Sunday, January 5, 2019

 Dag-nabbit, the Saints lost. In overtime, too, just because that's how they do. Ah, well. It was a good season and it's nice to know there's a good kid on deck when Drew Brees decides to retire. Speaking of quarterback who probably should look at retiring, it's worth still paying attention to the playoffs since Tom Brady and the Patriots are out. It might even be interesting.



 Well, a decent Sunday for everyone but Donald Trump, but screw him. It was pleasant weather all day, if a bit cool, so I had a nice commune with the front yard. After that, I spent most of the day reading this and that, playing a new character in Pillars of Eternity II, and napping because napping kicks ass.

 I'm of two minds on whether the first Pillars of Eternity is the better game or the sequel is the superior one. I don't like the smaller number of party members you can have at once, especially given the larger pool of companions and sidekicks. There's also a deeper relationship mechanic, as well, and I wonder if you're only supposed to pick a few or play with all of them (like I do). One thing the PoE series has is excellent companions, which isn't unusual for Obsidian games. Me, I prefer playing the leader of a group.

 And there's probably a lot more political maneuvering going on and chances to be clever solving a problem rather than cleaving it in two. Of course, I dig the pirate ship aspect of the game. Ship-to-ship combat is a new beast - book-style P-&-P instead of live action (like in Assassin's Creed IV) - and I'm always down with hoisting the black flag and swashing some buckles.

 I do realize I'm sort of behind in giving any opinion of PoE2 but my first run in any CRPG is bashing through to get a grasp on the mechanics, the lore and the overall how the game is played. And then I fiddle around with different classes, though I usually stick with humans as a main character. PoE games allow you to make hired adventurers along with your main character, so there's all sorts of chances to mess around with character creation.

 Okay. PoE2 is a good game from a good series, and of course I'm dancing around the news because, frankly, the massive fuck-up that was Trump's order to kill Soleimani seems to have become is worrisome as hell. Apparently, the military super-geniuses only suggested the strike on the popular Iranian general in order to push Trump to less drastic measures, forgetting how tiny the presidential mushroom is. Or so they claim, and they're still acting shocked it worked out this way. I really can't believe anyone thinks this bastard can still be influenced to act like something other than an awful jackass who shouldn't be the head of a renter's union much less the United States of America.

 And they told us we'd be cheered as heroes and that worked out just about as well as it did 15 years ago in Iraq. Not only has there been huge displays of grief from the Iranian people, as Soleimani was way more popular than was originally assumed, the Iraqi government has told the U.S. to pack up its soldiers and hit the road. As the weekend's rolled on, the only people who aren't at least looking for a switch is Netanyahu in Israel and I think he's not really considered a voice of that country anymore.

 Even "better", Iranian hackers managed to deface the U.S. Federal Department Library's website. Not doing anything drastic or harmful. Just trolling, that's all, like one spotty-faced teenager messing with another fat, smelly kids with a face full of zits. No big deal. All the time, Trump is not only claiming he'll only communicate with Congress via Twitter - cause that just screams "I've got this, don't worry" - he's announced the U.S. is targeting "52 important sites" in Iran including cultural ones, which we've generally called "terrorism" in the past, but what the hell.

 And while he's might've "lost" white supremacy's insurance salesman, the cult is still ride or die and his toadies in Congress are still trying to cover his pitted ass, inre: impeachment. So Trump has no impetus to back down or, at least, try to maneuver things so the U.S. can extricate itself with no dogshit on its shoes. Iran has already completely pulled out out of the 2015 nuclear deal Obama snagged, which Trump wanted because he's jealous of Obama's wang but he looks like the punk here.

 Iran is threatening military reprisal, but while they can't match the U.S. when it comes to size much less investment - especially given the $700 billion military budget Trump let loose - but just about all the country's overseas holdings (i.e., military bases) aren't what one would call "well-funded and secure". It's all a huge, unnecessary mess and we have to depend on a complete buffoon who's got his ass in perhaps the biggest sling possible to get us out of it. And impeachment is getting worse for him, the silly shit.

 The upcoming week is going to be a doozy, I bet you. Hold tight, friends and neighbors, the times are a-gettin' more interesting, indeed.