Lurker > CyborgSage00x0

Metalsonic66 posted...

:'(

Eh?

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Idirs Elba has corona. He was just her eon a show before they shut it (and all other) shows down. They might have to test that whole crew now.

Well...back to Monster Hunter for me.

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Yeah, I'm being paid not to work for 2 weeks while NBC has all their shows suspended for that time. I kinda suspect it'll last longer than that, though.

My tickets to a play have been pushed next month, and I was supposed to see Rage Against the Machine in 2 weeks, but that has been rescheduled...

Least my board game group is getting together more, since all of us are in jobs that have suspended. More time for Animal Crossing and to finish up other games.

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All filming in New Mexico has been suspended. Stranger Things, my show, and every production that I know of just got put on a 2-week pause.

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I haven't paid too much attention to the Coronoavirus, and no one gives enough shits about NM to visit out here. That said, finding hand sanitizer for my show is basically impossible, the city seems to be sold out right now.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Vampires are probably the ones who still have at least some of their original trappings as part of the general stereotype, and there are always the horror hipsters who will dig deep back in the well and pull out folklore to season their fiction with (like going with the "can't cross running water" or "has to stop and count things" weaknesses - which, as I often like to point out, means The Count from Sesame Street is actually one of the most accurate depictions of vampires in modern media). But even there, there've been so damned many variations, and they tend to differ so much across various mythologies, that it's hard to point to a single archetype and say "THIS is the real vampire".

I've always enjoyed the "can't cross running water" and "have to be invited in" ones. Or that they need to travel with their coffins/native soil. IIRC, Hellsing keeps most of these, which I enjoy, and makes vampires ridiculously inhuman in their strength. Or how Castlevania does is.

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Zeus posted...

Deadliest Warrior was such lulz. The fight "science" was always a joke, but the episodes usually managed to entertain.

Yeah, it was worth it just to see the weapon tests and for them to delve into the historical context of the warriors, and to see how certain armor reacted to certain things. Who cares about who actually would "win".

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Personally, I'm a fan of the idea that the vampire becomes a zombie and the zombie becomes a vampire, so you get two weird zombie/vampire hybrid weirdos.

Reminds me of that kooky Deadliest Warrior episode where they pitted 3 vampires against like, 200 zombies or some shit. I think the outcome was that the vampires won, but were zombified at the end anyways. I think the main debate was that while a vampire should have no problem not even being touched by your typical shambling zombie, the question was if there hemo-powers would prevent or make worse the zombie virus infection. Aka, in some lores/mythos, vampires are basically immune to diseases, especially blood ones.

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Zeus posted...

Kinda expected it, tbh. It was a stupid, silly move.

Nintendo initially said that it would take too long to add everyone Pokemon, with all their attacks and animations, without pushing S&S too much. Considering they now plan on adding them without the need to pay for it, it seems likely they were telling the truth.

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So, the Witcher wasn't half bad, despite it being pretty hard to tell what is going on. Cavill was a good fit for Geralt...as one would hope, seeing as he demanded the role.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I remember saying she's responsible for the trilogy sucking because she was hands off and should have been more like Kevin Feige on the Marvel movies, and jokingly alluded to the idea that she was a deliberate saboteur Lucas hired to run Lucasfilm before Disney acquired it to ruin it on them, but I don't remember explicitly saying she was directly responsible for Episode IX being terrible. I mostly blame Rian Johnson for that.

Most people seem to think KK is responsible for most of the boondoggle that is the ST, so if you want anyone one person having complete control, it'd probably best not to be her. At the same time, no single entity having complete control was the first and most obviously predictable fuck-up for the ST, so perhaps controlled shit would have been better than chaotic shit.

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The Wave Master posted...

I saw Rise of Skywalker last night.

I liked it a lot. A whole lot.

Yes, the pace is insane, and some stuff isn't explained, but it was a good movie.

When s lptore time has passed we can discuss it more.

Time to bring Wave back in for re-programming. Yikes.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I said at the time it would work well as a base to build on, and to redeem the bad taste the prequels left in people's mouths, if it led into the next two movies and helped set up an effective trilogy. So my ultimate opinion of VII was going to depend entirely on what they did with VIII and IX.

Considering how the following movies did absolutely nothing worthwhile with any of it, it sort of makes TFA much, much worse in retrospect. Because it wasn't nostalgia to set up a new beginning, it was hollow nostalgia with absolutely no substance, no direction, and no point. It wasn't world-building, it was masturbation.

