Lurker > Sheep007

skulltrumpets posted...

Yeah, I really don't get the design criticisms all too much, but I'm very much the kind of person who can get attached to a Pokemon through prolonged exposure and uh.......

Making your Pokemon almost impossible to get isn't exactly making that easier

Yeah, I have zero chance to ever get attached to Zeraora since I'm not watching the movies or playing spinoffs. Probably another reason why I don't like most legendaries. I don't think it has a bad design but it's one of the least interesting additions to the series for me.

Also, not saying that CE is free or whatever, but like, we literally have had like 450 topics of politics. The vast majority of the last couple years have been the most civil political discussions I've seen on the internet. That got shut down so we're shunted here now that there's nowhere else to go. It's more inconvenient for literally everyone imaginable this way but there we are.

LightningStrikes posted...

Of course Ireland is odd because in the Republic there isnt really a big far-right or right wing populist party or movement but a lot of these same views still exist. The people who hold them just vote for Sinn Fein or independents instead of a big right wing party.

Interesting that people with right-wing populist beliefs tend to go to Sinn Fein! I would have thought Fianna Fail would try and draw them in as we've seen a lot globally with the centre-right, although I'm not super clued in on Irish politics so I've probably missed something. Regardless of the many, many problems in the UK (again, I can't speak for Ireland but as far as I'm aware it's not quite so messy there right now?), the ultra-right have generally managed to be kept out of power, even though the Tories keep leaning in and flirting with them.

Most of my experience with nationalist parties is with Plaid, who are generally a bit more left than the SNP. And since Welsh national identity basically died until the 90s, outside of rugby and language in pockets, they've basically had to construct half of a more progressive national identity from scratch (I've got a migrant background and rarely feel unwelcome even when I have to mention my name to Welsh nationalists). Still some more conservative voters as I mentioned but it's very interesting to see how the different nationalist parties are taking different approaches, both socially and from the "get us the hell away from England" angle.

Mods definitely do not get paid. Lead mods theoretically could since I think some of them take on admin duties but practically speaking I doubt it.

Think they've performed about as expected to be honest. Same with Newcastle. Tons of injuries and a thin squad plus Europe did a bit of a number on both. Reckon Newcastle at least will be better but Brighton might need some investment because they still haven't replaced Caicedo or MacAllister.

Dunsparce used to be hated for being a meme Pokemon. Now it's kinda loved for being a meme Pokemon.

1. Babymetal - Babymetal
2. Natalia Lafourcade - De todas las floras
3. Fishmans - Uchu Nippon Setagaya
4. Bjork - Homogenic
5. Blumchen - Jasmin

HM to KMFDM and Machinae Supremacy for both sounding great, and Nouvelle Vague, who I absolutely fuckin loved. I can't justify voting them given it's I think all covers. I do these rankings to listen to new music, or coherent albums from artists that I like. But I listened to it all after seeing the tracklist, (there's nine songs on that album that are absolutely phenomenal in their original form) and all of them are excellent covers. Go listen to it even if you don't wanna have it as a ranking week.

Dishonourable mention to ABBA who I hear blasting from the pub downstairs every single night and have had enough of.

SNARL
+3 Shuckle
+2 Shiftry
+1 Kirlia
-1 Quaxly
-2 Dipplin
-3 Dugtrio

EXPLOSION
+3 Breloom
+2 Dragalge
+1 Azumarill
-1 Gothitelle
-2 Lombre
-3 Calyrex

I really do not like Explosion. At least Breloom is a 10/10 mon. Snarl is solid though, except for the prime candidate for least inspired Gen 1 evo in a stacked field. At least Electrode and Dodrio added features and Magneton is based on magnets.

LightningStrikes posted...

I have been summoned! Alas I need to now have CE in my posting history lol but it is what it is!

