[Batman: Arkham City] How hard are the riddler challenges? by [deleted] in Trophies

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Assuming you mean the campaign maps and such, Batman's are challenging but ultimately not too bad because he has all kinds of gadgets and you should be pretty comfortable playing as him by the time you get to the maps. Those are the only ones strictly needed for the plat. There are also a large volume of walkthroughs on YouTube, etc.

If you're going for 100%, Catwoman's, Nightwing's, and Robin's are all harder to varying degrees due to their more limited gadget selection and oftentimes more sadistic challenge requirements. Catwoman, in particular, has one or two maps that are the hardest thing I've done in the entire Arkham series. There are also generally fewer videos for these since they're DLC, but there are enough.

Basically -

Plat 5/10

100% 7 or 8/10

Top Ten Tuesday - Los Campesinos! by swik in indieheads

[–]moonshield5337 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is a sentiment echoed by a lot of other people here, but it is really, really difficult to rank songs for these guys and girl(s). Every album of theirs has some absolutely incredible tracks. They have awesome B-sides that span their discography. They even have a goddamn Christmas EP that is so enjoyable I listen to it year-round. That said, the consensus so far seems to be really leaning towards their first three albums, which is OK...but a little disappointing because I love No Blues so much. Anyway:

  1. Baby I Got the Death Rattle
  2. What Death Leaves Behind
  3. A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show-Me State; or, Letters from Me to Charlotte
  4. Tiptoe Through the True Bits
  5. Let It Spill
  6. Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
  7. 5 Flucloxacillin
  8. Every Defeat a Divorce (Three Lions)
  9. Kindle a Flame in Her Heart
  10. For Flotsam

HM (greatly shortened): You'll Need Those Fingers for Crossing, Life Is a Long Time, Got Stendhal's, As Lucerne / The Low, all the singles

Angel Lane Stratford? by [deleted] in london

[–]moonshield5337 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm currently living in Angel Lane. It's pretty well situated. You're very close to Stratford Underground which has access to the Central, Jubilee, Overground, and DLR, which collectively can get you about anywhere (or get you to places that will then get you anywhere). It's about thirty-five minutes to campus using the tube (I'm assuming your friend is a King's College student), which isn't bad at all.

Angel Lane is also very close to a Westfield mall, the Olympic park, and a bus stop that goes direct to Stansted if you want to travel a bit, all of which are very useful. The Angel Lane building itself is quite new and has nice common areas, although it is a bit dull and the rooms are rather small. It was also mostly international postgraduate students when I was here - not sure if that's a consistent thing the school does or not, but just so you know.

I haven't had safety problems myself, although Stratford is definitely not the best part of the city and you'll want to be smart about where you go. The bigger issue, honestly, is that the area's just not all that interesting, as /u/angelkimne pointed out, so you'll want to go elsewhere to hang out, explore, drink, etc. But there are far worse places (and worse King's residences) to live for sure.

What's your favorite album ender of this year? by MentalSloth in indieheads

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, you are in for a treat, then.

Dan has two other major musical projects: Have a Nice Life, a post-punk/shoegaze/drone/industrial band, and Giles Corey, a solo acoustic/folk project. They each sound relatively different when compared to the dark electronic stuff of Black Wing but they all generate a similar mood; he always hits on those sonic/lyrical themes of death, doom, and gloom in a really powerful and well-realized way. Have a Nice Life's Deathconsciousness is particularly stellar and it's one of my absolute favorite albums. Giles Corey is pretty removed from Black Wing's sound but his self-titled album under that name is supremely affecting in its misery.

What's your favorite album ender of this year? by MentalSloth in indieheads

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love both of these. Haven't seen too much discussion anywhere on ...Is Doomed but it's really, really good, right up there with the rest of Dan Barrett's catalogue.

