Bartimaeus

That's always the risk with prove-it deals, unfortunately - especially for older guys. Although I'm not sure of the guarantees, he apparently rejected like a 7m a year for 3 years contract with the Ravens. Jordy Nelson received about the same deal with the Raiders except for 2 years (although he had an unusually high amount of guarantees - think it was like a 75% fully guaranteed contract, which basically makes him uncuttable). I don't think he got much more than veteran minimum this year with the Saints because of signing so late, so I'm sure he's kicking himself for not taking the deal with the Ravens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLsrkuUNT6s

A big part of it was probably also the early margins in some of those Senate races. I was paying attention to it live and it looked really bad at first - it started with Donnelly in Indiana being down like 20 points for most of the race (ended up being 6 overall when all the cities finally got their votes counted much later - still significant, but not 20 points significant), then Florida started coming in and that looked really bad too (currently a margin of 0.2...), and then we started seeing Heitkamp, McCaskill, and Bredesen all getting absolutely smashed when those races were rated as lean Republican at worst. I figured Bredesen and Heitkamp would lose, but not that badly (and not Donnelly and McCaskill as well, who had much better rated races!), and then additionally Sinema and Tester seemingly losing by decent margins on top of that made it seem like it was going to be an absolute blowout - no way would the Democrats have any chance at controlling the senate for at least the next four years if those results held. Due to its laws about having to record every single vote before publicly submitting any results, Nevada started coming in significantly later than everyone else, and by that time, things had started to reverse themselves with some of the bigger precincts having started to submit their much bluer votes in other states. But by then, most of the headlines had already been written. For close races, election "night" is more like election "week" when you have to actually wait for the biggest precincts to submit their votes as well as start counting all the provisional and absentee ballots (which take much longer to confirm), as people in Arizona, Florida, and California have since discovered...conspiratorial whinging about mass amounts of Democratic "election fraud" notwithstanding. 47-53 is decent, though not great for Democrats in 2020 (certainly much better than the initial 45-55 or so it looked to be!)...and if it somehow magically becomes 48-52, it would seem pretty likely they'll control the Senate in 2020. Of course, two years is a long time...Democrats likely pray that they can take the presidency and at least eke out 50-50 control in the Senate come 2020, or they risk the Supreme Court having a conservative supermajority for the next couple of generations. (e): words

but more pertinently, why do you always write in that font my eyes aren't that bad yet

Looks like Sinema will win Arizona (several political pundits and election experts seem to think so, anyhow), but I wouldn't expect Nelson to win Florida even with a recount, unless there was an actual machine error. People improperly filling out their ballots because of poor design, while possibly shady, won't save him - it's not like they can fill it out correctly after the fact. So you'd have to have an actual machine error that would be solved by hand-counting them. Both of these elections seem pretty critical for the Democrats if they want to a strong chance at re-taking the Senate in 2020, when the tables will be reversed and it will instead be Republicans up for election.

Hilda (2018, Netflix Original). I'm really, really not into this "new wave" of cartoons appealing to adults (a la Rick & Morty, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, etc.), but a friend convinced me to try this one and it's actually really pretty good. There were a couple of episodes that were a little more mundane than the rest, but on the whole it was far beyond what I expected out of a kids' cartoon (and it is, after all, being marketed more at younger audiences which I feel is the right place to start with...whereas I can't say the same about Rick & Morty and the like). So credit where credit is due, I hope a second season is at least as good.

The inconsistency defintely happened, along with injuries, but most importantly, they were outcoached by the Patriots. Season over? I very much think so. Can't see them beating either Vikings nor the Bears. I think the Packers can lose two more games and still have a decent shot of making the playoffs at 9-6-1. The NFC seems a bit weak this year: we're competing with one of the Bears and Vikings for a wildcard spot and/or the division as of now...though if we lose to the Seahawks, I would wager that pretty much ends any hopes because that's a two-game swing to them basically. So it really just depends on whether they get their crap together and win the games they should win, or if they keep floundering about. At this point, I'm more of the opinion that they won't, but I've been wrong before.