Yeah the Scottish government stuff is pretty interesting. Its quite the gamble by the SNP as there will now be a confidence vote that is going to be extremely close. Assuming nobody jumps ship the opposition has it by a single vote but theres a wrinkle. Now Labour, the Conservatives, and the Lib Dems are all voting against the government of course, and the Greens have indicated they will as well. However, there is one MSP called Ash Regan who was elected for the SNP and even stood for the leadership last year but left for a small nationalist party called Alba (the reason being shes a transphobic crackpot and wanted to make a big deal out of that by defecting). Now if she votes with the government, itll be a tie, the Presiding Officer will break the tie and presumably vote with the government. It seems she has said she hasnt made her mind up yet so the SNP will presumably be lobbying her pretty hard.

Now what is very apparent is a recent rightwards shift in the SNP, which is in part due to them trying to keep their big conservative faction in check. The SNP are basically split down the middle between the left-leaning progressives usually from Scotlands central belt and the conservatives usually from the rural areas, all united by support of independence. They seem to be about equal in number, though the left-leaning faction has been dominant for years and years. So my assessment is that the SNP are facing the same problem as parties like Sinn Fein in Ireland where they have two diametrically opposed factions tearing the party apart.

If it does go through it will most likely lead to an election with Labour as the big winners as theyve peeled off both moderate unionists from the Tories and Lib Dems and left-leaning nationalists who are fed up with the SNP. Of course paradoxically this could hurt Labour in the general election due some time this year by making them spend money on a whole other campaign. So yeah, quite an interesting situation!

My knowledge of Scottish politics isn't the best, but from what I know I'm inclined to think Regan will fall in line - the SNP knew who they would need onside when deciding to piss off the greens and presumably knew they were willing to offer something she'd like. Surely needing to appeal specifically to a mega-transphobe will not have any repercussions. I didn't know Sinn Fein had a similar split re: the more conservative side, but it tracks. Plaid Cymru have a pretty conservative voter base of rural Welsh speakers and I assume it's a similar case for Sinn Fein?

Best case for Labour is probably no election and not having to run another campaign, maybe less for the costs reasoning and more because they wouldn't want the unpopularity that comes with holding power while the UK is running like shit, especially right before a general election which could see them return in Scotland. Although I'm not sure they would win enough to be the dominant party even with the SNP such a mess.

Liberal use of the block feature might make it bearable? Possibly?

Tag and obligatory fuck Fandom.

In other news I suspect nobody cares about Scottish politics here unless Lightning has popped up yet, but this is a fascinating bit of political dumbassery to me. A few days back the SNP (moderate left Scottish Nationalists) leader withdrew their emissions target for 2030 - it was looking a bit unrealistic, but good to have either way. Unfortunately for him, the Green Party were his coalition partners, and were obviously upset about this.

So he then called them in this morning to sack the Green members who were part of his cabinet, and publicly announced that the coalition was over before the Greens could jump ship.

He's now running a minority government, facing a vote of no confidence from Scottish Parliament (in part because the Greens are understandably pissed), and his own party are one more bad bit of PR from mutiny. There's a hell of a lot of ideological splits within the SNP and now that things aren't going well, he's facing down a lot of the problems that have been kinda swept under the rug the past few years. I'm kinda inclined to think we might see, not the collapse of the independence movement, but perhaps a kind of collapse of the SNP. Scottish Parliament has proportional representation, and if voters are really unhappy with the SNP, it looks like smaller nationalist parties or even Labour will gain ground.

It's kind of a good example of why timing is everything - I suspect that if the independence vote had been held between 2017 and 2019, it would have been very close, but now it looks further off than it has for ages.

Humility - Gorillaz

Think Ten Hag was gone if Man Utd didn't win that. Looks like it's season over for Liverpool and Sheffield United, and Everton should be safe now as well.

LightningStrikes posted...

Not sure if I can do this but Ill try. Sheep, Im in Ireland but would probably still benefit from a UK list as streaming-wise theyre 99% the same, that would be a huge help thank you!

Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - BFI
The Rules of the Game (1937) - BFI
Citizen Kane (1941) - BBC iPlayer/BFI/Prime
Ikiru (1952) - BFI
Tokyo Story (1953) - BFI
Ordet (1955) - BFI
Pather Panchali (1955) - Plex
Harakiri (1962) - Amazon
8 1/2 (1963) - BFI
Black Girl (1966) - Plex
The Battle of Algiers (1966) - BFI
Persona (1966) - BFI
Playtime (1967) - Criterion
The Conformist (1970) - Youtube
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) - BFI
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) - Criterion
The Holy Mountain (1973) - Prime
Mirror (1975) - Plex
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - BFI
Eraserhead (1977) - Criterion/Amazon
The Ascent (1977) - Amazon
Three Colors: Red (1994) - Amazon
Vive L'Amour (1994) - Not available in UK - although I can access it with my university library card via Kanopy?? Your local library card might do it.
Beau Travail (1999) - Criterion
Amlie (2001) - Amazon
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - Amazon/Youtube
Synecdoche, New York (2008) - Apple/Amazon/Youtube
The Tree of Life (2011) - Apple/Amazon
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - Disney
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - Netflix

This is what I've got, it might be quite a bit different for you since I don't know if you can access the BFI and that's where I'll be getting a lot of these. If there's only one service shown for a movie that is probably on more, it's because that's the only one that comes with a subscription rather than a "rent". Amazon means you "rent" it, and the few instances I've listed Prime means it's with the subscription. A hell of a lot of this stuff doesn't come with streaming packages unfortunately.

Space Lion in last is certainly one of the takes I have now seen.

NO RETREAT
+3 Turtonator
+2 Krabby
+1 Dewott
-1 Loudred
-2 Kabuto
-3 Landorus

LIGHT SCREEN
+3 Whirlipede
+2 Gloom
+1 Golbat
-1 Chimecho
-2 Tapu Koko
-3 Wiglett

I really like both of these divisions even if they perhaps aren't the strongest. Not a fan of Lando or my bottom three in Light Screen but the other 16 could all get +s in most divisions.

I Want To Hold Your Hand
Here Comes The Sun
Strawberry Fields Forever
Let It Be

I will fulfil the prophecy and say that I think both are mediocre selections.

I voted for Fighting because Annihilape, Pawmot and the paradox mons are all solid, and the only one which sucks is Okidogi, compared to the excellent Flygon and Altaria, godawful Latis and meh everything else in Gen 3.

SUPERSONIC
+3 Shellos
+2 Vanillish
+1 Claydol
-1 Blaziken
-2 Dodrio
-3 Zeraora

SILK TRAP
+3 Dunsparce
+2 Brambleghast
+1 Coalossal
-1 Minun
-2 Naganadel
-3 Grookey

Two interesting divisions, not really sure how either will pan out. Supersonic looks strong, even if I don't personally love much there.

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

Oh man. I feel like half the battle here is going to be finding half of these.

Funnily enough, I think most of them seem very accessible to me via one service, moreso than the usual lists! Looks like the BFI have the majority of the movies from before the 90s due to their "artsy" nature, and those after are simple for me to find on streaming or pick up on DVD, but unfortunately the BFI is not accessible internationally. Vive L'Amour seems the odd one out which I couldn't find a stream or digital "rent" for. It's not available on any services in the UK, and it looks to be upwards of 30 to get physically (50 for the blu-ray). Thankfully, I can watch the movie on Kanopy using my... university library card? Think it might be available for local library cards as well.

If anyone else is in the UK would like the list of streaming services for working out practicalities, let me know and I'll pop it in here.

Oddish deserved to live :( but that division was just too good. I hoped Jynx might come close to -100 but alas.

ttgl

Been meaning to participate in one of these for a while and I think this would be a fun one, plenty of movies I enjoy and plenty I have been meaning to see. Any ideas on the deadline? Think I should be able to participate but probably won't have time to start watching until mid-May.

