I think the worst part about attending jury duty is knowing about a decade ago, I would've gone up and done fun shit in Chinatown during the 1.5-hour lunch break they gave us. But everything's gone. CTF, Elizabeth Center, even J&L. I haven't been there on my own in over a year, whereas before I'd head down every week to get some anime shit or a game. What happened to that place? What is their clientele now?

I don't mind waiting outside a courtroom for the judge and lawyers to discuss things amongst themselves privately, but could they close the blinds at least so I don't have sun fucking blaring down on my neck for forty minutes?

Alex and I worked together to finish L.A. Noire, a story about an officer named Cole Phelps who worked his way up the rankings from a patrol officer to working the vice beat as a detective. It's a riveting plot that brings you to the heights of elation only to make you crash to the bottom even harder.

The only major problem with the game is interviewing. The usual routine is to gather evidence as much as possible and then talk to witnesses, associates, or suspects. The interviewee would make a statement and the player as an option to think they're telling the truth, to doubt them (which in reality is just pressing harder for information), or they're lying. There's only one right answer out of the three, and messing up could change the outcome of the case. Rockstar touted new technology for this game called "MotionScan," which captured several actors' faces and replicated them realistically. That way the player could read a person's facial expression, eye movements, or body language to tell if they're telling the truth or not. Alex and I found this to be helpful some of the time. The problem is we don't know what their natural state looks like, so when someone is somewhat stoic, we could see that there were some clues that they perhaps were lying, but that could just be the natural movement of the body as it sits there.

Choosing the lying option was particularly problematic. At that point you have to present evidence to prove their false statement, but we never were certain whether we were choosing the right one. Normally the suspect would say something, we'd say "lie," there would be some dialogue, and then we would be very confused. Let me give an example:

Suspect: No, I wasn't there on Thursday.
Player: (choose "lie")
Phelps: I think you were. You're on the Jewish mafia's payroll.
Suspect: Oh yeah? Prove it.

And then Alex and I are like, "?????????? Do we show evidence that he was there or show evidence he's connected to the Jewish mafia?" The setup with these interviews are difficult because many times they either would do shit like this with multiple aspects so we're not certain what option the game is looking for or they would make such vague statements that weren't really factual enough for us to say anything either way. And even if we knew he was lying, we had several pieces of evidence proving that so it was just a guessing game as to which was the right one. Instead of just going with logic, we have to try to figure out the game designers' logic.

Writing overall was quite good, but there were a couple of misses. One memorable moment was when we conveniently happened to find a film reel of every single villain in the game openly talking about their plot. It was so excessive that it just blasted me out of the suspended reality.

Rockstar probably realized the premise doesn't really have any action outside of the end of each case, and even then the guy you capture may not even try to fight or flee. So to avoid disappointing people coming from Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, they made people really willing to fight the cops, even to the point of ridiculousness. Innocent people would think it's a good time to punch Phelps in the face. Or in between traveling to locations, we'd get a dispatch and four out of five times it'd be a crazy, brazen shootout, making Los Angeles the most violent city in America in 1947.

Even with these gripes, I'd still heartily recommend L.A. Noire. It's interesting to follow Phelps' career, learn about his past, and find out how it all ties together. There are many interesting characters, especially your partners, and the dialogue is serious yet hilarious. Play it if you've got time.

My mother, the queen of disparaging remarks:

Me: Hey Ate Neneng, when do you wanna clean the stuffed animals?
Mom: What's this? What's this about the stuff animals? Don't buy anymore!
Me: I'm not! I'm just cleaning them.
Mom: Are you retarded? Do you have the mind of a child? Is that why you have these stuffed animals?
Me: I just like them! I'm not playing with them.
Mom: Are you lonely? Is that it? You need these things?
Me: I just think they're cute. All I want to do right now is clean them.

I've been reading a lot of grumblings about the unequal pay for the men and women U.S. soccer teams; how the women won the World Cup but still receive just a fraction of the men. Of course when something like this happens the reasons are rarely just black and white terms. The New York Times has a great article discussing the differences in how men and women are paid and why. Most interesting is the women's team only became more profitable than the men's because they won the World Cup, yet men still receive four times the viewership at home.

