Merus

They're pretty sick of Chang over at Greendale Community College so it's nice to see he's fitting in on Idle Thumbs.

As of writing this there are now 11 episodes of Tone Control, and I gotta say it's a bit weird that there's been no ladies on yet.

I'm Australian, if that helps.

Someone pointed out to me that π Day is basically the same thing as the fetishisation of science that e.g. Portal engages in. No-one observes e Day or √2 Day, and both those numbers are just as important. It feels like tribalism; we flatter ourselves that we are the smart ones, because we observe π Day and call out SCIENCE!, when they are merely totems.

I hear ya. I've failed university once through similar circumstances. It turned out I'd caught depression. I've gone back to uni - it's easier in Australia to put your life back together, because most of the big expenses (health, uni study) are mostly taken care of. I have two assignments due tomorrow and Tuesday, and while I've started on them it's going to be a grind and my brain wants to do anything else but work. The worst that will happen is that you'll have to take a second run at this, but a degree is no guarantee of success. The ability to get shit done, though, is definitely a skill, and one you'll have to learn, especially if you were particularly bright. Most smart kids run into a wall for just that reason - kids closer to the statistical average tend to sort their shit out during kindergarten. I have two not particularly helpful suggestions to pull yourself out of the immediate fire: one, go for a run for at least an hour. Yes, you might not be able to run, but you need a release of endorphins right about now and you're just going to spend that hour coiling the problem over in your head. I suggest running in particular because if you're no good at it you're going to be spending a lot of mental energy on the pain your legs and lungs are feeling which is less to spend on your perfectly legitimate problems. Two, get back, choose the smallest project, and set a 15 minute timer. You may not do anything else during that timer. When the timer expires, have a glass of water, or a toilet break. Set a 15 minute timer. Go again. 4 times in total. If the timer expires and you're in the middle of something, keep going. There is no way past sitting down and grinding out work, so if you're going to make this a success, you are going to have to decide to get shit done, right here, right now. You've likely been letting things happen because this is what you are 'supposed' to do next, but clearly this is not working out for you. So: are you going to decide to work, and to learn how to, or are you going to withdraw from uni and go home, and sort yourself out emotionally (and financially) first.

That write-up reminded me: Belfort talks to camera a lot in Wolf of Wall Street, which seems like an odd choice except I realised halfway through that Scorsese is doing his favourite trick: the camera is not a dispassionate observer at all. Belfort is swindling us, and thus so is the movie. He only starts doing it once the movie's made clear what kind of man he's become, so it's fair on the audience, but you've been had if you think that the movie's saying how great widescale financial fraud is.

It isn't the 22nd of July, though.

It seems like the big advantage of cable was that they don't show ads, except they all realised that they could show ads anyway and make even more money. I think this is probably what pay TV never really took off in Australia - we're fairly well-serviced by our free-to-air stations, and two of them are non-commercial (although one shows commercials, they're briefer). Paying for TV only marginally better than what's already available is something only the very wealthy do. The Cartoon Network music videos seem to be filling a similar niche to what e.g. The Trapdoor filled here; if you're showing content intended to be shown in between commercials, it means you have a 5 minute gap in the half-hour you need to fill.

To get out of the tower, you have to unlock the door. The key is underneath the Fire Safety Christmas Duck.

Psychonauts 2.

I enjoy the dynamic they have as a duo that Elaine is clearly more generally competent but Guybrush is occasionally amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXREEVpjloo

Escape hardly counts for anything. Tales of Monkey Island is mostly what I'm judging off, and she's good fun there.

I think there were a few puzzles I found unreasonable - a great bulk of the puzzles were fine. The art style is great, but what's supposedly memorable is the story.

Yeah, I think it's supposed to be self-evident how fucked up the culture inside Stratton Oakmond was.

It's not critical of them; they were allowed and encouraged to do whatever they wanted. It's critical of the 'normal' people who gave 'em the big thumbs up to be terrible i.e. us.

Heh heh heh. Midnight City is a Majesco label.

A friend of mine played this on my recommendation, and she didn't really like it. She liked the side stories, particularly the father's (she is an aspiring writer) but she was irritated that Sam's story was the 'main' story when she didn't really care for Sam; she read her as basically a snot, having stolen all the electrical equipment to pay for her running off to revel in her problems. She came to an unfavourable impression of Sam early and very little changed over the course of the game.

Honestly I think they're more fun married; usually writers avoid it because all the fun goes out of the relationship, but Elaine got more interesting and now their arguments have some stakes to them.

Just finished Grim Fandango myself, actually - I'm very curious to see how Zeus feels about it, because I've cooled on it significantly.

Fiiiiiiine

Replayed Grim Fandango to see how it held up. I'm... I'm not sure it does. The tank controls are a real problem, sure, but Year 3 until the end feels weirdly abbreviated. You don't really feel like you're in danger - Manny is a sleazeball until he's not - it doesn't really work as a redemptive arc.

I am a big fan of Parks and Rec; they had to retool the second season, and in the process found the show's voice. They've been fearless in changing up the premise and core character relationships ever since. They capitalise on every happy accident they stumble across. It still blows my mind that one of the funniest jokes in the series is a Chris Pratt ad-lib.

I was wondering why you couldn't delay the 3:10 to Moscow stream by 5 minutes. If you're playing, wouldn't that delay make it an imperfect source of information, but enough that you'd have to keep moving.