Welcome to the DBD, a W4C community board where one can talk about pretty much anything, like…
Is Steve’s good Korean BBQ? On a related note, the term “charbroil” is weird because it’s grilling (cooking via grate over direct heat), not broiling (under direct heat)
the only thing wrong with this idea is that 5 years is too short. All of these men have enough money. Go hang out on a Carribbean or Southeast Asian island somewhere,
I don't know why, but I am always unprepared for how windy it is there. I end up freezing my balls off and then retreating to the Flying Fish for some fish/chip & claw chowder bread bowl.
Creekside Smokehouse in HMB was a great little place to get smoked fish of all kinds. it closed down a while back because the owner had some serious health troubles.
there is some big radio dish near HMB, and when we asked the guy at Creekside what it was, he said it "was some crazy NASA stuff for spying on aliens". i was there w/ my physics/astro grad school friends, so we all got a good laugh.
plus the drive up and over the hill is very pleasant and scenic as long as you dont mind being stuck behind someone slow.
Decent. Went out to brunch on Saturday and had some pretty good breakfast tacos. Spent a good amount of time outside on Saturday and Sunday despite the cold temps and cloudy skies.
Flew to Phoenix for work this week. Either my alarm didn't go off or I turned it off and immediately went back to sleep. Tried to make my flight and around the bay bridge decided I wasn't going to do the valet parking and run through the terminal so I rescheduled my flight for the late afternoon. It meant I didn't get to the US/Mexico WBC game until the 2nd inning. Looked like it was maybe 75% Mexico fans. Great environment. Even better that there was no shift ban or a pitch clock.
On Friday night friend asked me to go see Vance Joy .. . a musical artist who I legit had never heard of, and it wasn't until his third to last song that I recognized a single song. He was . .. fine. My friend is not a big concert goer, so for some reason she was surprised that the crowd in Oakland was sooooooo white. I asked "are you listening to the music? It's very white"
Spent Saturday watching college basketball. Made tacos for dinner . . .realized why I pay people to make tacos instead of making my own.
Saw the Cal Women's Gymnastics team post their highest score ever .. . beating their high score from Friday!) also saw Mya Lauzon post a 10 on the balance beam! Lots of WFC/CGB/Cal Twitter people there - ragnarok, andbears, paleodan + wife, norcalnick + wife, avi
we are in a tentative moment w/ our younger one (15) w/ social anxiety, taking meds, feeling crappy all the time, only went school 2 days last week.
we planned multiple things very tentatively: going out to dinner, going to movies, walk to farmers market, etc. in the end, none of them came to fruition.
on the other hand we had some fun moments of watching Warrior's game, doing NYT crossword and Spelling Bee. so that was nice.
I'm really sorry about that. Both of my daughters dipped their toes into "better living through chemistry" with ADHD meds, and the older one recently started on a very mild anti-anxiety medication which she has described as "life changing." The younger one has been working on behavioral changes for specifically social anxiety and has made quite a bit of headway, so 1) I can understand a little of what you might be going through, and 2) it can get better with effort and time, but lord knows it can be hard to watch.
we have some anti-anxiety meds that seem like it will take a few weeks to reach full strength. in the meantime we are signed up to start DBT - some intense therapy regimen - that is shown to be highly effective in these cases.
Was at the Durant Food Court yesterday for pre-gymnastics lunch. Ate at Thai Basil. Steve's was great value in college, but as for actual Korean barbecue, there's a million better places.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (18/19): One of the wackiest, most absurd, and unrelentingly fun movies I have ever seen. Despite the absolute insanity on screen, it had considerable heart and depth. Huge respect to the writers for so many absurdly clever concepts while never crossing the line of "this is just too silly to be taken seriously" or "they're trying too hard." I have never seen anything like it and don't know if I ever will again.
I agree...thought it was completely blah, though I did finish it. Honestly can't make a good case for any of the other films winning Best Picture, though Triangle of Sadness was f-ing bonkers. Satirical as all hell.
Completely respect the acting performances by the Oscar winners in EEAAO - Helen Tasker, Data and the bad ass lady from Tomorrow Never Dies were good. But I refer to these multi-verse productions as Wooderson Films: the writers got stoned off their a$$e$ and just kept trying to one-up each other with the most outlandish schitt ever, knowing they could rely on the parallel-universe fallback to excuse the fact that none of it makes any sense. Thought it was silly.
I always get together to watch it with my dad and sister. I also always trounce everyone in getting the most correct picks (because I actually research and find out what's generally favored).
