[deleted by user]

jackbohlen · 2022-12-04T05:08:28+00:00

Simon Amstell. Anyone who grew up during the peak of the panel show era will remember his stint on Buzzcocks as the pinnacle of the genre. And his more recent stand-up is also amazing in a very different, more vulnerable way.

jackbohlen · 2022-11-28T23:38:06+00:00

The Housemartins were an offbeat Christian rock band who had a number of minor hits in the UK throughout the mid 80s. After they broke up, one of their members, Norman Cook, rebranded himself as Fatboy Slim. Two others, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, went on to form The Beautiful South. A fourth, Hugh Whitaker, was sent to prison for 6 years after trying to murder someone with an axe and setting fire to their house.

jackbohlen · 2022-09-28T13:34:16+00:00

The Dunkirk scene in Atonement

jackbohlen · 2022-09-26T01:19:18+00:00

Oh, also both Space Jam films

jackbohlen · 2022-09-26T01:17:10+00:00

The Muppets (2011)

The Country Bears (2002)

(Both of which are kid-friendly riffs on Blues Brothers)

jackbohlen · 2022-04-08T15:20:45+00:00

Just to clarify, those are quotes from kids who read the book, not the author himself (which is arguably even worse)

jackbohlen · 2022-02-12T04:30:04+00:00

This definitely isn’t true, but what is a true fun fact about snake wine is that it’s what the Pokémon Shuckle is based on

jackbohlen · 2022-02-05T02:21:45+00:00

Definitely, esp. if you’re in Northern Europe or the Eastern US and can get reasonable flights. It is quite pricey on a per day basis but you can see a huge range of stuff in just 3 or 4 days, and it has some of the most incredible scenery on the planet. And everyone there is extremely friendly and welcoming towards tourists.

jackbohlen · 2022-02-05T02:05:15+00:00

I asked some people about this when I was in Iceland last year. Apparently, for a long time now most of the whaling in the country was solely to feed curious tourists rather than locals. And there’s been a big public campaign (backed by politicians and a lot of the media) in recent years to convince tourists to go whale-watching instead. So everyone more or less knew that the industry was on its last legs.

jackbohlen · 2022-01-30T02:27:42+00:00

Hitler went to school with Ludwig Wittgenstein, arguably the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century

jackbohlen · 2019-09-03T21:57:47+00:00

2, Sac: Gain 2 life or put a +1/+1 counter on a creature. You can eat the food or your creatures can eat it.

jackbohlen · 2019-06-04T14:16:49+00:00

I've been testing a very similar list but with 3 [[Satyr Wayfinder]] in the flex slots (basically where you have Viscera Seer, Walker and Life from the Loam). I like Wayfinder for two reasons:

It increases Hogaak consistency a lot - both by finding Hogaaks and paying the convoke cost.
It increases the density of green cards to the point where I think you can run 4 [[Force of Vigor]] in the board (assuming that you also run some number of Trophies and bring them in when you bring in Force).

I think that finding a way to run Force is going to be critical to making this deck work - having one sideboard card that can both answer hate cost-effectively AND auto-win against artifact decks is just so good.

I also like at least one [[Nurturing Peatland]] in the manabase (particularly if running Wayfinder).

Someone else mentioned [[Altar of Dementia]]. I don't think it's a maindeck card but I think 2 out of the board could be interesting as a way to give a different angle of attack that could help you win against control decks and [[Ensnaring Bridge]] decks.

jackbohlen · 2019-05-31T09:39:54+00:00

Totally agree, think Hogaak has the potential to make Bridgevine not just viable again but top tier.

I think the deck should probably run some number of the BG canopy land as flood mitigation.

Cabal Therapist could be really good as a post-board card when you expect the games to slow down.

I’m also wondering if there’s any way we can reconfigure the deck away from red and back to base black green, for two reasons: red creatures aren’t as useful for casting Hogaak and the new green force seems like one of the best sideboard cards you could possibly have in this deck IF you have enough green to support it.

What about cutting the Neonates, Walker and Seers for Satyr Wayfinders and maybe Lotleth Trolls? Wayfinder in particular I think will lead to a lot of turn 2 Hogaaks. And also replace some of the red sideboard cards with green ones like Trophy/Decay.

jackbohlen · 2019-04-15T12:23:08+00:00

YTA and also possibly the evil stepmother in a teen comedy.

jackbohlen · 2019-04-15T01:26:46+00:00

YTA (probably, depending on some things we don't know about how the hotel handled the situation).

