Gromnir

admission: have seen 0 episodes of picard and only oneish of discovery. what we saw o' discovery were less than entertaining, and so our plan were to wait a bit. wait made sense 'cause our working theory were that much like voyager or enterprise, as much as the shows were panned by fans, there would be at least a few fantastic must-see episodes. the thing is we keep waiting for our hardcore trek fan acquaintances to tell us they got to the good stuff. and so we wait and wait and continue to wait. am personal a trek fan in the more limited sense we has seen every previous show and every episode with the previous stated exception o' season two of the cartoon. is a few trek episodes we can recollect which we would add to all-time best tv, regardless o' genre. converse, there is a whole lotta trek dreck too. we assumed our friends who is serious trek fans woulda' watched discovery and picard regardless o' quality, and that is exactly what has happened. less courageous, am unable to find the motivation to gird our self for an unpleasant or uninspired tv slog. if our trek acquaintances is gonna voluntarily forge ahead into fields we suspect is littered with mines, who are we to stop 'em, eh? the thing is, everywhere they step is mines. is no not-mines. thus our plan has been foiled by what we thought were improbable: trek shows which trek fans have difficulty saying anything positive 'bout? what? am no longer waiting for the next trek show or movie. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking bsg is illustrative as to why so many american tv shows have poor finales fib. the show creators were making it up as they went along. they didn't have a plan any more than did the cylons. they added and subtracted and changed and their creation became increasingly unwieldy with plotlines which were as likely to bifurcate as dead-end. somehow gotta maintain tension for years and if part of the tension is based on a mysterious plan, how do you reveal protagonist progress w/o undermining the mysterious? gotta multi year show with dozens o' episodes and fans who you has tried to keep satisfied even though many like the show for different reasons. great stuff, unless what you genuine enjoyed 'bout the show were the boomer bot's personal conflict or the President somehow keeping the fleet together in spite o' impossible odds and weekly (literal) catastrophes. you got fans o' the show who were all watching for different reasons, so as a writer you would make battle episodes and adama and roslin episodes and baltar and six episodes and etc. make worse, 'cause after a couple seasons as a writer for same show, it must have been tough to find new things to say 'bout characters. solution is to instead put those established characters in increasingly improbable situations to create drama. perhaps add new characters? how long can you keep that up w/o it looking contrived? but what happens when you get to the finale, which you had not genuine planned for, and you sudden realize you gottta try and make all your fans happy? you imagine the size o' the whiteboard you would need to diagram all plots and characters you has spent years developing and you discover your imagination can't reach so far. many bbc shows and a few o' the newer streaming offerings got an advantage when coming up with finales 'cause they got fewer episodes than the traditional broadcast tv multiyear offerings and they often (not always) got a planned duration, which is if anything likely to be shortened as 'posed to expanded. HA! Good Fun! ps since am talking bsg, we noticed bear mcreary did the music for the he-man cartoon, which we were not previous interested in viewing. our opinion is kevin smith is a tool and we were never particular interested in the he-man character which were created to sell leftover and repurposed conan action figures. low expectations. our understanding is the new cartoon isn't genuine 'bout he-man anyway, so maybe that helps? dunno. am nevertheless interested to see/hear what mccreary does for the cartoon given he is sorta a tim burton movie character come to life.

final episodes is a bit o' a pivot, though admitted we did feel a bit o' whiplash from the sudden race-to-the-bottom efforts following our bsg observations. whatever. particular for episodic shows which lasted multiple seasons, wrap up everything in one or two episodes is a whole lot to demand from writers, directors and cast. has been more than a few best final episode posts in the tv threads o' this board... we has mentioned stuff such as barney miller and angel in the past, along with the genuine lol final moments o' the second newhart. as for star trek, am gonna observe how voyager is kinda unique in that not only were the finale representing one o' the better episodes o' the series (not much o' an accomplishment) with janeway going out like a boss, but it involved f'ing time travel paradoxes and we nevertheless did not complete hate it. tng has picard and q as focus so can't be all bad, but f'ing time travel f'ing again? quit it. even so, while is hardly in our top ten o' tng episodes, as far as an episode which brings the show full circle and concludes satisfactorily w/o befouling the franchise with any sorta shame from inept final handling, we find not much fault with tng's finale, save to once again observe time travel is a cheap dodge, and have q explain that this particular anomaly ignores causality is hardly sufficient from our pov, but whatever, we just got through recognizing we were able to endure the time travel silliness for voyager, so will indulge an exasperated sigh and silent repeat the henry 5's "once more unto the breach" monologue. is gonna be an unpopular observation, but we kinda see voyager and tng as being rough equivalent in terms o' decent finales for trek show endings. the rest? *groan* ds9? how did ds9 end? oh, that's right-- never much liked the wormhole alien stuff, in part 'cause o' time travel. however, the episode as a whole weren't awful save for the cringy fire cave stuff, but that were more than enough to smear the episode for us. enterprise were so utter inconsistent. am not sure what we expected from a finale. better. we expected better even though were no reason to even hope for such. still, we will observe how enterprise ended superior to tos. tos finale were bad. period. sorry. dr. lester (who the hell is dr. lester and why should we care?) tries to take over the ship, but... am not gonna get into this one further save to observe how when fans o' tng were perplexed by how terribad were episodes such as code of honor and angel one, the tos finale served as a reminder such were always possible with a gene roddenberry story and should not have surprised anybody. more than a few shows with excellent runs and superior final seasons nevertheless had weak finales. star trek shows had terrible finales save for voyager and tng. HA! Good Fun! ps we didn't have reliable tv until the early 80s, so we never saw season two o' the cartoon.