The show was fine. My only issue was with the weird choice to bring people on stage to basically introduce a commercial for the new Little Mermaid movie. I know, I know, it's Disney/ABC corporate synergy. But at least try to hide it under some kind of legitimate bit about film history or something.
TLOU show had Troy Baker (James the main henchman from the religious survivors in episode 8 was Joel), Ashley Johnson (Anna the mother of Ellie played Ellie in the games), and Laura Bailey (one of the two nurses from E9 was the voice of Abbey from TLOU2 game).
Ashley Johnson is great. I first remember seeing her as Tom Arnold and Joan Cusack's pre-teen daughter in 9 Months...she read all these harlequin romance novels and re-enacted all of them, it was hilarious.
I feel like an idiot b/c I didn't process that this was about "The Last of Us" (my brain is like pudding at the moment) and just found out what the ending was, as we didn't watch it yesterday. D'oh!
I was mostly fine with that and understand it. I just felt like the entire last episode was rushed and strange. Ellie, after going all season with non stop talking is all of a sudden quiet and moody for no real reason. Did she know the cure would involve her having to die? It felt like she did but how would she have known?
Joel went from proud but apprehensive protector to creepy and over bearing step dad.
I also didn’t like that in an age of consent and self choice, Joel takes that away from Ellie. Joel makes the choice for her and Ellie is also a bit upset but she also doesn’t express her clear choice of wanting to go through with it no matter the cost to herself.
The ending would have been more impactful if she has told Joel this is what I want and he went against those wishes.
I agree that the final two episodes could have used more time to breathe and slow down some of the major character developments for Joel (fully embracing the parental protector role) and Ellie (how badly shaken she was by almost losing Joel and the events at the lake resort).
I thought it was pretty clear to Joel what Ellie's choice would have been. When he offers her the opportunity to turn around and go back Wyoming, she says that she doesn't want all of this to have been for nothing (in previous episodes she's expressed similar sentiments about wanting her immunity to mean something).
You’re right about Ellie making her choice clear about not turning around and following through or else this all being for nothing. I suppose that’s one reason why I didn’t much care for what Joel did because Ellie seemed to be content with her fate.
I was not familiar with the game, so this was all new to me. Maybe in the game it's clearer, but are we sure Ellie was completely aware of the ramifications of her decision? I guess I missed the part where she acknowledged being aware of, and OK with, the final endgame of what the potential cure would be. Was it earlier in the show?
What you observed - did Joel become overbearing and did Ellie lose her choice becomes part of the bedrock of TLOU2. But TLOU2 goes a lot further and is a lot more controversial. It took me like 3 playthroughs to really appreciate the moral questions being asked through both parts, the flawed ways that humans react, and the uncomfortable ambiguity when you realize that your initial emotional response might be wrong. The first time I played TLOU2, I was like "that sucked, that was so unsatisfying". The third time through, I was convinced and remain convinced that it was one of the best stories ever told.
I finally got around to playing TLOU2 last month and I was very impressed by what it was able to achieve with its narrative. The literary devices they used to tell the story were incredibly well executed, even if they are (intentionally, in retrospect) frustrating and difficult to experience at the time. They did a remarkable job of forcing the audience to reconsider characters' difficult decisions and what the appropriate responses to those decisions should be, even if that challenges the audience's preconceived notions of and attachments to characters.
I was only able to play it in hour-long chunks a few times a week, and I think that being able to take the time to marinate on what was transpiring was particularly effective given what was slowly unfolding in the story. That makes me hopeful that it will translate well to an episodic format for tv.
Yeah, you’re right about them killing my interest in the sport. I haven’t really watched much mens college basketball the last 4 years and now I realize that is due to Cal not just being bad but epically bad.
Same. My disinterest in men's basketball started -- coincidentally enough -- about the time Wyking Jones was named head coach at Cal. Peaked this season.
I absolutely hated the Wyking hire, but even then I thought I'd at least give him a shot to prove us wrong...took 2.5 weeks. The loss to Chaminade in Maui, coupled with the rumored fist a cuffs between members of the coaching staff and Theo leaving the team, and I was f-ing done.
We've talked on this board about how it was a 10-year rebuild in terms of getting back to the NCAA Tournament...we're 60% through...if Knowlton somehow hits on this next hire, that should be right on.
supposedly a ton of money available for a new coach and a new NIL thingy. Turnarounds in MBB aren't too difficult. Question is, can Knowlton not completely eff it up. Doubtful
Exactly. I mean, of course it’s always more fun, and nerve wracking, when Cal is in either in or on the bubble. But even in years when they’re clearly NIT bound, or just plain down, I’ve still been at least interested in the bracket.
