majestic

No, that was Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. While I did not like ToEE, it was never that bad. The only time my computer got infected was back in the ancient DOS times from a shareware collection on CD from a trade show I went to. That was in '93 or so. Well, techically untrue, I once installed a remote control tool with trojan capabilities to test it out. Should probably say the only unintentional infection with malicious software.

Ah, yes, performance leaks and performance expectations are wonderful things. AMD expected RDNA3 to outperform Ada Lovelace. The rumor mill expected a 40% IPC increase with Zen 5. Leaks said Intel is going to up the core count on the 14th gen i5s. Intel thought Meteor Lake would be able to outperform Raptor Lake. There were leaks once about how Battlemage was going to have 512MB of L2 cache. Karzak once expected that Temple of Elemental Evil is going to make people forget about Baldur's Gate 2. You can guess thrice which one of those turned out to be true.

Got a new credit card as the old one expires next month. Spent like half an hour updating various subscriptions and online shops. #firstworldproblems

Watched most of the first episode of Disney's new Star Wars outing "The Acolyte", and I already regret it. I wish I could stop doing this, but alas... So far it is just like Ahsoka insfoar as it is not so much offensive and stupid as it is boring, wooden and flat. It therefor, just like the aforementioned Ahsoka, stands in stark contrast to The Mandalorian, where the craftsmanship of the series is often good (even if production values scream tight budget at you, but that is a problem every Disney Star Wars has), but many episodes are just so utterly dumb that one cannot but wonder if a half-witted fanboy was involved in writing the scripts. Every camera angle in this episode was so flat it gives credence to the Flat Earth conspiracy theory. Everything is drab, boring and uncinematic. Every dialogue is set up as shot/reverse shot, and the actors were all wooden, talking in this strange monotone that Disney seems to think Jedi should talk in. Watchers are apparently review bombing this based on it having a diverse cast, as if the series has no other problems it deserves to be review bombed for. They hired Carrie-Anne Moss as a guest actor for the first episode, where she's doing her best Matrix martial arts fight impression in the cold opening. I like Carrie-Anne Moss as an actress, but I facepalmed throughout her fight. Since this happens in the first two or three minutes of the series it is not much of a spoiler, but I'll mark it anyway: Verdict: Unless you're like me, just stay clear of this. While it wasn't a dumpster fire in the same way The Mandalorian season three or Rings of Power was, it just is not worth your time, and I am fairly confident the rest of the series will not change that.

So, just in case you read the half-finished post, it is now fully finished. I just got dumberer from watching the episode. I need to lie down. Good night.

You are all dead to me now. Fie. Shoo. I am also aware that I said the exact same thing when @Amentep posted about watching Discovery and not hating it way back when it happened. A special thanks goes to @Zoraptor whose reminder turned my evening from being purely occupied by grinding in Diablo 4 to sharing my brain space and time with the beginning of Discovery Season five. Disclaimer: I will be watching this at 2.25x replay speed, which worked wonders when I wrote my Sailor Moon Cosmos recap. Yum Yum. The Red Directive Yes, that is actually the episode name. Yikes. I haven't even begun to watch, but the title hangs there, ominous in its wording. You know, that situation in a horror film where the protagonist is clearly aware that they are making a mistake by walking down an aisle, or entering a door, or leaving the safety of their room, but they are doing it anyway? Yes, this is exactly like that. At least this is going to be the final season of this travesty of a show that should have never been made. With the possible exceptions of the Michelle Yeoh focused mirror universe episodes, which were just absolutely delightful. Without any further ado, let us begin. Great, the forum just posted my post due to a software update, while it is not finished. At least it is not gone. Freaking forum software.

Is that out already? Oh no...

They fixed DX9 a while ago, it is now supported natively in the drivers and no longer emulated. GN retested Arc every now and then.

Finally managed to find some time to finish the first season of Invincible, which I started way back when it came out at the recommendation of a friend. Except for the plot twist of the first episode, the first three episodes of the series were so dreadfully boring that I put off watching the rest of the season for a while. The following episodes got a lot better, but there are some problems that ended up gnawing at my brain while watching. Well, I've watched worse. On the other hand, I've also watched much better series. Onwards to season two then.

