LadyCrimson

How much are non-matinee film ticket theater prices these days, in the USA? The new Puss n Boots film is getting good reviews -that first one was cute in spots but not that great so this is supposedly leaps above that one- and I was half tempted to try and convince hubby to go to a theater with me. Then I saw it was early-access rent-able. For $25. What happened to $20 early-acess rent price? Is that Amazon or Dreamworks being greedy, or both? I'm not sure Puss n Boots is worth $25 for at home viewing. >.>

WHITE NOISE - I didn't realize it was on Netflix already. So I tried watching it. There was a chuckle here and there but despite the satire or whatever you want to call it, I found it generally not-amusing. Just offbeat and strange. I think it was too cerebral or existential or whatever, for my current tastes/moods.... Actors, including most of the children, were all fine. The middle section was probably the best section. The credits with a strange dance sequence in a grocery store was pretty creative.

I find the term limited series a little odd but I'm used to stuff like k-dramas, that are 93% single, no 2nd season series, all the time. Although if Netflix has their way, it'll change before too long. At any rate, as long as Netflix continues to put up quite a few k-dramas (and other "foreign" to the US) shows that I like, I'll continue with it. I think hubby goes through Prime far more often than Netflix now tho (just more serials to try), whereas I find Prime mostly useful only for film rentals. And while I occasionally like having HBO-Max on hand, I'm not sure it's worth the $150 a year at this point, either. I miss the more procedural dramas the US used to make more frequently. Maybe they still do, just not for streaming channels so much, no clue, I haven't watched broadcast/cable TV in ages. But I mean where suchwould still have some character arcs sprinkled in, and cliffhangers, but each episode was much more self-contained. story wise. Made cancellations a little less painful.

^ Well that's why I said it doesn't seem like a good long-term plan, if only because gaining too much of a rep like that = self-fulfilling prophecy of low viewership/cancel, plus is likely to cause long-form content series creators to not even go to Netflix in the first place. Although, at least I no longer have to watch most fictional TV on a certain day and time or otherwise lose the chance to see it ever. I don't want to go back to that, thanks. Cancelled shows happen constantly regardless, but I'm not ever going back to watching anything on a day/time schedule like that.

Constant on and off rain, with a lot of very gusty winds periodically. Us and the neighbors have the long, cheaply-constructed plastic-squares patio shade covering thingies, with none of them being new or in great shape, and you can often hear them loudly rattling with big winds. This evening most of the right-corner plastic squares on our patio cover blew off. We wanted to replace the whole patio cover next summer anyway so less work for us! One neighbor's was already very badly wind/weather-damaged, I wonder if it's totally stripped now. Too dark for me to tell, heh. ...at least the power came back on quickly.

Just to report, I was just now unable to post a reply with quotation marks and italics in it - when I removed those, it posted. So that issue seems to still exist (if sporadically/not always) for me as well.

I think Netflix likely looks at series watching completion rates, and within a fairly short time-frame at that (a month or three), when deciding whether to cancel a show. Fans pointing at the -most watched this week- type stuff, forget that may only consist of tons of ppl checking out only the first episode. In one way it sorta makes sense, because even if a shows first few episodes garner a lot of views, if a large percentage of people don't go back and finish it, a sequel may not fare well, with possibly even much lower early viewing. It's the kind of fast gauge metric pre-internet TV didn't have, and I remember shows back then sometimes being cancelled mid-season -usually over Xmas- if those weekly ratings dropped crazily each week after the premiere, so you wouldn't even get a full single season. I'd theorize Netflix views a lack of a series quick completion rate in a similar vein. That said, of course shows can/do take a couple seasons to grow/find its footing, or for more people to even be aware something exists, and current Netflix management apparently doesn't want to pay/contract commit for long-term maybes - unless it's easy and very cheap to produce fluff. They only want to renew series that hit total binge-watchers like a freight train vs. try and foster a slow burn popularity over time. Doesn't seem like a great long-term plan.

