"Good Hunting" was superb, one of my favorites.
I'm only through about half of the shorts, but so far "Good Hunting" just wouldn't get out of my brain. The story is amazing but the mixing of genre makes it difficult for my brain to process. The best part though? Victorian Steam-Punk Hong Kong would make a kick-ass game setting.
No joke, right? I had the same thought of "Victorian steampunk Hong Kong with hidden magic that's dying out? That would make a brilliant tabletop campaign setting."
@Aria said in RL things I love:
HOLY SHIT, YOU CAN INVITE GRITTY TO YOUR WEDDING.
(I invited Gritty to our wedding.)
You know that scene in The Man from UNCLE while infiltrating the factory, where Solo just looks over at Kuryakin and asks in a bewildered and plaintive tone, "...why?"
Yeah. Picture that as a response here. Same exact tone.
@Vixanic said in Sexuality: IC and OOC:
@Sparks said in Sexuality: IC and OOC:
"Oh, you just haven't met the right person; have you tried online dating?" "Oh, everyone loves sex. There's just something chemically wrong with your libido; you should look into medication to correct that!." "You're just afraid to try it; trust me, I promise you'd love it if you just gave it more of a chance."
Oh so very familiar! Do you also get the 'you must have been traumatised as a child!' one?
Not as often, but yes. More often it's "it might be in your head; have you thought about seeing a therapist?"
iRL, I'm a asexual demiromantic, which is a concise but fancy way of saying "I have zero interest in mashing squishy bits together with anyone, regardless of what bits those are, but I can still feel romantic attachment to people based on an emotional connection".
And in the past few years, I've played different characters with a wide variety of sexual preferences that don't match my own—although admittedly way less male characters than I used to—but it's almost never been a problem, as their sexuality is often not super key to their day-to-day RP. (Save, admittedly, for one character who was bisexual but internally terrified of making emotional ties to anyone, because then she'd feel anchored in one place and unable to pick up and run if she had to. So she played it off as 'I just have fun' and had a rule of "I will sleep with basically anyone once, and never a second time." And for that one character, the strings-free on-a-whim once-only sex with anyone was actually a fairly key part of her never-let-anyone-too-close characterization.)
There's only one situation that really stands out to me where someone was terrible to me about my character's IC sexuality (on which, more later).
However, I have a friend who ends up playing trans women fairly often when the setting allows for it; and wow do they get some flak for that choice in various places. People are like, "This is an imaginary character, why would you do that to her? Just make her a woman outright." "I'm not transphobic, but... that's just such a strange choice. What's wrong with you that you'd want to put your character through that?" and things like that.
And I have also personally actually gotten flak OOCly from some people for my iRL sexuality when it comes up, because there are definitely not a shortage of people out there who don't think asexuality is actually a thing. "Oh, you just haven't met the right person; have you tried online dating?" "Oh, everyone loves sex. There's just something chemically wrong with your libido; you should look into medication to correct that!." "You're just afraid to try it; trust me, I promise you'd love it if you just gave it more of a chance." And so on. (Sadly, this is not remotely limited to online interactions.)
I'm sure many of them even think they're trying to help by basically going "Here, let me assure you that your sexuality isn't a real thing, and can even probably be cured!" Because, hey, they figure sex is awesome, right? But... try to envision telling a gay or lesbian person that their sexuality could be 'cured' by just sleeping with the opposite sex enough times, or with medication/chemicals. It's not a good look.
And when I played an asexual character on a game, I did have someone get OOCly mad at me that my character wasn't up to smash squishy bits even though he was not attached and thus 'up for grabs' and how that was 'unrealistic' that someone wouldn't want sex at all; that's the one incident that stands out in my mind about someone being terrible about my character's IC sexuality. (Bonus that it was one of the few times I've actually openly played my own sexuality as a character, so, y'know, great feeling there!)
