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Okay, let's turn all this talk of disgusting food around. You are shipwrecked, washed ashore on a desert island, along with a lifetime supply of food. However, only one type of food has washed up on the shore. You will have to eat this food, and nothing else, until rescue or death. All food consumed on this island contains the same nutritious and calorific value. You have a plentiful supply of clean fresh water. What are you eating? Mine is donuts. None of yer fancy dan Krispy Kreme monstrosities, mind. I'm talking the ones you get at the fairground. Plain, basic, ringed donuts, covered in sugar. Still warm. Om nom fucking nom.

I will say this again, you can pay a QB market value for what they are worth if they're that dude, but you can't pay someone like Goff the same going rate. In that that situation teams are likely way better off to trade the player and draft a rookie QB, regardless if they have to move up. Would you be excited to pay Tua or Lawrence more than Mahommes, and not just by a little bit? Because that's what's being reported and I think both deals are a bad idea (and I say that as someone who was very high on both players when they were in college).

I was against the Montreal-style bagel when I first had it, but now I love it.

Hot Pie is the real Aegon VI. Ages line up and there's nothing to disprove it. Plus if you rearrange the letters of 'Hot Pie' you can make 'ophite', which apparently means this: "Any of various eruptive or metamorphic rocks which have spots or markings like a snake and are usually green; serpentine," or this: "A member of an early Gnostic sect which worshipped the serpent." A serpent is kind of like a dragon plus it sounds fancy and significant so it must be true.

I’m sorry, DMC, but the legend says the bagel was created in Vienna, in honor of Polish King Jan Sobieski, who rescued the city from the Ottoman hordes. There were other armies involved, but the Polish army tipped the balance (ie see US forces in WWI). Polish troops wore headgear that sorta, kinda looks bagel shaped. You know the legend, right? The bakers of Vienna were up early in the morning to bake the bread in their basement kitchens and in the quiet they could hear the sounds of Ottoman tunnelers digging under the wall. The bakers warned the troops and helped save the city. The legend also says they created the croissant at that time, crescent-shaped to remind everyone of the defeated enemy. The Austrian word is kipfel, and the pastry didn’t arrive in France for a couple of hundred years, when a Viennese baker opened a famous shop. The French used the French word for crescent instead, and now croissants are supposed to be French. ETA considered a legend, since kipfel had been around a long time before. But bagels were a staple bread in Poland long before Jewish immigrants brought them to the US. And yes, whole-heartedly adopted by Americans. And Canadians too.

The movie The Wayward Cloud permanently changed how I view watermelons.

..I feel like throwing gefilte fish into the mix would be a positive, no? Or is it just a George Costanza thing where combining food and sex just doesn’t work?

Vincent Namatjira should send Gina a box of chocolates thanking her for making him far more well known and popular than he would have been if she wasn't such a sensitive snowflake. I can imagine the value of his paintings going up by 50% thanks to Gina's fragile ego.

I am fairly certain I'm the biggest Mad Max fanboy around these parts. I got a pair of steampunk style goggles that match Furiousa's from a swag box of promotional materials for my bar a few weeks ago (specifically, from the blended scotch The Deacon which has an image of a plague mask on its unique bottle). I'm 100% wearing them, at least on my forehead, to the opening on Friday. I've already told my bar staff that I am unequivocally leaving work at 9pm even if the ceiling is falling in to attend a showing. I've ducked every trailer so far. I'm pretty goddamn hyped. I still watch Fury Road - or at least, the first major sequences up through the majestic sandstorm scene and its denouement - every few months either on my projection screen or on my Oculus. I just never get tired of watching a random wild vehicle like 4 rows back from the main action. Then again I'm also an old stoner and Oooh'ing and Aaah'ing at huge dystopian car chase setpieces is top-tier 2am entertainment. My friends all know my infatuation with the series, and one suggested I buy the seats on either side of me and the one in front of me, just to maximize my own comfort. I am not exaggerating that I looked up the viability of this idea, but as much as I'm babbling about this film, it's not quite worth 65 bucks so I can stretch out.

