Thursday Next

I don't agree that parents should be allowed to choose. If we agree that a child is a person, with their own rights, separate to the parents, then the parents' wishes are not really material, what is key is what is in the best interests of the sick person (see: Antivaxers). The parents can't be objective in deciding what is for the best for their child, their own emotions are too caught up in the situation. The doctors are able to make an objective assessment based on quality of life. In Alfie's case he would almost certainly never have regained consciousness and even if he did, he would not have been able to function. The doctors' assessment was that it was kinder to let him go and have a dignified death. If a patient, for whatever reason, can't say for themselves what treatment they want, or whether they want it to continue, then I think that I would rather that the final decision were made by a doctor, than by a loved one who is emotionally conflicted.

I liked Rise, but didn't love it. $20 is about right I think. It was very much more of the same from the reboot.

+1 God of War. What a game. Jesus. Can't wait for the next. Was a bit thrown by the ending Love that the side quests generally feel meaningful. I've got two last jobs to do in the game till I've done all the content, then it's just a matter of whether or not I want to upgrade everything... Which I maybe do...

Give it to Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson!

Ok, yeah, I've been home now. This game is too good!

I played the original, the biggest hook for me was the Ghibli animation/story telling.

What's the difference between a march step and a high knee?

I don't think so. I'm looking for/am about to collect a chisel.

I was indeed referencing Mr Kaye.

This game is bloody awesome! Was worried that Atreus was going to make it escort mission hell, but as others have said, you don't need to protect him at all. I don't think the combat has properly clicked with me yet. I keep forgetting about Atreus, and which moves I have equipped, I spend a lot (probably too much) time hanging back and throwing my axe, and not enough time windmilling in.

I think one issue was because the bill did nothing to preserve public transport links (bus lines in particular) meaning that low income people could move to these places and then become stranded if a bus line is discontinued. Also there are concerns it would displace low income renters. It smacks to me of a perceived tendency in liberals to discard something that would help out because it is imperfect, rather than embracing the better for now and continuing to work for perfect. Which is why you ended up with Trump and not Clinton...

Knack 2 Do not @ me.

Ready Player One +1! Read the book, enjoyed it at the time, read it again, thought to myself "why did I like this book?". The film is much better, Parzival is less of a prick. It's still problematic in so far as it touts the concept of the fan as gatekeeper which is (imho) the root cause of a lot of fandom toxicity. At least the references (while still prominent) don't take up anything like as much story space as they do in the book. It's obviously a lot easier to throw a bunch of recognisable characters in the background of a scene than it is to write a list of all the recognisable things. One of the people I went to see it with chuckled at every reference he got, I think that is going to be par for the course at any public viewing. The references are thrown out thick and fast to the point where you almost stop noticing them through saturation. As Goh says, it's almost instantly forgettable. The plot (even if you haven't read the book) is always 100% predictable. A popcorn movie, enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying.

Wondering if Ethan or Goh! have been approached by the White House to represent Trump since they seem to be getting knocked back by every single firm in DC.

RIP money.

That sounds like a great recruitment plan! "We have kidnapped you and murdered your family, your job now is to protect the pharoah." "Why does he need protecting?" "Because he kidnaps people and murders their families."

Had to change my build up a lot. The Ice Rail cannon with max damage and some handling is a god-send. The lack of a health bar is especially cruel on UH as you have no idea how close you are to finishing. Here's a vid of when I took it down (needless to say, this was not on my first attempt).

