@supreme-leader-stoat Thought You Should Know That I Ran Into This Screenshot On Facebook Randomly Today

@supreme-leader-stoat thought you should know that I ran into this screenshot on Facebook randomly today

realization i had: it's less "yeah i listen to all music tbh" and more "my music taste is the sum of the marks left by all my past and present loved ones"

I'm going to sound very old and very tired here for a second, but iIt is so dystopian to me to have ads on my computer.

Ads used to be on the internet. And that's that. The things that were installed on my computer did not show me ads.

And that goes even beyond the questionable practice that free versions of programs such as Avira now show you lil ads in the corner of your screen like once a day.

You used to have free games on your computer.

I was in the mood to play a game again, a very rare mood for me, and I opened the game center for the... first time since I had this version of Windows (as I said; very rare mood).

And there's ads. You play the "free" games that live on your computer and there are ads left and right and beneath it and between levels there is just a 20 second ad break.

You can go premium to no longer have ads.

That's dystopian to me.

When things that used to be fully free and just part of something are now riddled with ads and to get the ad free experience that, again, used to just be the experience, you have to pay.

And it's not even a one-time-payment.

Back in the day, you used to pay for something and then you owned it. You used to pay for a program or a game, and you owned a physical CD that you put in your computer to install the thing and it was just yours. It belonged to you, because you paid for it.

Now everything is a per month subscription, which is just so sinister because many look like oh, that's not that much money! Sure, I'll pay 1,99€/month to play games ad free. Every single month sums up, and it sums to a lot over the years though, for something that used to be free. (And I've complained about subscriptions before, in the context of Adobe, which isn't just dystopian anymore, it's actually plain evil to demand 25,99€/month to use a singular program, that you can now no longer buy to actually own.)

And I know - I know - you can find free games online to download or play in browser (already did that for mahjong) - but I'm talking about the principle here. The principle of getting ads on your computer, directly, and to have to pay to no longer have ads and use something that had been a part of the Windows experience since... forever.

Hellraiser if it was marvel slop:

guy frantically trying to clean and bandaid his hand after getting cut by the cube distant sound of Rock You Like A Hurricane playing and rapidly getting louder the room fills with smoke and the cenobites enter, standing imposingly and dramatically over the guy just as the music reaches full volume long silence

"so uhh... what's this about?"

"We... are the Cenobites"

"the Cenowhat?"

"CENOBITES. WE ARE THE DEMONS OF ULTIMATE PLEASURE AND PAIN. cough cough ahem allow us to introduce ourselves"

"the big guy is Butterball, you really don't wanna make him angry, so watch out"

butterball snarls

"this here is Chatterer, he puts the 'bite' in cenobite"

chatterer goes chomp chomp chomp chomp

"maybe if you're lucky you'll only lose one finger to him. this lovely lass next to me is Deep Throat"

the guy chuckles. Deep Throat leans in and growls at him "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... PATHETIC MORTAL."

...

"ahem and I'm Pinhead. I- hey, look it's just a nickname alright, It's cause of, y'know, the pins? in my head? I'm smarter than I look, ok?"

"I... didn't say anything."

"Whatever, let's cut straight to the chase. You, mortal, solved the final configuration of our cube, so now we're here to deliver your prize."

"what is it a trip to disneyland?"

"even better... eternal... torture..."

"whoa whoa whoa, that doesn't sound like a prize to me."

"It's the best reward we could possibly give."

"well I don't want it"

"you get no choice. you solved the box. you are bound by immortal contract."

"so let me get this straight, because I solved your dumb rubicks cube you, have, to torture, me?"

"essentially."

"I don't like that"

"look it's not so bad, all we're gonna do is skin you alive, shove meat hooks into you, maybe play your ribcage like a xylophone."

"ooh and let a hawk peck out your liver!"

"yeah that. you come to enjoy it eventually!"

"well I'm not going"

"oh my god you are being so difficult right now"

suddenly the grizzled mentor character kicks the door down

"WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE DUMBASS? RUN!"

chase scene ensues, Rock You Like A Hurricane starts playing again

Open another front. In the land war, just open another front. Surely you will not regret opening another front.

they are picky eater 🥩❌