Nice. I have driven up and down different parts of 1-5, from LA to Vancouver, but never such a long trip in one go. Taking the coast is a slow slog. A cool route would be taking 101 north from SF to see the redwood and the coast, and then scooting back to 1-5 via 199 and Grants Pass.

Aside from the terrain, the night sky is stunning in the more isolated parts of 1-5. Driving around the Cali/Oregon boarder in summer months and seeing the milky way from a convertible is breathtaking.

Also, there's the State of Jefferson, which is cool.>> ^Yogi:

>> ^longde:
Take I-5 from SF to Portland. Some amazing scenery on that trip, especially it you're willing to go off track a little; and good beer at the end.

I've traveled from LA to Seattle by car 6 times in the last 6 months because moving to Seattle and visiting friends and such. Besides getting my time down to 17 hours for the trip I've seen some great stuff and I've never regretted driving even though I take the boring route. I want to do a Coastal Road journey next time...I think it'll be a lot of fun.

>> ^longde:

Take I-5 from SF to Portland. Some amazing scenery on that trip, especially it you're willing to go off track a little; and good beer at the end.


I've traveled from LA to Seattle by car 6 times in the last 6 months because moving to Seattle and visiting friends and such. Besides getting my time down to 17 hours for the trip I've seen some great stuff and I've never regretted driving even though I take the boring route. I want to do a Coastal Road journey next time...I think it'll be a lot of fun.

Take I-5 from SF to Portland. Some amazing scenery on that trip, especially it you're willing to go off track a little; and good beer at the end.

Yeah....that would be OK....But I kinda want see some of those moanin bitches that papple was talkin about, that would be gold too...amIright?
>> ^hpqp:
You know what would make this video gold? If he had had a steadicam that keeps the face centered and lets the scenery move around it.

You know what would make this video gold? If he had had a steadicam that keeps the face centered and lets the scenery move around it.

I've walked a lot of trails like that.. but I can't imagine biking it. I mean, I didn't see anything hard about the ride and the path's pretty clean. You could do the trail without doing anything physically hard, and without any real mountain bike experience.

But I think you also die or get seriously injured about 1/200 times you try that. I've biked a fair bit, and sometimes stuff happens just going down a road. You misjudge something and catch your arm on a rear-view mirror. Oops, that meant I swerved out a bit while I got my balance.

On this trail, you don't have that margin for error. Whoops, my pedal caught on a rock (on the left side) at an awkward time while I was looking up and I swerved out a bit. Then I died. And the "death by falling" section isn't just a little ways where you can be extra careful. You'd have to have that level of vigilance for a long period.

I mean, lots of activities have risks - but this trail, on a bike, is way above my threshold. This is doubly the case because you could get most of the fun (it is nice scenery) by walking. If I'm going to mountain bike, it's going to be somewhere where the biking is the good part.

I'm liking that they put a song into the trailer and fit it to that. The scenery and armor/costuming looks amazing as I ever could have dreamed.

Things I wish were so:
- I really wish that Guillermo Del Toro would have directed this instead of Peter Jackson. I really think he could have done a better job than PJ.
- Mr. Tolkien himself gave up on trying to make a version of The Hobbit a LOTR prequel, so I hope they don't get bogged down in that too much and try to stay true to the original story.

>> ^kevingrr:

@conan
I'm no lawyer, but the camera is on his property and mostly for the security of his property. Cameras are everywhere on private property that have a view of public alleys and roadways.
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy here - the fedex guy is in public on a sidewalk. So there is no "invasion of privacy".
I am not familiar with German law at ALL, but if someone takes your photograph while you are in a public place is that a crime?
That is all secondary to the fact that his job is to safely deliver goods/packages.


Funny but 100% true: Yes, it is against German law to take a picture of a person in public space without their consent. You can however take pictures of "sceneries", i.e. without the main picture content being a single person. Say you take a picture of a roller coaster at Oktoberfest, there most probably will be several persons on that picture but that's perfectly okay. But if you take a picture of the good looking waitress you fancy, that's illegal. Yes that sounds strange and yes it is highly impractical but the law is the law.

And if you install a camera on your property to watch over your driveway it must not film the street or sidewalk. If it does (and anyone finds out) you'll be fined.