3-29 and the embarrassment of P5 college basketball just killed it for me this year. I don’t even find myself wanting to root for Bradley and Vanover…maybe UCSB but Baylor should wax them…
Haven't reviewed the brackets, but predicting Mizzou will make a final four to ensure we feel maximum amount of pain possible. That will be followed by an announcement that Cal has hired Mark Madsen, thus crowning Knowlton's masterwork in fan abusive.
i am in another one w/ some HS friends w/ a $20 buy-in, but mostly to be friendly.
also, i watch so little NCAA hoops these days that it is basically random guessing. i'll probably pick IU to play St Mary's assuming that is even possible.
Colorado's spring football game will be broadcast by ESPN on April 22 at 1 p.m. MT. It's the only spring game that will air on ESPN's main network. Per a CU release, 35K tickets have been sold for the game. It will be, by far, the highest attended spring game in #cubuffs history
meh... from what I heard, that was a toxic relationship and she was at fault for most of it. Texas cut ties because of optics but there was never any doubt he was getting a job again quick
My younger daughter has been told it's time to shit or get off the pot re: deciding on going to a university in the UK (her current ranking of preferences is Barnard - Edinburgh - UCL note the lack of A there; she's already been admitted to the ones in the UK) so she said if it's at all possible to visit those latter 2, she'd feel much better about a decision either way. So now I'm looking at a possible flying visit during spring break. Not sure if it lines up all that well with my project calendar at work, but that's a solvable problem.
so here are my quick comments but it feels a little deja vu in that i might have mentioned this already in DBD
our daughter eventually decided not to go to Edinburgh even though there were some very tempting things about it. the biggest ones were
- exposure to a completely different set of people, more worldly, etc
- ability to travel in Europe
- learning in a different way
- math/physics facilities were very impressive new buildings
drawbacks
- drinking culture .. literally every night
- only pressure to study was at end of term, but it seemed that math/physics people were more serious
- very rigid in deciding majors, even switching from math to physics would not be easy and require going back to get pre-reqs. also a very rigid set of classes you take that are all full year courses.
- dorm culture was that everyone gets a single room, she always thought college was about having random roommates
- the science campus is new and disconnected from the main campus
I remember you mentioning this. The drinking culture is a little off-putting for my daughter (doesn't mesh well with ADHD meds LOL). She'd be on the main campus as her unconditional place is in the anthropology department, so that would be a little different. I'd be slightly concerned about the cost of housing if she had to move out from dorms, but that's an n-th order hypothetical at the moment.
I don't think we'll be that aggressive, in part b/c I have family in Edinburgh. I am thinking IAD - JFK - EDI to get there, train to London, and then LHR - IAD home. Surprisingly not extortionate for our spring break, unlike flying direct to LHR from IAD.
I took the Caledonian Sleeper from Ft. William to London five years ago in late August. I'd like to do it again in late June for the extra daylight. They've recently redesigned the carriages. Highly recommended!
I would very much like to try that at some point. I just had a quick look and the price for 3 people (with beds, homie isn't sleeping in a seat) is £490, which seems like a lot even before you factor in things like "would this activate my wife's well known motion sickness" and "how good a day would we have in London if the missus didn't sleep en route." So maybe this isn't the trip, but one of these days!
Definitely agree on sleeping in seats. Life's too short and I'm too old for that. I went solo and it was great. They sat me with a stranger in the dining car and we had a pleasant conversation. I'm pretty sure dinner service is over by the time it gets to Glasgow/Edinburg. If you need help justifying the expense to yourself, remember that a night on the train is a night you're not spending money at a hotel.
The government rides to the rescue by backing depositors so their funds may be withdrawn. The backroom in the U.S. Treasury is busy printing money. However, taxpayers will not be on the hook to fund the bailout. Bear Stearns and Lehman were allowed to fail in 2008-2009, but not SVB.
I'm definitely not a banking expert but it sounds like all depositors will be paid out but I imagine 90%+ of them are already covered by the FDIC. Investors on the other hand will be eating the loss.
Oh also, 90% of deposits at SVB were NOT FDIC insured bc they were over the $250k limit. That is the whole reason there was a panic/bank run. There was about $45 billion in deposits withdrawn in a single day. That is 1800s type stuff. The feds need to create new coverage for companies. Especially operating accounts used to make payroll. Those should really be insured.
