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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: November 17, 2017, 09:57:11 PM »
Everyone should watch Lady Bird ASAP.
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General Chat / Re: What Games are you Playing 2017?
« on: September 08, 2017, 10:51:46 PM »Pyre - the new Supergiant Games thing. Art is beautiful, story is a bit less intense this time, settting feels kind of pre-collapse Bastion? It is still about a society in decline, but Armageddon scenario hasn't hit yet.I really like this game. I actually didn't connect 100% with the other Supergiant games for some reason. I always like their art design and music but something didn't quite click with Bastion. Transistor I liked more but the narrative cohesion wasn't really there for me. Here, there is a really good integration of story and gameplay. Like Gref says, it is basically like fantasy basketball with some combat aspects since you can banish other players, and the game has a really varied roster where all the characters are viable and useful after you get used to their playing style. I gravitated towards the speedsters (Rukey, Gilman, Ti'zo, Pamitha) and enjoyed blitzing, although that likely works better against the AI than it does against human players. Like with other Supergiant games, there are interesting gameplay choices between the two skill trees and they are fairly well balanced.
Gameplay, it is Fantasy 3v3 basketball.
You are playing 3v3 basketball to free you party from a wasteland and to return them to a decadent collapsing Rome.
I have freed my first party member as well
The main crux of it comes in the Liberation Rites, where two teams play to compete to escape the underground. You have to choose amongst your most three experienced players and it becomes an insidiously difficult choice because those are the ones who you likely have a good deal of familiarity with and who you've used the most throughout the campaign. So if you succeed, your character is sent up and you cannot use them ever again and your team will become weaker. But there is also the concept that winning may not be the best option. There are some opposing teams that are fairly sympathetic and have good cases that they deserve liberation as well (or your characters have personal interactions/relationships with them where they secretly hope that your opponent will win), and throwing matches will allow them to ascend instead and you never face that team again.
The Oregon Trail aspect of it actually isn't as well fleshed out as it could be, but I can understand that to some extent because your roster is so flexible.
I really recommend Pyre. It's relatively cheap and there isn't anything like it in terms of gameplay or style.
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General Chat / Re: Idiot of the Day 2017: Your lucky color is orange.
« on: July 28, 2017, 01:54:39 AM »I try not to drop a lot of political stuff in here because my goodness, the topic would overflow. This I cannot ignore. It would be a crime against comedy to let this one pass.http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannonQuoteAt 7:22 p.m. on Wednesday, Politico reported that Scaramucci “still stands to profit from an ownership stake in his investment firm SkyBridge Capital” while he works in the White House. Politico cited a form Scaramucci submitted to the Office of Government Ethics and noted that the document is a public record.
At 7:41 p.m., Scaramucci claimed in a tweet that the release of his financial disclosure form was the result of a leak (it wasn't) and a felony (it's not). He also tagged Priebus and said he would contact the FBI.
To be absolutely crystal clear, the Whote House Press Secretary is accusing the White House Chief of Staff of illegally leaking a private document, and is encouraging the DOJ and FBI to investigate and prosecute him for a felony. Except. The document in question? Public record. Also no evidence Priebus leaked it. Which would make sense considering IT'S A PUBLIC RECORD.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/27/scaramucci-if-reince-wants-to-explain-that-hes-not-a-leaker-let-him-do-that/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_scaramucci-9a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.7a69a1438360
Later on, Scaramucci, confronted about the matter, said, "If Reince wants to explain that he’s not a leaker, let him do that" before likening him and Reince to "brothers" like maybe "Cain and Abel."
Is satire dead? Satire may be dead.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/27/scaramucci-if-reince-wants-to-explain-that-hes-not-a-leaker-let-him-do-that/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.03b90a397d97
This has been one of the dumbest days I can remember and 80% of it is Mooch related.
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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: July 23, 2017, 01:35:20 PM »
I don't know if it's convenient, but I try to would watch it in IMAX if possible. It's really overwhelming and that is the intent. Each bullet fire makes you jump and the sounds from the bombings just surrounds you. The soundtrack also really works well in that format because you can hear every fucking tick of that watch.
