Dirty Santa pictures incoming, but so far:

Lego Minecraft Micro World
Lego Minecraft Nether
Clothes
Pajama Bottoms
$150
Two bitchin ready-to-be-framed prints, one of Star Wars, one of those amazing Calvin & Hobbes On Real Backgrounds pictures.
A Supaboy
A Specialized Killstreak Axtinguisher Kit
A Zelda 3DS XL
Like, a shitload of TF2 Keys
A shitload more pins.

More stuff is still comign in, and I gave as good as I got. After this year? I consider this a good salve on the wound.

So. I have a packrat mentality and will buy and aquire without watching what I have already. No matter what I try, I can't motivate myself to just tear through the collection at any speed faster than "Once a month"

So, I'm making it a game. You guys force me to watch something. Once the poll closes (in 5 days, but I meant it to be shorter, but fuck destroying and recreating the poll), I -have- to sit down and watch whatever's there in it's entirety. Or if it's rather egregriously long, at least start watching it. I've tried to chop it up so I'm not having to eat into coursework time for it.

I have also missed out on pretty much what anyone would consider cinema classics (I had a sheltered life?) So if you have a better suggestion, and it's on netflix, fire away.

YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES


LET'S GET THIS SANTA PARTY STARTED.

THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE HAVE EARNED THEIR "SENT LYRAI INFO" HAT:
Lyrai -> ENVY
Brentai -> JOXAM
Beat Bandit -> DOGSTAR
Envy -> SMILER
Kayma -> SILVERSONG
Smiler -> BRENTAI
Roger -> DOGSTAR
Roger, Son of Roger -> BUGE
Zach (Not Cloud) -> DOGSTAR
Silversong -> ZACH
Joxam -> TED BELMONT
Caithness -> ROGER
Ted Belmont, rival of Chad Dracula -> CAITHNESS
Buge -> ROGER
Dogstar -> DEFENESTRATION
Dogstar II -> BEAT BANDIT
Dogstar III, Undead -> KAYMA
Defenestration -> LYRAI

EACH YEAR, WE COME TOGETHER IN A VAGUELY ORGANIZED FASHION TO CELEBRATE THE TRUE MEANING OF ARCMAS: TRADING USED GOODS AND INFLICTING HORRIBLE DVD SETS AND PORN ON OTHERS. Or something like that.

AND THIS YEAR, IT'S NO DIFFERENT except we're starting signups 2 months early.

SHOULD YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR'S DIRTY SANTA, PM LYRAI THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BY OCTOBER 31st, 2011
DEADLINE PASSED.

NAME:
FULL SHIPPING ADDRESS:
NATION OF ORIGIN & CAN YOU SHIP INTERNATIONALLY
WHAT DO YOU LIKE
WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE
WHAT DO YOU ALREADY OWN?

Using a system involving taping slips of paper with names on them to sunflower seeds and getting my pet bird, I will choose matches! You'll be sending to someone, but they don't know it's you!

Once names are distributed, you have until DECEMBER 10th to inject those packages into the postal system to the lucky recipient! Doodle a dinosaur on it to mark the solidarity of the BRONTOS! (And perhaps PM me if your package includes things that family members of the giftee might faint or have a dizzy spell over. Enough people on here have family problems that we should try to avoid ma & pa gasping at Sailor Moon & The 7 Ballz)


THIS CHRISTMAS, YOU'RE THE STRONGEST

So I realized I could afford gamefly, signed up for it, and loaded up my list with games that planted their ass firmly on the "It looks cute but is it worth $60" territory.

Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland was first to arrive, and it's cute as hell, and encourages you to explore and muck around with what's apparently a superdeep Alchemy system. I say apparently because the deadline was so bad that I had to run around in the same forest rearranged a few times, buttonmash through turnbased combat, and then run back with collected ingredients and I had one day left and I still got the game's version of "Good, but you can do better" for it.
So in short it's cute, but the deadlines hurt it and it's kind of shallow

Then I got Ar Tonelico Qoga, which many chatters have seen me ranting about. It is a dating sim stapled onto a subpar RPG. I mean it works. There are monsters, you swing your sword, they die, but it's very obviously programmed as an afterthought to the dating sim. Escaping is literally pausing and choosing it from a menu. Inns are free. Save points are always places to rest (And chat for more talk points wai wai~) also for free. The Superboss gets around the ability for you to chainspam healing items - which the game gives you in shovelfulls - by just spamming attacks so fast the game can't register you mashing the pause button.

myew also shows up in the game in the Cosmosphere, the game's version of "Poke around in girl's minds, make them like you"
Ar Tonelico Qoga - Feel these nipples!
yes I am aware it's a base-kitball quote.