There is a market solution for this that those companies chose not to use that will ensure coverage up to $150MM. It's sheer negligence by their treasury departments and I am unsympathetic. I do not believe the FDIC should be backstopping this.
I’m not a banking expert either but when the government has to step in to secure all deposits and create a program in 48 hours that didn’t previously exist, well that sounds like a move to bail people out of a situation in which they might otherwise lose all their money.
Well first of all, SVB is dead. It failed. Equity holders and bond holders will be wiped out.
If uninsured deposits are allowed to go poof, there will be a massive bank run and the economy will have an absolutely nuclear implosion. Probably lead to a depression. Fed needs to avoid that, and so far is doing it with a fund set up in Great Recession for this purpose, funded by bank fees. I see no issue with this. Also let’s be honest, the Fed rising rates caused SVB to be caught with its pants down on the long maturity bonds, basically caused the problem, would be wild to say to depositors that they are screwed. I mean these are company deposits, for payroll and stuff.
Right, this is the FDIC’s game plan. They are protecting peoples deposits (ie money in checking and savings accounts).
My lay-persons understanding is the FDIC moves deposits to a newly established depository bank, in this case the National Bank of Santa Clara, and then freezes other activity.
This stops a bank run and protects people’s deposits by preserving liquidity. There is a big difference between deposits and stockholders.
Again, that is my layman’s understanding but I’ll let someone more versed in banking correct me.
Yup...I think that my Cal-viewing friend and I coined that term. But it's such an easy leap, that I suspect that there were multiple independent coinings ;-)
Who caused Silicon Valley Bank? Peter Thiel.
https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-founders-fund-pulled-cash-svb-before-collapse-report-2023-3
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do, we do!
Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do, we do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do, we do!
Who robs cave-fish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do!
We do!
of course he did, the booger-eating sociopath
I saw someone propose that the whole PayPal Mafia needs a 5-year or so timeout from being able to run a business (Thiel, Elon, David Sacks...)
the only thing wrong with this idea is that 5 years is too short. All of these men have enough money. Go hang out on a Carribbean or Southeast Asian island somewhere,
Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay High School played for a D4 CIF State Championship this weekend in basketball. They fell to Valencia but they made it to state!
I don't know why, but I am always unprepared for how windy it is there. I end up freezing my balls off and then retreating to the Flying Fish for some fish/chip & claw chowder bread bowl.
I'm trying to find someone else who wants to go with me to play the Ocean Course. It's expensive but it's not Pebble Beach/Bandon Dunes expensive.
Maybe once a year we go to the Ritz to squat on their grounds and use their beach.
Creekside Smokehouse in HMB was a great little place to get smoked fish of all kinds. it closed down a while back because the owner had some serious health troubles.
there is some big radio dish near HMB, and when we asked the guy at Creekside what it was, he said it "was some crazy NASA stuff for spying on aliens". i was there w/ my physics/astro grad school friends, so we all got a good laugh.
plus the drive up and over the hill is very pleasant and scenic as long as you dont mind being stuck behind someone slow.
A quote that you dislike
“If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”
A quote that you like
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't take a look around, you could miss it." Ferris Beuller
"Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back"
-Marcus Aurelius
If you’re going through hell, keep going. Winston Churchill.
“Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
"And what's a bath without Bubbles? Bubbles, get over here." - Thornton Melon
“Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got.” - Janis Joplin.
How was your weekend?
Decent. Went out to brunch on Saturday and had some pretty good breakfast tacos. Spent a good amount of time outside on Saturday and Sunday despite the cold temps and cloudy skies.
Truly decent, or decent for Charm City?
The tacos? I'm definitely grading on a location-adjusted curve.
Flew to Phoenix for work this week. Either my alarm didn't go off or I turned it off and immediately went back to sleep. Tried to make my flight and around the bay bridge decided I wasn't going to do the valet parking and run through the terminal so I rescheduled my flight for the late afternoon. It meant I didn't get to the US/Mexico WBC game until the 2nd inning. Looked like it was maybe 75% Mexico fans. Great environment. Even better that there was no shift ban or a pitch clock.
On Friday night friend asked me to go see Vance Joy .. . a musical artist who I legit had never heard of, and it wasn't until his third to last song that I recognized a single song. He was . .. fine. My friend is not a big concert goer, so for some reason she was surprised that the crowd in Oakland was sooooooo white. I asked "are you listening to the music? It's very white"
Spent Saturday watching college basketball. Made tacos for dinner . . .realized why I pay people to make tacos instead of making my own.
