Now
Random stuff that, for the most part, is too boring to put on Mastodon, Bluesky or Instagram. This is mostly to let Future Me have a look at what Past Me has wasted his time with.
Turns out a Toxic Ice 9000, that gets hasted pretty fast, is quite oppressive. Who could have known?
A very very rare late night perfect NYT Connections solution:
Connections
Puzzle #994
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🟦🟦🟦🟦
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Well, look at this. For the first time in my visits to the Bazaar the sandstorm gave up and both players won. This is the basic setup: My Vanessa with Attack/Shield against a mostly Shield/Heal Dooley.
Near the end I had around 32.000 shield, while Dooley had over 2.1 million shield. So I should have lost this encounter. But luckily the sandstorm ended before I did.
That build was only good enough for seven Wins. But fun nonetheless.
The artwork for the new @playthebazaar.bsky.social hero Karnok looks phenomenal. I mean, the Bazaar had fantastic art right from the start. But hunter items are just more interesting than the last additions of engines and food. #HypedForRageMode – playthebazaar.com
I am having much fun with The Bazaar right now. So I bought Stelle. I excepted some fruitless runs at the start. But the second run with her ended with a beautiful burn build: Deadly Radar Dome + Hydrogen Tank + Molten Ball Blaster + Altimeter + Restorative Fire Claw. I didn’t even need more tools to charge the Blaster. Very nice hero. And there are still lots of options for other builds.
Well, hello Bladed Hoverboard. I have underestimated you. I apologize. #TheBazaar
Muahahaha. I never thought the Junkyard Lance was any good, but it got me 10 Wins rather easily. I only lost to two one hit builds. #TheBazaar
Glory (1989). So Netflix shoved this movie in my face. A historical war drama about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the Union Army’s earliest African American regiments in the American Civil War. I do like the topic, But as usual with historical movies, it is a good idea to have a look at the Wikipedia page. For example, there was no flogging in the Union army.
The movie is quite good; it won several awards. But it lost me in the final battle. The whole affair is meant to be epic, heroic, glorious. But why did they have to capture Fort Wagner? Why was the frontal assault required? Why could they not start in the night? There are probably good reasons for all that. But all I could think was: God, this is stupid. But what do I know about military tactics.
Let’s say: 7 out of 10
Seems I am back in Bazaar mode. This is currently more fun than trying to ascend the Spire for the umpteenth time.
Here I tried the Windmill for the first time. I barely made it to ten wins, but I had a blast sandstorming the competitors away. #TheBazaar
Oh look, I made a Sword of Swords work. That was fun. In the end it started with 59% Crit Chance. The Runic Blade got to 20.000+ damage really fast, but didn’t even trigger once in all my battles. The hastened Sword of Swords was just way faster. #TheBazaar
Ah, exactly my kind of trailer: weird & charming. And there’s a demo too. #SomethingForTheWeekend
This is how you do a fantastic video game trailer. Start with some fine animation that makes people yearn for an anime version. Then show gameplay with: The Return of the Defect! Something that is hopefully a multiplayer option (looks like someone was inspired by the boardgame)! An Avengers-like jump into action! The Chosen Cheese! Alternate Acts! And a mysterious figure at the end – who … watches?
March 5th will start a very long weekend. Hell yeah!
Absolute Power (DC, 2024). It’s the DC summer blockbuster from last year. Now »free« with Kindle Unlimited. And while I usually like the stories with Amanda Waller as antagonist, this series suffers from the same formula as most of the other summer blockbusters: Too much stuff is crammed into 200 pages. I fail to feel the high stakes, if the heroes can handle the threat in a mere four issues. And while there is some good stuff – I like Waller, Failsafe, the Amazos and the Brainiac Queen – it feels like much of the important stuff happened in tie-ins. I’d rather have a twelve issues series that actually contains all the action.
Verdict: As a stand-alone comic this is very meh. Maybe it is more fun if you read the comics leading up to this event.
It’s been a while since I have visited the Bazaar. Nice to see that some of the old stuff still works out fine.
Jeez. It took me nearly two weeks to finally beat the Spire with the Watcher. My least favorite character. I don’t understand why this one is called the easy one. I am still having trouble to find the right rhythm for stance dancing. I think you have to pay way more attention to everything. In contrast to the other characters.
But at least my quest is over. I have now »rescued« all four characters. #SlayTheSpire
Ich präsentiere: den vielleicht hässlichsten Berliner der Welt! Ich nehme an, der soll aussehen wie ein Stück Kohle. Aber warum sollte man sich ein Stück Kohle in den Mund schieben?
(Dies ist das erste Mal in meinem Leben, dass ich etwas gekauft habe, weil ich es auf Anhieb so außergewöhnlich hässlich fand.)
Oh look, it’s the best trailer I’ve seen this year.
(Wait, based on a video game? Hmm, missed that one.)
Doing Performance Tests with content-visibility: auto.
On the one hand, I save 20-40% of rendering time with little effort. On the other hand, saving 50ms in rendering time against a total of 2600ms might only be interesting to performance nerds.
Of course, results will differ on other websites.
We recently started playing the Slay The Spire Boardgame. And I decided to do some easy runs in the digital game. Just beating the Heart. On Ascension 0. Just for fun. And although I have 658 hours in the game, it took around a dozen attempts to beat the Heart with the Ironaclad again. Thought it would be easier …
The Dirty Dozen (1967). In my quest to watch some good old classics, I gave this one a shot. Twelve convicts train for a suicide mission against some Nazis in 1944. This one was a box office hit, and still holds 82% on the Tomatometer.
For my taste, a few decades later, the film is quite uneven. They spend way too much time for the setup and the training, and not enough on the mission itself. And I don’t like the comedic bits, especially considering the bloodshed in the mission itself. On the plus side: Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson.
Not my kind of war movie: 5 out of 10.
L.A. Story (1991). Rewatch. I saw this one sometime in the mid-90s. I couldn’t remember much except for Steve Martin, a love story, and a charming, magical freeway sign. The movie still has 91% on the Tomatometer, and I don’t understand why. The satire parts are mostly meh. Everything with the restaurant is just cringe. Nothing here is funny, just silly. The only thing this movie has going for it is indeed the charming, magical freeway sign.
Let’s say 6 out of 10.
It’s quite impossible to limit 25 years of #Drupal to a mere #Drupal25Words. However, I think I at least managed to add a hint of poetry. Happy Birthday, #Drupal25!
Für Leute, die alte, schräge Musik mögen: Ich bin vor ein paar Tagen über das Vintage Obscura Radio gestolpert. Die spielen Tracks, die mindestens 25 Jahre alt sind und weniger als 30.000 Views auf YouTube haben. Querbeet von Pop, Jazz, Electronic, Funk, Punk, Rock. Alles unbekannt (für mich), ziemlich viele schräge Sachen dabei.
Radio auf: vintageobscura.net/
Auf Bsky kann man besser durchklicken: bsky.app/profile/vintageobscura.net
Wenn man ein wenig scrollt, findet man Zeug, das einem gefällt. Zum Beispiel:
bsky.app/profile/vintageobscura.net/post/3mbprjyyjuz2s
Oder dieses Cover:
