Hurlshort

I couldn't help but think about how people reacted to Rings of Power here when watching Obi-Wan. I mean, at least Rings of Power tried to keep some mystery and suspense around the characters. This Star Wars series didn't move the needle at all.

Obi-Wan Kenobi - Whelp, that was a waste of time. Ewan McGregor is enjoyable, but he couldn't save this nothingburger. I don't know why I need to use spoilers, since nothing happened, but I will anyways. There was too much time spent on agonizingly slow emotional departures. There was some pilot that got killed on a suicidably dumb mission and everyone was all weepy. I had no idea who the guy was. There was no real buildup of his character, so why would I care? I was critical of the Book of Boba Fett because of the plot, but at least I understood that they were leaning on Western tropes, and it was fun to watch even if it wasn't very smart. Obi-Wan was boring and bad. I was really pushing to get through the finale. Anyways, I haven't decided when I'll give Andor a try. Hopefully it is better than this sad send off for Ewan McGregor.

A Clockwork Orange today would have been an 8-part series on Netflix that started out well but went off the rails in season 2. Honestly though, there is plenty of dark and edgy stuff being greenlit today.

I didn't realize you were pro-war against fish. Does that make you a fishmongering warmonger or a warmongering fishmonger?

Man, I know so many conservatives that have moved to Texas and Idaho in the last few years. The pandemic really expedited the whole "white" flight. It's comical because on the way out they love taking shots at California, but the reality is they were able to sell their houses for a million bucks and pocket a ton of equity because California gave them that opportunity. They are the definition of privilege.

Despite the conservative narrative, things have been going fairly well for the state of California, so I was happy to vote for most of the same leadership that led the state through the pandemic and has helped us have a budget surplus. I typically try and balance it out a bit with some decent Republican, 3rd party, and Independent candidates, but those didn't exist on the ballot this year. I mean, there is literally no Republican leadership in this state right now. The red party seems to be dominated by election deniers and anti-vaxxers, so that made it pretty easy to choose candidates. I was more active about the local elections this year. The school board in my area got a bit crazy with an extremist candidate almost running unopposed, but it looks like he is going to be dealt a resounding loss. Gavin Newsom is an interesting Governor. I like is Anti-Desantis tact of late. He was strong during the pandemic and strong on reproductive rights. I want more resources for mental health care and homelessness, so those are the big failings. But as I said, there wasn't any competition, so it was an easy choice.

There is a delay with the $1.9 billion powerball drawing. According to Schrödinger, I think that means we are all currently billionaires. Spend it quick!

Those all sound like valid criticisms of the show, but the review bombing and toxic social media outcry does seem to be based more on masculine knee jerking than stereotypes and tropes. *shrug*

It was lonely for about 4 hours while the servers were down.

It is not a 1 to 1 ratio. Maybe before Trump it was, but now it is super skewed. It doesn't help that a good chunk of moderate Republicans have been driven away from the party. My wife's family were lifelong Republicans, and now they are all independent aside from one crazy Uncle that posts conspiracy theories all the time.

I don't think it was just the 3D stuff that sold the visuals of Avatar, but I agree the visuals are the main selling point of the IP. I think it is going to be huge. My daughter watched the original over and over again for years. Basically from being a toddler to being in Middle School, Avatar was her top film. Her tastes have broadened since then, but she is still super jazzed about the new film. There is an entire generation of kids that grew up with that movie and I guarantee the first one will be a hit. While it will probably have some appeal to adults, it is going to make its money by appealing to the kids. I'd argue that's what Star Wars struggled with in the last few films. Solo had nothing for the kids. Episode 7-9 were barely kid friendly. Rogue One was my favorite, but it's a bleak war movie. Episode 1-3 may get a lot of flack, but they definitely appealed to a new generation of kids.

Yeah, my dog is pissed about daylight savings too.

I love the idea of the Tough Mudder races, but I know I'd probably tear something sliding through all of those obstacles.

It may change, for sure. I'm only 3 episodes in. Best dumb moment in TV.

Because it is a sitcom, I think doing the dumb thing works. I mean Seinfeld and Friends are basically built on people making bad decisions. The stakes are low, so it doesn't matter as much as the joke.

I started watching She-Hulk with my daughter. It's hilarious. It's a solid situational comedy set in the MCU, and I'm enjoying it. I don't understand what the complaints were. *shrug* edit: It reminds me of Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

12 hours? You aren't even done with the tutorial of FFXV at that point. You've got to embrace the road trip with the boys a bit more. It's about the journey, not the destination.

What if we hire Zoraptor to troll AGAINST Russia? I mean, they can't be paying him too much. I bet we could double it! I have a gift card to Pressed Juicery I can offer in support. Sorry to hear about your dad, btw.

I finished Book of Boba Fett. I had watched the first couple episodes and lost interest, but I circled back. It's only 7 episodes and that felt right. It gets better when it just becomes The Mandalorian season 3. There was a really good episode directed by Ron Howard's daughter where they just rebuild a starship for the entirety. Those are the details I enjoyed. The story was bad, for the most part, but there were some likeable characters along the way. I found it was best to ignore the plot and enjoy the neat sets and costumes.

Hmm, I will have to look into that. They have an education edition, but it is unclear how an individual can get it. My district uses Apple.

PCPartPicker is amazing and I am enjoying using it to build. I have a NewEgg card, so that is why I prefer to use it to order stuff. That way I have 12 months to pay it off if needed. But I'm struggling over the OS situation. It is an extra $100 to buy it and my budget is already stretched thin. I know I can probably get a cheap key somewhere, but that makes me nervous. What do you guys do about your OS whem you build a PC? Don't say linux.

Thanks. I mean, it would have been easier if you guys had just told me the iBuyPower rig was fine for the kid, because now I have to build something. Ah well, it will be a good father-son project.

kosher dogs at cpac? No such luck. Ballpark franks only.

My son needs a new computer, and I'm planning on getting him a decent desktop that will hopefully last the next 5 years. He mostly plays games like Overwatch. I toyed with building it myself, but I haven't done that in 20 years. This thing looks pretty affordable and would seem to save me the headache of learning everything over again: https://www.newegg.com/ibuypower-slatemr1004/p/N82E16883227981?Item=N82E16883227981 I know it needs RAM, but everything else seems decent. I haven't used ibuypower before, but they seem to have a decent reputation from what I can tell. Suggestions?