Moments when a piece of entertainment completely lost you.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 6:20 am

Btw, Kline even gets Boingo wrong in the intro. The 1985 version opens with guitar, then adds in drums and vocals. It's the 1988 version from "Boingo Alive" that opens with trumpets. An author who could have been fucked to listen a song up on youtube would have used that date mismatch between versions as a clue in the treasure hunt.

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:56 am

So, reading order of the stick.

And this stupid fight is going on and the world is literally at stake and I don't actually care.

Every single strip thus far has been "Roy is getting his ass kicked, and OMG more tension"... and it's kinda laughable. He's a single class fighter who brags about having weapon specialization and is on a quest to prove that fighters don't suck...against a cleric. Who just dropped righteous might, and probably divine power next turn, and has been beating the shit out of Roy at every opportunity.

Now, Belkar is missing and is probably Roy's only chance at salvation...except that he's a goddamn chump with crap saves and dual-wields daggers as a ranger-barbarian. Who can't cast spells. And his defining character trait is that he thinks he's hot shit because he can stab commoners to death.

So basically what I'm predicting is a long, drawn-out beatdown before Deus ex Machina bullshit.

At least Nale's dead.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 8:11 am

I'm sure the DxM will be Roy discovering, somehow, that Durkon's literally not in the driver's seat and pulls a "I know you're in there!" and Durkon basically exorcises himself, thus showing that as much as Roy wants to believe otherwise, only full casters ever do anything meaningful, and non-casters merely exist to facilitate them.

Not that I expect Burlew to realize that's the story he's writing, or for that to happen anytime before, oh, New Years.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:47 am

At this point bitching about OOTS for not being true to D&D mechanics seems a bit unfair.

That being said, I share the sentiment that that combat has dragged on far too long. Not least because it's a foregone conclusion that Durkula drops some-fucking-how so that Xykon can be the dramatic grand finale or whatever the fuck.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 8:45 pm

Yeah, Burlew's fallen into the trap of writing for the books, rather than his main medium of a web-comic. Even for a book, this combat has gone for nine pages (eight if you pull out the flashack) which is a bit much even when its all in your hands.

But I've seen other comics fall into this problem, the comic Hello With Cheese would do mostly episodic stuff, but then they would occasionally do larger projects, like children's books, which just didn't work for their comic that updated once a week.

This fight in OotS is even worse, because Burlew updates and average of 1 in 10 days. The fact that this fight is yet another side quest distracting from the main plot makes an already questionable narrative choice all the worse.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 2:48 pm

So I now have an American Netflix account because VPNs, bitches! Anyway, I was really impressed by the US version of House of Cards and look forward to the next season, but that isn't what this thread is for, oh no.

I decided to watch Blacklist. I mean, it's an action movie that happens to be broken into a lot of episodes. Conspiracies, gunfights and explosions, largely mind-numbing fun but not dumbed down to "There are only two named people to keep track of" and such. Nothing ground-breaking, just fun.

But seriously, the number of times they coerce information out of a suspect using violence (or threats thereof) and it works for them. Then they manage to save the day and stymie the efforts of that mean old truth-seeking judge who hates government secrecy, stopping him by playing the "National security, you don't have clearance, espionage act, patriot act, nya-na!" card!

I get that it's not supposed to be a sympathetic team, that the character who hands out missions and drives the story onwards is a pretty terrible person who benefits just from having a bit of charm, wit and a nice hat. But still, they're laying it on pretty thick with their love of "secretive governments shout STATE SECRET in order to prevent being held accountable for anything ever, and torturing people is great".

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:15 pm

I would like to know what you find impressive about the U.S. House of Cards. I found it to be regressive and nonsensical in general, and especially when compared to the UK version.

re: Your issues with Blacklist, have you checked out Homeland? I only saw the first season, but I thought it had a surprisingly good take on controversial intelligence measures: people argue about questionable surveillance, torture is mostly a tool of brainwashing, actual intelligence comes as the result of built rapport (even if that rapport is sometimes amazingly fucked-up).

