Pong Messiah

Not picking on you, Odine, but the "keeping animals in small enclosures for our own amusement" is a victorian/carny aesthetic that began dying out awhile ago. Any reputable Zoo, at least in North America, does a lot in the area of conservation (habitats and species), education, research, and outreach -- in particular, getting kids interested in animals, ecosystems, preservation, etc. IMO, my local zoo puts so much focus on preservation, I actually wish the pendulum would swing back just a little toward simple "Whoa, what a cool animal!" appreciation, though I understand why they do what they do.

Of course, zoos vary wildly in quality, and yours very well might suck (in which case the "small enclosures for our own amusement" comment makes sense), but for kids whose parents lack the time and resources to take them to other continents on safari (i.e. most parents), a good zoo has healthy, mentally stimulated, well cared-ford animals, and can be a pretty great door-opening experience.

Yeah, because we all know how reliable 4 year olds are at executing their ideas.

 

It's always non-parents who turn into Judgy McJudgester Pants when something like this happens.

sorry bad parenting is bad parenting

you dont need a drivers license to criticize somebodys ****ty dangerous driving

you dont need to be a washed up singer with a pill habit to say holy **** that green day bieber meltdown a few years ago was sure embarrassing

but you gotta be a parent to criticize parenting

what makes parents so ****ing special

 

and innocent

It's a 3-year-old, not the idiot who got himself killed because he snuck into Seaworld to swim with Shamu.

 

i had a dog that used to do that with the rabbits that would terrorize the garden

had no interest in guarding or killing the interloper like he was supposed to

would just catch a rabbit hold it down with his mouth between his front paws and proceed slap it silly

no teeth piercing skin just a tight grip and bunny slapping

slap

terrified squeal

wag wag wag

repeat until bored

rabbit probably wandered off and had a heart attack after the shock wore off but was otherwise perfectly safe between his paws

now the chickens he was supposed to ignore on the other hand thats another story

worst guard dog ever

well gorillas are endangered

and innocent

You brought up the Prequels, not me.

yeah sometimes i do

sorry but at this point sw obv needs bdw more than bdw needs sw

oh ya

plus the sw prequels sucked and liking them better than tfa which was actually good doesnt make you cool or unique

kid said he was getting in the water with the gorilla

fair warning

moms fault

sorry i know it disappointed you but not every film can be nothing but fart jokes magic killing stilted exposition and racially insensitive secondary characters

take heart given the crisis panic surrounding rogue one that could be a sign well be getting more of that in the next sw big screen outing

everybodys talking about how horrible it is that they killed that gorilla

i agree but understand why it had to be done and think people who are second guessing the decision from behind their computer screens need to be locked in a cage with a gorilla and see what happens after it gets shot with a tranquilzer

but really wtf were those parents so busy with that they let a preschool age kid climb into the cage thats what gets me jesus christ

oh come on everybody knows reshoots are common

iirc abrams even credits reshoots with fixing the relationship between rey and finn or something

this was more about the movie being doomed to be terrible which is different

page six specifically says the word crisis and panic

whats this i hear about rogue one testing so poorly everybody is panicking and the reshoots are less about improving the film than saving it lol

 

 

But in the books why would Vary's want Dany to get wise counsel?

It's been awhile, but isn't it fairly clear he is all in for the Targaryens? Or at the very least all in against the rest of the jokers?

He's in it for the Blackfyres.

That's still nothing more than a (fairly likely, very well supported) fan theory.

Well, I fully defer to you guys.

I haven't read the books since ADwD first came out, and dread re-reading the whole series once/if it is finished. At this point, I think I've forgotten more about the novels than I remember

But in the books why would Vary's want Dany to get wise counsel?

It's been awhile, but isn't it fairly clear he is all in for the Targaryens? Or at the very least all in against the rest of the jokers?

Varys primarily serves the best interests of the realm (as he sees it); Littlefinger serves himself exclusively, so naturally his web and interests are going to be a bit narrower.

rewatching the premiere because Sunday night is my "TV Night" and nothing else is on

Gotta say, it's a lot less incoherent this time around and I can really appreciate how it is aesthetically unified... but it still bugs me. It still takes too much of its sweet time unfolding the story, and like Robin Williams or David Lee Roth (or to a lesser extent, Jim Carrey or anybody who wears sunglasses at 11pm), I can like a lot of things about them, but there's this nervous, groping "Look at MEEEEEee!" energy that really turns me off.

So, the verdict has changed:I like it both more and less than the first time through, am both more hopeful and more put off... even if the net positive/negative total out to the same.

I've never been interested in them myself, but there are a lot of mods that bring in stuff from other genres and franchises.

The Warhammer mods can be simple paint jobs for your power armor

To the full-on introduction of liches, goblins, and other characters into the game wheeeee:

Though, let's be honest here: most of the visual mods are primarily concerned with making boobs larger and adding "jiggle."

Agreeeeeeed

I've often asked myself "Why does Bethesda make games where it is the player's job to fix some of the more persistent minor bugs, to make the experience more immersive, intense, etc.?

Kind of like how I question the logic of going out and buying a take-and-bake pizza when I don't feel like cooking (happens more often than I'd like to admit).

But while I agree the bugs are annoying, if they DID fine-tune the experience, those of us who like the control and customization options would absolutely be raising holy hell about how rigid everything is, sooooooo...

That's one of the things about Bethesda games... the modding community is amazing. And the vanilla version of most Elder Scrolls and post-Fallout 2 releases is really just a glorious framework. The modders make the games look and play better, and sometimes even add more depth and meaning to the storylines.

It's kind of a weird way to go into a gaming experience, knowing you're only getting the engine with some coverings, but it works for me.

That's ultimately why I never got around to buying an XBox One: the only games that are guaranteed to hold my attention for more than 10 minutes are open-world RPGs, and I knew I'd ultimately be disappointed with Fallout 4 out of the box.

i have no idea what you said because it was way too long for me to read past the first few sentences but i have a feeling it was really good

true story: I'm starting ANOTHER character in Skyrim right now, and still haven't started Fallout 4.

:-/

Raising Arizona and 1941 have gone through periods of heavy quotation from me.

Oh yeah, forgot about 1941... that's a recent entry, but "Aw look, a baby wolf!" is now said way too often.

Reviews of Preacher have been schizophrenic (in the informal, offensive, non-medical definition) to say the least. Apparently it's the wildest, most colorfully entertaining and brilliant pilot in the history of cable TV... or the biggest, smuggest, stinkingest cowpie in the history of adaptations. Pick one and fight to the death.

Axis: I'm not familiar with the series, but why did you love it before and why are your feelings conflicted now?