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I just got a free month of Prime. Is there any show I need to check out? I don't imagine I'll have time for more than one. A few friends have recommended Fallout, but I haven't played the games and I'm not very interested in the story.

Jace and I were just gossiping, Ty. :p Theron and Hardy are very different, and while I haven't read the book linked earlier, apparently she felt threatened enough to require on set protection after he got aggressive with her. You can google excerpts from previous reporting. All points indicate he can be a Prima Dona on set, so I'll stand my assessment of him being a messy bitch.

This is a very difficult comparison. For who is superior in what, I would say: Presentation: Mass Effect Companions: Mass Effect (by virtue of accompanying them through 3 games) Main Character: Mass Effect (Shepard never was that well developed, but while the Dark Urge is good, generic Tav is rather bland) Main Story: No Winner (ME1 was a very promising start, but ME2 was ultimately a rather pointless diversion and ME3's great moments are balanced out by the awfulness of it's ending and everything that has to do with Cerberus and Earth. BG3's main story on the other hand suffers because it doesn't properly develop its plot threads towards a satisfying conclusion) Side Quests: BG3 (I am not counting ME2's loyalty missions here and ME2/3 disappoint here) RPG mechanics/creative stuf you can do/interactivity with the world: BG3 by a very wide margin. World Building: Mass Effect I think Mass Effect simply has the advantage that it is a trilogy instead of a single game, so there's more room for the world and characters to develop.

The arena scene is the only black & white scene in the movie. All of the other Harkonnen scenes have color, albeit dark and subdued. To me that means that there had to be a world building explanation, unlike in Oppenheimer.

Cast Kevin Costner as Hayes Ellison Sienna Miller as Frances Kittredge Sam Worthington as First Lt. Trent Gephardt Giovanni Ribisi as Roland Bailey Danny Huston as Colonel Houghton Michael Rooker as Sgt. Major Riordan Jena Malone as Ellen/Lucy Michael Angarano as Walter Childs Abbey Lee as Marigold Jamie Campbell Bower as Caleb Sykes Jon Beavers as Junior Sykes Owen Crow Shoe as Pionsenay Tatanka Means as Taklishim Wasé Chief as Liluye Luke Wilson as Matthew Van Weyden Ella Hunt as Juliette Chesney Tom Payne as Hugh Proctor Will Patton as Owen Kittredge Isabelle Fuhrman as Diamond Kittredge Jeff Fahey Thomas Haden Church Alejandro Edda Tim Guinee Colin Cunningham Scott Haze Angus Macfadyen Douglas Smith Michael Provost Kathleen Quinlan as Annie Pine Larry Bagby James Russo Dale Dickey as Mrs. Sykes Hayes Costner James Landry Hébert Dalton Baker Georgia MacPhail Naomi Winders Austin Archer Charles Baker

Substance needs work. Hype only requires thick skin.

The two games in the series the refs have let them play the most have been dominated by the Wolves. This shouldn't be a surprise. They were the best defense all year with their strategy being smothering the other team. If the refs call a bunch of quick soft fouls they have to adjust in game and that typically doesn't go well for most teams. And it makes it extra hard if they're also not getting the same soft fouls.

Because we don't have AI emoji generators yet... duh.

Sorry, no, this is not a fact. Far from it. There is no record of any targ bride going to any Westerosi family other than Daella until the Dance. We can go back as far as we can: Aenar -- several unknown wives and siblings. We don't know who they were or who else they married. Daenys the Dreamer -- married her brother, Gaemon Elaena -- married Aegon, her brother Unknown daughter of Daenys and Gaemon -- married an unknown lord, pure speculation that this was anyone other than a Velaryon or Celtigar Unknown woman -- supposedly birthed a bastard from Aerion Targ who went on to found House Baratheon. No indication she was not a Vela or Celt, or even a Targeryen. And as a bastard would in no way be expected to ever become a lord paramount. Visenya/Raenys -- married Aegon I Rhaena -- married her brother, Aegon Alysanne -- married her brother, Jaehaerys Aerea -- died at 14, never married Rhaella -- became a septa, never married Daenarys -- died at 7 Maegelle -- became a septa, never married Saera -- never married, birthed several bastards, none of them from her Westerosi suitors. But this is the first time we hear of a Targ king considering a marriage of one of his daughters to a West lord, although his queen argued against it. Daella -- married Rodrick Arryn, which I've already noted. It is very possible that neither Jaehaerys nor Alysanne were fully aware of why Targ marriages had to be kept close to the family, since they were never meant to be king and queen. Allyssa -- married her brother, Baelon Helaena -- married her brother, Aegon Rhaenys -- married Corlys Velaryon Rhaenyra -- married Laenor Velaryon Jaehaera -- married her brother, Aegon Laena Velaryon -- married Daemon Targ Baela Targaryen -- married Alyn Velaryon Rhaena Targaryen -- married Corwyn Corbray and Garmund Hightower, which whom she had six daughters. This is the first generation to marry outside the Valyrian line, and it was at or after the dance when the dragons were dying out anyway.

I only lived in the UK for 2 years in the early 2000's so I don't know much about that, this kind of content doesn't seem to have crossed the Channel much. I was surprised when looking through Palin's bibliography though, he's got tons of travel books like that one. I liked his writing style, so I might have a look at more of them. William probably knows more about the TV programs. In terms of changes, I seems to me that the biggest game changer might be portable phones, and not so much the internet? For the places he went to, it's possible that the internet wouldn't have helped all that much either. Maybe to look up phone numbers. If nobody told you that the book's from 1991 (Ok, ignoring the part with the USSR), it all feels pretty modern, at least to me.

