Project Hail Mary was SO good. One of the times when the audiobook really added to the experience, too.

The Last Jedi is the 2nd best Star Wars movie, period, behind Empire, IMO. Followed by Rogue One, so I can't agree with you on that one.

Rian Johnson gets so much insane criticism for TLJ, when he was just doing what he does - making great, original movies. If Kathleen Kennedy and JJ Abrams wanted a cohesive, overarching, three-movie storyline - like the guys down the hall at Marvel - they should have had it in place before pre-production began on The Force Awakens. Instead, you hire two directors to follow JJ who are both huge Star Wars fanboys and have visions of their own, and somehow you're surprised when the guy who takes the baton for the sequel doesn't walk a path he was never told existed.

If what they wanted was Luke coming back and kicking ass, they probably could have found out in a 10 minute conversation that Rian Johnson wasn't going to be their guy. But they gave him creative freedom! And the dude is an incredible writer and filmmaker; he probably looked at TFA and thought, "Well, okay, that was nice. But are we just remaking the original trilogy or...? Nah."

Then Disney doubled down on their mistake by, instead of taking things the new direction Rian had pointed them, bringing JJ back to steer things in to the most awkward, retconned, third-act ever. She's a...Palpatine? And an "ancient" Sith artifact is a map that matches up to wreckage of the Death Star that's like 50 years old? TF is happening?!

Ugh. Aside from the heavy-handedness of the Canto Bight storyline - there had to be a gentler way to impart to Finn that fighting for big causes is always gonna leave you empty, it's the "people you love" you fight for (or whatever) - TLJ is a freaking awesome movie.

(Also, I agree with you about Andor not being the blueprint for everything SW going forward. This is a project that fits a very specific type of storytelling by its very nature. It won't work for everything.)

I'm with you! I thought it was fine! I mean, we weren't redefining cinema here, but it was fun.

Like in Mandandolrian the scene with Bill Burr confronting the Imperial officer that spearheaded the Burning Khan massacre was just fantastic, regardless of it being star wars.

Bill Burr crushed that entire episode. He showed acting chops he's rarely had the chance to flex before, honestly. The guy is so self-deprecating in his humor, almost aggressively so, that it's easy to miss his talent. Heck, I did, and for a damned long time.

I like the Total Recall remake with Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Colin Farrell more than the original with Arnold. The original is overhyped gibberish, in my opinion.

Also, perhaps a premature unpopular opinion: If - IF - it continues to present the same level of quality for the length of its run, Silo will be better than The Expanse.

Oh my sibling in Xenu, Andor is mandatory viewing if you have any love for Star Wars at all, but ESPECIALLY if you love Rogue One. It is absolutely incredible.

We do what we must, because we can!

Yes, please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I can’t hack this brand war shit anymore.

Haha, holy shit, that is the perfect description. I think you’re shooting too high by putting this in the Valley though. As a midwesterner, this is some small town, small school, Queen Bee-at-the-apex-of-her-existence shit.

It’s not gonna be long before someone busts out some Boone’s Farm at one of these meetings, 2A Barbie and Madge have a few too many, and suddenly we’re in the middle of a donnybrook.

This is another thing I don’t get. Is there a way to view a list of ALL communities across all Fediverse instances, preferably ordered by size? Doesn’t even have to be searchable, I’d just start with a list.

Needing to jump from instance to instance, searching their available magazines - as a Kbin user - seems so clunky for something with so much promise.

I hope to God I’m doing this wrong.

High five!

I’m with you on this all the way. My dad did, and continues to do, his best. But as an elder millennial (I was born in 81, and as best I can tell that’s what I am, I guess), as I got older it felt like our generation was collectively fucked up about a lot of the same stuff - whatever the reason. And we were making many of the same promises to ourselves.

My dad loves my two kids more than anything in this world, but there’s a definite feel of redemption-seeking there. Or maybe just trying to soothe regrets.

I have a preteen and a toddler, and for different reasons I held both of them close yesterday. I begged my brain to remember these moments when I’m my dad’s age, because I’ve been able to be there for almost every leg of the journey so far. I really don’t want it to start to all just blend together, because right now it feels so special and unique to have this opportunity.

Gotta admit, the Fediverse is looking pretty sweet. A surprise, to be sure! But a welcome one.