1,197 thoughts on “Scrollback

  1. I just zoom-scrolled rght past the “judging by the star wars spoilers…” Thread.

    I just need 18 more hours of avoiding the internet. I.can.do.it!

  2. Reserved seating at the cinema has become the standard in the UK. Locally the last bastion of the unreserved seat was the local arty cinema and that got ditched a few years back.

    So it’s strange seeing US citizens posting on Twitter that they are queuing up for hours in the hope of grabbing a decent seat to wat the new Star Wars flick.

  3. So, for the most part, keeping in mind that Star Wars is what it is, I approved of Episode 7.

    Being as the comments here reveal that many a panite will be delayed in getting to see it, can I suggest we start a dedicated post for spoilerful discussion?

  4. No spoiler (I promise) really useful information on Star Wars. There are no extra scenes during or after the credits. No need to sit through them.

  5. Hey, Bunny. I saw your comment about how the site brings you to the top of the page when you leave a comment on your mobile device. I changed a line of code in the comments page when I was trouble shooting the initial problem, but didn’t undo that change until this morning. Would you mind testing it to see if you see the correct response and let me know? I’m hoping that my fiddling under the hood is what caused it and that undoing that will fix it. If not, I’ll do some more digging.

    Thanks!

  6. Ok there was a meme in FB, how old were you if you saw The original Star Wars.

    I was 11. I saw it at a local flea pit, me and my sister were waiting in this huge queue. We were told there were only a few places left, I got in and she didn’t and had to wait for the next showing.

    She has never forgiven me for that..

  7. I did not see it when it was originally released because my parents didn’t start taking us to the movies until Fox and The Hound and Ghostbusters, but I remember having the toys

  8. Thanks, Jack, for the spoiler friendly spot. I’ve made my opening salvo, so those who’ve seen it, be sure to join in.

    As for the rest of life, I’ve pretty well gorged on SyFy this week between Childhood’s End, The Expanse, and The Magicians….along with finishing up The Man in the High Castle.

    Childhood’s End – interesting, though count me in the “found the end depressing” camp.

    The Expanse – just watched the first two and not the 3rd and 4th. While I’m interested enough and I’ll keep going, I’m not super excited so far.

    The Magicians – Interesting premise, with “Magic School” being a graduate level school, rather than the Jr/Sr High School approach of Harry Potter. It will be interesting to see how the two schools interact.

    The Man in the High Castle – hurray for confirmation of Season 2!

      • I haven’t watch the series yet, but the book ends with the last man alive watching what’s left of humanity join with a god like being.

        • That’s similar to the SyFy offering…actually, the series opens with that last man introducing the story to us.

          Episodes 3 and 4 of the Expanse were available here On Demand, so we watched them this morning. Definitely agree that it has kicked things up and now caught my interest.

  9. Just finished Season 2 of Penny Dreadful. I thought it was much better than the first season.

    For Doctor Who fans, there is a full frontal of Billie Piper’s body double.

  10. It’s official and I’m announcing it here first. I have started a blog on my adventures in collecting beer bottles. As time goes on I will pretty it up and as some cool functionality. Really the hard thing was just getting it started. I’m also very, very interested in feedback on how I can make it better. Please check it out and let me know. Thanks.

    http://bottlecollection.net/

    • Pictures are fun.
      Would love to be able to run a curser across that photo of your collection and see CU shots of the individual bottles themselves.

      Any interesting stories of how you ran across some of them? Even if the story has little to do with the beer (“I was climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and one of our sherpas carried these in his pack!”) sort of thing.

      first thoughts.

      • Internet mistake in progress. I don’t know if the use of “CU shots” above is a typo, but I couldn’t figure out what it meant and googled it. DO NOT do likewise.

      • Very good suggestions. The collection is at around 1300 right now and I don’t as of yet have individual bottle pictures. That would fall under long term goals. But a long term goal that absolutely needs to happen.

        As of now, the blog content will likely fall in 2 categories. Interesting stories of how I came across and/or transported individual or groups of beers, and discussions/advice on all of the challenges that go along with the hobby (such as cataloging and displaying that many bottles).

