1,070 thoughts on “Scroll of Cthulhu

  1. Ditto said, “Sigh. The Bay won’t ship Canadian Olympic goods to the US. πŸ™
    The events have been pretty entertaining so far. :)”

    Too bad he doesn’t know anybody who lives in Canada that can send stuff too him πŸ˜‰

  2. Let’s see…

    Reconciled the bank – check
    Got cards and write-ups done for WWC – check
    sent off new release newsletter – check

    Wow, I might actually be done for the day. Now I need to spend some time in the kitchen :happy:

    • I must confess, all the gushing articles I’ve read about this game leave me scratching my head. It’s like they’ve taken the mind numbing resource gathering part of Mass Effect and made it the whole game…

      Maybe I’m must getting old.

      • I like the idea of discovery and survival the game is based around. My problem is I don’t see the game delivering $59 worth of entertainment to do this. I’ll pick it up once its price drops to around $35. I made the mistake of putting full retail down on Battlefront, I’ll wait this one out. On the other hand, I’m still playing Fallout 4 nearly a year after purchase and I’ll likely pick up the Far Harbor expansion soon.

    • I swore I wasn’t going to watch the trailer, and my resolve crumbled in about 5 minutes.

      And it’s an amazing trailer, but I do kinda feel like a lot of cool moments were given away. . . :-/ I’ll just have to abstain from watching any more, and try to forget it ever happened.

  3. Based on everyone’s recommendations here, I’ve picked up my own copy of β€œBetrayal at the House on the Hill”. I started reading through the instructions and it seems like it will be a fun game. Of course I’m moving my son to his ASU dorm this weekend, so it may be next weekend before the fam gets a chance to play.

    • β€œIf I worked at a donut stand, and I kept fucking up donuts, I’d be fired,”

      Oh shes good. And if it’s true that Wonder Woman is a disaster then I’m out. I mean more out than I am now. At least right now I still am willing to see Suicide Squad

  4. So a pet peeve in the 21st century, is remaking (or doing) WW2 films and not using actors from the correct countries.

    So in the new film Anthropoid, the two Czech leads are played by Irish actors.

    WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Jack has strapped on his Strap-On Portable Vagina and is joining the women of the family at the ADELE concert tonight.

    Squeeee. Love him!

  6. So that Adele has a pretty amazing voice. She easily matches the recordings live without too much trickery. She played all of the songs of hers that I like, so I enjoyed the evening. I wasn’t just the husband there there to fill the seat.

        • Thanks! My daughter was actually really intrigued by one of the teenage otaku clubs at the video game expo, and is now curious about anime shows.

          She saw Black Butler at one of her BFFs’ last year, and seemed a bit freaked out by it.
          Another friend got her interested in Ouran Host Club. She got a starter deck for some collectible card game based on Love Live, so there’s that too.

          Any good anime show or movie recommendations for a tweenage girl?

  7. So I’ve just started a new audiobook that is narrated by Jim Dale.

    The voice of Harry Potter audiobooks to you Merkins, but to me, the star of many Carry On films.

  8. So it appears that Olympic competitors hooking up and having sex is newsworthy these days.

    Young adults fucking, the horror, the horror..

  9. So today I was going to buy a set of Bose NC headphones, I’ e trying them in a superstore and the NC ain’t that impressive, I think I’m expecting too much.

  10. My son took one of our computer monitors with him to college, so I ordered a new one with 2K resolution. Probably have to upgrade the rest of the machine soon.

    • I thought “Death Magnetic” was a pretty decent album. Although it wasn’t long before I got bored with it. I’ll check out the new track to see if it grabs me or not.

  11. Man, I’ve fallen behind again. You know, it would be great if someone would record all these comments and make an audio…thing out of them for me. There’s a term that escapes me at the moment…

  12. RE: Anime for Jack’s daughter

    I’ll query mine about what she’s following lately. She’s been big into anime for several years (though the realities of high school have forced some changes, she used to stay up late on Sunday nights waiting for new episodes to post to Crunchyroll after they would air in Japan.)

