Hurlshort

People are freaking out about the Last Supper. I mean, it looked like a bacchanal feast to me, but whatever. Everyone is so reactive. I love the complaints about keeping politics and religion out of the Olympics too. They have always been political.

Official statement from whom?

I assume they told the cast it is basically Guardians of the Galaxy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cek9mr43x1xo Great, now we have coked up sharks.

Xenonauts 2 - They still have one big update to go before the game is able to be finished, but I couldn't help myself. The game is fantastic early on. Fighting the cleaners at the start instead of jumping right into it with aliens is a nice touch. The combat is great. I've got 17 soldiers right now and they are starting to get a bit decent. I've got one sniper who leads the pack in kills. In the first downed UFO mission, he ended up with 4 kills, and the last one was with his sidearm after his rifle ran dry. He's a legend already.

It's not a requirement in High School in California (nor is the SAT test). You don't usually take it unless you've met with a recruiter for service. You only have to take the SAT's if you want to get in to certain colleges. It has become less important in the last decade, although it seems to be making a comeback. The SAT is a **** test, btw. It isn't a good indicator of the modern skills students need to succeed today. It is outdated and fails to really measure cognitive ability. It does not hold up to Bloom's taxonomy. I have no idea how the ASVAB does in that regard. I hear it is better.

Condolences KP. I'm glad you had those extra months at the end.

That will be the next big question. Whitmer or Buttigieg? It will be interesting watching Fox News try and balance the sexism, racism, and homophobia without being blatant about it.

This is a spicy development!

These policies are a way of consolidating more power and wealth through fear. It doesn't really matter if they are personally racist or intolerant, they are simply using it as a means to an end. Machiavelli would be impressed. But hey, they are also old AF, so this too shall pass.

It was pretty clear that Harebrained got better at development with each successive Shadowrun title. They were very much a rookie studio run by Pen & Paper guys. So hopefully they return to the IP soon.

No, but Black and Latino communities are often religious, and religion tends to lean conservative. The Catholic Church has a lot of sway with Latino voters.

V Rising - I was hesitant to buy it because of the combat, but I am loving the base building and crafting. It's a very fun survival game. The was you can move your castle to a new place is also pretty inspired.

It sounds like the leads from Elex have moved on and created their own studio, so hopefully we will get some more games from them. I'm not super attached to the worlds of Risen or Elex, but I thought they were solid RPG's with good storytelling and decent mechanics. I can see them using their talents on a new setting pretty easily. I thought there was already a Gothic remake in the works, but perhaps that is shelved. Gothic always seemed more like an elaborate tech demo to me.

Axel F definitely basked in the pool of reminiscence. It was good if you loved the originals, which I do. Balky was there chewing the scenery. Paul Reiser was fantastic. The weird thing was Eddie Murphy looks like 40 and the rest of the cast looks ancient. He did make a joke about that though. Don't pay attention to the plot and just enjoy the 80's cheese. Kevin Bacon was a bit of a dud, which was surprising. Also Judge Reinhold was off, but I think he was trying to channel the old character and it just didn't come off well. Billy Rosewood was like a kid in the originals, but that looked weird from a 67-year old actor. Overall it was silly fun. I'd say this was the weakest of Eddie's comeback tour, but it is still a heck of a lot better than no Eddie at all. I'd rate it like this: 1. Dolomite 2. Coming to America 2 3. SNL episode 4. Beverly Hill Cop 4 I don't know where to put Candy Cane Lane. It was fine for the holidays.

Huh, so you're saying it was true to the novel.

No recourse. Wells Fargo investigated and said it was her fault. Which it was, of course, but she had a teen checking account, and I was surprised they didn't have better protections in place. Basically they sent her a bad check, which she deposited, and then threatened her if she didn't Venmo the same amount ($400) back. The check didn't clear and she was out the amount she venmo'ed. She came to us after that fact, but she learned that lesson the hard way.

The Beekeeper - John Wick with Bees. Jason Statham is always fun. He probably had about 10 lines of dialogue in this, and that was plenty. It was exactly what I was expecting. Kind of had a Hitman feel to it in certain parts. The bad guys are cyberscammer, and my daughter recently got scammed out of $400, so that was cathartic.

A vote for Biden is a vote for his team, which are likely pulling most of the levers at this point. They are going to push the agenda of the party so they can all keep their jobs. A vote for Trump is a vote for Trump. Sure, he has a team, and they may try to influence him, but they are also just trying to hang on until they have enough stories to cut loose and write a good memoir.

Why would anyone watch the debate? These aren't new candidates. You aren't going to learn something from them. What a waste of time and energy.

It's good to know my nagging affects more than just my children. I might actually be closer to your line of thinking on the books though. I mean I read them and thought they were fun. I'm very appreciative of how they inspired a lot of young readers to tackle some pretty thick books. My wife has dyslexia and reading has always been a chore for her, but Harry Potter and The Hunger Games were accessible enough for her. But it isn't high literature. That sounds snobby, but I think I read them right after I'd finished off my Russian lit phase in my 20's (Bulgakov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy) so I earned my snob badge with some pretty dense texts. Bulgakov isn't dense, btw. He is a delight to read and I still go back to his works. Anyways, I've never felt the need to revisit the books. The movies, on the other hand, are fun to have on in the background during certain times of the year. They are whimsical. As a family, we've watched them, we've visited the theme parks, we've got the swag. It's a fun IP to immerse yourself in.

On the topic of Harry Potter, we did the Warner Bros. Studio tour this last week and it had some fun Harry Potter stuff. I got put into house Slytherine by the sorting hat, but I think that is because I was wearing a green shirt. The merch was also pretty reasonable. I ended up with a nice Leaky Cauldron beer glass. I wonder where they will go with the IP at this point? Fantastic Beasts was a bit of a letdown. Hogwarts Legacy was great. JK Rowling is persona non grata. It's in a bit of a weird place.

I find that, even if the gameplay or setting don't appeal to me, I still appreciate the writing and character development that goes into most Obsidian titles. I've seen enough of my favorite developers go under that I figure I'll do what I can to support their art.

Rest in peace, Willie Mays.

Bought a Narwhal in Starfield, my first class C ship. It is pretty fancy. I don't love the 3 deck setup, but it has a ton of reactor power. Now I need to level up my command skill so I can have a full crew. Oh and my wife Sarah died. So sad. I guess I'll just cry on Andreja's shoulder for a bit. Also Mickey Caviar is my favorite NPC.