Saw the Cal Women's Gymnastics team post their highest score ever .. . beating their high score from Friday!) also saw Mya Lauzon post a 10 on the balance beam! Lots of WFC/CGB/Cal Twitter people there - ragnarok, andbears, paleodan + wife, norcalnick + wife, avi
24 hours of air travel to Chile for work. Went smoothly thank goodness, but my Spanish is crappier than I imagined.
Nice!! Do you plan to visit either Estadio Olympico or Celinto Catayente?
https://youtu.be/WndUx0ibDnI
Good. Yours?
Not so good. Mrs Slug has a severe case of vertigo.
uneventful. Watched some sports, went for a long-ish walk yesterday, hung out with the fam. The usual.
mediocre.
we are in a tentative moment w/ our younger one (15) w/ social anxiety, taking meds, feeling crappy all the time, only went school 2 days last week.
we planned multiple things very tentatively: going out to dinner, going to movies, walk to farmers market, etc. in the end, none of them came to fruition.
on the other hand we had some fun moments of watching Warrior's game, doing NYT crossword and Spelling Bee. so that was nice.
Best to your youngest, HSB.
I'm really sorry about that. Both of my daughters dipped their toes into "better living through chemistry" with ADHD meds, and the older one recently started on a very mild anti-anxiety medication which she has described as "life changing." The younger one has been working on behavioral changes for specifically social anxiety and has made quite a bit of headway, so 1) I can understand a little of what you might be going through, and 2) it can get better with effort and time, but lord knows it can be hard to watch.
we have some anti-anxiety meds that seem like it will take a few weeks to reach full strength. in the meantime we are signed up to start DBT - some intense therapy regimen - that is shown to be highly effective in these cases.
Solid. Jonesy is almost recovered from the Big Snip of ‘23…figures to be a life changing event for the both of us.
It was good.
Fine
Steve's
Was at the Durant Food Court yesterday for pre-gymnastics lunch. Ate at Thai Basil. Steve's was great value in college, but as for actual Korean barbecue, there's a million better places.
Great value; worst kimchi.
Char
DBD AV CLUB
Everything Everywhere All at Once (18/19): One of the wackiest, most absurd, and unrelentingly fun movies I have ever seen. Despite the absolute insanity on screen, it had considerable heart and depth. Huge respect to the writers for so many absurdly clever concepts while never crossing the line of "this is just too silly to be taken seriously" or "they're trying too hard." I have never seen anything like it and don't know if I ever will again.
Totally agreed, my favorite movie of the past ~10 years. All the awards were totally deserved IMHO.
just could not get into it. Maybe I was in the wrong mood? I meh'd my way through 45 mins and turned it off
Have you considered that you might be dead inside?
Cal sports does have that effect on people…so there’s that.
here's a column by an Asian critic who also didn't like EEAO, but he nevertheless seems to respect it.
https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a42551204/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-controversy-explained/
I agree...thought it was completely blah, though I did finish it. Honestly can't make a good case for any of the other films winning Best Picture, though Triangle of Sadness was f-ing bonkers. Satirical as all hell.
Completely respect the acting performances by the Oscar winners in EEAAO - Helen Tasker, Data and the bad ass lady from Tomorrow Never Dies were good. But I refer to these multi-verse productions as Wooderson Films: the writers got stoned off their a$$e$ and just kept trying to one-up each other with the most outlandish schitt ever, knowing they could rely on the parallel-universe fallback to excuse the fact that none of it makes any sense. Thought it was silly.
Oscars
at first i was wondering why we were talking about Oscar burgers 2 days in a row!
when my wife told me it was on TV on Sunday night, i told her "i would rather watch a State of the Union speech" which i never watch either.
I always get together to watch it with my dad and sister. I also always trounce everyone in getting the most correct picks (because I actually research and find out what's generally favored).
The show was fine. My only issue was with the weird choice to bring people on stage to basically introduce a commercial for the new Little Mermaid movie. I know, I know, it's Disney/ABC corporate synergy. But at least try to hide it under some kind of legitimate bit about film history or something.
Happy for Brendan Fraser and the EEAAO troika.
I love movies too much to care about the Oscars.
TLoU, belongs in the category of good but not great. I feel like the show was a bit anticlimactic with a shrug of an ending.
TLOU show had Troy Baker (James the main henchman from the religious survivors in episode 8 was Joel), Ashley Johnson (Anna the mother of Ellie played Ellie in the games), and Laura Bailey (one of the two nurses from E9 was the voice of Abbey from TLOU2 game).
