majestic

That was pretty much because Shady had Sisko as avatar at the time. Back in the days of yore when we shared pictures of ourselves on the forums (there was always some variation of a 'post your ugly mug' thread) I was always a little weirded out when people did not look like their avatars. Because that is clearly the reasonable thing to expect, that forum posters look like their chosen profile picture (bonus points on forums without custom avatars, like the old BIS board).

Yesterday, Kurz released a transcript of a phone call he had with Schmid two weeks after the police raids on the ÖVP's party headquarter. A call Kurz apparently recorded, where he asked Schmid what is going on and repeatedly states how he does not even know what the case is they are trying to make against him, and that he never, really never ordered anything untoward (he all but says pinky swear), and Schmid agrees. They both try to cast blame on their press agents and consulters. Apparently Kurz thinks this proves his innocence, because if he was the mastermind behind illegal financing of manipulated polls, he would not have to ask these questions, right? Right. Criminals of the world, take heed, this is the best line of defense ever. Can't wait for copycats trying to say that they cannot possibly have robbed the jewelry store even when caught with the jewelry because they called their mother and asked about the theft later.

Looks like the lettuce won! Well done, lettuce! Link-repost (probably):

Yes, but only one scene.

Well, that was one hell of an ending, and the absolutely stupidest... dumbest... whatever that was. The Boys already streched credulity by Homelander not just murdering everyone, but this is a damned sight dumberer, me thinking. Me like good things. Me like smash. Me will crush you, crush you to goo. Episode spent half its runtime on trying to inject drama into a foregone conclusion but forgetting the most important part about it: it only works if we have characters we like. Yes, I also already knew that Tyrion is going to survive the Battle of Blackwater, but the way there was at least entertaining. It ended up setting an impossible to pass bar within the series that the showrunners nevertheless tried to pass and invariably failed, but it was a fine episode. This? Seriously, nope.

Lord Christ, please free me from this mortal coil, this episode of House of the Dragon is so incredibly painful, and I am only through fifteen of its sixty minutes. Please just make it stop. Please.

Well... Jesus F*cking H. Christ.

What a glorious day this was. Looks like a key player of our former and 'somewhat' corrupt government has turned and made some sweeping statements during fifteen days of questioning in exchange for potentially becoming a crown witness (i.e. reduces sentences if their testimony turns out useful and sheds new light on complex cases). Hopefully this is the breakthrough that will cleanse our political landscape of a whole lot of filth. I am under no real illusions that many of them will go where they belong, namely jail, but at least there is a good chance they will be removed from any official posts now. I particularily want our President of the National Council gone. As president of the national council, it is his right and duty to preside over inquiry boards appointed by the national council. There currently is one of those working on the cases of corruption in our People's Party (ÖVP). Fun fact, the president of the board of inquiry and president of our national council, who is supposed to conduct the investigative work of the board on the topic of corruption in the ÖVP, is actually a member of... yes, right, the ÖVP. Because why not. I am certain there is no conflict of interest here. This is the sort of thing that would not be legal in any real nation on the planet. I mean, not even Trump could make that up. Thomas Schmid apparently decided to cooperate with the authorities after being asked by Kurz (our former chancellor) to basically fall on a sword for him. Kurz told him that he should take all the blame and insist that Kurz was not invovled in any illegal activity and basically forced him to resign a while back. See, this is the sort of thing you get for not learning from history. A huge number of Thomas Schmid's messages were uncovered on a backup, and the attorneys of the WKStA have been pouring over them for a while. In one of them he called himself Sebastian Kurz's praetorian guard. Kurz should have seen that one coming, the preatorian guards were rather infamous for making Emperors, but also very readily deposing of them. Also, to quote from the article: Sounds about right, huh? Guy must be right up Thiel's alley.

