Bartimaeus

I believe you can just kill the Windows Update service and it will delay pending updates until the next shutdown/restart. (e): ...Until the next shutdown/restart AFTER the next shutdown/restart, that is, .

I can't imagine the merciless mocking of the Packers if they hadn't won one early on into Rodgers' career. I think the Cowboys and the 49ers are the worst match-up for the Packers, so I'm appreciative of them playing each other right off the bat. Admittedly, the Packers always find a way to beat the Cowboys in the playoffs even when it makes literally zero sense, but still. If the Cowboys win, they have to go play the Buccaneers...unless the Buccaneers miraculously lose to the Eagles, I guess. It's nice to have the #1 seed. At least it didn't end up mattering, what with the 49ers winning.

...Did she actually do that? All I remember is her slightly lowering her shirt on one of her shoulders and the guy immediately being like "yeah, please don't", . Sorry about asking for the translation, I didn't know it was going to be that intense. Hey, practice...right? Glad they got one right, though! I think this was the episode where I really fully cemented in my brain that Myao was awesome. Something about the way she was genuinely offended with the painter when he wanted to paint her and then immediately abandoned her when he came across Ran really resonated with me, for whatever reason. I was mad at that jerk for the entire episode too...and the fact that she had grown wise to his stupid tactics at the end of the episode when Ran was finally convinced somehow felt perfect. Myao might be dumb, but she's not that dumb!

Bob Saget. That came out of nowhere...as they tend to do, I suppose.

Oh boy. The following story is not a joke: I have a friend who is somewhat of an anime watcher, although less these days than she used to be. Fire Force happened to be one of her boyfriend's favorite animes of the last few years and since she's someone that also likes anime, he insisted that they watch it together. Apparently, she hadn't watched any shonen anime since she was a teen, and...it did not go over well, because she thought the entire thing was a silly and ironic joke. It was not: he took it as seriously as it was apparently intended to be. Many arguments and hurt feelings later, they ended up breaking up like a month down the road. They'd been together for over a year, . When she sent me a clip of it, I basically had the same reaction as her, which was also essentially the same as RedLetterMedia's Mike's reaction to "A Dog's Purpose": Suffice to say, I am not the target audience for Fire Force, . @majestic Feel free to explain to me the title of episode 5.

That's correct, but when you have a username as unwieldy as it is (four syllables!), you take any decent nicknames you can get while politely asking people to stop using the bad ones, . On a side-note, I took it not from the Bible, but from the titular demon/spirit in a children's book that I read...you guessed it, when I was a kid. @Hurlshot Haha, it's fine, . Whatever image you tried to link did not work - whoever visits it will be sent to some other random image instead. (e): Looks like you fixed it.

I think a big part of the problem is the specific particulars of how I write (little word usage, sentence structure, and tone stuff) changes over time, so it's like even if I still agree with the base ideas of what I wrote, it feels like someone else wrote it for me.

Lmao, I guess following it up would've been helpful, considering the discussion it spawned regarding entertainment and humor not being anywhere near universal. ...Except you did follow it up: Your follow-up was not very helpful, . P.S. Does anyone ever see some of their old posts and think their past selves must have been an alien?

I thought I remembered what @Hurlsnot was talking about, so I went a-searchin': Kind of difficult to interpret your message as being anything but anti-Sunny (and also anti-Scrubs), given you quoting Hurlshot where it's the only mentioned show, .

Sure, . Left to my own devices, I do tend to do that at the beginning of stuff...and then go and try other stuff for some reason, even if I love it. I need something or someone pushing me forward to consistently stick with something in particular. One oddity for me about Sailor Moon vs. Sailor V is that the way characters look in the Sailor Moon manga actually kind of creep me out at times. I wasn't ever going to read the Sailor Moon manga most likely anyways, but I thought it would also be a problem with Sailor V and it isn't. Sailor V is more messy and a little more simple, but for some reason, it just looks better to me. Good luck with both of those, . If I recall correctly, there is maybe one or two slightly questionable instances throughout the show - feel free to keep a counter. Can't really even "compete" with Sailor Moon in that area (which isn't bad by way of framing...but nevertheless has many instances that are between slightly and moderately questionable). Yeah, I like the outro much better - this one has no energy or personality.

Lmao, I forgot about that - I laughed so hard about that, I thought that was perfect for a semi-parody like this. That episode was instrumental in making me realize I did actually genuinely like the show even if it wasn't necessarily the highest of art, . Negative, I've read issues 1-4 (of 16). I'll get back to it, haven't really felt in the mood for anything at all lately. I keep "correcting" Tamako to Tamoko in your quotes as well, so you can just pretend I did that one too, . If you had tried to describe what that outro song sounds like to me, I probably would've said "that sounds terrible", but somehow I actually like it. The animation, on the other hand, I was getting a little motion sick from watching the running bit. So there's that, .

