz , In the Name of the Rose , The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it's fun, I will grant it that), Time Bandits and was left wondering: what films had his iconic performances? What…

"Outland" (despite its faults) can be seen as an early example of cyberpunk with its evil mega corporation ruling Io (even though it was inspired by real life company mining towns just on a larger scale)

Re: Sean Connery has died

#188

Whenever someone of this stature goes, I tend to gather together their films, what I have of them, and work through them. So here I am looking at Outland (which isn't as terrible as Harlan Ellison said but goodness it isn't great), Zardoz , In the Name of the Rose , The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it's fun, I will grant it that), Time Bandits and was left wondering: what films had his iconic performances? What…

I think it's probably important with Connery just to accept him as the man and actor that he was, rather than worrying about his range - whether he was playing Bond, or King Arthur in the execrable "First Knight", or a Russian submarine commander, he was always the same handsome, suave man with an unmistakable Scottish accent: that, in itself, was his great achievement. But he definitely wasn't a method actor or part…

Yes, usually the accent goes unmentioned in-story, but I liked how in "The Presidio" (1988) they actually explained why Sean Connery's character (a US Army officer) would have the accent by explaining that his family moved from Scotland to the US when he was a child.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rowan Atkinson appears in "Never Say Never Again" as a character that is almost Mr. Bean. It's not really a cameo though. Minnie Driver had a cameo in "Goldeneye", and Madonna had a small role in one of the Brosnan flicks. Richard Branson also appeared in one of the Brosnan films. Other than that, it's mostly production folks: https://www.007museum.com/Bond_cameos.htm

I meant ex-bonds in a bond movie

When George Lazenby looks into the camera and says, “This never happened to the other fellow,” that’s a cameo by reference.

Re: Sean Connery has died

#190
post #7

I wish he hadn't stopped making films at 70, but I can understand that he wanted some peace.

Same here. It's a shame The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was his very last.

Apparently he had been offered the role of Gandalf (which ultimately went to Sir Ian McKellen) in the LOTR movies but turned it down!
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