Arlen's recent activity

  1. Comment on Weird game "Catly" revealed at The Game Awards might be some kind of AI generated grift or scam in ~games

  2. Comment on What long standalone book is worth its page count? in ~books

    Arlen
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    The first section of Fairy Tale was a wonderful example of this.

    "pleasant young people patiently look after cranky elderly men,"

    The first section of Fairy Tale was a wonderful example of this.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on What long standalone book is worth its page count? in ~books

    Arlen
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    The best long book I've ever read was the unabridged version of Stephen King's The Stand. It's the most gripping, engaging book I've ever read at that length, and I barely put it down for the...

    The best long book I've ever read was the unabridged version of Stephen King's The Stand. It's the most gripping, engaging book I've ever read at that length, and I barely put it down for the duration.

    Now, I read it in the spring of 2020, so that may have affected my experience, but a friend did read it more recently based on my recommendation and he enjoyed it as well so that's probably not the whole reason.

    12 votes

  4. Comment on What are your Christmas movies? in ~movies

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    We do something similar to that, where around Thanksgiving and Christmas we will go and watch the appropriate holiday episodes of some of our favorite shows. Friends did a Thanksgiving episode...

    We do something similar to that, where around Thanksgiving and Christmas we will go and watch the appropriate holiday episodes of some of our favorite shows. Friends did a Thanksgiving episode pretty much every season (and so does Bob's Burgers), and The Office's Christmas party episodes are always a hoot. And of course, WKRP in Cincinnati's turkey drop episode.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    All that and I never even read to whom I was replying 🤦‍♂️

    All that and I never even read to whom I was replying 🤦‍♂️

    3 votes

  6. Comment on What are your Christmas movies? in ~movies

    Arlen
    Link
    At the risk of sounding like every Reddit post for the last 12 years, my favorite is absolutely Die Hard. A close second is Gremlins, though for now the Harry Potter movies (most, if not all, of...

    At the risk of sounding like every Reddit post for the last 12 years, my favorite is absolutely Die Hard.

    A close second is Gremlins, though for now the Harry Potter movies (most, if not all, of which have some scenes around Christmastime) are a lot more friendly for the kids.

    I also tend to like movies that just happen to be at Christmastime, without particularly having a "Christmas theme," like Iron Man 3 (or a lot of Shane Black's work, frankly).

    That said, there are definitely a few "Christmas-brand Christmas" movies that I really enjoy: Home Alone, Ernest Saves Christmas, and, hovering in the space between "a Christmas movie" and "a movie that takes place at Christmas," Love, Actually.

    12 votes

  7. Comment on Common Side Effects | Official trailer in ~tv

    Arlen
    Link
    When I clicked the link I didn't expect to hear Nils Frahm as the backing track, so that was a pleasant surprise.

    When I clicked the link I didn't expect to hear Nils Frahm as the backing track, so that was a pleasant surprise.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    IDK if they're also a blacksmith, but "fabbro" in cfabbro's name is Italian for blacksmith.

    IDK if they're also a blacksmith, but "fabbro" in cfabbro's name is Italian for blacksmith.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on What long book series is worth its page count? in ~books

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    Really? I read Way of Kings, and while I did enjoy it, it felt desperately in need of a stricter editor. At least 200 pages could have been shaved off and nobody would have noticed.

    Really? I read Way of Kings, and while I did enjoy it, it felt desperately in need of a stricter editor. At least 200 pages could have been shaved off and nobody would have noticed.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on What chemicals/substances do you keep at home? And what do you do with them? in ~life.home_improvement

    Arlen
    Link
    PB Blaster for getting things loose. It makes WD-40 seem like water in comparison. My most common use case for it is weather-beaten locks, it'll get them turning as smooth as the day they were made.

    PB Blaster for getting things loose. It makes WD-40 seem like water in comparison. My most common use case for it is weather-beaten locks, it'll get them turning as smooth as the day they were made.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    I had to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for class in 9th grade, and it was absolutely my favorite book that I ever had to read for school. Ended up buying myself a copy a few years after...

    I had to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for class in 9th grade, and it was absolutely my favorite book that I ever had to read for school. Ended up buying myself a copy a few years after graduating, and some friends from that class and I still make casual references to it to this day.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid in ~health

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    Curious about the wording here - "can't" as in "it's not as profitable so nobody does it," or "can't" as in "the processes have been lost (like Roman concrete [until recently])?"

    We can't make cast iron to the same tolerances as before.

    Curious about the wording here - "can't" as in "it's not as profitable so nobody does it," or "can't" as in "the processes have been lost (like Roman concrete [until recently])?"

