Bartimaeus

​RIP.

Weren't like 44 other people exposed to the agent as well?

​ ​ ​ ​How do you feel about people protesting about protesting, out of curiosity?

I see that he also directed When Marnie Was There, which is my second least favorite Ghibli film...but Arrietty is on quite another level compared to that - at least When Marnie Was There seemed mostly competent. So far, according to my list of movie ratings (where 6/10 means overall "decent", 7/10 means "good", 8/10 means "great", 9/10 means "fantastic", and 10/10 means "virtually perfect" - I've never rated any movie ever higher than a 9), I'd put them: 8.5: Howl's Moving Castle 8: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Whisper of the Heart 7.5: Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, Porco Rosso, From Up on Poppy Hill 7: Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Only Yesterday 6.5: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There 5: The Secret World of Arrietty Overall, as someone who generally likes a little more child-oriented movies (especially adventure, coming-of-age, slice of life, etc. films that, when done well, are also perfectly suited and fun for adults), the Ghibli experiment has been a great success on the whole. I have not, as of yet, re-watched any - it seems strange that Howl's Moving Castle somehow is apparently my favorite Ghibli film. The exact numbers may change slightly upon re-watching and discovering what really stuck with me, I think.

The Secret World of Arrietty. YIKES! Interesting premise, nice art, but the writing...was just so bad. Might be okay for children, but it was not for me. Whoever wrote this deserves a big ol' slap in the face for butchering it so badly.

Judging by the way it's haphazardly switched between being available and unavailable on digital retailers over the years since its release, it seems that the corporations involved don't know, either. Would not expect an Enhanced Edition anytime soon for that reason alone.

tl;dw: confusing, sort of bad (but mostly just mediocre and forgettable), and didn't seem like it was made for any age group due to conflicts in content and storytelling

...Uh, wouldn't they literally be cost-effective if you plan to live in your house for that amount of time, though? Good luck with the moving, Hurlshot.

Porco Rosso. I thought it was very good with the exception of the girl mechanic, who was written (and treated by other characters) very bizarrely. The movie was a little up and down because of that, but it was still overall very good. ​ ​The Tragedy of Man. I know I wrote about this one not too terribly long ago, but I had to re-watch it. A truly strange (but oddly captivating) animation that's just incredibly, incredibly unique - I doubt I will see its like, a time-traveling and philosophizing Adam torn between the rational and scientific Satan and a unknown and uncaring God, anywhere else. I wish I could find the BluRay of it, but it is on neither Amazon or eBay, nor anywhere else from what I have searched. ​

Gosh, isn't your tower by Mount Doom wealth enough? Leave some for the rest of us!

merry april fools' easter everyone

That's why I had the last three sentences of my post, . It seemed like they wanted me to sympathize with the main character, and think that the things "we" were doing made sense and were the right things to do...so that when things were turned on their head, it would be a terrible shock. Unfortunately, they failed rather spectacularly. I can only take the "we're soldiers, we have a duty to whatever and a job to do, etc." speech so many times to justify doing awful things that'll predictably go totally wrong before I think the main character is a complete moron. It doesn't help that the things they're saying to do are pretty obviously terrible even without hindsight!

I quit about the time my character told me there was no other choice besides to shoot a bunch of fatally poisonous explosives straight into a group of refugees, even though I could very clearly tell that that was going to happen. I remember reading later that one of the devs of the game said that the player does have a choice - to quit the game. They have zero choice throughout the actual game, mind you, but apparently the dev wanted you to exercise your ability to quit playing...which is exactly what I did, funnily enough - unfortunately, it was for the wrong reasons. If they wanted me to feel regret for my actions, they did a hilariously bad job of not making the entire game feel forcibly railroaded. A game where I felt like I was actually doing what was logical and just, but ended up being horribly wrong, combined with good gameplay would've made for a fantastic game. I got neither of those things.

Aviary Attorney. First game I've ever played of this type (Ace Attorney parody). I rather liked it, though the final act was very underwhelming.

I found it to be a totally mediocre third person shooter with some really lame and hamfisted writing and railroading. It was clearly meant to parody and mock other games of its type, but because I basically have never played other games of its type (other bad modern shooters like Call of Duty, or so I presume), I thought it was quite boring and ridiculous. You may enjoy it more if you play a lot of games in the genre to begin with, though, and want something that mocks it and points out how ridiculous and insane it can be. So I would not recommend it to anybody who does not typically enjoy these types of games - it's not different enough from them in terms of gameplay to be enjoyable, and you probably won't care too much for the gimmick.

