[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[Lifeless]

That Rogers quote is certainly the best thing I'll read all day.

[Guardman]

So I have a funny little story about reading Ayn Rand. My uncle (who, ironically given the quote, is the biggest Lord of the Rings fan I've ever seen) told me that since I was going to college for Entrepreneurship I had to read The Fountainhead. So after I got done reading it, he asked me what I learned from it. I told him that don't compromise your vision just because someone tells you to. He told me I was wrong. I still haven't figured out what the moral I was supposed to take from that book.

[benjameenbear]

So I have a funny little story about reading Ayn Rand. My uncle (who, ironically given the quote, is the biggest Lord of the Rings fan I've ever seen) told me that since I was going to college for Entrepreneurship I had to read The Fountainhead. So after I got done reading it, he asked me what I learned from it. I told him that don't compromise your vision just because someone tells you to. He told me I was wrong. I still haven't figured out what the moral I was supposed to take from that book.

The Fountainhead is NOT what I'd recommend reading if you're interested in entrepreneurship. Ayn Rand was a big proponent of capitalism and getting the value of your work. She was wildly verbose in her books about her philosophy of Objectivism (I think? it's been a while since I read Atlas Shrugged) but she often seems to pit a capitalist business-person vs. the socialistic/communistic government or agency trying to shut them down. The main point I take away from her books, from a business perspective, is that owning a business and profiting off of it is NOT wrong and you should always charge the highest value for your product/service that the market will bear. The quality of your work IS a virtue you should be proud of, essentially.

Also I watched The Shining all the way through @toctheyounger and company. I'd only seen pieces of it before, so it was interesting to watch it as an adult all the way through. As I suspected, the acting in the movie is excellent, but I think it was actually Shelly Duvall's acting that carried the movie for me. Her contrast/foil to Jack Nicholson's character helps make his descending madness more poignant and jarring. Jack Nicholson might legitimately have a screw loose in his head, though lol.

Doctor Sleep is next on the viewing menu. Then I think I'll take a look at Event Horizon.

[Dunadain]

Finally got around to watching the Barbie movie.

Spoilers for The Barbie Movie

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I'm pretty disappointed tbh. considering how many people were talking about it I expected it to be great and it was just okay. The first 20 minutes or so (or however long it take Barbie to get to the real world" were so boring I was considering turning the movie off, I have no idea why we needed to spend that much time in Barbie land, I guess the point was that Barbie land is stale and unchanging? After they made it to the real world, however, it got much better, and it stayed good for the rest of the film.

I wasn't really invested in the plot because there's a lot of lol random humor. Which I realize is kind of the point, it's supposed to be a zany movie, but there are tons of wacky movies that also make me care about the characters and plot, my favorite example being Emperor's new groove.

I also didn't understand so many parts of the movie, How did Ken get hurt? He was just running on the ocean (maybe if I rewatch it I'll understand)? Why does Mattel need to put Barbie in a box? Why is Barbie a clueless ditz until she suddenly decides to run away right before they get her in the box? Why does Will Ferrell say he doesn't care about the bottom line when traveling to prevent the Ken's from taking over Barbieland, but then at the end of the movie, he only agrees to Sasha's mother's (forgot her name) idea when they tell him it will make a lot of money (in general, it felt like a lot of characters weren't well defined and acted however the plot need them to, which I suppose was kind of the point, since they are ditzy Barbies and souless corporate drones, but it sure wasn't interesting to watch them)?

The jokes were pretty good, but they kept reusing a couple jokes so many times. When Barbie's feet go flat, she screams and falls down, everyone that sees her feet freak out and start dry heaving, alright, it didn't make me laugh but that's a clever observation about the absurdity of real-life Barbie's. Then, Barbie goes and sits on a bleacher and shows her foot to a couple other Barbies and they all start screaming. Didn't you just make this joke? like less than 5 minutes ago? The "Barbies don't actually drink liquids" joke is done at least three times, the "Barbies don't have genitalia" is done twice.

Alright, that's what I didn't like about the movie here's what I did like.

I'm just Ken: yeah, okay, I see why everyone was talking about this now, banger original music, great choreography, great filmography. I feel like modern Hollywood lacks any creativity in regards to filmography and these 4 minutes are a feast of visuals. Honestly, if I could only change one thing about this movie, it would be more dance scenes with original scores like this one. Heck, if I could take the movie all the way back to the drawing board I would have made it an honest-to-goodness musical. But I like musicals so that might just be my own personal biases.

The movie IS really funny, as long as you ignore the first 20 minutes in Barbie land and all the reused jokes. Saying "the movie is funny if you ignore all the unfunny stuff" is kinda dumb, but it's true. While I thought "that just wasn't funny" multiple times while watching the movie, I also laughed out loud multiple times so take of that what you will.

