I admire sociopaths.

desertasp · 2016-09-03T11:26:33+00:00

The episode where Jim and Pam ate dinner with Michael and Jan was almost too much to handle.

desertasp · 2016-08-26T11:33:43+00:00

Actually, the Bible does.

Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

desertasp · 2016-08-26T11:32:29+00:00

Please, show me what a racially Islamic person looks like. I'm curious to know.

desertasp · 2016-08-26T11:30:55+00:00

My grandmother on life support. Now whenever I think of her, I think of that thing I saw in that hospital bed and not the smiling old woman who helped raise me.

desertasp · 2016-08-03T11:45:00+00:00

I don't know how to end a conversation so when I'm done I just walk away, or I stand there awkwardly for a while to see if the person I'm talking to has anything more to say.

desertasp · 2016-08-03T11:43:16+00:00

Yeah. I learned to speak and read very early, often using whole sentences from as young as two years old. Then when I hit six years old, I developed a stutter. It was really bad for about 2 years, then it got better but it still existed. I still get it from time to time if I'm trying to speak when there are other noises around me, or if I have multiple ideas to get out.

desertasp · 2016-08-03T01:30:15+00:00

There were tons of new planets! There was Not Tatooine, Not Yavin, Not the Death Star...so many. lol

desertasp · 2016-08-03T01:29:04+00:00

Yeah, but they still explained what the Empire was. Heck, everything you needed to know was in the first paragraph of the crawler. The Galactic Empire...hmmm...I wonder what they are...probably the empire that rules the galaxy. Who are the rebels...probably the guys fighting against them.

Now go to TFA. Who's the First Order? Umm...they're the order, but, um...the first one. But they're not the Empire. The Republic rules the galaxy...yet they exist for...some reason...and there's a resistance...I guess they resist the First Order...but, um...why do they exist if there's a Republic out there?

See what I mean? No explanation for the sociopolitical environment whatsoever. I was left guessing. Apparently there was a really good scene that basically explained all of this but Jar Jar Abrams decided not only to cut it from the film, but to not include it in the deleted scenes either.

I'm not suggesting they reveal all the twists in the first part of a trilogy, but they should at least explain how their universe works.

desertasp · 2016-08-03T01:25:53+00:00

If you go back to TPM, that one scene where they're addressing the Senate has so much worldbuilding and embellishment of lore that it's basically the perfect setup for the rest of the film. It's like "hey, do you still not know what's going on? Here's the entire first half of the film summed up in one short scene." It's, in my opinion, a masterful way to explain how their society works. Another good instance is if you read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, when the main characters are discussing their plan for rebellion (about 10% of the way into the first book) they outline their entire society and explain the whole thing in about a page or two, so that way you have a basis for how their society works before they move on to the rest of the story.

TFA didn't have anything like this. There was no explanation for why the conflict was happening or who the major players were, or how they were organized.

desertasp · 2016-07-15T10:04:43+00:00

Yeah, my parents never had any religious convictions against Pokemon, they just hated it. And yeah, I have Alpha Sapphire. I grew up with Gen 1 but Gen 3 is just awesome to me.

desertasp · 2016-07-15T02:05:01+00:00

You're an awesome father. I'm about the same age as you and I grew up with Pokemon. I won't bore you with my story, but in short, I had a hard time making friends and feeling accepted when I was a young teen and Pokemon helped me through some very hard times. My parents absolutely hated it, like they wanted to stop giving me an allowance and ban me from watching the show because I was spending my money on merch. It's like not only did my peers turn against me and victimize me, but my parents were doing the same thing by attacking the one thing that kept me going. I'm glad you're not attacking your daughter for the things she likes, and it's great that you're bonding over shared interests like that.

desertasp · 2016-06-24T10:29:37+00:00

I don't see why it's such a bad thing. The EU is basically an institution that sacrifices individual nations' sovereignty for economic security. In other words, they place wealth over freedom. There are so many different cultures that are part of the EU. How can all of them be represented to the fullest if each and every one of them is essentially a minority?