Federal Banana Republic of Austria The article quotes the press conferences wrong, for some reason. They really did say nothing left to find. Which implies something different than the translated "nothing will be found", of course. Anyway, there are no English links to the case brought forth by Die Tagespresse, but apparently I was wrong as the case was not dismissed (it was actually accepted), but Die Tagespresse chose to withdraw the action.

Not really on topic, but we recently had our own version of The Onion sue a politician of one of our ruling parties over lost business and unfair competition due to him saying things so far out of touch with reality that there is no way for them to to keep up. Not unexpectedly, the case was summarily dismissed, but it made for funny (funny in the sense of 'neigbour rings your doorbell at 3 am to tell you to hold his salt for a bit because the fishes in the aquarium are after it' funny, not 'ha ha' funny, because they were right) headlines. One of the things they said, publicy and at an official press conference no less, was that the state attorneys need not bother to send the police to raid their party's headquarter, because, to quote, "there is nothing left to find", a day or two before said raid happened. Oh how I wish I would be making this up. Alas. Funny thing though, the police really did not find anything of note. Makes one wonder why, does it not?

Indeed. With any weapon you can hold before Use Any Item. Thieves can use staves, therefore they can backstab with the Staff of Ram, which yes, is the weapon giving one most damage in a single backstab. Does not need a weapon you can stab with, just needs to be on the thief's weapon list. .p edit: Specifically, the weapon needs the 'usable by thieves' flag to be able to backstab, since Carsomyr is a Paladin only two handed sword, it does not work. Neither does Staff of the Magi because its use is limited to mages, even though staves can usually be used to backstab.

I was on board with my dream where you looked like Avery Brooks and were a meth dealer, but sect leader is a little too far. I'm out.

That is one part, the other is the idea of Carsomyr in the hands of a single class thief, desperately trying to hit for the dispel effect while Irenicus wipes the floor with the party at the Tree of Life (or the 'buggy' improved Bhaalspawns from Ascension). Thieves can't even backstab with it (unless the EE messed up something fierce). it's like, dead weight, except for that magic resistance. I know stuffing Carsomyr in the hands of some character with UAI was a fairly popular thing to do back in the days of yore when Throne of Bhaal was new, but it did not make sense back then, and it still does not now. Even if we are talking about a Fighter/Thief, one is much better served by dual wielding Foebane and the Scarlet Ninja-To (which, outside of cheesing a Kensai base and using consumables is actually a really nice application of Use Any Item), but at least you could conceivably do something useful with it.

Never mind.

Quoted for truth, and true for much of the entertainment industry too, and it includes video game developers and artists. Not that long ago there was an article about Blizzard paying their teams so little (note: for they area the company resides in, and compared to their profits, not in absolute numbers) that they basically had to share appartments because they could otherwise not afford them, and we're talking about an industry giant that sees insane revenue from existing IPs that barely any other company on the planet can claim to have, and they can get away with it because they are Blizzard, and people topple over each other to work for them. It really is a disgrace, but exists in all sort of industries. When one looks at a certain major supermarket player here, for instance, one would find a corporation that could raise each of their employee's annual income by 10,000$ (which would amount to a 30 to 40% increase for cashiers) and cut sales prices by 10%, and would still be left with a nine figure profit per year after any and all investments they deemed necessary for expansion. They do not, of course, because they do not have to. There are only two major companies who split the non-discount market amongst themselves, and as a result our grocery prices are roughly 30 to 50% higher than in comparable areas in the European Union (particularily compared to Germany). It is pointed out regularily by employee and labour interest groups, but nothing really changes, and any and all inquiries into their market position come back with 'no evidence for price gouging or rigging can be found', which is also true for gas stations, who all seem to miraculously have the same prices in our little corner of the world. Granted, one will not find evidence of price-rigging when prices are set automatically by machine learning algorithms based on real time telemetry. There is no need to rig a price, or talk to the competition. That just happens automatically. That said, and in light of the posts by the usual clowns here, I want to reiterate that I do not have any issue with her demanding better pay for VAs, but simply the way she expresses herself: spur of the moment videos or not, that is just not any way one talks about her colleagues, particularily not when they are Jennifer Hale, a high profile industry veteran who is still part of SAG-AFTRA and in the past has taken the side of smaller VAs.

