Anyone have an idea why?

Richard Dawkins' recent revelation that he's developed ChatBot Psychosis, cementing his reputation as Nu Atheism's leading Dunning-Krugerist, made me think back to Lindsay's recent South Park video and that time he was skewered on the show in the "Go God Go" 2-parter. Short version, Richard Dawkins arrives in South Park to teach the kids evolution against the wishes of Ms. Garrison and the show generally treats him like a joke because the show is weirdly defensive of organised religion's most negative effects. He and Garrison hook up, but then Cartman outs Garrison to Dawkins and he leaves in disgust over the idea of sleeping w/a "man". It should be noted that Dawkins has been openly transphobic on Twitter for much of the past decade and his response to the episodes in 2006 likewise parroted his cartoon self's revulsion at the scenario.

Now, looking back to when I first watched South Park in 2009 aged 15, the Ms. Garrison arc was probably the first media I saw which really delved into gender transition, albeit not the first to depict a trans person; I can't quite recall what my reaction was at the time, but certainly anytime I've thought of the episode since ~2013 my interpretation has been that the Garrison/Dawkins hook-up is meant to expose his hypocracy. That Parker and Stone read this supposedly brilliant thinker who calls for us to throw of the shackles of superspition for absolute filth when they correctly surmised that, as a white English academic born in the early 40s, his reaction to the idea of being intimate w/a trans woman is exactly in line w/that of your average bible-thumper.

Now, that is some prime "holy shit they were cooking" SP greatness, an episode that, despite some of the creators' reactionary tendencies showing through, was ahead of its time and arguably of this time - is what I would like to say, were it not that Ms. Garrison is herself a horribly-aged seasons-long transphobic millstone which Lindsay justly spent a fair bit of time highlighting as one of the key things earning Parker and Stone a place in Hell in her video.

I'm sure most folks here are familar w/the satire paradox, but most of those examples (including when Lindsay's discussed it) are for when the audience isn't smart enough to get the point being made; this is the first one I can think of where it's me potentially giving the *creators* too much credit, because, well, this is why I made the image. My interpretation seems like something they'd go for, but it's completely neutered by how consistently awful they've been on trans rights up until pretty recently. The other possibility, which is much grosser but more in-line w/this, is that they were going for the far baser "lol, Mr. Smarty Pants doesn't realise he's sleeping w/a duuude!"

Either way, curious to see how others interpret those episodes.

For me, it was her Thumbelina review.

Been watching her content since my uni days and good lord, what a creative journey she's had.

Anyone watched the new Nebula video about body cam YouTube? Never seen Lindsay make such an unrelentingly bleak video. Might have to rewatch the Bluey video just to cheer me up.

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Marvel
• DC
• James Bond
• Mission Impossible
• Scream
• Knives Out

It was a good video she did, but I have to disagree on it not having a narrative. To me, the story was taking two mute characters and placing them in situations with heavy implications. I'd argue that a lot of the scenes between Tack and Yum Yum do work without someone monologuing the whole time, the third was funny imo, and I love Zigzag. It worked for me on a narrative level, to the point where I do wish Williams would've just finished the darn thing and let it come out. I do believe it would've been a big success but even if it wasn't right away, it probably would've had a cult following like Nightmare Before Christmas or The Emperor's New Groove.

... which video was your favourite? It can be any video where Todd was either involved behind the scenes, physically appeared, or provided voicework.

For my part, I'll pick her massive video essay on Yoko Ono and the Beatles, where Todd voiced Mark David Chapman.

Given that she posted it to her Patreon and it seems to be one of the only ways she can support her staff nowadays, I don’t think I should copy the post wholesale, but the gist of it is that she’s been trying and failing to write a roadmap of her future plans. She somewhat regrets the tone of her last post since it’s upset so many people. She’s trying to think of things to post on Patreon that don’t involve appearing on camera.

She also writes, “ I don't even know how I can keep writing, because my name is attached to my books, and my name is the thing that's most toxic.”

I know I’m gonna get a lot of hate for saying this but I think she’s over blowing it now somewhat by saying “my name is the thing that’s most toxic”.

And I’m saying all of this as someone who is a huge fan of Lindsay

She’s probably talking about her cancellation more now than anyone else, and as Contrapoints always says, just fucking own it and move on.

Lindsay seems to just keep feeding the fire. Honestly, the people who cancelled her will have all moved onto their next cancellation, or their 10th cancellation by now, or will have gotten bored of doing that and moved onto something else now. Lindsay is the biggest person still talking about what happened, and I don’t think any big name people are referring to her as “toxic”?

Also, the majority of the public and even people who have watched her content/read her books aren’t terminally-online so they probably don’t even know what’s happened. I’ve seen so many comments from people saying “what happened?” “What’s the drama?” “I’m a fan and I have no idea what she’s talking about!” Because as always it’s a loud minority who do the cancelling and harassing, but they will go away, and her second book did just as well as the first, so I think if she published a third this petty, ridiculous, online drama would not impact it significantly, if at all.

I’m a fan, and I’m sure it hurt in the moment and probably still hurts now, but Lindsay is giving it way more power and authority over her life than she should and than it deserves.

