Confessions of Atlas

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Back when I was 13 or so years old, I used to think eugenics was/could be good policy in some situations, including forced sterilizations and sometimes even forced abortions.

But now that you're 16 you reject such foolishness?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I haven’t seen a single full Star Wars movie.

If you ever decide to watch just one to say you did it, the two most worth watching are A New Hope (1977, originally titled Star Wars) and it's direct sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980), which is considered the very best one by most.

That's the conventional wisdom, but it's wrong. A New Hope is only so well regarded because it's the first one, otherwise it would be considered okay at best. ESB is very good but it's overrated because the most iconic moments came from it and original Star Wars fans latched onto it due to nostalgia. That also explains why the prequels (which have two okay films and one excellent one) are criminally underrated, because the people who saw the originals as children/teens then saw the prequels as young adults and obviously they didn't meet their idealized standards.

If you want to watch the Star Wars films, you should watch all six (the Disney garbage doesn't count) or none at all. There are several possible orders, and they each have their pros and cons, but order of release (4-5-6-1-2-3) seems like a safe bet.

I've developed a fondness for A New Hope in the past few years that I didn't have growing up. I think this has primarily to do with the intense use of practical effects and, outside of the desert, much of the purely "technological" sets we get--the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon, primarily--and its status as a sort-of complete story on its own. Empire was my traditional favorite as a child.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I have anxiety about talking over the phone, especially with people I don't know well personally. So as a result, my voice gets really high because I'm nervous, and lots of people think I sound like an old woman. I've been addressed as "ma'am" several times over the phone, and I've had people ask me to hand the phone to myself, because they're trying to call me and think I'm someone else, even members of my own family.

If certain (even necessary) tasks require the use of a phone, I will postpone them, perhaps indefinitely. (fx I still have yet to cancel or modify my American phone plan with a service provider that apparently only has functional tech support via phone and during American work hours) I will even prefer to make the drive down to the store rather than deal with issues over the phone.

If I am willing to call someone for official reasons, I prefer to be in a room alone with the other caller on headphones. For whatever reason the idea of a third party being able to hear the call terrifies me--not because of surveillance concerns, but because of some sort of social cowardice disguised as courteousness. My off-brand Apple earbuds stopped working before I left the US (and I'm too lazy/cheap to find some new ones), so I even barely use Duolingo now with the speakers on unless the door is closed and I think my host family is out of the apartment.