So I've definitely observed people being terrible over someone's sexuality or gender identity, both secondhand and firsthand, regardless of whether it's IC or OOC. I like to think that's not nearly so widespread—or necessarily as deliberate—as it used to be, but yeah... there is still definitely some really awful behavior I've seen out there in the RP community in general to trip over.
...also this post was a little bit verbose and rambling, for which I apologize.
Division 2 is actually pretty fun; there's more skills and specializations than in Division 1, and the gameplay is polished and smooth. I think I still prefer the frenetic speed (and aerial options) of my Anthem build, but it's definitely a well-made game and should be fun with friends.
(Also: Give. Me. A. Sniper. Rifle.)
@Auspice a couple of months ago we interviewed someone for an engineering position. She's brilliant, and a superb engineer, and absolutely deserves the job, but I won't lie: the fact that she's a gamer and plays D&D did figure into my "hire" vote for her over other candidates, too.
(Especially speaking as the DM who runs the company D&D campaign; one of my co-workers left and the party was down a cleric!)
@Auspice "When the Yogurt Took Over" is another Scalzi story, and was cute. ("Alternate Histories" is also Scalzi.)
I really did not like "The Witness", and there were a few others that I wasn't blown away by (though no others I actively disliked).
"Good Hunting" was superb, one of my favorites. "Helping Hand" was excellent but super hard for me to watch.
But my enjoyment of Frontlines and love for the original short side story still bias me in favor of "Lucky 13".
3 episodes in and i love it, need a whole show for 3 robots.
Three Robots was one of my favorites (based on a John Scalzi short story), but I think my absolute favorite was Lucky 13. Lucky 13 was an adaptation of "Lucky Thirteen", which is the best of the short stories Marko Kloos wrote in his Frontlines military SF series, and seeing a short story that I love adapted well made me happy.
(Kloos also wrote the episode Shape-Shifters, but that isn't based on anything he's published.)
@Ganymede - It's never easy to say goodbye to a pet, even when it's the right time. I had to say goodbye to my beloved corgi last year; nothing anyone could say really lessened the grief, and I'm sure nothing we can say here will do so for you, either. But I think almost all of us know how you feel, and the sympathy we have for your situation is genuine. I'm sorry you're going through this.
@Ganymede said in General Video Game Thread:
@Sparks said in General Video Game Thread:
Beat Saber is one of a handful of games that make VR worth it. (Others are Elite: Dangerous, The Unspoken, and Job Simulator.)
Who the hell would find a Job Simulator to be "worth it"?
Job Simulator is a cartoonish VR game set in the far future where humanity is gone, and robots are running a "Museum of Jobs" where they have reconstructed human work routines.
Very, very badly.
(For instance, in the office job simulation, the copy machine duplicates objects. You can fill your cubicle with infinite donuts, create an endless supply of coffee mugs to throw at other robot workers in the simulation, etc.)
Add to that how wrong the challenges are (you make bread in the kitchen simulation by putting an egg and a flower into the oven, which dings and ejects bread), and it's surprisingly fun. Admittedly, it has less replay value than some, but it's one of the best to throw newbie VR users into.
@Auspice Beat Saber is one of a handful of games that make VR worth it. (Others are Elite: Dangerous, The Unspoken, and Job Simulator.)
Though Captain Holt has basically shown me how RPing as a Vulcan could be fun.
@insomniac7809 said in RL Anger:
At my place of business, the temperature seems to just be permanently set to 'wrong'
A couple of months ago, our HVAC system at work started acting a little inconsistent; different parts of the fourth floor were at different temperatures. Over in the HR pod it was freezing cold (by everyone's standards), while over at the other end of the floor it was consistently too hot (by everyone's standards). However, building management didn't consider it serious enough to deal with as a priority.
A couple of weeks ago, the HVAC system started making a sustained, horrific, ear-piercing shearing-metal screech, and then began to emit a smokey smell.
Building management fixed the HVAC pretty damned promptly.
