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But most of the ruling class are, well. Stupid, basically. The smart ones are outliers. And that makes the show terribly relevant in the current moment, although it can be a tough watch because there is no actual hero in this story.

And the show is quite clear that people DON'T have to be these things. Viserys II, the king whose death kicked all this off, was a good king. Dareon, on the most recent episode, explains he doesn't want to be king and is just staying in the hope of staving off more suffering among the commoners.

The various leaders who could potentially become King (or Queen) of Westeros are all terrible people. They are disinterested in the details of running a kingdom, or entitled and selfish, or crazy, or some combination of those things.

People expect fantasy shows to be about people who are good at being fantasy heroes or fantasy kings or whatnot. In HOUSE OF THE DRAGON absolutely nobody is good at being a fantasy king and nobody wants to be a fantasy hero and the result is more or less what you would expect

Just a fantasy series where the average level of competency is about on par with, say, the current UK Labour Party. Some of them are malicious and evil, some of them are just stuck and trying to get through all this without getting killed (and will almost certainly get killed).

(I get my dopamine hits from advanced puzzle-solving at a level most people never really graduate to, because the basic stuff doesn't do it for me any more and I need the black tar heroin level of puzzle-solving, which is why I play six-hour-long boardgames.)

AI flattery doesn't work on me, but that's not because I'm Built Better or shit like that, it's because I'm too fucking neurotic for flattery to work on me generally! Having massive self-esteem issues that just happen to innoculate me against AI psychosis isn't exactly a superior outcome.

100% true

Outside of clothing, though, as a general rule people *don't* actively want the cheap shitty version of a product. They'll settle for it, and in a consumer environment where saving for a good Thing is becoming increasingly difficult they'll settle more and more often.

But clothing is also a special case because the combination of fast fashion and social media has transformed consumer expectations/demands and fashion cycles now last months instead of years. That doesn't hold true for most other categories of goods, although god knows other sectors are trying.

It doesn't make the preference *false*, but there's a difference between voluntary and involuntary preferences. If one determines that the marginal utility of sixty bucks is better spent on $50 of food and $10 for a t-shirt that lasts six months versus a t-shirt that lasts five years and no food...?

"what is the best Batmobile? uh, turns out it's a Toyota Camry"

HADESTOWN approaching twenty million with the number of screenings it's had is bonkers

Ah yes, the British comics market, which decided that the epic superhero story was not enough and that the comic also needed Zoids

ah yes the famed host of "My Brother, My Brother, and Me (The Asshole One)"

Reasons to see a superhero movie might be: - the superhero is traditionally popular (e.g. Spidey, Supes, Bats) - the trailer is really cool (e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman) - killer word of mouth - you like the director - etc.

Like, interceptor missiles. The USA has used up like 80 percent of their stockpile. Because the actual idea behind interceptor missiles is that they play defense until you can destroy the enemy's missile capacity. Typically with an invasion!

The US armed forces are breaking down after five months of air war because they're senselessly wasting critical resources that are meant to be used for only a short term in any sensible military strategy, because they're supposed to be used as prelude to invasion.

But nobody wants to invade Iran, because of the aforementioned expenses. This doesn't mean anybody likes Iran, because they're a shitty oppressive regime who get away with fucking around in the world far more than most other countries ever would, precisely because of the Strait of Hormuz problem.

If one actually NEEDED to go to war with Iran (they don't), it would mean full ground invasion. Everybody knew that when this started! And yes, the USA could probably manage that successfully and even maybe pull off regime change. It would just be extremely expensive in terms of money and lives.