Ok, your definition of a Mary Sue is very different to mine then, so far as I'm concerned a Mary Sue is perfect at everything and saves the day, Rey makes numerous mistakes and doesn't save anyone. The fact that she is a competent female character does not automatically make her a Mary Sue in a universe where all the male heroes are also magically competent at stuff they've never done before. IX won't show any relation to Jesus because the whole point of VIII was to throw away this concept of dynastic, hereditary Jedi, that the only powerful force users can be Skywalkers, and to open the force up to everyone whether you're the patricidal son of princess or My comment regarding the kids film thing is that there are not necessarily going to be a lot of exposition-y bits about how everyone got where they are or why they can do what they can. You say that the prequels were the most for kids, but I disagree. There is far too much banging on about trade, blockades and senate votes for it to be a kids film, there's heaps of tedious explanations about midichlorians and all that stuff that is supposed to explain the world none of which particularly appeals to kids. I've never once heard my niece or nephew talk about how or why for example only baddies can use force lightning, I've never heard them utter the word "midichlorian", they just accept that some people are wizard-monk-ninjas and enjoy it. The prequels, if they were made for anyone, were made for grown up fans of the originals who wanted to know why everything was as it was at the start of A New Hope (whether they did a good job of that is another subject altogether). So when kids see Rey using the force to grab a lightsaber, they don't think "hang on, that's a level 3 Jedi ability! Has she completed the necessary classes to get her diploma in force-pulling?" they just think that shit is cool. When Leia did her thing,

I'd agree with Goh and Ethan, yeah you could pass off one or two things as a slip of the tongue, or that based on his track record that we should read the context generously, but when he is saying things that are this inflammatory, this often and when he is taking legislative action that hugely, disproportionately has a negative impact on minorities, I don't think you can, in good faith, ascribe that to his being lost in translation. P.S. I don't think we've mentioned the whole "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." thing.

Just finished the Frozen Wilds DLC on Ultra Hard. Fuck. Me. That was a challenging fight.

I'm not for a second suggesting that TFA or TLJ are perfect films. They are fun science fantasy kids films. Are there little things that could be improved (like hinting at Leia's powers) sure, but are they complete dumpster fires as a result? No way. Luke doesn't go to Dagobah until after Hoth. So he does the TK thing without any formal training, we first see Luke being taught to lift things by Yoda after Hoth. People spontaneously using previously unmentioned Jedi powers is par for the course. Rey is not remotely a Mary Sue. If she is, then Anakin is a Mary Sue and so is Luke. Luke blew up a Death Star with nothing but Obi Wan whispering in his head to "use the force" and some practice shooting wamprats back home. Anakin blew up a Droid control ship aged about 5, despite having never flown a starfighter before, let alone being trained in one, or seeing plans of the enemy ship to identify its one hit weakness. By contrast Rey does... what exactly in TFA? Edited to add spoiler tags.

I'm not arguing against anyone. I was just saying that Chinese performance is pretty irrelevant, and that success (or not) in any particular market is not indicative of quality. I genuinely have no idea what you mean by the Rey comment at the end btw.

I don't have a Switch, but I totally hear you on HZD being awesome. I've nearly (I think) finished the Frozen Wilds.

I don't think you can use China as a yard-stick for anything. World of Warcraft bombed everywhere except China, doesn't mean it is an objectively bad or good film. Just that something in it appealed to Chinese audiences but not to Western ones. From a sheer dollar perspective, TLJ was a roaring success. Disney will definitely continue with the plan for IX in December 2019, they'd take a hammering on Wall Street if they suddenly pulled the last episode of a trilogy that investors were counting on to bring in some guaranteed billions just to give the franchise a rest. The complaints from fans are largely fit into the "I was fine with people changing things up until I learned all the rules, but now nobody else is allowed to change anything any more." camp. We were fine with the force just being good reflexes, telekinesis and a ghost of some sort. Then we were fine with lightning coming out of people's fingers because why not, then we were fine with long distance telepathic communication, then we were fine with lightsabers blocking electricity flying out of people's fingers, and Yoda catching lightning in his hands. In any event, I liked TFA and TLJ, I like that they are changing the paradigm, making the world more grey and nuanced and less black and white.

Nintendo only competes with other platforms when it comes to share of wallet, it almost never competes on a like-for-like basis. Doesn't matter if it is an open world game or an FPS, a popular Ninty game drains the wallets of people who might otherwise have bought something, anything, on another platform. Dean's correct in so far as the venn diagram of people who consciously and specifically chose Zelda over HZD likely has a small overlap. However, TCP and Ethan are correct in that people who can only afford one game a quarter likely chose Zelda as their one game, thus squeezing out HZD (and everything else that released in that quarter).