    I know that RWBY is one of her favorites, though.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RWBY

  13. As for audiobooks, I would probably be illiterate at this point without them. Just finished up Van’s recommendation of the “Ninefox Gambit”, which I enjoyed and likely wouldn’t have found on my own.

  14. To finally answer Jack’s anime question: it depends a bit on your daughter’s tastes. What kinds of stories does she like?

    If she likes Ouran Host Club, then she’d probably like Prince of Tennis, Fruits Basket, and maybe Azumanga Daioh. These are pretty popular with girls & women. I haven’t watched them.

    As for Love Live, I’ve watched the first two seaons. It’s pretty good. It’s about a group of high school girls that decide they want to become idols. It’s fun. She should like it.

    I also highly recommend Chihayafuru, but it might be a bit too Japanese for her. It’s based on a competitive cultural card game and takes a few episodes to get into.

    Following up on Ed’s recommendation: RWBY isn’t technically anime, but it is definitely inspired by Japanese anime and games. I like it quite a bit. It’s made by Rooster Teeth, the same guys that do Red vs Blue, the Halo animated show. They also do RWBY Chibi which is more of a comedy show. πŸ™‚

    Let me know if you need anymore recommendations.

  15. Well the BBC has ‘lost’ the finals of the women’s freestyle wrestling coverage, so I’m going for a walk in the rain.

    Note: I said walk…

  16. We finally got around to playing Betrayal last night. Cali became the Traitor, but thought maybe an older person should run Traitor first, so we rolled for it. Teresa assumed the Traitor roll, became immortal and killed the rest of the family, Overall it was a good time.

  17. Waiting for our layer to call this morning. We’ve filed a formal complaint with the real estate board against the realtor who represented the people who purchased our previous home. He did a no-no and gave those purchasers our personal address here in Airdrie.

  18. Since Kansas City is pretty close to the eclipse path, I’m almost tempted to suggest having a meet up the weekend of the 19th/20th August (the eclipse is the 21st August) 2017.,,

  19. Finally saw Deadpool and Spectre. One was a fun but semi-forgettable franchise starter and the other was a terrible forgettable franchise film.

  20. Ordered a new color printer. It’s been a long time sense I’ve had an Epson, because the ink was so expensive, but the new large holding tank models are suppose to provide ink for an eighth of the cost. That might explain why the printer cost $200 more than a comparable one. Hopefully it won’t break after a year.

  21. http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-08-19/l-amour-club-story-of-club-that-brought-metal-to-america

    This place was legendary in the 80s scene, when I was too young to go all the way to Brooklyn. The article says L’Amour was open until 2004, but I thought it had closed long before that. I saw plenty of Metal shows in NY/NJ from 1989-late 90s, but I can’t recall any band I wanted to see playing there.

    Interesting article, even with the lack of proofreading.

  22. Today’s movie is Mommy’s Little Girl
    The DVR write up: Raised in lonely isolation by her controlling grandparents, Sadie is finally reunited with her mother. Obsessed with protecting her newfound happiness, Sadie refuses to let anyone threaten her new life

  23. The Boulevard beer finder says there are stores in Phoenix that sell Unfiltered Wheat. I may have to see if they are lying or not.

  24. I’ve been working in scrubs at night, just trying to do surgery right
    A little patient, yeah Its hard to see with the mask and gowns
    You know I don’t like being stuck in the round
    Could use some patients, yeah (And the sheets don’t change but maybe the names)
    (I ain’t got time for video games ’cause I need you)
    Gotta have more patients, yeah (Yeah, yeah but I need you)
    All need some patients (Ooh I need you, whoa I need you)
    Just a little patient is all you need (Ooh, this time, ah)

  25. Van, Jack: We’ve checked on our end and if we want to schedule the meet up here in KC during the eclipse next year, it should be fine on our end. We might even have some interesting viewing options. πŸ™‚

  26. Crap joke for the day:

    Agnes married and had 13 children. When her husband died, she married again and had 7 more children. Again, her husband died. So Agnes remarried and this time had 5 more children. Alas, she finally died. Standing before her coffin, the preacher prayed for her. He thanked the Lord for this very loving woman and said, Lord, they’re finally together. One mourner leaned over and quietly asked her friend, “Do you think he means her first, second or third husband?” The friend replied, “I think he means her legs.”

