So many layers.

First two books in the series were "Fellowship of the King" and "The Two Trees" so...I'm not entirely convinced they were even very original stories...

One of the earliest pieces of media I can remember consuming was the mid-90s TV show Viper, where James played the main character. I remember very little about the show except James's face and that he played his character cool as fuck.

I've been replaying Alan Wake and Control recently, and I have such a soft spot for his roles in them because I loved that stupid show when I was a kid.

I wish media would give credit to the organization leaders responsible for these types of moves rather than crediting a homogeneous "Biden administration." The fact is that the administration does deserve credit for employing a number of "progressive" (read: competent) administrators, but those departments compose a progressive wing of the administration that is not on par with some of the overall administration's more centrist leanings.

Personnel are policy, something that the Biden administration has proved again and again since the 2020 election. Biden himself is a kind of empty vessel into which different wings of the Democratic party pour their will, yielding a strange brew of appointments both great and terrible.

-- Cory Doctorow

We replaced our HP OfficeJet with a Brother this year. I don't even know what we were thinking getting the HP 5 years ago or so, it was gross overkill for us. But of all the things it could do, it was most consistent with printing like shit and jamming paper. Part of the problem was that we just print too infrequently, but having to replace overpriced cartridges from HP didn't help. You also have to install apps for wireless printing (or if there's a workaround we didn't bother with it).

The Brother is a color laser printer and it's perfect for us. No apps needed, super quiet and hassle-free (there have been no paper jams or transmission errors), and the print quality is crisp as hell.

Did Sony not know what games it had locked in for the rest of the year when it announced its price increase? Nothing against anyone excited for these games (I might play Mafia II eventually myself), but...the showcase title this week is a remaster of a 13-year-old game, accompanied by two decidedly middling selections (69 and 53 metacritic scores).

I am deeply unhappy with the scope of the price increase but have ultimately been leaning toward keeping my subscription because having so many indie titles at my disposal in the catalog has drastically changed what I choose to play for the better; I've spent so much time this year playing smaller games I wouldn't have ever paid attention to on my own. But Sony is really invested in pushing me in the other direction.

Not seeing good reasoning here. "Adjusting to market conditions" means they went as high as they believed they could bear, and the claim that they haven't raised prices in "many years" doesn't justify raising prices by $40 in one jump.

Lots of "consumers" this and that, as if we're all on board with the hikes because we just recognize so much value in the service.

Google may be evil, but you can't deny they still attract top talent.

"Sponsored Truth" 🤢

What action(s) would the government take to help the supply of family physicians? (disclaimer: I'm asking out of ignorance and curiosity. I solemnly swear I am not a conservative sea lion or provocateur).

Avengers was arguably the only one that deserved to flop, but Guardians and Midnight Suns are both referenced, which certainly have degrees of critical praise. It's a shame, but it seems like Marvel is learning the right lesson and leaning into single-hero, single-player games akin to Spider-Man, which I think is great news.

If you want to be friends then why aren't you friendly?