EARTHQUAKE
+3 Zorua
+2 Dustox
+1 Rowlet
-1 Cramorant
-2 Plusle
-3 Gothita

INSTRUCT
+3 Drapion
+2 Golisopod
+1 Zapdos
-1 Drizzile
-2 Happiny
-3 Seaking

Once again in disagreement with MZero, I gotta say today is really mediocre. Instruct at least has things I want to give pluses to, but I'd happily give minuses to everything except Zorua in Earthquake.

Slowdive - When The Sun Hits

NFUN posted...

When I'm trying hard not to vomit, repeating the litany against fear seems to be very effective. It kind of makes me feel like a jackass but if it works it works

I feel like it's one of those things, like counting sheep, where you need literally any simple process to take your mind off the task at hand to help you succeed at it. There's plenty of lamer self-empowerment monologues out there than the litany against fear, anyway.

If it's your first colonoscopy, the prep is by far the worst bit. If you follow the dietary advice strictly (no proper vegetable fibre for 24h but I would do ~36 hours beforehand, no solid food for 18h) and drink at least half the solution, the actual bum tube is a walk in the park. Generally the more unpleasant the prep, the more pleasant the procedure, and the less likely you did something wrong and they need to try again.

Drink approximately half of the provided two litres of saccharine salt juice along with four times as much water and repeat "I will not throw up, I will not throw up, I will not throw up" internally until I begin to believe it.

Music and low-stakes games on your phone with no time constraints are also good options. Sudoku or something.

AQUA TAIL
+3 Lillipup
+2 Vikavolt
+1 Litwick
-1 Oddish
-2 Scrafty
-3 Jynx

POWER TRIP
+3 Revavroom
+2 Roserade
+1 Smoliv
-1 Delcatty
-2 Palkia
-3 Keldeo

Aqua Tail crazy stacked. Power Trip less so.

1) Tank!
2) Space Lion I very nearly like this more than Tank and thats high praise indeed.
3) Rush
4) Waltz for Zizi
5) Piano Black
6) Too Good Too Bad
7) Cat Blues
8) Cosmos
9) The Egg and I
10) Memory
11) Rain
12) Pot City
13) Felt Tip Pen
14) Digging My Potato
15) Car 24
16) Bad Dog No Biscuits
17) Spokey Dokey Im sorry, but can we please have a tiny, teensy bit less harmonica? Just a tad? A smidgen toned down, perhaps? I promise, I like it. I love your harmonica, Ms Kanno, I really do. Its just a lot, yknow?

I love Bebop, I love this soundtrack as a soundtrack, I dont care for it so much as an album. A lot of other soundtracks work better in album form, and either feel more wildly varied (like, game soundtracks tend to cover wider tones) or like they have more cohesion without getting tiring. Rains vocalist was a jumpscare and a half the first listen, and the actionier songs didnt tend to sit so highly with me past the opening two. The 1-2 punch of Spokey Dokey and Bad Dog No Biscuits was rough following that, and I dont think they led well into the rest of the album. Most of the rest flows decently, given its not really intended to be a typical album. Still obviously so much great music here! I feel like I'm being very critical but it's unfortunately hindered by not being the best way I've experienced this soundtrack. Go watch Bebop (the anime version please) if you haven't already - one of the best animated shows of all time.

RPG_Lover666 posted...

Pollyanna (I Believe in You ) from EarthBound Beginnings/Mother by Catherine Warwick

I adore this song to an indescribable extent

My current earworm is probably All I Really Want is You by The Marias. And still Working on the Highway by Springsteen, which I have listened to twice ever, not for multiple months, and don't even like.

