Lurker > BlueCrystalTear

What's Del Taco?

Wordle 652 4/6

REACT
THINK
STUCK


Lost the 50/50, oh well.

"So the mission was successful," you suggest. "Why don't we have a celebration? We all survived."
"We're not done yet," Rori replies.
"I know, but wouldn't it be good for us to be in high spirits before taking out the trash?"
"He's got a point," Sienna adds. "Plus, we need to learn about who we're up against."
"I'm all for taking down jerks," Glenda says, "but I don't know how to do that if I don't know a thing about them."
"Fair." Rori folds her arms. "Let's go."

Before things get a little too festive, Rori informs you about the two dickwads.
"The first, the one who molested me, he's a dual-class Rogue/Sorcerer. I know that's not a combination you see much, but he's a crafty one. He thinks he's this Casanova, and gets laid more often than you'd think, but he's cockier than ever thinking he can get whatever woman he wants.
"The second is a straight-up Fighter. He's boring and stupid. That's all you need to know."
"Is that really it?" Sienna asks, sipping her drink.
"He's the one who wanted me around because I'm hot."
"Sounds like a real winner." You know Glenda's being sarcastic.
"The only thing he'd win is a dimwit contest." Rori doesn't even crack a smile.
Sienna, however, spits out her drink. "I hate guys like that," she mumbles as she laughs.
"Even I do," you add. "Treat women with respect."
"I'm glad you do," Glenda responds. "You respect boundaries once they're defined."
"I've gathered that too," Sienna adds.
"Well... thanks?" You shrug.
"Anyway, with that out of the way, let's celebrate!"

A. Order a second round of drinks
B. Order some cheese curds
C. Order entrees
D. Let's just get right to dessert!

tbh it's better with Misty having a thing for Ash. It doesn't really make sense why she'd journey with him otherwise, especially since Misty's bike doesn't even get mentioned for an obscene length of time.

That said, all the people voting for Pikachu are just plain wrong, seeing as there's never any romantic implications the way there is with, say, Baeleef, who frequently got jealous. Pikachu never got jealous when Ash trained another Pokemon, because that's what a bro would do.

I forgot about Giselle but she was a one-off who hasn't been seen or mentioned in forever. Her last appearance was the Orange Islands opening, IIRC.

Seanchan posted...

I actually listened to all 4 today trying to figure out where to put Ten in my album rankings. I've heard Nevermind too many times for it to not be at the top. Dirt has better hits than Ten (starting with a bang and ending strong) but Ten's better on the whole. Superunknown has a few good songs but it still bores me and is 20 minutes too long.

And as for Superunknown, it depends on what version you're listening to as well. Some of the "loudness wars" remasters sound terrible in general, but it still has "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun" so it gets a lot of points for that. I do agree that it's too long, though, and would be stronger losing two or three songs.

This is a pretty hard album to rank, honestly. Because every one of these is a banger, most of them in pretty equal ways. I honestly see three "tiers" here with only slight differences between them... well four if you count the weird hidden track, but the other 11 are that close. If you asked me to do this again in two weeks, there'd definitely be a lot of moving around.

1. Jeremy - This one just gets me every time. It's a true story intertwined with Vedder's own experiences. The thought of a high schooler going to the front of class and shooting himself is just... ;_;
2. Black
3. Once
4. Alive
5. Even Flow
6. Release
7. Why Go
8. Deep
9. Garden
10. Oceans
11. Porch
12. Master/Slave

Wordle 651 3/6

CRATE
SCRAP
MARCH

Clever April Fool's prank, but you didn't fool me!

I asked this stupid question years ago when "bae" was a thing, and I'm bringing it back for one day only.

IIRC, Baeleef won the last one handily due to her constantly coming onto him as a Chikorita, but I tweaked the options so we'll see!

Wordle 650 5/6

CATER
ROUSE
FIERY
LEERY
EVERY

RIP

...yeah I've thought it was dead for a while tbh. Honestly E3 peaked back then, particularly with Sony's hilarious PS3 launch conference. Them having booth babes back then also helped. When was the last time E3 was particularly memorable?

At first I thought this was about the Pokemon anime, which really did need to end after 25 years. The reboot is happening just a few weeks later, sure, but it was necessary.

The reason shows should end isn't due to the cast's poor acting. It should end because the scripts become tired, the story isn't going anywhere, and there's nothing new left to do. This all can cause poor acting but I much prefer shows that are meant to be X number of seasons. Like you write an outline for 5-6 seasons, ink the cast to contracts based on how long their character survives, and have a coherent final product that doesn't feel like it goes on for too long.

