Lurker > AlecTrevelyan006

I think one of the things that holds back a lot of people is the idea that being "a douchebag alpha" hurts the girl you're with. It doesn't have to be like that. In fact, you want it to be the opposite of that.

Pick whatever cliche you want, let's just keep it simple with "Nothing worth having comes easy". If you just cave to her whim and think about her all the time and act like she's perfect and concede everything to her, you're making the relationship utterly boring for her. It becomes meaningless, it is something she accepts as a part of life rather than that "specialness" that you want her to feel because you care about her. Sure, she might like nice stuff and stick around until something better comes along, but if there is no surprise, no challenge, nothing new or different, there is no fullfillment. And who wants to be in a relationship that they do not find energizing or fulfilling? She will just ended up bored, or perhaps worse, she'll start actively resenting you. Hell, have you ever been in a relationship where there was NO fighting? Those end hilariously, you could almost charge admission.

SMuffin, I would think you of all people would like this, it's all about rational self interest, resource allocation, and a much better free market model than we'll ever have in the actual economy!

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"i could have a phd in ass studies." -Rusty

Storm spoiler

I think they may end up changing that plotline. He sold the conflict during the first season, and I expect they'll just have him have stopped talking to Varys when Daenerys came back and "gave him smething to believe in" or something like that.

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"i could have a phd in ass studies." -Rusty

This is why I tried (and failed) to hustle earlier.

Of course, I thought I had til August to finish, not June.

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Sack Up Or Shut Up™

You guys need to share this stuff with me.

Like... message me when something big like this happens.

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Chex Warrior (Chex Quest) for CB2012

If there is already a topic, my bad. I looked up "Taken" and "Particular set of skills"

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_2

...my god

Great topic. Thanks.

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"i could have a phd in ass studies." -Rusty

"Man, this is not fair, why are gay people persecuted less than me"

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Chex Warrior (Chex Quest) for CB2012

From: Erugios | #020

I wonder if anyone has come out to their parents, and their parents are like

"Well, no ****. Thanks for telling us though"

If my kid comes out to me, I'm just going to wordlessly pull out a $20 bill and pass it off to his mother.

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Amon is the son of the Boulder.

His real goal was to get revenge on Toph by stealing her daughter's powers.

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Man, I could have sworn she killed the people in the tent when Renly died (though in self defense) but it appears on a reread that she only maimed them.

That said, Brienne is my least favorite PoV character in the books.

BOOK SPOILERS
There are two main complaints I have about PoV characters.

1.) They aren't enjoyable to be in the head of.
Brienne is annoying/frustrating/boring to "listen" to, fitting into the mold of characters like Sam and early Sansa who I just don't want to have to listen to.

2.) Nothing worthwhile happens around them.
The reason both early Sansa and Sam rank higher for me is because their PoVs have interesting stuff happening around or too them. Sansa has direwolves attacking Joff, the Hound's story and the Tournament, and finally after everything she ends up with Chessmaster Littlefinger. Meanwhile, Sam kills an other, kills a wight, sees Mormont die, and then hangs out with Aemon (giving us some cool tidbits) and sees Braavos and the Citadel. He even unknowingly sees Jaqen.

Nobody proves the "surroundings can save a PoV" more than Areo Hotah. The guy has negligible personality, but he's our eyes on Dorne.

But in Feast, we know that Brienne is on a fool's errand, and until her final two chapters she doesn't really do anything significant to the plot. It's so much worse because we KNOW that nothing she does is going to be meaningful. Instead, her chapters just drag on on meaninglessly with such all star characters as Podrick Payne (who for some reason a lot of peoploe are fans of, is it just because he saved Tyrion?) giving us "worldbuilding" that is ultimately unsatisfying.

I was okay with Brienne in Storm. She was a well written character and understandable. She continues to be well-written and understandable in Feast, but being a developed character does not make her enjoyable, and I liked her a hell of a lot less as soon as she got that PoV.


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tbqh, I don't know why I put him so high in my list.

He does well with his material but he has no material.

Killing my chances here.

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Yeah Extha. Come on, where have you been?

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Luster: Yeah, that's the most intense method of consuming cocaine.

I apologize that life has destroyed my internet life.

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Boy: Odin
Girl: Artemis

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"Shut up and put your tinfoil hat back on." - Ulti

The rule is that I randomize until each pitcher is either pink or red. I also try to keep the teams "even" in terms of condition. Sometimes this takes over fifty "rerolls" when you get two pitchers with the "bad mood" or whatever trait.

In the World Series I guarantee that both teams have the same quality starting pitcher.

Odds are fair, even if results aren't...

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"Shut up and put your tinfoil hat back on." - Ulti

From: MarquessLaus | #193
Well, the big question is whether Joffrey o Tywin is counted as our fifth main character. If it's Joffrey, then I got my 5 mains correct. But 2 of the remaining weren't guessed by the first 4 predictions, and Tywin isn't among my top 3 supporting so unless Tywin is lower then third supporting, which i dare not hope for I'll get 5/8.