bsg soundtrack were kinda in the same vein of, "do it because it's going to be cool." the adama maneuver music is storming new caprica. bagpipes and taiko drums? oh, and lets get a few o' the guys from oingo boingo to contribute. kinda wish bsg had run outta money midway through the third season and had been canceled. an unceremonious and incomplete end woulda' been so much better than what we saw at end of season three and near entirety o' season four. if bsg had been cancelled, we could all lament 'bout what if instead o' cringing in remembrance o' what was. HA! Good Fun!

it can't happen here not our favorite sinclair lewis novel, but it is disturbing how a book meant to warn 1930s americans as the public increasingly embraced nativism and worse isms feels all too relevant today w/o being alarmist. guys like trump and hawley is characters straight outta a cautionary tale that nobody remembers or has chosen to forget. HA! Good Fun!

is the one where a bald madeleine stowe triumphs over sci-fi alan rickman, and riker plays at being heroic but it turns out that the captain bogomil was right all along and yet we somehow convenient ignore that part. HA! Good Fun!

nothing new, but the the thousands o' comments is illustrative and disheartening. HA! Good Fun! ps we did find dark humor in dr. fauci needing to explain that the chief incentive o' being vaccinated were not freedom from mask wearing but the fact the vaccinated person faces a far more reduced chance o' death from covid-19 than the unvaccinated.

the indians name (as 'posed to redskins) didn't annoy us personal, but am getting how it bothered some. on the other hand, a few o' the indian mascots over the years... as for new name, am thinking cleveland missed an opportunity to change the dynamic on naming. coulda' appealed to fan base and made the baseball team front page news everywhere in the US for at least a few days by changing from indians to michigan sux. HA! Good Fun!

we original had a south dakota license which were provisional and only for farm work. were able to get it at 13 at the time but we got it 14. folks in the cook county, illinois dmv didn't understand what they were looking at when we showed 'em our provisional license, so we were just kinda handed a provisional illinois license after which we did need take illinois drivers license tests (written and practical) to get full license. never took driving classes at school or otherwise. HA! Good Fun!

more specific, am thinking a few on the right realized they need to be seen advocating for the vaccine. people dying, +99% of whom is unvaccinated, is an inconvenient fact which will hurt the gop in 2022 and 2024. however, a serious change in tone or a real effort to get people vaccinated is unnecessary if a simple video clip may be offered to refute the predictable death cult accusations which will be coming from democrat challengers. the gop don't wanna fully alienate the base which is invested in their belief that vaccines is either dangerous (more dangerous than the virus) or that taking the vaccine means you are embracing the liberal agenda-- today they force the vaccine on you, but tomorrow they will be taking your guns or your bible. the sudden support from the gop for vaccines need not be meaningful, but it does need be recorded for posterity. recall what happened post january 6 when trump were accused o' directing a crowd to go to the Capitol and fight like hell to make it known american patriots wouldn't accept the rigged election results? at cnn and msnbc the clips where trump and mo brooks and rudy inflamed crowd were on full display. at fox, clips o' trump asking the protesters to be peaceful were played on a veritable loop. you not need much fuel for the gaslight effort to work for those who wanna be gaslit. am suspecting the gop wants plausible deniability. +600k dead bodies wasn't enough to convince the base that trump f'd the response to covid-19. more dead bodies won't be meaningful save for fact it is gonna be easy to show a direct link 'tween the new dead bodies and the unvaccinated. gop and fox news needs to be seen refuting vaccine hesitancy so they may respond to the inevitable current and future accusations o' irresponsibility, but don't expect gop politicians or media types to go far in advocating a sea change for the vaccine. nobody on the right is gonna risk alienating the base 'cause that puts viewership and votes in jeopardy. HA! Good Fun!

edit: there is minor profanity in the following tweet. warning for those sensitive to such. HA! Good Fun!

unvaccinated players on the first night of training camp may look at private pyle with envy. HA! Good Fun!

use cooked chicken in soup is a perfect acceptable time saving approach. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018442-chicken-soup-from-scratch not boiling. long and slow simmer in broth. HA! Good Fun!