One of the orange cats: "This is my singular walking pace and not even treats will make me go faster." Black and white cat: "I will use the high ground."

While I'm sure the next ones won't take quite as long (since they did a lot for the next one already I think), Cameron being Cameron, he'll probably pass away before he finishes the Avatar series.

That's one way to stay warm.

Fun times, isn't it. Eggs..no shortages here but they've definitely gone up in price, but so has most everything else grocery store wise past 6-12 months. Feels like what used to be $100-$120 total now ends up around $180-$200. Some annual inflation is one thing but that much in such a short time certainly hits the wallet. Especially since I can no longer subsist on a diet dominated by dried ramen and/or rice or a sack of potatoes/bread/beans as filler with maybe a little cheap protein on the side. On the other hand, 90% less snacking ends up a little cheaper in that way, so maybe it balances out. lol

I was about to freak out over an email verification when I logged in today (I hate those kind of systems since I don't allow perm. cookies + my email is on a separate PC + I refuse to use a phone for it) but when I closed browser and relogged in a 2nd time it didn't ask for it again. Phew. I assume the new fixes caused it to want verification one more time. Not that anyone cares, but if that sort of system is ever put in (constant reverify every login) I may disappear entirely. So if ya ever want to get rid of me, there's one method.

7 Days to Die. I currently have a map where I found this very tall and long mountain cliff face, which faces the right direction for me to be able to build horizontally with it ... voxel block angle/visual limitations ... so now and again I fire that up and work on a massive multiple story underground bunker city that has giant cliff windows and vault entrances, guardhouses/bunkers, workout rooms, long long hallways/staircases/ladders, giant living spaces etc. Even cheating in blocks etc. it's a huge time sink. Good for the occasional casual couple of hours at a time project. In my mind I'm building a Fallout bunker city or something akin to that, vs. a zombie defense tower. And it's pretty fun. No mega plans, just sorta winging it. Dunno if I'll ever reach a point of impressive screenshots, but here's a cruddy pic to show what I mean about "built into the clifface." Except the goal is many many more, several stories, from road-level to near the top. So far this top level and the road-garage level are getting somewhere.

Steve's (and other YT'ers) ever growing frustration/anger/befuddlement has been quite entertaining. I think I'll want to buy at least one more gpu/pc in the next 3-7years, but after that I may never build another PC. I honestly use my tablet for net browsing 98% of the time now, there's firestick or other options for streaming tv services (so I don't even use a PC for that these days), and I rarely game more than 8-12 hrs a month anymore (vs. addiction, haha). More and more often it's zero hours. I'm reaching a different stage of my life or whatever you want to call it, at a good time, I guess.

"Testing something multiple times" Edit: - yeah, inconsistent. I thought maybe some of the site scripts I don't "allow" might be wonky too (like microsoft.com) - manually allowing them initially seemed to change things for my last forum login session, bold suddenly worked, but then I exited the browser, relogged in, had those scripts not allowed again like my normal etc, but now everything works fine, including bold, quote marks, etc. >.>

Just to repeat from the movie thread - maybe don't use Bolded text, either. Tried to bold movie tiles in a post via highlighting words and pressing the B button, wouldn't post/go through/forbidden. Removed all bold, went through. Tried to edit that post to add bold after the fact, and got the can't edit message etc. Using Firefox. Edit: Firefox 89.0. I do not allow perm. cookies, but per session ones - cookies are always cleared when I close browser, reboot pc, etc.

So I guess the forum is having issues then? Noted. For me (and for at least that one post) it was definitely from doing the highlight and press the B button to bold specific words. I did not try manually typing the bb code inside the post instead to see if that circumvented it somehow. Edit: ok, tried to edit this post with quotation marks and got that same you-shall-not-edit message. Got it. Bold, quote marks, etc. Do not use.