Not many shows are like this, instead being dictated by cast contracts, which is why I don't watch much scripted TV. I prefer movies.

Wordle 649 2/6




Yay for logic!

"Your co-host doesn't know Tekken references" votals
[3] SBell - Ben, Ulti, IGCD
[2] Ben - Red, Lopen
[1] Ulti - MZero
[0] Lea - (Ulti)

Inviso posted...

This episode was almost entirely character-based and it was the most interesting episode of the season thus far.

But yeah, this. This episode is why Survivor clicks. Carson/Kane geeking out. Yam-Yam/Josh bonding over coming out to their mothers. Matt/Frannie crushing on each other. Carolyn Carolyning.

Huge upgrade from last week. Especially with Matthew out of the game. We'll see what became of his idol though.

Them canceling this Tribal is dumb. Because their game plan is inflexible with the TWISTS!

Inviso posted...

Oh my fucking GOD. YES!

Somebody's fake idol BS FINALLY got called! Epic.

Guessing we're getting a Matthew MedEvac, then a "to be continued" with the Tribal and merge next week. Merge Tribal would be in the following episode.

Or something.

Carolyn realized that those two bozos just decided the merge alliances. Carolyn can pick up Carson, Kane, Jaime, Matt, and Frannie, plus whoever's still left at Tika, boom.

Underleveled posted...

I think Matthew is out and Jeff reveals it to Tika (and the audience) at TC

Would another tribe's MedEvac cause him to cancel the vote? This isn't Australian Survivor.

Yeah this episode is way better than last week's, solely because we got focus on character development on each tribe. Last week, we had two challenges and the Journey Island where there was a swap, and then the response to that twist... yeah, that was bad. This week, the first third was mostly great, because we got relationship stuff.

We'll see what happens... merge has to be soon, especially if Matthew is MedEvac'd here.

I tip the change - which, using plastic, means I round up to the next dollar (unless I'm feeling cheap). That said, I mostly make my own coffee these days. Affordability is huge and this Keuring K-Cafe I picked up from The Bench has been amazing for that.

Shattered posted...

Not all condos are apartments though. The house I gave to my ex wife in the divorce was classed as a condo despite the fact that it was actually a 3 story 3/3 townhouse.

Correct, my parents used to have a similar unit; it was in a building of four such residences.

The answer is yes. Condo associations are fantastic because you put in your money and actually get something out of it - snow removal, yard maintenance, common areas cleaned, etc. without having to take the time to do them. I would love that because I don't enjoy doing any of those things. Owning a house would mean I'd have to make it look "up to standards" especially if there's an HOA to bust my chops. HOAs suck because they don't offer what condos do.

Wordle 648 3/6

REACT
DEPOT
BESET

Streak is actually at 384, suck it NYT.

foolm0r0n posted...

Not really, because it implies that every season needs to be as good as a top 5 one.

I'm not expecting every season to be that high quality. I am expecting every season to have more than one compelling character, and early on is when you establish a baseline.

That said, in Cagayan, what made Spencer, Tasha, and Chaos Kass compelling early on is that they were the sane people on Lose On, which was an absolutely beautiful trainwreck of a tribe. David and Garrett were both disastrous players who had already burned out and gotten the boot, but they could absolutely count too despite their lack of longevity.

The Tony/Carolyn comparison is spot on but they're both Chaotic players. Of course they stand out above all else. But there's more to it than that.

S44 has not had that. We've had:
The tragic hero Bruce, who never really got a chance to play because of unfortunate circumstance.
Maddy, who had no reason to be the first boot until she got Bigmoveitis, and was booted out of her own stupidity.
Helen, who was just kinda there.
Claire, whose one claim to fame was starting the chain reaction that destroyed Ratu by telling Matthew that Lauren was lying to him (nothing else came of that).
Sarah, who was pretty and good at describing her thoughts, but was otherwise pretty much a Spradlin wannabe.

And, as for things the players not named Carolyn have done this season, what's stood out? Danny planting the fake idol is about all I can come up with. The Matt/Frannie "showmance" is overstated and clearly not as big as the show is making it out to be. The cast isn't shining because production isn't letting them. This is what I'm trying to say, and I'm not the only one here. Cagayan was great because production allowed them to and hardly got in the way, really just with the Tyler Perry Idol being so lazily hidden, and that let the cast stand out from early on.