        I have a long term goal of integrating my current cataloging system (an excel spreadsheet) into the blog so people can look up specific beers and view running totals.

      • Good point on the “About Me” page. I also plan to have an FAQ page (also good to have with a unique handle like “UsedHair”).

        Keep the comments and suggestions coming. Thanks so much to you and Joe for checking it out so far.

  11. Apple TV ???
    Is this the best bit of hardware to get for watching Amazon Prime movies on my TV?
    Is there a better option?

    Seems the latest TiVo upgrade no longer has the ability to download movies from Amazon. 🙁

    • Apple TV directly, does not have an Amazon app. You CAN use Apple TV’s airplay function from an iPhone or an iPad and stream Amazon. That is what we do.

      We also have a Smart TV with an Amazon app on it as well. That function is sketchy at times. So we flip between the Airplay on my iPad and iPhone and the Amazon app on the Smart TV.

      If you are looking for a streaming device, you can use Roku or Amazon Fire TV. We use Roku in our bedroom for Netflix, Amazon and HBO Now.

      We use Apple TV in the living room. I love Apple TV the best. We have a Chromecast also, as well as a DVD player with all of the streaming apps. Apple TV kicks each of their asses, except for the fact Apple TV does not support Amazon via an app.

      Hope that helps you, Jj.

      • I don’t love Apple TV over Chromecast or Amazon – – but they do each have their benefits. It does suck that none of them will play nice together.

        One of us should develop a commercially available piece of tech that will bridge all of the platforms, then buy a South Pacific island and retire there.

        • I have an Amazon app on my Smart TV, it seems to work fine the few times I’ve used it.

          But the Fire stick is probably the cheaper option if you want to access Amazon content on a non Smart TV. It certainly is in the UK.

      • Thanks all.
        I guess I need more research. I don’t think the TV I want to watch movies on, has a way to plug a Firestick in. It also doesn’t do Apps :/
        Hate it that the TiVo doesn’t do that anymore.

  12. So we saw the newest trailer for Batman vs. Superman ahead of Star Wars. I dont know how long that particular trailer has been around, but let’s talk about it…

    What a different-looking movie from the trailers released six months ago. This trailer redeemed the movie for me and I think the director may have done some re-shoots and/or editing. It looks like good fun now! I think the CGI- horror may have been re-vamped (I hope, anyway)

    Thoughts?

    • It does look to be a better movie now, though I’m concerned about too much being thrown together. From my guess, it will only start with Batman vs Superman and end up being the DC Trio vs Doomsday.

      • Zack Snyder never makes anything that’s not entertaining, so I’ve never doubted that this movie will be a fun spectacle.
        I’m sure the plot will be a mess and sacrilegious in places to DC purists, but that’s also par for the course with this guy.

        I also wonder if they’re trying to counter the nerd outrage over the treatment of Zod in Man of Steel.

        • I loved “Man of Steel” and I don’t really understand the nerd rage over Zod’s treatment, but I’ll save that for another thread. In any event, I expect to be entertained as well.

  13. Morning Pan

    Our doorbell seems to have quit working. As I refuse to hit the stores a few days before Christmas, or in the time between Christmas and New Years, people will just have to knock if they come calling

  14. This a family member who posted this post on Facebook, to lift the spirits of another family member, I guess.

    https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/twiffers/23874526696/

    My question is, if you know someone has a terminal
    Illness, is this the message that you really want to send to them?
    Doesn’t that person have their own will (to live or not to live)? I mean, I dont understand how the power of prayer of one person can really determine life or death of another person.

    Am I missing something here?

    • Ugh! I have never bought into the line that if you are prayed for or if you have faith you will survive a terminal illness. It’s puts too much onus on the sufferer as if they aren’t trying hard enough to survive.

    • I don’t think it’s so much that the survival is dependent on prayer, but that the person going through the illness feels supported. Think of times in your life that you know someone has your back. I’d bet you were willing to fight a little harder. Some just put the emphasis on prayer because that’s where their beliefs lie.

  15. Some awesome people here and at work have been providing me feedback and supporting me with images. Here is the latest blog post with a new header, some actual info on the bottle collection and links to social media. The about me page is next up on my list of things to tackle.

    http://bottlecollection.net/2015/12/22/lets-meet-the-hollowheads/

    Bonus points to anyone that gets the Meet the Hollowheads reference (or better yet has actually seen the movie).

  16. Crap joke for the day:

    “A Doctor on TV said in order to have inner peace we should always finish things we start & we all could use more calm in our lives. I looked around my house to find things I’d started & hadn’t finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun prscriptuns, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum….” Cherry Mistmas everyone!

    • Oddly, there actually is a Rey toy. I bought one for a friend’s daughter at Walgreene’s

      BUT, I haven’t seen any more since, and that was like a month-and-a-half to two months ago. Not easy to come by.

      *Puts on serious toy collector hat*
      back in the ’90s I attempted to collect toys. Met up with a guy (Jonas-Khan Garanzuay – probably dead now) who owned a collectibles store, which might as well have been a messy closet or toy box. He taught me some facts about toy collecting.
      1. in any series of where there is a mix of male and female figures, buy the female figures. They always go up in price because there are always fewer female figures made. Even if there are 100,000 copies of each figure in the series (100K Han Solo, 100K Luke Skywalker, 100K Lando Calrissian, 100K Bespin Princess Leia, etc.) there are always fewer female figures over all. Snatch them up when you see them. [Read this as “Females are worth more than males” if you like]
      2. it will be very difficult to find female figures, because ass-hat vultures targeting “serious collectors” will buy out entire runs in order to sell them at a profit.

      Moral of the story: find out what day your favorite toy-selling store gets in their shipments, and camp out to get your toys before the vultures

  17. Happy Christmahanukwansaka, Deadpan!

    This drive-by brought to you by Lejon.

    Thank you for the gifts Amy! My wife allowed me to open things early. The chocolate is progressing nicely, and I have used the tumbler. The ornament is hung. MWAH!

    Updates (In Lejon-world):
    How about that Jessica Jones, eh?
    I helped “bring back MST3K” – making this Christmas season one of the most expensive to date
    I am fully prepped to be disappointed by the Doctor Who Christmas episode.
    I am hyped up and on tenterhooks for Sherlock on New Year’s
    HAVE NOT SEEN FORCE AWAKENS. Reviews I have received to date (amalgamated): “it didn’t suck”, “you should probably see it in theatres” – Glowing positives (?)
    I do own an App-enabled BB-8

    This brief overview of Lejon brought to you by Lejon.

    • We’re caught up on Doctor Who. I’d love to get your take on it, Lejon. I was definitely underwhelmed with the season, following a great start. It’s striking to me, with all of the major events that took place this season, how quiet social media has been about Doctor Who. Where’s the geeking out on FB and Deadpan and sites like i09? Am I just not seeing it?

      Feel free to chime in on the Spoilery page here, once you’ve seen VII. Just no spoilers in the first few sentences of your posts, plz, since all posts are visible in the upper left.