He's been dangling the Others story since the first prologue, so it needs a good resolution, though I agree it will be probably be in the North. The truth as I see it is that he's been stuck really since Storm of Swords. Almost everything after that has been chapters of stuff, not really character arcs. Cersei, Arya, Dany and Theon had arcs. There was a beginning, middle and a new endpoint where they had evolved to a different state. [Okay not Cersei, she's a sociopath so incapable of personal growth but we got a beginning/middle/end point for her in the last two books]. Dany's arc could have been done in about 1/2 to 1/3 of the chapters, but I digress. Most everyone else has just been doing various stuff, some more interesting and some less since 2005. I used to be terribly opposed to the idea of splitting Winds, but I don't care anymore now. I don't believe he has anything and may never have anything more than just more chapters, where everyone does more stuff. Some will be beautiful and meaningful, some will be full of nuncles and banners and food and where do whores go. He may as well release 800-900 pages of whatever he has and call it Winds.

I agree, with this so much. It's like tonal whiplash watching Andor, compared anything else Star Wars related. You actually see people acting like adults on that show and not cartoon characters. Not that I have issue with cartoon characters when done right, the OT had plenty of them, lol

Ukraine has destroyed the missile destroyer Cyclone at berth in Sevastopol with ATACMS. This is the second Karakurt-class corvette to be hit, and the first to be apparently confirmed destroyed. This isn't a really huge missile carrier, but it was still capable of launching multiple Kalibr cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine. The minesweeper Kovrovets was sunk on Sunday.

For me it was War Games, that's my memory of him. Saw him in a lot of stuff through the years though.

I watched this over the weekend as well and thought it was much better than the last one. I still favor the first one in this reboot though. This is an enjoyable movie that might be best viewed on a large screen. I liked the time jump and the special effects were really well done, crazy when I look back at the original and how amazing it looked when I first saw it compared to how it looks when I see it now. Yeah it was pretty clear she(the human) was different This is the 4th installment in the new reboot btw.

The problem with the Meereen/Essos story is that its conclusion was always foregone: Dany will leave them behind, eventually. Those places are just there for Daenerys to stay in wait before it's time for her to go to Westeros, after which they will be completely irrelevant because the Iron Throne isn't located in Essos. The politics of the Seven Kingdoms is the focus of the whole saga, and Essos is largely irrelevant to it. Meereen is merely "something to do" for Daenerys before she is brought into the main game. Whatever happens there is too far away to matter much to the Seven Kingdoms, and I don't think the plots could ever be integrated to any meaningful degree. Personally, I don't find the Others storyline that appealing, for similar reasons. It has a similar problem: the North is a too big buffer against the Others for the rest of the kingdoms to be truly affected by them. I have a feeling that the entire Others storyline will be too contained in this relatively-faraway region to influence the politics of the Seven Kingdoms to any meaningful degree, unless the North ends up completely overrun to the point of being wiped off the map. The show struggled with this too, they couldn't really bring the Others to the "central stage". Everything that had anything to do with them happened at or north of Winterfell, largely without affecting the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. It's too hard to draw every story thread together to focus on such a geographically far-off location, when there are so many other story threads going on in the south. But that's just my opinion, though. I think the real genius of this series is its portrayal of the aptly-named "game of thrones", the struggle for power between various factions and people. The ice zombie apocalypse happening up north is a very different type of story, and one that is by its nature detached from the power struggle of the capital. If the key to defeating the Others lies in the North, like in the show, then that storyline won't get further south than the Neck. One can try to pull all the important characters up north to deal with it, but that leaves the game of thrones behind completely as everyone goes far away for a sidequest. Then we're left with nothing to see in King's Landing except Cersei drinking wine and staring out windows until that ruckus is resolved and the players all come back. I personally would have applauded Martin if he pulled the ballsiest move ever and removed the Others from the story. Don't ever let them south of the Wall, and have the humans all play out their game of thrones in peace. That's the real meat of the series, after all. The human heart in conflict with itself, or however that quote goes. Putting the human heart in conflict with evil dark ice zombies of darkness and evil makes for a rather predictable outcome - after some deaths among the good guys, the bad guys are eventually vanquished, the survivors rejoice. And then the interesting politics should logically resume again, once the objectively worst guys are taken care of. One might as well resolve the ice zombie storyline quickly and keep the focus on the struggle between humans. The most interesting thing happening up north as the series currently stands isn't whether the Others will attack again, but the war between Stannis and the Boltons, and what the Northern lords will do.

He has a brand new contract (so it's always higher) for a legit top 5-10 QB and yet he is still 7th in guaranteed money, 2nd in AAV, and 9th in overall contract value. That sounds about right to me. CBSsports did an article on this recently, numbers all came from there. The only thing anyone can point at and say it seems too high is AAV, and that can and likely will change with contract changes each new season to make room for the team.

