Brad Stephenson

Writer covering tech, gaming, geek culture, & more. Latest on @Lifewiretech. Yogi. Meditator. Gay not queer. 🇦🇺🏳️‍🌈 Also @moonkittynet 📔Matthew 5:44

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

The thing is, a whole generation didn’t hate the Star Wars prequels.

I was 18 when Phantom Menace came out, saw it opening night with a few friends from student res, and then rewatched it at least three or four times in the theatre over the next month or so.

Pretty much everyone saw this movie (and EpII & III). Guys and girls. Nerds and casuals. Many went multiple times (the box office numbers prove this).

The merch sold through the roof, every magazine featured cover stories with the cast, most casual fans thought Jar Jar was funny while the Star Wars nerds were obsessed with the tech behind the character. Girls loved Padme’s fashion while straight guys loved Portman.

The online fandom was hyperactive with fan theories, fan art, etc with a very clear even split between the male/female demos.

Fan and general public reaction was insanely positive.

This particular scene became ICONIC.

98% of the negativity came from the professional film critics. TPM wasn’t perfect by any means but the media definitely tried to push the message that it was a disaster, Jake Lloyd sucked, and that Jar Jar was offensive and racist.

This weird gaslighting that it was the fans who were negative and toxic is just current media trying to do damage control for just how negative they were at the time.

[Best of Star Wars @bestofstarwar]

“I genuinely can't understand how the previous generation saw this in 1999 and said "this sucks".”

[Hyperion @Ortgeist]

Calvin Klein, 1982

[The Critical Drinker @TheCriticalDri2]

They'll cancel something with genuine potential like this, but keep pumping money into Rings of Power for season after season. Madness.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@Polymarket

[John J.S. Soriano @JohnJSSoriano]

My son has Down syndrome and he's one of the best things that ever happened to me. The list of conditions sounds terrifying at first, but modern medicine can do so much for them. If you ever get a positive screening, I promise you won't regret welcoming your child.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@aaronsagers Widows Bay is a LOT of fun.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

Gays on one end, straights on the other, bisexuals in the middle at various places depending on his much they’re attracted to the same sex, etc.

A pretty grounded concept.

Only gets annoying when people bring fluidity into it and claim they move up and down the spectrum depending on their daily vibe.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

This is actually definitely the case with a lot of straight 20 and 30-somethings.

I’ve been asked “It’s all basically the same thing right?” and even “So you’re kind of like a girl?” at several parties now.

And at a meditation training last year in Bali, the (clearly progressive) American instructor started talking about sex differences and flatly stated that gay men have female brains.

Don’t even get me started on the growing number of progressive straight people I know who have told me that sexual orientation is a choice as sexuality and gender is fluid or something.

This is a problem.

[Brendon Waynes @BrendonWon70937]

Many straights, intentionally or genuinely, cannot tell the difference between homosexuals and transgenders, despite the strategical lumping of LGB with the T by a bipartisan effort of left and right. "Trans is bad so gay is bad (or always worse.)" (1/2)

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@Melissa14697526 If you think that means he thinks he’s literally a girl, I can’t help you.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@CJohnCC Kind of the issue. Society’s regressing when it comes to gay issues

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@JoeGayHistorian @jaradon2 Fluid implies changeable. You might be thinking of “sexuality on a spectrum”

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

I’ve met some that are 50/50 will others lean 90/10 preferring one over the other.

Of course there are those who are just straight (or gay sometimes) who believe that “everyone’s technically bisexual” so they identify as bisexual even though they’d never experiment outside of their regular dating pool. Sure does make them feel special though.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@JoeGayHistorian @jaradon2 I’d argue not even for bisexuals as their bisexuality orientation doesn’t change.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@jaradon2 @JoeGayHistorian But it sounds so smart to dumb people

[Muad Sneed @muadsneed]

@ShiinaBR Don't. Cry. Out loud.
Just keep it inside.
Learn how to hide your feelings.

[Fred Sargeant 🏳️‍🌈 🟦 @FredSargeant]

'Judenfrei Pride'. It never would have occurred to me 57 years ago that this is where we'd come to, yet here we are.

H/T @MtlSeb

[Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin]

Our country is run by people who believe that the best way to solve a problem is to pretend it doesn't exist.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

@latinspaceman Nepal wouldn’t win the contest but he’s the one I’d spend a long weekend with no question

[Fred Sargeant 🏳️‍🌈 🟦 @FredSargeant]

The Insp in charge of the raid was Seymour Pine of the Public Morals Division unit that worked out of the First Precinct house in the First Division, not far from the Wall Street area. The mob paid off for the Stonewall operation at the Sixth Precinct, not the First. The Sixth didn't know about the raid and there was no failure to make the regular payment to "the pad". While the raid was purportedly because of the illicit operation, that was, according to Pine, a ruse to get into the bar to gather evidence related a blackmail investigation involving customers and Wall Street bonds. Think of the illicit bar operation as more like a "broken taillight" in this case - one thing leads to another if you know what you're doing. When Pine's unit called for backup it was very, very slow in coming from the Sixth.

[Brad Stephenson @Shuttlecock]

“Have you heard about the ancient Japanese tradition of forest bathing???”