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:32 pm

Don't Aussies have better things to watch on Netflix? Like Miss Fisher?

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:07 pm

Maj wrote:Don't Aussies have better things to watch on Netflix? Like Miss Fisher?

Now that is a great show.

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 11:48 pm

Augh the stupid fight is still going on after a two week delay

We return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 12:00 am

Well, my prediction for the DxM just began to hold true. Roy finally recognized that Durkon's not in control of his body anymore, in a way that's either completely separate from the narrative we have so far or is mentioned so far back that I sure as hell don't know what the hint is.

Now it's just a question of whether Roy manages an MTP vampire kill, or Durkon somehow self-exorcises.

Have I mentioned that I hate possession vampires?

They're really dumb. Almost as dumb as "No Magic Vampire Virus."

erik · Post by **erik** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 1:07 am

I will say this, more than almost any other D&D monster Vampires are subject to Deus ex Machina kills since they have special called shot death rules that aren't even defined, and their photophobia of course.

But hear, hear - possession vampires are usually dumb.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 1:20 am

Maj wrote:Don't Aussies have better things to watch on Netflix? Like Miss Fisher?

I don't know I pretty much abandoned Australian netflix immediately. On release it was an utter fraction of US content and the "special new release" content they added at release as a big crowd magnet was that Australian show with the incredibly offensive "comedian" who likes to dress up as horrible teenage girls (and surround himself with teenage girl actresses) or put on black face and pretend to be a teenage "troubled boy of color" as his entire "hilarious" thing.

Couldn't get away fast enough.

PS I still don't know who the fuck in the upper ranks of Australian television production that so called "comedian" is sleeping with, but the fucker MUST be good in bed.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 1:44 am

Unwind. Just the premise of it.

Basically, it's a dystopian future that resulted from an all-out civil war between pro-choice and pro-life factions.

In order to stop the fighting, they agreed to a compromise. Pre-natal abortion is completely illegal, but no-questions-asked on-demand abortion is viable for teenagers.

That is to say, after your child turns 13 years old you can take him to a clinic and halve him "unwound." His organs are harvested for transplant and you go home child-free.

This sort of completely misses the points of both sides in the debate, but in story it's wildly popular amongst both liberals and conservatives, to the point that many people will have children for the sole purpose of unwinding them, and it's the go-to disciplinarian measure for unruly teens.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:01 am

...I'm gonna say it. New Star Wars. It's not that it looks boring and terrible. It's not that it's a blatant cash grab. It's not even that they killed the Expanded Universe. It's just...I don't care. I don't care how much of the original cast they got back. I don't care about the fresh-faced new cast. I don't care about any of it. I just have zero fucks to give about new Star Wars. I can - and do - still watch and enjoy the original trilogy. Hell, I watch and enjoy the Family Guy terrible re-enactment of the original trilogy. I just cannot for the life of me raise a tenth of a fuck to give about the new Star Wars film(s).

Maybe this is what getting old is like.

It's not even that I'm judging new stuff against the old stuff...I didn't see the last Star Trek movie either. In fact, I didn't feel any desire to see the last Star Trek movie either. Whatever it is that has held me with those franchises, the prospect of a "new direction" or reinvigoration of whatever...just turns me off. I kinda just want them to leave shit alone, y'know?

I think it was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that did it. Broke something in me. I was willing to give that a chance, and it was terrible. But I don't even want to give new Star Wars the chance.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:30 am

hyzmarca wrote:Unwind. Just the premise of it.

Basically, it's a dystopian future that resulted from an all-out civil war between pro-choice and pro-life factions.

In order to stop the fighting, they agreed to a compromise. Pre-natal abortion is completely illegal, but no-questions-asked on-demand abortion is viable for teenagers.

That is to say, after your child turns 13 years old you can take him to a clinic and halve him "unwound." His organs are harvested for transplant and you go home child-free.

This sort of completely misses the points of both sides in the debate, but in story it's wildly popular amongst both liberals and conservatives, to the point that many people will have children for the sole purpose of unwinding them, and it's the go-to disciplinarian measure for unruly teens.

