ThaOGDreamWeaver

Weird Al Yankovic - Harvey The Wonder Hamster

Iron Maiden - Writing On The Wall

Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down

Black Sabbath - War Pigs

They had to do it. It was the law. But whoever took that or was there at the time and didn't leak it must have had either the willpower of the Gods or one of Feige's robot cybertanks parked on their lawn. Probably both.

Video's been nuked off the thread - what was it?

Random thought: I often judge a book by how fast - or if I replace it, how often - it gets stolen. Multiple Pratchetts and two copies of Cyrano have gone missing over the years. As has this one - clearly the work of a miscreant fiend of some kind... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soon-I-Will-be-Invincible/dp/0718152913 ...which tells the interwoven story of newly-minted bionic hero Fatale, recruited to join a famous and famously dysfunctional group of supers, and the rather more entertaining Dr. Impossible, an evil g... sorry, Malign Hypercognition Disorder sufferer. Who is as much puzzled and fascinated by his own self-destructive compulsion to take over the world as he is a slave to it. (Oddly, I wrote a similar psychological paper at college referencing Pinky And The Brain, amongst other things.) The flipping of perspectives isn't a new device by any means, but works well in this context, and there are clear moves in tone and style that set our two narrators apart. And clearly, it's a lot more fun being bad, even if you wind up trying to do the same thing every night...

Tiny thing: interviewer for Picard just asked Sir Pat if that's his voice in Dr. Strange. [stares straight to camera] [eyes shift slightly right] [back to camera] "...who's Dr. Strange?" The Feige is strong with this one. 😂

One more note on this before I hit the hay: one of the things that worries me about it is the expectations from its funders. Going sideways for a bit: there's a very old (and partially true) story about the guy who turned down the Beatles. He rued his mistake, and once yelled at his A&R guys "don't bring me these damn hippies, get me the next Beatles". At which point either Bowie, Bolan or both were kicked out of his office, depending on who you believe. Ever since Dinklage first said "I drink... and I know things", studios have been looking for the next Thrones. Not just high-fantasy, but epic, eye-catching, oh-goddess-help-me "high engagement" stories that grab eyes and ears. On top of working and reworking a legendary IP, that's a lot of demand for a writer or showrunner to hold up to, and I hope they don't pander to it. The only way to make a series people think is good is to MAKE A GOOD SERIES, not throw tricks and references and meta things in. The only good thing about working for Amazon or Netflix, is that once commissioned, they tend not to interfere as much as a network. There's some back and forth, but it's usually fairly well reasoned. Anywhere else, and that writer's room would have needed an army of Rohirrim to stop a slavering orchorde of producers, studio execs and hangers-on waving toxic Post-Its. For there may come a day, a terrible day, when we may submit to your suggestion of extra sex scenes or comedy dancing Hobbit troupes. BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY.

I was just given a copy of Unfinished Tales (partner's sister works in a bookstore: slightly scuffed cover means the whole thing gets pulped, so I get the odd rescue for free). I daresay that it's not going to be quite like that, because JRR is going full Beowulf in some of these passages, and unless you're going to have your actors declaiming at each other that they're Tuor son of Guor son of Haldor son of Locknstore (etc), you'd need to adapt the dialogue for a modern audience. Heavily. I have a concept I like to bore other writers with called the Believability Curve. No matter what you want to set up, no matter what actor you cast, what twists you want to throw, you can do it, as long as you bring the audience along with you. Throw them into a 90 degree wall, they stop dead: throw them through too many loops and they throw up on you. The question here is can the writers take what an audience knows (including some very very deep fans... nerds... nerds in the deep... they are coming), acquire and preserve the style and tone, and make something new with it. Audiences know Galadriel and vaguely know she's a leader, quasi-immortal, wise and powerful. They don't necessarily know how she became that way. In Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the notes to Road Goes Ever On, there are stories and notes that she participated in the flight from Valinor as a warrior. But regardless of whether that source material fully supports it - can you as a writer (and Morfydd Clark as the actress) sell it to an audience and their expectations? Right now, I'm a little doubtful, but keeping an open mind, and it's going to depend a lot on that opening episode pulling people in. In any case - speaking as someone who was at risk of being birthnamed Galadriel (it was the 70s, and Mum and Dad were superfans) - even though they are playing with Big Material, it's still not the worst thing that's ever been done with that material. And definitely not the weirdest.

