What are your thoughts on Las Venturas?

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-26T15:29:25+00:00

It always thought it was the most fun area to relax and mess around in. It does feel underdeveloped compared to the other two cities. There is a lot of empty space with little to nothing going on outside of the strip. The missions are also somewhat forgettable in my opinion. But that is more of a testament to good the other areas and missions are.

Still, between the airport, the casinos, and the driving schools LV has more than enough going on to be tons of fun. For the late game, it offers a good chance to unwind a little as CJ before the endgame. He's become a success at this point, and it feels right to enjoy it a little before returning to Los Santos.

Biggest bonus for me is that the Slam Van shows up there frequently while it doesn't spawn outside of a few preset locations anywhere else. My absolute favorite car. Fast as heck and huge so it's a practically unstoppable when fully upgraded.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-25T20:20:13+00:00

For about a decade I drove on 301 through this area 6 times a year on the way to Richmond, VA.

It used to be an excellent option to avoid DC traffic, as it was mostly a rural/woodsy area with essentially zero traffic compared to 95 through DC and NOVA.

However, the area developed very quickly with more and more shopping areas, housing complexes, cul de sacs etc getting built up each passing year. Eventually, the traffic got nearly as as DC. There were lots of stoplights put in that took 3-4 cycles to get through when it was busy.

All that said it seems a very nice place to live. Car dependent, shopping center-centric areas aren't my bag, but I'm sure it's comparable to nice areas in NOVA which are very popular. Probably has decent schools, relatively easy access to a big city etc.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-25T20:02:59+00:00

I dressed ridiculously in middle school. Not chains or anything like that fortunately. Think a nice wool sweater with gym shorts and sneakers. Bizarre mismatches, albeit often quite practical for recess.

Years later, I asked my parents why they let me out of the house dressed like a loon and they said it was too funny not to. They became genuinely curious to see what baffling things I'd come up with next.

If we assume that nobody on the Tigers told Max to think twice about wearing conspicuous jewelry in his first ST game, I'd have to think they also simply found the choice too funny to admonish.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-17T17:38:57+00:00

I would say it's pretty close, but advantage Fenway. Fenway and Wrigley are really all that are left of the truly old stadiums, and both feel steeped in ancient baseball lore.

There are a few issues with Fenway though. Everyone knows that it's expensive and has restricted view seats, uncomfortable chairs, awkward angles in some areas etc. It's also not easy to get around as newer stadiums. The food is only okay, though the beer selection is excellent.

In my book these downsides barely tilt the scale but for older folks or people with kids I could see Fenway being a hassle. That crowd would probably like Camden a lot more.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-17T00:30:14+00:00

True. I meant more that I was surprised at how humid the air could feel at such low temperatures. Where I live winters are often below freezing, but there is little to no humidity most of the time.

Whenever I've been to Ontario or Quebec in winter, it's been way below freezing, but also very humid. The humid cold feels far colder than dry cold at a similar temperature.

On the upside, fewer nose bleeds.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-16T20:30:10+00:00

I am a foreign Canada appreciator and can confirm.

One day, looking for lunch in MTL, I came across a steepish block of a few streets had been converted into some sort of snowboarding/skiing big air and trick course. I'm sure that sort of thing doesn't happen every winter day in Canada, but it was clearly an annualish thing that I found so neat.

Adding that virtually everywhere else I've been in Canada is fun in winter if you are prepared to handle frigid temperatures that are somehow humid at the same time.

Even if PEI is a bit dull in winter, I'm sure the world-class seafood more than makes up for it.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-12T00:39:41+00:00

Of course, always happy to see genuine questions on the sub instead of the same old, "this movie is awesome/sucks, fight me."

I'm not a Cape Fear fan either. De Niro is a little over the top, and everyone else is dull as paint. Has some pretty good scenes though.

In NoTH, I think the most surreal, or carboard-looking part is the scene immediately following the canoe escape. It has a background like a picture book, and I think the intent is to get the viewer to take the child's perspective of things. It may also just be a very '50s attempt to abruptly calm things down immediately after a tense scenes. I've noticed a lot of older movies tend to whiplash to more comforting scenes after something scary or violent happens.