    6 votes

  13. Comment on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ to lose $150 million to $200 million in theatrical run after bombing at box office in ~movies

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    What I got from it was that they represented the shared delusions (the folie à deux) between Arthur and Lee. They sort of had this "we are right and everyone else is wrong," shared-glance feel to...

    What I got from it was that they represented the shared delusions (the folie à deux) between Arthur and Lee. They sort of had this "we are right and everyone else is wrong," shared-glance feel to them.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Kamala Harris plans to tax unrealized US stock gains — but only for people worth $100 million in ~society

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    Because I was curious, and you neglected to include the numbers:

    Because I was curious, and you neglected to include the numbers:

    the estate tax exemption amount, currently $13.61 million per individual, is scheduled to “sunset” at the end of 2025 and revert to pre-TCJA levels, which is an estimated $7 million per individual (adjusted for inflation)

    14 votes

  15. Comment on Emilia Perez | Official teaser in ~movies

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    I'm not sure if there's something I don't know about this movie, but given what the trailer presents, was the 'comedy' tag accidental?

    I'm not sure if there's something I don't know about this movie, but given what the trailer presents, was the 'comedy' tag accidental?

    1 vote

  16. Comment on What are your favorite Dreamcast games? Any odd or unique ones worth playing? in ~games

    Arlen
    (edited )
    Link
    Lots of great suggestions here already, but my favorites that haven't yet been mentioned are ok, Sonic Adventure was mentioned but it was really good and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. I'm honestly...

    Lots of great suggestions here already, but my favorites that haven't yet been mentioned are Sonic Adventure ok, Sonic Adventure was mentioned but it was really good and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. I'm honestly not sure how well they hold up today, but they were my favorites back then.

    As far as obscure, Armada was SO FUN. 2D space shooter but it was open world and had lots of stuff to do.

    One I always wanted to rent but never got around to it was Record of Lodoss War (I think). I can't say any more than "it looked pretty fun."

    6 votes

  17. Comment on Dustborn | Release date trailer in ~games

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    I wish I hadn't gotten curious and looked at the comments. I watched the trailer and thought "this looks pretty entertaining," I like the art direction and I'm curious about the story beats that...

    I wish I hadn't gotten curious and looked at the comments. I watched the trailer and thought "this looks pretty entertaining," I like the art direction and I'm curious about the story beats that are presented in the trailer, and the scene with the baseball cracked me up.

    And then I saw the comments and these people are convinced there's some sort of cabal set out to ruin their lives. It was disgusting. And it was, without exaggeration, 95% of the top-level comments. There's a couple brave souls in there trying to talk some sense into people but it's going about as well as you'd expect.

    Ultimately, those comments pushed me from "looks fun, I'll check it out when it comes to PS+ or EGS's free game," to "I'm going to purchase a copy just to send a message."

    3 votes

  18. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Arlen
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    I'm giving a second try to Monster Hunter: Rise. I fell off initially on the Switch because I felt bad taking my TV away from the rest of my family to play, and I found it really frustrating to...

    I'm giving a second try to Monster Hunter: Rise. I fell off initially on the Switch because I felt bad taking my TV away from the rest of my family to play, and I found it really frustrating to try to parse all the on-screen data on the small Switch screen. I've got my PS5 hooked up to my computer monitor, though, and it's on PS+ so I'm playing through again (mostly because what I've seen of the next game looks really great) and I'm having a blast. I believe I've reached the point where I stopped before, around 3-4 stars.

    I'm pretty impressed at how easily I'm finding groups, which is what ruined World for me (I could not find other players to save my life). The Defender weapons they added are obviously making it a lot easier, but I'm likely to pick up the expansion while its on sale so I can get into the true endgame.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Why does "Everything Everywhere All at Once" repulse me so much? in ~movies

    Arlen
    Link Parent
    This might be a little off-topic but was Interstellar a parallel universe movie? I saw it when it came out and I don't remember any universe-jumping at all.

    This might be a little off-topic but was Interstellar a parallel universe movie? I saw it when it came out and I don't remember any universe-jumping at all.

  20. Comment on How the hell do I clean a wok? in ~food

    Arlen
    Link
    Coincidentally, after seeing this post I was scrolling through Youtube and saw this video about bamboo wok brushes. They seem like a pretty solid solution (especially when, as others have said,...

    Coincidentally, after seeing this post I was scrolling through Youtube and saw this video about bamboo wok brushes. They seem like a pretty solid solution (especially when, as others have said, used with soap).

    2 votes