Came up with a random concept for a 'toon - Wizard Of The West - decided to try Staff/Fire, and tbh I'm a bit addicted now. Would like some advice on where to go next with him. I'm on Level 42, so not every slot is used yet... ...and I haven't got the readies to fancify everything. I go through minions and LTs like Hell's Own Lawnmower*, though bosses & EBs are a bit rougher if I'm not teamed. END is often a problem, less so now I have some slotting and Physical Perfection. I'm playing it for pure fun rather than powerlevelling, but if anyone has suggestions for where to take it from here or what recipes to save up for, feel free. I also don't have Mids or Pine handy and my corporate antivirus doesn't like it, so slightly manual readout here: please feel free to mock as necessary. PRIMARY: Precise Strike - Acc, 2xDam Guarded Spin - Acc, 3xDam Eye Of The Storm - Scirocco [AccDam + AccRch], 2xDam Staff Mastery - N/A (usually Form Of The Mind) Serpent's Reach - Devastation [AccDam + AccDemRch + AccDamEndRech + Hold Proc] Mercurial Blow - Acc (mainly use this to keep chains going) Innocuous Strikes - IceMistral [AccDamEnd + AccDamEndRech + DamRch (will get Cold proc and DamSlow later)], Dam Sky Splitter - GladStrike [AccDam + AccDamEndRch + DamEndRch], Dam SECONDARY: Fire Shield - GladArm [Res + ResEnd + TP/Def], Titanium [Res + ResEnd + End] Healing Flames - Preventive [Heal + HealRch + HealEndRch + RchEnd + Absorb Proc] Temp Protection - Res x2 Plasma Shield - Steadfast [Res + ResEnd + Res+Def], Aegis [Rs + RsE + Psi/Mez] Consume - PerfShift [EMoRc + EMoRcA + RcA + EndProc], EnergyMan [Stun Proc], Rch Burn - Scirocco [AccDam + AccRch + DamRch], 1xAcc, 1xDam Fiery Embrace - 2xRch INHERENT Swift - Run Hurdle - Jump Stam - 3 x EMo POOLS Boxing - 1xRopeADope AStn (rarely use) Tough - 1xRes (almost never use) Weave - Reactive [Def + DfE + Scaling], Def, End Mystic Flight - Freebird [Stealth] EPIC Focused Accuracy - Gaussian [THtE + BuildUp Proc, 2xE] (I love this but it's an END hog) Physical Perfection - Synapse [EMo + Emo/Run] TEMP POWERS FOR LOWBIE SURVIVAL AND FUN Revolver, because cowboy Coyote, because cowboy/wizard Steam Jump, because steampunk/cowboy/wizard Hand Grenade, because, well, handy Anything else I can scrounge from missions, Safeguards etc Questions: What IOs etc should I save up for? Is Tough worth slotting up a bit? Do I really need Blazing Aura or Taunt? As this isn't strictly a farm/total invuln build, what would be some good choices for 44/47/49? *Feel free to steal that name if you like...

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes

Playing For Change ft. John Paul Jones - When The Levee Breaks

Playing For Change feat. Los Lobos - La Bamba

Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow💘

Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me

One for @ShardWarrior and all fans of elegantly functional capewear: Dreamworks are expanding some of their properties to series. Megamind's Guide To Defending Your City sounds fun and quite COH-friendly, with our erstwhile ex-villain and newbie blue hero being followed around YouTuber style as he tries to work out how to be good. (Hopefully, he works out good and nice are not the same thing.) Also the underrated Abominable gets a show about finding and encountering and helping new creatures, which sounds very Lilo & Stitch: The Series, but I'd never think of that as a bad thing. No word if main cast will return for either, but suspect Ferrell's a little expensive and John DiMaggio... seems to have a hole in his diary. Both will be for Peacock in the US. And while I've puzzled over there being so damn many streaming platforms, NBC have been paying a large chunk of my salary via placing ads for that app lately, so obviously it is a good and wise choice for you to own. Really. And use code DWNEEDSNEWSHOESFOR[--that's enough - Mods] https://deadline.com/2022/02/peacock-bolsters-animated-kids-programming-megamind-abominable-series-more-1234931311/

I'm happy dipping in wherever if I can pick up what's going on, which I can more or less anywhere in Pratchett and in the earlier Dresden Files. Reminds me, I still need to pick up the most recent one. And if Jim winds up reading this, my new toon and possible script idea Wizard Of The West has been accused of aping Harry...

The Borg took out my laptop. I did one of the high-tier endgame Borg raids, took a few hits, and just heard a really unpleasant crackly noise over my headphones. Everything froze, then the machine went SKRREEEEEE. All that was left was a green line across my screen, and my beloved Sony VAIO bit the dust. Wouldn't reboot except in Safe Mode for short periods, and the GFX card had melted. Clearly the Borg have evolved some kind of fiendish anti-graphics-card torpedo. As I was between gigs at the time, I couldn't afford a new one, and my next work laptop was a Mac Air, so it's just been handheld gaming for a while. My slightly aging Mac Pro can handle CoH (though I use a massive heatsink+fan as a keyboard riser, otherwise the keys get hot.)

