Underfoot

Yeah that sounds like the worst game of DnD ever. Agreed with @horangi, there was plenty of space for the dm to let you run with your ideas and ideally reward creativity. I'd have been very frustrated

This has been on my list for ages, this made me bump it up!

Ugh I'm sorry you're experiencing that. It doesnt sound too far off from what I'm experiencing overall, minus the couple of seizure-light episodes. My hand also has a bit of a tremors sometimes when in use. The doctors have been calling what's going on for me psychiatric/stress induced, and my neurologist said I am having "startle" reactions. I refuse to believe I am THAT stressed, and my neurologist was overall dismissive of me in a way I didn't like. No one has considered long covid for me at all, but maybe I need to be pushier because I'm tired of all the shrugging they're doing. Idk why but I would feel better if I could just name it. I haven't heard anyone else who's had covid talk about similar symptoms in terms of it being long-covid until I saw your post, so it's making me wonder. thanks for sharing!

Hate to come at you out of nowhere, but I've been having bad muscle issues / muscle pain+tightness post-covid as well, along with fatigue and weakness. What is the jerking/twitching you're experiencing? I have had three episodes lasting multiple hours (up to 15 hours) of involuntary muscle contractions all over my body that make me jerk/twitch/stutter. The doctors don't know what's going on (and my B12 levels are fine). Generally, all my muscles are super tight and I am very stiff/in pain. Is that what you're experiencing, and do the docs say it's long covid? I hope the B12 helps!!!

That was a really good episode. Season keeps getting better and better! Idk how I'm going to scratch my epic fantasy itch once the season's over

I'm shocked that it was an Iowa State fan and not a Hawkeye

Agreed 100% (all counts). I see what they were trying to do but it's unearned

I mean it's a little on the nose and I feel like Ahsoka grew past that already, but what kind of master will she be for Sabine? Someone focused only on fighting and learning to be a soldier, hardening Sabine? Potentially following the path Anakin took to the dark side, somehow? Is that her part in the legacy of their "line?" She learned everything Anakin knew, and Anakin turned bad. She choose to both not die and to stop fighting, I guess, and someone that means not following Anakin's path to Vader. That was my read anyways. I am not sure it's exactly new for Ahsoka as a character, and we haven't really seen ahsoka show Anakin traits in this show, so it's a little out of nowhere thematically. Plus new viewers got to see elements of Anakin/Ahsoka's relationship, and we got to meet young Ahsoka (who was badass by the way)

I heard a bit of that! She was fangirling pretty hard and asked a lot of questions about Basic (vs UBI)

I'll second some recs and add some new. Everything I've listed is a complete series or standalone. Farseer trilogy and/or Liveship trilogy by Robin Hobb - older now but still relatively fresh, written by a woman, with plenty of women characters to root for (and hate). If you're not digging the first book of the Farseer trilogy, you might still like Liveship - it's 3rd person with multiple POVs, where Farseer is 1st person with one POV. If you like one or both trilogies, good news! It's a 16 book overall world, so you'll have plenty of reading material. The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham - recent series, with a great set of characters. Lots of traditional fantasy trappings, but some new stuff in there too. Abraham excels at character work, and you might really love several of his women characters. If you like this, you might like the slower paced, more character-driven The Long Price Quartet, but I wouldn't start there with Daniel Abraham. Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky - bit closer to steampunk than traditional fantasy, but a great book nonetheless. Standalone. The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty - A story spun around Middle Eastern mythology, it's got lots of politics, a little bit of fighting, interesting worldbuilding/magic, and the main protagonist is a woman. Echoes of the Fall trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky - semi related to another of Tchaikovsky's series, but I didn't read it before I read this one and enjoyed it immensely. Cultures that share souls with animals (can shapeshift) and usually fight each other, until a looming, existential threat from across the sea arrives. Penric and Desdemona novellas by Lois McMaster Bujold. These shorts accompany her Chalion trilogy (also great reading) but can stand on their own. I find them wonderful and heartwarming escapism, if you ever want that vibe. They are quick / bite-sized. The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden - since you liked Uprooted, this might be up your alley. Russian fairytales come to life. The Broken Earth by NK Jemisin - this one is a little bit of a wildcard based on your list, but it's a truly out there fantasy/super-in-the-future dystopia, with earth shattering (literally) stakes. Shattered Sea trilogy by Joe Abercrombie - if you don't want to dive headlong into the Abercrombie's grimdark The First Law trilogy and subsequent books, this is a slightly (really really slightly) more YA series from him that has a lot of Vikings trappings to the story. Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - love him, hate him, consider him the baloney sandwich of fantasy, nevertheless Sanderson did put out in a pretty engaging trilogy with this one in my opinion (opinions are very mixed on Sanderson here, elsewhere its almost universal praise afaict). Pretty gory, light on (good) romance), this has one of the more unique magic systems out there. Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence - another more wildcard pick, but this is a story about nuns with powers fighting against evils that lurk in the ice that encases the entire planet except the equator. I've read and enjoyed almost every book you mentioned, so hopefully some of these are up your alley!