I thought that episode was actually very good - it started out like it was taking its trashiness to a whole new level...and then just turned around and went the complete opposite direction instead, . It was a little bit of a stretch for Ran's character to go along with everything (although I'd say it could be justified by this being a sign of her becoming better friends with Myao, and also the fact that she ate and drank at Myao's expense...), but that's probably the worst I could say about it. If Komi and Discovery are any indication, it looks like there is a mercy rule in television after all, . @Tamoko Market: Oh wow, I'm super excited to watch this one next!

Kind of feels like this applies to every month, especially since coronavirus, though...

In a lot of cases, translators go for something more creative that sounds more like something a native English speaker would actually write rather than a difficult literal translation...but in this particular case, I don't think you can really make that excuse, . It helps when nothing in particular is bothering you right off the bat - it's not like a number of other more modern shows I've tried where I immediately disliked the art style, character direction, voice direction, tone, et cetera. If there's nothing to immediately hate, that helps make watching additional episodes a lot easier, . Your premise doesn't sound too bad of a starting point...and it's pretty short at 12 episodes. Guess you'll see how it goes. That's pretty racist. ...I kept imagining some sort of monstrous David Bowie as the villain courtesy of that villain's name, but sadly, the truth is pretty far away from that, .

Canonically, I think she is considered to be dead because the ToB Pocket Plane conjures her up as your alternative universe girlfriend or something like that during one of the trials. Don't remember if Sarevok ever says anything about her in Throne of Bhaal - ToB is the least familiar part of the BG series to me, mainly because it kind of stinks...and it's at the very end of the series. BG2 doesn't have basically any room to interpret events in BG1 due to the fact that transferring a game from BG1 to BG2 was determined off of importing a character file, which...didn't contain any of your game variables, just your character and their inventory. If you happen to have Drizzt's items in your inventory at the time of importing your character to BG2, he'll remember that you killed him. If you don't...then he won't. Pretty shoddy system. I guess, if BioWare had really wanted, they could've implemented something based on whether or not you had her unique Plate of the Dark or not, but...you could've easily put in on one of your 5 other characters and thus it would not have been knowable whether you did or didn't kill her, so why bother? Still, head canon tells me she made it because why else would I give up on the Full Plate Mail +1 she's carrying?

@majestic I wrote a reply to your first post about Ran earlier, but then forum ate it and I just said I'd come back later and re-do it because I didn't save a copy. Now I'm back and wrote out replies for both of your posts, and it ate my post again...and I forgot to save my post again, and there is no draft once again. I'm throwing in the towel, so just some quick thoughts here: Title: That translation makes more sense, but the official English title is the official English title...I wasn't really sure if those titles were official, but there apparently exists an English dub, so they probably are. Myao/Usagi: They're not reaaally that alike...but there are some key similarities that make it so there are some moments where it functionally feels similar, . Tamako Market: Tamako was Sarevok's desperate and depressed (and decidedly unbubbly) girlfriend in BG1 that guarded the Temple of Bhaal where you fight him. You can convince her to not fight you if you promise to try not to kill him. Whoops. ...This has no relevancy to the show, but I can't help but think of her when you talk about this show...and seemingly that it could use some of her sadness to help balance out the bubbliness, . (e): This time I saved it, and this time it posted - of course.

Ye gods, now that you mention it, I imagine handwriting was a pretty valued skill in Japan before computers...either that, or everyone was good at it because they had to be. I'm gonna take your word for it on the rest of what you wrote re: the titles, . As I was writing out all of the episode titles after I'd finished the show, I noticed that they were, firstly, all statements, and secondly, all in the past tense, and I can't say that I can think of another show that's ever had both of those. Sailor Moon's titles were ridiculously long statements, but the past tense of Ran's makes it sound even more strange and clunky. I'm not exactly sure what they were going for there. Myao is great. The first few episodes my thoughts about her were basically "she's so retarded, I don't think I'll ever quite like her" - it then transformed into "she's so retarded, how could I not like her?", .