Sasha and her mother were great individually and together. "Parent and child have grown estranged because child is now a teenager, but they must work together to overcome obstacles and rekindle their connection in the process" is such an overdone trope, yet it works really well in the movie, largely, I think, because they didn't hammer it into your head. A couple snide comments when we first meet them is all you need to set up that their relationship is strained.



Overall, I give it a , but it's pretty darn close to a honestly. Some great highs mixed in with a lot of mediocrity.

I feel like I should probably say something about the "controversy" surrounding the movie, but I honestly have nothing to say. Movies can and should handle complex topics, including concepts such as the patriarchy and gender roles. Some movies are going to do it better than others, but if you can't handle it, that's your problem, not the movie's.

[Hermes_]

so, now that we've shown each other that we're movie critics, what about food/restaurant critics?

[TheGildedGoose]

I'm eating Nashville hot chicken right now, ama

[duducrash]

I'm eating Nashville hot chicken right now, ama

Did yo put some honey on it?

[Hermes_]

I'm eating Nashville hot chicken right now, ama

How does it compare to other chicken?

[cheonice]

"The Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Collaboration Begins"

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/annou ... ion-begins

This has to be a too-late April's Fool joke, right?

[TheGildedGoose]

Did yo put some honey on it?

What? Why would I do such a thing? Sacrilege.

How does it compare to other chicken?

This one was made with fresh datil peppers, so incredibly spicy. I could only get down two of the breast-sized tenders. Tomorrow's grocery snake will be a rattler.

[Dunadain]

so, now that we've shown each other that we're movie critics, what about food/restaurant critics?

Ouch, alright, I see how it is XD.


Though I'm a much worse food critic than a movie critic, I recall staunchly defending dominoes pizza just a few months ago.

[duducrash]

What? Why would I do such a thing? Sacrilege.

Is it a latin american thing? to put honey on fried chicken? we do it and it's pretty great. Once in argentina I even received like a little packet of honey like the ketchup ones we have for like burgers. I highly highly recomend it.

[benjameenbear]

Obviously certain people have never had chicken and waffles. Honey/syrup + fried chicken is SO good. And anyone who says otherwise is obviously a heretic and needs to be enlightened to the TRUTH of fried chicken.

[duducrash]

Obviously certain people have never had chicken and waffles. Honey/syrup + fried chicken is SO good. And anyone who says otherwise is obviously a heretic and needs to be enlightened to the TRUTH of fried chicken.

I agree. Ban him if he doesnt come arround, its only fair

[benjameenbear]

Hopefully this doesn't get too political, but I've been listening to Atlas Shrugged recently. It's more enjoyable than I expected, story-wise. In terms of subtlety, though, it's about one step away from having someone turn to the camera and say "here's what we learned today..."

It sure makes me feel less insecure about the word count of my novel. Holy crap, get an editor. And a weed whacker.

Seriously, Atlas Shrugged is like 500 pages too long. Granted, it's more of a philosophy book that has a decent story and characters in it. Francisco D'Anconia is awesome. And I really like the industrialist's name, can't remember off the top of my head. But yeah, Ayn Rand ain't subtle with her philosophy or political viewpoint. It's hard to swallow at times. And just skip the point where John Galt gets on the radio towards the end of the book. It's like 80-90 pages in the book at size 8 font, so seriously. Go do yourself a favor and just skip it. A Wikipedia reading of her philosophy will suffice and save you hours of your life.

[Dunadain]

Obviously certain people have never had chicken and waffles. Honey/syrup + fried chicken is SO good. And anyone who says otherwise is obviously a heretic and needs to be enlightened to the TRUTH of fried chicken.

Sorry, as someone that grew up in a city where the economy revolves around producing maple syrup, this is an affront to maple syrup.

Yes, I've tried it, and I'm sorry, it's just weird.

[Lifeless]

I grew up with Sweet and Sour on my McNuggets and neon red sweet an sour chicken from Chinese restaurants so you can imagine where I stand on this issue.

Nashville hot, however, is overrated. I've had it from a dozen places at least and most of the time it's all heat and oil with very little in the actual flavor department. It's a trend with little value.

[Moonlighter]

"The Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Collaboration Begins"

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/annou ... ion-begins

This has to be a too-late April's Fool joke, right?

That no one has responded to this yet is... I mean that's a fear reaction, right? Like that's experiential avoidance. I kid (it's only been an hour) Anyway, I can't imagine I'll be fond. I think someone mentioned the idea in the Dr. Who thread that MaRo said people hate UB until an IP they like comes along, and I really like Dr. Who, the Princess Bride, and 40k, and I have not been interested in any of these. I haven't really liked the MCU since... I guess the first Avengers? There have been some OK movies and shows since then, but not many. That said, I was raised on Cable and X-men and Marvel cards, so there's a deep soft spot - I just don't want it in my Magic games.