ICE BURN
+3 Swablu
+2 Rabsca
+1 Tangela
-1 Cresselia
-2 Lechonk
-3 Walking Wake

ATTRACT
+3 Zubat
+2 Crobat
+1 Caterpie
-1 Psyduck
-2 Wugtrio
-3 Cherubi

I have so many ideas for nominations here. Laufey was my first thought because of how unique her recent stuff is and how much she's blown up, but she was part-raised in the US so it kinda goes against the spirit and I think there's more interesting options anyway.

BTS and Shakira both feel like they should be covered at some point, and I really enjoy a few Spanish-language artists like Mon Laferte (and Kali Uchis who I have just realised is American lol I could swear she was Colombian), as well as a ton of Japanese artists, but before picking from them I wonder if people would be interested if I nominated a Polish-language artist? I think I'm the only Pole here so I assume nobody has even heard of them, and I'm a little hesitant to throw in an artist literally nobody else will know (I was thinking of Kult, Myslovitz, or Kwiat Jabloni if any of those mean anything to y'all).

WONDER ROOM
+3 Finneon
+2 Yanmega
+1 Jangmo-o
-1 Smeargle
-2 Reshiram
-3 Thwackey

G-MAX RAPID FLOW
+3 Parasect
+2 Fearow
+1 Dreepy
-1 Sewaddle
-2 Pidove
-3 Regigigas

Rapid Flow has so many of my favourites in, Dreepy does not deserve to only get a +1 and I have a soft spot for everything down to Gigas. Praying Finneon won't get absolutely destroyed today but I don't hold out much hope.

Edit: Clarified what I voted for Dreepy to not confuse the vote counters

s undertale

San Marino was my second thought but alas

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Game looks insanely good for the console it was on. Not sure what other standouts there are, Project Gotham Racing 2 doesn't quite hold up to Gran Turismo, Halo is amazing but technically not exceptional, and I think Half-Life 2 was on the original Xbox but that feels like cheating.

I agree that the Iron names are very boring, and a little confusing to differentiate at the start of the gen too. At least give them names of different metals!

UF8 posted...

regardless it's wild that you'd actually shit on one of the most conceptually awesome ones, it's a mysterious hostile invader from space that is clearly ready to fuck shit up, it's also one of the most fun to use, and its theme goes hard, what's not to like?

(i'm eyeing the other minusers here too)

Deoxys is one I want to like but just don't click with. It's a cool concept and the whole DNA thing is neat I've just never particularly cared for it. I think it being a pain or practically impossible to access in the games I've played makes it rank lower since I've gotten no chance to use it. Definitely not a bottom-tier legend, I just kinda like other things in that division more.

MZero posted...

I've noticed that Sheep and I have very different opinions on Pokemon. I think Substitute is the much weaker division today! Cannonade does have a tragic bottom three but I could see everything else getting a + in the right division

I have a lot of Pokemon hot takes but one of them is that almost all legendaries are ugly as hell (in a not-fun way) and a lot of them are boring with no personality to boot. There's only one mon in Cannonade I actually like and that's Torterra. Everything else ranges from meh enough that I'd normally give it a -1 or a -2 to actual travesties like Latias, Thundurus, Zarude and Poliwhirl. I guess Togepi and the non-Thundurus Gen 5 mons are all fine but I wouldn't consider any of them a + vote. Substitute is mostly meh, but has a few mons I really like and also Pidgeotto.

SUBSTITUTE
+3 Golett
+2 Budew
+1 Grubbin
-1 Clauncher
-2 Deoxys
-3 Pidgeotto

G-MAX CANNONADE
+3 Torterra
+2 Togepi
+1 Mienfoo
-1 Zarude
-2 Thundurus
-3 Latias

Cannonade is probably gonna be the worst division in this whole thing.

NFUN posted...

Ozirc Tentacles

Hell yeah, thanks for the rec! I've just been sticking on things that are marked as similar on Spotify, and their other albums, so it's nice to have something specifically suggested.

