Roderick

I've long since come to the realization that Diamond is all the Pokémon I will ever need in my life. I played Yellow, then Diamond, and I'm still combating my way through that one. I'll never finish it.

Yeah, something's going wrong with the playtime. It erased all my record of it, save for Dark Souls'. I'm a little pissed actually, because I really like to that stat to track how long I've been playing something. I mean, it's a pretty useless and nerdy thing to know, but I can't help but appreciate it. Stupid that it's all borked now.

It gets better upon repeated viewings, when you know what's coming and the futility of the whole endeavor kicks in.

The third act of Full Throttle got pretty weird:

Because Japan has a fascination for cats, just like tanuki and frogs, apparently. Also raccoons. Mario just likes to wear the skin of slain animals, alright?

It's gonna be so great when I get one of those 300 prototypes.

For a while I was interested in big mecha games, but I have so little to touch upon and so many other games/genres yet to play... I don't think I'll ever come around to this. It's another big time investment to learn, I think?

Hey guys! Remember when Star Wars was a cool thing and not milked to death by endless corporate greed?

Please Jake, feel free to unapologetically talk about Nintendo and not feel like you're breaking the rules. Do not be waylaid by Sean's blatant attempts to distract the situation by means of a fraudulent sneeze.

Thanks, I've sent the first few messages, let's see how it transforms and rolls out over the coming days! I think the hidden subtext in online dating is what scares almost everyone, instinctively, at first. When you go to a bar or any social place, sure, you might be out there with the sole purpose of hooking up or finding your prince(ss), but you have an automatic escape pod at the ready: you can just pretend you're there for whatever. The booze, the friends, the vibe. On a dating site, you don't have that excuse - you're there because you want to find someone, and that automatically implies you're lonely. You're stripped of plausible deniability and that brings a certain terror of its own, that you have to step over and discover it's no big deal at all.

Open world Zelda? I wonder how they'll manage the difficulty level and the sense of progression (in most Zeldas, the further the game gets, the scarier the dungeons become).

As a sort of follow-up to an earlier post here; I've taken the step and applied to a few dating sites. Didn't know which ones to choose, so I just took a few that I thought seemed interesting. My first impressions were very positive; it's not unlike just any old online community. The vibe is much the same, with the exception that everyone's looking for someone. Some aspects are less savory; I definitely dislike that you're automatically funneled into behavior of selecting on appearance, but there is almost no way around that. It's just how it works; you get a first impression from the picture. Either accept that or don't play the game, I guess. But other than that, I was thrilled to see a lot of generally interesting, non-scary people hanging around there. Talked to a few, looking forward to meeting up over the coming months.

Even though it's not a 'proper' 3D Mario, it looks a lot more fun than the earlier Wii U game (with the increasingly ludicrous title). The shadow play especially, and the fun stuff with piranha plants, looked good.

I love the style of Kirby, but rarely ever the games themselves. Too woolly and noncommittal, if that makes sense. The Ace Attorney demo is of exactly no interest to me: I wouldn't want to spoil myself for a game that, as I pointed out graphically above, is a Day 1 Persian.

Even worse, they're building the actual Borealis in an Amsterdam dry dock, I saw today. Fuckin' ARG.

Chris, when you hold the controller does it feel like you're fondling an owl?

This is the first thing I thought of: Very exciting! Actually, it's the most exciting of the three, since the first two announcements were things I kind of already have. This, though, is new.

"I like your toe nails. They remind of the color of your nipples." That's an actual line Riddick used to flirt with Dahl. It worked. It succeeded in turning her straight. Because all it takes to cure homosexuality is someone coming onto your very strongly and probably smelling right. But then there was also the beheading, and dog. I liked Riddick. Gonna write a big old Filmadeus review about it in the coming days.

I returned from Riddick. I had a splendid time. Apart from the one storyline with Dahl (really now, that was awkward), it was fun and executed perfectly upon everything it set out to do. I can understand not liking this if you don't like the Riddick character, but I don't really get the overall negative feedback I'm reading.

On that impossible to agree upon, shifting baseline; one man's coercion is another man's persuasion. Thankfully, that grey area is not infinite. There are certain modes of behavior that society at large thinks unseemly, such as murder, or good, such as philanthropy. Only what lies inbetween is up for debate. Employment for wages is definitely a contested area, but no one would side with TychoCelchuuu the slave owner: a scenario he keeps returning to, almost obsessively, with an amount of craving that frightens me.

I agree. There is little difference between a threat backed up by violence from the coercer and violence by a third party that may or may not even be under their control. The aim is the same: to bend someone else to their will through the fear of repercussion. "This is his claim, his threatening and my message." - Duke of Exeter, Henry V

By the Yods!

Friedman is clear to make the distinction that coercion employs physical force only, and then elaborates that most cases of psychological coercion have at their root a physical threat behind them. Personally, I find the whole argument a little strange to wrap my head around, since the term 'persuasion' has always been a positive force in my lexicon. It is altering the minds and opinions of others based on either good argument, charm, or anything other than violence. The difference with coercion, therefore, couldn't be bigger. I feel the difference, rather than being able to succinctly detail it in words. A good example: last night Osmosisch and I were invaded by an enemy phantom in Dark Souls, who employed coercion in an attempt to steal our lives. We persuaded him otherwise by the logical argument that he could not beat us, and the charm of our edgy blades.

Clint Hawthorne will produce a sunset that will inspire the years of the Tears for Fears

Now I want to see Farscape again, and Blade Runner, and A Scanner Darkly (bizarre film, that).