---Black Adam - Dwayne still has that mega charisma and screen likability, whether it's scowling brows or mega-watt grin. Every second where his face is the focus of the shot I can't help but smile, and those seconds were the best thing of the movie. Pierce Brosnan did ok in his role but not a lot of screen time, and it felt a bit like he was slummin' a bit. There's not much else to say about the movie. For the first third, beyond a few dialogue lines here and there, I'm not sure it even had a plot. It had some good explosions I guess. ---Glass Onion - stellar overall cast, Craig is great, ok whodunnit, I was expecting it to hit my funny bone a little more. It was ok but my attention wandered a bit. It should be noted that I'm not typically all that into Agatha Christie or very similar styled mysteries, in print or film. I'm not sure why ... I love the Sherlock short stories but there's something different style wise (re: the mystery/crime solving) even if they share many similarities. ---Knives Out - I knew about it but never got around to watching it, so since we just saw the sequel, we watched this one next. It was a little more amusing/entertaining and imo a better whodunnit than the second one. ---The Last Duel - I was expecting more of a war/battle story, less relationship/s and vengeance drama. I didn't think the choice of splitting the film into three very different chr. perspectives (who's version do you believe?) was the best choice. That said, as more of a drama, I did overall enjoy the film, although I wouldn't have minded a little more from Adam Driver's chr. perspective. Speaking of Adam Driver, I am very much looking forward to when I can see White Noise (Danny Elfman does the score, too). I don't know if I will like it or not, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Next on my to watch list: The Banshees of Inisherin. Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, great combo, I'm expecting greatness. Or at least close to it.

The forum is not letting me post a long "what I watched" either (keeps giving me an error page) and I have no quotes in mine. I can't figure it out. EDIT: for some reason it won't let me bold the movie titles. It would post without using any bold text. I then tried to edit the posted-post to add the bold afterwards, and it gave me a "you can't edit this anymore/time ran out" error. Weird. Whatever.

Organizing, doing a lot of those little things that need doing, hubby with a long week off, shopping for household items/small furniture, sister/brother-in-laws, cousin-in-laws, low lying fog, wind, lots of rain, movies/convos and recliners. etc. Been a nice past week or two. If I'm not around again before then, Happy New Year to everyone.

I'll agree. His run style/scenes is one of his biggest action "trademarks" by this point. Although in his earlier days, another one who was somewhat close was Mel Gibson, but his arm motion was a bit more expansive/wilder (Gallipoli, Lethal Weapon, others).

Leaving in the morning for an all-day round trip in the car with maybe a couple hours of being not in the car, outside, moving furniture and stuff: ---Hubby: You might want to take more than that light sweatjacket (he says while wearing two layered jackets himself) ---Me: (dressed in t-shirt and thin, light pants) Oh? Is it supposed to be extra cold or something? Eh, I'll be fine. *hubby blasts the van's heater, as usual, the entire trip while I keep the window cracked open so I can breathe* ...I never even wore my light sweatjacket. ...I'm picturing hubby at some point wearing an entire puffy ski jacket/pants/boots outfit around the house before too long. ...Edit: if you're wondering, if I'm driving, hubby is always a little too cold/might use a leg/lap blanket because I don't blast the heater like that, heh

That buff (there's at least two variations of it) is the main way to rather easily beat the entire game while remaining level 1, if one was into that sort of thing (by wearing that Nix ring thus never leveling up). Although I found even with that it was pretty tough going with a few post-game challenges at that lvl. Not to mention costly to get all the ingredients to use it constantly, lol. The funniest thing about remaining lvl 1, imo, was how the summon damage was apparently reliant on or largely based on your chr. level. Thus they became useless in short order as they'd appear, do like 1-3 dmg or whatever and one would just ignore the summon-available music. At any rate, yes, a good/very useful recipe.

'Bah hum" ... never mind, not into that joke this year. Merry Christmas/happy and healthy holidays/vacation, with whatever you do during this time.

What if you just thought the first film was "ok", some parts more than others, and didn't love it or hate it? Mostly the visuals seems to be what 'net talkers talk about, especially the underwater stuff, in terms of being wowed (the story is serviceable etc). I can imagine it would be a visual, cgi/motion capture feast but I'll take the hit and wait for streaming like usual. Heh.