And if we'll recall, this is exactly the thing I pointed out from the get-go with TFA, and how it's slavish adherence to safe mediocrity would virtually guarantee the whole trilogy being tainted and doomed to fail.

The problem being, of course, was that TFA *wasn't* just a movie trying to play it safe in order to get the audience on board with a Lucas-less, post PT Star Wars. I agree that on some levels, nostalgia or putting the audience into a comfort zone was likely necessary. But that's not what TFA did- it wholesale ripped off ANH, and thus guaranteed we would be stuck with Rebels vs. Empire 2.0, superweapons power creep, shady Sith masterminds trying to recruit a budding Jedi with a powerful bloodline, etc. The writers were too shallow or too afraid to trust the audience, thus locking the whole series into a form of retread. Which made TLJ's attempts to buck the trend all the more jarring, and TRoS's attempt to tie the spaghetti noodles together make the whole trilogy look every bit like the trial-by-committee it was. It was quite obvious this is would happen.

That said, not even I could predict they could get Luke and the Force so wrong, or fuck up the lore in general so badly. Or do something as shamelessly hacky as bring the Emperor back.

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Oh yeah, TRoS is bad. Saw it today. Everything from the breakneck pacing to the fan service cameos makes this for a sloppily made movie. But as expected, Palpatine's existence is the biggest offender. That, and the Force going full-on space magic and serving as a Swiss Army Knife for the plot shows that care and attention to this series has been jettisoned out the window for good. Most of the video games handle the Foce with more tact and respect.

Strangely, I probably still prefer this to TLJ, for if nothing else at least it felt like stuff was happening (even if most of the stuff was wrong or poorly explained).

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TheWitchMorgana posted...

its becoming increasingly apparent that TFA was only good because it was a retread of ANH

And it wasn't good, either, precisely for just being a retread. But at least it more or less functions as a movie, in comparison to the other 2.

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Think I'm going Monday

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Mead posted...

surprised to see yet another conservative that has no idea what theyre talking about

I'd say the majority of the population, regardless of party, doesn't actually know what impeachment is (although it's way more common among Republicans).

If anything, this shows how dire of a need to have civics/government classes be required all through grade school, even if it comes at the expense of other subjects. It's just shameful how clueless the average citizen is regarding government.

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Zangulus posted...

Upholding the Constitution: A waste of time and Money.

Republicans having the audacity to complain about wasting time and money always makes me chuckle. How many times did they launch pointless investigations against Hillary that lead to nothing, or tried to overturn Obamacare when they knew it was doomed to fail? How about all the attempts to ban abortion, when they literally admit their laws will get over-turned?

The entire GOP is an exercise in wasting time and money. No one saying that actually cares about waste.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

You're straying dangerously close to Helly levels of contrarianism here.

This. Yeesh.

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aDirtyShisno posted...

Based on this precedent that the House has just set I hope to see every single future President impeached if the opposition party holds the House majority. After all the House literally gets to decide what is and isnt impeachable on a whim and then just has to prove that it took place. Its already been admitted during the hearing that every single President, save possibly for Harrison who only served 31 days, would have been impeached based on the rules proposed by the House during this impeachment.

Spare us.

While technically true that the rules of what constitutes and impeachable offense is in the eye of the beholder, it's an extremely costly, in terms of politics, toll and move to take, which is why it's quite rare in US history. This has nothing to do with "rules", and everything to do with what Trump did, which is agreed to be impeachable offenses by basically every historian, all our law and defense agencies, and by even a lay reading of what occurred itself.

And if you're really going to try and go for the "low bar for impeachment" angel, like most everything, you can blame the GOP for going after Bill Clinton for that. Lying about a bj was a joke then, and is a god damn comedy special compared to what we are dealing with now.

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Both articles passed.

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Reviews have been middling to bad so far for RoS, which makes sense. Seems the consensus is that it looks really gorgeous, but little of it makes sense, there's way too much stuff happening at a breakneck pace, and that it spends half the time course correcting TLJ, the other half ripping off RotJ.

I'll see it probably within the next week, because I hate not finishing stuff, even if the spoilers guaranteed this would be a total mess.

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darkknight109 posted...

The Jedi were just so painfully dull for most of the prequel trilogy, and Mace seems to embody that more than anyone.

