SecretAsianMan

Now that the marathon is over, I've created a public YouTube playlist. Anyone can add to the list. Please keep to the official channel videos or those of the runner. Add to SGDQ 2018 Playlist SGDQ Official Channel

As expected, the Mario Maker blind relay race was great and the hard levels exhibition after was amazing.

Stuff like this is always very disappointing. I've had to stop watching runs I was interested in because either the runner or the couch is just unbearable. Although on the flip side I've seen runs that became some of my favorites because of the runner/couch, despite not being interested in the game itself. I suppose to each his own.

I watched a chunk of the Metroid block last night. The Zero Mission race was pretty good with some unfortunate bits. One of the runners had to drop out when their console fan died and the unit overheated and shut down. All the remaining runners finished the race, including getting a trick that if missed would invalidate the entire run. Another runner took a pretty bold strategy of skipping a health refill during the stealth section. One hit would have ended the run for him. The Samus Returns run makes me want to play the game. I haven't played a Metroid in a long time. There's one really unfortunate part in the run where he loses several minutes of time trying to get a single OOB clip to work but he perseveres and manages to get it with some audience support. He even came in under the estimate, though he admits he put a large buffer in the estimate. I only saw the beginning of the Super Metroid 100% map completion run but I want to go back and finish it because that's such an unusual category that involves really strange routing and movement to fill in every square.

Looking over the schedule, here's what stands out to me Metroid Samus Returns - This is on the 3DS remake so it'll be the first run I've seen of that Spider-Man & Venom's Maximum Carnage - I really liked this game as a kid and will be interested to see the speed tech Cuphead - By a really great runner, TheMexicanRunner Getting Over it with Bennett Foddy - self explanitory Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 - by my favorite runner PJ TASBlock

I've been so busy lately I totally forgot to post about it! Thanks for remembering! ...also it's 2018

I just got back from a week in China and shotgunned a bunch of superhero movies on the flights. Justice League - A real mess. Muddled plot, murky visuals, no character. The only movie I've seen in this "universe" was Wonder Woman and JL does absolutely nothing to make me want to watch any others. Black Panther - Pretty good. Creative visuals, interesting characters, fun action. I wish a little more had been done with the plot but otherwise I liked it. Thor Ragnarok - Awesome. Of all the Marvel movies thus far the Thor ones have been the low points but this one was fantastic, possibly the best Marvel movie yet. I think part of what makes it so great is how much it contrasts against the previous "serious" film, but you can tell they knew what they were doing was silly so they just embraced the fuck out of it and it worked. Avengers Infinity War - I went into the movie expecting a lot of mindless action and I got exactly what I wanted. I wouldn't call it a good movie per se but it did the job of being entertaining which is ultimately all I need from it.

The first half of Season 5 of Arrested Development is out and I finished it up last night. It's... meh. The format is the old familiar one but the pace feels slow in comparison. The story and jokes tend to drag quite a bit. I got a few chuckles out of it but nothing made me really laugh. Hopefully they can tighten it up in the second half.

Was there always a Clubs tab on this forum (at the top right under the Idle Forums banner next to Activity)? Have I just been blind for the last few years?

I finished up Lost In Space. Overall I liked it. The momentum of the first episode doesn't quite carry through the rest of the season but there's still a good amount of tension and character. The biggest disappointment to me was Dr. Smith. I'm glad they went away from the silly, over the top portrayals of previous incarnations of the character, but I found this Dr. Smith to be really unlikable and off-putting. Maybe that was the intention but I didn't love hating her, I just hated her.

I watched the rest of the season and the pattern continued. It would be impossible to overcome the inherent flaws without filming more scenes so I'd say they did the best they could with what they had. Still the fact that they recognized it at all leaves me with hope for season 5. On a side note, it was really depressing to be reminded that a major plot point of trying to build a wall between the US and Mexico and how completely ridiculous an idea that is has now become a reality 5 years later. In other news I started the Lost In Space remake. I'm only about 3 episodes in but so far I'm enjoying this more than I anticipated.

With season 5 of Arrested Development releasing this month, I've started watching the season 4 remix. I wasn't a fan of the original season 4, the show just doesn't work without the characters to play off of each other as well as the interconnected storytelling that slowly puts a jumbled series of events together. The remix helps this somewhat by re-editing the season to be more like the first three but since they filmed only a handful of scenes with more than 3 characters present it's still off. The story moves along better and fewer jokes require you to watch an entirely different episode for the payoff but the fundamental problem remains. None of the characters are really strong enough to stand on their own, they work best in small doses or when supported by the others. Still, I'm excited to see if season 5 can be a return to form.

Forgive me for doing a bit of promoting here but a friend at work told me a game he's been working on for a while was recently released to Steam. I told him I'd help get the word out. KovaaK's FPS Aim Trainer is a game about learning the skills and muscle memory to play first person shooters. It's a single player game where you play against bots that can be customized in a lot of ways. Almost every variable can be adjusted so that the weapons respond like they would in any other game. Bots can be given AI as well, allowing them to dodge and fight back. Movement mechanics can also be adjusted; things like double jump and jetpacks can be added to further train for specific games. Maps are customizable so you can create scenarios such as a sniper training alley. At the moment there's no controller support or third person mode. I haven't played with it myself but it seems like a good way get some FPS chops without the pressure of online play. I can also see it making for a good warm-up prior to a match.

The eye patch and Hulk in Ragnarok I was well aware of because they're impossible to avoid if you've seen even a second of the marketing. And I'm familiar enough with the character of Black Panther to know he's the ruler of Wakanda. It's mainly that I'm one of those nerds that likes to get all the references and such which is why I'm reluctant to see Marvel Infinite Warfare before the rest. I've generally enjoyed all the Marvel films though so I'll probably like it either way.

How important is it to have seen ALL the movies prior to watching Infinity War? I haven't seen Ragnarok or Black Panther yet. I very much want to see both but my time is rather limited these days. Would I be best served waiting until I've seen everything first even at the cost of missing Infinity War at the theater?

I'm glad to hear that! It's weird, I went over the list to see if I had any updates to it and discovered I have no recollection of making it at all. @Saltimbanco One nice thing about TNG is that apart from a handful of major events, the episodes are largely disconnected so there's not much to be gained from slogging through the first two seasons. And most of the major plot episodes are good ones anyway. Voyager has a lot of standalone episodes too but there's much more overall continuity. DS9 is almost a serial (especially in the back half) so skipping means missing out on a lot. If you're interested this thread also has a Voyager skip list (compiled by me with addendums by others) and a DS9 list (compiled by Gormongous with addendums by others).

I appreciate the support. I just wish I had an idea of where to go from here. Heck, I don't even know where I WANT to go much less where I can.

My company announced today that they're going to close down the plant I work at. It'll still run for a couple of years and decommissioning will take time after that (I'm sure a lot of you already know this but I work at a nuclear power plant) but we're essentially done. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this. I've been wanting to get out of this job for a long time now and this is probably the push I need to actually do it. I'm not exactly eager to start the job seeking process though. I don't want to work at another plant, or even in a related field, but I'm not really sure what else I'm qualified to do. It's entirely possible that some other company will come and buy the plant and if that happened odds are I'd end up working for them since you need qualified people who know the plant and you can't bring in a completely new staff to do that. I feel like I should be nervous or scared or anxious or something but mostly I'm just unsure.

It was cut because the "solution" relies entirely on the English language and isn't something that can be translated without losing the point.

Curse is my personal favorite MI game. It's definitely the one I played the most. I could probably speedrun it in a couple hours just from memory. I still occasionally sing the pirate's song. A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

I'm about 2 episodes in. So far I'm not feeling it like I was season 1. I still like it more than the other sister shows (though I haven't watched Punisher at all, nor do I really intend to) but something about it isn't compelling me to watch very much. I'm sure I'll finish it up eventually.

I can't wait for the sommelier to describe the wine with "notes of leg"

Chris repeatedly calling Jake a "millennial cusper" was interpreted by my brain as "millennial CRISPR". I now envision that millennial DNA has been given to Jake for the purpose of creating a hybrid Gen-Xer/millennial. Millennial-X, or Gen-M maybe.

I plan to watch JJ soon, but just as an FYI there's a different thread for the Netflix shows

Zach/Hannah reminds me of the Homework Machine by Shel Silverstein