  27. Maynard James Keenan is charging 55$ to see him on his book tour. At some point in time this guy just has to fuck off. Always a supposed bastion against Ticketmaster and ticket brokers, this guy constantly charges exorbitant amounts of money to see his bands/himself. Feh.

  28. So things are back to normal on this side of the pond.

    As a I don’t own a house, I’m still surprised I’m worth more dead than alive..

  29. Audible (US) is having an anniversary sale and you can pick up Leigh Bardugo’s excellent fantasy heist ‘Six of Crows’ for a few bucks.

  30. Hi Pan

    This morning kitty decided to behave and let us sleep in until five. Yesterday, at around 4:30, she was being a brat and started knocking everything off my nightstand, one item at a time. I didn’t realize how much I keep beside my bed until I head them land on the floor: *thump* there goes the water bottle… *thump* and there’s my phone… *clink* now my glasses… *blip* the coaster the water bottle was on… etc.

  31. Thing I learnt today:

    The ‘fat man’ atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki was named after the actor Sidney Greenstreet’s performance in ‘The Maltese Falcon’.

  32. Morning Pan

    My next door neighbour had his garage door open on the weekend. I don’t know what he does for a living but in his garage was a Lexus, a Lamborghini, and a very expensive looking motorbike. What I want to know is, what is someone who can afford a group of vehicles like that doing living in my very middle class neighbourhood?

    • “Woman: [Usually flattered by the compliment and impressed by your confidence to approach her like that]”

      IDK, such a forward approach might get you labeled a potential rapist.

    • Drive up in your Trans Am with some Air Supply cranked up on the tape deck, lower your mirror shades, and ask her to push Pause on her Sony Walkman, because the last time this courting approach was tolerated was 1984.

      • Yeah, I recognize they left a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions for future seasons, which is cool. I can understand fan frustration, though – – that “gaahh, they left that point hanging!” reaction.

        • Ok I know we cant go into spoilers but to me there’s not a thing left unanswered. There is ONE issue that could be addressed next season but the series gave enough information that you could end it here.

          What else is bullshit is that when other shows leave things unanswered, fans are like “oop man next season is gonna be great!” But for some reason this show is the one exception?

          • To me, this “gaaah!” is a compliment. If the show isn’t good, then I don’t care to learn the answers to the open-ended questions.

            I can name some good and questionable spoilery things that I’d like to see explained in season 2, but I don’t want to devolve into nitpicking. This is easily one of the best series of 2016 – – if not the best? – – and it doesn’t warrant that.

          • I guess I don’t go to the same sites you all go. I’ve heard nothing but praise so far.

            Shut up, leave me alone in my rose colored world πŸ™‚

  33. Morning Pan

    J0e! (I think it was J0e?) I while ago, I mentioned to hubby your idea of turning a storage room into a secret room by adding a bookcase on hinges to the door. Now I’m calling contractors to get quotes to finish the basement and hubby has asked we see how much it would be to turn one wall into book shelves and make a portion a hidden door to the storage area. I laughed

    • I’m looking forward to it as well. Originally, I thought their new album would be a lot like “Pale Communion”, which was good, but not terribly different than “Heritage”. But upon hearing the title track, it sounds different enough I may have to pick it up. Also coming soon, new In Flames.

  34. Good Grief!
    My neighbor is making some Mead and we just checked on the progress … this stuff is already weapons grade and it isn’t even done yet! I shall be useless the rest of the afternoon.

  35. Sam has been drugged by God!

    Well it’s by the Fatman but the effect is the same.

    Yes that is ripped from a S2 episode of Blackadder.

  36. Rather enjoyed that.

    It’s another film for the list of film adaptions that are very faithful to the source material (fuck you Ridely Scott!!).

    According to an organisation with a pretentacious French name this was the first major Noir film.

  37. Speaking of Neat! Did anyone else watch the pilot episode of the Tick on Amazon Prime? I think Peter Serafinowicz is the right choice and matches the voice I expect. Just wish they would do something with the horrible looking new costume. I’m hoping the costume was just a function of a low budget associated with pilot episodes.

