MKI

Episode 5 was easily the best episode so far. Lots of love about it, from big time stuff, to even smaller things. I won't go into detail to prevent spoilers, but it really is worth the watch. It stands alone really well, but of course leaves the door wide open for the final episode, where I have a pretty good idea of where things are headed, which should be a treat.

I watched Episode 4 last week, and it was one of the episodes where I actually felt the most meh about.. that is until I realized its made that way on purpose. The series mirrors the general plot points of episodes 1-6. Sure there are plenty of differences, but it's actually really obvious that the series is made up of a lot of callbacks and remixes to the rest of Star Wars, for better or worse. That said there are still key elements that make things different from what has come before which makes it worth watching. I'll be watching Episode 5 later today, but I've heard that it's the best Episode so far. I'll probably just update this post after I watch it. Star Wars almost always ends up being some form of (blue) milking exercise, thats almost the whole point of the franchise haha.

This can still happen, and AFAIK it probably will happen as part of the Star Wars shows. This is another series I have on my list, BUT due to the length it's another commitment. I've read Steven King on the past a few times, but never a series.

I'm 60% through the 2nd Dune book, Dune Messiah. I might honestly stop or at least continue to the third book to hopefully finish "the arc" I assume the three books make. The Dune series isn't really my favorite so far. Its too political and religious and less hard sci-fi. I can see why its popular, but it isn't really for me. That said, The Expanse might be the series I'll pick up next as it sounds like good fun. Or another one-off book, so I wont be bogged by down another series haha

This might be a weird question to ask because of survivor bias. If someone lost their lives to COVID, or really lost their life to anything, odds of getting information and knowing of that would be very very low unless there was a secondary "offline" connection made and that connection knew about such events and that connection comes here and provides that information. So withholding that scenario where there is some sort of offline/external connection, the only people here would of not lost their lives to COVID. At this point in the pandemic odds are you have been affected directly or immediately in connection with someone who has had COVID in some capacity. I personally haven't even been sick of any kind in the last few years. The first year and a half I was much more cautious due to underlying health conditions related to my lungs, which didn't seem to bode well for a sickness that could affect the lungs. However I've healed and more or less went about my business as usual to this day. Today I'm not exactly careful, but I also don't do known high risk activities often, not out of fear, but that's just how my life is structured. Something like eating out, going to the movie theater, family functions and going into the office are all activities I don't do too often but still do. I know of a number of people who have gotten COVID multiple times, a few of them serious enough to end up in the hospital, but no fatalities. For the US, the pandemic has moved into the final phase, where things start moving back to normal and the actual danger of the virus itself is stuffed into the other endemics of society. So yes it will still be around, yes it will kill people, yes it is dangerous, yes it will present risk to you and your loved ones, but so do all the other endemics of a multitude of kinds. The risk factors in regards to fatalities today stand a little worse than the flu, which will still fluctuate based on a huge number of factors. Ultimately the biggest impact will be the psychological one. It's not exactly "easy" to get over a few years of non-stop coverage of some global event, but that is what society will need to do to truly move on. Depending on your personal network, you could have already gotten over this long ago, or still feel like it's a serious thing. Generally the risk factors haven't changed much beyond getting lower over time due to general heard immunity. So if you're just as worried now as you were in the past, don't be. The best way to get out of the mindset of some form of "fear" is to understand you and your families risks as clearly as possible, and assess it with pre-existing risks. Just because COVID has been a big deal the last few years doesn't directly make it more risky than if you heard nothing about it. The risk is there, just because you hear about the risks (or don't hear about the risks) doesn't actually change it.

I think Reva is one of the more interesting villains to come out of Star Wars. Think about all the "bad guys" in Star Wars and you basically get a bunch of "I'm evil" and "I'm evil wearing a mask" sorta villains with weak characterization and minimal or no backstory (with the exceptions being Kylo and Anakin) I think Reva's motivations are pretty clear, and rather rare to Star Wars. She has something personally again Obi-Wan Kenobi, to the point she is stabbing her boss (!), and lying directly to Vader's face (!!!) to get what she wants. I find that far more disturbing and interesting that most other villains thus far. Especially as we finally get to see Vader turn into what is essentially a horror movie villain. Also.....PARKOUR!

Yup, I watched TG:M last night, solid movie and definitely worth seeing in theaters. There is a slight element of "wait that doesn't make much sense" but not enough to distract from the core of the film, and appreciate the production. All those actors are actually feeling real Gs and going through actual maneuvers! Makes for a very thrilling movie.

My understanding of Star Wars cannon is that not many people even know Darth Vader = Anakin Skywalker, even within the Empire. (The show actually makes a somewhat surprising reference to this topic early on). But even with that fact, why wouldn't Vader or Palps be more aware of the situation when a New Hope rolls around. That said, why would Yoda/Obi-Wan chance it? All it would take is Palatine to check the intergalactic phone book to find Luke Skywalker living under his Uncles house with the belief his father is dead. All they would have to do is just say Luke is adopted or something, but that isn't possible due to how a New Hope is written. I guess there isn't much choice at this point, once Vader was determined to be Luke's father, lots of holes opened up that could technically never be closed. The show could cover other factors that frame parts of a New Hope differently, such as like why Obi-Wan didn't notice R2D2 publicly within the film. Even though the reasoning is provided within books/other media, the film obviously doesn't include it. If anything, looking forward to more Vader. Hopefully the show can take elements from Rogue One and make Vader the true menace we always knew him to be.

