203 Comments

Reef's brother posted this on his Fbook page:

Hello, everyone. Since my brother's passing, I've wanted to get a group together for an A's game in his memory since he was such a huge fan and one of the main reasons why I'm a fan to this day. Of course this wasn't as feasible the last couple of years. So, I would like to invite anyone who wishes to attend on June 21 vs. Seattle at 6:40 PM. The group rate is only $10. If you are interested, please send a private message to his account with your name, email, and how many tickets you need. I can then send you an email with the payment info (PayPal, Venmo, etc...) and other information. Please do inform anyone who might be interested. Please do let us know by Monday, June 6. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you all there!

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Great White spotted in shallow waters of Nantucket. Fire Starkey Family is going to need a bigger boat.

https://twitter.com/ACKCurrent/status/1531091386132471808

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it's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time.

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OR I can upgrade on the spousal unit so I got options

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Time for a life insurance policy for the Mrs.

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CNN hard hitting investigative journalism wonders why there are so many crashes in a country made of mountains and extreme weather by janky old planes in a dirt-poor country

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/asia/nepal-plane-crash-air-travel-risks-intl-hnk/index.html

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I've flown through the Himalayas in a janky plane and it is indeed harrowing.

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Air Yeti flight, uninsulated/unpressurized flight with cotton balls stuffed in my ears and passengers/luggage weighed so we don't pull an Aaliyah.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aaliyah-plane-was-overloaded/

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Rio

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she dances on the sand

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Monte...

We spent several summers camping at Duncan Mills and would drive into Monte Rio for ice, groceries, and some swimming at their beach along the Russian River. I can't think of a more 70s thing to do than hang out in Sonoma, which was like hanging out with carnies if they were into weed instead of meth.

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i had the best corned beef hash of my life in monte rio

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Never been, but that Northwood Golf Club looks pretty cool

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we used to go camping in that area too, but i dont really remember where other than "near the Russian River"

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Me and Newellbany's buddy from high school bought the Monte Rio Theater up there a few years back...they had a rare first run showing of Maverick this past weekend - bummed I missed it.

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

oops .. i should have put my entry here, not under Portuguese

we lived in Rio for 6 months when i was 6 yrs old (mid 70s). apparently i knew Portuguese as a kid but have since forgotten everything.

my dad was a mining engineer and this was one of the longer trips so we just all went as a family. also, i was only in 1st or 2nd grade so it was easy to miss school back then.

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Portuguese

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through colonization, responsible for some of the world's most interesting food - pulling influences from Portgual, Africa, Malaysia, India, China and Japan (and of course going to other way to Brazil).

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I grew up eating plenty of "Portuguese Sausage"/"Linguiça" (my parents are from Hawaii), but I've never had anything similar in Portugal despite having tried dozens of different sausage types here over the past decade. The actual linguiça is substantially different. I still always order a Hot+Linguiça at Top Dog.

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Water Dogs

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this is THE dog breed that i would get if i was get a dog and i had any say in the matter.

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if i learn portuguese i believe i can get a portuguese passport due to grandparents being born in goa while it was a portuguese colony

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I had to take 5 semesters of a language at SC as part of my IR major, I took 2 semesters of Japanese before tapping out & nearly signed on for Portuguese at the start of my sophomore year because the semester classes were 1.5 credits not 1. Ended up going back to French, which has been useful precisely once since then while visiting Paris, whereas I could have actually been using Portuguese the entire time I lived in Rhode Island 🤷🏼‍♂️

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PRO

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Ferrari botches its tire strategy after a pre-race downpour throws the Monaco GP into disarray

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12517/12623576/monaco-gp-sergio-perez-wins-chaotic-delayed-race-after-charles-leclerc-misery-in-wet-dry-epic

Sergio Perez claimed an unlikely victory in an incredible Monaco Grand Prix, with home favourite Charles Leclerc only fourth as Red Bull outsmarted Ferrari after heavy rain led to chaos in the Principality.