It's really down to revenue. Although the women are clearly better than their male counterparts, if their attendance isn't as high and even more importantly the people aren't watching as much at home, sponsors aren't going to come in. That's where the real money is at. The counterargument would be if the U.S. soccer league just promoted the women more heavily (put their games on T.V. instead of youtube, advertise more), they would get more fans and recognition to play. But I'm not certain. Although as a society we've moved away from sports being simply a boy's activity, as a whole women just aren't as interested, nor are men as interested in watching them.

Undoubtedly sexism is involved, don't get me wrong. But there is justification in the league's decisions. I'd say raise the women's pay so they aren't forced to take a second job, but simultaneously it's understandable if the men get more, even if they are the shittier team. It's where the cashcow is, and until that changes I don't think anything'll be different. Yeah, the women made more money this year, but who's the guarantee they'll win the World Cup the next one? Or the one after that?

I've been thinking about transgender people and sports. They usually divide the sexes because men will almost always dominate women in terms of scoring. If you're a man to woman trans, you still technically have the male body even if that's not what you identify as. So would it be fair if you join a women's team? It's interesting to ponder about.

R.S.V.P. stands for répondez s'il vous plaît or "respond please." Somehow it's come to mean an affirmative answer to the invitation when in reality it's basically a, "This isn't an open house event. I need for you to tell me whether you're coming or not so I can plan food and whatnot." At this time of year I get lots of messages that say, "This is my R.S.V.P." That's fine, I get that you're saying you're attending, but I worry people interpret the negative response means to remain silent. No! As I said I need for you to tell me whether you're coming or not. As in, I sent out forty invitations this year, even though I knew damned well ten of those were a no and I was simply including the recipients out of politeness, so I'm expecting forty responses.

I attended a "Knit in Public Day" event, in which people met in a park and just did yarn work and chatted amongst themselves. You may notice it's "Knit in Public" Day and not just "Knit" Day. The founder Danielle Landes created this about ten years ago because she felt people crafted alone in their homes without realizing people around them may also have the same hobby, and this was a way for knitters to create connections, receive advice, and generally have a good time together.

I was surprised when I heard this backstory because I always crochet in public, particularly if I have a deadline on a project. It's just a convenient way to pass the time on during a commute or even if I'm just sitting somewhere, waiting for something to happen. Better than looking at porn on my phone, right? But as I thought about it, it dawned on me I've never actually seen someone else do the same. Judging from that event and from the copious amounts of blogs and patterns posted online, yarn work is a popular hobby. (More than embroidery, I can say that.) So why am I the only one doing it on the train? Did I make a social faux pas and didn't realize it?

Me: I think this waitress may have given me diet coke. If she has, this is the greatest crime committed against me.
Peguero: Maybe it was a mistake...
Me: If you accidentally stab someone, they still prosecute you.
Peguero: Not necessarily. It's at the discretion of the prosecutor.
Me: I'm certain this would be prosecutable.
Peguero: What's the crime?
Me: Giving me diet coke instead of coke. A crime against humanity.
Peguero: So if it's a crime against humanity, it needs to be prosecuted by an international court.
Me: Precisely. The entire world needs to learn of her treachery. In all seriousness what's the bar for a crime against humanity? Like, shooting one person isn't that. Do I have to shoot thirty people? What is the definition of a crime against humanity? Is there even a bar?
Peguero: It needs to be widespread or systematic.
Me: So if I set out on a journey to murder a single person in every country's capital, would that fit the bill?
Peguero: Maybe if you were backed by a government.
Me: Hmmmm... Eritrea?
Peguero: Why would they provide you resources for you on this mission?
Me: I don't know. They're always committing crimes against humanity. What's one more to them?
Peguero: Well then sure, if they provide you with the support you need to kill one person in every capital I believe we could argue that's a crime against humanity.
Me: All right. I'm counting on you to be the prosecutor!
Peguero: Man if I was badass enough to be an international criminal prosecutor, I would have much nicer clothing.
Me: But you're supposed to practice on this case so you're ready to prosecute this waitress!
Peguero: I'm sorry I'm not skilled enough to help you! Also don't you think maybe killing almost 200 people just because a waitress gave you what you only suspect is the wrong soda might be an overreaction?
Me: I thought there's over 200 countries. Listen, sometimes lives must be sacrificed to make sure justice is done.
Peguero: 195 not including Taiwan. Maybe you should sacrifice the waitress' life.
Me: Weren't there more in Katamari Damacy? I can't believe that game lied to me.

