Fizzzzle

I don't know what your definition of expensive is, but I've been using Dalstrong knives for a while, and they've been great. Their knives are $75-$125ish depending on the knife, and they've been awesome. Good quality steel, heavy (the weight of the blade matters just as much if not more than how sharp the edge is), and I haven't regretted using them.

Eating and pooping are universal constants.

Basically the Mormon view of Christio-Nationalism does not always line up with the MAGA crowd

Yeah, I just mean that they can be surprisingly liberal in ways you might not expect. This is anecdotal, but one of my old roommates is gay, and she dreaded the day she came out to her uber-mormon family. They were totally fine with it and accepting of her. However, when she told them she was leaving the church, that's when they basically disowned her. I grew up in a pretty heavily Mormon area, and my experience is that they're not like "maga chud" Republicans for the most part.

Utah also votes red, but Mormons as a group kind of generally don't fit into a red/blue category for certain things.

I do, too, but probably not for the same reasons.

I feel like its a general failing of storytelling any time someone makes a prequel. They treat the story like a vacuum. We KNOW Isildur doesn't die. We know that because most of us have seen the movies. Just like we know Sauron won't die (at least not truly). Just like we know Elrond and Galadriel won't die. With that in mind, from a storytelling, you have to manage their stakes. Fake-out deaths end up feeling like a waste of time. I get the idea of wanting to leave Isildur behind. My guess is that he spends most of next season befriending Elves and "middle" men, then when the Numenoreans come back, he'll be a changed person. But like... he ain't dead, bro. It seems pandering to assume the audience doesn't know that when LotR is literally one of the just popular movies of all time. Its practically like making a Star Wars prequel where Luke "dies" on the moisture farm. You're forming a narrative solely for the .05% of people who haven't seen the other movies. Its irresponsible.

I agree the handling of Ser Criston is weird. Like, he just straight up murdered a member of the small council, the lord commander told him to take off his cloak, he was just like "no," and... all is forgotten? Maybe all won't be forgotten, but they probably should have better illustrated the ramifications of that action.

back at it again

The MK universe would make an awesome setting for like a real game. Too bad we're getting this

The Northman - Of all the movies I've seen, it's definitely one of them. It's definitely gorgeous, but I never really found myself particuarly caring much about any of the characters, good or bad.

Yeah I cried a few times. Kids with terminal illness and all that.

As per the rights thing, my understanding is they have the rights to the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the appendices, anything else they have to get permission from the Tolkien estate. Like when they mentioned the silmarils or say "Aule's beard" or whatever, I'm pretty sure those are only mentioned outside of those books. Same with using the map of Numenor, which is only found I believe in Unfinished Tales.

There is a central theme that Elves are deeply flawed, yet consider themselves superior to other races. In the canon, Elves initially hunted Dwarves for sport. They didn't pay any particular mind to Men until Finrod (or maybe it was one of the sons of Feanor) learned to speak with them. And the Elves play a part in basically everything bad that happens until the third age, when they are all but diminished.

You know what feeling when all of the celebrities that die are the same age/younger than your parents... My mom is already dead (she was 60), but my dad is now 73 and I'm getting to the "it can happen any time" phase. Like any time my dad's girlfriend calls me I'm like "... fuck, I hope this isn't the call..." My mom's death came out of nowhere. I didn't even know she was sick until after she was dead. Small cell liver cancer. It was like 3 days between diagnosis and death. She thought she had a particularly bad case of the flu. Turns out it was cancer that was 100% incurable. The doctor said she'd likely be dead within 36 hours.

I'm in a position right now where I basically make my own hours, and while I still work just as much (if not more) than I used to, it's... Different. Like, today I showed up two hours "late" because I got a haircut and ran an errand. There's nobody to tell me I can't do that. On the other hand, I have to basically be available all the time and can't just take time off whenever I want. I manage a wedding venue/event space. If we have shit going on, I have to be there. It can't function without me. So it's a trade off. I make my own hours, which is empowering in a way, but I also can't tell my boss "hey, I won't be here next week, figure it out." I am the boss. I'm going on vacation in a couple weeks because it's the only weekend until January that we don't have any events. Hopefully by December I'll have things set up so that I don't have to be there and it can run without me, because otherwise I don't think I'll have a day off between November and January. And no, I don't get paid enough for all of that extra responsibility. The old manager quit and I kind of just assumed the role without much discussion and all I got was an extra $2/hour

Also WHAT WAS IN THE POUCH

Also, after the "follow your nose" line, I'm pretty sure the Stranger is Gandalf. I have mixed feelings about that, but it's not like that's a deal breaker. I've kind of warmed up to the idea.

Sometimes I like having contrarian trolls around. Like every once in a while BT or heyyoudvd would say something that I like secretly kind of agreed with and I'd be like "shit... maybe I'm wrong if I'm agreeing with that asshole." Also drunk_bt was the best alt ever on this board

I guess it goes to show that staying strictly canonical isn't always best. My favorite characters are Adar and young Durin, both of whom are made up characters. Same with Arondir.

I'm disappointed we didn't get any more of Adar. He's probably my favorite character moving forward. I was worried he was going to die and be a pre-sauron baddie. Now that I know he's basically an anti-Sauron Orc, that makes me really interested in his arc.

Scorsese is a cranky old fart, he's always cranky about something.

Totally fair. I'll try to put super nerdy lore stuff/predictions in spoilers more often.

WHADDUP TURDS, fucking season finale getting ready for your buttholes I am down.

I will still say that I think Hawkeye might be the best thing in the MCU, full stop. And I LOVED Ms. marvel. I've grown to like She-Hulk. It was a rough start.