Yeah, Egwene was my favorite character early on...and then she basically gets treated like a perfect goddess that can do no wrong throughout the second half of the series. It works better in the books because...you know, she actually grows from the weak character she is early on so at least it feels somewhat justified, but even I started losing my patience after a certain point. Which lead to Mat becoming my favorite character instead. Post-dagger, he's just so much more silly and fun than everyone else - feels like a breath of fresh air every time you switch from someone else to him. Particularly if that someone else was...say, Elayne. Yes, I'm still on that Elayne hate train - Elayne should go straight into a flaming dumpster and never return henceforth. If there are any Elayne apologists out there, I will not hear your excuses for that trashcan of a character, . The only thing I associate with Nynaeve is braid tugging...and sniffing, and skirt smoothing. I literally don't even really remember what her character was really like except for very early on as I'm pretty sure I have PTSD from reading those phrases because of her too many times. Not that she was the only offender, but... From the sounds of it, they're already pretty much there... I'm glad you brought up the specific example of Luke in that post (which I can't help but notice that I put a big ol' "like" on when you posted it), because he's someone I've had in mind a number of times whenever this discussion comes up. Luke is a male character (in the 1970s!!!) that is weak, inexperienced, and doesn't listen to the people that he should...and has only the occasional success - just enough so that the story can continue without everyone getting killed. That's like...the ideal way to start off a young to-be hero that you plan on growing and eventually becoming powerful while still retaining their humanity. I'm a person that generally likes, relates to, and sympathizes with female protagonists much more than male protagonists, but I'd prefer a thousand Lukes over one sorry and pathetically written Rey, that much is clear.

Yeah, I certainly can't make out what Wikipedia says it is no matter how much I look at it. Seems like it'd be kind of hard to read in general to begin with before you start throwing in wrong symbols...

I can't stop laughing. How much of a better situation can you be in than being with TOM BRADY on the team that just won the Super Bowl? Report is that he got so mad at them losing to the Jets that he benched himself, said he wasn't playing anymore, the coaches started getting into it with him. Not sure yet if they effectively cut him right then and there, or if they made that decision after he tore off his clothes and threw them into the crowd, or what. And of course, Tom Brady went on to beat the Jets. (e): Dallas loses, which means Packers only need to win tonight or against the Lions next week to clinch the #1 seed, . Officially RIP Amentep's Falcons.

Yes, really...have we learned nothing from the new Star Wars sequels? You can have your characters be awesome...in ways that are grounded and feel deserved, that are pointed play-offs and contrasts to their established vulnerabilities. Why is everything constantly devolving to characters never making any mistakes, not having any weaknesses, and not ever being outmanuevered? Especially, it seems, for the poor women in these shows - having a character start off weak and inexperienced and having them learn from their costly mistakes, work through or at least mitigate the physical/emotional vulnerabilities they go through or discover about themselves, and succeed in spite of or even because of their character weaknesses is literally how you make strong and grounded characters that people like and want to root for. If your characters never make any mistakes or have any apparent weaknesses and are always awesome at everything right off the bat...please just throw them into the garbage can and start the whole writing process over again, because at that point you're creating clones of Superman but without the weakness to kryptonite or having them wear the 'S'-emblazoned costumes. For this specific character's case, she's supposed to die right off the bat, so she's not a character that needs to grow or have stated weaknesses...but she's still a pregnant woman that is literally fighting for her life against vicious assailants, and that should draw some kind of empathetic response from me, and it can't - not when it's just this ridiculous cartoon action silliness that is, through its framing, informing me that none of this is serious or matters at all. Again, different strokes for different folks, I know - other people clearly love this stuff. I just want a reason to care before they forcibly drown me in a deluge of meaningless action, I guess.

Hurlshot seems to love cartoonish/cheesy/campy action silliness, while I have a pretty noted dislike of it*, so I suppose it's no surprise that he loved it while I facepalmed and felt actual embarrassment while watching the linked video (this is supposed to be a sincere fantasy epic...right? I mean, I've read the books, so obviously I know it is!) while immediately thinking your scene sounds great in at least concept. Sigh...different strokes for different folks, I suppose, but man...everything I ever see about this show just looks so incredibly bad. *ESPECIALLY if it's not self-aware - if it's self-aware, then there's better likelihood of me at least appreciating such silliness some degree, although not likely in a emotional manner.

I like both the intro and the outro...but I can't say the same for either of the linked videos, . "Samurai" is pretty well-accepted in English, while "ronin" is not. Proof: I had no idea what a "ronin" was until you just mentioned it and subsequently Googled it to find out it means "lordless/wandering samurai". I would have certainly translated it to samurai as the closest approximation as well, especially since there's not really any functional difference in meaning for an English watcher/reader - it's obvious that she is wandering/lordless, after all. Hmm...more or less the spirit of the show, but I wouldn't be so quick to put all the blame on Myao. Yep, . I think the show gets better as it goes on, personally. Glad the first episode wasn't a total disaster for you!

My nieces' grandfather (i.e. not related to me), who was an avid and public antivaxxer, won a Herman Cain award yesterday with the help of omicron. So stupid. My nieces were very close to him for a few years, as he was arguably their primary caretaker during that time. How dumb do you have to be to not do everything you can to be able to see your grandchildren grow up? And as if these poor girls haven't had enough death in their young lives... I guess at least this one wasn't a murder or suicide.