  38. So this contractor also loved the idea of a hidden room. He had different ideas from the contractor yesterday on how to do the room.

    I guess the first time I just had the wrong type of contractor, which means he’s out of the running. I want to only deal with contractors who think hidden rooms are cool πŸ˜‰

  39. Hubby is happy. I told him if we had enough funds left over from renovating the basement he could get a gaming table. Since the quotes are coming well below what we budgeted for… He’s doing the happy dance.
    I did have one caveat. He originally asked for a Geek Chic table. Since those start at 6k US, and we’d have to get it shipped from the States, I vetoed that. I said if he could find a cheaper knockoff, in Canada, then I’d allow it. Now the search begins.

  40. Happy birthday to a great guy, who’s full of life, even at this advanced age πŸ˜‰

    Yes, I’m talking about Keanu Reeves. But happy birthday to you too, Ed!

  41. I’ve put in for the August holidays way too early just in case (because August is a popular month off at work) but as long as we lock the time by next February I can probably get them changed.

  42. … And another contractor bites the dust. He was going to come by at 2:30. It’s now 3:20, Calgary time, and I haven’t heard a thing. I don’t have a problem with someone being late, but common curtesy says you should call if it’s going to be this much.

    That makes three tossed to the wayside, and two contenders. I have one more cling early next week, then the decision making begins

  43. so I’ve been enjoying ‘The Night Of’, even though I can’t help feeling that it could have been done as well in a three hour film.

  44. Thank you all for the birthday wishes. 44 is starting off pretty well.

    I see the eclipse is going to be on a Monday next year – probably going to be the first day of school down here. So, pencil me in as a likely, though it would almost certainly be a solo trip as usual.

  45. So Ticket to Ride pocket (on iOS ) will see no future updates. You can migrate to the newer Ticket to Ride, but it will cost you.

    Grrrr!

    At least you get Pennsylvania add on as a bonus…

  46. And for the record, it would seem that all of our peeps are unaffected by the earthquake (aside from some freaked out animals). I do hope everyone and everyone’s everyones are ok.

    • We are enjoying Mansions of Madness 2nd edition. We do have the first edition, but hubby was always gm and chief setter upper, so his participation was minimal. The new one, the app does all that stuff so we can play co-op with just the two of us. In the last game, he sacrificed himself so I could get out of the mansion with the evidence of the evil cult.

      However, while the room layout and items are randomized for each scenario so there is a certain amount of replayabilty, there is only three scenarios on the app. We see a future where we will have to purchase additional scenarios. Which kind of sucks since the game was over $100 CDN to begin with.

  47. Episode 1 of Penny Dreadful. This show goes all in for gruesome, but in spite of that, could be a lot of fun. That’s some impressively-written dialogue.

    Bunny, have you watched? If so, how unbearable were the creepy spider scenes for you? Including the opening credits?

  48. I understand that Kevin Smith has reached the success zenith (for him) that he can now just make films for the fuck of it… just for him and a small SMALL section of society but he has to stop. I have respected him too much in the past. It’s been a short but giant slide from the brilliance (Imo) of Red State to this latest Canadian horror trilogy bullshit

    • He’s still doing well on the episodes of Flash he’s directed and I’m holding out hope for the hockey movies in the pipeline. I had listened to how Tusk came to be and it just was disappointing so I’ve never given it a chance.

      He’s said multiple times that Clerks III will be his retirement piece so we’ll see if he sticks with that.

  49. I hope to do no labor on Labor Day.

    Let’s see if all of the people in the east valley of Phoenix Metro can keep their hearts healthy and theri vascular system intact for 24 more hours.

  50. CW: Fear the Walking Dead S2E10

    i keep asking myself why I keep watching this series, that drug addict is so annoying he should have died in S1.

  51. So, to celebrate Labor Day, I’ve finally gotten around to giving “Stranger Things” on Netflix a try. Two episodes in, I’m having a hard time seeing what all the fuss is about.

    For all the heralding about 80’s nostalgia and cultural references, I find it pales in comparison to “The Americans”

    I’ll give it a few more episodes…eventually.