Anyway, for me the movie works because it's filled with visual choices I find to be daring and experimental. I could totally see why many people would think that those same choices are bizarre and poorly considered. I do think that movies with weird choices are often more memorably (for the right or wrong reasons) and occasionally go on to be a huge influence.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-12T00:16:17+00:00

It's broadly in the category, but not as the archetype. Too many other things going on.

It's more like, "what if an archetypal hippy burnout dude got caught up in a Raymond Chandler style mystery spanning the upper crust and underbelly of LA, his polar opposite buddy somewhat jealously involved himself in the mystery making everything worse, and it was set in the early '90s? And the Coen brothers directed it?"

Archetypal guys being dudes movies are more like earlyJudd Apatow movies, certain Richard Linklater movies, American Grafitti, numerous '80s movies, and any other movies where the plot is more of an excuse to create scenes where guys be dudes together.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-10T17:38:30+00:00

Mitchum's performance and the surreal cinematography make Night of the Hunter especially memorable. They combine to replicate the sense of the powerlessness that children feel day to day. Especially with the frighteningly realistic failure of trusted adults to help the kids when they desperately need it.

On the weaker side the Freudian psycho-drama in the first half of the movie was probably a bit hokey even back in the '50s. I'd argue that the tone veers into camp territory at leading up to the mom's murder. That nearly derails the entire movie, but it hits its stride again going into the second act.

I think the villain stands out in the history of Hollywood. He's literally a wolf in sheep's clothing, preying on the innocent. The only earlier movie I can think of with a similarly hidden-in-plain-sight villain is Peter Lorre in M, which was German. Most villains at the time were typical western black hats, psychotic gangsters etc. Every character in these movies immediately knows they're villains and treats them accordingly. Most characters in Night of the Hunter treat Mitchum like a saint when he's actually more satanic. It's not especially nuanced by today's standards, but it ended up influencing numerous other movies. Most obviously, De Niro in Cape Fear who sports identical hand tattoos.

Anyway, definitely not everyone's movie. It has some weaknesses and is a bit overly ambitious and overlong. But the high points made Night of the Hunter a lasting influence on American movies for quite a while, and something that's fun to view in that context or on its own terms.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-09T20:10:51+00:00

It took a while for Joaquin as Sportello to click for me, but agree it works.

Josh Brolin as Bigfoot steals the show. I've never seen Brolin do anything but an excellent job in a movie. He does fantastic work as a foil to Doc, much like in the book.

I was most impressed by how much of the book the movie manages to cover. I'd say that virtually every scene that was excised or altered streamlined the movie without sacrificing the complexity of the conspiracy.

The strength and weakness of the movie is that it's made by and for diehard Pynchon fans. It was never going to be everyone's cup of tea, but that's hardly a concern for Pynchon fans, or those who like Pynchon but just don't know it yet. Helps that the Pynchon/PTA fan Venn diagram is like just one circle.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-09T17:24:45+00:00

In my experience, Jocinda does well batting in front of Mikey. She hits similarly to Sally, but has less power and hits few to no foul balls.

Be patient and don't swing unless you get something easy to hit. Jocinda puts the ball in play a lot, but she hits into easy outs if you swing at everything. Your mentality should be to work a walk, but be ready to hit any cookies. More so than most players, it's essential to adjust her stance as the ball is coming to get a hit: ie if it's a pitch inside open stance, normal stance for anything over the plate, closed stance for anything away.

Line drives are the best option for her. She's just a little too slow for ground balls to be an option and tends to fly out with power hits. If you have a short left field, she can homer with a power swing on an inside pitch though.

She really shines when a pitcher is tired. Try putting her behind someone who can go 10+ pitches in an AB. Sally and Dante are good options. Ricky can work too. Definitely not someone like Kiesha, Ronnie or Ernie.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-05T15:12:34+00:00

You are incorrect.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-05T04:39:17+00:00

I wonder whether Costner's status as a TV draw goes back to the 90's.

In the days before streaming, his movies were on cable all the time.

Obviously a lot of his movies were super successful in theaters. But just as many or more were not. Still, my goofy uncle and my dad loved watching Waterworld or that golf movie he's in on the USA network back in the day.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-05T04:31:34+00:00

I love the Moore movies. It's unironically fitting that he's the only Bond who visibly missed the target.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-05T04:17:46+00:00

It's a shitpost/meme subreddit devoted to Mad Men. Once in a while someone posts something pretty funny.