Lately he's made films that have some nakedly emotional moments, and that is true of Dunkirk as well with the arrival of the civilian fleet of boats, lying to Ciaran Hinds about the kid surviving, Tom Hardy shifting to reserve fuels to shoot down the last plane, the commander staying behind to save the French, soldiers talking about home, reading the Churchill speech at the end .
Nolan is really popular among dudes in their 20s, mostly for the Batman films. Begins and Dark Knight are quite good and the most I've ever liked superhero movies but Rises is kind of a turd. The ones that still stand up to scrutiny are still Memento, The Prestige, and Inception (I'd add Dunkirk here). The Prestige is still my low key favorite of his. I also did not hate Interstellar like a lot of people do.
Lately he's made films that have some nakedly emotional moments, and that is true of Dunkirk as well with the arrival of the civilian fleet of boats, lying to Ciaran Hinds about the kid surviving, Tom Hardy shifting to reserve fuels to shoot down the last plane, the commander staying behind to save the French, soldiers talking about home, reading the Churchill speech at the end .
Nolan is really popular among dudes in their 20s, mostly for the Batman films. Begins and Dark Knight are quite good and the most I've ever liked superhero movies but Rises is kind of a turd. The ones that still stand up to scrutiny are still Memento, The Prestige, and Inception (I'd add Dunkirk here). The Prestige is still my low key favorite of his. I also did not hate Interstellar like a lot of people do.
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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: July 23, 2017, 01:27:54 AM »
Dunkirk is intense as fuck. I saw it on IMAX and it isn't just the size of the screen but the sound design that shines through in that format. I'm unsure where it ranks for Nolan films but I think it's pretty high up there.
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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: June 13, 2017, 04:09:28 AM »Way late about this, but Gourry I watched the 3 Before movies in 3 evenings in a row. Great experience all around, watching the actors age that way was a Boyhood-like experience. I loved the evolution between each opus and felt each improved significantly upon the last one. Midnight was meandering at first but had a really emotional and difficult second half. We had to stop it for 10 minutes at one point.yessssssssss
I also watched Remastered HD The Thing in a theater during a film festival. It hasn't aged very well and wasn't anywhere near as suspensful as I expected. Then again I don't really appreciate most pre 90s movies in general so whatever
Trainspotting was next and oh boy it was amazing as ever
The Before series might be my favorite movies. Before Sunset is my favorite but Midnight is fucking devastating. It's interesting to rewatch them at different times in your life because the way you relate to the characters changes. When I was young and touring Europe, young doofus Ethan Hawke was kind of relatable and looking back you recognize that he's a doofus. My favorite is Before Sunset right now and that might be because that's where I am in life and there is some wistfulness with decisions made in the past that make sense (and the movie holds up really well and has a perfect ending). When I get older I will not be surprised if Midnight is the one I like best (or relate to the most at least).
I appreciate Linklater a lot because he is the director who best addresses our relationship with time. If there are more Before or Boyhood films I will be completely on board.
Not really looking forward to any summer movie releases other than Baby Driver and Atomic Blonde, which appears to be John Wick with Charlize Theron.
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General Chat / Re: What Games are you Playing 2017?
« on: May 25, 2017, 11:44:14 PM »Oh yes Invisible Inc is just the best strategy game honestly. My whole post could have been just "Invisible Inc existing makes Xcom look bad"Agreed, this is one of the best strategy games to come out in years.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: May 25, 2017, 02:37:44 AM »https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/greg-gianforte-bodyslams-reporter-ben-jacobs-montanaThis is a classic move that rallies the base.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: May 10, 2017, 03:13:02 AM »Okay, so, we're mega-fucked.america had a shitty run
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: May 08, 2017, 02:48:00 AM »
I don't think that would have reversed a 35 point win, but again this speaks to how sensible the few week period is compared to the fucking eternity of American campaign season.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 24, 2017, 11:36:27 AM »
There wasn't much evidence that Le Pen has any kind of hidden vote or would outperform her polls here, and yeah, it seems that the path for her to overcome that huge a polling disadvantage would be a huge defection (most of Melanchon voters will not vote for Le Pen) or if nobody votes. I'm unsure what turnout/energy is for this but I hope it's high.