    • The suspense, the mystery, the loving call-outs to Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and John Carpenter as source material, the spot-on 80s nostalgia, the musical score(!), Wynonna Rider, the kids – – I dig it.

    • Well youre definitely in the minority there.

      See that’s where youre wrong. Its not a case study in nostalgia or references. It uses them to set the stage, not beat you over the head with them. As a friend of mine said if it wanted to do that, instead of simply having an Evil Dead poster in the room it would have had Bruce Campbell as a store clerk subtly winking to the camera. I love that it’s not gimmicky in that way. It feels like an adventure set in the 80’s not solely an 80’s homage.I love that it’s not gimmicky in that way. It’s a terrific mystery with some great characters and actual GOOD child acting. It’s fantastic. One of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

    • Well, I’ll give it another couple of episodes, perhaps this weekend, but I may just have to embrace my minority status this time around. Honestly, the story feels like a rejected X-Files episode.

      • I’m with Lo Pan on this one. The show feels dead on for something that’s supposed to take place in the 80s (without taking a TV sitcom approach of making all of the jokes revolve around the fact that something took place in the 80s). In addition, I was about the same age as the kids in this series in 1983 (and I played D&D with fellow geeky friends). So, I kind of hyper empathize with the kids. In the long run though, it’s about how good the child actors are in this series. These kids have some serious chops.

      • Ed, honestly it took me 3 or 4 episodes to get into it. I found Wynona’s character distracting at first. It reminded me of some of the cheesy Tales From the Crypt episodes as well, but if you’re not an 80s horror fan it does take a bit to get invested

      • Sorry to gang up on you, Ed πŸ˜‰ . It’s not perfect, but it’s a clever, fun ride. I wouldn’t recommend spacing it out too much – – I think you’d lose some of the magic, trying to recall details of episodes you watched 3 weeks ago.

        • For me, I connected with the show on several levels. The first being that the show actually has the feel of a Spielburg/Carpentor movie set in the 80’s. The nostalgia is pitch perfect. Riding bikes, playing DnD, dreaming about girls, all set in the back drop of a small town, beset with gossip, this matches up with my younger years almost exactly. And finally, I’m a sucker for movies with middle school aged protagonists. Think “The Sandlot, Goonies, Stand by Me, It” etc.

          • I did see a complaint that it was “set in the 80s as a gimmick,” but I wholeheartedly disagree. The story and setting needed these kids to be more real-world social, to ride bikes and play D&D – – as opposed to kids with smart phones and sophisticated gaming consoles leading their interactions and gaming.

          • Interestingly enough, Saturday night I watched an X-Files on netflix and then on a whim, watched the 1st episode of Stranger Things.

            Watching it back to back like that I can say that it really did feal like it was trying to reboot the X-File “vibe”. Just with a more generic, pop feal ??(less aimed at geeks and more mainstream – “D&D games” not with-standing).

            I found the 80’s thing a little distracting. Sort of like if they had a character off to the side in every scene saying “Hey, the story is all well and good but look at THIS! Remember THIS? What about THAT !?!”

            All of that being said, it wasn’t bad. If I don’t watch more it isn’t because I don’t like it, it will be because other stuff I like MORE came up in my que.

  52. Morning Pan

    We rearranged the living room over the weekend. I think I like this way better than what it was, but I have a feeling it won’t be the last time we change furniture around. I assume we’ll do it a couple of times until we’re satisfied.

  53. So, over the weekend, I watched the SW prequel trilogy back-to-back. While I still have some complaints about aspects of the movies and some choices, it was better than I remembered and I rather enjoyed watching all 3 movies again.

    Can’t wait for Rogue One now. πŸ˜€

    • I think the internet has taken prequel hate way beyond all rationality and reason. Sure, they have lots of problems, but they’re not nearly as bad as the nerds of the world would have you believe.

      • The problem with the internet is the notion that anything that is not perfect is equated to the worst pile of trash ever to come into existence and it’s sole purpose was to upset and malign fans worldwide. Rogue One looks good though.

      • I’m curious, have we reached the point where those that hate the new Star Wars Prequel are the ones who mocked those of us who hated the “Prequels” for the Original 3 Star Wars movies?