Speaking of RLM... The Witch (2015). It was good, but ironically, I think it would've been better if the actual wacky witch scenes were not in the film, particularly the final one. I'm imagining a slightly more thriller-ish film where you have even less of an idea what the hell is going on, and it ends without ever being exactly clear who the witch was/if there was one at all or if it was all just some form of contagious, hysterical madness, and I think I like the idea of that better, but what do I know. I feel like the crazy tension of the movie would've only been amplified without things having been (I felt) over-explained. Thoroughbreds (2017). I really liked this one. Anton Yelchin's (Star Trek) last performance. A little quirky light thriller starring the same starring actress from the movie above (Anya Taylor-Joy), it apparently didn't do too well at box offices, and that's a shame, since it's pretty good. Thanks to RLM for recommending both of these. @algroth: Yeah, the main plot of Paprika was...um...bad. A much lower key story in the same setting and even with most of the same characters probably would've probably been much more compelling. Sometimes less is more.

I mean...I guess it's possible it wasn't supposed to be funny. But between the constant random sarcastic comments made by the camera man and Genya ridiculously and comedically inserting himself into the films, it seemed like it was supposed to be. Well, I was laughing a lot, anyways, . As for the ending...having her die in such a predictable and silly movie-like manner was just bad, and then to end the movie on THAT line? I guess it was supposed to be a big epiphany or whatever, but talk about undercutting the rest of the movie - between that and her saying earlier in the film that she only acted so that she could have the freedom to continue her search felt like her basically admitting that her entire life was a joke. Talk about depressing dying words...really did not sit well with me. But again, journey vs. destination, and the journey was fine (though it was fitting that the destination of a movie about a woman's life sucked...just like the ultimate destination of all our lives, eh?). As for Paprika...didn't realize it was the same director, and it's probably a good thing I didn't, since I found it to be...not very good at all.

The Great Dictator (1940). Some of the skits, particularly the ones with Hynkel, went on for just a bit too long. Still, it was a solid watch, and was glad to have done so given its history. The ending speech was powerful, especially given when this movie was made (shortly before the start of World War II proper). Shout out to one of my new favorite YouTubers Lindsay Ellis for sort of suggesting both this and Blazing Saddles. Eraserhead (1977). There was neat stuff in it, but it was really more experimental art film than movie. I watched both this and The Great Dictator with somebody else - this was their choice, TGD was mine...and we both liked TGD a bit more. Guess we're not film aficionados, . Millennium Actress (2001). Unusual film. Wasn't sure what to make of it at times. Ending was laughably bad (like, I literally laughed out loud a couple of times), but I guess it's a movie that's more about the journey than the destination...heh, get it? I did what the movie did...oh, well, nevermind. I still liked it overall, but the rapid swings back and forth between comedy and severity made for a very strange tone, and at times, I felt it could've been paced a little better (there was one point where it seemed like the movie was possibly about to end, but then I checked and there was like 25 minutes left). Feels like a movie that wasn't as effective as it ideally could've been, sort of like The Wind Rises for me, actually... I really liked the soundtrack, though.

If Packers play like they did against the Rams, they'll likely win. But inconsistency in all phases of the game has been their team identity so far this year, so it's anyone's guess.

It probably helps that I don't think I've watched any other films of its particular subgenre, and indeed had no idea what genre it would be falling into or what it would even be about going into it. Thanks for the recommendation on Millennium Actress and The Red Shoes.

