@Roz I'm in that boat; I knew nothing about the source material at all. It was still fun and I'm looking forward to their second season.
The time jumps initially were baffling since they could have used some sort of label for those viewing without context (until much later it became very obvious), but that's very, very minor.
I also never pictured Henry Cavill as a comedic straightman, but... yep, nailed it.
@Pandora He was definitely one of the reasons The Vampire Diaries was not as awful or ridiculous as it really should have been.
ETA: He also does superlative smirk.
@BlondeBot 'Least charitable interpretation' seems to be default, unfortunately.
Remembering the living room model is good because (generic) you know you want everyone to be comfortable there, unless they are being a jerk.
All manner of genders/orientations/religions/etc. are welcome in my living room. If someone makes them feel unwelcome by grilling them about their validity or making them feel like they have to defend it in that space for whatever reason, that someone is going to be shown the door, fast.
I read it as 'do not use the game space to actively promote a specific social agenda OOC through constant chatter about it, whatever that agenda is.'
I am 100% behind that. I would not want these arguments on any game I'm running, because that is not the purpose of the game, full stop.
That doesn't mean you ignore acts of bigotry or shitty player behavior because it's based in an *ism. It doesn't mean your players can't talk about their spouses or mention that they are whatever combination of stuff they are. It doesn't mean someone isn't allowed to say '<specific seasonal holiday greeting for that specific day 'cause holy crap are there ever a lot of them this time of year>' when they pop on the game that day, whatever that holiday is because it might identify their religion.
Do these things. Staff, support people doing these things, whatever someone's trait combo is.
Lecturing about the validity of <thing> is necessary in environments where <thing> is not properly supported or respected. If any gender/orientation/religion/etc. is feeling disrespected in your space you have a bigger problem than this and that's the one you need to address. Typically, by the time your players feel the need to lecture someone, it's gotten bad, and you should have said something a long time before that.
I believe in the 'owner's living room' model in this regard, and I see it like this: my living room is not someone's advocacy or activism soapbox unless I grant them permission for those activities, because that is not the purpose of my living room (aka 'the OOC areas of my game'). I also do not believe in allowing people in my living room to be made uncomfortable based on their gender/orientation/religion/etc. because someone is behaving like an asshole about that thing; that asshole is significantly less welcome in my living room than soapboxing is.
Waking up because of sudden, sharp pain.
Immediately getting hit by the sudden, sharp pain nausea wave.
At least I made it to the bathroom in time.
(So, it's gonna be one of those days... )
Admittedly, I still feel the worst about not pausing to wuffle the flouf, because she was in an adorable flopsy pose and I had to vault her completely in the zoom. She looked really big-eyes worried and was making 'the mommy is of concern' meows at me when she rushed into the bathroom right after me. 
Why does that feel even worse?
...I'm damn proud of that father if the second half (read: relative price) is his concern there, to put it very mildly.
@Derp Yeah, that's the translation I came to as well. By 'positive relations' I mean OOC, IC popularity/being loved isn't a factor there.
I... think? the point on #2 was meant to be: 'look for the kind of person who could play a major IC antagonist while maintaining positive relations with all parties they interact with in that role throughout the course of play over time' when considering potential staffers.
I think.
I hope?
While that isn't how I would have put it, I can see that logic (in a very general way).
@Testament Much approve of Die Hard wall art, too. 
I mentioned a 'OMG I GOT THE THING I WANTED OMG REALLY?' in things I love, but that particular cool thing was the costume book for Game of Thrones.
It is a gorgeous fucking book and I don't care who anyone reading this is, everyone should own this book. Acquire one if you can. It is fucking glorious.
(Dear costumers in the audience: be very prepared to invent new profanity at all the endless hours of embroidery shown that were never visible on screen. I am not kidding; I cannot overstate this. My dear sweet uberCatholic church lady mother was spluttering 'fuck!' effusively in all manner of creative variants at this book for just that reason.)
Usually, Xmas is the same collection of Lindor Balls for my husband and I to split and a pair of slipper socks. Maybe a few cool beads my mother found somewhere.
I finally caved and asked for ONE THING specifically this year...
...and my darling husband got it. (My mother promptly stole it to drool over for a few days, but it is got!)
This has not happened since I was 11 or so, so it's a happy squee thing indeed.
(Also, this year's slipper socks are fucking adorable.)
@sibermaus I have something along these lines coded up in mediawiki; poke me tomorrow and I can pull it up if you think it will help. (Holiday chaos continues.)
ETA: Got a break from holiday chaos. The rest of what's on this site got abandoned ages ago and such, but the prefs listing and info is temporarily up here:
http://surreality.wtf/Index:Preference
ETA #2: This mediawiki preference code setup is currently grabbable for anyone, really. Just let me know, and do not claim you created it from whole cloth yourself if you do use it, kinda tired of that happening. It has a fair number of moving parts, so if you need help with it, feel free to ask.
