u/CaptCrunchBenson

I'm still trying to find a sofa the right size to replace my very old Karlstad. I like the look of the UPPÅKRA a lot, but it's too wide. I can't go over 85".

From a dimensions standpoint, using two of the corner pieces together would be the right size. But the "Uppakra Planner" on the website won't let me put those corner pieces next to each other, and when I did a live chat with the website chat it says they're not meant to go together and it wouldn't work, although this is from before it was available in stores.

Essentially, instead of putting two 1.5 sofa seat modules together to make a couch, I'd put two corner pieces together: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/uppakra-cover-for-corner-section-johanneshov-dark-gray-80618871/ . I also prefer the look of this where the arms and cushions are aligned in the depth vs the sofa where the cushions are deeper than the arm rest and the cushion wraps around in front of the arms.

This is as close as the planner will let me put the two pieces, but from the 3D view I don't see why this wouldn't work? If it closed the gap, it would be about 83" wide, which is perfect:

https://preview.redd.it/r0aznazyqtdh1.png?width=1238&format=png&auto=webp&s=2121764b984a0004f8c7e55065f30f0c8ebe5118

Has anyone tried this? Or any store employees have insight if I could make a two-piece sofa out of two corner pieces?

This is the official video from the L&O Youtube account -- it's 30 minutes of the season-long beef between the two.

As I was watching the latest season and they had little drops of this throughout, I thought I must have missed something because I didn't understand what the issue was or why Tynan had it out for Benson.

Seeing all 30 minutes of it together confirms that this plot line made zero sense. I'm even more confused now than I was before.

The actress who plays Tynan is compelling so there could've been some really interesting elements with her, but this was not it. She acted the hell out of it and made what was written like a cartoon villain more subtle, which is a testament to her acting skills. But seriously, what was this whole arc?

Like, she wants to destroy Benson's career all because she's mad she is out in the field too much and she won't take a job at 1PP? What a weird vendetta, especially when she has major skeletons in her closet.

I had a bunch of Nars products (afterglow blushes, eye cream) that were 50% off in my cart yesterday. Everything indicated that it was part of the sale that goes through July 11. I went to add a few more things this morning because I got distracted last night and didn't get to order, and I was sad to see that it's back to regular price today.

I didn't see anything about that product only being on sale until 7/4. There wasn't anything on the product page indicating when the sale was going to end. I even went in store a few days ago to try the shades IRL before ordering (I wanted the Clinique GWP that's online only though) and the signs in the store didn't have an end date. It just said it was 50% off with the big summer sale, so I assumed it was good until that date.

I didn't even see a sale flyer for Nars at all online (compared to other brands that are advertising 40% off for two days only or other various short term deals). I stumbled upon the Nars products being on sale when I was searching for a different Nars product and saw they had the deals on certain items.

For my future reference, is there a way to tell when individual sales that are apparently sub-sales within a larger sale event end? I don't want to miss out on these deals in the future. (This would have only been my second Ulta online order, so I'm a newer customer).

I'm returning to clarinet after 20+ years. I played on an R13 back in middle school/high school and I was considering a professional career until band conflicting with AP classes forced my hands to quit. I sold the R13 (which I had purchased brand new in the late 90s -- it might have been a green line, but I don't remember for sure) and that was that. I started renting a clarinet from a local shop earlier this year (an E11), and it's fine. There are a few things that need to be adjusted/pads replaced, but overall it seems good enough, and muscle memory kicked in. I'm probably as good as I was in 7th grade after playing once per week for a few months this time around.

I don't want to keep renting forever because it's throwing money away. I'm enjoying it, and would like to buy one. If I want to buy my rental, it will be about $1600 (and the money I've spent renting it will count toward the purchase price). If I decide to buy my rental, then I can keep renting it for a bit to make sure I like it. But also, from Googling it seems like that's an insane price for an E11 and is way overpriced.

The rental place is replacing the pads and gave me a loaner in the meantime, which is a Buffet frankenclarinet. (Per Google search/Gemini's automatic AI, the lower joint might be from an R13 and the upper joint is probably an E11 or 12. They have mismatched serial numbers so there's at least 2 different instrument parts in the case. The barrel and bell don't have serial numbers but do have remnants of a Buffet logo). Because it's old, and there is a chip in the lower joint right where it attaches to the bell, they said they'd give me a helluva deal -- like sub $500 for it. It plays fine. Better than the original E11 that they're fixing.

There's a woodwind store near me and they have a couple clarinets in their supply. I am currently testing an R13 on a trial, which I have until next week. They have another person who is interested in it, but I have first dibs. They're asking about $2100 for the R13. Allegedly it was owned by a professional clarinetist, per the sales guy at the shop, and he says it was well-maintained. This list makes it look like it was 1987, assuming that long list is all R13 serial numbers. It starts with 301xxx. When I googled it, Google's automatic AI said it's 1997 or 1977 or 1985 (Gemini is worthless and can't make up its mind lol).

The sales guy is encouraging me to go the R13 route, and so far it's been great to play on and feels like my old one, but I'm also biased b/c it was my old instrument type lol. It's hard to swallow paying that much though, because I'm pretty sure my brand new R13 back in the day was like $2000 and I sold it for $1500 in 2003. An older instrument that's more expensive is hard to justify.

I also can't really hear or feel much of a difference between the R13 and the E11 and the frankenclarinet, though that's probably because I'm not that good yet. The sales guy was talking about "flexibility" and "brightness" and stuff as I was testing different models, but I don't really know what that means (I'm not sure I really understood it at my peak playing ability when I was first chair of our audition-based wind ensemble, either, tbh).