The race was delayed by over an hour after the heavens opened shortly before the expected start time of 2pm but F1's blue-riband event was well worth the wait after that, with drama from the wet rolling start to a spectacular dry finish as Perez, on wearing tyres, held off Carlos Sainz.

Perez assumed control for his first Monaco win after Red Bull's Monte Carlo street smarts wrongfooted the bewildered Ferrari, with the Mexican undercutting the pole-sitting Leclerc when changing from wets to intermediates early on.

There was then more agony for Leclerc when Ferrari double stacked Sainz, who hadn't stopped at all, and the Monegasque onto slicks. Ferrari initially told Leclerc to pit before telling him, too late, to "stay out".

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Laitifi and Albon didn’t do Ferrari any favors by ignoring the blue flags either.

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Leclerc was justifiably livid on the radio

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Harold Varner III goes from tied for the lead at -10 on the 12th hole to E by the end. Poor guy.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/harold-varner-iii-four-putt-charles-schwab-challenge

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Jesus Sanchez hit a 496 foot homerun, the furthest in nearly 3 years

https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1531376007680237570

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That was like some of my HR derby HRs in The Show 20. Wow.

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Blast...at Colorado altitude on a sunny day, tho...is the 469 ft blast by Yordan Alvarez to right center in Oakland equally as impressive?

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QB in an arena league throws a TD, celebrates by lighting up a joint. Unsurprisingly, he gets cut.

https://twitter.com/shannonsharpeee/status/1529413595083468800

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This is a great letter from his mom. I must have been chopping onions when I was reading it.

https://theathletic.com/3341295/2022/05/31/mom-gary-payton-ii-letter/

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that was a common refrain in the comments ;-)

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even more, hope the Dubs can keep GP II

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I'll stick this here, filed under TIL:

For anyone doing the WaPo Mini Meta (I think it was a TBB recommendation back in the day?), I had an issue with 1A.

"A sac fly earns one"

I got the right (3-letter) answer, but thought that it should be:

"A sac fly *might* earn one"

After a colleague's research, turns out the answer is correct.

https://www.stumptheump.com/answers/fly-ball-moving-a-runner-from-second-to-third

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/sacrifice-fly

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I guess the "might" is because there are rare occasions of two runs scoring on a sacrifice fly.

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no, I thought it should be "might" because I (apparently wrongly) assumed that getting the runner to third was also a sac fly.

I thought anytime one "tagged up", it was a sac fly.

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True

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I think techinically a sac fly is only when the runner scores. It's an AB if it's runner going from 2nd to 3rd. So if the OF really screws it up and the runner scores from 2nd, then it's an RBI.

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seems that "doing the right thing" by endeavoring to hit the ball deep to right should be rewarded in the same way as bunting to 1st to get a runner over (with nobody scoring)

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or hitting to the right side to advance the runner to 3rd.

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3 Down was tailor-made for me!!! Abbreviation for both beer enthusiasts and linguists

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I didn't understand the IPA for linguists. just looked it up. another TIL!

and another double TIL: I learned that TBB is into beer and phonetics :-)

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There's also a bioinformatics application (ingenuity pathway analysis)!

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did you know that? or are you scraping the interwebs for TLA? ;-)

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Oh no, just listing the ones that are applicable to me (or have been in the past) haha

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If a runner doesn't score, then it's just a fly ball.

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You are correct. Thought I’d was still a sac fly (and no AB), like a sac bunt.

As I said, TIL ;-)

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ARE YOU ON HERE WITH TWO NAMES

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oh, that's my substack name for (ex-GSOM) Dub Nation HQ. I was on my phone for the OskiDubs reply, so had to log in. I guess they logged me in as the other account (and I didn't pay attention). I should try to fix that...

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I guess ground outs are similar too. You can ground out and move a runner from 1b to 2b, but it wouldn't be a sac bunt, and it still counts towards AB.

