Mechanical_Ape

I think Lupin holds up really well, but then again it's one of my favorite series so I might be a little biased. I'm not normally interested in live-action adaptations of anime, but the new Lupin movie looks really good.

I definitely have to recommend Ronin Warriors (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers). It was the show that got me into anime in the first place. I haven't seen it since I was a little kid, but I remember it being good. Astro Boy is another older anime that's definitely worth checking out. It's quite a bit different than what's around today, but still entertaining. I also like Touch a lot, but if you aren't into sports you probably wouldn't like it.

@robsamuel: Nothing to Envy is really good. It definitely paints a vivid picture of what it's like for people in North Korea.

I've been reading two books. First, Tocqueville by Harvey Mansfield. It's interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it unless you happen to like Alexis de Tocqueville or political philosophy. Second, Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn. I had read the first two books in the series a while back and finally getting around to reading the rest. All 13 of them.

Like the others have said, the Grand Canyon is really something you need to see in person to fully appreciate. You don't realize just how big it is until you are standing right there.

One of the nicest ways to see it is by train. The Grand Canyon Railway goes from Williams to the Grand Canyon and is a really nice way to see Northern Arizona. The Skywalk is kind of disappointing. It's quite a distance from the normal Grand Canyon stuff and when you get there, there isn't much to do. If you find yourself around Flagstaff, you might want to check out a place called Walnut Canyon. It's a small trail in the mountains that leads to some Indian cliff dwellings you can walk through.

Depending on when you go, you should be prepared for snow. Even though most of Arizona is a desert, northern Arizona is actually pretty high in elevation and gets a lot of snow during the winter.

@roomrunner: I had no idea Lagwagon has released a new album. I definitely have to check that out. I always liked Lagwagon better than Bad Astronaut, but maybe that's just because I grew up listening to them. I liked a lot of the acoustic stuff Joey Cape and Tony Sly did together as well, particularly the version of International You Day he did after Tony Sly died.

@i_stay_puft: I remembered hearing stuff for a while about a plan to possibly put a new arena either south of downtown or over in Renton or Bellevue, but I hadn't heard anything since then so I wasn't sure if those were still on the table. I could see Ballmer doing that. If you're willing to pay that much for a team I doubt money is much of an issue.

@mosespippy: I use to live in Washington but now live in Arizona. As much as I'd like to see Seattle get a hockey team, I'm very glad the Coyotes didn't move. I know the Panthers are really struggling and I wouldn't be surprised if they started looking around for a new home eventually. It seems like a lot of Florida teams struggle to get fans, unless they have Lebron James on their team I guess. The Rays have been doing the same.

@i_stay_puft: When I was little I had this big three foot tall Detlef Schrempf sticker on the wall of my bedroom. The Kemp/Payton/Schrempf/McMillan era was probably the last time I watched basketball.

I wonder if Seattle will ever get another team. It has pretty good sports fans compared to a lot of places. Even someone like the Silvertips, a small market minor league hockey teams, pulled good crowds.

You've got some pretty good taste in music @rorie. Have you ever listened to Gold Motel? For some reason every time I listen to Lake Street Dive I immediately want to listen to some Gold Motel. Maybe it's because I found both bands around the same time and I just connect them together because of that.

I wish I liked live music more. I think I like the idea of concerts more than actually going to them unfortunately.

I'm a huge baseball fan. I played since I was a little kid through high school and would have gone on to play in college as well if I hadn't busted up my knee (while playing baseball actually). I watch American and Japanese baseball every year. I also like hockey quite a bit. I wanted to play it when I was younger but unfortunately I lived in a place where ice is a myth.

Overall I enjoy almost any sports. I like college football, I watch MotoGP off and on, I used to watch sumo a bit because it gets really interesting once you start to understand the intricacies of it, and I even have a favorite British soccer team (even if I know nothing about them and only picked them because I liked the name). The only sport I haven't really seen but would like to, is cricket. It seems close enough to baseball that I would probably enjoy it, but there's no way for me to check it out where I live.

It's a little different, but Shadow of the Damned is pretty stylish and has some fun combat. It also has a few really weird sidescrolling shooter levels which are kind of out of place but still oddly charming. Your interest in it might be determined by how many times you can stand to listen to a guy shout "Taste my big boner" though.

Like Pazy said, playing through the starting areas for each class is a good idea so you can get a feel for which class and which storyline you might like best. I think the Agent storyline is really good, although it's the least like a traditional Star Wars story so if that's what you're looking for you might not like it.