@moth He is adorable. The all blue-grey kitties are beyond gorgeous. Having a cat is a good thing, and the mellow 'come to you' sort of cats are the very best. It's also a great age; they know how to cat already, for the most part, so a lot of the kitten issues aren't things you'll need to worry about, and you'll get a good idea of their actual personality right off the bat.
I would try to offer name suggestions, but, uh. My current cats are Tesla "Disney Princess of Cats" McDaintysnoot and Tama "Snow Weasel" Gothsbane McDaintysnoot, which means I should probably not be allowed to suggest kitty names to others.
@Ganymede That is and has been long among my favorite gifs on the internet, and only now do I realize: I have a cat that looks just like that now, just with a bit more of a profile and a seemingly constant smile. Her favorite thing to utterly disregard is 'my need to sleep', rather than small objects, though. Now I'm wondering if that's the snow weasel's mom. 
It would explain a lot about Magical Princess Murderflouf. It certainly is in spirit at least.
If you're one of the folks that'd rather work, all I can suggest is: ask around the office to see if whoever is stuck working wants to swap, if that's allowed/viable. If it can be done, you'll probably make someone's day and they'll be helping you out of the holiday stuff you'd prefer to avoid.
I'm another member of the chorus composed of people 'the holidays make me incredibly depressed'. (Our carols suuuuuuuuuck.)
This is coming in the midst of both seasonal depression, a longer-running major depression, and two major health issues. Not great timing.
I remember the holidays when I was a kid. This isn't a 'when I was young the world was different' complaint; many people still have the holiday season I had as a child in their lives today and that is something that makes me, if not happy, more at peace with the world than I might be otherwise.
It isn't that the world has changed, it's that the people around me have. Many are simply gone, which is how things work in that whole 'living means eventually dying' thing at some point or another. Others have simply changed; they've stopped caring, or have shifted focus away (or in one case further away) to other things at this time of year.
So, uh. I spend today, Christmas Eve, not deliberately alone, since I don't avoid the people around me, but I do take some time to myself to just talk to the people who aren't here any more.• I miss them. I haven't forgotten them and never will, and I will never not miss them, particularly at this time of year. I tell them about the things that happened over the year, about things I know they'd love, things that would have driven them bonkers.
And it helps me make it through. It doesn't matter if it's all ultimately stupid, because it helps.
So, uhm. Peace be with you and all the rest for the remainder of the day, MSB. I hope your holidays are good, whatever they are, and if you don't celebrate any of them and somehow feel left out, I say fuck it, make one up and have yourself a blast. If you're missing someone, maybe try this, and see if it helps. I hope it does, if you do.
This isn't normally the sort of thing I'd share here, especially lately, but it looks like a lot of us are missing someone, or maybe a great many someones, right now. It felt like the right time.
Be well, be merry if you can, but try not to let yourself think there's something wrong with you or be hard on yourself if you aren't able to manage merry, OK?
That eventually, the truth of how things actually are may become apparent.
For a variety of reasons, I haven't believed this for a long while now, and while it's a struggle to believe it now?
I at least believe it's possible.
I still feel like that mentally exhausted motherfucker insisting that the world is indeed round being harried by zealous converts to the Flat Earth Society, but it is progress.
@Ganymede We're in a similar position with one of our kitties, too. (-1, +1) ALL the hugs in the world sent; it's hard enough without having to explain. Especially to kids, dang.
@insomniac7809 I empathize... a lot. I tend to stumble over a 'the world moves in mysterious ways, and we may never truly know' and hope they figure their deity of choice called them 'home' or somesuch.
ETA: Also a lot of 'it's all right to not know' and 'it's all right to grieve'. These things are sometimes most important for someone to hear, even if it is less immediately comforting than something like 'Jesus wanted another angel' and similar.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/22/us/child-sex-abuse-websites-shut-down.html
Seemed relevant to add here once spotted. Not directly hobby-related in any way, but on point to the issue on the whole.
@silentsophia All the hugs. I am so sorry to hear things are going so awfully. (I am glad to see you back and around, though. Had been worrying for you and wondering how things were going out there.)
Also: my very favorite yarn on earth to dye is like that. If I wanted more, I'd have to order a full shipping container of it from the manufacturer in China and have it sent to the local port, where I would presumably have to pick it up... somehow. IT EXISTS! It just reaaaaaally may as well not. (I have zero doubt I could dye multiple tons of yarn! I have... none of the other things required to buy, skein, process, wring, reprocess, store, etc. that quantity of anything. 
)