      • Where should I start with the good Doctor?
        My impressions of eps Officially part of the season:
        Last Christmas – Very lame. Still not sure what Moffat was trying to do with it. Used the old “it was all a dream or is it?” trope. Hated it.
        The Magician’s Apprentice – Lame. Let’s make it look like the Doctor ran off to hide, but he’s easily found playing rock ‘n’ roll in the Dark Ages. On a tank. ’cause if you’re trying not to make sense anyway, add a tank apparently. Bring back good ol’ Davros, because we just can’t leave him dead after the Medusa Cascade incident, and let’s make him sick. Sure, he’s only 9k years old plus change, now he’s actually dying. Sure. Why not. And let’s kill off Missy and Clara for good measure in this well advertised 2-parter knowing that actress playing Clara is going to make it to the end of the season. I was totally “surprised” when they died. Totally. Yep.
        The Witch’s Familiar – Hey, look it’s part 2. Looked good up until it became UBER LAME. Missy and Clara are still alive. Shocker. And what’s this, Davros has just been misunderstood and hates his creations. PSYCHE! You know, Moffat really had the potential on this one to make Davros into a sympathetic character and turn everything around for him and send him off in an epic way… but, instead he just played to type and fucked it up.
        Under the Lake – Lame. This tried to trick us into thinking there was a problem with the “fixed point in time” doctrine that Doctor Who has been playing up for some time now. It’s a forgettable episode.
        Before the Flood – Lame. Less forgettable than part 1. Not much. “Fixed point in time” doctrine upheld. Bummer.
        The Girl Who Died – Good. First good episode of the season. Not great, but compared with the eps preceding, it is gold. Loved Maisey in this. Solid stuff with everyone playing false gods.
        The Woman Who Lived – Good-ish. We are firmly established that this season is full of multi-part episodes. Not thrilled with that, but whatever. Nothing I can do. Ischilde (or Me) turning into an immortal didn’t make her more interesting, and the whole limited memory business for an infinite life also seemed lame after only 800 years. Especially with a device that was constantly renewing her cell structure. Not remembering her own birth name not a great gimmick. Ended OK.
        The Zygon Invasion – Lame-good? So many things I liked and so many things I didn’t. Nice to see Osgood and Osgood again.
        The Zygon Inversion – Good. Finally a Doctor speech worthy of the name’s heritage. Capaldi finally got something decent to work with. Pity about the rest of the episode.
        Sleep No More – Just shoot me. Gatiss finally proved he can write a story that Moffat could have written. Proved he could out-awful Moffat with ease and flare. Until I checked the credits, I swore this was a Moffat written ep. So bad. Creatures made of eye-crust? Seriously? If this had been a Moffat ep, I would have stopped watching cold. But, I know Gatiss has written good stuff… so…
        Face the Raven – Goooooood. A fitting send-off to Clara. Me getting everyone upset and pissing off the Doctor. No revenge? Not happening.
        Heaven Sent – Tried too hard. This was a serious Doctor trap. The concept was solid, and it was set up correctly. But Moffat had to keep spelling everything out. On the up-side, it made me look up the Grimm’s fairy tale. I would much rather have read that. Not a terrible episode, but tedious and felt much longer than it was (the point, maybe?) I could totally tell from the first “Groundhog Day” go around that the Doctor was the only prisoner. Predicable at almost every turn.
        Hell Bent – Weak. Welcome to Gallifrey, home of The Doctor, and if your name isn’t the Doctor it would seem the Doctor can tell you to leave. The whole Rassilon expulsion was complete grandstanding. Moffat apparently needed to stretch time in the ep. Which if funny, because he did something similar in the prior ep. Oh, and that whole thing with killing off Clara. Nope. didn’t happen. Well, it did, mostly. Ffffffffuuuuu…. Moffat already established that you can’t beat the raven, so clearly she must die where and when she’s about to die (Fixed point in time BS) – So, let’s effectively make Clara a time lord by taking her out of her fixed point in time and giving her eternal life between heartbeats living with Me who can outlive EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE. I hate Moffat.

          • I somewhat agree with EssBee that the final 2 episodes were a step back in the right direction, although I have serious issues with the Doctor even holding a gun, let alone actually shooting someone – – let alone Doctor actually shooting someone who’s not currently a threat to the universe as we know it.
            I’ve never loved the River character, but I’m cautiously, irrationally hopeful for the Xmas special.

          • Jack,

            Classic Who had the Doctor hold and fire a weapon on multiple occasions. I just watched a Tom Baker series where he held a Gallifreyan staser and fired it at guards in the Panoptican. It’s not precisely out of character. He just doesn’t like doing it.

        • Lejon pretty much, spot on, summed up this season for me.
          I actually fell asleep during the ground-hog day Ep. Went back and re-watched it later and didn’t real I had spent my time well.
          If the Christmas EP can’t spice it up, this may become known as the season that ended the re-boot.
          No pressure or anything though.

  18. Well, looks like I’m going to have to put an IOU under the tree for the kids this year. My son really wanted a “hoverboard”, so I ordered one…back on December 1st. It was due by last Friday, but still is stuck somewhere on the West Coast. Ain’t getting here by tomorrow.

    With all the threats of fire, they apparently got held up at port for inspections…and are still being held up.

