One thematic thread that seems to be pulsing under the surface is that both Barry and Sally have been coping with their past trauma by exploiting it to further their acting careers rather than by trying to reckon with it in an honest way. 

I suppose that the best way for Hank to throw off Batir’s suspicion would be to rig the bomb so that it will take out Barry as well as the Bolivian gang members. 

“Fallout 76" is one of the great comeback stories in video gaming, so it would be a shame for it to end with a whimper. 

I think Kirby is number one for me this year (at least as far as games which have been officially announced). Rescuing Waddle Dees to populate the hub town is sure to be addictive.

Exactly. In 99% of cases, there are no meaningful negative consequences to choosing the paragon option instead of the renegade option, and no meaningful benefits to choosing the renegade option. You are seldom punished for being merciful, or choosing negotiation over violence.

There’s no validity to the Renegade’s…

Careful, Will. Doug TenNapel showed up in the comment section when Gameological ripped into him. 

What I always found weird about the movie is that it opens with a legitimately scary scene that uses the phone caller’s horror movie references to heighten the tension, and it’s only when Jamie Kennedy shows up later on that the horror movie meta is played for laughs.

As far as movies go, I’m limiting myself to 19+ screenings only. I saw Shang-Chi yesterday in a theatre that was at roughly 10% capacity. So the crowd was pretty subdued, but I suspect that would have been the case in any event (if we’re grading on a curve of Marvel movies, Shang-Chi is a solid B-). 

I’ve been playing the Final Fantasy IV pixel remaster. It’s pretty good. I haven’t played the 2D Japanese version in about 20 years, so it’s a nice bit of nostalgia. The new music sounds great, even to someone like me who is heavily nostalgic for the SNES original. The new art all looks nice. The player character…

FF XIII really is a lot more fun the second time through. I always find Chapter 10 a bit of a slog, since the enemies drop so little CP. They call it a “training ground” (implying it’s a place to grow stronger), but it doesn’t work that way in practice. It’s not a useful place to grind. It ends up being more of a…

How desperate is WWE for talent in 2021? They finally put Cesaro in the main event of a PPV. 

I think my favourite part of the lore reveals in this episode is that the big difference between the original black-suited organization of Ricks and the subsequent Citadel of Ricks is that the Citadel is full of Mortys.

One of the Brer Rabbit segments (the one with Zip a dee Doo Dah) is available as a bonus feature on some editions of the Alice in Wonderland DVD (as part of a Christmas Day TV special that Disney made to promote the Alice movie). 

Yeah. At some point during the disintegration montage at the end of the film, it became obvious to me that these deaths were going to get reversed in the sequel. But that didn’t take away the sting of the subsequent deaths. Even knowing in my head that Peter Parker would return, his anguished crumbling into dust still…

Yeah. I think that Lorne Michael’s greatest skill is his ability to recognize talent and potential*, but there are so many more alternatives for rising talent to break out now than there were in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. And, as you said in the article, the ceiling for a “comedy star” is much lower now than it was…

I think it was also accidentally aired early in Canada. 

I’ve been following Zack’s reviews for over a decade, and if he of all people doesn’t “fundamentally get” Rick and Morty, then the show is fundamentally ungettable. 

I’ve been following Zack’s reviews for over a decade, and if he of all people doesn’t “fundamentally get” Rick and Morty, then the show is fundamentally ungettable. 

Probably

I’ve just started playing the game in earnest. I’m enjoying the pocket dimensions; they play a lot like the mini challenge levels you find in Super Mario Odyssey.

One of the best/worst hallmarks of the Ratchet games is back: you can see a collectable off in the distance, but you can’t figure out how to grab it. Do you…