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Anchorhead

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Join date
12-Jun-2005
Last activity
5-Dec-2025
Posts
3,693

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Post
#1223719
Topic
Mass storage devices or services for music, any recommendations?
Time

Handman said:

TV’s Frink said:

I don’t have any fancy solutions but I do everything physical. I don’t trust any cloud service.

  1. Everything is on my home PC.
  2. Everything is backed up to two separate external HDs (one at home, one at work).
  3. Everything is on my phone, which is how I actually listen to it.

This is probably your best bet.

That’s exactly the setup I have now. It works well enough but it can be tedious to sit and rip cds all day at a laptop. I’m still looking at that if I go with the B2, but I’m really just wanting to get away from Apple a bit and move toward a non-Apple cloud (Jason’s Google Play) or a physical device other than a laptop or my iPhone.

I’m not chunking any of my physical media so redundant backups are a precaution, not my only source files. The Sonos will be my access and control, but it’s not a storage system. I suspect I’ll just have to continue with Apple, move my music to their cloud, and use my phone or one of my Apple TVs as the interface for Sonos.

I’d rather my NAS not be a cloud or iTunes, but as is the case for my home computing, Apple got here first and I’m a long way in to bail now.

Thanks for the responses.

Post
#1223436
Topic
Mass storage devices or services for music, any recommendations?
Time

I’m looking to rip/sort/store/play my 1000+ CD collection. Do any of you have strong thoughts or personal experience with any hardware or services?

I’ve been looking at the B2. http://www.thebrennan.com

Also looking at Google Play.

I don’t listen to nearly all my music because I don’t always want to go through rows and rows of CDs to either rip and listen or put in the car for my work commute.

However, I wouldn’t mind doing that for a week or two around the clock if I could find a way to build a massive library, cloud or physical, and then access it via home entertainment devices. I’m using Sonos currently.

Thanks in advance.

Post
#1222609
Topic
Is Star Wars catering to girls now?
Time

No doubt the Disney era is more female friendly, but I’d stop short of saying they’re catering to girls. Including is more how I see it. There is a character for everyone now and I think that’s great. No reason why all cant be part of our nerddom.

If they were truly catering to girls, they’d be doing a Mara Jade anthology film or series and sticking to the way Zahn wrote her. Which, by the way, I would love to see.

Post
#1220118
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

A long time friend of mine runs a pop culture site: Pop Culture Rewind. His podcast this month is his review of Solo. http://popculturerewind.com/e/pcr-92-so-so-for-solo/

He gave us a shoutout and has been a bit of a lurker on here. Several years of pop culture thoughts and casts to go through on his site if you have the time or inclination.

His Solo review is on par with the thoughts around here.

Post
#1213757
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

Regarding Alden as Solo;
I didn’t have a problem making the jump. He felt like Han to me, particularly as a younger man making his way. To use a backward example; Just after the cantina conversation in Star Wars when Han sort of finds humor in his good fortune, his demeanor when he says ”17,000?..those guys must really be desperate” sounds like something Alden-Solo would say and how he’d say it.

Alden really comes across as Solo as we first ever met him on Tatooine: A smug, but very capable, bullshitter. His call out of Beckett when he says ”either you heal really fast or…” also feels like Cantina Solo to me.

Post
#1213671
Topic
<em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em> — Official Review and Opinions Thread — <strong>SPOILERS</strong>
Time

Quick thoughts, more after I let it simmer.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I particularly liked that it’s visually different from the rest of the franchise. The harsh grey monotone of Vandor was a welcome change. The ugliness of Cornelia and wherever Lando was were also nice changes visually.

I had no problem with any of the acting, well done Alden and Donald. For me, definitely nice to see Ms Clarke in anything other than GoT. Well done as a sort of GFFA Bond girl (not terribly trustworthy, but not inherently bad).

Maul bothered me only because it was so unnecessary. That felt like a way to keep him relative as a marketing and merchandise tie-in. It also kept the film from stepping out fully as a stand-alone. I felt the same way about 3PO and Walrus Man in Rogue One.