It's so nice to have the office a proper temperature again. Though I'm still not entirely convinced one of my co-workers didn't sabotage the system deliberately to force the issue; we are an engineering firm, and we have access to the roof and HVAC shed...
Double post: having a cracked rib. While on vacation with friends. At Disneyland.
(We do this every March, it's tradition; we make all the arrangements in August. Planning did not account for injury.)
makes list of the things she can't ride right now, stares sadly at it
@Thenomain said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@Derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@Thenomain said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Sure, the day I need to get dental work done is a perfect time for my car to die.
Nnnnhhh.
That's a real kick in the teeth.
(I'm sorry I heart you don't hurt me)
UPDATE: Someone stole my catalytic converter. Cut it right out of the exhaust system. In the middle of the night. In my garage bay. Next to two much more expensive cars.
(edit: But that was a funny pun. I lol'd.)
I'm guessing they stole yours figuring your car was less likely to have an alarm system than the expensive ones.
But also that's terrible.
Has anyone watched The Order on Netflix. It is...kinda bad, but also kind of good, and pretty much can be summed up as "What happens when werewolves and the Mysterium don't like each other much. Together, they fight crime!"
It is a weirdly watchable terrible show. An actual conversation between my housemate and myself while watching this first season:
"This show is... not good."
"No, it really isn't."
long pause
"Watch the next episode?"
"Yeah, go for it."
@Thenomain said in Good or New Movies Review:
So I hear that Captain Marvel is alright.
So, Captain Marvel in her current incarnation is one of my favorite comics characters. And as a diehard member of the Carol Corps?
Higher, Further, Faster, More!
@Testament said in RL Anger:
Alex Trebek being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
You leave that beautiful man alone.
Ugh. My friend and writing mentor was just diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 pancreatic cancer a few weeks ago; she's been told she might get a year if she's lucky. Pancreatic cancer is brutal.
So now she's trying very hard to finish the next—and now apparently final—book she wanted to write. 
@Jaded said in General Video Game Thread:
Just an FYI guys. If you're playing Anthem on PS4 or XBox the game is causing critical hard crashes on the consoles and in some cases people are reporting that their systems are getting bricked.
FWIW, it's likely not that the systems are bricked, but that the file table of the internal storage was corrupted due to an unclean shutdown; the same thing can happen when you have a sudden power outage and the PS4 shuts down abruptly in the middle of a game.
Normally, when the PS4 boots, it does a file system check as part of the boot to catch any minor issues. But if the storage table is corrupted to a point where it cannot boot the OS... no boot sequence, no disk repair.
However, there's an easy fix: hold down the power button on the console for two seconds, and you'll boot into the PS4's built-in recovery mode (which is not part of the system partition). Select 'Rebuild Database', wait, reboot, et voila! Your system is back. For UNIX sorts, it's basically a manual fsck. (If the controller doesn't work in rescue mode, just plug in a USB keyboard and use the arrow keys and enter.)
So it's not as serious as it could be; the systems aren't permanently damaged or anything. And it's worth knowing this trick anyway in case the same thing happens during a power outage.
Still a horrible issue, though.
I have been as sick as a dog since Wednesday evening of last week—so eight days now. Since Monday—so three days—I have had seven saltines, a mug of chicken broth, a small jello cup, and—my big achievement for today—a piece of toast with jam (which tasted like manna from heaven by this point).
Also a lot of pedialyte. Like, a lot.
I have been to the emergency room twice in the past week, one of those visits because the abdominal pain was bad enough that the doctor thought I might have appendicitis.
I am falling behind on work and burning PTO to cover my absence, I have no energy for anything that requires much in the way of conscious thought, and this spell of illness is kind of the crowning indignity to a frankly rather shitty month.
(Also, as a final indignity, almost everything I watch to pass the time while sick seems to have food in it. You do not truly realize how often people are eating sandwiches, discussing dinner, etc., in television shows and movies until you have not eaten much of anything for a week.)