I’m always telling people to REALLY watch Napoleon Dynamite. I think it got quoted and proto-memed to death when it came out, leading to most people having an unfair idea in their head of what the movie is.

The soundtrack is phenomenal. The acting is (mostly) way better than you may have thought it was. Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) was nominated for an Independent Spirit award and he absolutely deserved that nomination. The cinematography is excellent, especially knowing how much it cost to make + how much experience the crew had. Though it’s not explicitly said, I think it’s ultimately a story about neurodivergent people finding friendship, solidarity, and happiness in a world not made for them.

Also, the scene where Uncle Rico throws a steak at Napoleon is still funny.

I love clarifications like this! Good on ya.

Win’s is still so tough to me. I read through each of the statements and my final thought was: he did some bad things, but nothing that’s going to get him thrown in jail. Similar to Aziz Ansari if I remember correctly. Now whether or not punishment would be morally right is another discussion, obviously our legal system is Very Flawed.

It was to me too, had to go looking - guessing this from Wikipedia is what it was:

Kiedis acknowledges in his autobiography Scar Tissue that he had sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl when he was 23, before and after learning of her age, in the 1980s. This inspired him to write the song “Catholic School Girls Rule”.

I love the idea! If there was good support from something like GrapheneOS or /e/OS I would be looking at one of these.

I like your shoelaces!

Way too many to list but I’ll throw one out. Do you like Radiohead, REM, The National, Pixies, Frank Turner, or Dinosaur Jr.? Well, they (or their lead singer) all love Mark Mulcahy’s music enough to have recorded a cover song for the tribute album when Mark’s wife passed.

Mark led the band Miracle Legion, released some solo work, and led the band Polaris (not the metal band from Australia), best known as the band from the show The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Also noteworthy: Miracle Legion toured and released an EP with The Sugarcubes, aka Bjork’s band.

Song recommendations: The Backyard, All For The Best by Miracle Legion - Hey Sandy, Saturnine by Polaris - Taking Baby Steps, The Fiddler, Hey Self Defeater by Mark Mulcahy.

Album recommendations: Drenched by Miracle Legion, Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete by Polaris, and Fathering by Mark Mulcahy.

Bare minimum, please talk to your vet before continuing to do this. Looking at the Safety Data Sheet for Zep-O-Zorb, I would avoid using it with my cats.

King’s Bounty 2. It’s not an amazingly well made game, and it lost a lot of the fun goofiness of the other games, but I do love the combat and think the story was underrated.

A couple examples:

Free with ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb3AUBtm_5o Must be bought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c26o4h0coY

I’ve gotten a couple in the past few months, and it definitely seems to be a thing/have been a thing: https://www.howtogeek.com/721043/why-youre-getting-so-much-signal-spam-and-what-you-can-do/ https://www.androidpolice.com/signal-is-taking-the-fight-to-spammers-with-new-message-requests/

I had the same thought at the description!! Loved that from Kiell

Do April Fools jokes count? I was bereft after reading an article 13+ years ago from a trustworthy gaming site that said Armor Games (a popular flash game dev at the time) was taking over all development for the Elder Scrolls games.

(In retrospect, maybe that wouldn’t have been the worst thing after Skyrim came out)

Sadly, there’s not a singular ethical Amazon replacement out there. You’ve got alternatives like Walmart and Target but I don’t think they rate much higher than Amazon, honestly. I’ll throw out Grove Collaborative for cleaning supplies/home things/toiletries, Thrive Market for foods (though they have a membership fee), Kindhumans and Uncommon Goods for a wide variety of things. Here’s a list of some more places that might be useful - bearing in mind there is no one panacea.

Bookmarked this! Going to come in handy over the holidays especially. Thank you!!

Anecdotal, but I do know personally 2 people who only started driving in their 20s. It’s not a 0% chance that they genuinely are learning to drive.

Very fair! You’ve definitely got a wider perspective than I do, I appreciate it.

Mostly agree, but a lot of thrift stores in the US have gotten significantly more expensive and lower quality over the past 10-20 years. You can blame resellers (like vintage stores) for at least the second part of that, but also fast fashion in general.

Believe me, I’m always down to talk about Paul F. Tompkins! I thoroughly agree with both recommendations, with a note that some bits don’t hold up super well. But for the most part they’re both still golden!

Going for the more obscure: Bajillion Dollar Properties. Originally made for a dead streaming service, now exists on PlutoTV for free (and can be purchased through Apple et al). It’s a satire of real estate reality shows with phenomenal guest stars throughout. Main cast includes a few folks before they got their bigger roles (like Tawny Newsome, Drew Tarver, and Eugene Cordero) but also includes the GOAT, Paul F. Tompkins.

Very related, I would also suggest the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV show that ran for 5 seasons on IFC. It’s a treasure trove of comedic goodness, lots of great guests, and who doesn’t love Reggie Watts, Kid Cudi, then Weird Al as the band leaders??