Absolutely. But I'm gonna be heartbroken if PPMD doesn't win it.

Same! Competitive Melee is my jam. I'm so absolutely hyped for Evo.

Yeah, I agree. Brawl was a huge step down.

It's definitely more like Brawl, in that the physics are still pretty floaty and there aren't all that many real combos that you can do. But, even so, it's definitely a step away from Brawl. I don't love the game, and I definitely like other smash games better, but it's still a stupid amount of fun to play with friends. Plus, there are like, twenty new characters!

The tag has been made!

Alright! So that makes three of us that I know of: you, me, and goo.

And, if you have a WiiU, definitely get Smash 4. I'm not even the biggest fan, but it's still an amazing game, if only just to whip out when you have friends over and want to have some fun.

Holy shit dude, you play Smash? I was just wondering if there were any Smashers on here.

Which games do you play? I'm a PM guy myself, but I also dabble in Melee and play some Sm4sh on the side when my brother is annoying enough to convince me.

But, awesome! We should make a Smash tag or something.

Thanks for this! I finally get what's going on. And yeah, I think I agree with what everyone else in this thread is saying right now: it really just seems best for them to make a "grexit" (which is a very fun word to say).

How did being polygamous effect your relationships with your "secondaries?" (is that the right term?) Were those relationships purely sexual? Or did you also make emotional connections with those people? And, like, did these other relationships feel "lesser," I guess?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm really curious.

I really have not been following this story much at all - anything in the news involving economics just makes me want to take a nap - so could someone more well-versed in it than I explain what effects Greece pulling out could have, both domestically and globally?

Thanks. :)

Wow, us Jews actually have something very similar! In the Jewish faith, when someone dies, the immediate family picks a room, sets up chairs, and sits down to receive visitors. It's called "Sitting Shiva." They do this for seven days, and aren't allowed to cook their own meals, leave the house unless absolutely necessary, or really do much of anything. Everything is provided for them.

It's an incredible thing. Basically the whole community comes to talk, console, reminisce about the departed, or just "schmooze." From what I've seen, it really helps the mourners bear the grief. In all honesty, it's one of my favorite parts of Judaism.

But what's really cool is that, from what you're saying, Muslims actually do something similar! Our cultures aren't all that different, in a lot of ways. :)

Sorry for the late reply, but yes, I would totally want in!

I definitely understand those criticisms. I won't tell you that they're untrue, because, yeah, things do repeat themselves in the game. Part of the problem is that the game has a permadeath-type deal going on, so if you're deep into a quest on one captain, but then that captain meets an unfortunate end, you'll have to start that quest aaaallll over again.

So that sucks. But, two things make it better for me:

Firstly, the game has a fuckton of content and things to explore. So, even if you might encounter a couple of quests and stories several times, I've found that the new things that I find on a given playthrough vastly outweigh the old. I've played the game, like I said, for like thirty hours by now, but there are still loads and loads of things that I have yet to do. So, basically, I have plenty of motivation to just power through to get to the good stuff.

And secondly, I find that using a bit of imagination also makes everything way more fun, and I think a lot of the game was made with the intention of getting you to fill in some blanks in your own head. So, for example, I've made up a character for all my captains, which is a ton of fun, and makes decision making in the game more immersive. Like, I'll be at a point where I can either use force or try to run away from an enemy, and perhaps I'd want to run away, but then I'll be like, "well, wait, wouldn't Captain McAwesomepants go in guns ablazing, and screw the consequences?"

So yeah. It's repetitive sometimes, but I've found it to be fun enough to make me ignore that art of it. Definitely at least reconsider getting it. It's real fun.

I have played the drums since the third grade. For as long as I can remember, I've loved to bang on things - much to the annoyance of, well, basically anyone within a fifty foot radius of me. It was only natural that my parents get me a drum set to play on, and I've played the drums ever since.

I really love rhythm. I love feeling like I'm creating the pulse of a song. Even though I sometimes wish the drums could express things better, be more emotional, I guess, I still love the rawness of them. And plus, drummers are always the coolest memebers of the band. ;)

Oh, and I also play harmonica, but that's more of a for kicks thing.

I know that feeling. Spelunky used to be my drug. I can't even explain WHY it's so addictive, it just is. Like, on paper, the game is basically just, "progress through a series of increasingly difficult levels, then die. Repeat forever." But that didn't stop me from playing it obsessively.

