wild_turkey

This season and the finale were terrible. Beth is an emotional train wreck and somehow John and Rip seem incapable of reeling her in. I’m sure somehow the writing will spin things such that she wins out over Market Equities in the end, making her look as though she was in control the entire time, which will be equally terrible writing and a fitting direction for this show. I could rant about everything else that sucked but it’s not really worth the time. Not sure I’ll watch season 5 unless I’m desperately bored when it airs. I think probably The Bachelor is better written and more realistic so maybe I’ll switch to that if I have too much free time to kill. I can check in on this thread to appreciate the absurdity without having to actually watch it.

Watched it last night. Thought it was okay. I'm surprised at the majority of people seeming to like it so much on here. I found the story itself rather interesting, especially after reading more about it on Wikipedia afterwards. I didn't like the way they told the story with multiple versions in succession. Not that I mind that version of storytelling, but I didn't think there was enough variety in the 3 different versions of the story to make the viewer watch it 3 times. The second version from the Jacques le Gris POV still made him look pretty rapey so there really wasn't any ambiguity in the eyes of a 21st century viewer. By the time we got to the 3rd version from Marguerite's POV, it just felt like a repeat of the previous 2 versions and didn't add anything except to make the runtime longer. The duel at the end was the best part of the movie and very well done IMO.

Saw someone wearing a shirt today that said: “I’m somewhere between Proverbs 31 and Beth Dutton.”

This show is getting progressively worse. I think its quality is currently somewhere between Dexter season 6 and The Walking Dead season 4. Which is to say I look forward to complaining about the show more than actually watching the show. Watching it has become a chore. John Dutton needs to be on oxygen. Every time he speaks more than a few words, he has to pause to catch his breath and then he’s completely winded. I think he had cancer at some point at the horse vet fixed it. Might want to get that rechecked. Beth is beyond terrible. Her character is a miserable bitch who argues with everyone, including her father who she is so incredibly fond of. Her tantrums don’t even have a purpose anymore and she doesn’t appear clever or strong, just weak and angry. I guess they are selectively ignoring Market Equities again. It’s been the biggest overarching plot going back to last season, but they will have entire episodes that fail to even mention it. This show sucks at telling a cohesive story.

Really liked it. Pretty depressing though because there is so much truth to it.

Crested Butte got 41” the past 48 hours.

I thought this was supposed to be the last season of Yellowstone and I was sticking with it knowing it was almost over. Unfortunately, I may have been mistaken. This episode was horrible. The show has become a mashup of all of Taylor Sheridan’s projects mixed in with commercials. I’m surprised we didn’t get a little Mayor of Kingstown clip just because. Tate is a cringeworthy actor. Kayce is one of the better characters and his plot has hit a complete dead end. Good for him for escaping the Dutton family insanity though. Can anyone explain why there was an FBI raid of the protesters camp? Why are protestors a major part of the plot anyways? Did Taylor Sheridan get his feelings hurt over the spinning horse criticism and actively look for something less entertaining to make us think the spinning horses were actually fun by comparison? Beth’s little outburst at the dinner table was a Beth outburst just for the sake of having a Beth outburst. Maybe instead of the horse tricks and 6666/1883 scenes, they should spend a little time setting up the reasons for John to turn against Jamie and for Jamie to be a respectable villain. As it is, he’s just a spineless and cowardly character who will ultimately give in to the wishes of his murderer father who was himself a complete failure in life. It’s almost hard to root against someone that pathetic.

I’m with you. I think the actor severely overacts and it makes it hard to take Marco seriously.

I forgot the reason for that as well. At one point he suspected Jamie of being involved in the attacks on the Dutton family but I thought they settled that. Was there some other major grievance between John and Jamie that I’m forgetting? I’m not buying Jamie as the final villain in all of this. He’s just a limp dicked character that gets continually shat on and makes bad decisions, so to have him turn into a villain for lack of better options is a pretty lame excuse for a villain.