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Are any of you in the Subtle Asian Traits group on fbook? Someone (Andrew Córdova) posted a video with this comment:

About a month ago our social team at the LA Chargers were trying to come up with ideas for our annual schedule release that the NFL loves to make a thing. We had some trouble nailing down an idea and I thought "what if we made it an anime OP?"

I've been a casual fan of the genre since growing up and I'm part Japanese. Knowing this month is AAPI month, I thought, "wouldn't hurt to pitch this idea"

And now here we are lol. Had a ton of fun producing this, I did a ton of animating, but I'd be remiss if I didn't explicitly say that there are shots that is NOT original line work and is copied from ACTUAL anime/anime artists who are the actual ones who are immensely talented and world-class at what they do. I can not take credit as a true animator, but I am so extremely happy to be able share asian heritage/culture on the NFL stage and produce this piece for my team.

Hoping I made my obachan proud with this one!

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=717035982877409

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Saw that video a few weeks ago, very cool. I think someone else had posted a link.

I wasn't aware of Subtle Asian Traits on FB or anywhere else! Too subtle for me I guess.

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I'm not a huge fan of that facebook group myself.

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LMFTFY: I'm not a huge fan of facebook

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I visited SF this weekend. My friend said Warriors are bad this year. I told him they are going to the Finals, and he said "oh I was thinking of a different team"

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The friend is still living in 2020 or 2021? That's still understandable given the pandemic.

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maybe "different team" as in team from different year.

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Maybe he was thinking about the Coney Island gang?

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Maybe your friend meant "bad A$$"

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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a) how about no

b) good luck with that

https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1531657082251927555

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Right because taking away a release for sexually frustrated young men would be super helpful to this problem that is primarily perpetuated by said sexually frustrated young men

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So silly.

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Let's check his browsing history...

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Fresh developments over holiday weekend raise new questions about the failure of the law enforcement response in Uvalde

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/politics/national-trauma-uvalde-police-response/index.html

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This is all kinds of fucked up, but it's a distraction to the issue at hand. We don't need assault rifles and America's recent obsession with them comes at a cost.

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Amen to that! It also lays bare the lie of the right that if we only arm everyone yada yada it will all be cool. It won’t work, and who wants to live in a war zone? If you have to pack heat to go to school or to the grocery store, you are living in a failed state

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I agree with all this, especially the failed state part. Do people want to live in a country where everyone has to carry a gun in order to do the most basic things in society? That sounds like a dysfunctional state at best and dystopian state at worse.

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Former Trump aide Navarro says he has received a grand jury subpoena related to Jan. 6

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/30/peter-navarro-grand-jury-trump-00035904

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It is amazing this guy was once a democrat who supported Hillary and the Clinton’s in the 90s.

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wasn't Trump also?

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True

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Which one are you referring to?

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

Navarro

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he also only got a job with the Trump admin by writing a poorly researched anti-China book and then getting talking spots on Fox to promote it.

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Elsewhere in college

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After beating Cal in the rematch at the Pac-12 Championships, UCLA played Oregon State and trailed 21-12 in the 9th inning. The baby bears won.

https://twitter.com/UCLABaseball/status/1530726697531715584

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USC puts Chinese fighter jets on their Memorial Day tweet. The jets have since been removed.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUCQoTrUYAEiqpP?format=jpg&name=large

https://twitter.com/USC_FB/status/1531306099281842176

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心无人看守的近端

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not sure what this means? Nobody looking that the final version?

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I just entered “beware of unguarded tight ends” into Google translate and hoped for the best

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you may have missed the cut and past on the first character 小 - 小心 means to be careful. Literally, "small heart"

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LOL

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CAL

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Ryan Glover transfers to Memphis

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeM2MbcsbH6/?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

Recruiting: with early commits Cal appears to be in the mix for a bunch of four star guys but appears to be losing them to UCLA and Oregon. Hopefully things turn around.