        Been around long enough now to have seen a generation of people who cried “embrace the new, you old fart” are being told that THEY should embrace the new.

        and around we go again

    • ditto!
      You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the prequels, not join them. You were to bring balance to the original trilogy, not leave it in darkness!

      j/k. My feelings on the prequels have always been clear. And many have demanded me turn in my nerd card

    • You guys crack me up.

      I know I posted this article before, but when I watched the movies this time, I kept it in mind:
      http://www.starwarsringtheory.com/

      There’s a lot to this theory and when looking at all 6 movies as a whole, or even each trilogy as bookends, then the parallelism adds a lot to the experience, and much more evident when watching the movies within a short period of time.

      There are valid criticisms about all the Star Wars movies, but I think “critics”–myself included–sometimes get carried away in criticizing a movie for not doing what we think should have been done instead of how well the movie did what it set out to do.

  54. Van, we should talk the “Hardwired” novel. (and anyone else who’s read it). At first, I thought I’d found a Cyberpunk masterpiece, but the rest of the book lost me a little bit.

    Definitely good, though. Walter Jon Williams is clearly gifted. I understand a comic book version exists, which might work for this story.

    • I think I mentioned when I was doing the reread, that it can feel like cyberpunk by the numbers at times.

      I had no idea there was a comic version.

  55. It’s been that kind of day so far.

    I tried posting to FB but I’m not sure if it worked so I’ll repost here:

    I asked last week but I think it got lost in the shuffle. Are we doing the Hockey Pool this year? If so, count me in, as usual.

  56. What I learnt today:

    You can attract a polar bear with a tampon soaked with menustrual blood but not Grizzly or Bear.

    Due to the amount of fish in their diets..cough.

  57. Funny how FB vaguebook posts like “I haz a sad” gets you an avalanche of cutesy GIFs and “here for you!” comments, but posting details about real tragedy gets a trickle of responses. (High-5s to all of you who have responded to my recent FB serve.)

    No mistake – – I appreciate everyone here, and have felt all of you getting my back, regardless whether or not you chime in on my FB posting. This grumpy comment is more about shallow FB hive behavior as a whole. High-5s for everyone.

    • You have no idea. ( I mean you do obviously). Its fucking insanely juvenile. It also shows people will like and comment a “I haz a sad” post because more likely than not they don’t actually have to learn any details. Its a completely lazy symptom of our society.

      Real problem = oh man, that’s too much work
      Me am sadz = oh that’s easy to like and forget

      • I read the first one too, and rather enjoyed it. The author is an excellent writer, but it is a typical book 1 of an epic fantasy series. My major complaint is that it took a rather long time for the sequel to come. By the time it did, I wasn’t much in the mood to continue since I was reading other stuff.

    • I read the first one, “The Name of the Wind”. The fellow can write, no doubt about it. However, I’m in the camp that finds the protagonist “great at everything he tries” bit rather of a turn off. I’ll probably finish the series, but I’m in no hurry until after the series is actually complete.

      Personally, I’m more interested in Scott Lynch’s “Gentleman Bastard” series. One and three are excellent. Two is good, though not as strong as the others.

  58. Hubby’s put me in a bind.
    His parents have been threatening to visit for some time. I was putting off the basement renos until they would firm up a date. (this is because we have to empty the basement and we were going to flip up the bed in the guest room and put everything there.
    Finally hubby told me, since we want them done by the end of the year, just to do the renos and we would deal with his parent when the time came.
    Renovations start on the 20th. Hubby’s parents are driving out next week. When they told him that would hubby tell them they won’t have a place to stay? Oh no. That’s fine, he says. See you then.
    Now I have to find a place to put a whole basement worth of stuff.
    *sigh* I love my hubby dearly, but sometimes he makes me shake my head.

  59. Crap joke for the day:

    Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition.It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday.On that special day, they’d each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.So when Paddy’s, 18th birthday came ’round, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake, Paddy, stepped out of the boat …and nearly drowned!Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety. Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother. ‘Grandma,’ he asked, “It’s my 18th birthday, so why can’t I walk ‘cross the lake like my father, his father, and his father before him?”Granny looked deeply into Paddy’s, troubled brown eyes and said, “Because your father, your grandfather and your great grandfather were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and you were born in August, you frickin’ dip shit

  60. I fucking hate vaguebooking, but I’m going to do it.

    On top of too many really horrible days over the past 10+ years, today looks to be one of the most difficult.

