I work in the medical field and I can provide some illumination on acupuncture. You might hear a lot about it from a lot of different sources; as with any alternative health therapy, take everything with a degree of skepticism. Educate yourself on what the research says about efficacy and then make the decision about if you'd like to pursue it as a treatment option.
For one, it's important to note that research into acupuncture, like research into other alternative treatments, is rife with poor study quality (1, 2). I've tried to provide high quality sources, but it is difficult.
Acupuncture has been shown in the research to provide modest relief for chronic pain, though it is disagreements over whether or not these benefits are placebo or not (3, 4, 5, 6). Limited evidence exists for benefits regarding other types of pain, but it is important to note that the evidence is, at best, inconclusive (7, 8, 9, 10)
There is little to no evidence for acupuncture's effectiveness in treating depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, oncological disorders, addiction, or restless leg syndrome (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 19, 20, 21, 22).
Additionally, the mechanism of action of acupuncture is not well understood. It is based off of a traditional Chinese practice of manipulating Qi fields, a practice which has no basis in traditional science and is more akin to religion. Personally, when it comes to alternative treatments like acupuncture, I am skeptical of efficacy until either quality evidence has been presented, or a plausible mechanism of action can be suggested. In regards to acupuncture, I can plausibly see how placing needles in the skin and musculature could plausibly relieve musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. I cannot say the same for psychiatric, oncologic, or other disorders not related to the musculoskeletal system.
I will never understand how people can dislike the Marvel movies... I understand that they may not scratch all your "movie itches" but I can't understand how people dislike them.
Marvel movies are symbolic of the entire tired state of Hollywood; movies are increasingly hyper-budget studio pieces slapped together by committee and tweaked to be palatable to the largest possible audience so that studios can make their billion dollar profits.
I liked Marvel studios movies (not to be confused with FOX or Sony) up until the first Avengers movie, because at least the shared universe was a novel idea. Since then, the concept has been thoroughly and fully tapped. Marvel movies shift genres and tones, but they are all very, very similar, and follow a predictable formula. There's next to no creativity in them; these movies are not interesting on anything other than a surface level, they exist to entertain, they are the cinematic equivalent of buttery popcorn. They're good enough to entertain you while you're at the theater, but I personally cannot imagine ever watching them after release. Have you honestly ever sat at home and said, "boy, I'd like to pop in Thor: the Dark World"? They're totally unremarkable movies, and I have no further desire to watch any of them. I've seen about 7 of these movies and I, for the life of me, could not tell you a single memorable scene or moment outside of, say, the first Iron Man.
Marvel annoys be especially because its model has proven so successful that other studios are falling hand over foot to copy it. Now we have a DC Cinematic Universe (WB), a Star Wars cinematic universe (Disney), a Kaiju Cinematic Universe (Legend), an X-Men cinematic universe (FOX), a thankfully dead Spiderman cinematic universe (SONY), an attempted Ghostbusters cinematic universe (SONY), a potential 21 Jumpstree/Men in Black cinematic universe, and a fucking Frankenstein/Wolfman/Dracula Universal monsters cinematic universe (Universal). In the case of Disney, WB, FOX, and Legend, you've got cinematic universes planned out until well into the next decade. It doesn't end there; studios are looking into the asset books to find literally anything they can mine, any property they own that hasn't been completely dried and withered away already. This style of filmmaking is bland. These movies have absolutely no lasting value. Despite everything I've said about Marvel, their movies are the best of this motley bunch; the rest of these franchises represent the absolute nadir of artistic ingenuity.
Big budget Hollywood is so risk averse that these types of projects are all that they are willing to do. Say goodbye to new franchises, new movies, new ideas and characters, movies that explore difficult themes or concepts, or movies that challenge a wide audience. Those features will be relegated to the sub $30m indie circuit.
This isn't Marvel's fault, but the continued box office success of those films enable this behavior, and until the current system collapses (don't hold your breath) I hope you're ready for nothing but comic book movies, monster movies, nostalgia bait, bad comedies, and Star Wars for the foreseeable future. That might sound good for you, but personally I'd like to see big budget movies that aren't the same regurgitated franchises directed by yes-men plucked from TV shows.
Was the thing Will Smith suggested that Brad do 7 day survivor in Dead Rising? It checks almost all the boxes:
A lot of prep-work
Tedium
Dan talking about how the things that are not great about that game making it hard
The only thing that doesn't fit is them saying no achievement pops. But I don't know. I'd love to see them sit down and try to do a 14 hour version of this, especially with everyone bringing their own plans on how Brad can survive.
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