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I don't think we were really in the mix for any of them. Kids lean one way early and they play the game of paring the list down from top-N to top-3 and then they play the hat game. Schools will make their lists simply because they are offered.

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That's partially true. With NIL and the transfer portal, kids are committing earlier and earlier to secure a spot at that school, but notice how they all do so before or immediately after taking OVs. Even with the commitment, they're still going to take the other four.

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Go Bears!!!

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college kid $$

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does anyone pay tuition w/ a credit card?

the fees are high, but my points accumulation percentage is semi-high too.

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is there any consensus on what is a good starter credit card for your child to open in their own name so they can start building credit?

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WF offers a no-fee 2% cash back on anything card called Active Cash that also offers cell phone protection if you pay your phone bill with the card -- if you break or lose your phone, you get $800 towards repair/replacement I think up to twice a year (but it might only be once I cannot remember, it for sure is every year). full disclosure: I am involved :-)

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I just had No 2 open up a BofA card. Makes it easy for him to make payments. Gotta get No 3 to do the same.

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My first was a WF card in college IIRC, no fees and it did make payments easy, but the rewards were total dog shit. I did build good credit with it and was able to get better cards down the road. I closed it maybe 6-7 years ago because I didn't need the extra plastic in my wallet and had stopped using it.

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good point it they already have a bank account. our kids have Chase checking/savings/etc

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I remember BofA, and other banks, being on campus to sign students up for cards in the late 80s. I wonder if they do the same? I'm guessing no since everything can be done online.

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Most student cards have been closed down, and are now just rolled into regular card offerings, especially since there are so many no fee cards these days.

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when I was at Cal, Amex had cards available on campus that gave you a R/T flight on Northwest (two: first 6 months and next 6 months). Used the first for the weekend before I started work (DC) and the second the subsequent winter (Nawlins). So these trips were in mid-1989/early-1990

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HSB had this card. I think it was $99 on your side of the Mississippi and 199 on the other side. We used to to fly to the Citrus Bowl, but ended up only getting to Pensacola.

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DBD Lunch

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Well, yesterday's lunch. A friend from Sac was in SF while his wife, daughter, and granddaughter went to the Exploritorium. So we tried to meet up at a sports bar in Hayes Valley (because he was going to go to Paxti's there later for dinner with his wife). The sports bar was closed but The Bird as open and had a TV so we ate there and watched the Giants game. The sports bar is connected to The Bird and does have food from there.

The spicy chicken sandwich I had was really good. It wasn't spicy in the Nashville hot chicken way, but more like middle eastern spicy. I'm not sure what type of spices they use but it isn't buffalo/nashville hot style.

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The Bird's sandwiches are nicely cooked, but I find the flavor profile to be off. The regular sandwich seems to have something vaguely cinnamony or cardamonish in the coating, which isn't proper.

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Hmm...interesting. I wonder if that's what we were tasting in the spicy ones. It wasn't super spicy but maybe it was the cinnamon/cardamonish flavoring.

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DBD A/V club (not Top Gun)

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Binged the entire season 2 of The Flight Attendant. I have the same feeling as after I watched season 1, it's fun and stylish but the main character is just so annoying that had each episode been 60 minutes rather than 40 minutes or if the series is 10 episodes long, I probably would not have finished it.

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I kinda enjoyed how they portrayed the mother/daughter relationship in the 2nd half of the season. I thought they did a decent job of that, but it was such a tonal shift from how over-the-top goofy and ridiculous the rest of it is.

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I have not seen S2, but agree her character is unlikeable and you wonder why other characters are friends with her. However the actress is also kind of a fox so I give that a pass, the charitable man that I am

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I liked the first episode. But like you said, she's easy on the eyes so maybe that's why I enjoy the series?

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The first few episodes of season 1 were good enough to pull me in to continue, but her character became so overly annoying that I ended up hate watching to the season finale and now can't bring myself to watch season 2

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Hate watching: The only show I did that with was Sons of Anarchy. First season was good, second was great - and then, descent into BLAH.

