Sherwood

For what it's worth, Steve, my wife and I first met you at MOA after you had already come out to this group. You might have been the only openly gay man there (I do not remember) but when my wife and I talked about you later you were "the woodworker". This was before everyone here became woodworkers.

If you have a personal issue with Steve I'd rather you picked up a phone, Jacob. He has been an ally and friend to many people here for years, it feels petty to libel him. Congratulations on coming out, I wish you a happy and fulfilling marriage.

Dusty, is your entire collection magenta or black quilt top PRS 24s?

I wouldn't wish them luck, dedicated groups of Americans have put genies back in bottles before.

I know I'm late, but I agree with the final cake. HAPPY 'BEWT-

I am one of those 40,000 patrons, I absolutely love Jenny's content. She is remarkably incisive and always brings receipts. She is currently the #2 video creator on Patreon, right behind someone who mods Assetto Corsa. Pretty impressive for someone who puts out 1-2 videos a year and narrates them sitting on a bedspread surrounded by stuffed animals. Of course, if you're a member of her Patreon, you get a video every month...

Completely agree, though I did enjoy and finish Andor. I think it's likely because it's the "hardest" scifi they have attempted. Broadly, I have a hard time suspending disbelief watching Star Wars of any kind. Whole planets speak the same language, or have one notable geographic feature, or support billions of people but merit no more than a throwaway line of dialogue. I always think "what kind of tax revenue must the Empire be collecting to put together yet another moon-sized gun array" and then wondering how such a thing would be structured. I appreciated the smaller scale, the care they put into worlds that didn't interact with the properties from the good movies, and the sort of general Kafka-esque bureaucratic capriciousness it gave to the Empire. My favorite Marvel property was "Jessica Jones" for the same reason. But yeah, the first two movies were good and nothing else since approaches them. They are fundamentally kids movies and I'm fundamentally an adult. I have found new passions and it's a disservice to drag Star Wars along with me.

This is so singularly Eurovision I struggle for words. The absolute dumpster fire eurobeat track itself, the censorship of the windows logo, the man inexplicably hatching out of a jort egg, the second singer wearing a denim swatch capecoat, the sense that this is probably performed bottomless when not on TV, all of it.

The Femmes sax player is Blaise Garza, and while he appears to play the entire range he bills himself as the Femmes' "Contrabass Saxophone Player". Seems like a CB! https://www.blaisegarza.com/gallery

The fanciest roaster near me, guys that are getting Pink Bourbon and Gesha beans, still have a check box on every single bag asking if you want them to grind cardamom in with your beans. Different strokes.

Agreed. They were the first (and maybe still one of the only) idol groups to perform with a live band rather than backing tracks. I think the Kami Band backing them is really tight, but what do you expect from professional Japanese session metal players? Obviously crass commercialism is a part of the genre, but they are a little less gross than their peers.

I mean, I would need to develop enough expertise to use the machine, to start with. Still, could be a fun project. Two way crossover with an AMT and a driver I'm sure someone has figured out, looks like a sealed box. I could probably find someone around here to cut me a weird-ass baffle since this whole town is made of stone. I'm inspired by your nonchalance, Steve!

I, for one, welcome whatever input you have Doug. None of my sense of self is tied up in my appreciation for those speakers. I think part of the appeal is the dovetails, and that's more your area of expertise than mine.,

I'm devastated to hear that the OMAs sound so good. I don't maintain a life that permits me to even dream about that Imperia system, but my own dreams are also represented in the same picture. Those slate-baffled Monitors to the left of frame look just perfect to my eyes. I've never been in NYC long enough to set up an audition but clearly I should.

Totally fair. Here's where I read his impressions: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/nickelodeon-marc-summers-quiet-on-set-interview-lied-1235960541/ I agree he came off looking fine, but to some he might have also come off looking like a guy who will cast aspersions on his former employer over incidents he was not involved in. That is certainly what served the documentarians best even if it did Marc no favors. I'm just saying if I was his publicist I would have said "don't talk to them, it can only hurt you." Considering the general level of interviewee they had (mostly technical staff interspersed with archival footage) I think a lot of publicists already knew not to let their stars on camera with that crew. It's a tough double standard, in a way. A DA has a much easier time prosecuting a crime when people talk to the cops, but any attorney here would surely advise their clients not to ever do that. It is in our collective societal interest to solve crimes and bring bad actors to light but it is almost never in someone's individual interest to be the one doing it.

Marc Summers says they totally Shanghai'ed him for this. He was brought in under the belief he would be talking in general about his time at Nickelodeon, which he has positive memories of. He said so during his interview, but they dropped that Ariana Grande clip on him from after he had already left the network. He didn't know what he was watching and asked a clarifying question, and that question is what they kept of his footage after telling him they cut all of his interview. He didn't know he was in the film until it released and now people are asking him how he could have worked there knowing what he knew. Kind of scuzzy practices to mischaracterize and mislead a guy who no one has any complaints about and who wasn't involved in the majority of what happened in your film.

The only real footage I've seen of Ramsay cooking in a purely professional setting was when he was under Marco Pierre White, who was by all accounts a holy terror. I would not be surprised to find out Ramsay can really lose his temper in the kitchen, what luck then that people seem to enjoy paying to watch him do it. I've been a consumer of his content for years, off and on, and there is a clear progression from his earliest British programs like "The F Word" to today. He gets louder, sure, but he also seems to get a little less mean. I think the mean streak might be the real guy and he is softening in his old age. I don't begrudge him his success, the best meal I've ever had was at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, but I would certainly avoid working for him. It seems young chefs who want to some day hold their own Michelin stars are willing to put up with anything to get access to training and opportunity. I hope the culture of machismo and self destruction in kitchens is changing. Rene Redzeppi spent years at the absolute top of the world and he has been public about how much therapy it took him to overcome the aggression and violence he developed coming up in haute cuisine. I'd like to see more of that, even if it means fewer compelling FX shows detailing severe dysfunction.

Two items: First, Bridgeport has landed and I've got about 100 listening hours into it. It's big and beautiful and I love it. I'll share pictures when it's moved out of my bedroom and into my office. Second, there is a Torpedo III for sale elsewhere: https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650094412-ecp-torpedo-iii-amplifier/?utm_campaign=saved-searches-alerts&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email

Man, have I missed out on all the fun here? I have no excuse, my home office serves double-duty as my blast shelter, so even when my windows shake from Iron Dome detonations I can certainly post. I can't share all the tea here on an open forum, but I'll make a point to pop by and represent the USG perspective on what is going on. This is obviously a subject that arouses very strong feelings in many (myself included), but as a paid propagandist working in exactly this area I think I'm uniquely qualified to stick my neck out.

^^ The game kicks ass. I really enjoyed it.

a.k.a. The adventures of Boyd from Justified turned up to 11 and as much Lizzy Kaplan and Finn from Star Wars as we could afford. Honestly I'm having a good time. The show wears its influences on its sleeve (Silo, Walking Dead, Hello Tomorrow!) but the world feels visceral and fun. It's absolutely good enough to prove the assertion that video game settings can also be good TV settings and I like that.

Not exactly volcano news, but how many threads can a forum of this size reasonably sustain focusing on Iceland? Welcome to new PM "Teflon" Bjarni Ben, surely this means a bright new future for all Icelanders?

It pretty much stays good. I enjoyed it all the way through.

Great sounding gear, very unappealing room and layout. I would stare constantly at the bit of screen covered by the Naim Statement sitting directly on the carpet. Also, who puts a dropdown screen in a dedicated room?

Thanks, Birgir! Grabbed two sets and a new headband.