I think demon-possession stuff can be scary, or at least upsetting. Not so much when horror comes from a possessed person like in The Exorcist, but more like when demons are toying with the minds of mortals, making them unable to trust their own senses. There's a pretty-good movie no one saw called The Dark and the Wicked (not the greatest title imo) that does this pretty well. Is this person you just met real or was it actually the demon? Was it really them when you first met, and the demon the second time you met? Was it them or was it the demon when you spoke to them on the phone? Or did the demon make you think you were speaking to that person while you were actually speaking to someone else entirely? Were the words coming out of your mouth the same words you heard yourself say? