"to war"

I had almost managed to forget about that one. So, thanks... for that. :|

-Hearing the bass of somebody's loud music through the wall, whether they're in the room beyond or in a passing car. If I had been exposed to Gamma radiation, this would be my trigger.

This drives me nuts, too. It's not that I don't like loud music, I'm actually really into powerful sound systems and live concerts. But there's something about JUST bass, disembodied from the rest of the sound, that's extremely irritating.

• Bungie games
  
• Frankly, most games that have very responsive controls and simulate a sufficiently complex environment to set up a surprising amount of gameplay variations
  
• Close games, win or lose
  
• Traveling, I love experiencing different cultures, used Australia and London as home bases for exploring the world and loved every exhausting minute of it
  
• Programming, Websites, games, robots, whatever
  
• Explosions In The Sky, El-P, Bane, 65daysofstatic
  
• helping others out
  
• activism, wherever it springs up

So, how about dislikes?

• posturing
  
• apathy
  
• the super round
  
• that I have to wear a cape to get reputation
  
• unit tests that take a long time to run
  
• hot weather

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?
XBox 360 - Great online service combined with the perfect controller and a great set of Halo games

Cake or pie?
Bourbon neat

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

• Petetheduck
  
• Claude
  
• CodyMiller
  
• Kermit
  
• Avateur
  
• Cruel

I haven't read it, but just about anything by Jonathan Hickman is amazing as far as I'm concerned. He's so masterful with his writing, and his plans are insane. He seriously visions things out years in advance, has mostly general to solid ideas about how they will play out over the course of those years of writing, and the payoff is still usually unbelievably fantastic. Dude's just amazing.

Yeah, agreed. From SHIELD to Manhattan Projects, I've always been inspired in one way or another. The plans are indeed impressive and usually better executed than other comparable authors's long-term schemes, but the fact that those plans are filled to the brim with a spectrum of fascinating concepts is what makes the ride even better.

I agree. I don't know how well they would have been able to market double films, especially since it only seems to be acceptable for the final "chapter" of a series, but I'm still floored at how amazing the Lord of the Rings movies are. I think that's my problem with the Hobbit stuff. The Lord of the Rings films can be completely justified in not fitting within one movie each. I felt like two movies was more than enough for the Hobbit, but that they were filled with too much "fan fiction" so as to keep expanding it out. I couldn't shake the feeling that they were only doing it to make a third film to make more money, and I didn't like that feeling or the thought that the feeling might actually be true.

I think I had some similar feelings when Two Towers came out actually. There was a LOT of original content in that one and it confused and distracted me the first few viewings. But the Extended Edition completely changed the feel for me. The Hobbit EEs have done the same thing for me, especially with Desolation.

Simply just by making those sequences have less of the total screen time make them feel less of an interruption, but, perhaps more importantly, they were now bookmarked with more dense book material which made the entirety of the films seem more united with themselves and the spirit of the books. Ever since Two Towers, I view the theatrical versions as a long preview essentially and wait to judge until I've let the EEs wash over me a few times. One of my brothers went further and just refused to see the theatrical versions at all, hah.

And while I'm sure WB and New Line would never say 'no' to more money from another film ;), after the 18 hours of documentaries in the two Hobbit EEs so far (plus five art books), I am completely, 100%, convinced Jackson did not extend his vision for money. Despite the troubles with adapting the Hobbit's simplistic narrative style (hence a lot of expanded content), I actually think he enjoyed making this trilogy more than the last one! I highly recommend those documentaries as well. :)

Not disputing anything you've said, but how many Claude Errera's have you met? I went to HBOMB and I'm fairly sure there was a Claude Errera Sasquatch lurking around the cabin (I think Rowboat fought one with his bare hands, as a matter of fact), but I didn't see one personally.

The only person I've ever met that has rivaled the quality of Claude would be this guy named Louis Wu (pronounced 'Lewis', of course).

I know, this might seem a bit laughable coming from me, but why not?

LOLOLOL

First, how about your likes?

Intelligently designed products.

Cars. Exotics, muscle cars, under-powered sports cars (think Miata). Even family cars, if they display some ingenuity or do something in an intelligent way. Pretty much anything that isn't a boring 4-door box. For instance, for all my interest in fast cars, I actually drive a Subaru Outback, which is not fast at all, but is so good at every other aspect of daily life that I'm always impressed by it.

I love performance driving, but don't actually get a lot of real-life chances to do so. The first video game I owned (everything prior was borrowed or a hand-me-down) was Gran Turismo. I learned every word in that manual, which actually dedicated many pages to teaching proper cornering technique - it was wonderful, and clearly done by people who loved what they were doing. I haven't stopped with the driving obsession yet. Ask bluerunner or SonofMacPhisto. Nowadays, because I'm primarily XBox, and because Polyphony Digital seems to have phoned in the last Gran Turismo iteration, I spend a lot of time in Forza.

So, how about dislikes?

Drama, manufactured music, and ideologues. And un-intelligently designed products.

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?

As a piece of technology I love the PS3, especially the early iterations that had hardware-based backwards compatibility and ran Linux.

As an actual gaming experience, the 360.

Cake or pie?

I'm not going to say I hate cake, but I find that cake can often be so sub-par as to be disappointing, whereas most of the pie I've had has been consistently good.

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

Anyone I've met IRL, which is quite a few of you at this point. And for reasons I've never figured out, Cody.

Just make sure you're not watching the TV cut of Brazil with the unapproved, different ending. (Not sure if that's even around much anymore though. )

Bolth

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

ZackDark. Because he's the god damn ZackDark.. Actually mostly because he's wise beyond his years and his mannerisms amuse me. <3 u ZachiePoo

Mannerisms?! How dare you!

So let's try to bridge gaps and get to know each other a bit better. Let's try to create some understanding with one another. I know, this might seem a bit laughable coming from me, but why not?

First, how about your likes?

Hmm...I'll just pick a couple of currently active ones.

-I'm really excited by the comic East of West by Johnathan Hickman. It's really telling a unique story and using the medium well. It's full to the brim of ideas and passion, which is what art is all about to me.

I haven't read it, but just about anything by Jonathan Hickman is amazing as far as I'm concerned. He's so masterful with his writing, and his plans are insane. He seriously visions things out years in advance, has mostly general to solid ideas about how they will play out over the course of those years of writing, and the payoff is still usually unbelievably fantastic. Dude's just amazing.

-Also in the comic book realm, I'm bummed that Phil Noto's two year run on Black Widow just ended. They took a character I've never liked and has always been exploited as a one-dimensional seductress and turned her into a living, breathing character. The art is subtle and descriptive, the paneling flowing and exciting. The balance of colors in a spread is insightful. I accidentally bought two copies of an issue one time so my OCD allowed me to take one apart and pin up the pages on my bulletin board to study.

I feel you. A lot of Marvel writers are taking some time off or leaving potentially permanently to focus on their own independent work. There's nothing wrong with that, and I definitely say more power to them, but it sucks considering what some of them have been doing with characters who have never had a really great or even revolutionary treatment before.

-And, reminded by your dislike :), The Hobbit films, and the Extended Editions at that. I would have taken 4 more hours of dwarves hiking and singing, too!

I'm glad we're getting beyond the 2 or 3 hour traditional film/tv adaption. I've always thought it was fairly arbitrary how certain mediums equal certain quantities of a another. A 450 page book gets 2 1/2 hours of a film or six issues of a comic or four episodes of a mini-series. Why? Obviously you can make sense out of it from a production stand-point, but I think it should really be up to the adapter, their style, and how they're interpreting the work, not to mention the content and style of the original work itself, to determine the length (if it's something that should be determined at all and not just something that 'happens' as you make it).

The first season of Game of Thrones took 11 hours to adapt the first book in that series and that felt great. 9 hours for the Hobbit + sequences from the LOTR Appendices is a dream come true for my middle school self who used to doodle those obscure Appendices scenes in his notebook, never thinking they'd get a live-action go. :)

I'll comment on this below...

So, how about dislikes?

-The fact that Lord of the Rings is only 3 films. 7 films seems about right by my calculation: at least one for each of the six 'Books', plus a two-hour cool-down film at the end that's just shots of mountains and trees...I'm only kind of joking.

I agree. I don't know how well they would have been able to market double films, especially since it only seems to be acceptable for the final "chapter" of a series, but I'm still floored at how amazing the Lord of the Rings movies are. I think that's my problem with the Hobbit stuff. The Lord of the Rings films can be completely justified in not fitting within one movie each. I felt like two movies was more than enough for the Hobbit, but that they were filled with too much "fan fiction" so as to keep expanding it out. I couldn't shake the feeling that they were only doing it to make a third film to make more money, and I didn't like that feeling or the thought that the feeling might actually be true.

-Forerunner Dogs.

Haha.

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?

Probably PS1. I played Final Fantasy V-IX on that, plus Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, and not least of all, Mega Man Legends 1 and 2. While I played my brothers' Atari, Nintendo, and Genesis consoles before that, the PS1 was the first console that was actually mine and it came at a perfect time.

I've still never owned a Sony console, but a lot of my friends had the PS1, and it was super fun to play. Most of my Sony experiences occurred at friend's houses either watching, taking turns, or co-oping certain things. Some of the best gaming times I've had!

Cake or pie?

I have a messed up digestive system so I usually have to avoid both.

Boo! :(

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

I think it's less who and more what. Any post that deals with lore is a must-click, as well as a fan-creations and 'look what just happened in Destiny last night' posts.

It's hard not to read Claude's posts. I mean he won the "Claude Errera Award". In fact, I'll go out on a limb here and say he's the best Claude Errera I've ever met.

Not disputing anything you've said, but how many Claude Errera's have you met? I went to HBOMB and I'm fairly sure there was a Claude Errera Sasquatch lurking around the cabin (I think Rowboat fought one with his bare hands, as a matter of fact), but I didn't see one personally.

First, how about your likes?

You know what it is! I like halo and bungie and star wars and batman and space jam and jock jams and pizza and beer and transformers and marvel movies and iron maiden and playing vidja games.

but mostly, I like chilling with you guys the most, online or off. B.org is my online home and where my second family lives. I love all of you... well, most of you... actually get back to me on that.

So, how about dislikes?

hmmm, I usually block out things I don't like, but here we go. The Mike Bay Transformers movies burn me in a way few things can. If you have a favorite franchise, get ready, Mr.Bay's coming to knock on your door. And I think the worst part of the whole thing is that to some people, that is Transformers. Like, when Batman and Robin came out and killed the franchise for years, people acknowledged it was shit, we moved on. But, years from now, when they are thinking of reviving Transformers again, many will identify with these movies over the original series, making it the canon. There are dark days ahead.

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?

I really love my N64 a whole lot, but I think the Dreamcast beats it out jsut barely. There's something still oddly magical about the DC, it's still very unique.

Cake or pie?

Cake is a must, but I get by on pie

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

I'll ready anything by the Godfather and for some reason bluerunner, he just has so much wisdom, but I really look for my boy kanbo to post. I can always sniff out a kanbo post.

This is what really irks me. Why can't the console recognize that once I install the game from the disc, I own it. To be clear, I know you can borrow/rent discs, but couldn't they put a code that is unique to that disc on it, and then have that code saved to your console?

They wanted to do this you realize, but there was so much bitching about it they changed their plan (because you couldn't sell your disc).

So, how about dislikes?

In gaming: I really dislike the digital download crap. I pay $60 for a game disc I have to have download and save to my HDD before I can play. Installs take forever. I just like being able to put my disc in the drive. Am I doing something wrong? Then the only thing the disc is good for is for the console to make sure I actually own the game.