I actually kinda think that was the point.

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I have a knee-jerk disdain for anything that's a spin-off or reboot, especially if it's from a well-known work done by someone other than the original creators. So, hearing about a Watchmen TV series kinda caused me to gag.

That said, there'a fair amount of hype behind it, enough so that I might dip my toes in.

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Assuming the IX leaks are true, the Prequel trilogy will absolutely be better.

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Nichtcrawler X posted...

Are you implying men cannot be swayed by cuteness?

No, just that he's clearly targeted to keep female viewership.

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I_Always_Die posted...

Star Wars has pretty much always existed just to sell toys since George Lucas replaced the army of the forest moon of Endor with Ewoks. They were originally Wookiees.

Correct. The Mandoliran himself and Baby Yoda exist almost entirely for this reason. The fact that they've managed to cobble together a decent enough story and world off of this premise is praise worthy alone.

Seriously though, it befuddles me how a fanbase that will spend hours debating which lightsaber style is the best is easily won over by what is essentially a Furby. This being the same group that talks out of the side of their mouths about shitting on Ewoks and Porgs.

*shakes head*

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He is a cynical creation to sell toys, make memes, and melt the hearts of the female audience members. He thus far adds nothing to the show and hamstrings a decent show from becoming possibly more.

Fight me.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I laughed when I heard that Leslie Jones apparently complained that it was disrespectful that the new movie was clearly pretending that their movie never happened.

I mean, half the reason anyone knows of Leslie Jones to begin with is her concern trolling on Twitter.

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Not a fan of them being kids, though.

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Oh yeah, I member!

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The Wave Master posted...

If you were stuck in a tropical paradise with food, water, shelter, the Internet, and your health in tact, but for that reward you only get to play 5 video games for the rest of your life, what 5 games, would you bring with you, and why?

To kinda piggyback off of what PO said, assuming Wave means the actual definition of paradise (basically, a land where all your wants and needs are fulfilled) and not the layman's idea of the word (a Caribbean beach with palm trees), then my need for an abundance of games would probably drop a lot. That said, I'm still a gamer at heart, so this would be tough.

1 would definitely have to be either a Mario or Zelda game. or possibly 2 slots go to these. A Mario game, with it;s many secrets and ways to entertain yourself, has more mileage, but I think I'd need at least 1 Zelda game to keep me rooted in a grand adventure, too.

After that, it's probably be a mix of games with lots of replay value, like Smash, Mincecraft, Diablo, etc. Maybe even League of Legends, despite the fact that I've given up that cursed game. An Age of Empires, being a linchpin series in my gaming life, would probably have to be one. Perhaps Civilization 6, too.

The Wave Master posted...

Bonus Question: What 5 games would you not bring because they would make the paradise a nightmare?

I feel like a better way to phrase this would be "Which 5 games, that you have played, and were forced upon you, would suck the most to only have access to?", since games that I've never played (specifically if I avoided them because I knew I wouldn't like them) opens up thousands of possibilities. But ones that I did play, but ended up not liking, would make more sense.

Like PO said, there aren't many that have been so bad that I would dread playing them if I could only have 5. But any single player game that lacks any shine or replay value would be the worst. Like, I've played the first (3) 5 Nights at Freddy's games, and while they are enjoyable, they have some of the lowest replay value I can think of.

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Whoa, I missed this. It's been a whirlwind.

Will write more later, but fun recap: I'll be in Phoenix to see the Steelers hopefully clobber the Cards (2nd Steelers game ever, 3rd NFL game).

Taking a vacation from film work until next year.
Getting more advanced in my Scuba certifications (that I only started a couple months back).

I have Disney+ via my sister, I wasn't going to get it otherwise. The price point is fine, but I have too much I want to watch in my backlog anyways.

Finished Luigi's Mansion 3, Pokemon, and working on Astral Chain now.

Um, that's all.

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LinkPizza posted...

I was wondering this, as well...

Star Girl, based off that popular coming-of-age book from the 90's I think.

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Nah. Between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, and my massive backlog, I have more than enough to watch is.

The irony being that I helped make a damn show for Disney +.

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I could see that being fine if that was the route they are going for, but Bayonetta is literally in the game...

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Judgmenl posted...

Water starters have been garbage since Swampert.
15 years.

Empoleon says hi.

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Did you play any previous BL games?

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Interesting observation to be sure, PO.