Ashley Johnson is great. I first remember seeing her as Tom Arnold and Joan Cusack's pre-teen daughter in 9 Months...she read all these harlequin romance novels and re-enacted all of them, it was hilarious.
I feel like an idiot b/c I didn't process that this was about "The Last of Us" (my brain is like pudding at the moment) and just found out what the ending was, as we didn't watch it yesterday. D'oh!
yeah, I tried to be vague about it ;-)
I blame only myself!
I actually liked the ending. The conflict between Society vs Individual.
I was mostly fine with that and understand it. I just felt like the entire last episode was rushed and strange. Ellie, after going all season with non stop talking is all of a sudden quiet and moody for no real reason. Did she know the cure would involve her having to die? It felt like she did but how would she have known?
Joel went from proud but apprehensive protector to creepy and over bearing step dad.
I also didn’t like that in an age of consent and self choice, Joel takes that away from Ellie. Joel makes the choice for her and Ellie is also a bit upset but she also doesn’t express her clear choice of wanting to go through with it no matter the cost to herself.
The ending would have been more impactful if she has told Joel this is what I want and he went against those wishes.
I agree that the final two episodes could have used more time to breathe and slow down some of the major character developments for Joel (fully embracing the parental protector role) and Ellie (how badly shaken she was by almost losing Joel and the events at the lake resort).
I thought it was pretty clear to Joel what Ellie's choice would have been. When he offers her the opportunity to turn around and go back Wyoming, she says that she doesn't want all of this to have been for nothing (in previous episodes she's expressed similar sentiments about wanting her immunity to mean something).
You’re right about Ellie making her choice clear about not turning around and following through or else this all being for nothing. I suppose that’s one reason why I didn’t much care for what Joel did because Ellie seemed to be content with her fate.
*****kind of a SPOILER ALERT*********
I was not familiar with the game, so this was all new to me. Maybe in the game it's clearer, but are we sure Ellie was completely aware of the ramifications of her decision? I guess I missed the part where she acknowledged being aware of, and OK with, the final endgame of what the potential cure would be. Was it earlier in the show?
What you observed - did Joel become overbearing and did Ellie lose her choice becomes part of the bedrock of TLOU2. But TLOU2 goes a lot further and is a lot more controversial. It took me like 3 playthroughs to really appreciate the moral questions being asked through both parts, the flawed ways that humans react, and the uncomfortable ambiguity when you realize that your initial emotional response might be wrong. The first time I played TLOU2, I was like "that sucked, that was so unsatisfying". The third time through, I was convinced and remain convinced that it was one of the best stories ever told.
I finally got around to playing TLOU2 last month and I was very impressed by what it was able to achieve with its narrative. The literary devices they used to tell the story were incredibly well executed, even if they are (intentionally, in retrospect) frustrating and difficult to experience at the time. They did a remarkable job of forcing the audience to reconsider characters' difficult decisions and what the appropriate responses to those decisions should be, even if that challenges the audience's preconceived notions of and attachments to characters.
I was only able to play it in hour-long chunks a few times a week, and I think that being able to take the time to marinate on what was transpiring was particularly effective given what was slowly unfolding in the story. That makes me hopeful that it will translate well to an episodic format for tv.
Agreed. I was somewhat disappointed in the finale.
Saw Women Talking on Saturday night - haunting and really well acted.
CAL
Cal Women's Gym is flying really high going into the NCAAs. Top 7 team - Mya Lauzon and eMjae Frazier with recent 10s.
Go Bears!!!
Definitely a first world problem.
Not a great week for Cal golf. Homa only made 737K and Morikawa only 448K. An snuck into the mix with 114K.
What's the timeline for hiring a new MBB coach?
A couple of weeks probably, to let the postseason tournaments play out.
Would love to see it move quicker though if it meant there was a clear and identifiable plan.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Elsewhere in college
March Madness selection
Didn’t watch the show for the first time in 100 years. A heartfelt thank you to Knowlton and Fox for killing my interest in the sport.
Yeah, you’re right about them killing my interest in the sport. I haven’t really watched much mens college basketball the last 4 years and now I realize that is due to Cal not just being bad but epically bad.
Same. My disinterest in men's basketball started -- coincidentally enough -- about the time Wyking Jones was named head coach at Cal. Peaked this season.