This ^ IMO, the PT had the bones of a really interesting story and added so much more to the worldbuilding (even if the execution was not great etc etc (but I grew up on the prequels so I like them more than most)). With the Clone Wars, the bones of that story got fleshed out, making the overall existing story better. TCW also made Star Wars fun*! And dynamic! And fresh! Lots of interesting ideas and characters thrown out into the world, even if not all of it was great. I also think the character work in TCW was really excellent. If you look at the character arcs as whole, Anakin, Ahsoka, Padme, Palpatine, Obi-Wan, not to mention all the clone solders (Rex!)... Really everyone got some time to shine, and change, and feel more real. Rebels is similar IMO, but I have less of a soft spot for it for some reason. I don't think any of Filoni's live action has been half as good (so far). Maybe he's limited in what he can do outside of a cartoon-style show that has many long seasons to run with, or maybe he shines mostly when filling in the gaps of existing stories, and working within tight constraints - doesn't have to generate big ideas, just focus on woldbuilding and character arcs? Dunno *As a caveat, I watched TCW and Rebels after Rise of Skywalker + during Covid, so it was nice to enjoy Star Wars again and have some really solid escapism.

Watched episode 3, and I am still down on the show though not as much as I was last week. I think @karaddin really nailed it in the last thread - we just don't know this zen!Ahsoka - and to a lesser degree wooden!Hera - and combining that with the shift to live action just gives this show a dissonance. It doesn't feel like a show about Ahsoka because Ahsoka the character is unrecognizable, to me anyways. I was really worried about that, and I am super bummed it seems to be going that way. I might have to give this one up.

I'm still mad about Kenobi stealing that scene from Rebels / Ahsoka lol

that too, but i'd hesitate to use "scientific" as a descriptor of what happens

Corn, soybeans, and pork are Iowa's thing. And, surprisingly, wind turbines? Always weird to go back home and see how many there are.

Day 3 of no power due to storms last week. DTE sucks, but at least this weekend has been nice weather, cooling down and the humidity is lessening too. If this has happened a week ago I'd be miserable. Strange how disruptive no power is, but also how peaceful.

Agreed. The episodes were very quiet and empty sound-wise. Dialogue was too low energy and most of the lines / dialogue heavy scenes were pretty bad imo. Not PT-level bad, but without any energy in the words it makes it worse.

Have you read the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham? You might find the last book in particular interesting

I'm not sure --

I feel like it must pick up very soon after her cameo in Mandalorian s2, given the prisoner was the lady she fought during that episode.

I haven't absorbed a single line of dialogue (about halfway through) and I don't think I've missed anything. Did we really need another star wars plot about following a cryptic map to a missing person of great power?

Watched the first episode.

Yeah I'm definitely enjoying it. I am on a medical leave and have to do 1-2 hours exercises/day and I have it on during those, so I'm zooming through without much time to reflect, but I can see why it was so popular during when it aired and why there's a spinoff. Haven't seen Suits so can't compare

I've been watching The Good Wife for the first time (for some reason) and the biggest plot hole throughout whole thing is the supposition anyone in the world cares THAT much about a state's attorney (or about lawyers in general. or about state attorney's wives). I don't even know what states attorneys really do and I've watched 5 seasons. Otherwise, surprisingly entertaining. What's interesting for me is how it straddles the time period before and after the rise of super-smart phones and social media and streaming. It ran throughout the time I was in high school through college graduation and it's kind of vertigo inducing to watch so quickly the evolution of technology/society during that time.