The lower part of our front garden is pretty dead so I've been trying to populate it, but most of the plants just start wilting horribly the day after I put them down and I gotta transplant them to the backyard. So far one plant seems to be fine, but it's been a hit or miss. Unfortunately I can only do this by trial and error because I don't actually know what the problem is. It could be the sun or the soil. And in the meantime the pots in the backyard keep piling up as I encounter one failure after another.

Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station is the largest in the world, about the size of two Empire State Buildings. This may seem surprising considering about 1.3M people live in Tel Aviv, 8M in Israel as a whole. What's interesting about the Central Bus Station is it was privately funded; whilst we expect the Port Authority to remodel, well, the Port Authority Bus Station, this entire project was conceived by a businessman, Arieh Filtz. To make it economically viable, Filtz had to sell shop space, which is why this became a monolith that towers over Tel Aviv. The Central Bus Station is now known as a place of squalor. Not all the stores were sold, and those that were discovered there simply were not enough customers and went bankrupt. It's become a symbol of greed and hubris.

But I think it's massive size is not the only problem: The architect, Ram Karmi, was instructed to "build a city under a roof." He said a good city is one you get lost in, and he deliberately made this place as confusing as possible. That is a massively dick move. Imagine coming in from Binghamton to the Port Authority and you have fifteen minutes to transfer to a bus to DC. Now, I complain about the lack of information about what gate my bus is, but if I ask an attendant I can figure out from there where I have to go. But now imagine you have no fucking idea where that gate is. And as you're looking for it, you find yourself hopelessly lost as you pass by three movie theaters, a Yiddish bookstore, matchmakers, whatever.

Architecture is an art. You can't gaze upon St. Peter's Basilica, the Chrysler Building, or Himeji Castle and believe that statement to be false. But I feel sometimes architects fail to remember they're not like sculptors or painters and their purpose is first and foremost function. Ram Karmi thought that a good city is a place to get lost in, but he never thought a lot of people wouldn't agree with that and probably just want to get from point A to point B. There's harassed and harried. Maybe some people like to head to a random city and just wander about, taking in the sights. But a lot aren't. And the primary purpose of the Central Bus Station is passengers boarding buses. Again, there were other reasons why that structure ultimately failed, but at its fundamentals it's meant to be confusing and annoying. Why would you ever think that's a good idea?

I think the worst part about dad's birthday is it already falls within three days of Father's Day. I can't buy him a box of chocolate for one and then another box for the other. It's back to back. I gotta be creative. I gotta push myself. I gotta show the world what I've got. And all I've been able to come up with is maybe a chocolate tart for his birthday and a box of chocolates for Father's Day.

http://gayravenclaw.tumblr.com/post/145807455113/pissyeti-what-infuriates-me-about-the-orlando

The New York Times

BBC

The Wall Street Journal

The Los Angeles Times

Le Figaro

Yeah, some headlines (like in Reuters, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, or The Washington Post) just said "50 dead at nightclub in Orlando," but they either mentioned it was gay in the byline or in the first paragraph in the article. And then followed it up with two or three articles about how the shooter was homophobic, a few interviews with gay people, or a discussion of homophobia. I was at the gym this morning and saw only two topics on CNN the entire time I was on the elliptical: how Trump and Clinton are reacting to Orlando and people standing alongside homosexuals. I'm certain if it weren't an election year, they would've spent the entire time talking about the latter.

I'm uncertain why anyone would make those statements, particularly the one about "actual erasure." Have you even looked at the news? I proved them wrong with about three minutes of research, just glancing at headlines. Perhaps some people like to be perpetual victims? Or maybe their knowledge of the news is filtered through social media? I have no idea because reading this confused the shit out of me.

Rugalitarian: we met in a vega mirror in sfiv
Rugalitarian: ranked match
Rugalitarian: dont remember who won
Rugalitarian: we were randomly paired to fight each other
dundun: Did I tell you how I met him?
Rugalitarian: no
dundun: He was standing at the corner by our high school right after dismissal.
dundun: And I bit him on the hand.
dundun: I don't think I even knew his name.
dundun: He still has a scar on his hand from that bite to this day.
Rugalitarian: what the fuck

Have any of you gotten the new NYS license? What the fuck is this shit? Why is the photo now in black and white? Why is there a second photo on this transparent plastic? Why did they ditch that fuzzy surface that created more friction for me to pull it easily from my wallet? Who designed this? Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?

