That makes sense. I know he didn’t write the movie, but I assumed that he had a lot of input on the monster design. He always has a lot of input on the monster design.

Honestly, I remember similar vamp lore dragging down the first one. There some interesting stuff with Frost being lower class because he was turned Vamp instead of born Vamp, but the third-act vampire-god thing was kinda meh, ending with some horribly dated CGI.

Also, while the world building was cool, it’s not as though Blade is a super interesting character. He’s a super cool bad-ass, but I find myself checking out when they get into his emotional backstory. Whistler id mich more of the emotional core of fhat movie, which is probably why they had to bring him back in the second (which ie something in fhe second movie that I thought was a cheap cop-out).

Yeah, I thought that was the general consensus too, but I couldn’t be sure that wasn’t just an echo chamber I’d created with my friend group.

I actually thought 4 was better than 2 and 3. Not that 4 was very good, but I thought 2 and 3 suffered from an attempt to, “trilogize,” the series and make it a grand epic. It was clear by the end of the third movie that they didn’t know where they were going with all of the plot threads they’d set up like Calypso, the Brethren Court, the Jack/Elizabeth/Will love triangle they were hinting at…just way to many ideas and very little payoff. At least 4 told a coherent story in one movie, even if it wasn’t a very good story.

I would argue that Blade II is the better movie. Guillermo del Toro is a much more interesting director, and the Reapers are basically a dry run for his take on Vampires in The Strain.

Yes. Even if you don’t think the goals of space exploration are important, we’ve made huge developments in medicine, engineering, solar panels, telecommunications, and road safety based on NASA technology. You’re probably reading this on a phone that wouldn’t exist with space exploration research. Scientific research is never a linear set of goals or inventions, and the ancillary benefits of our pursuit of space have already changed the world.

Americans are saying the same thing about the U.S.

This is from the 16th. A higher court already overturned the injunction. And then they murder another citizen today in what was clearly a point-blank execution.

Getting real fucking sick of Europeans saying shit like this. You spent the last 70 years benefiting from the U.S.'s obscene military spending, and now you’re whining that the superpower has gone mad and come for you. Well, it turns out the imperial boomerang doesn’t just describe the people getting beaten and shot by militarized thugs in American streets. It also describes the countries that sat back and watched the U.S. empire grow, occasionally clucking their tongues in disapproval while happily lapping up the benefits of an imperialist ally.

The empire has come for all of us now. Find solidarity with those who want to fight it or surrender, but throwing up your hands and saying, “it’s not my fault, you fix it,” sure as shit isn’t helping anyone.

Well, he was found civilly liable for rape, so I’d say that one is settled. As for pedophilia, we have a lot of circumstantial evidence, and he’s literally blocking the release of the hard evidence, so I’d say most reasonable people can come to that conclusion.

Is every authoritarian strongman a catty old bitch, or is it just ours?

OMG, yes, thank you, that was a pretty big typo.

It’s worth looking at the framing of this. CNN asked, “Would you (favor) or (oppose) the U.S. attempting to take control of Greenland?” A poll from 4 days early found, when specifically asked about taking over Greenland by force, found it was a 86% support, 9% oppose. [86% oppose, 9% support] (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/86-percent-in-new-poll-against-us-taking-greenland-by-force/ar-AA1Udv9k). (I was very tired when I wrote this. Most Americans are very, very tired right now.)

Trump has made several bids to buy Greenland, and I think most of the support in this poll is for that option. I think the majority of Americans really don’t believe he’ll send the military to Greenland and destroy the NATO alliance. They think this is a negotiating tactic, and they are seriously mistaken.

That’s not what the special elections are showing. In last years special elections, Democrats have gained, on average, 14 points in districts that Trump won. Miami elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in 30 years. At the beginning of 2025, people were wondering if Republicans could hold on to the House. In 2026, they’re speculating on whether or not Democrats will retake the Senate.

And this is all happening while Democrats have hit historically low approval ratings. Only 18% of voters approve of the job they’re doing in Congress, including -6% approval in their own party. And still, voters want Democrats in charge of Congress, 47% to 43%. People hate Democrats more than they have ever hated Democrats in the history of Democrats, and they are still hate Trump more.

LOL, no. As I already said in this thread:

Trump is increasingly unresponsive to polling, even within his base, and it seems like the Pentagon really is planning an invasion. It would fracture his own MAGA movement, completely destroy NATO, make America a global pariah, and potentially start WWIII, but it seems he is seriously considering it.

Approval isn’t changing Trump’s actions, and he’s actively talking about canceling the midterms (though using his ICE for voter suppression is more likely). The only hope is that enough neocons tell him that they’ll support impeachment if he fucks up NATO.

Maybe. MAGA is fracturing right now. Withholding the Epstien files really was too much for some of them, and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s defection gave a lot of them permission to question and criticize him. Invading an ally for no reason might actually break through to good chunk of the average red hats.

I read an article that claimed some top Generals are trying to distract him with an invasion of Iran (which is also really, really bad). Traditional neocons certainly don’t want this, though; they don’t want to throw away 80 years of military alliances. Still, if the president tells the Pentagon, “make me a Greenland invasion plan,” they’re gonna do it.

Well, I hate to throw cold water on that comfort, but I’m not sure the numbers matter. Trump is increasingly unresponsive to polling, even within his base, and it seems like the Pentagon really is planning an invasion. It would fracture his own MAGA movement, completely destroy NATO, make America a global pariah, and potentially start WWIII, but it seems he is seriously considering it.

I really want to stress how deeply unpopular this is in the U.S. The MAGA movement is about 30% of the electorate, so you can generally expect that even the dumbest, most insane Trump decisions have a floor of 30% approval. 9% of Americans support this, 86% oppose it. At minimum, two-thirds of Trump’s most rabid, loyal followers are against this.

Damn, must be nice to live in a country where powerful people face consequences for their actions.