Also, this week it's worth paying attention to what will happen with a possible government shutdown, with the WH insisting on payment for the stupid wall.
I like that your runoff elections are so quick. The runoff for my district 6 (VOTE YOUR OSSOFF YALL) is June 20th, elections were April 18.I think it's undercovered that this is a crazy result. The GA6 had fucking Newt Gingrich for years and for it to be possibly go blue is kind of incredible. Trump is very unpopular and the GOP is branded with a disastrously bad health care bill (and the new one looks worse), so this shit should be easy to run against and there should be someone put up in every district. This seems obvious but the Democratic party is so decimated in some states and districts that they aren't running anyone at all. Hopefully this energy keeps up into 2018.
Also, this week it's worth paying attention to what will happen with a possible government shutdown, with the WH insisting on payment for the stupid wall.
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General Chat / Re: What Are You Listening To 2017: We Got The Beat
« on: April 19, 2017, 11:01:28 PM »
Kendrick Lamar - DNA
god damn this is good
god damn this is good
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 18, 2017, 02:17:45 PM »
It seems like Snowfire is having a completely different conversation than everyone else. Fenrir's stance was never about upholding liberal bubbles by hating on conservative viewpoints, but rather ones that are completely incorrect. No one here was arguing against the utility of having other viewpoints in decision making. The issue here isn't about political ideology but being able to agree on basic factual premises. If you don't have that, you can't even begin having reasonable discussions. Entertaining these views isn't about ideology. There's anti-vax sentiment from the left that I also find disdainful and that I do not think deserves this platform either.
The NYT and Washington Post ("Democracy Dies in Darkness") have touted themselves as safeguards against falsehoods and misinformation and they have no obligation to hire someone who peddles in horseshit. Even if you don't agree with that, then it's an opportunity cost because there are a lot of different voices on the left and right that they could have picked instead.
"It's just the opinion section" is a really bad justification for this decision. This isn't just some whacko sending letters to the editor, he's getting a regular column every week and he has pushed views that are wrong and harmful, ones that will be legitimized by this platform. I think it would be one thing if the view were "climate change is real but it isn't a pressing concern," because there at least you're starting with a factual premise that you can base a discussion on priorities on. Climate denialism is another issue altogether.
PS,
Best of Bret Stephens:
http://fusion.net/the-best-of-bret-stephens-your-newest-new-york-times-o-1794297718
The NYT and Washington Post ("Democracy Dies in Darkness") have touted themselves as safeguards against falsehoods and misinformation and they have no obligation to hire someone who peddles in horseshit. Even if you don't agree with that, then it's an opportunity cost because there are a lot of different voices on the left and right that they could have picked instead.
"It's just the opinion section" is a really bad justification for this decision. This isn't just some whacko sending letters to the editor, he's getting a regular column every week and he has pushed views that are wrong and harmful, ones that will be legitimized by this platform. I think it would be one thing if the view were "climate change is real but it isn't a pressing concern," because there at least you're starting with a factual premise that you can base a discussion on priorities on. Climate denialism is another issue altogether.
PS,
Best of Bret Stephens:
http://fusion.net/the-best-of-bret-stephens-your-newest-new-york-times-o-1794297718
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 17, 2017, 08:53:23 PM »
My problem isn't so much with the different viewpoints involved but rather that the opinion writers are fucking idiots. Stephens would probably be the among the worst of them and I don't see what adding someone whose opinions are afactual and ahistorical does for you. Even being a "climate agnostic" is a ridiculous opinion to have against the preponderance of evidence out there.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 17, 2017, 03:29:30 PM »
New York Times reporters are usually quite good, but the opinion pages have been a shitshow for a long time. Brooks and Douthat are really embarrassing and I don't like Dowd or Thomas Friedman either. Bret Stephens makes that problem worse.