Well, here's to hoping Intel's Battlemage can deliver better compatibility at a decent price. The A770 cards wouldn't be half bad as alternative to nVidia's and AMD's very underwhelming cards at that price range, if it would be less of a dice roll with fresh game releases.

Yeah, they're making more but shorter videos while covering Computex this year.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/05/30/trump-guilty-crime-felony-what-happens-next.html So sad, this injustice in this country and this witch hunt. Doing my best Beavis and Butthead laugh impression right now. He hehe he.

https://www.iclarified.com/93724/icq-to-shut-down-on-june-26-after-28-years Well, there goes a part of 'net history.

I would suggest Kill la Kill.

Blizzard are the true kings of never learning from past mistakes. Diablo 4 is transitioning to the new season, it says. Patch it as soon as possible, it says. Yes, oops, something went wrong. Well, at least 1.32MB/s is better than the 3.6KB/s from last season's patch, I guess. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Game's not even that good. Or actually good.

I have to admit I am impressed by the sheer amount of work that went into the three minute presentation of Ireland's entry. Love or hate the song (one can certainly do both at the same time!), the perfomance is mesmerizing.

Currently watching the ESC 2024 semi final #1. This one is more entertaining than the past five combined. And by entertaining I mean the acts are a blast to watch. Not so much a blast to listen to, though.

@Guard Dog checked in a longer while back and talked about some serious health issues. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd really want it just him being happy and busy and all that jazz, but... you know. Never been an optimist.

Something like a LG UltraGear OLED 27GS95QE-B, but probably not before summer, unless the problem's not the cable and the screen dies before that.

My screen randomly decided to go "No Signal" on my ass. Tried replugging the cable, tried all three display ports on my GPU, tried the onboard display port - all to no avail. Either the cable died, or the display port on my screen. Switched back to HDMI. Not much of a loss going from 144hz to 120hz anyway. Going to try the cable at work, if that is not the culprit, I guess it is time to buy a new screen. This ancient AOC screen with a TN panel is, uhm, well... let's just say it wasn't state of the art when I got it a long ways back, and it certainly did not age like fine wine.

You're welcome. To be fair to this pile of garbage, which is really hard, that sort of creepy goes back to the olden days of pre-modern anime. This crap is a rather direct, unchanged adaptation from the source material. Actually, Sailor Moon Cosmos is so close to the source material that the best fan sub that is currently available was - supposedly - not made with the film, but rather with the one of the manga editions, and then just timed (and later retimed) with the film. If nothing else that makes the film a wonderful case study for what happens when you do not adapt source material, but transfer it 1:1 to the screen. It is a right mess. It was the music of the intro that caused the reaction more than anything that happened in the film up to that point. Why does this horrible version of Moonlight Densetsu even exist? There are two far superior versions of the old anime to chose from. No, no. This is what they used in the anime to flesh out the villains, actually. In this film and the manga, which is only explained later, and it was my mistake to assume that the original anime took that story bit from the manga (in hindsight, yes, that was pretty dumb, huh?), the Sailor Animamates (i.e. Iron Mouse, Aluminum Siren, Lead Crow, Tin Nyanko and Heavy Metal Papillon) aren't actually mind controlled Sailor Senshi. They're just mercenaries and traitors who joined Galaxia for the promise of power and have been granted the powers of actual Senshi through the bracelets they wear. Phi, Chi, Lethe and Mnemosyne are real Sailor Senshi who joined Galaxia. Just not through mind control or force, but because they wanted to. I hate Ami x Makoto more than Rei x Minako for the simple fact that it seems to be a fandumb favorite, constructed out of two freaking scenes of the original anime. One where Ami helps Makoto with studying for their high school exams and Makoto's rape episode from SuperS where Ami dances with her. You know, the episode where she waits ages for Tigereye (a man) to come back. That is the basis for this pairing, by far and large. Watch out, femoids of the world, the incels of the world will turn you into lesbians if you ever dance with a fellow femoid. That is not to say that I don't despise Rei x Minako for the terrible framing in the manga, and thus, the film, I just loathe it less than Ami x Makoto. These scenes with Minako in Crystal/the manga are pretty bad - the girls all have massively reduced character development due to the breakneck pacing of the chapters, and Minako being utterly boy-happy is one of the few things that make up her somewhat quirkier personality (as opposed to her earlier, much more serious version). Hinting at her hitting it off with Rei diminishes what little character development she gets in this. Arguably even worse with Makoto whose only wish is to be accepted as a normal girl in a world that shuns her for non-conformity (taller than normal girls, stronger than normal girls, wavy instead of straight hair). Fantasy-shipping her off with Ami is just a giant middle finger to everything she represents and has to go through. F*ck you, fandumb. Huh, look at me getting angry, I guess I am not completely dead inside from all of this yet. Go me! I don't think they are in there enough to matter. Just like everything else, they're an afterthought thrown in to fill chapters, even though they're more fleshed out than most of the villains. Ah, the framing of the post-credit scene was a little unfair on my part, but I needed to strike back at the film. This just looks like what it looks like and isn't really what it looks like. It is just Mamoru kissing Usagi in bed after waking up, but the implication still lingers. I mean, Usagi can't get pregnant without the intercourse part, but to be honest, the stylized sex scene from season two was a lot worse. I mean, scenes like that in the first three seasons is what makes this film the best out of the bunch. The worst thing that happens with the regular cast is that creepy Hotaru stuff and Seiya kissing Usagi without consent. It says a lot of the series and films - and the manga - that this is counting as the least terrible entry, huh?

