Bartimaeus

Thought the Vikings were going to lose handily, wanted the Vikings to win, I am pleasantly surprised. Packers may no longer be the worst 13-3 team, especially seeing as we beat the Vikings twice. Also think we have a much better chance of beating the Eagles/Seahawks than the Saints...but also, I don't think the Vikings have much of a chance against the 49ers, who we match up horribly against, so that's not great.

I did my part in picking the Patriots!

Yeah, I kind of just assume it's all hack fraudulence until proven otherwise. There's been too much time in between this one and the last (and also I didn't think either Clear Sky or Call of Pripyat were nearly as good or interesting as Shadow of Chernobyl), plus the developer had been completely dissolved for a time, plus now there's an engine change, etc. Expecting nothing with a project like this simply makes the most sense.

I'm not too bothered by the tinnitus itself - only once in a while does it get extreme enough to really get to me (like, maybe 2-3 times a year, which really isn't bad at all - it used to be worse and more frequent when I was a kid/teen, but slowly got better over time). The misophonia, on the other hand, is triggered by a lot of different things, but that's why I always keep sound dampening earplugs near or on me, .

@Azdeus My father had tinnitus going back to a head injury in his early 20s, as well as severe misophonia of many things, including the tinnitus. Both were always much worse when he drank. I've had tinnitus and misophonia since I was a kid as well, but 'unfortunately' won't ever discover if it has the same effect on me.

Two of the Vikings' top 3 CBs will be out against the Saints...against Drew Brees...in the dome. And the last one standing is Xavier Rhodes who has been notably trash this year. I'm just not feeling it for the Vikings, unfortunately.

I always hedge my bets with pick'em: if there's a matchup that I really want to go a certain way but the odds are against it, I always pick against the team I want to win so that if they win, I'll be happy that I was wrong, while if they lose, I at least have the consolation prize of being right. So with that said, Patriots over Titans, .

...followed up with Aaron Rodgers and the offense looking like absolute utter garbage against the 32nd passing defense. Nice! (e): As is a yearly tradition, I have passed away during an insanely needlessly anxiety-inducing Packers victory. RIP Bartimaeus. Worst top 2, possible 1 seed team I can remember seeing, but we *do* have a bye week.

I'm going to call them Holland even harder now.

you clearly have no appreciation for #girlbosses

Somebody didn't split the thread properly...

Okay, I am a big fat liar hypocrite. My buddy was rewatching all the Star Wars in preparation of this pile of crap coming out, and I somehow managed to convince him that watching the Holiday Special was integral for bridging the gap between A New Hope and Empire. Unfortunately, he made it a requirement that I had to sit through it with him. Suffice to say, Star Wars has always been a total sham. What an uncomfortable viewing experience. (e): Here's some images from it that I took for all of you: Yes, that is Boba Fett riding a dinosaur. Yes, he really did debut in the Holiday Special.

Even though the Packers turned it over like three times plus another recovered fumble or two, that was a surprisingly complete game and victory by the Packers against a playoff team they'd never beat on the road in their stadium before. All but secured a bye week now.

Haven't there been offensive line injuries as well? My hope is that the Packers win tonight, the Seahawks somehow just barely beat the 49ers next week, and the Packers become the most fraudulent 13-3 #1 seed in NFL history.

Didn't play either it or the first. Never thought it looked like a game I would enjoy the gameplay mechanics of - had a huge amount of trouble with Neverwinter Nights 1/2 as it was, even though I'm a huge BG/PST nerd (the switch from 2D to 3D was not kind on CRPGs in either gameplay or verisimilitude for me, even when I was trying to play them in the mid-2000s). @injurai Characters acting like actual grounded people is definitely something that tends to be missing in "epic" series, whether it be games or movies. Characters being perfect is not good - characters being "cool" all the time is not good, either. I don't want characters that are total clowns (prequels, anyone?), but most of my favorite characters from any type of media have flaws, make mistakes, attempt to learn from those mistakes, occasionally reflect upon themselves and their behavior and the way they perceive the world, have rare character moments define, evolve, and fit them, but also occasionally suffer setbacks that lower them. People live and breathe, and tend to experience a wide variety of emotions when placed into unusual or dangerous circumstances - candid, human moments make the great moments, whatever form they may take for a given character, all the more special while also making the character (and the work as a whole) more believable and relatable.

Just finished watching that minutes ago. Sounded like everything I didn't like in The Force Awakens amplified many times. I will continue to not watch Star Wars. It's not an easy job, but someone has to do it (...okay, actually, it's trivially easy because all things Star Wars died for me with Attack of the Clones, so you all should join me).

I thought the Cowboys were obviously a cut above the Eagles. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/sq5w5typ8tnjmti/2019-12-23_06-49-45.mp4

I can't tell if her voice is angelic or if it's just a low quality video. Maybe both.

After McConnell has made it clear that there would be no real trial, Pelosi apparently hinted that she won't send the articles of impeachment to McConnell so they can claim "ACQUITTED IN TRIAL!", but instead will hang them so that he's forever impeached but never cleared. Would be an interesting maneuver.

Would be utterly shocked if he was convicted in the Senate. McConnell has made it clear he's going to make a sham of it as much as he possibly can, and Lindsay Graham has already come out and announced that he'll do the equivalent of plugging his ears during the trial. Not exactly hearing much that suggests others are even receptive to the idea.

Philadelphia has been on life support, and while the Cowboys haven't been too hot either, I think they've looked a clear cut above the Eagles and shouldn't have too much difficulty.

RIP, . Life can be gone so quickly.

Palpatine is a totally nonsensical but fun character, probably the funnest of the entire series. Literally the only reason I have even the slightest desire to watch the Rise of Skywalker is to see him reprise the role and ham it up (note: I still haven't watch the second one). Even though it'll probably be outrageously, insultingly stupid from a writing standpoint (it's JJ Abrams bringing back Palpatine...), Ian McDiarmid will still do a good job. Completely unrelated, this is currently my Steam avatar:

Officially made by members of Trump's 2020 campaign.