YouTube link here. No donuts visible.
Part 2 of 2. We play a game of “Why is Tony’s brain like that?”. talk Star Wars, and make some important discoveries that will change our lives forever (see title). Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
*indicates a question was abridged
*I didn’t like The Last Jedi. Does that make me a bad person? –Mick the Knife
What is the Hat’s favorite donut shop to stop at on the Iowa Donut Trail? –Dave of Id
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Hurts Donuts is awesome, we have one here too. Just slightly too far to get on a regular basis. We do have Donut Delite which is also fantastic. Krispy Kreme is fine, the one by my training center in Chicago is miles better than the ones we had here I think. Possibly just the rarity of having it, but it’s also attached to a huge factory bakery so it might just be the constant super freshness.
Did you know of the Iowa Donut Trail, before now?
I didn’t, but I did know there is a kind of famous bakery in Pella. I go through Kalona often now for work so I’ll have to keep an eye out for the bakery.
Yeah, this is the thing… I feel like they’ve missed a lot of good bakeries in this “trail.”
But then there’s the bit about how donut shop and bakery isn’t necessarily the same thing…
I emailed Will several months ago with an idea that’s related to the conversation y’all were having about fans over-identifying with stories.
The email came up because of a conversation I was having with my brother and with Pete about first, conspiracy theories, and then, death-threats to Hajime Isayama over the ending of the manga of Attack on Titan.
I think of both of those as an overinvestment in narrative that could be labelled a mental illness (or at least a social illness). What seems to cause both are feelings of powerlessness and purposelessness. In the case of death threats to a story’s creator–becoming so invested in a storyline that the division between one’s own life and the story breaks down. And somehow–the way the person imagines the story should end in order to give them some kind of emotional or moral fulfillment (purpose) doesn’t happen, and that really should have been theirs to control (powerlessness)–not this jerk who has robbed them of meaning. In the case of conspiracy theories–someone feels the powers that be are constantly focused on them and out to get them, but this gives them a sense of power and purpose–they are so important the government wants to stop them, is tracking them, etc. The reality is that the powers that be do things that have terrible impact on people’s lives, but in addition, most often these terrible things are just random–nothing to do with who they are. And conspiracy theories replace the absurdity of that with a sense of meaning.
I agree with both of you generally that stories are mostly a matter of taste. One can still like problematic stories. But to me there’s a difference between stories that are problematic and stories that promote a view of the world that is harmful (conspiracy theories being an example). I think problematic stories generally have their problems centered in character and representation. A more harmful story (narratives that promote rape culture are another example) tend to have their problems centered more on plot. This is not to say that one is a bad person for liking these stories either, but I find there’s some level of difference in my own reaction. I can still watch Star Wars and be aware of its problems with representation. Movies that tell a distorted narrative that promotes some unhealthy view of the world/of history/of groups of people–I can’t deal with those. I wouldn’t advocate censoring them, but I do try to point out the problems with them to others.
Trying to point out the problems to others. I think that’s a big step. Being aware of what’s happening in a story — warts and all, so to speak — is crucial.
My lines for story are well documented in the podcast. Some elements can ruin a story for me, regardless of the parts I might like. But one should always be aware, and make others aware, of the issues regardless.
Something with poor representation won’t put me off as much as something that promotes rape culture, to use your example. But in each case, I think it’s equally important to be aware of those issues, regardless of your enjoyment of the story.
To put it another way, Star Wars doesn’t get more of a pass because it’s problematic issues are lesser than, say, Game of Thrones. Whether you like or don’t like either of those is a personal issue. But regardless, you cannot (should not) ignore the problematic issues of either. That way institutionalized bullshit lies…
I picked up Hurts Donuts this morning. They are fine, but super expensive (imo). I only got them because I had some books to drop-off at the library just after daycare drop-off. It was a reward for myself for having gotten the kiddos out the door more than an hour early because they woke up early 🙁
HyVee donuts are fine, and substantially less expensive. I think they’re better than Dunkin. I do not understand the hubbub surrounding Daylight donuts, but did feel like Iowa City was a strange, donut void for all of my time during undergrad. I’ve never actually eaten at the Dunkin on the strip, but knowing it was there (when it finally arrived) was somehow calming. I suppose I could have got HyVee donuts during that time, but don’t think I did that either. #Hindsight
Yeah, there was a rough time a while back… basically no donuts.
Trish, I think, also isn’t that into Daylight. I mean, she’ll eat them just fine, but I don’t think she’d ever pick them.
I dunno… I love ’em. 🙂