Hi all,
We are looking at a June 2027 9 Day Princess cruise around Japan. It sails on the Diamond Princess which is apparently a Japanese-centric Princess ship and I wanted to see if anyone had experience on that particular boat and what they thought of it? It sounds like they've changed out the thermal spa found on other princess ships with a traditional Japanese Izumi instead.
I just finished the Shivered Sky series (Every Grain of Sand, In the City of Demons, and The Great Devouring Darkness) and before that I knocked out Dominion of Blades, Hobgoblin Riot, Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon, and Operation Bounce House. I've read all 8 DCC books 3 times through now. I think the only MD books I haven't read are The Grinding and Trailer Park Fairy Tales, neither of which I can find.
Anyway, I noticed a few names come up over and over and I wondered if that is just a Matt thing or what the deal is.
A few examples:
And those are just the ones I noticed right away - I'm sure there's more. Does anyone have the inside scoop there?
And yes, I have a Dungeon Crawler Carl obsession and yes, my TV is too high for some people’s taste but that is my board game cabinet so it is staying put.
I’m just getting started on the series. All 13 (?) were free on Kindle a few weeks back so I snagged them and they are really good so far. I know im just starting out but Eithan is great.
I want to take a few minutes to talk about the audiobook version of DCC book 8. Not just Chapter 57 but the rest of the book around that fixed moment in time.
Let me preface by saying I’ve read all the DCC books multiple times, and as the methadone to the heroin that is DCC, I’ve also read Operation Bounce House, Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon, Dominion of Blades, and the Shivered Sky series. I followed those up with the audio versions of DCC, OBH, and DoB. Sidebar: if you haven’t read/listened to the two Dominion of Blades of books, they are really good. Surprisingly solid shit with some really fun twists and the audio is wonderful.
Anyway, the audiobooks of DCC 1-7 are obviously great. Jeff Hayes was finding his groove in book one and the voices kind of wiggle back and forth in tone and delivery through the first few books, and by 5-7 he’s got it pinned down. Somehow he leveled up because in book 8, Jeff is fucking transcendent. Like, book 8 on paper is great – funny and clever and gripping and all the things but there are parts in the audiobook where Jeff’s voices and delivery make me laugh out loud. Not quietly chortle but actually laugh in bed while reading and annoy the wife. I blame the Dr. Metcalf lines for that (>!“…I will drive you to a swamp and drown you like a basket of ugly puppies!<”).
There are also parts that have grabbed me by the throat and made me pay attention. >!Chapter 46/47 where the things happen to the NPCs and Carl gets angry and the shark is on the ceiling!<. The delivery of all of that was emotionally crushing. It was a short segment, all things considered, but it was so amazingly well done.
There are just so many parts where Jeff’s delivery takes an already amazing thing and elevates it and makes it even better. I guess I just want to say that I’m super fucking thankful for that and it makes me appreciate what Matt is sharing with us even more.
Cause I’m down to clown. HMU you dirty energy company.
I think my little home library is coming right along. I've been working on it all summer and finally made a spreadsheet of all my books. I dropped it into ChatGPT and had it make a graphic because spreadsheets aren't for everyone!
Hi all! My wife had an abdominoplasty, lipo, and a breast lift four weeks ago. I stayed home for a couple weeks to help take care of her and she is recovering well.
There is a fancy dress gala that we need to attend at the end of the month for my job. She’ll be just over 6 weeks post op and she’s having trouble figuring out what kind of compression garment she can wear under a ball gown. Right now it is foam and a Velcro belly band. I don’t think the bra is going to be a problem because it isn’t a strapless gown or anything, but does anyone have a recommendation for a more slim fit compression garment she can wear under the dress for the four or six hours of the ball? She doesn’t want to go with nothing because she says she can feel discomfort when she takes off her compression for more than an hour or so.
I tried doing some Internet searches, but it is really hard to tell what is junk from what might actually work and this community seems really tuned in so I thought I would ask. Thanks in advance!
I’ve been exercising with American Dad.
I’ve been trying to do something every morning before work because, you know… I’m 50 and things don’t just magically stay where they used to. Nothing crazy. Just 20 minutes on the elliptical before work.
The problem is it’s way too early in the morning for anything that requires brain cells. I don’t want to watch YouTube because suddenly it’s an hour later and I’m learning how medieval glass was made. Podcasts are hit or miss because sometimes I realize I haven’t heard a word for the last ten minutes or I spend all day planning The Perfect Murder.
Then it hit me: one episode of American Dad.
From Stan launching himself out of bed in the intro until the credits roll and I hit the button for the next episode on Hulu is basically 21 minutes. It’s weirdly perfect. I don’t even look at the clock anymore. I just pedal until the credits appear.
I’ve seen every episode multiple times already. Every year or so I end up watching whole seasons again anyway, so I decided to just start with Season 4 and go episode by episode with absolutely no skipping. Even the weaker ones. They’re still good.
I’m about halfway through Season 8 now, but man… In Country Club is still the peak for me. Every time I see it I remember how ridiculously good that episode is. That isn’t controversial, I know.
A couple weeks ago my wife and I were at Subway and she grabbed Sun Chips. My brain didn’t even pause, I just blurted out “They’re Sun Chips. They’re healthy for you. Healthier than regular chips… oh, no, they are not.” She doesn’t watch American Dad so the joke was entirely for me. Worth it.
That’s one of my favorite things about this show. Half the dialogue just permanently moves into your brain. I catch myself dropping quotes into completely normal conversations with people who have absolutely no idea what im talking about…we were gonna go cruising in his Solara man!
Anyway, if you’ve been trying to convince yourself to exercise, I highly recommend the American Dad method. Four episodes a week is only about an hour and a half of cardio, you’ve got months before you run through the series, and somehow it is a better personal trainer than I’ve ever had.
I'm trying to figure out which room numbers are the first floor of the building right in between Aphrodite and the hot tub - some of the first floor rooms can walk out to the fun end of the pool or the hot tub. I think the building is Crab and the rooms are maybe 2 and 3 or 3 and 4?
[TOMT] media and year unknown.
I am trying to remember either a book or movie/tv show, likely sci fi or fantasy, where there is a race or guild of assassins, contract killers kind of thing, where they will always leave their victim a way out - like a way to survive encountering the assassin. Maybe it is a sportsmanship thing or a religion/honor thing. I'm not sure. I've poked at the idea with ChatGPT and it couldn't come up with anything more than "sounds a bit like Frank Herbert or Larry Niven" and frankly that wasn't helpful. In my memory, the idea that the killers would leave an escape hatch seemed understood but maybe it was just extrapolation.