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lost, dexter, westworld, game of thrones, etc

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Hate watched late seasons SOA and most of Lost. I want those 8 years of Lost back.

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I watched about five eps of S1 and agree...couldn't deal with the annoying character anymore

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We've been enjoying Strange New Worlds, until we got to episode 4 - which we both raved about. For the first few minutes I was exclaiming at the TV "Red Alert! Raise shields!" - but they didn't hear me. Anyway, I think it's the best ST thing since the good seasons of DS9.

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Shining Girls on ATV+. Elizabeth Moss crime thriller with twist that grabs you (well, it grabbed me, at least). This Fri is the S1 finale. I still have a couple of eps to catch up.

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I have watched the 1st two episodes and I liked it. Very strange and I’m not sure what is going on or what the link is between murderer, the women and apparent time travel.

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it's not really my genre, but I like it. and like most ATV+ shows, after the first 3 eps, it gets really good. like "damn, it's 11:30 and I want to watch one more...but...can't"

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Watched the first episode of We Own This City. I like it so far. I didn't realize it was a true story based on the Baltimore PD Gun Task Force.

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real depressing shit

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I imagine most police depts are similar, unfortunately.

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I'm sure there are many just as bad, I'm also sure there are some that are much better, from my knowledge, it widely varies, and Baltimore has a really bad reputation.

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I randomly watched the movie Looper over weekend on Netflix - good movie, I quite enjoyed it. Some time travel action with just a skooch of introspection/philosophy to keep it from being too dumb. Solid B or B+

Am also about two eps into Stranger Things S4, is enjoyable. They have def morphed more into straight up horror but it is well done and is cool to see the core characters age along with the plot. The main dude Mike looks so different that he probably wouldn’t be cast to play himself if they were filming all the seasons simultaneously

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B or B+? What is it on the X/19 WB/WNB scale?

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Like a 15/19

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I've avoided using the WB/WNB scale (even though I think that x/19 is pretty funny!), since "banging" seems to have a gender-direction associated with it.

[The fundamental question, I suppose, is "do women 'bang' dudes?" Is that something a women would ever stay? "Met this hot guy at the bar last night. He was kinda wasted. I banged him. 12/19."]

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eh, on the strength of one tweet - maybe. Some woman tweeted that she "fucked" Edelman - and I thought that was a bit off, but Twist said something that implied that was the current standard.

i.e. it should be gender neutral was the take away.

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i watched a bit of Stranger Things S4 w/ my teenage daughters as well. cant say i was glued to the TV, but it was good to keep up w/ the story

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It’s definitely pulp, but it is enjoyable pulp

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

Bosch: Legacy on FreeVee (former IMDB channel, I believe). Fans of the long running Bosch series from Amazon Prime should like...Titus Welliver is back as Harry Bosch, now a private investigator, along with his daughter Maddie, Tom Cruise-ex Mimi Rogers as Honey Chandler, and a sprinkling of others...they changed the opening credits music, though, which is disappointing, as "Can't Let Go" by Caught a Ghost was catchy.

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Thanks for this! Binged Lincoln Lawyer. Not as good as Bosch (not unexpected, based on the source material), but the casting of Cisco really makes those scenes hard to watch.

Now gotta figure out how to access FreeVee...

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I got it easy on my Roku…no signup needed, but commercials…

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I have my Samsung TV OS, so will see if there's an app there

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From Amazon? So it's like AmazonPrime, Jr?

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Obi-Wan ...

only saw the first half of the initial 2 episode release, but it was very well done.

the only disappointing thing is that there were no cool artist sketches at the end during the credits.

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I liked it for the most part but I had a few issues with it. Potential spoilers below:

1. The young princes initially and easily alluding her kidnappers in the forest was not very well done.

2. The young Princess easily alluding Obi Wan in the streets was not very well done.

3. Reva doing an elaborate parkour routine to try to reach Obi Wan.

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I was genuinely surprised to discover that the actress playing Leia is 9 because she runs like a 6 year old - which I thought was one of the reasons why the chase scene seemed a bit off

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the chase scene definitely needed some yakkety sax

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The chase scenes are rough.

