Bartimaeus

...Not gonna lie, the composition of that shot is really good. Seeing just a little artistry in the animation like that makes me that much more inclined to give it a shot...but probably not any time soon, given that I must finish at least one of Paranoia Agent and Sakura first.

entire nets team gonna die before this series is over

Last day of Netanyahu - may it last. The incoming unity government is a fragile alliance composed of 8 different left, right, and center parties that have literally the bare minimum amount of votes to pass (61 of 120). *That* probably won't last, but hopefully it doesn't bring back Netanyahu when it does collapse.

"OK" feels a little generous for that particular episode...but then again, I rather dislike one-off guest stars whose emotional conflict we're supposed to pretend to care about (...particularly when they're acted as badly as that lady was in that episode). Okay, now having watched the rest of Invincible over the last two days (including having gained a massive headache last night), I can now say it's actually surprisingly good. The second half of the season is better than the first half (less bogged down in the occasional silly teenager stuff that didn't feel like it was working very well or a particularly good use of time) and the first half was already pretty good. I usually hate superhero stuff, so it should tell you something that I really liked it. I do think that a second season is probably less likely to be interesting and successful than the first, but it'd be hard not to give them a chance. Also, it was nice to see (the VA for) Sarevok finally get a part where he isn't cast as just a brain-dead villain like he usually is.

In contrast to InsaneCommander, I'm glad you wrote all of that out because now it means I don't have to watch it...which is just as well, since I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been for me anyways, . Do *you* think I'd like it, @majestic? Paranoia Agent, episode 1: Very strange, a little (intentionally) uncomfortable at parts, good. Not really sure where it's going, but presumably there will be ideas and themes that will emerge more strongly. Satoshi Kon makes weird stuff, more news at 11.

Blow the Man Down (2019). Low-key thriller about two sisters living in a small east coast fishing town who are trying to figure things out after their mom died prior to the events of the movie. Reminded me a lot of Thoroughbreds (2017), pleasantly so. (e): This is not the movie thread. Gosh dangit.

Can you explain what you mean by "interrupted by character backgrounds"?

Yeah, I was mostly but not entirely annoyed by that first episode, and then the ending hit and I was like, "...Okay, I guess I'll have to watch a second episode to see where it's going at some point." Still haven't gotten around to that yet, but I will eventually.

Saw the last quarter of the Bucks game - just barely avoided utter embarrassment, phew. Heart started going in the last couple of minutes there... Might just be a matter of inertia, but I feel like Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals sound better than Arizona Suns and Phoenix Cardinals...

At least I'll have *some* reason to watch it... (e): That spoiler is seamlessly wedged in between those two quote blocks...

Superteams are an automatic "I hope they get embarrassed" from me. It's "great" when it happens to your team, but it's terrible for parity and lessens or outright ruins the fun of the game for fans who have any kind of common sense beyond "tunnel snakes my team rules!". I'll never watch college football for the simple fact that 99% of teams simply do not and will not ever matter due to heavy inherent institutional advantages afforded to the same superteams year after year, decade after decade. The NFL messes a lot of stuff up, but they are head-and-shoulders above anything else I can think of for parity, and that makes the sport as a whole much more interesting. Consequently, it's no surprise that I love Giannis, for both his goofball kid personality and for deciding to stay in his original small market team (and also unsurprisingly, he's predominant the reason why I chose the Bucks some years ago).

Yeah, I thought the Nuggets were toast the moment Jamal Murray tore his ACL. Got an MVP season and at least won the first round, but it's not like they were even a superteam before he died - just about impossible to hang with the top dogs after that happens. Pretty garbage, but that's just how the sport works in regards to star talent. On a similar note, Bucks have tonight to prove that they're not an absolute flaming dumpster of a playoff team (though unlike the last couple of years, this time the Bucks have absolutely no excuse for imploding), but given how terribly they've played and have had their minutes managed thus far, I'm just about expecting to be swept outright. Once the Bucks and Nuggets are eliminated, I'll probably be cheering for the Suns.

I've almost gotten that game several times because I want to try it out, but my inner pessimist has convinced me not to each time. I never seem to enjoy third person shooters.

i fixed one of my previous screenshots so that it looks more like clear card. lookin' good, and definitely not terrible. (...this somehow still looks better than clear card even with how much I butchered it, though)

It does look bad...but not season 1 Sailor Moon Crystal bad. ...More like Sailor Moon Crystal Eternal bad, though.

Not that I've heard/seen, but I'll let you know if they come up with something, . Mostly, people have either lamely compared it to the Favre situation or said it's nothing at all like the Favre situation. The main similarity I'm seeing in them is that both QBs are/were mad as hell at the front office and their decision-making...

Rodgers hold-out officially started today. Will be interesting to see how this ends, because it seems like everyone is genuinely unsure (...except for a few absolute clown fiestas like Florio from Pro Football Trash). Given that an entire month has since gone by since the last update on this without a word being spoken publicly, I'm gonna downgrade my feelings to being 50/50 on whether Rodgers plays this year or not - either it happens or it doesn't, . There's a lot of people waaay too invested on this, though - seen a lot of posts about the subject that are basically "I can't take this, I can't be a fan of the Packers/Rodgers until this is resolved!". Quit obsessing on something that's not even happening right now - go outside and enjoy your summer, folks.

Glad to hear it's great! That reminds me, after what episode is one supposed to watch the first film?

lmao, tonal whiplash much? happy to depression to nuking usagi all within 30 seconds

The good news is that one, I'm not *that* invested into basketball to begin with, and two, I'm pretty freaking used to Wisconsin sports letting me down in the playoffs in embarrassing fashion at this point anyways. It's better than not getting there at all, but boy, could it just be...not so embarrassing or as much of a trainwreck when it happens?

Well, Bucks were clicking...keyword being "were". Not getting out of the second round.

The majority of the Democratic party relies *way* too much on divisive idpol garbage while having a holier-than-thou/I-know-better-than-you attitude about everything for me to be comfortable calling them liberals in the classical sense, but yes, they're the closest thing to it in the U.S. The day we advance past idpol into actual class-based politics to more properly recognize all the ways our different classes of people are getting screwed or are disadvantaged (and the opposite) without everything immediately resorting to completely unnuanced identity grouping, baiting, and targeting that drives what should be relatively like-minded to be at each other's throats for no good gosh-danged reason will be a good one...but it's probably not going to happen any time soon, because both sides currently love it.

Yeah, it helps to get the appropriate age group for this sort of behavior, but I think it's even more than that. It's my impression that Tomoyo is not only obsessed with Sakura, but also seems to respect her and has boundaries that she won't go over. She's also pretty upfront with how she feels about certain things with Sakura - how many times has she told Sakura that she loves to film her life? Sakura knows and has made her peace with it, and both parties being aware of it and accepting it helps defuse some of the potential creepiness, especially since it just stays at that level without getting any more serious than that. I'm sure you can tell me whether Tuxedo Mask kissing and abducting Sailor Moon while she's literally unconscious was properly setup and explained, never mind all the other awful crap in Sailor Moon Crystal, . In contrast, Minako sometimes plays the obsessor in the original show, and all that usually stays pretty above board.

The term "liberal" is pretty annoying in the U.S. Actual liberalism is a theoretical centrist position in the U.S. that doesn't really exist for practical purposes anymore, usually means more right-wing-but-not-necessarily-insane abroad(?), and yet has the connotation of "pro-antichrist left-wing demon" to the right-wing here.