For the record, I do not really disagree with her take that she's most likely worth more than the offer she got (unless Bayonetta's lines in the game are doable in a single recording session), and that the offer may as well have been an intentional insult to make her quit or get good value out of her in an exploitative manner. It is all the rest of what she says that smells like hurt ivory tower ego much more than glorious champion of exploited labour.

You really need to get out of California at some point in your life. Five second google, from https://www.nurses.co.uk/ Again with the average, not the median, but what can you do. For the record, our nurse average monthly income before taxes is roughly 2000€, there are some better paid outliers, but in general they're not paid all that well, and certainly not anywhere close to six figures. It was her who brought up nurses in particular, which was my point. She feels badly treated and the offer was insulting to her, that is fine. Putting herself in the same position as a nurse waiting in line at a food bank because runaway energy prices and inflation killed their income after turning down a relatively quick 4000$ contract? Nope. Average income for voice actors isn't all that great, by the way. US union rates for audiobook narrators, for instance, are in the ballpark of 250$ per completed hour (and maybe optional royalties per sale). That is probably a lot less than top-shelf non-union narrators make, of course, but it is a decent ballpark. For what it is worth, I think Jennifer Hale is still a member of SAG-AFTRA, so she charges union rates too. Month? How much dialogue does Bayonetta have in the new game, as much as the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire has by now?

Caveat: Most of those were made before 2.0, and as you already noticed, a few things changed. Playful Darkness never before had an issue with being afraid, Boon Companion is probably still inconsistent and wonky, now Oracle merged spellbooks no longer enjoy the CL boost that a Cleric would get. Who knows what else is going to change until such a time you up the difficulty level.

https://www.ign.com/articles/bayonetta-voice-actor-hellena-taylor-says-she-didnt-reprise-the-role-in-bayonetta-3-as-she-was-only-offered-4000 Above quote from the IGN article, taken from a video of hers, apparently. Cannot afford to run a car right now, is afraid that she might end up on the street, but does not take a 4000$ contract and whatever she may or may not make from promotions, i.e. the later complained about possibility that Jennifer Hale could strut around pretending to be Bayonetta. Sounds legit. Even if she would spend a month in the voice booth and have no time to voice something else (now, my experience is limited, but something tells me this is not the case). Time for some google-fu. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/july2022 Sadly that's average income, not median, which would be a better figure to compare. She really is a right champion of the little people, is she not? Yeah, something tells me the 'new girl' doing the Bayonetta voice acting does not need to sign Bayonetta merch and most certainly does not need to pretend to be Bayonetta. Now for the conclusion, at a first glance, 4000$ for a somewhat iconic voice role for a 450m$ franchise does sound insulting. On the other hand, we're talking about the English dub of a Japanese game, and one where the second entry was considered a financial failure which was actually cancelled and only released because Nintendo picked it up for its ill-fated Wii U. It did have a stronger Switch re-release, but that came bundled with the original Bayonetta. Between writing directly to Hideki Kamiya, which he probably appreciated very much, Japanese (corporate) culture being what it is, the jabs at Jennifer Hale and the woe is me call to boycott the game, I shall be honest: this does not a good case make. Especially for a woman who has a handful of voice acting and acting credits to her name, and let us face it, at the end of the day, she is Bayonetta, not Commander Shepard. Well, but it worked, she has got the Twatteria raging for fair wages for her. Because, you know, that poor nurse at the food bank probably needs to put two in months worth of back breaking, physically and mentally exhausting work to earn that kind of money, while Ms. Taylor's work is sitting in a recording booth, wearing her pajamas and sipping on some coffee (paraphrased quote by Mark Hamill on why he does more voice acting than regular acting). Or not, because Jennifer Hale seemed to have no problems with whatever Plantium offered her. Which likely is more than what Ms. Taylor would have earned, but how much we will probably never know. I will agree that the offer is low and she probably has a point insofar as that her voice is probably worth more for Bayonetta 3, however, time and sales will tell. On the other hand, she went to an audition, got an offer, and was unhappy with it. The rest? The rest smells like hurt ego.