I like Magic, but it's gotten too aesthetically complicated as they turn it into the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. I am starting to have a negative visceral reaction to the mixing of visual styles and themes. I understand most people don't have that kind of thing. The best I can liken it to is from Gibson's Novel Pattern Recognition - the main character has this negative reaction to catchy brand images.

[cheonice]

"The Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Collaboration Begins"

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/annou ... ion-begins

This has to be a too-late April's Fool joke, right?

That no one has responded to this yet is... I mean that's a fear reaction, right? Like that's experiential avoidance. I kid (it's only been an hour) Anyway, I can't imagine I'll be fond. I think someone mentioned the idea in the Dr. Who thread that MaRo said people hate UB until an IP they like comes along, and I really like Dr. Who, the Princess Bride, and 40k, and I have not been interested in any of these. I haven't really liked the MCU since... I guess the first Avengers? There have been some OK movies and shows since then, but not many. That said, I was raised on Cable and X-men and Marvel cards, so there's a deep soft spot - I just don't want it in my Magic games.

I like Magic, but it's gotten too aesthetically complicated as they turn it into the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. I am starting to have a negative visceral reaction to the mixing of visual styles and themes. I understand most people don't have that kind of thing. The best I can liken it to is from Gibson's Novel Pattern Recognition - the main character has this negative reaction to catchy brand images.

We are gathering the mob over at the Unreleased and New Card Discussion thread.

Uh, haven't watched the Ultimate Showdown in a long time! Yeah, feels kinda on point.

[Toshi]

so, now that we've shown each other that we're movie critics, what about food/restaurant critics?

I live in the triangle of Germany, Swiss and France, which makes it basically paradise for anyone who can enjoy cheese, bread, wine, asparagus, tarte flambée, ...

Needless to say, i find some american variants of european food (front runner: pizza) questionable, to say the least.

[TheGildedGoose]

Nashville hot, however, is overrated. I've had it from a dozen places at least and most of the time it's all heat and oil with very little in the actual flavor department. It's a trend with little value.

Have you been to Nashville?

[Lifeless]

Nashville hot, however, is overrated. I've had it from a dozen places at least and most of the time it's all heat and oil with very little in the actual flavor department. It's a trend with little value.

Have you been to Nashville?

Yes, many times. But I assume you're asking if I've had the chicken there and the answer would be no.

[toctheyounger]

I like Magic, but it's gotten too aesthetically complicated as they turn it into the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.

I get this, but honestly for me it's more a case of Magic losing sight of it's own identity. Much like the kid starting high school and trying to find a clique to fit in, the more magic tries to change to envelop other IPs, the less itself it will continue to be.

I don't mind it to some extent, but I think realistically the most I could stomach is once a year crossovers. Anything more than that and it starts to become just a pastiche of things that aren't overly related.

[duducrash]

Just got some alters I ordered in the mail, the person is new to mtg alters, had done only a couple of lands before. I think they are pretty cool. unfurtonately she covered the names but It's not like a big deal I think. If I get to I'll post them later here

[DirkGently]

I'm pretty sure I could make am excellent beat-for-beat parody of Atlas Shrugged except instead swapping in cEDH players instead of industrialists.

"It's not fair," said Jimmy, a pathetic loser. "Jason always wins, just because he brought a tiered Najeela deck to play against our precons. There ought to be a rule."

"Agreed," said Marvin, a weaselly academic type. "We should make a rule that forbids infinite combos, all land destruction, counterspells, excessive ramp, winning the game before turn ten, having more than four creatures in play, casting more than two spells in a turn, thinking for longer than 12.6 seconds, knowing how the stack works, and any cards worth more than 38 cents. It's commonly understood that those things are unfair."

A member of the United States Democrat party surreptitiously slipped a tenner into Marvin's pocket.

"There is nothing more noble than playing consult oracle on turn three against a table of precons for the simple reason that one wants to do it," said Jason, in a gravelly voice that was appropriate for someone who appeared to be chiseled from granite. "It's completely natural, and good, and goodly natural, and naturally good, and anyone who says otherwise is the vilest evil person to ever walk the Earth."

"Uh, do you want to justify that statement?" asked Bill.

"No," said Jason. "But I will say it again, louder. THERE IS NOTHING MORE NOBLE THAN..."

Veronica rubbed her foot against Jason's leg under the table. Nothing made her hornier than a strong, sexy cEDH deck. But that definitely isn't the reason this book exists, no sir.

Only problem is I'm pretty sure the target audience is, like, 4 people tops, including me.