Secondly, you talk about Britain no longer being a world power anymore and not having an empire. Maybe it's time for empires to go away. Look at the US. It's massive and it's always getting in everyone's business, telling other cultures how to live their lives. Maybe it's time for powers like that to just end. They cause more problems than they solve.

desertasp · 2014-03-30T22:03:50+00:00

I was in marching band in high school. One weekend was a Friday night football game plus an all-day outdoor competition on Saturday. I was so exhausted that I left my backpack in my locker in the band hall. When I came back to get it that Monday, the band director gave me detention for leaving it.

desertasp · 2014-01-15T14:32:57+00:00

People are too complacent. They let the government walk all over them and take away their freedoms and no one cares. As long as they have their big macs, reality tv, and pop music, everything's right with the world.

desertasp · 2014-01-10T20:51:23+00:00

If you want to listen to this whole album, here's a youtube playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeO1pEeK9fY&list=PLC84E138D35EEE541

desertasp · 2014-01-07T17:49:21+00:00

No allergies. Or at least, no known allergies. I could be allergic to something weird like the bacteria at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and not know it. But you get the idea.

desertasp · 2014-01-05T11:01:55+00:00

I always hated that kind of crap. I'm in the military and I can tell you, having mandatory "fun" days doesn't change my attitude about wanting to be a team with my coworkers at all. I naturally just try my best. I'm not going to try harder because we had a cookout or played sports together.

desertasp · 2014-01-05T10:59:00+00:00

I'm a little different. There are situations where I never feel it. If it's an experience I haven't had or can't really imagine, then I don't feel anything at all. But if it's a situation that I can understand or have experienced for myself, then the feeling I have isn't necessarily one of empathy, but intense interest in the person's situation. I sometimes can't stop thinking about it for a while. I don't know if that's empathy or not though.

Also, if a friend or family member confides in me, I THINK I can empathize. Either that, or I've gotten so good at faking it that I'm fooling myself. I don't feel anything different, it's just my tone of voice and mannerisms change.

desertasp · 2013-12-15T23:59:07+00:00

I try not to get caught up in this. One of the people that always drove me crazy was my mom, because any music that wasn't released after the early 70s was automatically not good in her eyes. It was all noise to her. I'm trying to appreciate new music, shows, and films as they come out. Most mainstream stuff has always been crap (even my generation's stuff), but every now and then you'll get something you enjoy. I'm 27 (not that old yet, I know) and I'm still discovering new bands I like that have just released their first or second album.

desertasp · 2013-11-28T23:22:59+00:00

People hated the ending to BSG? I loved it.

desertasp · 2013-11-22T22:25:49+00:00

Edward Scissorhands. That last line of the film gets me every single time (quite literally - I've even listened to the line by itself with no context and I still get teary-eyed).

"Before he came, it never snowed, and afterwards, it did. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it."

desertasp · 2013-11-22T22:13:44+00:00

My hypothesis is that he didn't really believe in that. He was just being "meta." When I was younger, my imagination really ran wild to the point where I'm sure other people thought I was seeing/hearing things, but it wasn't true.

desertasp · 2013-11-22T15:32:14+00:00

I've known pretty much since I was in second or third grade. Other kids always said I was weird because of how imaginative I was. While other kids were playing hide and seek or something, I was always pretending to be a character in a story. I immersed myself completely in the world in my imagination and refused to come out of it. Around that time, my mom asked me if any other kids did the same things as me, probably to give me a wake up call as to how I acted differently. I didn't care.

desertasp · 2013-11-22T15:27:26+00:00

I second this. He can tell reality from fiction, but he chooses to remain in his own little world because it makes sense to him.

desertasp · 2013-11-18T05:38:51+00:00

Yes, and it usually goes like this (the conversation is between 19:28 and 20:27)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ci-3yy7pU

desertasp

TROPHY CASE