    I’m going to go listen to “Weird Al’s” First World Problems now…

  19. Crap joke for the day:

    I met a Dutch girl with inflatable shoes last week,

    Phoned her up to arrange a date but she’d popped her clogs.

      • My mom got rid of mine years ago, much to my chagrin. I’ll share some pics on FB. The cover feels like the old card packs, and the inside hard cover shows the gum in both the (rare) unbroken form and the (common) broken form. The book covers all 5 series, and shows front and back. I would have like to see the front and back together, but I get why they separated the two.

  20. Nothing says ‘I’m to old for this shit’ then laying down 40 segments of plastic track that are fiddly to connect together.

    Still, it works, will have a proper go in the morning.

    • I did the first 3 Shannara as a wee lad, fresh after my first LOTR read-through. I recall being appalled at all of the elements borrowed from Tolkien in the Sword of Shannara, but I also remember absolutely loving The Elfstones ofcShannara, which seems to be the basis of that show.

    • The gaming group I go to once twice a month has acquired a member who loves bluffing games like this. I’ve found that those games simply are not my cup of tea. Fortunately the group is large enough that there are typically more than one game being played at any given time so I rarely have to sit through them.

      • I’m always a little leery of the requirement that players all close their eyes. It makes it very easy to cheat.

        We have a lot of fun with Werewolf. The larger the group, the better the intrigue.

        • But, cheating (in the form of lying at least) is actually part of the game. Truth be told, I was part of the rowdy crowd that was trying to bring some life to Werewolf by engaging in copious groping of those around me when players were required to close their eyes. In my defense, someone groped me first.

    • This was almost the story of a friend of mine. Except that he was geocaching and his GPS didn’t bother to indicate height so he was just heading towards the cache when some stranger grabbed him by his collar and dragged him backwards.

  21. So I subscribe to the US version of Audible.

    They have no problem charging My CC.

    However today I discover they actively hide some books.

    Bastards!!!!!

  22. Second time seeing Straight No Chaser. These guys are a lot of fun – – and that’s saying something, considering that their set is full of Xmas and pop songs. Lots of laughs and good medleys every time.

  23. Crap joke for the day;

    There once was a blonde who was very tired of blonde jokes and insults directed at her intelligence. So, she cut and dyed her hair, got a make-over, got in her car, and began driving around in the country. Suddenly, she came to a herd of sheep in the road. She stopped her car and went over to the shepherd who was tending to them.”If I can guess the exact number of sheep here, will you let me have one?” she asked.The shepherd, thinking this was a pretty safe bet, agreed.”You have 171 sheep,” said the blonde in triumph. Surprised, the shepherd told her to pick out a sheep of her choice.She looked around for a while and finally found one that she really liked.She picked it up and was petting it when the shepherd walked over to her and asked, “if I can guess your real hair color, will you give me my sheep back?”The blonde thought it was only fair to let him try. “You’re a blonde! Now give me back my dog.”

  24. You know what – – life deals out plenty of fucking drama and stress, all by itself. No one needs to manufacture their own. There doesn’t need to be a constant state of crisis. Life also provides plenty of days where nothing is actually terribly “wrong.” Just enjoy the opportunity of peace and/or happiness on those days. Stop creating storms of bullshit for everyone around you.

  25. Crap joke for the day:

    A guy brings his dog into the vet and says, “Could you please cut my dog’s tail off?”
    The vet examines the tail and says, “There is nothing wrong. Why would you want this done?”
    The man replies, “My mother-in-law is coming to visit, and I don’t want anything in the house to make her think that she is welcome!”

  26. Your last crap joke of the year:

    A mother-in-law stopped by unexpectedly the recently married couple’s house. She knocks on the door, then immediately walks in. She is shocked to see her daughter-in-law lying on the couch, totally naked.

    “What are you doing?” she asked.

    “I’m waiting for Jeff to come home from work,” the daughter-in-law answered.

    “But you’re naked!” the mother-in-law exclaimed.

    “This is my love dress,” the daughter-in-law explained.

    “Love dress? But you’re naked!”

    “Jeff loves me to wear this dress! It makes him happy and it makes me happy.”

    The mother-in-law on the way home thought about the love dress. When she got home she got undressed, showered, put on her best perfume and expectantly waited for her husband, lying provocatively on the couch.

