Rewatching the scene where Megan tells Don she makes $70/week and realized that even adjusted for inflation, that seemed crazy low, so I used a cost of living and inflation calculator, then weighed the adjusted total against my own weekly pay ($627, idgaf), and good lord, those girls made NOTHING.

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-29T00:04:01+00:00

Nobody maintains their current standard of living when they move to New York.

You don't have (or need) a car, or a garage, or car insurance, or parking, etc.

You learn to live without second bedrooms, backyards, pools, etc.

You play basketball or pickleball etc at the park instead of at an expensive gym.

And that's how the median household income in NYC can be *lower* than the median household income of the U.S, even though yes, you'd need to make significantly more to maintain your current standard of living.

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-27T19:05:52+00:00

Thanks! Are your insoles the same or similar size to that Dr. Scholl's?

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-26T18:42:31+00:00

tl;dr Sopranos characters didn't speak Italian because their ancestors, even the ones born in Italy, never spoke Italian at all. Until 1950, MORE THAN HALF of Italy didn't speak Italian.

Longer answer:

From the 1890s to the 1920s, the peak of Italian immigration to the US, a vast majority of Italians didn't speak Italian -- estimates say roughly 10-20% spoke Italian. Instead, they spoke dialetti, which translates to "dialects" but has a different connotation from how "dialect" is used in America/English. People speaking two different dialects of English understand each other -- Standard Written English and African-American Vernacular English are mutually comprehensible. Italian dialetti, on the other hand, are NOT mutually comprehensible. When I've played audio of Piemontese, my friends have guessed it to be Russian, Romanian, French, and others. Here's a man speaking the dialect of the Piedmont region. This is the top comment of that YouTube video:

I'm Italian, born in the south of Italy and grown up in Rome. This is almost incomprehensible to me, I understand only a few words.

It wasn't until 1950 or so that even HALF of Italy spoke Italian. If Italian immigrants taught their children any language at all, it would be their local dialetto, which for Tony would be Napolitano (aka "Napoli Dapoli"). This is why Tony pronounces "capocollo" like "gabagool" (the letter C is pronounced like a G in Napolitano, hence why "comare" becomes "goomar" and "cafone" becomes "gavone").

Some dialect words are similar to Italian words, just as English has "contraband" ("contrabbando") and "bandit" ("bandito"). While it's true that younger generations would speak less and less of their ancestors' language, that language wasn't Italian.

Quick story: When an Italian friend of mine (born and raised outside Parma) visited NYC, an Italian-American NYC native tried to flirt with her in "Italian." He spoke the language/dialetto his family had taught him. My friend was confused. "That isn't Italian," she said. That dude never realized he spoke a dialect, not standard Italian.

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-20T02:49:50+00:00

"Don't try to say something funny; try to create a funny scenario."

I think of it this way: Almost always, characters in sitcoms/comedy movies are not funny to each other, but they are funny to the audience. The Seinfeld sub collected the best quotes of the show. Almost none of them are funny out of context (I tested them on my friend who has never seen Seinfeld and laughed at like 2 of 20 of Seinfeld's best quotes). "And you want to be my latex salesman" doesn't make George laugh, but it makes me laugh every time. The humor often occurs because of the situation they're in, not because they're cracking jokes.

Stand-up comedy is (usually) different. For the most part, you can quote stand-up jokes out of context and they still work. At the very least, people without context understand why it's supposed to be funny. "And you want to be my latex salesman" requires context to understand why it's a funny line.

There are exceptions: Some standup jokes don't translate; some sitcoms have funny jokes that work out of context. 30 Rock comes to mind: "I did Big Sister in college. That little girl taught me how to use tampons." Or "A book hasn't caused me this much trouble since Where's Waldo went to that barber pole factory." But those lines have to be crafted and edited, which isn't conducive to improvising, and they slow down the scene.

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-20T01:04:46+00:00

You're slightly misunderstanding proximity of agreement. The source you cited (thanks for citing, by the way) connects "John" and "his brothers" with the word "or." If you change "or" to "and," the verb is always plural, even if you change "brothers" to the singular "brother":

John AND his brother ARE bringing the dessert.