not to give anybody an excuse, but am thinking if folks don't do much o' the cooking in the household, they may not realize what is happening behind the curtain. for example, make chicken cacciatore does not ordinary involve adding cooked chicken thighs to other ingredients and then simmering. however, the chicken thighs may get seared first to add depth o' flavor and seal in some o' the chicken's moisture. sear is not cooked. nevertheless, while is extreme similar cooking approaches 'tween what you see in the curry video and what goes into a chicken cacciatore, the guy who sits and waits for his meal to be presented to him may not realize what actual went into preparation. he saw or smelled chicken being cooked (seared) so is different. as an aside, we has straight up boiled chicken to make stock... and dog food. HA! Good Fun!

ok, that's great, but after the first thirty seconds, our only thought were, "this dude does not have any fear of cross contamination." we did like his cilantro technique and am gonna be using such an approach in the future. HA! Good Fun!

even with the new fixes, we hit the this is requiring unhealthy masochism to play further level of frustration. gonna hold off playing more until at least the next update. HA! Good Fun!

the wooden bomb thing in the military thread reminded us o' this bit from a few years past 'bout difference 'tween US and english humor. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing war isn't a joke, but the wooden bomb thing is quixotic both extreme english and funny. HA! Good Fun!

new hotfix supposed cures the npc interaction bug. can say with certainty at least one vendor in our new game attempt post fix is not capable o' interaction. nature remains not selectable as a mystery for oracles during character generation. HA! Good Fun!

almost any caster build is gonna suck until level nine or ten, 'cause that was ok for d&d and pathfinder kept the same sorta progression. the thing is, while for 90% of combats your caster will be plinking away ineffectually with a crossbows or something similar, for the boss battles and other difficult encounters, even sub 9th level casters become essential as their limited spells or heals is the difference 'tween success and failure. am not sure why this is kewl, but the d&d and pathfinder purists believe changing such is dumbing down a rule system. poe and similar systems makes obvious casters could be useful before you get through at least 1/3 of the game and 1/2 of level progression, but luddites are gonna luddite. go figure. builds less focused on casting will involve multiple one or two level dips into something anything but intuitive. those small additions result in synergies which may take a few levels to show results. but heck, gotta do something to make your late game melee combatant or ranged weapon haver stay useful when casters has comical eclipsed the others in terms o' power output. reverse o' early game, the 2-h fighter who spent his feats on stuff like power attack and cleave is facing foes with stratosphere armour and ends up plinking away at the mythic demon or advanced dragon hoping for a critical hit to do any kinda damage. *groan* also, the folks who post builds overwhelming appear to be focused on coming up with that which will be praised as best or strongest. endgame best. endgame strong. making a character with a useful skill spread capable o' being useful from tutorial until last battle is a tertiary concern as often as not. if you are willing to spend dozens of hours learning the curious pathfinder stacking rules and understanding which classes and weapons and feats synergize in unintuitive but useful ways, you may end up with a character build which is good at casting and melee combat and tanking all at the same time. congrats? if you play most vanilla classes kinda vanilla and keep difficulty on normal, you shouldn't need build guides save for where they reveal dead ends in character progression as well as the all too plentiful ineffectual spells and feats which exist for no reason save bloat. is there a perfect lann build where you make him a zen archer/x/y/z? probable, but keep him as a zen archer on normal is not a bad choice... but only if you know multishot and rapid shot are wasted feats and that perhaps unexpected a short bow is your best weapon of choice, and... *sigh* HA! Good Fun!

am open-minded 'bout most food preferences. however, harry callahan and Gromnir both agree on at least one unforgivable. HA! Good Fun!

kinda implied, which must suck if you are a cincinnati red's fan or similar... though am suspecting if you are a bloods gang member, the confusion is less likely. even so, nowadays you see somebody in a red hat and even if it don't explicit say trump or "make america great again," people will jump to conclusion you are a maga supporter. similar, we got a jack lambert and a roberto clemente jersey. both is black and gold. now given our complexion, is unlikely people assume we is a proud boy 'cause am sporting black and gold, but... HA! Good Fun!

as a former resident o' iv and a frequent visitor at the original freebirds location, we will observe how the order o' a brisket burrito bowl from a freebirds is, from our pov, an offense against the food gods. the original el freebird's location were having an order counter and indoor seating along the window capable o' handling five customers. tiny. bright white. spartan. good burritos, but honestly, size were the main appeal. we do like pickles on our usual order from in n' out: double-double animal style. different strokes. HA! Good Fun! ps the iv nostalgia piece leaves out the egghead, one o' our top three all-time breakfast joints, and am gonna quibble 'bout woodstock 'cause that were the pizza location if you wanted cheap beer, and Gromnir don't drink. giovanni's pretty much won best iv/sb pizza every year for more than a decade, and while it weren't great pizza, it were much better than woodstock's. aside: sam's to go default were heavy-handed with the pickles. pps 'course now am thinking o' our favorite berkeley eateries...

if you do not order your burger animal style, at the very least add the following phrase to any burger order: mustard-grilled. and yeah, the fries is kinda uninspired. HA! Good Fun!