    Finally her husband came home. He walked in and saw her naked on the couch.

    “What are you doing?” he asked.

    “This is my love dress,” she replied.

    “Needs ironing,” he says” “What’s for dinner?”

  27. So I have a choice of staying in or going to a pub with a friend to listen to a cover band.

    Thing is, taxis are booked up so I would have to walk home.

    I’m leaning towards the former as friend knows a lot of people at the pub and I don’t.

  28. So the first crap joke of 2016:

    A guy traveling through the prairies of the USA stopped at a small town and went to a bar. He stood at the end of the bar, ordered a drink, and lit up a cigar.
    As he sipped his drink, he stood there quietly blowing smoke rings.
    After he blew nine or ten smoke rings into the air, an angry American Indian stomped up to him and said, “One more remark like that and I’ll smash your face in!”

  29. New years Eve for me –
    Played “Castle Crashers” on Xbox. Ate Take-out Thai food (Kao-Soi soup. nom nom). Made Hypnotic Martinis.
    Watched the first two Episodes of “FireFly”, stoping in between the two to count the New Years and light off a string of firecrackers to annoy the neighborhood.

    Slept in.

    Now. Having coffee. Doing a jigsaw puzzle.

    I am a party machine.

      • New Years Eve for me:

        Got dropped off at the Pub at 1930.

        Had quite a few Tia Maria and Colas as I watched a cover band.

        Band finished at 2330.

        Saw in the new year and got picked up at 0030 by sister.

        Watch best of Glastonbury till around 0300.

  30. Really enjoyed the Sherlock special this evening. Cumberbatch and Freeman were back on their game tonight. For those that missed it, it will repeat on January 10th on PBS (at least in the U.S.)

  31. JF – Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

    Really enjoyed this book.

    Set in a world where Germany won WW2, a young Jewish woman who was experimented on in a concentration camp, must win a motocycle race to have a chance of killing Hitler.

    The experiments means she can skin shift to look like the previous champion , whose brother takes part in the race and complicates the situation.

    Listened to it on Audible, well worth checking out.

    • This is really good information. I was wondering if they were going to manage to get the book out before the next season on HBO. I’m actually looking forward to having stuff happen on the show that I wasn’t expecting.

  32. You said it perfectly, Ed. “months away still” means 2017, which means the show will be way ahead. I hope he’s still able to get some artistic fulfilment from working on this massive task, and that it doesn’t now feel like one giant TPS report.

    The only surprising thing about that post is that it’s on LiveJournal.

  33. hmmmm, that’s interesting. Did the header go missing and the side bar slip up for everyone? Instead of recent posts, I see the blog roll under that heading etc.

  34. I’m listening to a debate about who would win in a fight between the Master Chief from Halo and Edward from Twilight. I’m staying out of it, but I did point out that The Doctor would beat ’em both.

  35. Crap joke for the day:

    There is a truck driver driving along, and he stops and picks up a priest to give him a ride.He’s driving down the highway and he sees a lawyer along the side of the road and thinks, “Hot damn! A lawyer that I could run over!” So he speeds up and heads straight for him.At the last second he remembers the priest with him. So he swerves real quick to miss him, but still hears a thump. He looks behind, no sign of the lawyer.He says to the priest “Wow, that was a close one, I almost hit that lawyer!”The priest then replies “That’s ok son, I got him with my door.”

  36. Happy New Year! Batman Love Letter is a fun little game.

    But watch out for that Two-Face.

    He is nothing but trouble, all around.

    • There’s a “Last Played” column in iTunes. I don’t know if iTunes has an Activity Tracker kind of thing, so we could see exactly when and how often Rhett has listened to Justin Bieber in 2016.

      • If the number of times I listen to Justin Bieber is expressed as the variable B, then any value of B greater than 0 is equal to B times too many.

  37. CW: War and Peace E1

    New BBC adaption with a token US actor.

    In look, the word sumptuous springs to mind, but gawd I find anything to do with that time period hard going.