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adjl posted...

As terrible as the whole Hong Kong thing is, my enthusiasm for Diablo 4 is tempered more by the fact that ActiBlizz isn't exactly the best company these days even if you just look at their game development practices. I can almost guarantee major elements of D4 are going to be tucked away behind loot boxes and/or microtransactions, to the detriment of the game's enjoyability for anyone who doesn't want to spend anything beyond the $60 they're charging up front. Especially so where there isn't exactly a dearth of other quality ARPG's on the market right now.

I'm really hoping that's not the case, since they seem to leave Diablo alone for that type of stuff. They took down the Real Money Auction House after enough complaints (or really, after they made enough money from it).

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_AdjI_ posted...

It takes a while for all the pieces of the battle system to come together, and it isn't explained as well as it could be (the first Xenoblade let you replay tutorials at any time, so I'm not sure why 2 doesn't), but I enjoyed it well enough once it got there and I figured out what I was doing.

This. Once is clicks, the battle system becomes really fun. Albeit, a lot of it is tedious and needlessly complicated.

Plus, I loved hearing the announcer shout "Awesome!" and whatnot.

PK_Spam posted...

Unrelated, but I forgot how fucking awful the sound mixing in this game is. You can barely hear some of these characters over the OST in cutscenes. And I wish it were an isolated incident, but it happens over and over again.

Yeah, this was a major gripe I had. In battle is just a clusterfuck of people talking to each other, shouting commands/battle moves, SFX, and the music.

When you get into battles against multiple enemies that each have blades, it sounds like a fucking debug sound mode. I'm not sure why they thought that was a good idea.

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So what's the gripe against Blizzard these days, or is the Hong Kong thing it?

I basically only play the Diablo games, so any fuckery with Overwatch or SC is unknown to me.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

Nah we fucked her up too.

Really weird to push a low level boss.

According to the books (and as said in the trailer), she, along with an Angel, created humans and Sanctuary. So she's actually a big deal.

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Zareth posted...

Bethesda had literally nothing to do with this.

Derp, I knew that. Brain thought of Bethesda, which is also guilty of horrible dead eyes. My mistake, though.

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I can't get over how Bethesda seems incapable of making NPCs that don't appear to be looking at you cross-eyed or staring into your soul.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Which ones did you have in mind? There've been a lot of them, and at least some are kind of mutually exclusive.

The JediPaxis ones, specifically.

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So, the final Star Wars trailer is out, and basically confirms the script leaks are true. Which means this movies might even be worse than TLJ somehow.

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Metalsonic66 posted...

I finally watched Over the Garden Wall. And then had to immediately re-watch it.

I'm hoping they do more. It was delightfully weird and felt like it came from nowhere.

Also, the big crazy show I worked on earlier this year, Daybreak, is out on Netflix this Thursday. Tune in if you like the idea of Mad Max meets The Warriors meets The Walking Dead, with Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Ferris Bueller's day Off vibes thrown in. And characters like "Turbo Bro Jock" and "Baron Triumph."

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Saw Joker. Definitely feel it's an over-hyped movie. Yeah, Phoenix is fantastic, the cinematography is great, and the sharp jabs the film wants you to feel land their mark mostly. But it's definitely not as deep and powerful as many are claiming, and doesn't really have much to say besides that beaten down people with mental illnesses will eventually snap or kill themselves which, yeah, no duh. Also feels like it diminishes the scheming intellect and raw danger the Joker have. Arthur doesn't feel like the Clown Prince of crime, just a damaged loner with a gun.

Decided to splurge on the board games Instanbul, Arboretum, and Azul, since Amazon had some price slashes on them recently.

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Got to check out Brightburn. I like the homicidal take on young Superman it presented, even if the reasons for Brandon Breyer to snap in the first place wasn't all very clear or convincing. I also watched Dark Phoenix, which was pretty much garbage, as advertised (although the final fight scene had some cool parts).

I checked out Yesterday as well, which isn't so much as a good movie as a feel-good hit of dopamine for all things Beatles related. Finally, I saw Ad Astra in theaters. The "Apocalypse Now in Space" is apt, but was way more enjoyable. I also never liked Apocalypse much.
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BlackScythe0 posted...

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I'd hedge your bets on it being a laundry list by the time it got to the Senate.Which will look even more damning if/when the GOP balks at it.

I think they vote on each charge individually don't they?

Correct.
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