The End of Sailor Moon: Sailor Moon Cosmos. I have no words for this. This travesty of a film is almost three hours long, and in order to save my sanity, I shall turn the playback to 2.0 speed. What in the everblazing infernos of Hell is that? This post might have less screenshots than usual since it will be much harder to capture stuff at 2 times the regular playback speed. After a brief opening scene, the intro begins, and thankfully it is over really, really quickly. However, I felt the need to punish myself and go look for it on YouTube, because it needs to be seen to be believed. Well, and heard. Heard too. Three minutes into the movie and I already want to kill myself. Okay, so this begins with Usagi waking up, then leaving the house. Chibi-Usa and Hotaru are holding hands and are gossiping, and Usagi complains about them being awfully close, to which Hotaru replies that she and Mamoru are also holding hands like that. Score one for the creepy romances. I mean if Chibi-Usa would have said that, it could have been her just teasing Usagi. Hotaru has no reason to tease Usagi. And, after not even five minutes, I already wish there would be actual brain bleach. Instead I will forever be stuck with the image of Hotaru and Chibi-Usa holding hands with Hotaru comparing it to Usagi and Mamoru. "The pain will only be passing. You should survive the process." -- Joneleth Irenicus Well, to be honest, Hotaru is a better choice than Pegasus the Pedophile Alicorn, and it is only natural after Hotaru's experiments with the crystal butt plug in season three, but why is this scene even there? We switch to everyone meeting at school, and by that I mean everyone. Haruka and Michiru are there, for no particular reason, and Setsuna is the school nurse. Sure, why not. Wait, wasn't she studying physics back in season three? Well, whatever. I already forgot the actual plot of the season from the manga, instead of Mamoru being hit by Galaxia's attack on the plane, this one happens right in front of Usagi's eyes. With Mamoru dead, Usagi falls into a catatonic stupor that nobody seems to notice. She tells everyone Mamoru arrived safely in the US, and everyone is just buying it. Chibi-Usa goes home, making the romance scene even dumber than it already was, and Minako sort of notices that Usagi is acting weird, but nothing comes of it. Oh. And now I have something to tortue @Bartimaeus with. Behold Sailor Moon Cosmos' version of Sailor Iron Mouse. She's at a Three Lights concert like this, and no one cares. Sure, it's Japan, but seriously, what? Okay, so we get the full girls transformation sequence, then Uranus and Neptune show up, and Sailor Star Healer just obliterates Sailor Iron Mouse. One shot kill. Boom. No Chopin for you this time, Mouse. Bye! Good use of a villain. Well, villain. Mind dominated pawn, as it were, but who cares about makin such minutiae clear to the audience. Usagi remembers Mamoru being obliterated, but then just forgets. Can I have the original series back please? Please? Chibi Chibi shows up, while Seiya is a creep and stalks Usagi. Why is everyone who is interested in Usagi a creepy stalker? Look at that, Haruka's boob job from Eternal went away, but she suddenly dresses like a teenage girl. Usagi is on the school roof and writing a letter to Mamoru, and I was staring at it for a bit and went "man, her writing is really terrible", and then the Three Lights show up. Yaten looks at the letter and tells Usagi that her handwriting sucks. Well, I laughed. A little. Haruka shows up and tries to defend Usagi. She's wearing the same school uniform. Hello, hey, uhm, hey writers. Anyone, hello? Two seasons ago, these characters were university students, why are they at Usagi's High School now? They all go to a concert, some stuff of no consequence happens, then Seiya finds Usagi on another rooftop, purely by coincidence. Sailor Aluminum Siren shows up and obliterates Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury. Poof. In return, Aluminum Siren gets oblibterated by Fighter's Star Gentle Uterus. 