This is why your status as an honorary Jew is sustained, though still pending because of that time you tried to eat gefilte fish while having sex, but who among us is perfect, right?

Appreciated the list. One not mentioned that is rather uniquely American - bagels. I’m not saying I decided which grad school to go to based on the city’s bagel situation, but it was a factor. The town I grew up in had two awesome local bagel places “downtown,” or right next to the high school and middle school. Bruegger’s will do in a pinch, but I want something in the area that isn’t a chain.

@The Dragon Demands Interesting but still show canon only. Since dragons can change sex, do you think the Valyrians represented their deities as gender neutral/fluid (I don't know what the appropriate term would be in ASOIAF) ?

I've definitely heard this in the UK from at least my first retail job (2013)

Does anyone have recommendations for a good electrolyte supplement for after running? I'm hoping for natural solutions, not something like Gatorade.

It is far more likely that we know of all the dragons flying around Westeros at the time than unknown secret Targs marrying into Westerosi houses. But yes, dragon riding requires targ blood and access to dragons, both of which would be tightly controlled. The dragonseeds merely prove my point: some commoner on Dragonstone would never have the means to acquire a dragon egg, but a Westerosi lord might. That is why it was all the more crucial to keep the bloodlines out of those houses than commoners -- even if this is futile over the centuries, generation after generation. They would still try their damndest to prevent rival houses, whom they have just overthrown by force, from acquiring they weapon that caused the end of their reigns. I fail to see why this is such a hard concept to grasp. Lol, there is absolutely no evidence that any of the Celtigars carried Targaryen blood. And there is zero evidence - absolutely none -- that the Tarth triplets had any Targaryen blood as well. Look at your own post on the subject. So again, you are speculating wildly here. Orys Baratheon having Targ blood established another house in Westeros that would produce suitable matches for Targaryens. Aegon removed the sitting king and replaced him with his own blood brother who is for all intents and purposes, a Targaryen. This is vastly different from spreading Targ blood to houses who have their own loyalties, and in fact resent being conquered by the Targs. So it makes all the difference in the world. Maegor's wives would have bred new Targaryens, not new Hightowers or Harroways or Westerlings. And he was mad as a hatter anyway. So sorry, friend, but what you have is not careful research and analysis but confirmation bias. But it's been nice chatting with you.

I couldn't find the last thread so here we go. Endless have now been cast: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/the-sandman-season-2-casts-delirium-destiny-destruction-the-prodigal-actors-1236009511/

I was once a supporter of the Brightfyre theory (albeit a slightly modified version), but after reading some arguments of Truegon supporters, I changed my mind. Interestingly, I wasn't swayed to the Truegon side, but their arguments made me realize that fAegon is neither Blackfyre nor Brightflame. He is just a random Valyrian-looking kid. Many fAegon supporters, regardless of what camp they're in (Blackfyre, Brightflame, random kid), have made many good points why he isn't the son of Rhaegar and Elia (Varys never outright stating that he is Rhaegar's son, the pisswater prince story making no sense, "the mummer's dragon, slayer of the lies" vision, Illyrio's behavior, him being legit making Daenerys and Jon unimportant etc.), but in this post, I'm going to explain why he is not a Blackfyre or Brightflame either. WHY HE IS NOT A BLACKFYRE He thinks he's a Targaryen, even if he's "biologically" a Blackfyre. If the Blackfyre himself will forever think that he's a Targaryen, where is the glory for the Blackfyres? What sense would that make for the plot? Are the members of the Golden Company going to think to themselves "We put a Blackfyre on the throne. Nobody will know he's a Blackfyre, and the Blackfyre name won't be reminded to others, but he's a Blackfyre by blood after all. We fulfilled Bittersteel's promise. Yay us!" Come on guys, does that really make sense? "History doesn't remember blood, it remembers names." -Corlys Velaryon "But the Golden Company supports him!" The members of the Golden Company are exiles, and they want to go home. Some are pretenders to titles, which they aim to achieve. Blackfyres being "extinct in the male line" is common knowledge, and they know very well that they're not going to find a Blackfyre to support. Supporting a kid with a Blackfyre mother who himself thinks he is the son of Rhaegar and Elia would not give them any feeling of attachment, loyalty or glory, as I said in the previous article. Even if the Golden Company somehow knew that he had a Blackfyre mother, that wouldn't be a secret anymore. TEN THOUSAND mercenaries would know that there was a Blackfyre descendant alive, and neither Illyrio nor Varys would risk that. They would've had to inform only some high ranking members. But if only some high ranking members were allowed to know that, wouldn't ten thousand other mercenaries think "We were founded to fight for Blackfyres. Why are we supporting our mortal enemies?" Some Blackfyre theory supporters might argue that "Like you said, they want to go home". But despite the fact that they were founded to fight for Blackfyres, and they wanted to go home even with their mortal enemies, that just proves me. That would mean that they don't care about the Blackfyres anymore. And if the GC doesn't care about Blackfyres, Aegon being a Blackfyre wouldn't serve the plot in any way. If Aegon was enthroned as a Targaryen and later revealed to be a Blackfyre, his legitimacy would be tarnished. It would be EXTREMELY likely that the lords and ladies of the realm would rebel against him (perhaps excluding Yronwoods, Peakes and Osgreys, who are long-time Blackfyre fanboys, but that would be merely a drop in the ocean). If he was indeed meant to be a Blackfyre, it would make more sense to make him an outright Blackfyre, rather than making him a secret Blackfyre who's pretending to be a Targaryen. "But if he was made an outright Blackfyre, he would find very little support!" Well, if he conquers the Seven Kingdoms as Aegon VI Targaryen, and would later be revealed as Aegon Blackfyre, all the support he previously had would evaporate. So he either finds no support, or all the support he has evaporates. Same outcome; being deposed. And remember that Aegon has no dragons. If he is truly going to be revealed later as a Blackfyre, others would not be afraid to overthrow him. WHY HE IS NOT A DESCENDANT OF AERION "BRIGHTFLAME" The classical Brightfyre theory (Illyrio being half-Blackfyre and Serra being a granddaughter of Aerion Brightflame) is not only tinfoil, but also makes no sense. While marrying someone from the eldest agnatic-cognatic line of the Targaryen dynasty may give him some legitimacy, he is still descended from a woman. In the Great Council of 101 AC, female lines were completely excluded from the line of succession (agnatic primogeniture), just like in medieval France. Rhaenys (in TV) and Laenor (in the books) were excluded from the line of succession, and it was made clear that uncles and their male lines come before daughters and their male line. After King Baelor's death, his oldest sister Daena was passed over in favor of their uncle, Viserys II. After King Aerys I's death, Prince Rhaegel's daughter Daenora (daughter of the thirdborn son) was passed over in favor of Maekar (fourthborn son). The daughter of King Maekar's firstborn son, Vaella, was also passed over in favor of Aerion. So, unlike in medieval England or Spain (which had agnatic-cognatic succession, in which daughters or their lines were allowed to inherit if there were no sons), the succession law of the Iron Throne is agnatic, like in medieval France, which means females and their lines are completely excluded. Why would Illyrio, a half-Blackfyre, marry a descendant of Aerion Targaryen? Why would he marry someone from the house of his nemeses? Let's accept that they were madly in love, which they were, and their love knew no boundaries. And Illyrio is, in fact, portraying his son by Serra Brightflame as Rhaegar and Elia's. How would Aegon being a Brightflame descendant serve the plot? It is completely irrelevant to everything. If Illyrio thinks Aegon should be the king because he descends from the eldest male line of Targaryens (which he morally can't, because he is a half-Blackfyre according to the theory), why not just portray him for what he is? "Aegon, great-grandson of Aerion Brightflame, the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms." If that's not what Illyrio thinks, how does Aegon being a descendant of Aerion serve the plot? As I said; before I switched to the "random kid Aegon" side, I had made up my own Brightfyre theory. Why? Because "beneath the gold, the bitter tinfoil". In my version; Illyrio was the grandson of Aerion, and Serra was a Blackfyre. It would give him a somewhat stronger claim, as he is descended from the eldest agnatic line of Targaryens. But later, I realized it wasn't that different from the classical Brightfyre theory. Why? Go back to the last few sentences of article 2. Furthermore, GRRM completely ignores Aerion's son, Maegor after he is passed over in the council. We don't know whether he's dead or alive, we don't know what he became when he grew up, we don't know where he went, who he married etc. And, AFAIK, he doesn't mention them in any interview. This is not a very good argument, but it might give us the idea that GRRM has nothing planned for Aerion, Maegor and their lines. I think he is just a Valyrian-looking Tyroshi/Lyseni kid with the right age. He could still be Illyrio's son, and that still wouldn't require Serra to be a Blackfyre or a Brightflame.

New promo: nothing much in it…except that Ewan Mitchell says something I think he said before but in a text-only interview: the Valyrian god that Vhagar was named after was specifically the God of War: