SecretAsianMan

I was ordering some stuff on Amazon for my parents the other day, and while I was at it I also got a new chef's knife and mandoline, both recommended by TheSweetHome. I've needed a new knife for a long time because mine is full of small nicks and can't make smooth cuts anymore. The mandoline is just something I've wanted for a long time. The knife hasn't arrived yet but last night the mandoline did and man is that thing ever fun. I sliced up an apple because it was the only thing I had around and boy does it work well. I'm planning to get some potatoes this weekend and make fries. Probably some other stuff as well.

The loss of a guy like Ryan hits hard because of the personal nature of podcasts. You're probably not listening to them with other people around and the stream of consciousness makes it more they're speaking just to you rather than an audience. Plus what you're hearing is them and not a character for the most part (there may be times they exaggerate for entertainment's sake). With someone like Robin Williams, you miss the characters he plays but you didn't really get to know "him" so there's not as much of a personal connection. It doesn't mean the loss isn't sad, it just doesn't hit as hard. All that aside, one of the biggest things I miss about Ryan is that no one (and I mean NO ONE) pulled off being a "lovable asshole" as well as he did.

I loved the StarCraft manual. I actually purchased the game in Taiwan while visiting a cousin of mine. On the plane ride home I must have read the manual over a dozen times. I couldn't wait to get home and start playing.

I agree it was dumb, but I'll also admit I'm a sucker for explanations like that. I'm the kind of person who can read the "real" reason and have it not ruin the fun. I totally recognize they're stupid and unnecessary, but part of me likes the weird pseudo-science that gets invented trying to explain inexplicable shit. I think my favorite example is Cyclops from the X-Men. The best (by which I mean most fun) explanation of his power I've seen is that he's not generating and shooting lasers on his own, instead his eyes contain tiny interdimensional portals that link to another universe full of a red crystalline energy and every time he opens his eyes he's expelling that energy as a concussive force. It's pure nonsense but I enjoy the alternate kind of creativity it takes to come up with that crazy of an idea.

They don't make up the Force, but the higher your Midi-chlorain count the stronger your connection to the Force. Basically all he did was introduce a way to empirically measure it rather than the vague notion of "The Force is strong with this one".

It was the opposite for me in a way. I hated sailing in the original WW. Collecting the Triforce pieces was the most dreadful part of that game for me. I found sailing to be really boring and tedious because of all the wind changing and lack of actual stuff to do on the water. The islands themselves were interesting but the boat just made me want to avoid everything. WW HD helps fix a lot of that though. In Prime's case, by the time you're collecting the artifacts you have all the really cool movement abilities and weapons so traversing the world was a lot of fun to me, plus all the item collecting along the way. Granted, by the time you're getting Triforce pieces in WW you have a lot of gear as well but you're still stuck in the boat which means most of those items aren't useful at all.

Upon further research (I don't know why I keep looking this shit up, please somebody stop me!) the lightwhip doesn't function as a single blade like a lightsaber does. Instead it appears to have a bunch of segmented projectors that create a bunch of mini blades, the result of which is a whip-like thing.

I think what Twig and JonCole are getting at is a light_____ isn't a thing that follows the same rules as a real sword or whip. It's made of energy that "cuts" through any matter, regardless of what shape it's in. Lightsabers have no cutting edge but will still slice anything. A lightwhip would behave the same way. Now if you want to argue that the whip wouldn't work because of the need to have a rapidly varying containment field...

I'm going to be a pedantic asshole and say that the whole point of the hilt is to be a handle for the blade. The crossguard is part of the hilt, but so is the pommel (which lightsabers lack) and grip. Also if you're trying for internal consistency and logical sense in Star Wars, you are barking up the wrong tree.

I kind of have to disagree with you here. I can understand not liking having to collect things for seemingly arbitrary reasons, but in Metroid's case I feel there's a gameplay benefit that's more than just padding out the length. Going back for missing power-ups is one of my favorite parts of any Metroid game because I get to use all the awesome gear I have. I really dislike the idea that you should be getting something cool for your effort because it overlooks the enjoyment of actually playing in favor of a reward (even though I often fall into that trap myself).

As always, I blame Zeus for all of this.

I said this to you last night Teg but I'll say it again here. The best advice I can give is to not give up. Keep trying. I really do believe in you. I think you're an amazing artist and a wonderful person, and I'll support you in any way that I can. Also to Pepyri, I share Miffy's sentiments. Feel free to share anything you feel the need to and know that we're here for you. That goes for everyone out there. Finally, I'd just like to say 新年快乐 Happy New Year folks!

I will confirm Jake and Chris's suspicions regarding the selfie stick. The last time I was in China I saw those things all over the place, mostly in the hands of trendy young women. I was rather surprised that there was a market for a camera that was pretty much designed only to take pictures of the user. And this was a few years ago, well before they had a name here. Also while listening to the talk about the Doom selfie mod I was thinking about what other games it would be weird to put selfies into. I thought about a Zelda game, and then remembered that Wind Waker HD actually did that.

I requested the laser coming from the nose specifically so it would resemble my old one. If you want to commission her to draw a new version of my old one, I'll use it.

Look what you did now Zeus, you made Teg sad. I refuse to use anything but a Tegan made avatar.

There actually are "answers" to those questions but they involve the additional nonsense I didn't get into before. At the end of the day, it is of course a bullshit explanation because someone felt compelled to try and justify their existence. I didn't personally make any of this up, it's just stuff I happen to know because I got bored one day and instead of browsing around on Wikipedia I somehow ended up on Wookieepedia. In case someone does want to know the additional nonsense

Kid Icarus Uprising seems like it would benefit immensely from the new 3DS's improved headtracking 3D.

Sure you can, you just lift the finger off the button. Or push the button up. Or switch the contact. Or remove the battery. Or change any one of the things in a lightsaber. I've always found that the Jedi and Sith have such limited imaginations when it comes to practical use of the Force.

To briefly go back to the topic of violent movies that got kid friendly animated versions,

That opens such a big can of worms. If you think about it, a lightsaber would actually be the worst weapon to have. Why would you use something that requires close range combat if you can use the Force across an entire galaxy (in theory). I've always wondered why they don't just turn the other person's lightsaber off. They're still electrical devices with on/off switches. Just push the button with your mind.

I'll second this. Hitman GO does a much better job than most other puzzle games of making you actually want to get 100%.

I think my favorite guest was actually Cass Elliot aka Mama Cass of The Mamas and the Papas. All I remember is that I found that episode to be especially funny, which coming from me is a lot because I HATE Scooby-Doo.

The "blade" of the lightsaber is high energy plasma held within a containment field. The reason that lightsabers can come in "contact" with each other is the fields are repelling each other. A similar principle applies to lasers from a blaster. Using a lightsaber doesn't require the Force at all, but using one effectively would. The reason for this is because the blade is pure energy, it has no mass. All the mass is in the hilt. Therefore it doesn't act like a real sword does. The amount of precision and dexterity required is supposedly something only Force-sensitive users can accomplish. There's additional nonsense about gyroscopic effects and power expenditure but I won't get into that because this post is already too dorky.

I think I logged on once, screwed around for 10 minutes, then left. That was a couple weeks ago and I haven't really had time to play since.

Ladybugs I wasn't as into because I never thought he made a convincing girl, probably because I saw it sometime after Sidekicks. Rodney Dangerfield always entertains me though.