Ha! What a coincidence on Perfect Blue. Yeah, I just listened to the soundtrack by itself right before posting that, and it's actually what made me want to log in and post about the recent movies I'd seen, and boy, I love it. Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder were definitely the big parts of what made Blazing Saddles work, and without their individual performances, I don't think I would've care for this movie at all. In regards to use of...provocative language like the N word, I was a little confused at times. Having the old grandma reply to a perfectly magnanimous morning greeting with an "UP YOURS, N****R" is rather hilarious in how shocking it is, and I think I understood its use in doing so to draw a sort of character arc for the town as a whole over the course of the movie, but there were other times where I was less as sure such language was being used effectively (e.g. the ending with the play director). I still tended to give it the benefit of the doubt, especially after learning Mel Brooks seems to be a person generally sensitive to such issues and knew that, tastefully speaking, there's a line to toe in what you can - or rather should - get away with, and you can sometimes accidentally step over it without really even thinking about it. So overall, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I thought it was fine, and Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little were great. I kind of knew The Wind Rises was going to be a difficult one for me for a number of reasons going into it (mainly relating to the subject matter, setting, and protagonist type). On top of that (and perhaps at least a little informed by it as well), I found that the movie ultimately just didn't end up coming together by the end of it (for example, I was really, really having trouble with the love story going on, and the way it suddenly...terminated itself was bizarre and just drove home the feeling of "this isn't working" for me), so I left a little bit dissatisfied. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more upon a re-view, though, like Only Yesterday (which I found to be way better after a re-view and one of my favorites...funny how that can happen sometimes). @ShadySands: lol. I'm sure it's basically the same!

Perfect Blue (1997). Wow! I was a bit...traumatized by this one (especially as I knew absolutely nothing about it going in), but it was great. An incredible dark synth soundtrack, too. The less you know about this going in, probably the weirder and better it will be. Psycho (1960). Very good. Still holds up great for even a first-time viewer who only vaguely knew it was something to do with a mother-gone-wrong. The last five minutes should probably be chopped off, because we're not in the 60s anymore and people can probably get the general gist of mental illness and don't need it explained to them like they're complete morons, but it's a product of the time and forgivable. The Wind Rises (2013). It was decent. The first half was stronger than the second, I think. Not one of my favorite Ghiblis, though...but I expected that from the outset, and it neither particularly overperformed or underperformed from there. Blazing Saddles (1974). I wanted to watch something with Gene Wilder in it, and looking through his movies, I was kind of surprised to see that...uh, he wasn't actually in a whole lot that's considered to be particularly good? Is his career that of one where he had individual good performances but was in mostly mediocre stuff as a whole? Whatever, it was fine. A lot of people seem to say that "'they' couldn't get away with making this today" about this one, and I see why, but I'm not sure that I agree. You'd always have dummies who immediately react to racist language being used simply for the fact that it's being used rather than looking at why it's being used and judging from there, of course, but you can safely ignore those dummies.

I guess we have different standards for when a debate turns sour, then. Something I sometimes ask myself when communication with someone(s) starts to go sour is, "Would I want everyone to act like I am currently acting?". If the answer is no, then it probably doesn't matter who's right or who's wrong, because the discussion has become miserable and toxic, which also has undoubtedly made it pointless, and so it's time to get out.

Also, Chris Avellone has said before that the Obsidian head honchos are desperate to be bought out, but also make of that what you will.

At some point, he probably just discovered that that's easier than seriously bothering with arguments anymore, which take a lot more time and energy than they're generally worth. Which I actually sort of get, but my solution for that was just being much more selective with what I argue about (and letting others bear the brunt of the arguing even when I do get involved), rather than just being toxic all the time. Different strokes for different folks and all that, though, .

I think that's slightly less than the number of Republicans that would've supported Trump suspending elections about a year ago in a poll I read, so, um, yay I guess?

Huh, I've never heard of that particular term before. Apparently originates from an old children's story.

His hypocrisy aside, that's very much a double-edged blade, since they can easily go the opposite route...but I'm sure you know that. Delicious indeed because you'd think, if they had any brains, they'd be desperately fighting to keep their platform alive and accessible instead of allowing other near-monopoly corporations to decide it for them. I guess not.

actually HA! Good Fun! ​ ​Heh, I remember that little pivot of his to Russia. That friendship and progress stuff didn't really end up working out how he probably imagined/hoped it would.

Sorry, the question is just "should I upgrade to cat6a or better"? It would probably really only be necessary if you have very long cables - not sure exactly what the cutoff would be, but unless you have some bizarre setup, it's probably overkill in a home.

It's not a real tweet by the former president, but still good for a laugh. ...And also, it wasn't really an attack on anybody else, since it's an issue central to himself. It's throwing shade at the worst. But yeah, not him.