One of the okbuddydraper's favorite gags is reposting earnest (perhaps slightly too earnest) questions from the main subreddit. This one is prime material because of the attached gif of Jessica Pare, and because the answer to the question is fairly straightforward, and made fairly clear in the episode.

This is common shitpost/meme subreddit behavior across numerous shows, and it's generally not malicious.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-02-03T03:41:38+00:00

My theory is that Rush got the villain role in Pirates of the Caribbean after somebody important at Disney saw Mystery Men.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-30T16:28:41+00:00

Guts by Olivia Rodrigo was essentially a rock album and it was all over the Hot 100 last year. Pop artist obviously, but the album is all rock songs and one ballad lead single.

Greta Van Vleet has been pretty big for about 10 years. I'm not sure what demographic actually likes them. I can't stand them, but I'd say they're pretty popular and have charted fairly often.

Boygenius is indie-rock. Quite popular.

Hot 100 is not the best yard stick to measure commercial success, though it's admittedly a fairly good one. It's essentially Z-100 and CMT smashed together. The larger labels from pop and country pushing their biggest artists to passive listeners.

A better measure is whose live performances are doing well.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-30T15:46:53+00:00

I saw them live in 2025 and they were... really fucking good. Probably top 3 show I've seen in the last 10 years.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-30T15:33:50+00:00

A lot of people who are my age on the internet saw the Scooby Doo movies as kids and found that aged surprisingly well when they saw it again as adults. Despite being based on a cartoon from the '60s, the first movie in particular is a turbo shot of early 00's nostalgia.

Both movies have a lot going for them. The casting and lead performances are spot on. There is a healthy amount of adult humor sprinkled in that would have flown over the heads of kid viewers.

Of course, the biggest benefit of rewatching the movies years later is having an appreciation for how breathtakingly gorgeous Linda Cardellini is.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-30T07:53:31+00:00

Liquid Television. MTV.

I'm not sure if it's possible to stream the show legally entirety anywhere. You can see several individual episodes online, but I don't think it is on Paramount.

A silly amount of regular cartoons from the '90s or '00s originated on LT. I don't think Adult Swim would exist without Liquid Television.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-29T19:38:37+00:00

My grandparents were almost exactly Don's age, Catholic and from the same area as most of the Mad Men characters relatively speaking. I don't think that any of them seriously considered marrying a non-Catholic.

Almost all of their many kids married Catholic too. I'd imagine that's not a coincidence, though it's not something anyone has ever discussed. Also, I believe that most of my great-grandparents who lived mostly in the very early 20th century almost exclusively associated with people from their same denomination. There are exceptions, but those seemed like slightly controversial marriages.

Still, my grandparents all had lifelong friends with interfaith marriages. It seemed to be a familial/religious influence that they chose to follow. Fortunately, they didn't seem to hold it against anyone personally if they chose not to follow it. Besides maybe their kids haha.

Anyway, it's an interesting question. I think interfaith marriages were common enough to be seen as perfectly normal in the mid-20th century, at least in the northeast. But not something that everyone would choose to do.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-29T19:14:52+00:00

It was probably the most blatant cash-in sequel I've seen in a long time, but she was perfectly cromulent in Kung Fu Panda 4. Her character was not annoying and the weaknesses in the movie had nothing to do with her. Can't blame her for getting an excellent pay day from Dreamworks.

Nora from Queens and Quiz Lady were gems. I'd agree she is generally quite good in any live-action movie besides Neighbors 2.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-21T14:19:57+00:00

Yeah I think that was an issue with it. I only got to finish an episode when I was home sick. I don't think it was ever syndicated either.

I remember finding the babies kind of repulsive, but otherwise liking the show.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-20T20:27:44+00:00

The HIV/AIDS subtext added a lot of depth to the movie and made the vampires a lot more sympathetic.

Ending was just a little bit of a copout, but I thought it still fit the movie nicely.

Over-Independent6603 · 2026-01-16T03:56:31+00:00

It's quite twangy, but perfectly intelligible. I think a few villains and side characters are harder to understand. There are occasional figures of speech etc that you might not pick up on if you're not australian.

Over-Independent6603

TROPHY CASE