I forgot the reason for that as well. At one point he suspected Jamie of being involved in the attacks on the Dutton family but I thought they settled that. Was there some other major grievance between John and Jamie that I’m forgetting? I’m not buying Jamie as the final villain in all of this. He’s just a limp dicked character that gets continually shat on and makes bad decisions, so to have him turn into a villain for lack of better options is a pretty lame excuse for a villain.

Ahhh yes, the real America with rampant murder, Heat-style shootouts in small town streets, murder-for hire plots, corporate greed, corrupt politicians, poor treatment of Native Americans, and just a general sense of people being cunty towards one another.

The plot in this show is mostly terrible. Agree that it is a soap opera disguised as a modern western. Market Equities taking control of part of the ranch seems to be the biggest plot going but it disappears for episodes at a time. I can’t even remember the current status because the plot is so intermittent, but they are building a ski resort and a casino and an airport with 52 gates! That’s bigger than AUS for a ski town. And apparently Beth is going to derail that from the inside but it’s absurd that ME allowed her into their extended organization in the first place. Beth being an over the top bitch repeatedly and giving a rant of her wisdom to a random character is incredibly tired. Maybe there are some middle aged female viewers who are into this. Kinda feel bad for them. She had potential to be a great character but they’ve made her a caricature of a powerful woman. That poor bastard kid should go back to foster care. Jayme keeps getting shit on. He sucks as a character and I realize Beth hated him, but I didn’t think John actually hated him. Yet John and the same governor who was about to endorse him decided to totally blindside him because I guess Taylor Sheridan thought that dramatic twist with no rational purpose would entertain viewers. Speaking of Taylor Sheridan, his presence has been kept to a minimum the last 2 eps which helps a little because his auto-fellatio brings the show down, but it is bad for my Yellowstone bingo card which has a square for “Taylor Sheridan spinning horse” and another for “Taylor Sheridan states the cost of something”. And I thought John Dutton hired Sheridan and a bunch of expert cowboys to develop show horses or cutting horses as a way to financially save the ranch? Is that even a plot anymore? Not that I really miss it because multiple scenes of guys stopping a horse in the dirt was not entertaining. Kayce helping get the wild horses back with a secret method (more horses!) and then he has marital drama because an attractive Native American girl thinks she had love at first sight for him. Okay? I think 1883 has potential to be a better show, hopefully closer to a Lonesome Dove without the modern day plot bullshit. That said, every preview with Faith Hill narrating sounds awfully similar to Dolores from Westworld.

I really wanted to like it but it kinda sucked. Didn’t care for any of the characters which is the quickest way for me to lose interest in a show. By comparison, I watched The Expanse season 6 premiere tonight, and although I think the plot is a bit ridiculous at times, I like the show primarily because they created good characters.

Good news! Windows Spotlight randomly came back today. I didn't change any settings so not sure what prompted this. Maybe they just wanted me to live without it for a couple of weeks to learn to appreciate it more.

This cell phone debate is ridiculous and full of straw man arguments from both sides. Phone access is practically a necessity in our country and a cell phone is the most cost efficient way to do that. Unless perhaps you work mowing grass or cleaning houses, but even then you need some way to get in touch with your boss or clients. Ag with kids doesn’t need a cell phone for his job. Hobbes works for a company that doesn’t accept applications without a phone. Congrats to both of you. Get a room. Having a phone does not require an iPhone 13 Pro with unlimited data. There are shitty phones that are practically free but they serve the basic function of communication and there are plans that start around $15/month with a small amount of data. So truly poor people who are struggling to buy food still have options. Surely there are poor people with misplaced priorities who overspend on a better cell phone for XYZ reasons, so I think that point is a little bit valid, but there are also middle class or upper class people that overspend on all kinds of bullshit too while ignoring basic needs. And neither of those seem likely to be a significant contributor to whether or not the U.S. crumbles. … I think on a long enough time period, the U.S. will eventually cease to exist, just like every other great empire in the history of the world. If that happens in the next ~100 years, it seems the most likely scenario is that our internal social/political conflict interferes with our ability to maintain first class technology, manufacturing, and military power, allowing China or Russia to take advantage and overpower us. It seems inevitable that the U.S. and the world at large are headed for a reckoning with at least China. If we survive beyond ~100 years, who knows?