Hispanic contractor at my neighbor's house: ¿Cómo éstas?
Me: ¿Cómo éstas?
Hispanic contractor: (assumes I'm also Hispanic and continues with the conversion)
Me: (SHITSHITSHIT ABORTABORTABORT)

Oh yeah, I beat Tales of Zestiria. It's... eh. It's not the worst out there but definitely a far cry from the best. Although it had things going for it, the negatives weighed it down significantly.

Let's start with the battle system, which Namco dubbed "Fusionic Chain Linear Motion Battle System," whatever the fuck that means. Instead of teleporting to another screen the fight happens right there on the map, à la Chrono Trigger. Good idea in theory. Unfortunately the team never worked out all the bugs. Anyone who's seen me play this game realizes the camera has a will of its own and at one point I spent a whole fight looking up a fairy's vagina. I have no idea why anyone thought this was OK. It's not Assassin's Creed: Unity levels, but it's still completely unacceptable. How many times do you enter a battle in an RPG? Surely just one playthrough would've sent up signals that there needed to be more time spent on the code.

Admittedly with Tales games characters can be a hit or a miss. Luke fon Fabre from Abyss displayed some of the greatest development I've ever seen in a video game. Jude from Xillia has a really complex personality: He's quiet and thoughtful but not submissive, he's soft but can fight if he needs to, he seems innocent but can produce dirty jokes... There's many aspects to him, and that's how human beings are. Then on the other side you have people like Colette from Symphonia or Rita from Vesperia whom you can tell from day one how they're going to act for the rest of the game. And Zestiria falls into that latter category. Although Zaveid is hilarious and there are flashes of progression, overall the characters felt flat and the conversation between them forced at times. This was not the best party I've worked with.

Graphics are a definite improvement. It's not Final Fantasy XV, but the best I've seen so far in the series. I still prefer a fixed camera instead of this 3D stuff because I feel they haven't developed the same level of detail, although the gap is narrowing. Personally I liked Vesperia's the best because that type of cell shading appeals to me aesthetically, but that's just a personal opinion.

Dungeons ranged. I lamented back in my Hearts review that games are dropping puzzles, and Zestiria did incorporate pretty interesting ones... for some of the dungeons. There were a lot that reverted back to none at all. Yeah, OK, they had doors that could only be opened with a certain elemental move or gaps that had to be traversed with wind or boulders broken with earth, that became monotonous after the third dungeon that featured only that. It's a shame because for those that did feature puzzles were interesting, so you'd hope all of them would have that. At least most of them weren't linear as I've complained. They usually had at least two or three different paths to take before you reached the end, so it gave some excitement of exploration.

So what is good? Well, the premise and plot is interesting. Tales games get me thinking; usually you can appreciate the antagonist's viewpoint even if you think it's crazy or you disagree. You can understand the steps that were taken to get to that conclusion. Zestiria's backstory puts everyone in a bad light. Although that antagonist behaved horribly, the "good guys" reacted poorly as well. It's this gray zone that I enjoy. However the main party is completely correct and any attempts to say otherwise is laughable; a henchwoman Symonne justifies her actions by saying malevolence is better because everyone is freer or... something. I don't know, it didn't make any sense. In a way I wish we could've been that previous generation and personally experienced that gray zone, but the protagonist is so pure-hearted it would've been impossible.

Music! Legendia's Go Shiina did some tracks here and they are fucking amazing. This was a far cry from Sakuraba's heyday, but he's improved from the shit he produced in Graces. I would say it's even better than Xillia's.

So yeah, Namco was experimenting with this one. But they fucked up. It's not terrible and if you need a JRPG on the PS4 then this one is pretty short, but it would never be the first Tales game I'd recommend to anyone.

Sorry, really tired and turning in early. Here's a silly post.

Harry Potter retains a special place in my heart even after all these years without my love for it diminishing, but for some reason I can't gather the enthusiasm to be interested in the sequel, and I'm not certain why. Maybe it's because I'm out of the fandom, so I don't have the hive mentality to absorb more and more material. I actually have no desire to rejoin it; thanks to Pottermore, people have become focused on how the online test changed their lives and identities. Or maybe it's because the series wrapped up so thoroughly with a good climax that anything afterward would be like reading Robinson Crusoe; you wonder why the fuck the story is continuing after the main plot is over because it's not as interesting.

Am I fucked up for not caring whatsoever about these cats?