    Fuck PAS.

  61. Started reading “Y: The Last Man” yesterday. It’s good, but I wish it spent a little more time on the consequences of the death of all males on Earth. It starts out more like “well that happened, let’s catch up with the protagonist.”

    • What I find interesting is that everyone is focusing on the lack of a jack in the device itself and the complete and utter lack of interest in the fact that they are providing you with a lightning cable/headphone jack adapter for $0. This means they are not price gouging you for new hardware (like the lightning cable itself) and they are stopping literally 0 people from using their existing wired headphones. Seems like quite a case of mountains out of molehills to be hones.

      • “they are providing you with a lightning cable/headphone jack adapter for $0”

        I hadn’t heard this detail. My biggest objection to Apple’s business practices has always been their tactic of creating artificial obsolescence.

        If they’re actually enabling you continue using your current, not-obsolete-yet tech with the new devices, then this restore many, many points in their favor.

        • When Apple first hinted they were going to do away with the 3.5 mm jack, they said nothing about providing an adapter. Instead, Apple gave the impression that people would have to find their own adapter if they wanted to keep their old, crappy, obsolete headphones. Naturally there was a backlash, even though everybody knew adapters would be made.

          From what I’ve heard, it was only to avoid potential lawsuits that Apple finally decided on providing an adapter in-box. For whatever reason, we only officially found out this week. They could have announced it at any time, but didn’t. Of course, that’s part of Apple’s cult of announcement mystery that they love to cultivate. Now some Apple zealots are saying including an adapter is a mistake. *facepalm*

  62. Catchup post.

    Jack said:
    “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidaigeki I never knew there was a word for this.”

    There sure is! Most of my second Movie Chat with the Movie Night Crew episode is devoted to an essay that is partially about that genre. In fact, I used that very article as one of my references when writing it. πŸ™‚

    I’m liking the idea of timing the next MMMMeetup so we can all watch the eclipse together. πŸ™‚

    ditto: Back in March, I marathoned the entire SW prequel trilogy on one day, and the entire Classic Trilogy the next day. That was a lot of fun.

    • What really surprised hubby is people at work were talking about Dark Matter and hadn’t heard of KillJoys. When hubby mentioned it one person asked, “isn’t that the show that comes on before Dark Matter?”
      Hubby tried to set them straight, but season one isn’t on Netflix yet so people were less interested since they couldn’t get caught up.

    • Yes! Many hugs to you and Pixie.
      *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs* *hugs*

  63. RE: Stranger Things

    I gave episodes 3 and 4 a go yesterday. Finally toward the end of episode 4, I was convinced to go ahead and finish, which I did today.

    After those first two episodes, I would have rated it a three. Now that it’s done, I’d call it a solid 7. Entertaining, but I still don’t think it lived up to the hype.

    Oddly, around episode 6, my wife and I got a “Legend” vibe between the music and the looks of Nancy. It finally clicked that her features reminded us of Mia Sara from Legend. My wife asked when the unicorns were going to come running through.

    • “The Arctic Research Foundation was set up by Jim Balsillie, a Canadian tech tycoon and philanthropist, who co-founded Research in Motion, creator of the Blackberry.”

      That’s the a-hole who kept trying to buy up and move American hockey teams. See? Denying him those purchases has led to him re-focusing his considerable resources on truly worthy expeditions. Go NHL!

  64. There. I moved 26 boxes of mostly books from the basement. I also did a few trips of assorted stuff to make it 30 times I went up and down those basement stairs. I also brought stuff to the second floor a half dozed or so times. That makes for one very tired bunny.
    I convinced my Boo to come over tomorrow to help. With luck, it will be empty by the time the in-laws are here on Friday.

  65. I don’t know about you, but that story of Hitlers Grandad coming out out of nowhere at the age of 84 to to legally legitimise Hitler’s Dad (so his named changed from Schicklgruber to Hitler) sounds a bit fishy.