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also spoilers, but a certain character has twice met his/her demise, once in an animated series and once in live action

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Is it the same character? I don’t think the timeline matches up and that isn’t how he/her met their demise in the animated series.

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same character.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Grand_Inquisitor

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So same character but it seems like he hasn’t met his demise in the live action?

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So this probably means he's only mostly dead.

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True, but I still think it's the best that Disney+ has done with SW.

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Memorial Day recap

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Spent the weekend in Long Beach for my daughter's volleyball tournament at the convention center. 101/405 was a remarkably easy drive both ways.

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Too hot to do yard work (92 degree with max humidity), so I reinforced my nursery plant table, cleaned up the garage, washed my car, mowed the lawn and then took a 90 minute nap with my cat.

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Amen about the heat. Did a fairly hard run this morning when it was already into the 80s and later in the morning I conked out for an hour.

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I'm worn out today from yesterday's heat. Yesterday morning I pulled all the shutters off the house, painted them, then went for a 2-hour mid-day bike ride while they dried, and reinstalled them in the late afternoon. I did not think I'd be this tired today...

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

Lots of biking. Got a three-hour local ride in after work Friday. Then met some friends to shuttle and ride two laps on Mount Hough outside of Quincy, CA on Sunday. What an awesome trail! Each lap is 12 miles and 3800' of descent with long, sustained, and very fast rhythm sections that make you feel like you are flying through the forest!

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went to fancy barbecue in the Hillsborough Hills at my cousin's massive house.

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

Went with another fam (also with 6-yo girl) on Sunday to go cherry and strawberry picking in Gilroy. Was fun. Then decided to check out Gilroy Gardens. A season pass was only a few $$ more than a day pass. So plonked down that money (which doesn't include $25 parking). Meaning more 90-min drives to Gilroy in the future this summer. Altho not until Aug, when we get back from Japan (assuming they follow-thru and approve the visa apps that we submitted this morning at the consulate).

Got there about 1:30 and the place was packed. 1-hour wait for one ride. so, only got to do a few rides, but the girls spent time in the water play area. Near the end, a "how about we get dinner in town and spend the night. Hit up GG again tomorrow?" suggestion.

That spontaneity worked out – minus some "finding proper lodging" issues – and we did another 4 or 5 hours yesterday. Short lines...did what we wanted.

Overall, a great little theme park for kids (prob) 2 to 8 (10?).

Woke up this morn with stuffy noise and sore throat, but one covid test later, assume it's just a result of dry air+dust, too much driving, not enough sleep, etc.

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Visited Berkeley for the first time since 2019

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There were more homeless people than ever before

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You sure they weren’t undergrads? Fashion these days… (kidding!)

I dealt with the City of B on a property there once. Their response (police) when you ask what to do about homeless on property is that oh they will go to another guy’s property and then he will call us. Good times!

FET: A guy was living in a boat on the street in front of said property, was cooking drugs in boat, set it on fire, burned boat and part of one of the buildings. That guy needs to be in the How Berkeley Can You Be parade

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Fucking City of Oakland is much worse.

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Ended on kind of a bummer note. Yesterday morning near the end of my run a cute little fawn walked in front of me across the bike trail. It went into a small group of trees and bushes and almost right away started calling out. Then last evening, ten hours later, I went for a walk and it was still there and still calling out. I'm guessing it was abandoned or maybe orphaned since two highways are close by.

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Maybe it can join the gang of adolescent deer I keep finding in my back yard

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we had quite the adventure getting to Nashville for long weekend, it all turned out fine in the end

- Fri afternoon Delta flight out of LGA cancelled w/ no other rebooking options

- booked a Fri night flight on United out of EWR

- EWR flight delayed significantly but we eventually get to airport by 900p

- eventually EWR flight cancelled/delayed till next day at 1100a

- rather than come all the way home, we stayed the night in Jersey City hotel since everything new EWR was sold out

- slight delays on Sat morning but finally got to Nashville on Sat afternoon and enjoyed the weekend.

good thing it was a 3-day weekend!

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Top Gun

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FUCK YES. I saw it on the Tuesday preview last week. Going to see it again on Saturday with TwistNHook. May see it again in-between now and then as well.

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If you want to go to Metreon, I think I'm going on Friday. Matinee because I'm cheap.

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Let's see - drive 45 miles or take a BART 1 hour OR drive for 5 minutes to the Hacienda Movie IMAX which is 3 miles from my house.

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heh...good point.

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Saw it in IMAX at CGV Cinemas, the new theater on Van Ness that is owned by the Korean company that made Parasite. They also have a screen in there (it's like a 12 plex) with some technology called 4DX that has moveable seats that move when stuff on screen calls for it -- they even have seatbelts!

The new theater is quite nice.

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I saw the Pixar coming-of-age movie Onward in 4DX in Bangkok . .. and that's a very odd movie to see in 4DX.

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Going to try to go to the IMAX Metreon to watch it sometime this week, maybe Wed or Fri. I've read the Metreon is one of the best IMAX screens in the US. I was going to wait until No 3 finished at UCSC before going but by then IMAX will be onto the new Jurassic World movie so I'm going to watch it in IMAX now and then go again with No 2 and 3 in a couple of weeks.

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Top Gun: Maverick pulled in an estimated $156 million during the long Memorial Day weekend, fueled by middle-aged Americans hoping to relive their ’80s childhoods: About 55% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35. Maverick also had the best opening on a Memorial Day weekend ever—a sign that movie theaters’ long Covid nightmare might be over.

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I had my trip to Asheville cancelled because our friend caught Covid. Instead, I'm taking the HIGHWAY TO THE DANGERZONE in IMAX.

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I was talking to the missus about the relative merits of seeing films in the theater (any format, not just imax) and saying that - admittedly as someone who isn’t much of a film watcher - I just don’t miss seeing most films on a large screen. I think part of that is because, while I appreciate the massive improvement of quality in CGI, I am an old fogey and more impressed by cinematography from an era of more technical limitations. Occasionally something like Dune will make me say “yeah that would be better on a big screen.” She thinks I’m nuts partly because she thinks I’m selling “spectacular” marvel films (as a category example) short and she appreciates the immersive quality of being in the theater without other distractions.

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I think the theatrical experience is better simply because it focuses my attention. No pulling out my phone to look at something else. No wife or kids coming in to ask me about something. No pausing and getting up for a snack. Every movie benefits from this, on some level.

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I hadn’t thought of it in that way before, but that is a really good point

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May 31, 2022·edited May 31, 2022

For me being in the theater, getting the popcorn, sitting in the big seat, it is all a version of Proust’s madeleine cookie. It kind of transports me to my childhood in an enjoyable way for a couple hours.

Theaters though can’t rely on that forever, as I don’t think Gen Z will feel similarly, nor will the generation below them.

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My daughters seem to enjoy going to the movies but it’s not something that’s central to their consumption of entertainment- the older one just likes to get out of the house and the younger one likes it for the more “spectacular” films

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Good for her, she's,right you know.

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Strictly speaking you can’t be “right” about a subjective preference

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How long have you been married?

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Well as an old fogey myself, I agree with her, and it's not just about current MCU movies or special effects either. A few years ago I caught The Third Man (1949 B/W) at the PFA 4k restoration, and honestly, after watching it like that, it felt like it was the first time I had ever really seen it, even though I had seen it at least 3 times on TV beforehand.

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it will be the biggest movie until avatar comes out

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havent seen it yet. the girls will want to see it too, so maybe make a family excursion out of it.

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LMFS saw it and was totally enthralled. Said it was awesome

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