Hi, Sauron.

​

All hits with the crown of the helmet are now illegal at all times (15 yard penalty)...both for the defense and offense (although it obviously will apply more to the defense...though RBs trucking guys using their helmet is not a completely uncommon sight). We'll see how it's enforced (the previous rules were already pretty harsh, but not consistently enforced), but I'm relatively happy the change was made. Some will say some rather pejorative remarks about the matter and where the league is going, but hits with the helmet are something that should've never been in football to begin with. Hockey players are taught to always keep their head up to protect their head and spine, even if their instinct is to duck (creating stiffness in their neck and spine that leads to much worse injuries) - players will hopefully adjust their techniques...and maybe learn to freaking tackle properly (I'm looking at you, lameduck Packers secondary! Learn to wrap up instead of going for the decapitation and either missing entirely or injuring your bloody self).

You'd either have to not know what Nazi/Roman salute looked like or assume the person in question didn't to draw that comparison. It has a greater resemblance to your generic superhero fist-pump than anything else...just missing the "look up to camera/the sky" action shot.

if it's anything like the games, she should've just brutally murdered them all

Might have had something to do with why it and the quests related to it were mostly cut (although time constraints were said to have been the problem). Seemed like there was meant to be some greater conspiracy involving the various evil groups in the game, including all the different slaver movements (they're freaking everywhere!), the Twisted Rune (who were allied with the Shadow Thieves to some extent...who had slavery connections themselves), the skinners (who make some kind of reference to the Twisted Rune, IIRC), the de'Arnise Keep invasion (who Tor'Gal mentions as having been directed by someone else, someone stronger that he feared - not someone who simply paid him off like the Roenalls might've...although now that I think of it, the Roenalls were involved with the slavers, too! Further, Tor'Gal was working with Umber Hulks, who are...unusual monsters that seemed to always be in mindflayers' company...and also Glacias, who was apparently permanently dominated and helped betray de'Arnise, who was ardently anti-slaver, IIRC), and possibly the mindflayer infestation in the sewers (along with the Hidden and the Jysstev nobles...and there's a note that mentions them soon taking control of the entire..., but doesn't specify what)...who were also possibly connected to Firkraag but at the very least Tazok. Whatever it was supposed to be never fully apparated, though. (e): I'm reading elsewhere that it even goes back to Durlag's Tower, where it was said that the doppelgangers were directed by the mindflayers as well. And with that connection, suddenly you have to wonder about the Iron Throne and Sarevok who also had doppelgangers in their employ...and Tazok, who held the key to the mindflayers' secret layer. FURTHER furthermore, if Sarevok was involved with the mindflayers, suddenly we have a connection back to Firkraag again - Firkraag was seeking revenge against Gorion for unspecified actions during his Harper days, and what do you know, the first thing that happens in BG1 is that Sarevok tears Gorion to shreds. Egads, the connections are everywhere! There are even connections to Irenicus and the Githyanki (Irenicus had part of the Silver Sword...and also, the Githyanki were in the Drow City at the time you and Irenicus go into the Underdark, while the Matron Mother's daughter is also kidnapped by the mindflayers? So many connections...): https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/4030/the-great-shadows-of-amn-conspiracy/p1 Out of curiosity, I started reading about the origin of the mindflayers in the D&D cosmology. It seems like there's no concrete explanation for their origin. One explanation is that they're from the "Far Realm", an incomprehensible alien realm that's considered to be outside the normal cosmological boundaries that's home to hyperintelligent cosmological alien horrors. Another explanation is that they're a group of space and time travelers that were facing annihilation at the end of time, and so traveled back to try to make their home in the past. Whichever way you look at it, it seems as though they're essentially an alien race...and they're...secretly trying to seize control? So it's basically an X-Files-esque alien invasion, I guess. Huh. Goes well with the slavery elements.

Let's see if I can remember them all...one behind the painting in the inn at the Gates district, the Twisted Rune encounter in the random door in the Bridge district that I think has a Lich (or something equivalent to one), the Docks house with Kangaxx in it, the Bridge house with a Kangaxx guardian in it, the Sewers Kangaxx guardian...I think there's also a couple of spots that a Lich can spawn if you're high level enough, like the Temple of Amaunator (where you fight the Shade Lord) and the undead section of the Cult of the Unseeing Eye, too.

didn't Wolfowitz say he was voting for Hillary

If he's like most other Republicans, I imagine he's somewhere between quietly and loudly for it.