Maedhros

Bought and read The Lord of the Rings on kindle. There aren't many fantasy novels I'd bother re-reading, but Tolkien's Middle-earth books never fail to captivate me. Currently reading The Medici by Mary Hollingsworth.

In movies, sure. On TV, nah. The 'universe' part of MCU has been great for the movies but pretty close to actively terrible for TV since TV is seen so much as a secondary medium. DC's approach of letting the shows do their own thing and link as much or as little as they like is far better for TV. The only really bad thing about DC's approach to TV is being arbitrary about who and what can be used due to whatever movies they're planning as if people couldn't tell TV Deathstroke or Deadshot plus multiple others apart from the movie versions. Movie wise DC is a mess, that they have two Joker movies with different actors in production at the same time just about sums things up there perfectly. But in terms of successful adult orientated TV shows Marvel is miles behind, albeit in part due to the, heh, meta issue of the Disney vs Netflix stoush. Titans' (DC made/ US/ original) trailer was not great either. The international Netflix trailer and the actual series though were good. Personally I think Doom Patrol is inherently a bit of an odd choice, but I'll give it a chance. Plus, it has Tim Dalton. What DC shows qualify as "succesful adult oriented tv"? Genuinly curious, because I haven't liked any of the ones I've tried the last 10 years or so (Arrow, Gotham City, Legends of Tomorrow, and Flash). Not too up to date on what they've been doing lately, but I generally just have an impression of newer DC tv as very unmodern, with Smallville still reigning as their best effort in the 21st century. I've been far more impressed with Marvel shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones (s1), The Punisher (s1) and Legion.

I spent far too much money on wine today. It's the official "Burgundy release" in Norway today (2016 vintage). So now I have to wait 10-20-30 years to figure out whether it was worth it! There are no 5-10 bucks wine in Norway. However, fine wine is relatively cheap here. The most famous wine in the world, Romanee-Conti, cost under $6000 here, and above $20.000 in the global market. It's in extremely limited supply though. The guy who got one of the three bottles of that wine slept outside the store for 16 days. He could've sold it for a really nice profit, but he said he'd keep it. I find it a bit strange that more people don't buy a lot of these wines and sell them abroad, can't think of an easier way to make a lot of cash quick. Fun fact - there are no privately owned wine shops here. Only the Wine monopoly (owned by the state) are allowed to sell liquor with above 4,75% alcohol. It sounds terrible, but far from it. They have a range of 17k products that you can order from their website directly to your local shop free of charge, and the people who work there are extremely competent and concerned with quality. I'd argue it's probably among the best wine shops in the world. (So, nazis as Volo would call them - but competent nazis). ((Sweden has a similar system - but not quite as good in terms of fine wine).

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/javier-bardem-dune-reboot-1203126074/ Javier Bardem cast as Stilgar. The hype is real.

I'm a kindergarten teacher, or whatever the correct term in English is. My kindergarten section has children from 4-5 years old, and I spend my days playing cards, soccer, and going on long hikes with the kids. Basically I just try to spend as much time as possible outdoors - so I can spend the rest of my day in front of the computer/tv with a clean conscience! I have a bachelor's degree + 2 years of pedagogy.

Would be pretty easy for the other democrats to wreck her in the debates after what happened. Surely she's not this naive?

Yeah it can work if done right. Godfather 2 (half of it anyway) did it perfectly. The new Planet of the Apes films too were much better than they had any right to be.

Still haven't watched Solo. Star Wars is the perfect introduction to his character, he doesn't need a prequel. Terrible idea by Disney. Pretty excited about the casting for Dune so far. Timothy Chamalet as Paul Atreides is a good match I think. Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen could be good too. Of course the most important thing is that Villeneuve is directing.

Doesn't he also eat his steaks well done and with ketchup? Of all the things he's done, that's to me the most unforgiveable.

Not wearing seatbelt means you turn into a human projectile if the car crashes. Law of physics. If the guy in front wears seatbelt, and the guy behind does not - he slams into the neck of the guy in front of him in the same speed the car was driving before the crash. There's also the fact that if you wear a seatbelt in a "mild crash", you're far more likely to be able to manouvre the car afterwards and avoid potential other cars. The seatbelt also forces you to be in the best possible posture while driving. Helmets?

Not wearing a seatbelt you are a danger to others, if the car crashes. It's as reasonable as smoking bans in public places. I'm ok with some nanny laws, others not. Playing Poker tournaments for cash was illegal in Norway up until recently. Completely ridiculous. Of course most people didn't care about the law and did it anyway, but still dumb.

Freedom is nice, but strong governments are probably going to be a necessity to combat global warming

Tulsi Gabbard seems like the type of Democrat that even Republicans could stomach. Will be a pretty stacked field if Biden and Sanders runs as well.

Good times to be a Liverpool fan. Van Dijk and Alisson have been immense for us. I still think City will take the league, but we're improving so much every season.

I recently read Sailing to Sarantium, and its followup Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay. Like Kay's other works (except Fionavar), it's part historical fiction, part fantasy. This time he has a mosaicist as the main character, set in the world of the Byzantine Empire during the time of Justinian. Thourougly enjoyed these two books. Gonna read A Song for Arbonne next.

Speaking of anti-science... https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a25422366/trump-ambassador-to-canada-climate-change-scientists/ Trump's new ambassador to Canada respects both sides of the science.

https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/01/18/why-33-of-the-50-most-polluted-towns-in-europe-are-in-poland TIL 33 of the 50 most polluted towns in Europe are in Poland.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/world-bank-promises-200-billion-in-climate-action-investment-for-2021-25-1956812 You know you're screwed when even the banks find it worthwhile to invest in climate action

Would be good for Avenatti if the same rules applied, as that would mean he has a fancy new job waiting for him after a half-assed investigation. So. You support him in the presidential race? You want women beater in WH? Great standards you have. Not sure how you got that from my post. I don't support or care about Avenatti.

Would be good for Avenatti if the same rules applied, as that would mean he has a fancy new job waiting for him after a half-assed investigation.

WC3 is my favorite game ever. Late nights with Dota, tower defense, 4v4 arranged team games, toying with the world editor, clan wars...so many good memories. I really hope they'll manage to preserve the gameplay in a good way. Played the Rexxar campaign the other day, it's incredible how smooth the gameplay is. Unit boxing, camera movement...everything is so ridiculously polished.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/30/humanity-wiped-out-animals-since-1970-major-report-finds?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR1vipWuxZHuaC3vuzYm-gLmR_vVibNHE8L-2MPiBUe8mcHhTbD9bjmr_Vg According to report, humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970.

What's nuanced about it?

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/412195-georgia-purged-more-than-100000-people-from-voter-rolls-because-there-didnt Wait, what? More info: https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/10/19/georgia-voter-purge Do all states pretty much do what they want in terms of how they deal with voting registration?

https://www.eater.com/2018/10/11/17963784/master-sommelier-examination-scandal-explained Only 274 people worldwide have passed the Master Sommelier exam since 1969. This year 23 people managed to pass the exams. Or? (On a sidenote, the Somm documentaries on Netflix are worth watching).