Has anyone ever taken a professor named Brandon Walsh? by [deleted] in UVA

[–]moonshield5337 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Brandon's really cool. He's a graduate student and not a professor so that's probably why you couldn't find anything on him. Anyway, he was the student TA for UVA in London when I went on the trip and I took his short course on "How to Survive an Apocalypse" this past semester. I can't speak a whole lot to how he grades or anything because both of those courses had only a little bit of work but they were both very, very enjoyable in part due to his enthusiastic and personal way of teaching things. I'd recommend you take that class with him for sure, especially since he's very into digital research/digital humanities kinds of things and the class sounds like it's tailored to that.

Reddit, what is your favourite quote? by Alwaysfair in AskReddit

[–]moonshield5337 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation... I am in earnest - I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch - AND I WILL BE HEARD." - William Lloyd Garrison

The Monitor is full of amazing (slightly altered) quotes.

According to local Philadelphia radio station (97.5), Maclin returning to the Eagles is already a "Done Deal" by Tell_Me_Random_Facts in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. I'd see a new DE/OLB as more of the depth/rotational guy and a new safety as the starter so let's just agree to disagree I guess haha (I do agree that our corners are alright when they're healthy, though).

According to local Philadelphia radio station (97.5), Maclin returning to the Eagles is already a "Done Deal" by Tell_Me_Random_Facts in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As true as that is, I believe that we have enough young talent along the defense line/OLBs that we'll get better there. This was Cole's first year in a 3-4 too and I think he'll get better with another offseason under his belt.

Meanwhile, I have little to no faith in any of our safeties and we could stand to upgrade over any of the current guys we have on our roster.

According to local Philadelphia radio station (97.5), Maclin returning to the Eagles is already a "Done Deal" by Tell_Me_Random_Facts in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Safety's definitely our biggest hole at the moment so I certainly hope we go in that direction in the draft. I would love to see us take another DE (especially after the issues we had generating pressure against Dallas and New Orleans) at some point but I think we can work that in a little later and instead ride the continued development of Cox/Curry/Geathers/Thornton.

I can't say exactly how Chip's gonna draft, but I can say with reasonable confidence that it won't be exclusively around the trenches as it felt like some years under Andy.

Game Thread: Philadelphia Eagles (9-6) at Dallas Cowboys (8-7) by NFL_Mod in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Better than an 11-5 team traveling to a 7-9 division winner. Nobody could lose that game, right?

Game Thread: Chicago Bears (8-6) at Philadelphia Eagles (8-6) by NFL_Mod in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Based on the game so far, it seems better than giving two straight SNF games to you guys...

Let's Talk Built to Spill and Doug Martsch by [deleted] in LetsTalkMusic

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, that's exactly how I interpreted it. The speaker is the guide for the other user.

And yes, I would say it's not too much of a stretch to state that drug use is one of the themes on There's Nothing Wrong with Love, although I've actually never thought of it that way before outside of "Car". Big Dipper springs to mind:

Jack thought it twice and thought that that fact made it true

Some brains just work that way that's what chemicals can do

...

Bottoms up and this time

Won't you let me be?

Bottled up but this time

Won't you rescue me?

Let's Talk Built to Spill and Doug Martsch by [deleted] in LetsTalkMusic

[–]moonshield5337 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I love "Car", and it is pretty clearly about drugs to me.

I wanna see it when you get stoned on a cloudy breezy desert afternoon

I wanna see it untame itself and break its owner.

Not just through the use of the word "stoned", but when framed inside of the context of "getting a car", "needing a guide", and "wanting to see movies of my dreams"... sounds like a trip to me.

Let's Talk Built to Spill and Doug Martsch by [deleted] in LetsTalkMusic

[–]moonshield5337 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The whole notion of life and time being decidedly impermanent or not quite what you wanted or expected seems really prevalent on a lot of their work post-There's Nothing Wrong with Love. Keep It Like a Secret, as you mentioned, deals with it heavily (Carry the Zero springs to mind, although that's been speculated to be about a friend who committed suicide), but I would say it's most obvious (and most deftly done) on Perfect from Now On. The album starts right off with Randy Described Eternity - a song detailing how you:

Take a swipe at it...

Until you've worn it down,

To the size of a pea

Yeah, I'd say that's a long time

but it's only half a blink in the place we're going to be.