On that subject; I’ve never made any secret of my dislike of Phantom, but honestly, having seen it once back in ‘99 I’ve largely forgotten all of it. I saw a Solo review, maybe here, where someone said they knew it was him as soon as they heard his voice. Truth be told, I didn’t know he spoke in Phantom. He bothers me for what he represents much more than he does as a one dimensional hologram bad guy. She could have been talking to anyone. Maul felt like a Lucas-style gimmick to me.

No strong thoughts on L3 or any other supporting characters. The deaths were fitting for the in-universe story. Han, Chewie, and Lando live in a tough world.

Regarding the weird to-do about some sort of Lando sexuality issues: Didn’t see it. Seems like controversy for the sake of controversy. ?

Standouts as I was walking back to the car:

  1. LOVED Enfys and all she was as a story and character, as well as the actress. I hope we see more of her someday. In fact, all of Savareen was probably my favorite portion of the movie. I really wanted it to end as they said goodbye to Enfys as they all went their separate ways. The end game of winning the Falcon felt tacked-on and very rushed. That could have been saved for a second film.

  2. As Ive long suspected 😉 Chewie is my favorite part of Star Wars. Great to see him as a major player in this.

  3. I like that the film was made at all and such a nice departure from the main saga.

Xim the Despot!

Post
#1209922
Topic
General Star Wars <strong>Random Thoughts</strong> Thread
Time

TV’s Frink said:

Collipso said:

i pronounce ric olie as “rick olly (as in oliver)”

I mean, that’s how it’s pronounced, so…

JEDIT: You pronounce “oliver” as “ollyver”?

https://youtu.be/bfTpbkpLouU

I realize I’m probably the only one old enough to remember this, but in my defense, it was already in after-school reruns when I was a little kid.

Post
#1208203
Topic
Westworld - <em>2016 tv series</em>
Time

My CrossFit coach recommended it and she hasnt steered my wrong yet. Now with this write-up and discussion, it looks like something I need to look into. To be honest, not sure why it’s not been on my radar. It certainly seems like something I’d dig. Better give it a look.

.

Just gave the linked trailer a look. Jeffrey Wright and Ed Harris are two of my favorites. A definite plus.

Post
#1202000
Topic
Lost In Space (2018)
Time

https://www.netflix.com/title/80104198

No spoilers.
It’s fairly rare that I try a new TV show without having been prodded by someone who knows me well. Truth be told, I’m not someone who sits around watching a ton of TV anyway. When I do, it’s a small set of favorites and\or a few old standbys when I’m trying to unwind after a long day. Films are an exception, but they’re scheduled events.

Last week, while I was logged into Netflix to watch an episode or two of He-Man (shut up) 😃 the trailer for Lost In Space ran on the home screen. It looked interesting enough, clearly had a craaazy production budget, plus a few known stars. I made a mental note to give it a look and moved on.

A few days later I gave the first episode a watch. I should point out that I know virtually nothing about the 1960s show. I was two years old, so obviously not something I ever watched, not even in reruns years later. If I did ever see any episodes, all I’ve retained is a vague memory of the robot and “Danger!”. I only remember or know the basics; character names, ship name, basic structure.

I enjoyed the first episode and took some time to let it simmer. It’s geared to family viewing to a large extent, so while it’s gritty and sometimes tense it’s not R-rated gritty or tense. It would probably be PG-13 if it were a film, possibly PG. There is a character for which everyone in the family can identify and their arcs are written accordingly; Adults, older kid, middle kid, and the youngest kid.

Overall it has a sort of Spielberg family feel but not in the cloned ways of Super 8 or Stranger Things (both of which I like). Lost In Space is its own thing. Very much a modern adaptation of the original show. It also has what I thought was a very clever and subtle nod to the original 1812 novel.

This past Saturday I gave the second episode a watch. I was surprised at how comfortable I felt being back in their world. In fact, I’d actually been looking forward to it. It left me feeling refreshed. I’m glad I stepped out of my usual sci-fi safe places. New world, new characters, new ships, new scenarios (even if they are storytelling go-tos).

I ended up binging the remainder of the series over the course of two days. Each episode is an hour, so it was five hours Saturday, four hours Sunday. The article linked below sums up my thoughts on the show perfectly. I’ll be spot-watching episodes the rest of the summer and hoping they green-light a second season.

Mild spoilers if you want to go in clean.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/lost-space-review-1100276