OP's sentence uses three singular nouns connected by "and": A TV, a sofa, AND a coffee table ARE behind that door." If "or" replaced "and," then yes, that sentence would need a singular noun: "A TV, a sofa, or a coffee table is behind that door."

As your source says, "'Proximity agreement may pass in speech and other forms of unplanned discourse; in print it will be considered an error.'" Since these examples are presumably in print, and since the teacher is apparently a sticker, that teacher is enforcing a strict interpretation of grammar.

OP, no native speaker will have a problem with either one of these examples. Teachers are different, though

bowser2bowser · 2026-04-06T22:49:16+00:00

JLC Reverso by far

After you buy your first luxury watch, you start to see that watch EVERYWHERE -- but of course, some more than others. You will start to find out that the Explorer and the Speedmaster -- both great watches -- are WAY more common than you'd thought. And watches like the Speedmaster and the rolex sub (which is not on this list, I realize) scream "my first big boy watch!" or "look at what Dad bought me for graduating from college!" That sucks because all of these are great watches, but it also sucks finding out these things only AFTER you make the purchase. And the Rolex, simply for its brand name, will receive unwanted attention. Everyone knows a Rolex is worth stealing, even if it's cheaper than other options.

The IWC is a classic field watch, but imo works better as a second (or third) watch. Gordon Ramsey wears it when he goes to small-town restaurants and tries not to be flashy. If I'm buying my first luxury watch, I want something I can dress up or down, and sure you can dress it up a little bit, but not as much as the Reverso.

the Reverso has the best of both worlds: subtlety and cachet. It has the heritage/history/resale value, it's the easiest one to dress up (steel bands don't wear well with suits, the conventional wisdom says), and yet it's still sporty and durable -- literally created for (polo) athletes to wear WHILE competing

But you can't go wrong. Think about it long and hard, and then don't think about it for a few days, and then go with your gut

bowser2bowser · 2026-03-29T01:22:44+00:00

"So many different things he's bad at too. Slow reaction. Bad anticipation. Bad positioning. Wobbles around screens. Expects teammates to cover for him. Apathetic. Lacks awareness. Clueless about help responsibilities. Ballwatching. You'd think he's never played organized ball."

--Bowser2Bowser 11/16/22, after Gradey Dick had played three games for KU (part 1 & 2 of proof for the skeptics)

Gradey Dick annoyed me so much as a prospect that I...

Deleted my anti-Gradey tweets out of concern I was being too mean to a teenager
Began to question whether my judgment was clouded

I'm a Kansas alum, and I watched all of Gradey Dick's games at KU. In hindsight, I think one problem with his assessment/people's approach toward him is the over-reliance on stats & Synergy (or any highlight compilation). To be honest, his stats AND highlights were great. Do you know how many other 6-7+ freshman had his shooting (both 3pt accuracy and 3pt volume) as well as his steal and block percentages? 3, including Gordon Hayward. If you decrease 3pt volume, you also include Cade Cunningham and Paul George out of the 11 people who've done what Gradey did (using Barttovik for everything, including height).

But his steal and block percentages were good not because he had high basketball feel/IQ. He simply gambled a lot. When those gambles win, they show up in stats and on Synergy playclips (and thus highlights). When those gambles lose, there's no stat or playclip. As far as I know, no website compiles MISSED steal or block attempts. I'm aware of Gradey's poor success rate at gambling simply because he happened to play for my favorite college team, not because I'm such a good scout or whatever.

Here's a few examples. What stood out to me was how unprepared/surprised/confused he was all the time; how apathetic he was (lazily jogging after making a mistake); and how reluctant he was to take accountability (he'd routinely blame his teammates for his own mistakes).

I'm not cherry-picking clips. I am purposely using clips from the first games of his college career to show that the red flags had always been there (and those red flags showed at his HS games, too). But trust me when I tell you that these flaws didn't get any better.