30 minutes down, two hours and ten minutes left. Please, release me from my pain. Can I make this go faster and still read the subtitles? Let's try 2.25x playback speed. Uranus b*tch-slapping Venus. Because why the hell not? Hey look, I need to apologize to the writers of Sailor Stars. Haruka carrying the stupid ball and being all negative towards the Three Lights seems to be in the manga too. She threatens the three for absolutely no reason other than that they were on the roof too and helped with dealing with Aluminum Siren. Great. If nothing else, this is going to make me love Sailor Stars more than I already do. Some plot stuff happens in fast-forward, Usagi forgets that Makoto and Ami died, nobody gives a flying fart about that, and she takes off to talk to friends of Mamoru to see if he contacted them. Which obivously they did not. Then there is this scene. Hush little Rei, we are alone on the roof. Just relax. Also, please do not mind that I am coming from volleyball practice and am probably all sweaty and stuff. Quick question to anyone who has read up until here, tell me, do Japanese students really have access to the school's roof like that? Seems to me that in a land where suicide is as prevalent as in Japan, it might not be the best idea to present students with such an easy way to plunge to their deaths. Yes, that is actually what I am wondering about while Minako and Rei have their moment. Half a second later Minako is yapping about them finding boyfriends. Half a second later, we are back to the, uhm, implied lesbian shenanigans. We don't need boys, they say. Oh brain bleach, where art thou? Lead Crow shows up at Rei's temple and it is revealed that Rei's crows are actually Sailor Phobos and Sailor Deimos. They are from Lead Crow's home planet. How does that make sense? It does not. Does that matter? No! Nothing matters in this pile of garbage. Lead Crow kills Phobos and Deimos, then fights Venus and Mars until Sailor Moon shows up and Lead Crow is annihilated by Sailor Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. Must be some therapy, eh? You know, writers of this pile of garbage, you might want to think about adapting something in a way that makes sense. This is basically just stringing animated manga chapters together in a film and calling it a day. If that would work for a film, it would not have been released as a manga, but a freaking film script. Star Trek: Into Derpness is less disjointed than this. Galactica shows up and kills Venus and Mars in front of Sailor Moon. Well, at least that convinces Haruka to drop the idiot ball. Small steps. Meow. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto return to their castles (for anyone who forgot about that, they're all princesses with castles) to technobabble some protective shield around the Solar System. You know, given that you have had a whole bunch of alien and interdimensional incursions in the past, oh, four years, wouldn't that shield have been useful all along? Why is it not turned on? Galactica kills Pluto in half a second. Hotaru teleports away (they can all teleport when necessary but they never teleport themselves out of harm's way, the writing of this is so bad), then Seiya and company just storm into Usagi's room through her window because that's how and where all the creeps come into her home, and Chibi Chibi transforms and the Starlight's princess shows up. That was like in one of the last episodes of the original anime before the final plot starts, and we are at roughly an hour (of 2:40) into the film. No wonder the ending of the last season had pacing issues. Tin Nyanko is trying to kill Luna, Artemis and Diana in their human forms. The cats survive the attack because reasons (no animals were harmed in the production of this film, except Iron Mouse, Lead Crow and, eh, never mind), there's some more dumb exposition from the Starlight's Princess, and she's basically drooling over Usagi, the mostest powerfulest of all the most powerful Sailor Senshi. Seiya kisses Usagi. I mean, she