    With the exception of Blackaddee 3.,

  38. “Beginning with Star Wars, Disney is estimating an $88.3 million weekend, which brings the film up to $740.2 million after only 17 days in theaters. It’s the fastest film to cross $700 million domestically, doing in 16 days what took Avatar 72.” – Box Office Mojo

    Sheesh! And dont forget Avatar was really only shown at 3D ticket prices, making this even more impressive

  39. JF: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein.

    A sequel of sorts to Codename Verity. Interesting enough, but not as good as Codename Verity.

  40. I guess it’s a really good sign for a movie when I like the Honest Trailer far less than I like the movie. For example, one of the major problems they have is all the math that goes on. That’s one of the things I like best about the movie. It’s not made for stupid people. About fucking time we made something that doesn’t cater to the lowest possible denominator.

    http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2016/01/05/honest-trailer-the-martian-video/

  41. Well folks! It’s Moving Day (er, week) at work. We are
    moving the entire CardioVascular Surgical Line and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit to a different wing of the 650-bed hospital.

    Painfully moving each piece of equipment, one-by-one.

    It’s going to be a long few days

  42. I’m reminded that I still haven’t seen ‘The Good Dinosaur’, with the kiddies back at school and it having an early showing time, I may have to give Joy a miss.

  43. Today’s movie is Air.

    The PVR write up: When breathable air becomes nonexistent, two engineers must guard the remaining survivors who reside in a controlled state of suspended animation.

    Yeah, it didn’t make sense to me either

  44. You know, I was ok with this movie. Yeah, there was the whole no air thing but, even still…

    It was a very quiet, slow moving movie, and it seemed to work

  45. JF: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

    Not a great horror fan, but picked this one up cheap on audible,

    The narration by Capt Janeway saved the book for me.

  46. Groaning from Twitter:

    @petridishes:

    if there were a movie exclusively about General Hux it would be called “Look Who’s Tarkin II”

  47. Apparently, no one on Yelp noticed that this place was the epitome of a hole in the wall.

    Charming though. Probably scary at night. Let’s see how the food is.

    • On this side of the pond, ‘hole in the wall’ refers to ATMs.

      I’m guessing some kind of eating establishment similar to burger trailers over here?

      • Yeah, it means a dumpy 1-star restaurant. There are many great hole in the wall Mexican places around Phoenix.

        This place was ok… Other than the middle-aged Chinese couple and their cranky infant, we were the only people in the place ffor the entire lunch hour. And the kindly owner complained to us about finances I’m broken English for about 20 minutes.

  48. Your blasphemous joke of the week:

    Jesus once said “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”

    He was a carpenter who died by being nailed to a piece of wood, so he might have had a point…

  49. Your blasphemous joke of the week:

    Jesus once said “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”

    He was a carpenter who died by being nailed to a piece of wood, so he might have had a point…

  50. Maynard *does* exist, as evident by his lurking silohouette in the middle third of the stage.

    He reminds me of Brandon Lee from The Crow.

  51. I gave hubby heck yesterday. We were shopping and he started looking at products to remove the grey from his beard. I told him if he got something for the grey in his beard, then I would get something to rid the salt from my pepper coloured hair. He ended up not getting anything. Silly hubby.

  52. Crap joke for the day:

    I phoned the Drug helpline tonight and asked to speak to the cocaine counsellor, the switchboard operator said can I hold as he’s on another line at the moment. Any further enquiries just press the hash key.

  53. JF: City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

    Really enjoyed the sequel to ‘City of Stairs’, the old general is a great character and the plot is a lot more grim this time.

  54. Where is the world
    I saw in your eyes
    It lived through the night
    Then whispered goodbye

    This fucking Draconian album is a masterwork. As a music fan I’m amazed it exists. As a metal fan I’m overwhelmed. Ive never heard doom done like this.

    • I’m tickled that you appreciate it like I do! My very first impression was of a cookie-cutter doom outfit, but I was quickly disabused of that notion. Heike Langhan’s voice is just unparalleled. These songs are gorgeous. “Stellar Tombs” and “Pale Tortured Blue” are the ones that haunt me most, but the whole thing is indeed a fucking masterwork.

