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Re: “Batman v Superman: Doctoring Doom”
A 2.5/4 is very fair for this. It's not as bad as a lot of critics are saying and their arms were folded against it from the beginning, but to see these butthurt fanboys getting out the pitchforks at the suggestion that there is ANYTHING wrong with it is hilarious. It's an enjoyable, but VERY flawed movie. Relax, its an honest judgement not an attack on your favorite franchise or superhero movies in general.
Personally I hope we get a standalone Affleck Batman movie with someone other than Snyder directing.
Re: “Residents plan to mourn transgender murder victims to commemorate Transgender Remembrance Day”
Yeah, how dare anyone even MENTION a segment of hate crime murders in the face of statistics that say its not exactly an epidemic (this year, assuming all have been reported as such). Thanks GV, I thought maybe these murders were something worth caring about, but you've shown me the error of my naive bleeding heart ways. Please do remind us of statistics like these on any article you come across, whether the author made an assertion contrary to your point or not.
Re: “City Council approves NoDa rezoning”
I hate that the Chop Shop isn't being preserved or worked creatively into the new development...hopefully they find a new home nearby (because Neighborhood Theater damn sure isn't pulling its weight in terms of bookings lately). However if this was inevitable, which it sounds like it was, at least its being done by the only developer who currently seems to give a crap about quality design around here. The neighborhood needs to put pressure on them, but scare them off and you'll probably get something worse like the value-engineered POS that Mercury turned into (the apartments wrapping NT).
Re: “Andy the Doorbum declares an art war on Charlotte”
Question, I believe you are missing the point of performance art (and most art in general) by searching for an ulterior motive here other than the statement he's already made.
Re: “#FergusonEverywhere: Leaders and young folks debate how to move forward”
DLP I was referring to the local gathering described in the article and other similarly civilly-conducted meetings, not the rioting in Ferguson and not even the peaceful protests throughout the country (which I do believe deserve to be happening). Your first paragraph seems to imply that the out of hand nature of some protests invalidates or at least belittles any other discussion on the subject regardless of its merits. By saying "your rally" without specificity, not knowing what protest/rally behaviors I support and which I don't, are you lumping every facet of this outcry into the same dismissible package?
Yes, the Brown case is not the most clean-cut of these incidents to rally around since there is plenty of doubt, but if we can agree that the larger issue is in fact an issue, I care more about that than what the spark was. I do not know for sure if the "angry mob" element would have been any different after a trial, but I would think that yes, the larger nation-wide reaction to a willingness to at least TRY an officer in a case with such uncertainty would be very different than that to a decision not to indict delivered with thinly-veiled contempt and apathy.
I don't mean to paint your words as more extreme than they are, but your last paragraph does come across as essentially blaming the victim, not even just for their individual actions, but for the perception of their POTENTIAL actions! By phrasing it as a question you seem to be suggesting that the fear factor at the root of the issue here (both on the side of police and of minority communities) is a chicken-or-the-egg scenario, but you only offer the blame to one side. Obviously interacting with police in a polite, compliant and respectful manner is an important skill to learn and teach because of the stakes, and no matter how much police and community relations improve in the future that should remain important, but "poor attitude" or "display of contempt" should not usually be sufficient grounds for deadly force. The statistics seem to support the idea that as a white man, I can get away with a lot more of that than a similar-sized unarmed black man could.
Re: “#FergusonEverywhere: Leaders and young folks debate how to move forward”
DLP, while Ferguson has become the most visible story and taken on a life of its own, this issue doesn't just hinge on the particulars of that one case. (For the record, I believe that case should have definitely gone to trial, but don't presume to know how that trial would turn out.) This discussion and these protests exist because of HOW MANY of these cases there are. I think the even more recent failure to indict the officers involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, (an unapproved tactic btw), in the face of clear-as-day video evidence that it was unwarranted, is an even more stark illustration of what every citizen, but especially minorities, are up against. Your characterization of any gathering to discuss this important issue as promoting "uninformed angry mob rule" is extremely insulting.
Re: “First Drip (9/12/14): City postpones discussion on Uber and Lyft, Cannon to be sentenced in October, more”
My argument is not that taxis should not be regulated, just that digital dispatch services have exposed the many shortcomings in the taxi system and now those can't be ignored. Yeah yeah, the law's the law, but when you're faced with a clearly better system, do you punish it for having found a (probably temporary) loophole, or learn some lessons from it to apply to the whole industry?
