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Worldly Distractions: Community 5.8 - App Development and Condiments


crazyforkate

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blog-shirleyjeff.jpgshirleyjeff

 

 

Another week, another episode of Community. What on earth could they have gotten up to now?

At the conclusion of another meeting, Shirley is hurt because she's not invited to the Save Greendale weekly dinner (Jeff assumed she was busy). The group scrambles to find a time which will work for everyone, but that's next to impossible. Jeff accuses Shirley of manipulating everyone, to which she expertly wins everyone's hearts. The Dean comes by with two app developers, who want to test their new social network (MeowMeowBeenz) at Greendale. The program involves rating people on a "Beenz" scale, and honestly, an app where you're constantly getting judged doesn't sound like much fun. Hickey hates it, not surprisingly, but technology marches on. Opening credits.

An ominous title card reads "MeowMeowBeenz Beta Test. Day 1." People are already using the rating system to create a social hierarchy. Abed loves it, Jeff is upset, as he liked the previous system of "cool people get more stuff". Chang is drawn in pretty quickly. Even Hickey has joined, comparing Mark Zuckerberg to Fidel Castro in the process. Britta is outraged about it, but still addicted. After Annie throws around jargon a bit too much, Britta decides to fight back, and stands on the table shouting against it. She caves the instant she gets downvoted. Shirley enjoys a new wave of popularity, becoming the centre of attention. Annie instantly defects to her side. This prompts Jeff to join up, though he claims that he's trying to expose it as a scam.

We go to Day 2, where Jeff has become a complete douche and is fully sucked into the Beenz world. We get "House of Cards" style texts on top. Meanwhile, the school's Beenz-rankings have become increasingly hierarchical, Brave New World style, as people of certain levels dress in different colors (and Fives get very special privileges). Abed, a Three, is quite content with this rigidly determined universe.

By Day 3, the school has devolved into a full-blown caste system, with Fives served gourmet meals on trays while the lower levels wage war on each other. The Fives decide to make a talent show to drive the lower groups into a war. Abed, now a Five but longing to return to the Threes, objects. Annie (working as some sort of secretary) comes in to inform them that Jeff is now a Four. This is clearly a major upheaval.

The Fours, who look like Capitol residents in The Hunger Games, try to attack Britta (Two) for being in the wrong hallway. Jeff rescues her. Even the Dean has gotten into it, serving as a kind of announcer for herding all the Numbers around. Jeff takes Britta into an abandoned office, where they work to plan the Revolution. She suggests that Jeff enter the talent show to demonstrate the Fives' tyranny. However, another Four exposes Jeff for "loving a Two", and though Jeff is able to keep it under wraps for now, it's still a risk...

The talent show commences. A jury of Fives watches the proceedings and dials peoples' numbers up or down (mostly down) according to their ability. Things continue to look Hunger Games-y. Jeff comes on and does a standup routine about Twos. He brings the house down. Shirley means to demote him, but one of her peers promotes him to a Five instead. Jeff becomes a school celebrity.

After class, Jeff vows to Britta that he will take Shirley down. Britta, in turn, rants about destroying the system. Threatened with a Taser by a security guard, however, she quickly flees. That got intense fast.

The Fives hold a bizarre dance. Chang, inexplicably part of their number, chats with Shirley about Jeff while Jeff chats with Abed about Shirley. A plot is instantly afoot. However, it is soon abandoned when it turns into a petty argument between the two instead. Out in the hall, Britta pleads with the Twos and Threes to band together in revolution. She is unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Jeff continues to rage at Shirley. He ends up getting demoted to One and banished to "the Outlands". However, his exile is interrupted when Britta and an army of Twos burst in. That's right, she turned them around.

War-torn and burning, Greendale looks like something from CNN. Shirley admits she feels left out by her friends, Jeff admits he overreacted to losing control of his image. They learn that Britta has started her own dictatorship and Starburns is wearing that famous bikini thing from the Sean Connery picture so popular on the Internet.

Britta puts the Fives on Trial, presumably non-ironically accusing them of "war crimes", and punishes them by demoting them to one, citing that they must be "cleansed". Considering her references to the "Great Purge" and various other minor things, if it wasn't so recent I would be calling this a spoof of the Ukraine conflict. Jeff crashes the proceedings by saying that MeowMeowBeenz is now live, in the App Store, and has a 5-star rating, thus making it a Five. Everyone boos and deletes the app on Jeff's orders, and thus harmony is restored. Jeff tells them to go enjoy their Saturday while Britta futilely wails for her lost power.

Over the PA, the Dean says to forget what happened as Jeff invites Shirley for takeout in the study room. Starburns continues to wear the Connery-kini.

Tag scene: a trailer for a Porky's like film at Greendale, starring Kubler (Mitchell Hurwitz), one of the former Fives. I guess this is his character introduction.

Have to admit, this episode was pretty hilarious. It's always fun when Greendale gets insanely worked up over something trivial! It was also nice to give Shirley a moment to shine, as she is one of the most consistently neglected characters in the show. Now, if only they'll give Annie a plot...

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  • Posts

    • Xan

      Posted

      The egg apron is a deal breaker for me.  That was just an insult.  "You think you deserve a gift?  I'll show you your place!"

      And I'm a little bit tired of the social media scolds.  If they didn't put their lives on the internet, we wouldn't have opinions.  They did so we do.  If most of us think that he's a bully, he probably is.  I guess it's another case of the husband being so full of himself that he was sure the interview would show him in a good light.  It didn't.

    • Xan

      Posted

      I always find these Trump fantasy worlds very bizarre.  He's never in a nice suit meeting a world leader or even in a fireman's suit saving a child from a burning building.  It's always some fake macho outfit and, in this case, driving a car with a Confederate flag on it.  Their heroes don't seem that heroic.