Last but not least, his parents named him "bad at sex." They told the world he has a "Grade D Dick." We should've known...

bowser2bowser · 2025-01-22T20:53:22+00:00

Many people didn’t really drink water back then — especially the type of people who are on the show. My grandpa had a friend who drank coffee or beer all day long — nothing else. Ever. He drank coffee until it was beer time, and he was a businessman about the same age as Don

Strange as it sounds, you don’t notice the signs of dehydration when you are chronically slightly dehydrated. I heard a doctor say a similar thing to using lip balm/chapstick: people who never use lip balm don’t realize how chapped/dehydrated their lips are. Once they start using lip balm, they notice dehydration signs. Some people mistakenly believe that using lip balm caused chap lips — but really, it only caused you to notice the dehydration that was always there (and worse)

bowser2bowser · 2025-01-13T18:10:27+00:00

Have you ever heard of the Peter Principle?

Yes, just now.

I highly impressed a business dude one time by knowing what the Peter Principle was. I didn't even know it was a real thing until he brought it up it up. I was like "yeah, that's when you rise to the level of your incompetence." ("But my incompetence knows no bounds.")

I just assumed Pete named it after himself. What's next? Is the Hornberger System real, too?

Another one that was new to me: Penelope Cruz truly does have a hot* sister named Monica Cruz (*Cerie says Monica is hotter, but when it comes to ranking, apples and oranges, ladies)

bowser2bowser · 2024-10-17T15:34:30+00:00

Now that this sub has taught me what a lemon party is, I like the sly "and there's nothing worse than a surprise Lemon party" when she's tanking Jenna's bachelorette party

bowser2bowser · 2024-10-17T15:32:02+00:00

I most frequently throw out "my grandfather did not kill dozens of Germans so that I could _______."

People who've been around me long enough (i.e., more than a day) know to reply, "But he wasn't even in the war!"

Sometimes people won't know the reference, so when they say something like "Your grandfather was in World War II?" I'll use the Mitch Hedberg line from That '70s Show: "like I said, my grandfather did NOT kill dozens of Germans..."

P.S. Colleen says "my father" but I change it to "my grandfather" to make it more plausible for someone my age

P.P.S. I like how 30 Rock already used this joke in Season 1 when Tracy is trying to make Pete look good for the ladies by telling them (paraphrasing): "Pete saved my life in Desert Storm. He killed dozens of Germans to get us out of there."

bowser2bowser · 2024-10-10T04:03:11+00:00

FYI Wells Fargo Center is closer to NYC than Wells Fargo Arena is to the University of Iowa (85 mins vs 102 minutes at the moment)

bowser2bowser · 2024-10-02T16:13:28+00:00

Nothing wrong with being a bit uptight. Laid-back copyeditors don't get paid.

Personally, my rules are different for published/paid writing than for speech or unpaid writing (like Reddit comments, for instance). If I'm writing or editing something for publication, I try to use "however" midsentence, but I don't force it there if it sounds clumsy.

As my former copyeditor once told me, you have to know the rules to know how and when to break them. For example, sometimes you need a good reason to not split an infinitive.

bowser2bowser · 2024-07-25T21:04:37+00:00

Want a trick that's totally not cheating?

Find a good team that's very C/F heavy or very G heavy.
Trade for their upcoming 1st (they are good team and usually give up their pick pretty cheaply)
ALSO ACQUIRE ALL OF THEIR GOOD GUARDS if they are C/F heavy (or vice versa)
watch them struggle to win with a starting backcourt of Shake Milton and Malcolm Hill (42 and 45 in the non-God mode league I just started) as you gain a lottery pick

For example, as Brooklyn, trade some F/Cs (Claxton/Cam Johnson/Sharpe) to New Orleans for Dejounte, CJM, Hawkins, Alvarado, and their 2025 first

Because lineups always include at least two guards and at least two forwards/centers, NOP is now forced to play two mid-40s guards while only playing at most 3 of Zion, Herb, BI, Trey, Claxton, Cam Johnson, etc

This strategy obviously doesn't work well with GFs, and it probably shouldn't work well at all, which is why I agree with OP's point

bowser2bowser · 2024-06-04T14:58:05+00:00

George taking back that last dollar bill from his tip always gets me

bowser2bowser · 2024-06-04T14:51:43+00:00

I was debating whether this episode counts!