I also listened to a bunch of Massive Attack and Air recently, because of cycle 1. I love more ambient, less lyrically-focused music, probably due to listening to lots of soundtracks. I always struggled to find a place to start outside of things that are intended to be heard in other media first and foremost. This series has been great for that, and discovering new music that suits my tastes in general!

Seanchan posted...

Final bump from me, I promise!

Sheep, did you listen to any other cycles?

I'm currently making my way through cycle 2! I utterly adored The Stranger (which I was kinda expecting but not to the extent I did) and the Outkast album (which I definitely wasn't expecting, I just remember them as the Hey Ya guys. Specifically the video with the low quality audio and rotating fish). Absolutely phenomenal, both of them. Outkast are incredibly witty, a little heartfelt at times but generally very tongue in cheek, and I went through a lot of their discography right after. I also enjoyed the Spice Girls in an oddly similar fashion when I was expecting them to grate on me.

Meanwhile, I discovered I don't actually like Taylor Swift! I've heard a bunch of her singles obviously, and enjoyed most of them a lot even though I thought they were overplayed. Speak Now was mediocre to me, though, with no real standout songs, a very safe approach and grating lyrics. Probably the worst so far of cycle 2, having just finished Steely Dan. I don't think it was a bad listen, but it's put me off seeking more from her.

Mostly just listening to Shpongle-adjacent stuff right now though with my thesis due shortly.

"Scum" was recently ruled by the UK courts to be a reasonable way to discuss a political actor's beliefs, so I'm glad to say it's not inflammatory. It is political, however, so I'm afraid it looks like we'll have to shut this whole operation down. Fandom policy.

Cmon Atletico sort it out

I will admit I have a bit of fondness for Barca specifically because of how brilliant they've been over the years, but supporting PSG of all teams over them as a neutral is wild to me. Like, this is the oil team, the team who kicked off all of the transfer market hyperinflation bullshit with Neymar. Man City are awful especially on the wages side of things but PSG are far, far more flagrant. They bought two players for 400m in a single transfer window and are such a soulless shambles that they still can't even win their league every year, let alone challenge for CL.

This might be one of the hardest albums to rank so far, three and a half listens and I don't think I'm any closer to reaching a conclusion. Just gonna throw something in that vaguely reflects my feelings. There's lots of things that are very catchy here which I don't actually like as much as the songs I find less catchy, and Artadi's voice is slowly driving me to the Kero Kero Bonito delirium I hinted at prior. This feels much more ambitious musically, overall better and bit less mind-boggling though. Despite actually leaning into weirdness through the lyrics, where KKB would be singing about like, going to school and drinking plenty of water or some shit.

Im The President
The Abyss
Nightmare
Real Nice Moment
Do Hot Girls Like Chords?
Its All Nothing Until Its Everything
Ride That Dolphin
It Will Get Real
Crash The Car
Same Smile Different Face
Knower Forever

HYDRO CANNON
+3 Luxray
+2 Hippopotas
+1 Mudbray
-1 Sneasel
-2 Stakataka
-3 Steenee

LEAF TORNADO
+3 Starly
+2 Zoroark
+1 Aromatisse
-1 Metang
-2 Terrakion
-3 Snorunt

Jakyl25 posted...

Is it weird that my first thought is The Wind Waker? I know its probably demonstrably not

Wind Waker particle effects are phenomenal but yeah I'm not sure this is it. Metroid Prime is close but gonna go with Pikmin 2 also.

I got 194 berries in Celeste (so most of the goldens, just missing some of the later B sides and Farewell). I also broke into the top 500 for a few weeks on the original Overwatch back in 2019, albeit on EU console servers.

HURRICANE
+3 Orbeetle
+2 Buzzwole
+1 Barboach
-1 Solosis
-2 Eelektrik
-3 Shelmet

CLOSE COMBAT
+3 Chi-Yu
+2 Slugma
+1 Glimmora
-1 Totodile
-2 Sliggoo
-3 Tapu Lele

What was that about Emery again