This is what really irks me. Why can't the console recognize that once I install the game from the disc, I own it. To be clear, I know you can borrow/rent discs, but couldn't they put a code that is unique to that disc on it, and then have that code saved to your console? I suppose they'd have to mark rental disks differently so the first person wouldn't get a free copy. Also then used disks from Gamestop.... okay not going down the rabbit whole. It would just be nice to keep your disk safe in a clean display that way, and be able to swap games on the fly.

First, how about your likes? I'll start.

Gadgets and video games. Really I'm just a gadget freak. Any new release for phones, cameras, laptops, tablets, desktop components, wearables--you name it. I just can't help but pore over every news outlet and read first impressions. The feeling of opening up a new toy and getting a big whiff of that new gadget smell just makes me weak in the knees. I love it. I used to be the same with video games, but after having kids and with all of the traveling I do for work, the time for video games has really dwindled. I still love them, but I don't have the luxury of getting to enjoy them as much as I used to.

So, how about dislikes?

Getting old

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?

I'd have to say my Xbox One. I've gotten so much enjoyment and entertainment out of it that it's unreal. I love that MS has continually improved it and added new features through the preview program, so it's like every time I turn it on there's something new to play with

Cake or pie?

Pie. A warm slice of cobbler with a fat scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top is just glorious, drool-worthy food porn for me.

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

ZackDark. Because he's the god damn ZackDark.. Actually mostly because he's wise beyond his years and his mannerisms amuse me. <3 u ZachiePoo

First, how about your likes?

Needlers.

Halo music.

Cook-Torrance microfacet specular BRDF.

Skellig cheese.

So, how about dislikes?

NPCs incessantly telling you to proceed with the objective.

Jackal snipers.

Erring toward high numbers of gameplay mechanics.

Low FoV.

When the rear fender rattles against the bolt securing the front derailleur.

People who ride MUP traffic like the pro peloton.

Related, people who 3-inch draft other people whose group ride experience is unknown.

Spongy brakes.

What's your favorite video gaming console or handheld device of all time?

It's not a plurality of my console usage at the moment, but probably original Xbox.

Cake or pie?

Pie, if created by someone who has mastered the art crust-making. Otherwise there's room for a discussion.

Whose posts do you always find yourself clicking on?

BOLL

On Destiny: I really like a lot of things about Destiny. I forget how much I like the game sometimes, which is a shame. I could list all the things I like, but it would be a huge (and largely predictable) list, so instead here's some of my more controversial/uncommon likes: Nightfalls, MIDA, the Qodron fight, the Skolas fight (crazy, I know), Titans, the Lore (and actually, I have no issue at all that it's not in-game), Dinklebot, Salvage (Salvage is my definite favourite gametype next to Elimination. I'm actually considering a separate post about my love for Salvage).

I also love Nightfalls. I honestly didn't know that wasn't common. They're great. Granted, I've only ever done them through Kermit's co-op night, so I've only ever done them with awesome people.

I have never played Salvage. I don't know why. I just always go into Control or Skirmish. I'll have to give Salvage a try.

And I also like the Qodron fight, and never really understood the hate for Dinklebot. I thought he did a pretty good job (although it is a little difficult to get past hearing Tyrion Lannister, but that's my issue, not his). Some of the dialogue is awful, but that's always been a staple of Bungie games, so I don't know what the issue is there ("not a natural formation", "to war", etc.)

On Destiny: I really like a lot of things about Destiny. I forget how much I like the game sometimes, which is a shame. I could list all the things I like, but it would be a huge (and largely predictable) list, so instead here's some of my more controversial/uncommon likes: Nightfalls, MIDA, the Qodron fight, the Skolas fight (crazy, I know), Titans, the Lore (and actually, I have no issue at all that it's not in-game), Dinklebot, Salvage (Salvage is my definite favourite gametype next to Elimination. I'm actually considering a separate post about my love for Salvage).

Glad you like Nightfalls so much, because I think I'm going to start running more on the PS4. My characters there are lacking that experience. I'll look for you.

because I'm a terrible person :p

I see the emoticon here, and I hear you say this a lot (with a twinkle in your eye, I can tell.) You're not, of course. You're really not. You're pretty damn awesome.