I absolutely hated the Wyking hire, but even then I thought I'd at least give him a shot to prove us wrong...took 2.5 weeks. The loss to Chaminade in Maui, coupled with the rumored fist a cuffs between members of the coaching staff and Theo leaving the team, and I was f-ing done.
We've talked on this board about how it was a 10-year rebuild in terms of getting back to the NCAA Tournament...we're 60% through...if Knowlton somehow hits on this next hire, that should be right on.
supposedly a ton of money available for a new coach and a new NIL thingy. Turnarounds in MBB aren't too difficult. Question is, can Knowlton not completely eff it up. Doubtful
Exactly. I mean, of course it’s always more fun, and nerve wracking, when Cal is in either in or on the bubble. But even in years when they’re clearly NIT bound, or just plain down, I’ve still been at least interested in the bracket.
3-29 and the embarrassment of P5 college basketball just killed it for me this year. I don’t even find myself wanting to root for Bradley and Vanover…maybe UCSB but Baylor should wax them…
Based on predictions, it seems like the one big surprise is Rutgers not making the bracket and Nevada making it.
Not if you've watched Nevada.
Which I have not! They just weren't being predicted by as many bracketologists as Rutgers.
Haven't reviewed the brackets, but predicting Mizzou will make a final four to ensure we feel maximum amount of pain possible. That will be followed by an announcement that Cal has hired Mark Madsen, thus crowning Knowlton's masterwork in fan abusive.
Tough draw for Mizzou...they drew your boy.
is there some sort of DBD bracket contest?
i am in another one w/ some HS friends w/ a $20 buy-in, but mostly to be friendly.
also, i watch so little NCAA hoops these days that it is basically random guessing. i'll probably pick IU to play St Mary's assuming that is even possible.
Yes, it just went live this afternoon. Winner gets a $150 Fanatics gift card.
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/join-the-write-for-california-ncaa
https://twitter.com/BrianHowell33/status/1635358361125523457?s=20
Colorado's spring football game will be broadcast by ESPN on April 22 at 1 p.m. MT. It's the only spring game that will air on ESPN's main network. Per a CU release, 35K tickets have been sold for the game. It will be, by far, the highest attended spring game in #cubuffs history
Neither of my teams made it so I may actually have a chance.
Ole Miss hires Chris Beard, as expected, because the SEC doesn’t give two schitts about society and it’s silly laws.
meh... from what I heard, that was a toxic relationship and she was at fault for most of it. Texas cut ties because of optics but there was never any doubt he was getting a job again quick
Oh absolutely. It was never in doubt...always felt he was a lock for the SEC.
Bradley, Vanover, Kelly all make the NCAA tournament...oh what could have been...
PRO
Raiders sign Jimmy G 3/67.5. 34 M guaranteed.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35851697/raiders-fill-qb-need-jimmy-garoppolo-sources-say
Good money for Jimmy G; but I fear he will be wasted by the Raiders, whom I have no faith in to put pieces around him.
He is going to look even more delicious in silver and black.
is Garbers considered the backup? or the backup backup?
Assistant to the backup?
i hear it pays well at least
Going Places
My younger daughter has been told it's time to shit or get off the pot re: deciding on going to a university in the UK (her current ranking of preferences is Barnard - Edinburgh - UCL note the lack of A there; she's already been admitted to the ones in the UK) so she said if it's at all possible to visit those latter 2, she'd feel much better about a decision either way. So now I'm looking at a possible flying visit during spring break. Not sure if it lines up all that well with my project calendar at work, but that's a solvable problem.
Just show her a movie filmed in Scotland.
"I mean you've been there before, how much more could you need to know????"
We visited Edinburgh last year as part of college process. Was a nice 48 hour trip.
so here are my quick comments but it feels a little deja vu in that i might have mentioned this already in DBD
our daughter eventually decided not to go to Edinburgh even though there were some very tempting things about it. the biggest ones were
- exposure to a completely different set of people, more worldly, etc
- ability to travel in Europe
- learning in a different way
- math/physics facilities were very impressive new buildings
drawbacks
- drinking culture .. literally every night
- only pressure to study was at end of term, but it seemed that math/physics people were more serious
- very rigid in deciding majors, even switching from math to physics would not be easy and require going back to get pre-reqs. also a very rigid set of classes you take that are all full year courses.
- dorm culture was that everyone gets a single room, she always thought college was about having random roommates
- the science campus is new and disconnected from the main campus
I remember you mentioning this. The drinking culture is a little off-putting for my daughter (doesn't mesh well with ADHD meds LOL). She'd be on the main campus as her unconditional place is in the anthropology department, so that would be a little different. I'd be slightly concerned about the cost of housing if she had to move out from dorms, but that's an n-th order hypothetical at the moment.