BBC and ITV Sunday nights were always old folks' comedy, followed by fancy dramas or murder mysteries. The new Branagh Poirot movies seem to be a high-end version of those, with just a scattering of added Hollywood glitter among the roll-call of Brit stalwarts. Not that that's a bad thing, mind. There were some odd and/or ridiculous offerings too: for those who've come to know him as a gunfighter or a god, I give you a young Ian McShane as crimefighting antiques dealer, part-time conman/forger and all-round lovable rogue Lovejoy.

I've always thought the Fermi Paradox skipped the point that the universe is very old, and that our entire civilisation has evolved in the blink of its eye. So regardless of where a civilisation arises or whether they achieve FTL, they have to exist in the same time period we do for us to make contact. We could be walking on the scattered bones of long-dead alien explorers and never know. Hawking held a "Welcome Time Travellers" party with free booze, and nobody showed, though I think this was just a way of getting the faculty to pay for his bar tab. There's also the possibility that they've already been here looking for intelligent life, stopped by for a quick chat with the whales and then wandered off.

On a side note, You might have the right idea but wrong attraction: Doc's court appearance looks to be in the Great Court of the British Museum. Just time-lock him and park him in the Stonehenge exhibition with the Druids and nobody'll have a clue.

Thanks. I don't know enough about the M1 onboard GPU to know how it's going to behave under load, though it can apparently hold its own against mid-range Radeons and GeForces with far less power usage.

While it would take generations to fully adapt to low gravity physically - again, The Expanse has a slightly realistic view of how prospective Martians and Belters would struggle under Earth-weight - training regimens, supplements and such keep existing space station inhabitants pretty healthy, and gravity flywheels have been a feature of SF for years. Scott and Mark Kelly were followed for a year, and showed few differences with one being in space and the other on Earth... https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-twins-study-results-published-in-science/ ...except for the telomeres (a DNA strand's protective "handles" - could be gravity, could be radiation?) and their digestion and arteries, which is likely a result of the food. Space food isn't nearly as bad as it used to be, but it's still specialised, and - like airline food - wildly overseasoned to cope with how lower pressures affect your tastebuds. So gravity we can adapt to. Radiation is always going to be a problem. The reason I don't wanna party on Mars is the place has no atmosphere: the magnetosphere isn't strong enough to stop it being stripped by solar wind, which also lets a whole mess of icky sticky nasty cosmic particles down to the surface that would normally bounce off prettily. For comparison: Our lovely home of Earth (that we should cherish and please stop ripping apart for dead dino farts and liquid tree remains) allows you ~2.4 microSieverts (mSv) a year. Easily tolerable. Moreso if you're a mad Californian: less if you're pale, interesting and Scottish like me, and take two weeks of careful tanning to turn white. Mars: make that ~240 mSv a year. Big damn suntan. Survivable, but you'd want to minimise it, and it'd start playing merry hob with sensitive electronics. The ISS: varies. Low end that's been recorded for a six-month tour was 50, high end - if you got caught on the edge of a flare - over 2,000. Even with care and shielding that starts active damage to soft tissues like corneas. The Moon varies between 110 and 380 mSV a year. So if you've seen lots of big, heavy, igloo-like structures and underground chambers on the Moon in classic 60s/70s sci-fi, they had the right idea. The other problem with the Moon and Mars is a little more prosaic: dust. I have problems dusting at the best of times, but it's never tried to eat its way through my clothing, my windows or walls. When I've worked... abroad, shall we say, there's a reason schmancy lasers and laptops don't have a place in extreme environments like deserts - sand gets everywhere - everywhere, trust me. The Apollo suits that went to the Moon are scarred and tattered from simply a few days exposure to the constant grinding of ultrafine silicate particles. But just when you're moving around. It doesn't come after you. Now accelerate that dust to 70mph+ in dust storms that last for months, and you've got the Martian problem. Any equipment out in that is going to get sandblasted. To follow up on Haijinx's post: I'm not being a negative Nelly or misanthropic McCoy about all this. It's all solvable. But, with my practical head on - solve the easier stuff first. Preferably starting with the politics and funding... [blink] ...okay, I'll get to work on the energy shielding and matter-antimatter generation. Now where can I get some Dilithium and a couple of hydrospanners at this hour...

I haven't played ST:O in oh, a Vulcan Pon Farr or two. But if the Firefly Fleet's still running around, tell them Dr. Amy Weaver sent you and there'll be all of hell, half of heaven and me to pay if they mistreat you. AND DON'T TOUCH MY DAMN WHISKEY. I'll be back for it. Sometime. Edit: this is, of course, also from before we knew Joss was quite as much of a verengan Ha'DIbaH as he turned out to be. (Curse his not-particularly-sudden and inexplicable betrayal). But the fleet are still pretty good folks. As are everyone I've met realtime from the Flandom.