German law in this context does not focus on the surroundings (i.e. public / private) but on the privacy of persons. But anyhow: German privacy laws are extremely strict (therefore B2C telemarketing is illegal for example, i could name tons of other examples...).

I never dealt with US laws regarding privacy in detail, i only knew there nearly is no such thing as privacy outside your own home in the US. I just read up some details and the difference between these two countries is pretty stark.

>> ^Ornthoron:

@shuac
Stephen Dillane, who got the role, seems to me a damn good choice too. The casting department has done a very good job so far, and I trust them to keep making good choices in the seasons to come.


No argument here, Orny. I'd never heard of this Dillane before but it makes little matter. If he's a skilled actor I have no doubt they'll make it work. For instance, the fellow they chose for Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) doesn't fit the description in the books whatsoever but I liked his portrayal even better than the book version. He's now one of my favorite characters on the show.

Still, it would have been great to have Butler as Stannis. His gruff Scottish, foreboding-looking, scenery-chewing mannerisms would've set fire to every scene he'd have been in.

Now, who'd be best for Melisandre, I wonder...?

Amazingly beautiful scenery.

Oh, how I miss mountain biking. Damn these pooched legs of mine.

I'm 28 hours in and have hardly done anything with the main quest line... like many have said, the vast amount of random shit you can do is quite astounding as is the scenery. Some have complained that it is a bit monotone, but frankly, I love mountains and snow so I feel like it is a really beautiful game. The weather effects are also some of the most amazing ones I've seen in a game ever. The way mountains can look misty or wind can froth up some standing snow is just beautiful.

As for the main quest line, it is a bit cliched, but as so many reviewers have pointed out, it is almost as if the main plot is secondary to the world itself.

Penny Arcade's comic on the subject of dragons v. giants was also really funny... I still don't get how you can kill a dragon at level 4, but a giant will 1 shot you and literally put your corpse in orbit... kinda makes me wish I was giant-borne and not dragon-borne.

>> ^Vimeo:

The story is in itself a mechanized apparition, the characters and scenery exisiting inside of an early 20th century nickel arcade and being driven forward by the gears of this machine.

The main character, the innocently created, human like mechanism whose power knows no bounds, thinks of himself as invincible, that no man or spirit could ever overpower him. Yet, the irony is that he himself is only a small part of a greater device, and in this case, a mechanized stage for passers by to waste a nickel in.

...trying to turn comedians into "serious" actors... With Hanks, it was A League of Thier Own


Yes, anyone would look superb in serious, melodramatic Oscar bait like "A Leauge fo Thier Onw". Why did they think a comedian could summon the requisite gravitas for such a serious subject? Were they trying to make fun of women's sports? Is there no crying in baseball?

Castaway.. That movie sucked. Five minutes of movie 'packed' into two hours.


Yes, if only he did better at acting there would have been more plot. Maybe he could have acted out some lasers and explosions for you. I don't think Tom Hanks is super amazing - and certainly not always - but he did a good job with a hard role in Castaway. I mean, sure, obviously you could just drop Forrest Gump in there and it's the same film, but what can you do. He's only one man.

Why don't you tell us who the great, currently active actors are, friendo? I've heard people (seriously) suggest scenery-chewers like Pacino or Denzellle. Sean bloody full-retard Penn? Jack Nicholson? OK. I like Jack Nicholson. But he's one dude and he's just barely still alive let alone active.

For my money, the best performance of the last decade was Matthew Lillard in the Scooby Doo movie (whatever the Hell it was called). Not gonna lie: it wasn't a great film. But flawless performance by Lillard. He was Shaggy. What else can you ask for in an actor than completely inhabiting a difficult role like that? Drop frickin' Sidney Poitier or Orson Welles in that movie and sure maybe it becomes watchable, but I doubt they nail the role like Lillard did.

They've kind of taken the minor flash in the pan of the first weird walking music video and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran... The more it goes on, the more rediculous it seems! They gotta find something new!

But it's so funny really, watching it. There's so many scenes where you think "at the recording, they were stood there, in silence, 7 men doing hipthrusts behind each other". And some of the scenery and effects are so cheap!

Some discussions in the US are just plain stupid for the rest of the world. And it's not like someone could say: "well, the US has the most absurd political scenery of any developed nation, but look at us, it's clearly working very well". Because it's obviously not.