My sister tried to sell me on reading it. When she said a guy with a grafted arm could do card tricks after he got the arm, I put my head in my hands and she went, "....muscle memory doesn't work like that, does it?"

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:16 am

Ancient History wrote: I just cannot for the life of me raise a tenth of a fuck to give about the new Star Wars film(s).

Maybe this is what getting old is like.

It's not even that I'm judging new stuff against the old stuff...I didn't see the last Star Trek movie either. In fact, I didn't feel any desire to see the last Star Trek movie either. Whatever it is that has held me with those franchises, the prospect of a "new direction" or reinvigoration of whatever...just turns me off. I kinda just want them to leave shit alone, y'know?

I agree and I am 30. I didn't watch the last Star Trek film because the one before annoyed me. When my favorite movie, Robocop, was remade I was like "ehh" to the trailer. I watched that movie and all I can say is that it was better than 3. Then the new Jem movie is just a husk of what it was pretty okay show.

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:44 am

Ancient History wrote: Maybe this is what getting old is like.

That's how it feels for me. I used to give things a chance more, and I'm still insufferably willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, but ever less so.

That said, I enjoyed the new Star Treks, and while I loathed Crystal Skull in the theater, it grew on me after rewatching the other Indiana Jones since I remembered that they share a similar brand of stupid silliness and aliens aren't inherently dumber than god spirits in a box. It took me a few years to not hate it though and only recently have I come around to that it is the 3rd best Indiana Jones movie (Temple of Doom has more iconic scenes but is less enjoyable for me overall).

On Star Wars, I was totally burned by Phantom Menace in the theaters. Watched it opening day, 1000% excited, and it was miserable. I want to be excited at least a little bit about the new movie, but mustering up the hope is so very, very hard. It's been what, 16 years, and the scars remain. I didn't wait for reviews and such before that. I can credit not seeing the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies because I no longer grant free passes to movies even if I thought the last movie or trailer was awesome.

Post by **fbmf** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 5:05 pm

I am only slightly more optimistic than Erik.

I, too, was 1000% excited for Episode I and got burned hard. I feel like I was in an abusive relationship for 1999-2005, where I kept going back hoping this time will be better.

And here I am again.

I expect Episode VII to suck, but I'll still be there opening day. I already have tickets. I already took the day off work to stand in line for a good seat.

I actually liked the most recent Star Trek films, so I'll give J.J. a chance, but I'm managing my expectations. Like AH, I suspect I'm better able to do so because I'm older.

Like, I'm seriously at the point where I'll declare victory if Episode VII is better than Episode I -III. Not a high hurdle to jump, but let's start there.

I'm way more excited about StarCraft than I am about Star Wars, though, and considering Star Wars was my gateway to geekery, that's just tragic.

Game On,
fbmf

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:25 pm

Unless I get roped into seeing it with a group I reckon SW will wait until I hear from my most reliable sources on whether it sucks.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:39 pm

The big sin of The Force Awakens is that I just don't care about it. I could care about it, but I don't. It's not even that I expect it to be bad. It's that I don't have any emotional investment in it.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:32 pm

I'm just kind of ambivalent about the new Star Wars. I like that they're diversifying, but I've never been a big Star Wars fan. I'll probably see VII, but I'm not going to be lining up on day one.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 11:51 pm

Star Wars Episode I was So Bad It's Painful. Episode II was possibly worse and definitely proved that Episode I wasn't a one-time mistake (in retrospect, the Holiday Special and Ewok Adventures films should've proven that). I went in to Episode III with no expectations and a couple of good friends and laughed my ass off at it.

I haven't really followed the latest news on the new Star Wars movie, other than what friends and family have told me. I'll definitely see it when it comes out but I'm not going in with any expectations.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:05 pm

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/what-i ... 1737539377

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 6:07 am

Kim Stanley Robinsom, Aurora Page 264 wrote: If each of our five passes was called a one-in-a-million throw, which was a very conservative estimate of the odds, then all five together made it a one-in-an-octillion chance.