Nolgroth

Since the whole series is a homage to Stephen King, you are really stuck with it. Big Government, Big Corporate, Big Religion, anything Big is BAAADDD. 

They are actors in a vaudevillian tradition. Serious dramatic/comedic talent they are not.

I think the DCEU failed when the thread about it became about James Bond instead.
 
Just sayin'.

Bravado. Sorry. Meant to include that but got distracted.

My favorite Rush song and one of my top 10 of all time songs resides on Roll the Bones.

Roll the Bones - Rush (the whole album)

Fair enough. Politics and I don't see eye to eye most times. Like almost everybody, I have my own bias and opinion. I also know that the boards are, proudly, Left leaning. We even had a discussion a few years back that included a "Where are you on the political spectrum" personality test. Most of our contemporaries proudly proclaimed their status as Left leaning. I am not going to change your hearts and minds and, to be quite frank, I value the opposing opinion. It keeps me honest and I respect that. For what it is worth, much of my recent opinion has been formed because I get to see the other side and that helps me pull back from the brink of my Jingoist tendencies. That doesn't mean that I won't call out something I see as outright intellectual dishonesty. Anybody here is welcome to their opinion, but when if I think it is wrong, I feel a need to say something.
 
As far as other pursuits, I mean just about anything other than politics. Like I mentioned, our political ideologies are not going to often be changed here. Especially now, division wracks our nation and people are clinging to their comfort zones with all of their might. Why would I want to bat my head against that wall? I certainly have zero loyalty to the idiot in the POTUS office. I have less for my so-called elected, Republican, representatives in Congress. When I look across the aisle, I see people like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, both of whom I find detestable. Right now, all I see in the political field are enemies and very few neutrals. I don't see friendlies right now. I don't have some fanatical loyalty to anybody and the entire political scene right now is pretty soul crushing. I just think it is better to step back away from the whole Political discussion thread. It was by habit that I clicked on the link to bring me here and I have a lot of respect for you. Enough that I will not ignore a perfectly reasonable question.
 
More specifically, I had to leave a very hostile work environment without the safety net of having a new job in place. It was either that or have a meltdown and probably beat the living crap out of the people that created that environment. So now, though I am starting to come down from that angry and hostile place in my head, I need to find a new job. Also, since I have some downtime, there is a project I want to try and finish before the end of September. Depends on how successful the job hunt is during that time.
 
So without further ado, I am out. Let my twitch reflex reset itself and try to find that calm, reasonable voice again. I'll be back. I always come back. But for now I want to focus on the other topics here on the boards. 

So, despite my previously stated misgivings, I watched it based on the reviews above. While I didn't hate it, I think that the Orville needs to find its intended ground before I will be certain as to whether I will continue watching. Some of the silliness was over the top and it didn't need it. The story was actually quite good as a light-hearted adventure. The silliness actually detracted a bit. Tonally, I got homage (with a twist) more than parody. I think that there is definite affection for the Star Trek franchise coming from the creative staff.
 
I like the space station at the beginning and the overall aesthetic was pretty cool. It invoked more of Andromeda, I think, that Star Trek.
 
If played straight, the aliens can be a fun addition to the story. The gelatinous alien at the beginning was just silly. There was a bit of that in all of the aliens, but again, if played straight could lead to some interesting character dynamics. 
 
The good news. It went from a "Not interested at all" to a five episode trial. So it must have done something right.
 
Edit: Added some thoughts and opinions.

I got out in `95 (US Army) but I guess my experience in the military was wildly different than yours, at least on this front. The first and last time I called a female upperclass Sir was in 1984, and I got my ass dressed down for it. "Do I look like a Sir to you?!" is the typical response I usually heard from female officers who got Sir'd. (Pro tip: the right answer is never "yes."  ) 
 
Oh, I don't think it was deliberate sexism on anyone's part. It's depressingly common in modern military & SF stories, so I'm sure Seth was just repeating what he'd heard it on another show and assumed was correct. It just annoys me.

After almost a week of temperatures in the 95°F (35°C) range without it, our swamp cooler was finally replaced yesterday. The house was actually a little chilly when I went to bed last night. It was glorious.

It's not actually insomnia, it's that you've fallen asleep in your dreams again.  You're dozens of layers deep.  The voices are people you can hear from other dream layers.

"They say I am crazy, but I know better ... It is not I who am crazy -- it is I who am mad!"

For the first time in my life, quitting a job eased my anxiety rather than created more of it.

In the SyFy adaptation, Irma passes over a wildlife sanctuary before making landfall, and people are pelted with rabid squirrels.  "Squirrelicane" should do boffo numbers.

I wish we'd stuck with 'pollution bad' instead of switching to 'climate change.'..  it *worked*. We stopped using CFC and the ozone layer has mostly healed itself! That's pretty cool.
 
'Pollution bad' shares the same solutions but hasn't been turned into an 'us vs them' buzz topic - because it's more 'tangible'.  Far fewer people, no matter how 'fact resistant' humanity has become, can seriously look out their windows on the smoggiest day or look at trash floating in a harbour and say 'this is fine'.
 
Sigh.

Course, a bit too soon, but it did hit me, today that the relative who overstays their welcome will now forever be known as an "Uncle Harvey".
 
 
I do apologize in advance.

Re-watching Babylon 5.

As a fellow long-time NGDer, I respect your opinion.  As a minority, I'm pretty disappointed, and I'm curious as to what the other pursuits are.

It's only "false" because of personal bias. Whatever. The phrase "false equivalency" is already becoming a tired refuge for the Left to hide behind. I could argue that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are stringent Trump supporters but he has his detractors on the Right as well. Some of the Far Right criticize him for not being Conservative enough or for tangling too much in foreign affairs or for....the list goes on. I could call out the portrayal of all Right-wing media being devout fanatics in the Cult of Trump's personality as an outright false narrative. I could do that, but it isn't going to change hearts and minds. Quite frankly I have better things to spend my energy on. I am not a Trump supporter so I am not going to engage on his behalf. No horse in that race. Obama, who I never cared for, is no longer President and attacking him is not necessary. Whatever good or ill he did for the nation is done. Arguing about relative press relations is a pointless venture from my point of view. I stand by the statement in the message you quoted and I'll leave it at that. I rather like to continue having our non-political discussions stay friendly and politics has a way of creating rifts where there should not be any.
 
Come to think of it, barring any specific legislation that would negatively impact my life, this whole presidential term is kind of a wash for me. I should really focus on other pursuits anyway.

Everyone knows it's better to use a butter knife. That way the knife's warm for spreading the butter on the toast.

Work on your novel. When you hit five pages of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." you'll know you're rockin'.

I've been suffering that a lot lately. You have my sympathy.

Cabin fever is starting to kick in. I've tried sleep, video games. watching movies (started like three before turning them all off), and chores. I feel antsy and discontented. I can't even think about developing many of my hanging roleplaying projects. 
 
Bah humbug!

At least it's a dry heat!  - Hudson, from Aliens
 
Sorry to hear about your cooler. Our A/C went down on one of those 105+ days and it took most of two days to get it fixed. We resorted to fans, cold showers, and freezing our t-shirts to get through it.