I've been playing a ton of Sunless Sea recently. For those who aren't aware of what it is, it's essentially an indie rouge like exploration game with a huge emphasis on story and atmosphere. And, in short, it is SO FUCKING GOOD.

Like, in a week, I've played almost thirty hours of it, and I really don't plan on stopping any time soon. There are just so many awesome story lines contained within this one game, it's unlike anything I've ever played before. If you're into games with an excellent atmosphere and stellar writing, please buy this game. It's top goddamned notch.

Hey! No one else has commented on this, so I'd just like to say: this is pretty great! I think it's a pretty interesting choice that you made with this to only break lines when you wanted to emphasize a particular word. I like that. It's something that I haven't quite seen before.

I also like how you describe the woman as "a piece of the universe embedded in a single host." That's one of those phrases that I wish I had come up. I might have to steal it, if you don't mind. ;)

I think my one complaint about it would be that sometimes, in an attempt to describe something banal in a unique way, you kind of end up being a bit too wordy. A good example is when you describe food as "nutritious substances." It's just a bit too much, you know?

But please don't take the criticism too seriously. I really love this poem, on the whole. Thanks for sharing. :)

Goddamn, this is a really sad article. It kind of reminds me of this article that I read in the New Yorker a while ago. It's more about the loneliness of the younger generation of Japanese. So if you're interested in being still more depressed, give it a look.

Hey, thanks! Glad to be here. You all seem like a nice lot of people. :)

Also, random off topic side point: I used to be on another forum a long while ago with the same username, and they also used to call me Ima, so, wow, you calling me that gives me a huge wave of nostalgia. Gah.

But anyways! It is definitely a useful life skill. I consider myself an introvert, like you, so I find it very difficult to just talk to people like that. But the few times that I have have invariably been with really interesting people. It's a good thing to do. It humanizes everyone around you, which is awesome, because I tend to think of people I don't know as basically just quickly disappearing faces.

I love what Hemingway had to say about writing. Usually, I'm not really a fan of any of these "tips on how to be a writer" things, because the process of creating art is so individualized and varied from person to person that I feel like the value of the wisdom that is being imparted to me is lost, more often than not. But with Hemingway, his advice is so universal that I feel like you don't even have to be a writer to appreciate it. He was all about noticing things and understanding them, and I feel like we could all use a little more of that in our lives.

Wow. Reading this gives me this feeling of simultaneous envy and vicarious happiness that I often get when I hear about someone doing something awesome. And you get extra awesomeness points for meeting and interacting with so many interesting people. I don't think I would have been able to just strike up conversations with total strangers, so seriously, kudos.

Also, if I might ask, what are you doing in Tacoma? Just out of curiosity.

I've been fanboying something fierce for flannel shirts in the past month or so. I'm actually wearing one right now. It doesn't really make make much sense, what with it being, you know, the hottest season of the year, but there you go.

They're just so fucking COMFORTABLE. Bonus points if they're long and baggy.

My feelings exactly. Voat got so many mentions in the FPH circles as "the new Reddit" that it's basically become hating fat people, the website. Not exactly a place I'd like to spend my time browsing.

But I also heard of this place, and it seems rather pleasant - and pleasantly small - so here I am!

I tend to categorize the writers that I've read based mostly on what they make me think about. Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes me think about determinism and romanticism and how those things can become intertwined. Don Delillo makes me think mostly of death. Cormac McCarthy makes me think about despair and human nature. And so on.

All this is to say that, from what admittedly little that I've read of DFW - I've read Consider the Lobster and A Supposedly Fun Thing, but none of his fiction, unfortunately :( - he makes me think mostly about self-conciseness. Like, how much modern society pushes us to be self conscience, image conscience, etc. I mean, he writes about a buttload of other themes, but that's the one that always sticks with me. So, I find it sadly ironic that, as DFW became more and more famous, it kind of seems that he became more aware and accepting of the role that society pushed him towards: the misunderstood, tortured genius. Like, as the cameras were trained on him, he just defaulted to that.

I think the article does a real nice job of touching on that, and also talking about how that perception of him has only grown after his death. That quote where he says "I want to be on the other side of the camera" - i.e., on the side that isn't being watched - was particularly telling.

Cool read. I should really read Infinite Jest one of these days..

You shouldn't worry about it! By just paying him back, you've proved yourself a far better friend than a good deal of people. I mean, I, right now, owe like two of my friends money, and have for quite some time.

So I guess you're better than me, at least. :)