If Tywin is the main then Eeeevil gets 5/8, 6/8 possibly if Joff ain't among the top three supporting.

LordoftheMorons looks good having named six of the eight, though Joffrey/Tywin is in the wrong category.

Kaxon might very well name 5/8, Rex 6/8. Between that and the bonus points for the correct positions anyone could still take it.
I don't even warrant a mention? :(

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I would say sign me up for heavyweight, but I know that there is approximately 0 chance I could rap any time in the next 6 weeks due to my crazy work schedule and how drained I expect to be.

I would be interested in judging either way though and will keep up to date.

Oh wait, I went off the wrong list.

In my followup post, I had posted Theon at #3. Which bumps Tywin out of my predicted top 5.

Of course, at this point, I expect Tywin was supporting. It has to be him or Joff, as Tywin was in all of his scenes with Arya, and Joff had a lot of "about Joff" scenes and even was clearly the "lead" in his scene with Cersei at the beginning of the season and such.

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"Shut up and put your tinfoil hat back on." - Ulti

okay, looking at my list...

BOLD = Already shown up

MAIN CHARACTERS (5 remaining)
1.) Arya
2.) Tyrion
3.) Cersei
4.) Jaime
5.) Tywin
6.) Joffrey
7.) Sansa
8.) Stannis
9.) Melisandre
10.) Catelyn

SUPPORTING (10 remaining)
1.) Jorah Mormont
2.) The Hound
3.) Varys
4.) Davos
5.) Brienne
6.) Jaqen
7.) Luwin
8.) Yoren
9.) Bronn
10.) Renly
11.) Balon
12.) Lancel
13.) Littlefinger
14.) Pycelle
------CONFIRMED NOT ON LIST 15.) Alton
16.) Gendry
17.) Jeor Mormont

I expect I missed a supporting character somewhere, but it looks like we may agree for the most part.

Hey guys.

Hoepfully I can grab extha soon to commentate, but I've been booked solid with training for my new job so I've been pretty busy. Hope to finish this soon...

Clown question, bro.

(seriously, he's good at baseball but I wouldn't want to make him a representative of the mormon community)

Mershaaay posted...

AlecTrevelyan006 posted...

Just found out SOCOM 2 servers are closing in August.

Didn't realize this, half tempted to quit my job so I can enjoy our last few weeks together.

I'll quit if you quit


SOCOM 2 online gave me more fond memories than my parents

I would give a testicle just for a pure HD update of SOCOM 2. Same guns, same mechanics, same levels and everything. Hell, I'd even be okay with dropping the HD part! >_>

In fact, I would give three testicles from my stash.

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##Alec

Just found out SOCOM 2 servers are closing in August.

Didn't realize this, half tempted to quit my job so I can enjoy our last few weeks together.

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##Alec

I missed that.

My question stands though, even if it was irrelevant to his point.

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http://img.imgcake.com/nio/51alecpngpa.png -Nio

From: Kaxon | #165
From: Solfadore | #128
Also, I actually think that Renly would've made the best king out of all the five pretenders we've seen - six, even, if we throw Dany into the mix - so I'm not holding his awkwardness against him. Joffrey and Balon are obviously not kingly material; Stannis sees the world in black-and-white and is led by the nose by a religious nutjob; Robb is alright but a bit stupid (basically Ned v. 2.0). If Ned hadn't been stupid and had actually sided with Renly back in Season 1, the series would've been over very quickly. Starks + Baratheons + Tyrells = not good for Stannis and the Lannisters. Although I suppose Melisandre might've still tried to pull a fast one on Renly.

In the show, I agree with you. In the book, Dany would be. The show makes Renly a lot more serious and it seems like he actually has a reason to want to be king, whereas in the book it really is basically a game to him. On the other hand, book Dany at this point is a lot smarter and shrewder whereas in this season of the show Dany rants and threatens people pointlessly and doesn't really know what she's doing.
How many books have you read

Also, spot on Stannis review, though I like Stannis has a lot of character, even if it isn't really shown in the second season. I like him a lot more on a second reading too.

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Chex Warrior (Chex Quest) for CB2012

KamikazePotato posted...

Books 4 & 5 aren't bad; in fact they're good. The hate for them is overblown by the long wait fans had to suffer to get them.

My personal series ranking is 3>2>4>1>5.

4+5 have some of my favorite moments in the series.

SPOILERS FOR STORM OF SWORDS
Unfortunately, they come after Storm, a fantastic book that pays off almost every plotline from the first 3 books. Storm brought so many storylines to climax that there was no way 4+5 would be able to keep up the pace. They need to slow down a bit to get stuff ready for the last two books. There are climaxes, just not in every storyline. And there is a lot of "world building" fluff that has no suspense whatsoever.

Also, tbh, I think that part of the problem is that GRRM got too respected, so editors don't want to mess with his stuff when it needs to be trimmed. It is kinda like Lucas on the new trilogy (though nowhere near that bad) in that since he has a reputation, he has much more control, and he really needs some supervision.

DANCE WITH DRAGONS SPOILER
Of course, on the other hand, the editors took out BOTH the battles of Meereen and Winterfell. What. The. Hell. Daenerys' story could easily be half as many chapters, same for Tyrion. Hell, even the completely unsatisfying Jaime ****tease.

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Yo people, computer is in the shop but hoping to get this up on my borrowed laptop.

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##Alec

Gen, learn to use your surroundings!

>Text Chris to check on whereabouts.
>Obtain tire from storage room, roll it out of storage room doorway such that it rolls down the nearby down-ramp.

Don't we need to get upstairs anyways? There's probably plenty of guys downstairs too.

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Oh man, finally caught up.

Why is this show so good.

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"Link has spoken for years. And music is his language" -YoBlazer

From: Achromatic | #152
From: AlecTrevelyan006 | #140

I normally am not really a fan of "multiple PoV" books, but in Game of Thrones and the following books I thought it worked out really well.

I find it really hard to understand how somebody who clearly likes reading and literature would say "Well, I can't stand to read this, I'll just read everything I can about this"

I don't really need anyone's understanding, though. I started book one, didn't like it. I just did not like it. Think the world is interesting, characters rich, and the tv series simply fantastic. I do not like to read the books.

Same thing happened to me and the LOTR series, for different reasons.

I think it is called... what's the word. Ah, opinion! Or preference, that works too. Not everyone likes every type of writing style.

=P
I didn't say that you needed my understanding. Not everything is about you Chris. This is about what I want!

It just seems silly, especially if you like the show. I'd think you'd at most read up to where you are in the show so you could still have surprises.

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"Link has spoken for years. And music is his language" -YoBlazer

The one upside of LeBron winning will be that MWC can finally come out and admit this was all an attempted jinx all along.

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Sack Up Or Shut Up™

From: DaruniaTheGoron | #339
Let's go Nee for more xfdchris.

I'm glad Chris beat War though, so that there's no repeat champ. We're all equally awesome.
Yes, you should all take pride in being equal to Extha.

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http://img.imgcake.com/nio/51alecpngpa.png -Nio

Yay?

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Chex Warrior (Chex Quest) for CB2011

It wasn't just how good guys were for Chris that made the trade lopsided.

It is how dismal the players voltch got performed for him down the stretch run / in the postseason.

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"nah, it's not my team if I drop pitchers for merely being horrible" -War13104

That said, I agree with the ranking based on the limited material. I expect Jaime to kick ass going forward.

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Negligible book 2 spoilers that have already been heavily implied.
No book 2 Jaime? He got one of his best dialogues of the series near the end! >_>

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World Series Game 2, Detroit leads Chicago 1-0 in the series


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##Alec

I normally am not really a fan of "multiple PoV" books, but in Game of Thrones and the following books I thought it worked out really well.

I find it really hard to understand how somebody who clearly likes reading and literature would say "Well, I can't stand to read this, I'll just read everything I can about this"

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##Alec

You're killing me Chris.

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##Alec

IMO, the biggest writing fail was

Not having Catelyn/Robb find out about Bran and Rickon before releasing Jaime/banging "Jeyne". The worst part about it is that it was CLEARLY a concious decision, as they inserted a scene with Theon massacring the birds. This is a writing decision where they clearly saw the direction and went a different way, and destroyed the character motivations of both Robb and Catleyn.



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##Alec

Yeah, that's a crucial distinction a lot of people who read the book didn't pick up on it seems.

If you get "touched" by the White Walkers (tall things from Game of Thrones prologue, seemed to be armored in ice, etc) you come back as a dead guy (wight, like small paul and the two zombies that were brought back through the wall in Jon's chapters in Game of Thrones).

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##Alec

From: Achromatic | #107
I'll get right on-

...

Shake?

Anyway I know the books are awesome because I am now caught up with the plot. I didn't like the books because the style (PoV) is something I hate in books <_<. Love the plot though!
Please tell me you didn't just like... wikipedia the upcoming books or something.

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http://img.imgcake.com/drakeryn/alecjpgyn.jpg -Drakeryn

From: Solfadore | #104
@Alec: Don't you remember my rants against Gillen/LF back in the days of Episode 2-3? Nearly everyone fell on me and ardently defended Gillen. I think the discussion must have gone on for about a page or so.

I expected pretty much the same range of reactions this time around! Oh well.
Most people weren't saying they liked the portrayal of Littlefinger, just that they disagreed with your interpretation of the problem.

Plus it got worse.

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This was your "super controversial" pick?

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Pfft, Chris NEVER pulls out

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##Alec

Oh awesome, thanks.

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##Alec

Hey Solfadore, do you have the notes for the earlier part of the song from your adaptation?

Or sheet music if you have it.

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