  55. Well peeps. Since it looks like the email I’m expecting isn’t coming any time soon, I’m going to watch a movie.

    Pressing play on The Lazarus Effect

  56. Goddamn dollar is still falling.

    Just a heads up, deadpan, if the dollar doesn’t smarten up soon, hubby and I will have to rethink any US travel plans

    • “The planned felicide has greatly upset some cat people, notably Brigitte Bardot, a French former sex goddess, and Morrissey, a miserable British singer.”

      That’s hilarious. When did The Economist start taking cues from the AV Club?

  57. “Our new self titled album will be out on April 1st (this is not a joke). North America pre-order it now on Apple Music and get “Thank God For Girls,” “Do You Wanna Get High?” and “King of the World””

    Ugh. That’s enough, Weezer. That’s enough.

    • I’ve been reading the series it is based on and have struggled with some of the casting choices based on the character description in the books. Not sure if I will try it.

  58. JF: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers

    Thought it was ok. It’s positivity was a nice change from what I usually read. Characters are likeable, but the plot was just ok.

  59. Well finally watched all the episodes of Jessica Jones.

    Liked the low key ending.

    If they do a Sylar in S2 I will be pissed, some characters should stay dead.

  60. Speaking of Star Wars — fun night of gaming with the Rhettro clan. Only 3 rounds completed of tabletop X-Wing, but they were an eventful 3 rounds.
    Thanks, Rhett, and family! A good time was had.

  61. Speaking of Game night with the Rhettro clan (note: work on my segues) I played a new for me card game over the holiday break.
    Exploding Kittens.
    A fun game not requiring to much strategy so a good game to play while drinking and visiting with those around the card table.
    Basically – you take terms drawing from an ever decreasing number of cards, hoping NOT to get an Exploding Kitten. There are various cards that let you alter the rotation and what-not but you continue until there is only one person who has not been blow’d up. The artwork is whimsical and the material on the cards is amusing.
    I think it would even be fine to play with the younger kids. Only without so much drinking.

        • They seem like the kind of thing that would be good for someone that doesn’t plan to come back to the same brewery very often. For example, if someone is just visiting the area and still wants to take some with them. Great idea in the long run. But, I do agree that the beer tastes better from the glass growler than the can.

  62. Well this clip show of BBC documentaries about air disasters looks interesting, but I get nervous enough as it is, so Family Guy it is.

  63. Gave a couple of new shows a chance. I didn’t care for “Second Chance”. The revamped Frankenstein story didn’t work for me. “Colony” started a bit slow, but has some potential.

  64. JF: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

    I read it years ago but picked up the audible version as a daily day.

    Old school scifi, it’s nice and short, and worth reading for that ending that the Hollywood adaptions have fucked with over the years.

  65. Just a random thought or two about the wedding mmmeetup: Jack had asked for biscuits and gravy at one point (which he will graciously say aren’t necessary). Are there any other food/recipe requests? It doesn’t have to be for me, I just know I would like to get my brain organized and others might like to do the same.

    Also I believe Ed has put in for an alcohol exchange in the past. Is this of interest this year?

    Yes we have plenty of time to plan for this, but I have a slow afternoon and my mind wanders.

  66. Well I enjoyed the first two episodes of the new season of Agent Carter.

    Making Jarvis more of a buffoon was a bit off putting.

    Still not sure what to make of Mrs Jarvis.

  67. Talking of 30% more expensive, doing quick search on BA, looks like the flight to Phoenix will have a similar surcharge because of it being in a peak period.

  68. BTW, Van.

    I’m not saying don’t come in July. You won’t have any hotel costs since you can stay with us, and the dollar is very much in your favour. If we hit Heritage Park, the Zoo, and the Tyrrell early, we can miss some of the crowds (as long as there is no Stampede breakfast that day). Just giving you a heads up, things might be busy.

  69. I’m going to be the dick here. This summer meetup is in July for the wedding. Thats it. Im going nowhere in May, I’m going nowhere else in July. Honestly to suddenly consider other meetup plans (if I’m reading correctly here) because one person may not be able to make it is fucked.

  70. To quote Monty Python “run away run away”

    So we know.you don’t wear a suit but do we need to scare up some wedding clothes for you?

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