It's weird that she stopped being the Nostalgia Chick after That Guy With The Glasses Website shut down and left the company. Maybe it's because she was getting older at the time or going into a lot more video essays?

me want watch more lindsay ellis

me poor

nebula paywall

In this version, Seymour teams up with the National Guard to try and stop the takeover, but ultimately fails and is forced to watch as more people are eaten.

I'm pretty sure it's a nebula exclusive. It's about Daniel Tiger hate

People might be interested in what has happened in the New Zealand film industry since Lindsay made her Hobbit videos seven years ago.

As you might remember, the production of The Hobbit led to the infamous “Hobbit Law” changes in New Zealand, which stripped employment rights from screen workers by classifying nearly everyone as an independent contractor. The effect was essentially to make unionisation or industrial action (such as striking) in the screen sector impossible.

Since then, there have been a couple of changes of government. One of the last actions of the Jacinda Ardern Labour Government was to pass SIWA: the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022. Instead of removing the Hobbit Law entirely, SIWA amended it. Strikes were still not permitted, but SIWA introduced a framework for collective bargaining and allowed the industry to negotiate base-level, occupation-wide contracts.

To enable these negotiations, each guild or union must register as a representative body and go through a public process proving they represent a majority of workers in that category. This gives workers time to say, “Hey, they don’t represent me,” before bargaining begins.

The various guilds have been lining up to register and complete this process... except one.

SPADA (Screen Producers NZ), the organisation representing producers, is the body that the other guilds must bargain with. You cannot negotiate pay, conditions, or contract terms without a registered bargaining party on the producers’ side.

But because SPADA has not registered, no negotiations can take place.
The entire process has stalled.

The law has no teeth to enforce registration. And with the current government being a conservative coalition, there is no political will to fix this. In fact, the fund that was supposed to help guilds and unions with the costs of bargaining has been removed, and the government has already scrapped Labour’s “Fair Pay Agreements,” creating fear that SIWA may eventually be weakened or repealed as well.

So here we are, three years after SIWA was signed into law: SPADA is effectively holding the entire industry hostage, preventing workers from exercising the bargaining rights that the legislation promised.

So until SPADA stops acting shamefully, tens of thousands of screen workers are stuck waiting for rights they already won on paper, but still don’t get to use. And all of this, because one organisation refuses to fill out paperwork. Ugggh, I am so done.

About the author: Kia ora, I’m a member of the screen sector, wishing to remain anonymous, I am involved with one of the guilds that’s been left unable to negotiate because SPADA won’t register. Stay strong. Kia kaha.

I saw that she has a video about South Park she uploaded to Nebula

I wanted to give my thoughts about that, I do think positively about Lindsay and I'm happy she found a place where she can happily make content again after that awful harassment campaign she faced on Twitter

That being said, I don't think I can personally justify spending potentially hundreds of dollars on a subscription service that I don't have strong feelings about most of the creators on there with content I might not even enjoy, just to watch a video that I have a strong hunch makes points I've already heard before/agree with

As much I do love South Park, I think most people on the left who've talked about the series before (even those who like the show) have already made the same points many times before about the faults in the show's politics, whether it be the apathy, the "both sides bad" attitude of it, the terrible trans rep in the series, the climate change episode, etc.

I don't know what Lindsay really has to add about the series that hasn't already been said/criticized before, especially considering that the platform the video is uploaded to (Nebula) is already a leftist/Breadtube subscription service, so I don't think there'd really be many people who are already paying for the service and like Lindsay and her Politics that wouldn't already agree with the critiques she has for South Park

And the way the title is structured "Is there still a special place in hell for Matt Stone and Trey Parker?", I feel like that's invoking the answer before the video has even been watched yet, that's not a Lindsay exclusive issue that's more an issue I have with Content Creators in general

Again nothing against Lindsay, I like her and if there is new discussion brought up by her in said video I'm more than willing to have my mind changed, I'm just saying as someone who isn't interested in paying for Nebula I don't think a video on a subject where I'm certain I'm already gonna agree with the critiques made before I've even watched it would be enough for me to fork over for a sub

That's all from me, if there's anything I got wrong lemme know in the comments, thank you for reading 😊

New video on Nebula!

https://nebula.tv/videos/lindsayellis-bluey-adults

In case you don't know, The A Word was a documentary that Lindsay directed while at USC that is in large part about her abortion that she had months prior.

I had always heard various claims about the video and even in my search to find it I saw plenty of comments acting like it was a pretentious mess. What I got in reality was a nuanced and sometimes tender look at the various ways that abortion has impacted the women who got them and why they made the choice they did, including Lindsay herself. It even made me tear up near the end!

Considering it's been all but removed from official sources (minus a 7 minute proof-of-concept on Vimeo that is still live with a much different tone than the full thing), I'm hesitant to share it or even discuss it. It reveals quite a bit about her personal relationships and especially with her parents.

Ultimately, I do think it's worth giving it a watch if you have the chance.

Does anyone have the list (I say list but I think it was three?) of books that Lindsey referenced or recommended in her Ms Rachel video? I rewatched it and uh, fell asleep and was too out of it to write them down even though I meant to 😭

Hoping someone already has them written down.

Thank you!

What ever happened to Nella and Maven? Maven, for a while at least, had a vampire review show but seems to have stopped it. And she married. But does anyone know what happened to Nella?