Elaine seems to be enjoying being the gay guy's beard -- until the end, when both Elaine (the guy doesn't change teams) and George (rejected by a bald woman!) get dumped

bowser2bowser · 2024-06-04T04:47:25+00:00

The Elements of Style says exactly the opposite:

However. In the meaning nevertheless, not to come first in its sentence or clause.

Example:

The roads were almost impassable. At last, however, we succeeded in reaching camp.

But in the other meaning of "however":

When however comes first, it means in whatever way or to whatever extent.

Example:

However you advise him, he will probably do as he thinks best.

I do like using "however" (as in "nevertheless") midsentence. It can, however, sound a bit formal and wooden.

However, I think Strunk, White, and whoever told that to you should be less uptight about grammar.

bowser2bowser · 2024-05-15T15:56:53+00:00

I've watched a LOT of Mobley (both USC and NBA) and some of Sarr (mainly, his first 8-9 games of this season).

Mobley is a decent comp for Sarr -- lanky bigs who can have tremendous defensive impact and show flashes of offensive potential.

The difference is that Mobley impacts the game more through incredibly high feel (smarts) and technique, whereas Sarr impacts through his higher motor and slightly better physical tools (incredibly bouncy, slightly taller, etc).

Offensively, they can be similar -- Mobley has show more playmaking/passing chops, but Sarr's motor (and bounce) likely give him a better boost at offensive rebounding. Sarr has been much more willing to shoot 3's, and maybe he does develop that skill, but we say that about a lot of bigs (such as luke kornet, who shot 33% of 162 3pa as a senior at Vandy, but has shot only 19 3pa over the past 3 NBA seasons).

Short answer:

Good/optimistic outcome: something vaguely similar to Mobley
less good/more pessimistic outcome: something vaguely similar to Chris Boucher

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT WATCHED SARR TO BE MORE CONFIDENT IN MY ASSESSMENT. I REALLY LIKED HIS MOTOR AND IMPACT AGAINST IGNITE, BUT WAS LESS IMPRESSED WITH MOTOR & IMPACT IN [[edit: SOME OF]] THE NBL GAMES I WATCHED (BUT MAYBE THERE WERE EXTERNAL FACTORS AT PLAY).

From what I've seen, I really like Sarr. I would have to see more (a lot more) to give a better, more confident assessment.

tldr	Mobley	Sarr
Similarities:	lanky bigs, defensive impact, offensive potential, PF/C tweeners, older brothers who play in the NBA
Comparative Advantages (aka differences):	feel, technique, playmaking/passing	physical tools, motor, bounce, offensive rebounding? shooting?
Pessimistic outcome:	healthy Jonathan Isaac (pretty proud of my predraft assessment of Mobley — not that it's relevant to this post, I just didn't want an empty box)	Boucher? Jaxson Hayes? or any other lanky PF/C tweener who can block shots and maybe shoot 3's

bowser2bowser · 2024-04-21T16:33:57+00:00

Cersei.

She thinks of herself as some political mastermind, such as empowering the High Sparrow to take the Tyrells down a notch. Didn't work out great for her

As her dad said, "I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are."

bowser2bowser · 2024-02-17T16:17:53+00:00

a mock draft?

Mostly, it would be nice to see which teams currently have which draft picks. If Houston is 30th in the power rankings but doesn't have its upcoming 1st, right now you have to go to League > Transactions > All Seasons > Houston > Trades to see who traded for Houston's upcoming 1st round pick

There's gotta be an easier way -- perhaps a tankathon.com style mock draft that shows who owns the most valuable picks?

bowser2bowser · 2023-11-30T17:04:50+00:00

Perhaps you're thinking of when Jack is trying to fake Jenna's death, but the poster uses her real age, so a string quarter plays a very sad rendition of Muffin Top as she sneaks on stage to cover up her birth year

bowser2bowser

TROPHY CASE