just kisses her, unbidden. Why is everyone in this series assaulting Usagi all the time? Mamoru when she was drunk and sleeping, Haruka in season three, now Seiya. For crying out loud. 1:08 into the film, and Galaxia meets Usagi and proceeds to obliterate Tokyo. So, basically, I am looking forward to what, an hour and twenty minutes of fighting Galaxia? Really? Is that a joke? Usagi had a vision of all her friends being dead. Seriously? What the hell, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn had an off-screen death? Are you kidding me, film? Or maybe not. You could also just have Chibi Chibi deus ex machina away all the destruction. Yes, that just happened. This looks so bad it hurts staring at it. Galaxia blows the planet up because it is trash - can't disagree with that assessment, just look at how awful that CGI is. Tin Nyanko shows up to apologize for failing, and Galaxia Dath Vaders her arse. Is it just me or is her end in the original series much better? Having her black and white conflict before being destroyed. Exposition dump explains that stars are forged in the Galaxy Cauldron at the center of the galaxy. Usagi resolves to find Galaxia and dispense justice. We all know murder death kill Usagi's justice. First half over. Yay! Just how much of this insane manure riddled plot did the writers of the original anime drop? The next half opens with Usagi leaving home and her mother ominously saying that it feels like she is never going to return. When Seiya saw Sailor Moon's rad wings, she wanted to have wings too. Wings! For everyone! Must have been a Halloween costume sale somewhere. They're off to check what happend to Uranus and the others, and Pluto and Saturn get a flashback death. Take that Neptune and Uranus, you don't deserve nothing. Nothing. Usagi resolves to go to Saggitarius Zero Star, so basically the center of the galaxy. She's had it with Galaxia. Roll opening two. Why? Just why? Uhm, a giant CGI door opens and we meet someone new. Hello, I am Sailor Lethe, and your tour guide through a not quite accurate inspiration from Greek mythology. A ferryman in the middle of a desert. Sure. It's okay. Usagi, just keep one thing in mind: Usagi gets separated from everyone else, some weird girl shows up and finally kills Artemis, Luna and Diana. They even seem to disappear in the future of Chibi-Usa and Neo-Queen Serenity, just to drive home how dire the situation really is. Something's changing the past. Oh my. Chibi-Usa had it with people changing her life, and transforms, in come the Sailor Quartet, you know, the circus girls from the season with the pedophile horse guy. Sailor Mnemosyne shows up and talks to Lethe. Exposition dump how Galaxia destroyed their homes and they joined her. The exposition explains that they're twins, the imagery of the film implies they're not just really good friends, but really, really good friends, if you catch my drift. They let everyone go. Okay. Sisters, close friends, lo... erm. Yeah. Because this crap just can't stop having creepy scenes, and someone really seems to like incest. Naoko, is that you? Sailor Phi, who is Galaxia's gardener (no, really) shows up with Sailor Chi (uhm, also Sailor Galaxia's gardner) in tow. They can't have that betrayal and kill Lethe and Mnemosyne, and then the Starlights. Behold: Chaos. Well, we get a look at Lord Chaos, Galaxia's master, who looks like generic evil being #25 from stockcgivillainimages.com. Moon, Chibi Chibi and Kakyuu (the Starlight's princess) walk into a graveyard. They are crucified and greeted by, well, I can't even type it. I just need to show you. I am so glad to be done with this soon. Chibi Moon shows up and saves the day by just killing Sailor HEAVY METAL PAPILLON. I'd sign a contract with Galaxia. Well, they talk about how Chibi Chibi could be Chibi-Usa's daughter. You know, that would be less dumb than what Chibi Chibi really is (Sailor Cosmos, Sailor Moon's final form from the distant future). Phi and Chi show up and kill Kakyuu, Kakyuu and Sailor Moon share some