Yeah, if your Elrond could just move to Stranger Things and reasonably replace Steve Harrison, there's something very wrong.

Nothing a couple of Pillars of Life and Creeping Doom does not fix, now that it is easier than ever to have characters capable of casting it by that point, just let Ember pick it through Loremaster, or give Daeran Second Mystery: Nature, which is his go-to pick for Mythic 1 anyway. Having enough levels at that point should not be that big of an issue any more after the new DLC areas. Getting better summons on Ember is the road less travelled, but it works well enough if you do not need her as a ray railgun blaster. Give her all the summoning bonus feats and mythic abilities. Loremaster can add Creeping Doom and Elemental Swarm, but you'd have to fit Skill Focus into her feat list early enough. Ember does not get a whole lot of feats to play with, and you lose at least one hex too, more if you go for three levels of Loremaster. See, everything in this game is made easier by playing an Angel Oracle MC. Edit: To make things even more ridiculous, Seekers get bonus feats at almost no cost (not like you really need those revelations).

They were also supposed to do something related to Star Wars, funny how nothing of that materialized after that final Game of Thrones season.

There are a couple of main issues with Rings of Power, and Sauron and whatever 'canonical' story they think they have for season two not being in season one was not one of them. The series is, by far and large, boring. This is the largest issue, because it gives the viewer plenty of time to appreciate the other failings in more detail. The acting is serviceable at best, atrocious (hello Galadriel) at worst. Plot points feel like they're making me dumberer just for look at them. Me will smash you. Smash you to goo! The dialogue writing is, well, terrible, and its delivery is stilted and unnatural. So many flat shots. Costume design looks like cosplayers can do a better job of it, even when it is decent they went with the Hobbit look, not the Lord of the Rings look. The combination of 2 and 4 means poor casting and direction. Much of that is to be expected when you have a largely inexperience showrunning crew. Everyone has to start at some point, but a project of this size and budget could have done with some veterans to help out. Then there are some minor problems: The lore is not consistent even with what preciously little of it they licensed, the show directly contradicts Lord of the Ring's appendices. The ultimate prequel issue of trying to fashion drama from foregone conclusions. The elves are so unelven that I feel like apologizing to Liv Tyler for calling her a terrible choice for Arwen. Overall it just translated into something that is simply not enjoyable. The cinematography is boring, the cast was chosen for their ability to make vapid faces or gaze wistfully just beyond the camera while speaking their dialogue in a terribly stilted, unnatural and often monotone way. There are way too many plot lines in way too many locations, all at once, something that worked in Game of Thrones for a while but even there eventually became problematic.

I should have not turned that episode off so soon, because it gets even 'better' from there. Vanity projects of rich people have a way of getting the axe whenever they feel like it, and Rings of Power is most certainly not the Game of Thrones of Amazon Prime that Bezos for some reason so desperately wants to happen. Point in case, although entirely unrelated to filmmaking, we once had a billionaire invest in a local football club here. They hired a couple of good players and a new coach, everything was going well. Played good football, were leading the league with more than a decent margin, finances were fine, the works. Billionaire investor went ahead and fired the coach and installed one of his own choosing because the old one was too 'provincial' for his more sophisticated taste, and he wanted someone with an international reputation, so the club in question ended up with a known cocaine addict. They still won the championship this year, but not with the same comfortable lead they enjoyed he sacked the old coach, and while not playing nearly as entertaining football. Of course, the equivalent here would be to fire the showrunners while they enjoy high praise from both professional critics and the audience alike, but as we say here, not everything that has a limp is a comparison (it makes more sense in German ).