    Probably time travellers fucking around..

    • I only know King of Tokyo, of those 3. We have the basic game. It’s definitely fun, but basic, kinda like Monster Combat Yahtzee. The geeks in the know seem to say you need the expansion, or to get King of New York.

    • Mansions of Madness is fun. I’d get the second edition, though. With the first edition, you pretty much need a GM to set the game up and run the rooms. Also, if there is one thing out of place, it could break the entire game.
      In the second edition, they made it so an app does all that.

      • I watched a few videos about it and downloaded the app. I was trying to gauge if it was fun enough to warrant a purchase. Thanks for the info.

        • Speaking of: Earlier this year, we had a game store open up less than 5 minutes from us. They’ve already closed their doors. :-/

          They’re promising on FB to reopen soon and close by. Fingers crossed.

          • Yeah, Game Depot and Imperial Outpost are both good options, within reasonable driving distance. And the local guys are saying it was a property management dispute, not a lack of biz. Maybe we’ll get ’em back in the near future.

  66. SO I am off to tilt at windmills again.
    Suddenly decided to try and qualify for Next Year’s, National old guy Games.
    My last opportunity to do so is a 5 hour drive from here and the Pole Vault is at 10am tomorrow morning so I shall drive up tonight and get a room.

    I tried jumping last Wed. for the first time in over a year. Results were mixed. I didn’t die, so there is that. On the other hand I do still have this summer head cold so, yeh.

  67. Back home once again. Life just gets crazy and stays crazy. Now it is time get caught up on household chores.

    On the flight back, I watched “Maggie”. The movie was alright, though a bit muddled. It was nice to see Arnie in an understated role though.

  68. I don’t want to shit on anything that seems to bring so much enjoyment to others, but if you ever find me in an audience at a non-work-related event, applauding little new software/hardware upgrades from Apple or any other company, then know that it’s not really me, that it’s some alien mimic in a perfect copy of my body.

  69. Crap joke for the day:

    Husband sent a text to wife at night, “Hi babe I will be late, please try and wash all my dirty clothes and make sure you prepare my favorite dish before I return.”He sent another text, “Babe I forgot to tell you that I got an increase in my salary at the end of the month I’m getting you a new car”She text back, “OMG really?”Husband replied, “No I just wanted to make sure you got my first message.

  70. Morning Pan

    Had a busy weekend so far. The in-laws are in town so we’ve been spening time with them.

    We finished moving everything from the basement. Except for the elliptical. That sucker was way to heavy for us to move. The renovators will just have to work around that.

    During the emptying of the basement, I had a stack of 2 by 4s fall on my arm. I got away with some scrapes and bruises but hubby is still freaking out. A less scrrplous person would use it as an excuse to not do anything. (Can you get me something to drink dear. I can’t pour it because of my arm πŸ˜‰ )

  71. I’m not sure if anyone here is familiar with David A. Kyle, but in the convention circuits I used to float around in he was quite prominent. David was a member of First Fandom (where science fiction conventions really got their start), a member of the Futurians (a sci-fi group on New York City with members such as Sam Moskowitz, Fred Pohl, Isaac Asimov, etc.), and a science fiction historian. If you are not familiar with his name, you might have, at some point, encountered and older gentleman wearing a red sports coat at a sci-fi convention and asking everyone around him to sign his journal for that convention. I’ve had a number of fascinating conversations with Mr. Kyle over the years and was influenced at a young age with his take on the history of sci-fi.

    Unfortunately, David passed away yesterday from complications during an endoscopy. He was 97. The world has lost a giant that they didn’t even know they had.

    https://www.facebook.com/kerry.kyle.71/posts/10210306302197264?comment_id=10210306425400344&notif_t=feed_comment_reply&notif_id=1474239576121629

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kyle

    • I just realized how that sounded.

      Just so you know, I love my in-laws. It’s just, like with all company I have, I feel guilty sitting in my office and not keeping the company entertained. I’m sure they would be fine with it, I just wouldn’t

      • I am never able to REALLY relax when the relatives visit. As you said, they would likely be fine on their own but I can never shake the feeling that I should be doing something for them.

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