Bartimaeus

The Children's Hour (1961). Wow. That was amazing. Not sure if I've ever seen anything with Shirley McLaine before, but Audrey Hepburn and her especially made this one of my favorite movies. That was so messed up and great. The children were a little weird and stilted at times, but it's totally forgivable and workable, and I think they were still pretty darned good for the time. Tokyo Story (1953). Not going to lie, kind of made me want to die, but in a good way. Incredibly depressing and very true and heartfelt messages. Had some interesting/different filming techniques that worked rather well for the most part, too. Love getting hit with back to back great movies.

McConnell has already announced there will be a vote for the next SCJ. Not even a day, .

RIP to her, as beyond being one of nine critically important Supreme Court Justices, she was a person who had lived a long life, had friends and family, and lived through a great wealth of experiences. But also, for the rest of us that have to deal with the consequences:

I'd like to take this moment to suggest that we re-define patriotism to mean wanting the best from and for your country and its people. When I criticize my country, it's not because I hate it or its inhabitants or want all of us to forever be stuck on some kind of hundred year old-plus guilt over something that occurred before even my parents or their parents were born - it's because I, a citizen that is also a human being with some measure of self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to take criticism without needing to always be 100% defensive about it, can reflect and honestly say that we (like literally every other nation that's ever existed past and present) didn't do or handle something right, and hope that we will not make the same kind of decisions in the future - especially in situations where there is no pressing need to do so. It's also possible to help those who have been disproportionately negatively affected by our nation's historical decisions without having to cop up to some kind of personal guilt, just as it's possible to make the decision to generously help other people even when they aren't strictly in dire need of it. Believe it or not, some people are capable of being empathetic and unselfish without necessarily needing to be driven by guilt. I would not necessarily count myself among those people most of the time, but the nasty assumption that everyone who acts seemingly unselfishly is doing it just out of guilt is just that - a nasty assumption that says more about the person making it than the people it's being lobbed against. (e): You'll also note that this "definition" of patriotism (that will never be mainstream) isn't necessarily (and really shouldn't be) at the complete expense of all other non-citizens, because I'm personally at least taking into more account than simply material worth. Genuine ethical and moral failings can be just as dangerous to a nation's worth and well-being (if not more so) than simply minor or even moderate economic or power shortfalls.

Definitely need more fascism in our education.

Didn't the writers of Back to the Future literally say Biff Tannen was designed off of Trump?

Reddit: And I quote myself from the beginning of this month:

My friend is playing through the BG games for the first time, and he just finished BG1 with a party of Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Dynaheir, and...Ajantis? Yeah. He just started BG2 yesterday and sent me this: ...So that's coincidentally very topical. Baldur's Gate Reloaded: Doing anything in NWN/2 is so much slower, clunkier, and needlessly complicated than it was in the BG series. There are certainly other types of improvements to be had, but if the general user control experience is significantly worse, then it'll always be a pretty tough sell.

Trump claims his coronavirus containment efforts saved two, maybe two and a half lives. Well...he might not be wrong there, but not exactly setting the bar very high, . Also blamed Biden and the Democrats for not creating a national mask mandate. Biden, who is not president, and to my knowledge, who currently holds no federal position at all. Interesting stuff from the president.

lmao, the Lakers better watch out if they go up 3-1 also: "Denver is the first team in NBA history to come back from multiple 3-1 deficits in a single postseason" also also: this will somewhat make people forget about the Bucks' horrible collapse, so that's great, too also also also: I guess I'm cheering for Denver and Miami now, can't really see Denver making it after the absolute bone-grinding gauntlet they've been through, but I didn't see them making it out of this round either, so

At least the Packers kicked the Vikings' butt while losing our right guard (for the year), left guard (apparently short term), and elite nose tackle (likely a few weeks), .

I think SCS made it so enemies are *aware* rage makes one immune to imprisonment, but doesn't actually remove the feature entirely, IIRC.

Don't know much about the site in question, nor the veracity of the report, but the linked OIG report mentions "hyster" 15 times, including in the scribd page you just linked. e.g. page 18:

Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Center

Meet the new Cowboys, same as the old Cowboys, .

the nuggets sure love being down 3-1 (e): dang, raptors eliminated too, no-one left for me to cheer for really, especially since the nuggets are clearly a cut below the rest even though they somehow just barely keep holding on (e to my edit): guess the clippers (assuming the nuggets eliminated), since they've been terrible their entire existence while everyone else is like bb royalty

I found last night's game to be a bit boring, too. Over the past few years, it seems like watching the first half of the season is not really worthwhile in terms of general viewing (i.e. outside your favorite team/s), and it's only the back-half of the season and the playoffs that things get more compelling (...and teams really start playing how they should be).

I actually own a still working Dreamcast...it wasn't good back then, and it sadly isn't good now, .

Puss! Psychedelic and absurd, shockingly good "don't touch the walls" + sometimes Undertale-esque bullet hell puzzle game. Has a lot going on from level to level that makes it a creative, fairly challenging, and great (IMO) game. Thanks to @Oner for gifting it to me! Wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I requested it (and wasn't a hundred percent sure if the gameplay would be compelling enough), but it was a great decision. (e): Also, I'm pretty sure I just heard Rich Evans scream "Oh my God!" as a part of the soundtrack: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/wnjegf8wundn50h/iyPKhxi5D2.mp4

I looked up "star trek strange new worlds writers" on Google, and the first article I click on has noted hack fraud Alex Kurtzman's ugly mug as one of the story's cover images, with him listed as one of the main writers.

...Which they wouldn't even let literally him, Peter Jackson, do again for literally Lord of the Rings aka the Hobbit, again, so nobody should probably expect it to happen again anytime soon, . The unique production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy will probably stay unique for the foreseeable future.

Link contains audio recordings of Trump saying that he knew it was airborne, that he knew that it could actually be deadly for even young people, that it was much more deadly than the flu, and that he was deliberately "playing it down" in public, etc. all back in February and March. I don't know what possessed him to give this candid interview to Bob Woodward of all people, but I don't think it was a good idea...for him, that is.

the MVP announcement is going to be a little awkward

Police shoot 13-year-old boy with autism several times after mother calls for help