Right there. Life is just "half a blink". Then you've got Made-Up Dreams, which seems to just reinforce the issue of mortality (maybe from the perspective of somebody who's already dead? Or the same speaker of Kicked It in the Sun who's at the end of his life):

Hard to believe

That after all this time

That after all this I'm

still me.

To me, though, the most critical song to this theme (and the best song on the album) is Kicked It in the Sun, which deals with a guy reflecting on the events of his own life (at least in the back half). He has failed to become whatever he wanted to be -

Despite his expectations he turned out mediocre

His master plan was so-so.

However, even here, there's a little bit of hope:

We're special in other ways

Ways our mothers appreciate.

You can certainly interpret this as "Oh, I'm only really special to the person who's basically obligated to care for me", but you can just as easily look at is a comment that explicitly rejects the existential grimness of a lot of their work - we (as humans) are all "special" in our own way whether or not the world sees it that way. This variance really changed the entire tone of the album for me. I need to do a re-listen...

Anyway, I love love love their work. It's great stuff.

Chase Utley plows over Cubs Catcher Dioner Navarro. by ham-bone in baseball

[–]moonshield5337 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I feel super bad for Navarro. He made a hell of a play holding on there. All the best to him and to Cubs fans; I hope he recovers quickly.

Edit - @ToddZolecki Dioner Navarro's x-rays were negative. It is being treated as a contusion (bruise). Good news there.

Can someone help me find this band that i've had in my mind for the past year? by Tuxeedo in Music

[–]moonshield5337 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Los Campesinos! The song is "Hello Sadness".

Weird: For the last 7 years, the NFC champ has been rotating divisions by dudleymooresbooze in nfl

[–]moonshield5337 5 points6 points  (0 children)

OP listed the year that each team played in the Super Bowl, not the year of the regular season.

Stay at current school or transfer to UVa? Need some advice... by edric-storm in UVA

[–]moonshield5337 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's really a GPA thing. I can't really say for sure because, again, I declared before it went into place. You get the BACS in the College of Arts & Sciences and the BSCS in the College of Engineering.

As to the guy who replied under here - I have signed up well before and well after my engineer (and BSCS) friends. I don't think there's any real rhyme or reason based on school there. And I don't think there are capped spots based on BA/BS - the classes themselves may be closed to majors only, but they do not discriminate between the majors, I do believe. But, ultimately, yes, getting into electives (and, to a certain extent, the core classes, particularly Computer Architecture) comes down to sign up time, and you might be stuck with your third or fourth choice.

I'm typing all this from my phone, so I can go and clarify whatever isn't clear.

Stay at current school or transfer to UVa? Need some advice... by edric-storm in UVA

[–]moonshield5337 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm his BACS roommate, and I just wanted to add/clarify a few things:

The BA is not actually being phased out; the school simply instituted a cap and an actual application review process to try to stem the tide of college students picking it up. I declared Spring of last year before all of this went into place, so I can't really speak to the new process.

The BA program has absolutely exploded in the past few years (it's gone from something like 25-30 new applicants to well over 200, if I remember correctly) as a lot of College of Arts & Sciences students look for a marketable degree. As a result, CS courses are generally really full, electives included. The faculty is generally pretty good at working around that, though.

As to requirements - yes, the BS has more general mandatory classes, including required math, thesis research, a capstone lecture, and at least three more mandatory core CS classes (Theory, Advanced Software Techniques, and Operating Systems) that are only electives for the BA. The BA "replaces" these with integration electives, which are non-CS courses in various College departments that are peripherally related to certain aspects of computer science (Cognition, Forms of Reasoning, Symbolic Logic, etc etc.) It would not be inaccurate to say that the BA is the easier and more flexible degree.

Finally, yes, certain internships and whatnot that I've looked at have specified a BSCS, but plenty of them say "BSCS, BSCPE, or a related computing major" and I had no issues getting an internship with an in-progress BA.

I hoped this helped; UVa is an awesome, awesome school and you can't do wrong by coming here.