I'm expecting each season of Survivor to have multiple standout players and for me to start noticing people through four episodes. I've hardly noticed anyone so far due to the focus on advantages and twists, which is starting to get monotonous seeing as that's every season in this "New Era."

"We can let her go," you say. "I think that's a fair compromise."
"No problem there," Rori says. "And I'm not being sarcastic."
"Thanks for clarifying." Sienna laughs. "I actually thought you were."
"I might be being sarcastic about being sarcastic though."
Everyone laughs.
You go to the Rogue and tell her "Yeah, I got overruled. You're free to go, though."
"Uh, okay." Clearly she feels awkward. "See you again, maybe. Hopefully not as enemies." She then leaves.

Okay, trying to figure out where to go from here. There are two possibilities:

A. End the day (advance to tomorrow, where you go after Rori's ex-party)
B. Celebrate the success

Cagayan had a cast that was allowed to shine on their own. This season SHOULD be like Cagayan in that regard, but it isn't, because the focus is on idols, advantages, and other things.

Spencer, even though he's certified insane IRL, was very rootable early on in Cagayan, alongside his eventual F2 Tasha. Tony was a huge character who you didn't know what to make of. Chaos Kass was a delightful villainous presence. J'Tia was nuts. And the entire Beauty tribe was there looking pretty.

Who from this season is a big character? The answer to that question is "Carolyn." The fact that there's only one after four episodes is a problem, don't you think? Cagayan had Spencer, Tony, Chaos Kass, and J'Tia.

Crescent-Moon posted...

The existence of teams like South Carolina is why I near-perennially pay zero attention to the women's tournament.

Feels like UConn and Stanford are always there too. And because our team here has been horrendous for over a decade - and because our women's volleyball team is a perennial contender - nobody gives a shit about women's basketball.

Watching the NIT now since my team's playing that. Was great at first but we've completely fallen apart.

Oh, and I'm glad the F4 this year has some new blood, but I don't think I'm gonna watch much. I have other things to do and would say the same thing if we had the usual suspects.

Underleveled posted...

Pearl Islands, China, Philippines, Exile Island, David vs. Goliath, Gabon, Amazon, Cagayan, these are just the ones that come to mind immediately because they are all among my top 10 seasons and are mostly driven by their character development that began from episode 1

Yeah, this, though not all of these are in my personal top 10. They all establish quickly who you're supposed to root for and root against, and that's just newbie seasons. I'd add Borneo, SJDS, and even Worlds Apart to that pile. You have people to like and people to dislike after four episodes, sometimes even sooner. I don't know what you're watching, foolmo. But those seasons had much better

Inviso posted...

The thing that bugs me about all of this is...42 was actually a really solid season. The show got a lot of memorable characters out of it (I'd argue that 6/7 of the final 7 are legitimate All-Star contenders, plus Tori and Rocksroy are solid casting choices as well), and yet two seasons later, they've reverted to not trusting their cast again, and instead forcing dozens of advantages into the game at any given time.

And this is why production has gotten worse. They no longer trust their casts and instead bloat the game with filler advantage crap that devolves it all into sensationalist trash that focuses more on "having a moment" than actually being authentic, which in turn undermines this very philosophy. The reason S44 has been bad is that they don't trust this great cast to deliver on their own. There haven't been any memorable moments. And production fails to recognize that if all Movez are big, then none of them are.

It's like Darkx said above: A move like the Ozzy lynch in Micronesia was epic because it happened naturally and wasn't amid a flurry of nigh identical blindsides. It also wasn't a surprise to the viewer since they decided to showcase how that move came together, which made it epic. Survivor needs to do that in some episodes to balance out the "Big Movez" so those moves truly feel big, sometimes even showing how a Big Move happens. Micronesia showed how the blindsides happened because it made for more compelling TV; it was downright hilarious at times, and the Erik heist in particular wouldn't have been the same if they'd wanted to "blindside the viewer" every single time back then.

Micronesia was great - and still is great - for this reason. It's a fun season, but sadly that + The Hantz forever changed Survivor into the mess that it is today.

Chaeix posted...

Did anyone finish AU HvV?

That was a fucking rollercoaster of a season and brought back some classic survivor joy I havent had in while.

Not yet, because vacation. I have seven episodes left. I'll comment later.

They're not letting me trade any Meltan. Dammit. Need a new plan.

Oh wellz. I got some good natures here. Impish, Brave, Adamant...