Anyone using Windows 11 yet? I didn't even realize it had been released until I recently bought a new laptop that came with it installed. I have a lot of Apple products (iPhone, iPad, Airpods, AppleTV) but I've resisted getting a Macbook because I've always liked the Windows OS experience better than Mac OS. Now they've changed some stuff that seems not for the better, or maybe I just need to figure out how to adjust it to my liking. 1. Windows Spotlight doesn't work for me so far. I like seeing the rotating images on my startup screen. Need to fix that. 2. Taskbar buttons were centered like on Mac, which I was able to easily revert to the bottom left configuration. However, the taskbar buttons automatically combine multiple windows of the same app. There is no way to uncombine them, which is highly annoying to me. 3. Taskbar size is huge. There is an option in Settings to change the scale of everything, but if I reduce the scale to a suitable taskbar size, the scale of everything else becomes tiny. I found a Regedit to use as a workaround, but it screwed up the spacing of the Widgets on the bottom right side. 4. Spacing of things seems more spread apart. For instance, looking at files in a folder in List View, there is more space between each file, which means less files can be seen on the screen at once. I remember griping about this in an old shaggybevo update because I couldn't see as many threads on a page. Maybe that's a minority opinion to want things tighter together. I'm curious what others' experiences have been with Windows 11 so far. I'm not seeing much upside, and unfortunately, since this laptop came with it pre-installed, I don't think I have an option to revert to Windows 10.

We have Telluride booked for mid January. Happy to see they got 18” the last 2 days. Need a few more storms like that.

Was Lloyd actually hooking up with her? He’s in his 60s, presumably not rich, and she looks 25 and is attractive. Them hooking up makes about as much sense as the Dutton’s business/legal nemesis giving Beth majority shares of Schwartz and Meyer, which is to say it makes no sense at all.

That was a fun game. Good for Michigan. Football fans everywhere will be happy to watch a CFP without Ohio St.

I also agree that he’s just playing himself, which makes me think I would kind of hate him in real life. Sorry if I’m not impressed by your spinning horse tricks, your $120,000 pickup, or the way you talk like a narcissistic asshole to everyone. I don’t have to like him to enjoy his work, but his presence on screen has become inversely proportional to how much I like a particular episode.

My personal fan fiction version is that Gabby Petito’s dad or brother or someone found him and exacted revenge.

First time at Le Ti was just the 2 of us, sat in the back, didn't have a great view of the cabaret show, and the food was just okay. It was the last night of our first time in St. Barth and we were disappointed after having fantastic meals everywhere else all week long. It wasn't horrible, just not great, and a weak way to end the trip. Second time was better because we were there with a group and sat next to the stage so everything was front and center. Also, we went into it knowing that the food was mediocre and we were there to party with friends and that's what we got. That works for groups but it's hard for 2 people to get a table that close. I would personally skip Le Ti and focus on better meals elsewhere. If you want a lively party atmosphere, Bagatelle is your friend. The party goes pretty hard there and you don't even have to eat there if you don't want to. Just show up around 10 pm after eating anywhere you like.

I don’t think anyone is surprised by or disputing the cost of these things. We just don’t think it makes for great television to have him constantly tell us the cost.

Another example of that would be the girl at the bar ordering a “skinny margarita with Tito’s.” No one puts vodka in a margarita. If the point was to give Tito’s a quick shoutout for advertising purposes, which obviously Tito’s has paid for some mentions this season, then pick one of the hundreds of drinks that a reasonable person would actually make with vodka. Putting their product in a margarita isn’t a great look. If the point was to make the girl look dumb or basic, then let her order a hard seltzer or rosé or whatever. Or a vodka soda if you wish to rep Tito’s. Having her obviously botch a drink order just makes the writers look dumb and careless.