It is also extremely nsfw
Uninstalling with Soma Ar Tonelico Qoga Knell of Ar Ciel

And they spent maybe 90% of their budget on the music, which is just downright fucking incredible and has it's own fucking language: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Hymmnos
Ar Tonelico 3 EXEC_FLIP_ARPHAGE/. with English lyrics

I feel like I'm missing something, because the last third of the story seems to be just a constant reference to AT1 or 2, which I never played or touched.


Also arriving in the mail soon: Hyperdimension Neptunia

JOXAM -> CONSTANTINE
BRENTAI -> LYRAI
BUGE -> MOTHRA
BUGE -> BRENTAI
MCDOHL -> VGAMET
ENVY -> TED-9000
ZACH -> SILVERSONG
RIDLEY -> BUGE
TED-9000 -> BUGE
MOTHRA -> ZACH
SILVERSONG -> MCDOHL
NERD -> ENVY
KAYMA -> ROGER
ROGER -> MEIKAI
MEIKAI -> JOXAM
CONSTANTINE -> NERD
VGAMET -> KAYMA
LYRAI -> RIDLEY

DUKE BONUS ROUND -> ZACH





HONK HONK.
It's that time again! We're a few days behind schedule for this sort of thing, so let's not dilly dally around! Shamelessly copypasting from a previous year's post to speed things up!



Introduction:

BrontoSanta '10... Go!

Eight years and running, we're back for another avalanche of broken action figures and scratched discs. For those new to the community, this program is a secret - santa - by - mail operation using strictly used goods.




Deadline:

The sign-up deadline this year is December 4th. Later that night, I'll privately message you a name and shipping address that was randomly matched up with your own name. This will be your match, the person whom you're to send a present to, but not the one you'll receive a present from. That remains a secret!




Directions:

1. Private message me with the following information:

NAME:
FULL SHIPPING ADDRESS:
ENTERING YOUR NAME IN ONCE OR TWICE: ONCE / TWICE
ENJOY:
DISLIKE:
ALREADY OWN (DVD/BOOK/GAME/SYSTEM LIST):
CAN SHIP INTERNATIONALLY:

(2007 Wishlist)

2. Wait for your name to appear on the Bronto List.
3. Check your private message box on December 4th for your match, and their mailing address.
4. Check the Wishlist for ideas on what to send your match.
5. Ship out package(s) by December 11th. Mark "BRONTO" in bold upon the box. Or draw a Dino! Something that won't make the post office be angry at you
7. Clearly post that you've shipped the package in this thread.
8. Once you receive your present, confirm here and wait until December 25th to open it.
9. Post results (with pictures)!






Yes, I understand this is an INCREDIBLY SHORT TIME PERIOD for us, but we can do it!


EDIT: T: DEADBEATS: REDEEM YOURSELF THIS YEAR. I WILL NOT SINGLE YOU OUT AS LONG AS YOU GET THIS YEAR'S GIFT OUT ON TIME

Perhaps some way to have the more post-y events not show up in Recent Posts would be keen.

As shown in the shit days thread, I'm dealing with an extra-special relative. An extended discussion with an extremely callous person made me wonder what the rest of you thought: When is it okay to fight something, and when do you just let things take their toll?

I'm incapable of doing anything as far as I know. I'm a grandchild, not a direct relation to the deceased, so the most I can do is just yell loudly. To my knowledge I can't do anything legally. My father and mother want nothing to do with it, despite my insistence - My mother's cancer and my dad's back problem, they just want to let the whole shitstorm embroil itself. They don't want to get caught up.

But even then, should they be fighting it? Or is this even something that can be discussed as a "They should" or "They shouldn't?"

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-06-02/animatrix-studio-4c-to-animate-new-thundercats

Stephen Perry missing after not showing up to court to get a protective order against a woman

Compounded with the fact that three days later they discovered an abandoned house, an abandoned van, and an as yet unidentified severed arm, things don't look good.