last words, then Moon kills Chi. For some inane reason shadow copies of the Sailor Senshi show up to fight Sailor Moon. Not sure If I missed Phi dying in the fast forward action or if she just died off screen, but who gives a damn. Mamoru shows up and orders the Senshi to kill Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon Shinjis it out by standing there. Chibi-Usa is the only one with half a brain and realizes that these are just fake shadow copies made by Galaxia, but it's not like Sailor Moon listens to her. Then she has a change of heart, gets a power up and just obliterates everyone. She chases Mamoru to Galaxia who proceeds to kiss her. Wow, how original, that's what BRACK RADY did in this idiotic series three seasons ago. Galaxia gives some sob story about her cruel past (including an allusion to being raped) and then runs off to the Cauldron and Sailor Moon chases her. Galaxia throws everyone's crystals into the Cauldron, effectively killing them for real this time. Well, sort of. Maybe. Galaxia goes full level Bond villain and tells Sailor Moon her entire plan, Sailor Moon and Chaos will destroy each other and she will rule as the strongest Senshi left. With Mamoru gone, Chibi-Usa disappears before Chaos shows up and attacks Galaxia. Good thing no one saw that coming, but Sailor Moon saves her. Chaos' eyes are now more of a purple hue. Why? Who knows. Who cares. Chaos also goes full Bond villain, and he tells Sailor Moon that he was behind all the evils she faced in the past. Sailor Moon talks to Galaxia. There's some exposition about life and death, the fate of the galaxy, and peace meaning that the galaxy must die (the source of everything destroyed, as it invariably creates light and dark, and thus, conflict). This philosophical part isn't half bad. It's half-baked and comes out of nowhere, but it's not terrible. Galaxia randomly kills herself because why not kill yourself after your miniature-redemption. Sailor Moon is not into the whole peace through death thingy. Hands up, who saw that coming? Me neither. Blah, blah, blah, something, blah. Sailor Moon destroyed Chaos with OUR POWER COMBINED and turned into CAPTAIN PLANET, or something. Lambda power! Well, maybe not into Captain Planet, but Sailor Moon just remerged Chaos with the Cauldron and herself, basically pushing the reset button, and everyone starts being reincarnated. Sailor Cosmos reveals herself as, well, Sailor Cosmos to the Quartet, the only ones who are still around. Things get really surreal now, as Usagi wakes up wearing a night gown, with Mamoru and everyone else showing up, clad also in... nightgowns. Well, it beats Haruka's teenage girl getup from earlier, so that's something, I guess. Can you guys please make up your mind? Oh, no. I am sailing, I am sailing, home again, 'cross the sea... yes please more of this ship. Yay. Ami x Makoto confirmed?!!? Guardian Cosmos shows up (why not make up characters at the eleventh hour, that is always a great choice) and sends everyone home. Credits roll, and I feel free. Since I am watching on 2.27x the regular speed, I feel like I can just let them run, only to discover, much to my dismay, that there is a post credit scene! IT BURNS MY PRECIOUS. IT BURNS. NASTY. NASTY. OF ELVEN MAKE. IT BURNS. I am sorry, I can't come up with a caption for this. Mamoru proposes to Usagi. Marriage. Usagi feels a new star born inside her. Yay! It is FINALLY over. I AM FREE OF THIS. FOREVER FREE. If Toei ever decides to milk the franchise for more money, I hope nobody tells me. One last word, out of everything Sailor Crystal, this was the least terrible entry. Not that it was a good film, mind you, but it was the better than Eternal and the first three seasons. You know, in the way that lung cancer is better than pancreatic or stomach cancer, because it will kill you slower and you have more time left.

Yep, the performance of the board can easily be called arse. Maybe even from the arse, as it were. If you are less into fecal humor, one could say it blows or sucks. Goats. Hard.