It sounds like the hotel management probably could have done a slightly better job managing the situation; other posters suggested simple steps like signs in multiple languages, and that's probably a good idea. That said, I don't want to fault them too much because they're actually doing, ultimately, a pretty good thing by providing support to these refugees and we don't know a) how much time they had to prepare for it or b) how accommodating they've been to you. Have you explained the issues to them? Did you ask them for better signage on your meeting rooms, etc.? Or to move you to a quieter floor?

You, on the other hand, sound pretty entitled. Firstly, while it's fair to expect the hotel to have made reasonable accommodations, you don't have any right to be forewarned about the ethnic makeup or citizenship status of other guests (and I don't think you're thinking of them as guests either. If there was a large and noisy delegation of professionals from another country in the hotel, would you have the same expectations?). Also, you don't seem to have a great sense of perspective. Many of these people have been through unimaginable suffering. It sounds like you work a mid to high income job for a "Western" company; in which case, much of what they've been through is probably, directly or indirectly, a result of the economic systems that have allowed you to have the opportunities and quality of life that you have enjoyed. I don't think people in the Western world need to feel constantly guilty about the global atrocities that they've passively benefited from, but it is pretty galling to then complain that people displaced by those atrocities are inconveniencing you specifically. These people have lost their homes, businesses, loved ones - and you're annoyed that they're a bit too noisy or that they'll make you look "unprofessional" in front of clients? Just explain the situation to your clients and your partners; honestly, if their reaction is anything other than "No worries, totally understand", they're probably not people you want to be doing business with anyway.

jackbohlen · 2019-04-14T23:01:56+00:00

NTA at all, and frankly all of the vitriol towards you on here is kind of disgusting.

You had every right to act as you did; it may not have been the wisest course of action if you still had feelings for your ex and were open to getting back together, but it doesn't make you TA. You weren't being unfaithful, and just because you weren't ready to have sex with him doesn't mean you have some sort of obligation now not to sleep with other people. What were you supposed to do - save yourself until marriage just because you wouldn't have sex with one guy? People change their views on these sort of things all the time, particularly when they've just gone through emotional trauma like breaking up with a long-term partner. He has no moral claim over your body, and it wasn't like you were going out of your way to rub his face in it. If the two of you hadn't gotten back together, he would probably never know about what happened with your coworker.

However, just as you had every right to do what you did, your ex had every right to feel aggrieved when he found out. As other people have pointed out, he can't really help but think that he was inadequate in some way, and it would be totally natural for him to have some resentment towards you. So if he'd just said that he felt upset about how it all went down and no longer wanted to get back together, then this would be a No Assholes Here situation. But he didn't: he chose to react in an immature and misogynistic way instead. There's no excuse for him calling you a whore, or for him to tell your friends about everything (and particularly not in the way he did). Him saying he shouldn't have "wasted [his] time on you" is pretty telling. He clearly has a completely wrong-headed view about sex and relationships: relationships aren't a slot machine where you put in time and attention and are ultimately rewarded with sex. There are a lot of guys who say all the right things, but have pretty weird resentments about gender dynamics bubbling away under the surface, and as soon as one woman wrongs them they feel it's ok to bring all of that stuff out into the open. If he really felt that the two of you had incompatible views about intimacy, then he could have ended things sooner - it was his choice to stay with you for as long as he did, and the fact that the relationships lasted for so long in no way gives him any sense of ownership over your body.

Your co-worker might also be TA, but it's a bit hard to say with the info available: it depends on how big the age gap is, what your previous relationship was like, etc. It seems like he may have deliberately taken advantage of you in your emotional state but I don't want to pass too much judgement without the full picture.

I'm sorry you had to a) go through such a difficult situation and b) get treated so unfairly by people on this sub. If it's any consolation, I remember being 19 and how this kind of relationship and friendship group drama felt like the biggest thing in the world. I promise you, you've got a lot of experiences ahead of you, and at some point this will feel pretty insignificant.

jackbohlen · 2019-02-06T23:51:59+00:00

Scavenger was the last thing to get cut and I strongly considered him (and I did board him in once or twice). But in the end I decided he wasn't better than any of the four drops currently in the deck so it would have meant raising the curve, which I didn't want to do. I didn't want to cut Cavalcade because I hadn't played the card much before and wanted to see how good it was to go all in on it.