Okay, so I transferred a weak Starly and Roggenrola and they just... gave it to me. No joke.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/9/5/AAR0ZFAAEU4P.jpg

Then I sent over five Meltan (I'll send more later but I ran out of Poke Balls and need to walk anyway). But yes. The deed is done. Now to trade some of these extra Meltan for a Poipole or two...

Thank you kindly! I'm taking care of a LOT of stuff, and now to include this on that list.

"You know what else you're missing?" you ask. "A party."
"Don't tell me..." Rori facepalms.
"Did you want to join ours? We could use a Rogue."
Sienna looks to the ground, though you can't see her face.
Glenda's face you can see, and she's not exactly sure of this.
Suddenly, Sienna strong-arms you and pulls you aside. "You know she tried to rip us off, right?" she says softly.
Rori comes up and adds "I have nothing but doubts."
Glenda joins in the huddle. "Me too."
"That settles that," Sienna adds. "Sorry, Greg, but we're overruling you. Three to one, majority rules."
"The only matter is that you get to choose whether we kill her or let her go."

A. Overrule their overruling
B. Kill the Rogue
C. Let the Rogue go free

tag, will do this later

Did you want an American co-host for votals and such? I'd be happy to do that if you so desire.

Playing isn't going to happen right now though :/

Yeah, I was in the car, though I said I was a passenger. Good to know for the future!

That said, I'm going to do linking and such when I get home. One of many to-do list items...

My setup isn't finalized and I'm going to have an insanely busy next week, coming back from vacation and all. So I'm not ready to host and I'll sit out playing in this next one. I can co-host though if needed.

Kirby321 posted...

Welcome to the "get immediately suspected from the first post regardless of alignment" club, my friend

(... except the one time I didn't get immediately pounced on from my first post was when I was scum, so uh...)

*flashes membership card*

It became a running joke and I've just rolled with it by mocking whoever suspects me for a page 1 shitpost. It's not meant to be taken seriously. And yet people do *shrug*

That was a pretty short game. Amazing concept and nothing like I have (though I'm surprised there was more than three scum).

I hardly read any of it and won't have a connection to do so for most of today (flight home) but... hilarious game tbh

I usually start to have favorites after four episodes. Sometimes I even have one after the premiere.

Let me go over everybody who still stands...

RATU
Brandon - he played the idol on day 3 and used to play in the NFL, but I can't tell you anything else about him or his gameplay
Carson - he's not bad for a superfan gamebot type who Inviso always hates, but there's nothing unique or interesting about him at all
Lauren - seriously, who?
Matthew - one of the most interesting people here, but that's because he's a smarmy, sleazy type of player who thinks he's much smarter than he actually is
Wasn't the other guy's name Kane? I forget, and that never happens after four episodes!

TIKA (that's purple, right?)
Carolyn - best character this season, because she's unique with how genuinely unstable she is making for delightful TV. She's my favorite right now for that reason but she's the only.
Josh - another slimy player who thinks he's smarter than he really is, because he's a surgeon and everybody knows he's lying about his career now
Yam-Yam - a fun character who actually seems clever, but we need more of him just being himself for me to actually care

WHAT WAS GREEN CALLED AGAIN? SOKA?
Danny - I liked his idol stunt a lot, because it took the target off of him and was fun to watch, but that's all I got
Frannie - seems awesome, but we're hardly getting anything from her
Heidi - is there, and only stands out when she's wearing the hat (seeing as nobody else has one)
Jaime - is being set up to be embarrassed later and that couldn't be any more obvious
Matt - has a fake idol and a thing for Frannie, but is otherwise very generic

Because so much time has been spent on twists and advantages, I can't articulate much about anyone. That's bad.

foolm0r0n posted...

With the advantages you guarantee that there's SOME drama to latch onto at least. Can you really say the birdcage was worse for getting to know people than sitting around the fire eating coconuts?

The birdcage was great, but this was on top of other things. They didn't need to do anything beyond the birdcage - just leave it at that.

And I can't tell you who my favorite is after four episodes. I literally love none of these people at this point. This last episode was bad because there was zero character development and sacrificed what should be good about the show entirely for synthetic "drama" that only served to be boring and predictable. Pre-merge is lame now because I don't feel like it's fun to watch due to me being emotionally detached from the entire cast, and I think the lack of diversity is the biggest reason. There are way too few personality clashes and that may stem from them getting the exact drama they wanted from putting Feely Dan and Kellee on the same tribe. They are afraid to have the thing that made Survivor great in the first place because of one instance of something unacceptable happening.

