inspectorfowler

@charaznablecustom: As a big Parks and Rec fan who likes Chris Pratt a lot I think it’s because A) he’s starting to just be “the generic guy you cast” and B) point A sort of makes it hard to justify casting him as a really distinct “Italian” plumber who has always had a pretty stand-out voice-over.

When Ben Schwartz got Sonic I think more people probably thought, “Okay, fast-talking comedy actor gets role of fast-talking video game character, that tracks.” With Pratt it’s like - he has two modes - Andy Dwyer from P&R, and generic action guy who sometimes does funny lines.

But I am down with Pattinson being Batman so we’ll see how far my theories get me ;)

I've only lived in the US for my 43 years and I've never lived in house that has a gas range (I usually use stove and range interchangeably but most houses will have a stovetop with an oven combined into a range but it was hit or miss in the apartments I lived in).

There is probably a case for it if you're a professional or very good chef. People like the idea of cooking over a flame.

As a homeowner, I prefer electric a lot. A smooth glass-top range is easy to clean. I don't need to have an externally vented range hood because I'm not burning my breathing oxygen to make dinner (code requirements I learned during a recent remodel). If you are remodeling, having an electrician move the 220V for the range is easier than running new gas pipes. Gas stoves/ovens are one more thing to leak deadly gas. When we bought our current house we had the external propane tank (for the furnace) replaced - we live too rural to get natural gas from a utility. We did a pressure check and the external line was leaky so we replaced it. But...the internal line was leaking too. The last occupants had been living over a slow propane leak, potentially for years. Yikes.

Like I said, I think people might prefer a gas range - you don't see electric stoves in restaurants and I presume it's for a reason. I don't go much fancier than mac and cheese. Or Kraft dinner ;)

Overall though if I were building new I'd stick with electric and be quite happy.

@styx971: I want to echo what both of you said.

I’ve outlined in other threads that the gaming content is what keeps me interested. Hearing JeffB explain more about the production schedule while having an exhausted Jan pop in and back out as he and Rorie both ask for help made it more clear that right now there is a lot of stuff going on at once. JeffB explaining the “ratio” (such as it is) of gaming content to non-gaming content also made me feel like there will be more stuff I’m interested in coming down the pike.

Please keep up the communication like this; I think most people here are sympathetic to hearing how wild things are internally and it makes folks more willing to hang on for a return to some kind of normal.

Also I liked that Big Voidburger Energy, please make them a regular on the Bombcast.

@nickm: Every year they always says "This doesn't hang on this list" to indicate that - while potentially great - a game doesn't have what it takes to compete in the upper echelons of whatever category they are discussing. Over the years it's gotten more noticeable and they've wrapped around being self-conscious about it all the way back to embracing it.

My interpretation of this category is that these are games they liked but *knew* up front would never succeed in the top 10 list. If a game is definitely not going to succeed in the top 10 it usually just gets dismissed out of hand and then nobody gets a chance to talk about what might have been a really good - but not top 10 - game.

The name is just a joke, since so many good games have gotten summarily cut with just the phrase, "Well, this game won't hang here so let's cut it". Now those games have a place where they DO hang and can get more discussion than they would in the often-competitive, loud, and heated discussions about the top 10.

Edit/Add: I appreciate that people like the new/old format so much but honestly I loved the year where they just spent the first few days talking about all the games they loved and then whittled it down. This year was better than some but there have been years where they get so angry and so negative that I have actually worried somebody would walk out and just not come back to work. It quickly leaves reasoned critique behind and enters "Mom and dad are fighting so bad they're going to get a divorce!" territory, so I hope they can keep the balance if they keep this format.

@coldblood: I dunno. I've always been kind of insulted when people imply or state that enjoying high school makes you sort of a dummy or one of the kids who succeeded by being at the top of the social pile.

I'll freely admit I lucked out in terms of circumstances but I was an orchestra geek with band and orchestra friends. I took a lot of the AP classes and some other advanced stuff and I spent every afternoon practicing violin for auditions for college. I certainly wasn't in the "popular" crowd but I also lucked out with a high school that didn't have vitriolic divisions between cliques.

Even as a pretty open nerd - and a music nerd at that - I had a really good high school. My friend group wasn't huge but we were tight. I had incredible luck with teachers and even the one that I didn't like much supported me.

It was formative because all the stuff I loved - music, advanced classes, nerd stuff - was what had made junior high school pure misery and I was terrified of high school. When I got there and - for reasons unknown - my AP classes had a lot of the jocks and other "cool" kids in them, everything changed. I didn't have to be in the high social circles to avoid misery. I think adult life in college would have started out a LOT rougher if my late teens and early adulthood had been so negative.

I wish other people could have the same experiences. It has always bummed me out that so many people have crappy, abusive or neglectful high school experiences. For the record, I hated pep rallies and didn't go to any parties that my direct friends weren't hosting ;)

@genessee: I thought I was the only one who noticed Dan sneaking in there!

@sweetz: I’m down with this. Every time Ben talks about using it in handheld mode I can’t imagine how he does it with his hands that size. I’m pretty short with matching short fingers and the JoyCons are the worst. 15 minutes is about all I can get without discomfort. I’d be fine with one with NO attached controllers and just a Pro Controller.

@ybbaaabby, I came home from a remote work training today having gotten some really bad news about a career setback today. Not fired or anything, just something that made me really sad and made me question working at my current 11+ year employer. I want to love my job, and a lot of my co-workers see it as a lifestyle more than just a job, but my bosses stress me out so bad I've recently started counseling for anxiety.

I was making an enormous sadness ice cream bowl and was casting this vlog to my TV. I had tuned out a little bit when I heard Abby remind "me" (everybody) that you're more than your career, and she hopes we know that. I usually don't get dramatic about stuff but that was exactly I needed to hear to remind me that I have a lot of cool stuff that happens outside my work environment and I can focus on and enjoy that instead of deciding that workplace politics get to make me miserable.

So thanks, and focus on the things you love, everybody!

I feel like commenting will just encourage it, but FFS please don't eat in the mic. I know Ben in particular has a Dan-like streak of doing stuff he knows will make people cranky, but eating on mic is super gross.

Surely Jeff would let you either eat, skip a day, or wait eight minutes to record.

"I was told some fingernails might fall off in a month or two..." - Brad

Wow! What happened to poor Brad and his hands?