JonCole

Swedish fish soup -

Do you have a driver's license/can you drive? If so, you can go to Home Depot or Lowes and rent a truck for minutes/hours at a relatively low cost. It'd certainly be cheaper than Ikea's delivery fee, which is something like $150 if memory serves. If you can't drive, then I guess your options would be super limited.

My sister-in-law had a Karlstad couch, I didn't find it particularly good or bad either way. Seemed a little small, I think it was going more for compact and visually appealing than comfortable. I bought an Ektorp w/ chaise for $600, which I actually like quite a bit. It has a ton of color options and the covers are replaceable and machine-washable, which I figured was worthwhile since I have cats that could potentially make a mess of things (would have to spot-clean otherwise). It's much more plush than the Karlstad in my recollection.

It's really a shame that plasmas are out because I really do think they were the best budget option. I have a 42" $400 Samsung plasma and it has the black levels and response rate of a much more expensive current LCD display. My only regret was not having paid for a 50" 1080p plasma instead of cheaping out with a 42" 720p, but I don't let it bother me too much because it's still a great TV that I could actually afford.

I wouldn't recommend the first, it's this year's version of this which had a fair amount of reported issues - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXPP7W0 We're kinda in a lull on TV stuff because new product lines get announced mid-year, Wirecutter is currently recommending this guy - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/panasonic-50-class-49-1-2-diag--led-1080p-smart-hdtv-black/3730034.p?id=1219093274525&skuId=3730034 The Samsung you linked also looks alright, I'm quite happy with my Samsung but I have no insight on whether that model is good or not. CNet is generally okay for TV stuff, as is Consumer Reports.

This DBZ live-action fan short is actually one of the better ones I've seen, actually manages to capture some of the spirit and pacing of the original - Yeah, I know it's not anime but hell if I didn't enjoy it.

Turkey chili and cornbread -

I've been watching and enjoying Torchwood, which I've avoided for a while despite Netflix's persistent recommendation because I haven't seen Dr. Who. That said, boy is that series corny. Does it ever get less corny? Even just the way they draw their weapons or some of the kinda hamfisted dialogue contributes to this sense of "ugh" that's persisted through the first half of the first season.

I think you mean Episode VIII. Also, Gary Whitta said that Rogue One was his naming choice. I imagine that even if he doesn't have the final writing credit, having that feather in his cap must be cool. Also, I really like the idea of Felicity Jones as a leading lady X-Wing pilot; I hope the movie is actually that.

Eager to see your results, Badfinger. You should also try some sous vide poached eggs for breakfast too. Eggs are definitely my greatest desire for such a device. My wife went away for the weekend so I decided to go on a shopping run so I could surprise her with a nice meal when she gets back. When she went to Sweden for the first time for her sister's wedding, her new father-in-law cooked some fish soup that she said was the best thing she ever ate. When I went there for Christmas this past year, I got a chance to try it and I thought I'd give it a go. I don't do very much cooking with fish, but I'm going to take a shot at it on Sunday. It's also the first time I bought saffron, which was like $15.

I guess I have slightly more confidence in this one sticking as it definitely still does have a general superhero costume quality to it rather than a 90% normal clothing + 10% shiny tight top with a little gold stuff thing. But maybe that's just optimism.

PSA - the new version of Pocket Casts for Android (not sure about other platforms as I only have Android devices) has the same silence-eliminating "Smart Speed" feature that Overcast on iOS does. Very handy for those of us with voracious podcast consumption habits.

I'd prefer that too, but I think it's clear that DC isn't currently willing to prioritize good, progressive story right now so I'll take what I can get. That won't stop me from complaining every time we get a superhero to basically change their sexuality on the turn of a new writer or something like that. We are seeing good stuff like Catwoman being openly, non-exploitatively bisexual every now and then, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. Frankly though, I'm betting much harder on Marvel. I feel like in practically every conceivable way Marvel is more appealing and tasteful than DC. I'm fairly new to reading comics though, so maybe I'm naively observing more recent moves as indicators of these companies' overall direction.

On the Mech Jesus topic, I recently watched Knights of Sidonia on Netflix. I had heard negative/middling things about it previously, so I ended up fairly impressed. It has some really slick animation and I actually enjoyed the simultaneously threadbare/complex story. I guess my primary complaint is that it's fairly dour with a muted color palette, so it doesn't have the joyous/humorous quality that some other anime in this sub-genre have (and I generally enjoy).