Realistically, I'm going to play maybe once per week at most (probably less, if current habits are anything to go on). I toyed with the idea of joining a community band, but I don't really have time for that. Maybe I'd volunteer to play in the pit for a local theater at some point if I got good enough. But really it's just me playing along to random youtube video clarinet music mixes on my couch for an hour until my embouchure gives out and my face hurts and then doing that again a few weeks later.

I want something that I'll enjoy picking up and not get frustrated with, and that will make me want to play more. I have noticed considerable improvement each time I play, so I think if I did actually practice a few times per week I would be pretty good within the year.

TL;DR: What would you do? Is it really worth an extra $500 (over the E11) or an extra $1500+ (over the Frankenclarinet) for the R13? (I have the money, so it's not going to bankrupt me. It's more of a psychological thing -- I'm also hesitant to spend more than 2x my mortgage payment on a clarinet for a hobby, because that seems insane.)

Is an R13 for around $2100 that is potentially 30-40 years old a good deal? (There's not a warranty, but it does look to be in good shape). Is there anything I should specifically look for on the instrument to help confirm quality? It plays sharp, but so do all of the others I've tried, so I think it's me. It's less sharp than the others, though.

FWIW, the local shop has great reviews online and is reputable. Thanks for any insight! I just don't want to regret my decision, whatever it is.

I just saw a video of the curtain call with Mariska hugging Ice T at the end as she makes her way to recognize all the people she had participate. Was anyone there? Did he actually play one of the parts or was she just hugging him? (Coco was next to him but didn't get a hug in the video, so I assume he was involved in the show).

https://preview.redd.it/nmnbdkznth7h1.png?width=1188&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b10496067b2ca03282b3e5f4a789936549c36a5

Has anyone else watched the "Actors on Actors" with Mariska and Jamie Lee Curtis? (It's available via CNN's app/on their site if you subscribe to either their app or have cable with CNN included. Otherwise it'll be on Youtube tomorrow).

It was not what I was expecting compared to the other "Actors on Actors" features I've watched. I really hope they'll do another one and put Mariska and Chris together, as I feel like they would've had a better conversation and gotten into the details of their approach to the show and such (like the one with Tony Goldwin and Kerry Washington, or the few with Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston). Like I get why they put these two together in theory because they've recently become besties, and they're both kids from Hollywood royalty and apparently briefly lived next door to each other as young kids, but it wasn't great, IMHO.

I don't know if this was just poorly edited or if it just wasn't a great conversation in the first place, but I don't feel like we got a lot of info here. The whole thing felt like big chunks of the conversation were missing/it jumped around a lot. It was kind of obnoxious at times, too. (And Jamie seemed to do most of the talking. Granted, I've never really seen any of her work other than Freaky Friday and Activia commercials that were always on when I was growing up. I admittedly don't know much about her. But, this did not make me want to watch her in other things).

I know they're good friends, but the vibes were off to me. It didn't feel like "oh these two are best friends," the way that others in the series have been. And even the other interviews in the series where they put two people who don't really know each other together to interview each other often have better vibes, so it's not just a situation where they haven't known each other as long as Tony/Kerry or Lisa/Jen. (Maybe this is just their personalities together? Like I said, I don't know much about JLC, so maybe that's her schtick?). It felt like Mariska wanted to talk more about their work and aside from 2.5 minutes at the end where she talks about the play briefly, there wasn't much substance here. It felt like a missed opportunity. We've learned more about MH from the 5 minutes segments on the Today show or that 10 minute Sunday Morning show she did last year than we did on this 45 minute special.

I'm curious what other people thought.

I'm trying to decide if I want to take time off of work to fly out there. I might, because there are a few shows I'd love to see that are all happening now. But to be honest I'm a little worried fans will be obnoxious. I want to wait at least a few weeks for the crazies to go first and get it out of their systems lol.

I'm curious if anyone on here is going. I hope that someone out there films portions of it. I'm also curious to see who she will bring up on stage for the various parts. If Jalen comes, it would be hilarious if she picks him (I imagine for the first few shows she'll probably pick her friends who come, which would be awesome. Imagine if she gets Chris or Ice to play her husband or her father, or Kelli to play the teacher. I wonder if she'll have Peter do one of the parts at least once.).

I really hope it goes well for her. It's one of my favorite shows, so that's why I'm also a little hesitant to go. I was bummed I didn't get to see Daniel because everyone said he was incredible. I'm hoping she'll be amazing, but I'm a little afraid that it may be stuntcasting, especially because she hasn't done live theater before like this. Hopefully she blows everyone away. I saw a review from someone who was there for invited dress who said it was amazing, but also those folks aren't going to be overly harsh.

Anyway, just curious if anyone is going to see it anytime soon. I'd love to hear how it is and get the details about how she makes it her own compared to Daniel's version.

ETA: I'm not encouraging anyone to record it or saying you should. I'm saying I hope that there is a recording at some point (e.g. her own production company, or another one -- almost all shows are professionally recorded for archival purposes, even if they don't get released to the public. But some shows do record and then make it available on various streaming services like BroadwayHD. The original Every Brilliant Thing play from London is available on HBO, for example. It's fantastic, btw. If you haven't seen it, watch it).

https://preview.redd.it/f94fy5tyg1xg1.png?width=1038&format=png&auto=webp&s=316cfe1d3a0da9aabc00302cc2569bdfad74e057

Did her stylist know this was the color drape they'd all be posing with or just a very weird coincidence? (It just is too close to be a coincidence). Either way, the look A++.