Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

Usually need subtitles because of it!

 

And people who mumble in films, I can hear every word in old films but struggle and only catch one word in three in most modern stuff.

 

Background drum beat on the main news and local news that goes on forever. On the local news it starts "hello I'm xxx and this is the Midlands news" Then off it goes more bonging and hubby shouts at the tv "Oh get on with it". And those wildlife programmes with music on top. And even on Space programmes. I'm sure it's quiet out there.

 

We have the subtitles on for a lot of films these days. Not hard of hearing, but also driven mad by the mumbling, often accents can flummox us too. Easier to read what’s going on, than having to keep replaying the same bits to try and work out what was said.

Another annoyance for us is adverts that open with a loud burst of some pop song or other. We usually mute the adverts, and often prerecord the show so we can skip through them, but sometimes we aren’t quick in enough to press the mute button. The volume always seems to be at a higher level than the preceding programme. Luckily, half the time we have no idea what is being advertised, otherwise that would be a few more companies to go on our ‘do not buy’ list.

In fact, I don’t remember seeing an advert that has actually encouraged us to buy a product. The opposite is probably true, if I see an advert I don’t like, I will make a positive effort to cross it off my shopping list. Am I alone, and do advertisers realise this happens?

 

I use subtitles too as music telling me “ you should be feeling sad/happy/amused/frightened now” just drives me to the off button. Plus, subtitles are often hilariously wrong.

 

If I don't like the music or it's too intrusive I don't bother with the programme. On the radio I don't listen to some programmes as I can't stand the presenters voice.

 

Scary scenes without music/sound lose their scariness and become almost comic to watch.

Thank heavens for mute buttons, eh?

Meanwhile, over the pond, Trump is considering classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Now, no question it has killed 10s of thousands and ruined the lives of millions, but if it is labelled a WMD, users can be criminalised and deported, countries allowing it through their borders (Canada, Mexico, for example) can be invaded and so on.

And, of course, the mega-billionaire American Sackler family who developed and aggressively marketed it, have immunity from prosecution.

 

Deport all the Belgians. They invented it.

 

They arrest American citizens and deport non-American citizens. It’s a drug used extensively by the poor, and there have already been suggestions homelessness will be outlawed with destitute people rounded up and put in camps. It takes the problem out of sight but does nothing to solve the cause.

Now the fentanyl problem is massive, truly massive, and something needs to be done, but it was entirely created by the greed of a very few.

 

It was the Sackler family who developed this particularly addictive form and marketed it extremely aggressively across the States, targeting poor mining towns especially. And they used some of the fortune created to become “philanthropists”. Straight out of the philanthrocapitalism playbook that so many billionaires use.

 

Could have put this in the Funny thread, but I, and I suspect many others, go there to be cheered up, so I’ll post my thoughts here.
One piece of tv footage from the recent US election campaign, showed a wild looking woman screeching up to a MAGA rally in a massive gas guzzling pick up truck festooned with Trump badges. She hung out of the window towards the tv crew shouting ‘these are all I need’, and waving a gun and a bible (which I’m sure she only read until she found a couple of lines she could interpret into ‘ thou shalt shoot thy neighbour if he trespasses against thee’)
I’m now picturing her doing the same in her new Tesla…..