Man, I'm totally a sucker for "You are a chosen one with a magical gift for piloting these mechs, you are Earth's last hope, you must save Earth with your magical mech piloting powers."

Wonder Woman Has A New Uniform Involving SLEEVES And PANTS Reading the actual post for context, it sucks that the writing for women characters can be bad in DC (I'm looking at WW and Batgirl, specifically) but at least stuff like these outfit changes are continuing the forward march of women being more than sexual objects in comics.

Titanfall 2 is coming for XBO, PS4, PC.

Amazing, I've been saving some eShop credit and I thought I was SOL after Trilogy went on sale and I passed it up around the holidays. STOKED

I've seen like... less than 10 anime series ever and one of the few I've watched is FLCL. I can confirm that it's not great for beginners, I honestly found myself saying out loud "what the fuuuuuuuuuck is going on" so many times while watching it. It was still enjoyable in a weird way, but I feel like I didn't fully appreciate it for what it was trying to do.

I just had a breakdown in the car with my wife before work this morning. Our relationship is kinda weird sometimes because we are almost completely different personality types and it's hard for us to communicate naturally. A lot of our conflicts are because something is wrong with one of us and the other person doesn't receive the other's signals that something is wrong so it causes friction. Frankly, it's usually something wrong with my wife that I can't detect because she has much more emotional depth than I do. I guess this time it was the opposite, because I really thought something was wrong with her but the problem was that I was acting strange and didn't know it. I've been really stressed out at work because I've just picked up the responsibilities of a coworker who left the agency. I work at a non-profit that doesn't perform by the same standards of other companies, namely in this case that inefficiency is that the person who left was the only one who could perform her crucial tasks within the office. I got some training from her before she left, but two weeks notice isn't much time to impart a complicated grant-reporting process to someone with literally no familiarity with both the grant's program or the reporting itself. To make a long story short, I was having to do this reporting for the first time and I lapsed into my old habit of procrastination and minimization of the problem. Of course, deadlines are solid when it comes to money stuff with the government and I found myself with too little time to do what I needed. I worked overtime the last two days and even took my work home with me by working remotely off the clock. I got basically no sleep one night and have been trashed for the last two days as a result. It was a really horrible experience that I internalized. Usually, I'm just not the person in my relationship who has shit to deal with. I help my wife get over her problems and I'm happy to do it. It's a way that I communicate my love. My problems have just been something that I deal with myself, but this time I just couldn't handle it. I was in the car with her driving to work and I kinda just exploded at her, before apologizing and sobbing my eyes out for like 10 minutes in the parking lot (it's not a good look, no idea if any coworkers saw me). Anyways, I just needed to kinda put what I've been going through into words. It's this shitty internal struggle to make myself feel like I'm in control even if I'm not, so I kinda feel like it's a good idea to share and shed that facade for a moment.

Recently subscribed to a YT channel called DidYouKnowGaming that's a trivia type thing, just watched their Metroid video which is pretty good -

This isn't as much a deal as it is a PSA - all the Titanfall maps/season pass are free on PC and Xbox, presumably indefinitely due to the fact that it just crossed it's one-year anniversary since release.

Nintendo was very briefly selling "replacement parts" in their online Nintendo store that included replacement battery covers for the New 3DS in every available configuration (red, black, MH4U, gold) and the charging cradle that was previously only available in JP. All of that shit is sold out right now and the Gold MM battery cover disappeared in like... 30 minutes of it being discovered, but it's still kinda interesting. Cradle is highly recommended, I imported mine and it's pretty darn convenient (enabling me to keep my 3DS on at all times for everyday streetpassing).

My choices of alcohol at home are abysmal right now, so I'm drinking Glacier Cherry Gatorade mixed with Canadian Whiskey that somehow has maple syrup in it? It basically tastes like cherry cough syrup and it's actually pretty great, when you don't think about what it's composed of.

Is anything tangential in a "I had a random thought" thread? I haven't noticed any watch fetishization in my personal life, though I have been looking at various automatic watches for myself for some reason. I used to wear a watch all the time but it was kinda crappy and got all scratched up.