I don't think we'll be that aggressive, in part b/c I have family in Edinburgh. I am thinking IAD - JFK - EDI to get there, train to London, and then LHR - IAD home. Surprisingly not extortionate for our spring break, unlike flying direct to LHR from IAD.
I took the Caledonian Sleeper from Ft. William to London five years ago in late August. I'd like to do it again in late June for the extra daylight. They've recently redesigned the carriages. Highly recommended!
https://www.seat61.com/sleeper-to-scotland.htm
I would very much like to try that at some point. I just had a quick look and the price for 3 people (with beds, homie isn't sleeping in a seat) is £490, which seems like a lot even before you factor in things like "would this activate my wife's well known motion sickness" and "how good a day would we have in London if the missus didn't sleep en route." So maybe this isn't the trip, but one of these days!
Definitely agree on sleeping in seats. Life's too short and I'm too old for that. I went solo and it was great. They sat me with a stranger in the dining car and we had a pleasant conversation. I'm pretty sure dinner service is over by the time it gets to Glasgow/Edinburg. If you need help justifying the expense to yourself, remember that a night on the train is a night you're not spending money at a hotel.
SVB Bailout fallout...
I've been dealing with vendors who are scrambling to change banks this morning.
The government rides to the rescue by backing depositors so their funds may be withdrawn. The backroom in the U.S. Treasury is busy printing money. However, taxpayers will not be on the hook to fund the bailout. Bear Stearns and Lehman were allowed to fail in 2008-2009, but not SVB.
If it looks like a bailout and smells like a bailout, it probably is a bailout.
I think this is some bullshit and SVB should be allowed to fail.
Re-instate Glass-Steagall.
That is all.
I don’t think that concept is relevant here. SVB was taken down by investing in US treasury bonds; it is not like they were buying dogecoin
I'm definitely not a banking expert but it sounds like all depositors will be paid out but I imagine 90%+ of them are already covered by the FDIC. Investors on the other hand will be eating the loss.
Oh also, 90% of deposits at SVB were NOT FDIC insured bc they were over the $250k limit. That is the whole reason there was a panic/bank run. There was about $45 billion in deposits withdrawn in a single day. That is 1800s type stuff. The feds need to create new coverage for companies. Especially operating accounts used to make payroll. Those should really be insured.
There is a market solution for this that those companies chose not to use that will ensure coverage up to $150MM. It's sheer negligence by their treasury departments and I am unsympathetic. I do not believe the FDIC should be backstopping this.
Great clarification, thank you !
I’m not a banking expert either but when the government has to step in to secure all deposits and create a program in 48 hours that didn’t previously exist, well that sounds like a move to bail people out of a situation in which they might otherwise lose all their money.
Well first of all, SVB is dead. It failed. Equity holders and bond holders will be wiped out.
If uninsured deposits are allowed to go poof, there will be a massive bank run and the economy will have an absolutely nuclear implosion. Probably lead to a depression. Fed needs to avoid that, and so far is doing it with a fund set up in Great Recession for this purpose, funded by bank fees. I see no issue with this. Also let’s be honest, the Fed rising rates caused SVB to be caught with its pants down on the long maturity bonds, basically caused the problem, would be wild to say to depositors that they are screwed. I mean these are company deposits, for payroll and stuff.
Right, this is the FDIC’s game plan. They are protecting peoples deposits (ie money in checking and savings accounts).
My lay-persons understanding is the FDIC moves deposits to a newly established depository bank, in this case the National Bank of Santa Clara, and then freezes other activity.
This stops a bank run and protects people’s deposits by preserving liquidity. There is a big difference between deposits and stockholders.
Again, that is my layman’s understanding but I’ll let someone more versed in banking correct me.
You are correct!
Charlie Bucket
whenever we have any type of simple and possibly a little bland food at home, our older daughter calls it a "Charlie Bucket dinner."
even boiled cabbage and German sausages will get called out as such, despite the fact that the Buckets could not afford much sausage.
Having watched WW&TCF a few weeks ago with 7-yo daughter (and just finished reading C&TCF) yesterday, cabbage soup is def their thing.
Charlie Moore’s nickname.
Yup...I think that my Cal-viewing friend and I coined that term. But it's such an easy leap, that I suspect that there were multiple independent coinings ;-)