Reminds me of a story in Iron Man 1 about how during development they'd get the CGI suit confused with the real-life suit. CGI in a lot of modern blockbusters have gotten way worse primarily due to the increase of CGI films in general. Its one thing to have a few FX shots in a few films a year, its another to have large amounts across multiple films, hence why things have just gotten worse and worse, with a few exceptions. Like TG:M, which used costly practical effects, or TENET, or even The Mandalorian, which used "stage-craft" tricks to run on "budget CGI" essentially. I'd be watching TG:M but Memorial weekend is always one weekend where I have pre-existing plans that prevent me from seeing any kind of movies. I'll try to catch it sometime during the week hopefully

I watched Obi-Wan Kenobi last night, it appeared to drop 3 hours earlier than expected, so I squeezed it in before going to bed ;D The first 2 episodes of the show are very solid. I got a little distracted with the introduction of a certain key character I didn't expect to have in the show at all that ended up being a key character, in a similar vein as Baby Yoda/Grogu. Overall it makes sense, and provided some lightness to what could be an otherwise "heavy" show, and once things get going they fit together, just initially it seemed too abrupt and unnecessary. The one problem I'm having after watching it, is the "plot hole" land-mines that need to be navigated. I guess there is plenty of leeway between the lines given in a New Hope, that I personally only vaguely remember. Like there are extremely simple things that never made any sense that may or may-not be addressed. Like why hide Luke at his uncle's house and give him the same name? Maybe something-something force. These sorts of questions just end up sticking out, as they have always had, and having a compelling answer given at some point might help with it, as it's a distraction. Overall though, Deborah Chow really shows she was a good choice to helm the series. Her Mandalorian episodes are some of the best, and her ability to balance heavier themes with classic Star-Wars fun and pep shows. Hopefully the trend continues with the next 4 episodes.

I recently watched Episode 1, and not only did I have a very difficult time turning off my brain (the film makes so little sense), the spectacle really didn't look that good anymore, to the point my eyes felt some measure of pain. I hope with all these modern advancements in CGI, the sequel trilogy holds up better in the years to come than prequel trilogy at least visually. I'm waiting for Kenobi. Undoubtedly one of the best things to come out of the prequels is Ewan McGregor, and John Williams music, throwing those in with a Vader rematch with modern technology and you have a winning combination right there.

Software versioning can be weird. Just because its "1.1" before/at/after release doesn't really mean anything besides whatever subjective metric is being applied to the versions, hopefully its at least consistent. This is the traditional "branch release model", that in a utopia always works, makes for sable on-time software and "doesn't break". Except we don't live in a utopia. Whats in branches could change, and even the smallest innocent change could break things. This also only assumes everything related to software is tied to the codebase, which isn't the case even for a game. This model even when used correctly can still create problems. If 1.4.2 issued a patch that fixed the Kraken in a specific scenario, as 1.4.0 got delayed a full physics engine overhaul until 1.5.0. Now when 1.5.0 rolls around you have 2 different changes you need to consolidate due to "divergent branches". If this sounds confusing, its because it is. This usually just results in delays while consolidation is going on to verify everything works with the "new" changes, but it does add complexity and does add more gaps where issues could occur with "fixed" code.

I don't mind delays as long as the final product comes out better. That said time is money, and I hope all the compounded delays doesn't impact the final product for one reason or another. COVID delayed the game at least 1 year, and due to the complexities of the game itself I'd throw in another year. That's a lot of time, and thus extra resources invested into the game. I hope for the best and that this game holds up. Even if that means sectioning off a feature here or there for some paid for expansion. Or even more Jeb plushies being sold at higher costs to recoup some funds hahaha.

I'm not really someone who watches a lot of TV, so I know the selection of shows I've watched through and through is limited. Out of the ones I've watched, I'd say: excrementst's Creek - funny and has heart, but somewhat of an acquired taste, and doesn't over stay its welcome. The Office - even though the latest seasons aren't that great once Michael leaves, but its the sorta show that still is popular simply because its so relatable, and still has a good story at its core. I'm actually re-watching this since I gained access to it thru its streaming service haha. Avatar the Last Airbender - not the god-awful live-action movie, but the original cartoon. I personally don't like anime, but even as a kid, I realized this show was something special. It's not every day a kid-cartoon really goes above and beyond and elevates itself into something that completely stands the test of time. You just have to admire the amount of care, thought and execution put into every aspect of the show. From the lore, themes, art, design, music, characters, and overall story, it's all top-notch and bundled up and shipped as a "kids cartoon". Sure there is silliness and "kids having fun" (especially in the earlier episodes), but stuff like Iroh singing a lullaby to his dead son to celebrate his birthday will make grown men cry like a baby: (Iroh's voice actor died after giving this performance, which makes things even more heavy in the feels department) I recently re-watched it after it got released back on Netflix and I was a little surprised the show held my attention so well after all these years because again, its a kids show. If you never watched this show, or think its for "little kids" I recommend watching the following episode to get an idea of it, and its core elements and why its easily one of the greatest shows of all time. Or at least the greatest kids show of all time. Watch Zuko Alone: https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Zuko_Alone Its an episode that can stand alone, provides enough lore to give you a decent background understanding of whats going on, and focuses on easily one of the most compelling and well written characters ever made.

That would mean the number of flights for a fuel depot increases (since your need to bring up the depot itself), and you have to deal with boil-off right? This is in comparison with a direct refuel in orbit with the primary Starship that is going somewhere. I guess the main advantage of this fuel depot is your primary Starship (which is probably crewed) can get all the fuel from the depot and be off, rather than wait for multiple re-fueling Starships to come to it. Also, I'm not sure if this is a concept or the actual plan. Is SpaceX still planning multiple fights to fuel a single Starship, or using this fuel depot concept or something else? They change plans pretty often so I wont be surprised if things have already changed.