    • JDuggs

      Posted

      On 12/22/2023 at 11:51 PM, JDuggs said:

      It looks like Micah is in a relationship, or very good friends, with this Florida realtor Veronica Peters. I’ve seen photos of them together on Micah’s IG, but I always thought she kind of looked too old for him. Maybe not.

      This was on Moriah’s IG:

        Hide contents

      image.thumb.jpeg.e5583f82734714ccb023fc889e4f0f90.jpeg

      And this was on Veronica’s personal IG and professional IG:

        Hide contents

      image.thumb.jpeg.e637a588be2f14fc379935962e743f47.jpeg

        Hide contentsimage.thumb.png.bfaa9a4a2ac77388067acef5c5afb81c.png

       

      Quoting myself from six months ago. I think this really is Micah’s girlfriend. She doesn’t seem quite as public about their relationship as she did back then.

      This photo of Veronica didn’t get copied over from my old post.

      Spoiler

      image.thumb.jpeg.0ae44da117d43f1db49868c42924ea03.jpeg

       

      • Upvote 1
    • JermajestyDuggar

      Posted

      There was a post on social media talking about this recent interview with Ballerina Farm and asking what people think about some of the things in it. So many commenters were like, “it’s her business! It’s not your life so why do you care?” This is the type of thing that bugs me to no end. Ballerina Farm posts their lives willingly! They post their children’s lives! Of course people will speculate and care! If they didn’t put their lives all over social media none of us would know anything about them. 

      • Upvote 1
    • LongTimeLurkerOG

      Posted

      On 7/25/2024 at 6:47 PM, LilMissMetaphor said:

      Just FYI in case someone missed it the first time round, this is what Art wrote on Reddit a year ago addressing some of the concerns that were brought up.  It's very telling if you read between some of the lines.

      "I don’t lie or make fraudulent claims to get money. That’s what a grifter is. I’ve closed all previous fundraisers and not all of them were successfully funded – for instance my legal name change and wedding fund did not get funded, so I still haven’t had a chance to do those things.

      I’m unable to work for a variety of medically supported reasons. It’s not okay to ask disabled people for proof of their disability simply because it’s medical information. To entertain the question is to concede that it’s okay to go ask other disabled people for their private medical history. It’s a common misconception that people pretend to be disabled for benefits or monetary gain, but it’s rare and doesn’t really make sense to do because benefits and fundraising add up to so little.

      I have been going to Seattle to look at possible places to live because it’s literally unavoidable, and I’ve been in severe pain because of it. That doesn’t mean I could do manual labor on a consistent basis. I don’t even drive, so I’ve had to cover gas and ask friends for help with rides.

      Have you ever tried working at a call center? I have. They’re severely strict and demanding, and incredibly demoralizing without paying much. They’re not an accessible alternative for people who can’t do more demanding manual labor. “Get a job like the rest of us” is ableist and is a fundamental misunderstanding of how accessible jobs are. It’s no better than yelling it at someone panhandling on the street. The supposedly “easy” or “low-skill” jobs are still difficult to do.

      I do use what resources I can, but it’s a total myth that there’s a robust social welfare system anywhere in the United States. If there was, we wouldn’t have so many hundreds of thousands of homeless people here, with millions more just a few missed paychecks away from joining them.

      The toxic mold was confirmed. My partner is literally terminally ill from it. If you read the actual updates, the name of the illness and the research surrounding it have been detailed. We have a letter from the pulmonologist that we sent to the landlord explaining that the environment my partner was in was causing the illness. Again, you’re demanding medical proof that you have no reason to ask about. Some things can’t just be washed out.

      I am as clear as I can possibly be about specific needs so that people know what they’re helping to support. I have said again and again that people shouldn’t give unless they can spare it and want to help. I even said that in the post linked to in this comment thread. My patreon is explicitly to support my writing.

      So why am I still fundraising and making money off telling my story? Because I literally have no other real options. I’ve been formally diagnosed with PTSD, it’s not “alleged trauma.” If it was working all that well, I wouldn’t have to keep detailing my needs.

      The real grifters in our society are billionaires, not poor disabled people. You sound like you just hate us for trying to exist."

      I remember reading this before. Well, they can take all their reasons and Stop. Grifting. Plenty of people with disabilities work and /or receive assistance (as I mentioned previously, my exPOS, who has disabilities so I'm familiar with a number of options and money). Some family, have / had disabilities. I've been an advocate for services and staff training (and provided training) for Years with previous positions - because it matters to me. So, yea, Artemis get. a. job. 

      57 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

      Art lists manual labour and call centres. And that's it. Not any jobs they could look at involving writing, from editing to writing student essays for money (yes it's dodgy but people do it). Not even playing video games for money (get character to a level where they have cool stuff for someone.)  Nothing about remote work, which there is more of now, and not even entry level white collar work.

      On the one hand I agree with them that the social support is inadequate, and that detailing your medical needs shouldn't have to happen - but they just grifted nearly $5000 to move and for a holiday, and with the amount of effort that took they probably could have held down employment of some description and to be honest would probably be better off.

      So many WFH/remote legit jobs now. Hell, you can play games on your phone and earn gift cards; donate blood and get gift cards. I knew a homeless couple that donated plasma for higher amount g.c.

      Absolutely! The amount of money; it's disgusting. And that amount of effort... At some point, even we don't want to or circumstances we don't want to deal with and adult, because... We're adults! Plenty of things I want to ignore or not deal with, just have go away but persevere because the alternative... not an option.

      2 hours ago, Bookworm1564 said:

      My all-time favourite Art post is the one where they say “Just for today, you can double the impact of your support with this opportunity” as if this was the moment we were all waiting for.

      Like a sale for limited-time-only 🤣



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