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General Chat / Re: Idiot of the Day 2017: Your lucky color is orange.
« on: April 12, 2017, 11:35:46 AM »
It's plainly clear why Sessions wants to do this but the state of forensic science is shockingly terrible so these steps certainly won't help anything.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228091.pdf
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228091.pdf
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General Chat / Re: Idiot of the Day 2017: Your lucky color is orange.
« on: April 11, 2017, 09:17:55 PM »18
Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 11, 2017, 02:05:11 PM »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/sessions-orders-justice-dept-to-end-forensic-science-commission-suspend-review-policy/2017/04/10/2dada0ca-1c96-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.81d5560578c6
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-jeff-sessions-wants-to-bring-back-the-war-on-drugs/2017/04/08/414ce6be-132b-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html
Jeff Sessions is quietly really odious and unlike many other agencies that are being left to die, he's making a lot of sweeping moves that's going to result in a lot of bad shit domestically.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-jeff-sessions-wants-to-bring-back-the-war-on-drugs/2017/04/08/414ce6be-132b-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html
Jeff Sessions is quietly really odious and unlike many other agencies that are being left to die, he's making a lot of sweeping moves that's going to result in a lot of bad shit domestically.
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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: April 10, 2017, 01:55:00 AM »WARNING: ANIMEI just saw this and was surprised that it worked on me. Like the rest of Shinkai's movies, it's really beautiful and has a level of detail that is on par with Miyazaki (I don't know why this is but he's really good at animating cellphones, which doesn't sound like much but it impresses me for some reason). There's a sequence in the middle of the movie that is really amazing, and as always Shinkai renders natural backdrops extremely well. I always thought that Shinkai's animation far outstripped the actual content of his films but this one was really good. The anime music video interludes don't really work for me (maybe it'd be better in Japanese?) which is a bit of a bummer since they are played during propulsive emotional moments.
So has anybody seen Your Name yet? It was so gorgeous. It gets the beauty in the smallest parts of our lives. The plot is for teenagers but it got pretty complicated and emotional.
Music was very distracting shit J-pop. But there were only 4 songs.
Also the word boobies is in uttered in one emotional moment.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 07, 2017, 05:56:23 PM »oh yeah gorsuch is inSo this has been an incredibly eventful... two days.^
Bannon removed from NSC.
Jared Kushner being made responsible for solving literally every problem
Devin Nunes recuses from Russia investigation.
Nuclear option invoked on Senate filibuster.
Summit with China.
Launching of ~50 Tomahawk missiles at an airfield in Syria.
Don't know what to say. I need to lie down forever.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: April 07, 2017, 04:54:37 AM »
So this has been an incredibly eventful... two days.
Bannon removed from NSC.
Jared Kushner being made responsible for solving literally every problem
Devin Nunes recuses from Russia investigation.
Nuclear option invoked on Senate filibuster.
Summit with China.
Launching of ~50 Tomahawk missiles at an airfield in Syria.
Don't know what to say. I need to lie down forever.
Bannon removed from NSC.
Jared Kushner being made responsible for solving literally every problem
Devin Nunes recuses from Russia investigation.
Nuclear option invoked on Senate filibuster.
Summit with China.
Launching of ~50 Tomahawk missiles at an airfield in Syria.
Don't know what to say. I need to lie down forever.
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General Chat / Re: Movies
« on: April 03, 2017, 04:14:20 AM »
That twist sounds fucking terrible.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: March 31, 2017, 03:12:57 PM »I've been in TN a long time and doubt this will last more than a week."We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem."
Da fuq
Looking at the positive, it's awesome that Bob Corker was able to wake up from the coma he's apparently been in since 2002 and immediately resume his duties in the U.S. Senate.
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Discussion / Re: Is there a politics thread? Guess I'm making one
« on: March 31, 2017, 01:34:23 AM »25
General Chat / Re: Gooooooooood Morning 2017 Edition! No Political Commentary Here!
« on: March 31, 2017, 01:33:14 AM »
Really sorry, Ciato. My condolences and thoughts to you.