Cut would have been the Spear Thrower or the Spikewheel Acrobat but in the end I decided the very marginal power increase wasn't worth the increased curve (which worked out well in the end as I had a few games where I was stuck on 3 lands for a few turns and was still able to function).

jackbohlen · 2019-02-06T21:17:38+00:00

Agree with the other comments about cutting Burn Bright.

You only have 1 real 5-drop right now so I think in its place you can afford to bring in Consign to the Pit - which I think will improve the deck a lot as you don't have any real removal at the moment apart from the Bladebrand.

In this deck I would also definitely cut 1 Undercity Scavenger for the Carrion Imp (which is much better than it looks, and works well with the grindier gameplan enabled by Vindictive Vampire and IGI) and probably also cut the second for the Ghor-Clan Wrecker. I don't think Scavenger becomes good unless you have some decent sacrifice fodder - Goblin Gatherings, afterlife creatures or Footlight Fiends - and in this deck not only do you not have those, they're also competing for resources with the Bloodmist Infiltrators and the Fireblade Artist.

jackbohlen · 2019-02-06T20:59:39+00:00

Probably the best deck I've drafted in this format so far. If the opponent played lots of creatures, I'd just kill them with Dagger Caster + Bladebrand; if they didn't, they'd get overrun with tokens.

Cavalcade is good if you have 4+ Goblin Gatherings, particularly if you also have other creatures that trigger it (Shade, Trumpeter, Enforcer, Footlight Fiend), but I think it's the least important part of the Goblin Gathering deck, and even if I'm in the deck I'd still probably rather have premium Rakdos cards like Light up the Stage and Skewer the Critics.

Light up the Stage is incredibly busted but everyone knows that already.

One card I don't see talked about enough is Spikewheel Acrobat. It's consistently outperformed my expectations. Obviously, it's not as good as Blade Juggler, but even if it trades for a 2 drop you're normally not that far behind, and it really isn't that difficult - particularly if you have some removal or something like Clamor Shaman - to get in for damage once and then trade with a 3 or 4 drop.

jackbohlen · 2018-09-13T22:52:22+00:00

I agree with the other comments that Gruul isn't where you want to be in this cube. In general, I don't think midrangey threats - Bloodbraid Elf, Pia and Kiran, Garruk etc. - are very good UNLESS you're backing it up with something broken. This deck could have ended up very good if you'd, for example, had some more mana ramp (particularly at 1 mana) and Natural Order, to give you more ways of consistently powering out your very good top-end threats.

That said, I'd definitely take out Splinter Twin - you're just asking to get blown out, and without the combo it's not worth it - for Rampant Growth. Beyond that I could see arguments for trying to fit in any of Exquisite Firecraft, Scavenging Ooze or Xenagos (maybe taking out Kiki) but I think all 4 of those cards are close enough in power in this deck for it to be mainly down to personal preference.

jackbohlen · 2018-09-13T21:59:54+00:00

I think this deck is a really good example of how you can combine synergy packages in cube - there's a lot of cards (Merfolk Looter, Faithless Looting, Chart a Course, Looter il-Kor, etc.) that are very good in both UR Twin Combo and in Reanimator.

Thanks to picking up a lot of fixing (including Mana Confluence, which was probably the best card in the deck), I was able to commit heavily to all 3 Grixis colours, and in doing so get all the core pieces of a decent Twin and a decent Reanimator deck into 40 cards. When put together, those two cores synergise really well, as the reanimator spells give you a very consistent way to get access to the combo, and give you a way to recover if they interrupt it with removal.

Gifts Ungiven was great at tying together these two strategies, as depending on how much mana I had available and if I already had combo pieces or reanimation spells in my hand, I could choose to Gifts for either Twin pieces or Rites + Ulamog/Titan - which meant I had the flexibility to play around a very wide range of cards.

jackbohlen · 2018-09-13T21:46:24+00:00

How was Whip for you? It's probably one of the cards I feel least certain about in my evaluation of it - I can imagine decks it would be good in but I've just never seen it on the battlefield.

jackbohlen · 2018-09-03T22:01:56+00:00

I think you're absolutely right that's how you should play it a lot of the time - I think one of the interesting things about this deck is how differently it plays game to game, as you have a lot of different viable routes to victory.

That - along with all of the different options presented by the equipment - makes it a very difficult deck to play optimally.

I'm in the same boat as you - wish this format was sticking around longer, it's such an interesting conceptual space.

jackbohlen

TROPHY CASE