wjb

Unless I lived in that area or have a strong connection to a team, I tend to have preferences of certain teams over others lately.

Still liking a team I chose randomly when I was a child 25-30 years later seems silly to me, personally. Although if someone grew up in Boston I wouldn't blame them for liking something outside the area.

Could be worse, though. Could've gone from being a Lakers fan to a Spurs fan back to the Lakers, then Heat and finally a Warriors fan in 15 years like it was nbd.

Netflix is bloated with original content and billions of dollars in debt. They cancel shows after 1-2 seasons constantly, so this isn't a surprise. We can probably list the Netflix original series that were able to make a season 4 (and beyond) with one hand.

I grew up liking nerdy things but never cared if people knew about my interests. The only clothing I wore that would give people an idea were band shirts. I didn't have Star Wars or D&D apparel because it didn't suit me despite liking those things. I was bullied sometimes, but average-looking (appearance-wise) where most people didn't notice me.

Nerd means something completely else now for the past 15 years. The culture has changed significantly to a point where everyone claims they are/were a nerd. It's Funko Pops and Big Bang Theory. It's being heavily marketed into buying tons of shit from brands instead of this quaint, genuine lifestyle for a niche audience.

Also, the climate is different. Nerd isn't sympathetic people who are/were bullied because of their character/interests. Nerd, to me now, is complaining about stuff that doesn't matter (Spider-Man puddles) and not caring enough about stuff that does (thinking former Telltale employees should've worked for free to finish Walking Dead's final season; caring more about video games than the treatment of human beings). It's about being needlessly pedantic or obnoxious or even selfish.

Or worse, it's Gamergate. It's harassing the sjw actors for ruining Star Wars. It's "not wanting politics in a game" because a character is trans. It's another e-sports competitor getting in trouble for harassment or using slurs. It's that dumbass gamer Youtuber, Boogie, who recently claimed good things came out of the Holocaust and Anita Sarkieesian should be blamed for Charlottesville. It can be a gateway for something bad, like the alt-right. I've learned that nerds can be just as terrible as anyone else. As much as I moan about being bullied in school, I was a huge asshole who probably hurt others, too.

@soulcake: Haven't watched the last three, but got around to Vampire's Kiss and Bad Lieutenant recently since they were on Prime, finally (I'm not paying extra for this shit). Those were tolerable because I believe Alex only watched either, and the others were more mesmerized with the movies than anything. Face/Off was bad and incoherent because most of them had seen it multiple times.

They just need to stick to movies none of them (or one of them) have seen instead of the more obvious, bro-y action movies.

@inevpatoria: I got a PS4 early 2014 and was able to play Black Flag before getting around to Unity, and Unity was one of the first (now) current-gen console experiences where the visuals blew my mind. Bigger crowds; that neat "rain-slick look after it pours" that could only happen on PC; stunning time of day stuff, etc.

I think even after Syndicate came out, the consensus was Syndicate performed better, but Unity looked better.

I don't know how well it holds up now. It's been a while. Entertainment-wise, it has to do with expectations. Went into Unity expecting to hate it and didn't; went into Syndicate expecting to think it was a return to form but ended up bored halfway through. :shrug

• 1 - never finished; hated Altaïr
• 2 - my favorite at the time
• Brotherhood - probably the better game, but Florence/Venice > Rome
• Revelations - didn't mind; had some pluses and minuses
• 3 - the cities were weak, but liked Connor and the story; people wanting another cocky rogue was weird considering it deals with Native Americans in colonial times (having the same style of protagonist for every game would've gotten old quick); homestead and ships were a plus; unfortunately they bailed on the Desmond story; underrated overall
• Liberation - boring; the racial aspects were handled better in Freedom Cry
• 4: Black Flag - another favorite; wanted more of the ship stuff and they delivered
• Rogue - decent, but redundant; hard to go back to last gen graphics at the time; the playable character had understandable reasons for going Templar, which I appreciated
• Unity - played it months after the famous bugs were fixed and mostly liked it; arguably the best looking AC game at the time/proper next-gen; hated the ending, I think
• Syndicate - thought it was boring as hell; not a ton of memorable quests; Evie was good but not Jacob; the train and River Thames were initially neat, but became obnoxious as time went on; new features weren't that interesting; I felt like people gave it too much credit because Unity got so much shit for its bugs.

Own Origins but haven't played it yet. I don't know when I'll get around to Odyssey.

Anecdotal, but I went back and played Forza Horizon 3 since I barely touched it when it came out, and certain circuit races (one in particular) would be impossible for me to win on expert AI. The lead AI racer would always be just out of reach in the 3 laps despite me never fucking up. I reseted several times just to see if I could win; never did.

I had no issues with expert 93% of the time.

Gonna go back to bed and watch certain SSD matches later, but:

1. John Cena with hair looks like a buff JBL
2. The IIconics got a clean win and their home country barely cared

I didn't play any damn thing from the beginning of this year until mid-July. I wasn't finishing games like I used to, and I tried playing new games and backlog to keep up with the zeitgeist for years. I burned out. Now I'm so behind it's like I don't care anymore. I'm playing games I'm comfortable with, like going back to Forza Horizon 3 that I played for a couple hours two years ago.

Taking a break helps.

Looks like Braun is going to have a small role in Holmes and Watson this holiday.