Are we allowed to politely disagree and move on??!! I am happy to go into my thoughts as to why ROTS can’t overcome its shortcomings, but a lot of comes down to what hit me as a kid watching the OT and how the PT was such a drastic departure. Certain of those choices were rolled back in the ST, so I’m fonder of it than most, though I’ve been holding a torch for TLJ so long…

Imagine thinking 3 is worse than whatever fucking mess phantom menace was.

Want to know why Qui Gon dies from a stab when no one else ever does? The man was fucking exhausted from carrying the entire film. Liam Neeson single-handedly elevates TPM above the other two prequels.

7 was 4 but worse.

You’re not wrong, but four was that good

TLJ is flawed but great and would be higher if TROS weren’t such a cowardly backtracking shitshow of a movie.

ROTS is very nearly as hard to watch as AOTC, though it has some higher highs. I will personally never forgive it for forcing the most brain-twisting mental gymnastics ever to retcon ROTJ’s Luke-Leia “real mother” scene in the Ewok village.

Everything that’s annoying about AOTC is there in spades in ROTS.

ROTS just had few better parts.

(postlogue?)

epilogue

5, 4, 6, 8, 7, R1, Solo, 1, 3, 9, 2

This could work. I was going to posit some fan casting, then I realized that literally every actor I was coming up with for the local Mulder was in their 50s or 60s.

The Office (US) could have ended with the proposal in the rain.

It probably should have ended with the wedding in Niagara.

It definitely should have ended when Michael left. Don’t give me your Robert California bullshit either. The series was already on fumes and the last two seasons were garbage.

Oh well, best of luck at Mayo!

I’m 45, and I agree with both of you. There seems to be a bimodal thing with lots of folks who are still young enough to think that screaming THE TRUTH™ to everyone they encounter will be what fixes the world, but a very large chunk of active posters who actually want to communicate seem to be a bit older. My personal theory is that the API exodus left year gathered in a lot of people who had seen previous social media sites (e.g. Digg) blow themselves up, and that by definition will skew older.

I mean, it’s unironically worth a try if you can try it risk-free. The munchies are a real thing, and many people find marijuana helps with nausea, though some find the opposite. Personally, though, smoking made me paranoid (I’m still VERY sure those two guys in Amsterdam were laughing at me, but wife is convinced otherwise), and edibles made me sleepy, not that edibles would be much of an option for you.

All that said, the only real medical advice is to keep getting medical advice. You’re clearly not dealing with something normal, so keep an eye on it for your and your family’s sake, but if it’s not killing you, then maybe you just ride this thing out. I’m of a similar age, and while I don’t have anything nearly as dramatic, dealing with the lifestyle changes forced by aging is just sort of our lot in life now.

Hang in there, FlyingSquid@lemmy.world. Rooting for you.

G2 is less sweet. Hell, that’s a whole market segment at this point, so maybe there’s something that hits your palate better. Pickle juice is probably still around somewhere too.

For the shakes, maybe look up various protein smoothie recipes if you get sick of Ensure. You can add milk or water to get the protein powder to a consistency you prefer.

I just watched The Marvels, and I liked it quite a bit, if I stopped short of loving it (but honestly, who LOVES marvel movies? The entire point is high floor/low ceiling entertainment). The plot meanders and it has a typical Marvel “understandable but underdeveloped” villain, but the leads had good chemistry, the switching dynamic was fun, the entire cast from Ms. Marvel is delightful, and Brie Larson is (finally) getting comfortable in the role. I was kinda surprised at how poorly it did, but also kinda not, because fanboys are proving that they really need to see themselves represented or they suddenly develop extremely high standards and demand only groundbreaking entertainment with perfect execution.

Last night, I watched ‘The Conners’

There’s yer problem right there, buddy.

More seriously though, I don’t think any sitcom is obliged to be “educational.” If most of the audience laughed and didn’t find the narrative out of step with the tone of the show or the characterizations to be distractingly broad compared to earlier seasons/episodes, then it was a “good” episode of The Connors.

Now you tell me, do the Connors usually try to do the right thing and learn lessons, or are they kind of a bowdlerized “Shameless” now? I do not plan to watch enough to find out for myself.

You’re obviously trying to be thoughtful, and to a certain extent this is entirely subjective. If you, as any decent person would, think there are lines that you do not cross and that you treat service professionals with respect, then where is the line? You definitely don’t throw shit on the floor intentionally, but you also don’t offer to help cook, which you might at a family dinner. Every non-shitty person person will land somewhere in between, though hopefully a good ways away from throwing shit on the floor.

I think you’re just running into a situation where your line is in a different place than other folks’, to the point where you’re a little out of step with the level of “help with the chores” that most people expect at a sit-down restaurant. If you continue to treat staff with respect, thank them for their help, and (if culturally appropriate/economically necessary) tip generously, then you don’t have to feel bad. My wife waited tables and tended bar for many years, and it’s not the specific tasks that are part of the job that ever made it feel degrading, it was people treating her shabbily and acting superior. No one expects you to clear the table when you’re out; just don’t act like you’re too good to.

The local cryptid in my home town was the “Humanzee” reported to have been created at the “secret lab” of a Yale psychologist/primatologist/eugenicist.

Influenced, yes, but it’s also important to keep in mind that Lucas was working with a lot of influences, including some that make no sense if viewed as a cohesive allegory. For instance, the power relationship of the Rebels to the Empire has parallels of the Viet Cong to the US military. In a cut scene, though, Biggs specifically (and tediously, hence the cut) cites the Empire’s nationalization of private industry as influencing his decision to join the Rebels.

Lucas has always been a well-meaning, left-leaning, white American boomer. He includes relevant ideas based off that worldview in his work, but he’s not making grand political statements or really even engaging with political thought in a serious manner. Star Wars is probably more timeless and better for it.

The best I can find around here in north Texas are pre packaged raw peanuts, so they’re kinda old and super dry. They still boil up fine, but it takes for-fucking-ever. I’ve found that salt and Adobo seasoning gives them a nice mellow garlic flavor that works really well for me. Canned Cajun style are good too, though there are more squishies than I’d prefer.

Yup. They’re basically beans that were raised as tubers and think they’re tree nuts.

Then you boil them in a brine and they become redneck oysters.

If you live somewhere with a “food hall” place, that might capture the vibe of a bar in the sense that it’s communal and built around eating and drinking, but is more flexible than a coffee shop and more open ended than a restaurant. Those who still partake can do so, so you might see people drinking, but it won’t have that mild absurdity some folks can feel hanging out in a bar while not drinking.