Tuchel has confirmed that he will in fact be leaving Bayern. Says that talks were held over him staying but an agreement could not be reached. Reports that Xavi might end up leaving Barca as well due to some issues that have arisen between him and Laporta.

So Scottie Scheller was apparently arrested this morning trying to bypass some traffic to get to the golf course. That wasn't the golf headline I was expecting to see.

Heard one review saying it's a visual novel. More expansive than the first. Also compared both movies as The Raid 2 was to The Raid.

Mass Effect significantly superior in my view. But then I also think Witcher 3, Dragon Age and Skyrim were superior.

It went badly for them last time and the UK keeps a disproportionately large military presence in the South Atlantic to prevent it happening again (and would probably ramp that up if there was any threat of conflict). Milei may be generally nuts but he's been at pains to be clear he's definitely not nuts enough to get into a war with the UK.

I know talking heads gotta talk... how else are you gonna fill four hours of time talking into a microphone... but man, having to listen to all the hot takes yesterday talking about what a disappointment it will be when the Wolves lose four straight to be eliminated felt egregious even in the moment. How much more ridiculous does it look today? Every year this happens. A team wins two games, they are the greatest thing in the world, they lose two games and its all falling apart. How about we recognize that teams are adjusting and having good days and bad days?

I enjoyed the first half hour or so, but feel the entire movie falls apart the moment Han Solo shows up. That's when the weird dialogue that all of these films have starts. Where the characters act like they're talking to the audience and not each other. I don't remember all these moments, because I've only ever seen each sequel film once and have no plans to see them again, but Han's "It's was all real" speech, took me right out of the film. Same with Luke's "You don't need Luke Skywalker" speech in the next film.

I was excited about the upcoming film… I do that a lot… and I think you are correct.

I've gotta say I didn't even notice that they did call it a black sun during the film, I didn't know anything about how they'd filmed it and was just struck by how well the whole thing worked visually - so that's maybe 1 throwaway line during the movie thats different to those Oppenheimer scenes? But yeah, a big part of why it seems weird to care is just because everything about Dune stretches suspension of belief way more than that but those are just priors you've already accepted for decades so they dont bother you. Sounds like consuming the promo material was the thing that did the most damage to your enjoyment though as thats where the emphases on black sun came from.

Why don't they have a "laughing while crying softly" emoji?

Other things I've watched: Confess, Fletch, Jon Hamm's take on the character Chevy Chase first brought to the screen in the 80s, based on Gregory McDonald's mystery novels series known for their dry humor and wit. I think Hamm does a fine job playing Fletch in a lower register than Chase did, there's something quite off-beat about him. Kyle MacLachlan guests as an EDM-loving germaphobic art broker and Harvard lecturer -- yes, it's as crazy as it sounds. It's a solid film, a bit saggy here and there, but Hamm's charming throughout. Then finally saw Dune: Part 2, and I thought the Gedis Prime stuff and the introduction of Feyd-Rautha was excellent, the end was spectacular, the beginning good... and the middle was kind of just there for the most part? I really should love these movies, but there's something about Villeneuve's approach to the material that just makes it feel so heavy and portentous and, ultimately, plodding. Getting away from Paul was often the right answer. It's not Chalamet's fault, I think, as he's really compelling after he drinks the Water of Life and publicly accepts his place as Lisan al Ghalib, and on through that, but I put it down to direction and choices made in adapting. Beautiful visuals of deserts and massive spacecraft and worms aside -- he's great at scale and grandeur -- this movie largely makes the characters and their conflicts seem relatively tiny and uninteresting. Nice cameo during his Water of Life vision, though; great choice of actress. Hacks had a bit of a bottle episode that I didn't love too much, but the follow-up episode was good fun, with a Christina Hendricks guest starring role that was pretty hilarious. I enjoy the way the show is able to play with modern culture and politics, using Deborah and Ava as foils.

Today's SMBC is relevant to this thread: https://www.smbc-comics.com/

Ah great that there are at least two of us here watching it. I hope people pick up on it in the near future, because it's such an ambitious piece of storytelling and I feel like the writers have been able to retain control over it. About Downey Jr.'s characters I was shocked about how old Duchovny seems to have become. Probably honest use of make-up and everything, but I almost did not recognize him.

Had it only been a stylistic choice and not explicitly called the “Black sun” during the film and in pre-release interviews… I would have less of a problem with it. Let me put it a different way. All of Strauss’ confirmation scenes being filmed in black and white during Oppenheimer worked for me. There was no attempt to explain it in story. Here an explanation was offered in story… an explanation that makes no sense… if pulled me out of the story because it made no sense to me. If it worked for you, that’s great, it weakens the film for me. I would, again, have preferred no explanation (like Oppenheimer) that pulled me out of the story.

Yes, I do not deny that this stuff is interesting and seems to relate to the Dance. It is just less convincing when applied to predicting the main series. Either the Others already HAVE ice dragons, in which case.... why aren't they using them already? Or they do not and they need to make one. A dragon is the embodiment of fire, so the whole notion that the Others can take a dead fire beast and simply turn it into something that is the opposite of itself is.... I don't know. It falls flat. I prefer ice monsters to be ice monsters, not fiery in origin. Something is off. According to the legends, ice dragons are MADE of ice. How can something made of fire then be made of ice? I guess I just really am not seeing any way that an actual ice dragon would make this series better, rather than worse, and GRRM usually has good instincts. The events surrounding Aemond and Dameon at the God's Eye were a good story; but ramping it up to something more literal would be worse, not better. Now... as a prediction for Euron fighting Aegon, both of them on some kind of bastardized version of a dragon - well that would be better would it not?