JonCole

If you want Club Nintendo points, Ubisoft has a pretty decent sale going right now for retail games with high returns on coins. I grabbed Rayman Origins (40 coins) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (30 coins) for $7.50 each, and I think Rayman 3D, Rayman Rabbids, Splinter Cell 3D, and some Petz stuff is also on sale though less recommendable.

MPQ destroys phone batteries like nothing else. I think I am on day 96 or something like that.

Whether or not these count as their breakthrough roles is up for grabs, but I saw these leading ladies first in these big action franchises (in order of A-listiness) - Kate Beckinsale, Underworld Cameron Diaz, Charlie's Angels (this is probably most debatable as "action" as well as her breakthrough, but meh) Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Linda Hamilton, The Terminator Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil (edit: actually I just remembered that her breakthrough was The Fifth Element, though she does fully own Resident Evil and I think it's what she's better known for nowadays)

Just use the version of Excel in Office Web Apps or Google Drive. Both let you do editing in their respective apps now.

You could also just... not install the Mint app?

Title II is the dream, but it's also reversible by any subsequent FCC that is appointed in new presidential administrations. I was actually hoping that Dems would be less bullish on congressional legislation that would be more of a compromise, but more permanent as law. I'm super duper cautiously optimistic.

At some point I realized that I'm just not good at making a budget no matter if I let software figure it out for me or if I track it on my own. Now I just use a series of bank accounts and credit cards with autopay/automatic transfer to handle like 90% of my finances and then just leave myself with very little disposable income. I use Excel to keep it all in order so I know who is paying me what, how much I hope to spend on whatever, which accounts are paying what bills, etc.

Maybe buy a really short audio extension cord so that it's the part that's taking the hit from the jerking instead of the headphones? Otherwise, I can't recommend the LG Tone HBS-700/730 enough for a Bluetooth headset. There are some better ones specifically for exercise or active people, but they're generally just two earbuds with a cord between them and thus not great if you only want one earbud in. The Tone headphones have a neckband with a little magnetic terminal to hold the free earbud , which I almost always use because I want to hear ambient sounds in most things that I do. Plus it gets great battery life, enough that I only have to charge it every couple days.

I use the Logitech G602, which is a wireless mouse with 6 programmable thumb buttons that aren't particularly obtrusive (it also happens to be on sale on Amazon for $50 at the moment!) - http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-Battery/dp/B00E4MQODC Only thing is that it's wireless, which is a dealbreaker for some who really can somehow detect the latency of it. I used to have a 1st-gen Razer Mamba wireless that had noticeable latency and poor battery life, so I can understand the idea that wireless is a dealbreaker for some but I think the tech has advanced enough that it's barely detectable unless you're playing Call of Duty or CS. Also, this particular mouse uses AA batteries, which is a pro for me because if the battery ever goes bad with a proprietary battery you have to go back to the manufacturer. Plus it has a battery conservation mode, which means I got about 9 months of battery life out of two standard Duracells. Note: Before the Mamba, I used to have a Logitech G9. So in terms of comfort, this is relatively equivalent to that series.

The cookie segment basically convinced me to buy a stand mixer, so don't listen to You Are Not So Smart if you don't have $300 of extra money lying around.

I just ended up buying a receiver in lieu of a switch because 1) most switches weigh nothing and thus they support a really messy entertainment system 2) audio stuff is dubious, as you mentioned 3) I could benefit from better sound and there are basically no good, cheap soundbars. I don't regret it, although it is just a big huge piece of tech. Maybe get a PCIe USB hub? That could at least get you 4 ports or something like that if you have a free PCIe x1 port. They tend not to cost more than $20 or so. I tried installing some DualShock drivers to use it wirelessly over BT and it borked my Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver somehow (I'm guessing since it tries to use the same USB protocol). Drivers are scary. My Logitech K400 never gave me a consistent signal even with line of sight at about 15 feet away.

I have been trying on and off and managed just today to get enough stability to complete a survey (though it failed once halfway through) and buy Super Metroid with coins. Definitely better today than the past few days, just need to do a lot of refreshing.

I just know that W101 and most of Platinum's games are really not my thing in terms of the mechanics, but I hope to give them all a try because I know the quality of their games is good. And once in a while, the aesthetics and the small gameplay variations just work out in a way that I can learn to like the frenetic action thing. That's why I like Vanquish so much, because it added some shooters stuff and a sci-fi aesthetic that just clicked in no way that Platinum's other stuff has for me. I could just as easily ignore all of Platinum's new stuff, but I'm hoping for another Vanquish.

She first shows up in the Thrawn Trilogy (first in terms of book publication, not in-EU chronology) which is highly recommended by just about any EU fans. Trilogy includes Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. She's a recurring character in the next handful of major EU books, but I really can't recommend them for someone who just wants a taste. I'd follow up the trilogy with Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, which are written by the same author and kinda wrap up Mara's major arc. If you find yourself liking those five books, then I'd also recommend Allegiance and Outbound Flight. They're both prequels that take place amidst the chronology of the movies but tie into the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology.

I think a vastly different aesthetic and an unlikable control method is more than enough to make me really not like a game. I can think of tons of games that I either didn't play or quit early because I didn't like their sense of style. Not only that, but I couldn't even reliably draw a circle or line with the analog stick which I was trying to use because I also didn't like the drawing. Maybe I'm just bad at games? I dunno. I also grant that I'm much more open to quitting now that I am renting stuff from Gamefly. Since I ostensibly have access to a great library of games, probably something like 90% of which I haven't played, I feel no compunction giving up after 30 minutes.

I find myself very optimistic about Star Wars right now, particularly this spin-off. Jones is a great actor, I really liked Gareth Edwards's work on Godzilla and Monsters, and I really think that Gary Whitta has a good Star Wars script in him. I would not be opposed to a Bastila Shan archetype character, but I'd definitely like a Mara Jade type thing too.

I definitely think that the spiritual elements of the author's philosophy at the very least provide a context for some of the things she recommends or even a reflection of a significant amount of thought about cleaning. You may be right about the prejudice thing, though I also have a suspicion that there's some ageist prejudice in how I was writing because I just kinda feel like the author is not the sage old cleaner who has been doing it for decades and has gleaned some spiritual (in the religious sense) insight along the way. In either case, I am confident that there are plenty of practical aspects of the book that I appreciate and I'd be more than willing to admit that the author has put a lot of thought and emotional currency into something I have given almost zero thought and emotion into. Maybe that's why my house was well still kinda is a mess, but a work in progress.

PSA: if you want to subscribe to the Premium Podcasts in your podcatcher (I only tried it with Pocket Casts), plug in this URL with your info - http://username:password@www.giantbomb.com/podcast-xml/premium/

Holy shit, Mega Man X is basically my favorite and most played SNES game and I've never watched speedruns before. Watching that one might have been the hook I needed to start watching all kinds of other speed runs because goddamn.

Sous Vide stuff used to be on Wirecutter, it's now on Sweethome - http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-sous-vide-gear/

I rented The Wonderful 101 and gave it about 30 minutes, enough to get through the tutorial and most of one mission. I really don't want to play it anymore, mostly due to the weird "draw a shape to perform some move" thing plus the theme of the game. I think it's kinda charming, but at the same time it's far more grating to me than the goofiness of something like Bayonetta or Vanquish. Funny how Platinum Games can really just make games I love 50% of the time and games I can't quite stand the other 50%.

Which one are you looking at? I'm thinking about grabbing one of Anova's, but I honestly can't tell much difference between the competition.

Kotaku comes to mind first, though "minimal fluff stories" is suspect. I guess if you just read the KotakuCore tag you'd minimize that fluff aspect. I'm thinking about trying to read Gamespot again. I used to read it when a friend of mine was a news intern, but dropped off since.

Yeah, I'd guess the bag too. The Fierce Deity puzzle could have some game, except for the fact that it's only 300-piece and thus a garbage puzzle. I kinda considered just buying all the physical stuff that looks interesting on eBay, but I guess it could end up being really expensive for some dumb reason. I wish Nintendo just had more good merchandise for sale.