Wordle 646 4/6

CATER
SHANK
PIANO


A lot of people must've learned a new word today.

Redeemed the ones you sent me earlier - thanks for that.

Also claimed one of the Spotlight: Yoshi codes here (the other was taken already also, as was the BOTW one - would it kill people to confirm they took it?).

MZero posted...

still at 0 confirmed cases *knocks on wood*

if i ever got it I only had mild or no symptoms

This

I'd much rather get to know these people as opposed to getting to know their advantages. If that makes the early goings slower, that's fine so long as it pays off later. Having advantages overshadowing the players is bad for the show - and it's really boring to watch if you're emotionally detached.

Let's go over several things the show can do to improve things:

1. Make episodes longer. Give us a better balance of strategy and personality, without doing the garbage AU does.
2. Allow contestants more freedom to choose their wardrobe, including a swimsuit and hat if they want one. Giving them outfits they wouldn't ordinarily wear makes them feel more like actors.
3. Fewer advantages. This is ridiculous to keep track of and that makes it hard to follow along.
4. Increase challenge diversity. I'm on my phone during challenges now because they're boring. Even simpler things would be nice. They retire good ones too hastily, without doing easy modifications like no advantage in the auction or a max weight in Shoulder the Load.
5. Have more diverse casts. The recent casts are sated with Millennial influencer types who have "made it" in their chosen walk of life. We don't have many who are struggling or many who might say something that sets others off. We don't have many villains anymore. The end result is we get too many people who are too similar at their point of casting. Thank the Survivor Gods for Carolyn.

Just a few things...

Bought a bunch of Ace Attorney stuff - what I didn't have was just $10 - and I think I'm good. My backlog is ginormous anyway.

Did download the codes (thanks, darkx and GTM!) too so I'm good there. I'll be entertained on my travel day back home tomorrow.

Finally got around to watching it

The swap was a nifty twist - we needed a deviation from the formulaic nature of the last three seasons, something we hardly got in the 30s - though giving each an idol was over-the-top. This means:
Real, full Idols: Matthew, Carolyn, Danny
Fake idols: Jaime, Sarah, Matt
Temporary idols: Jaime, Carson, Josh

That is NINE and that's just idols! Mix that with the other crap and how the hell does anyone keep track of it?

It sucks to lose Sarah, who is nice to look at and very good at articulating her thoughts. I also think Josh picked her over Yam-Yam out of sexism, but we got virtually no time in the pre-Tribal scramble due to two boring challenges and a bunch of twist/advtanage bloat. This cast is great but they're not being allowed to shine. We're most certainly getting a male winner if it's not Carolyn.

Trying to figure out how to get all this to work. My parents' Internet is having issues with some devices, including my phone and Switch (but oddly not my 3DS). I've caught more than enough Pokmon so I just need the Mystery Box. There's a lot to figure out here!

I'll be home tomorrow night so I can try then. Thanks for that tip - I can get both Meltan and its Evo that way!

ctesjbuvf posted...

It takes no effort to get for what it's worth.

How? I've spent several hours trying and no luck (trainer is only level 7). I also just had like 20 Pokmon break out in a row and then flee. I just want to get my Living Dex stuff and be done without spending any money. This game is clearly a money sink.

Wordle 645 4/6






Or something. Don't have time to add my guesses.

I reheat mine in my toaster oven, though how long and what temp varies dramatically from one pizza to another. Cold pizza tastes bland.

I'd put it below most other 3D console Zelda games (obviously not SS, which sucks) just based on the Triforce hunt alone (fuck that incel con man Tingle). Everything before that is fantastic - plus it has probably the best set of mini-games and the animation is beautiful, which has made it age incredibly well.

I heard that the HD version improved that frustrating part, reducing the number of charts by half and putting the actual shards where the others were. Very needed improvement that, if it had been how the original was set up, would have probably put WW over MM and BotW for me.

Yuck, that sounds like a lot of trading. I think the worst part is the Meltan - I don't play Go, how am I supposed to get one of those?

I am working on getting everything into HOME as soon as I, well, get home. I may go with Sword if there's ever a sale like there was when I got BDSP (half price at Target, I told the board, didn't I?). But the chance of that happening.... yeah, right. Odd since you would think they would now that SV has been out for four months. Nintendo only ever puts games on sale after the next in the series has been out for a while.

I can try to earn a little money with this freelance contract I signed and should be able to pay for more. Right now I'm playing White 2 for no reason though.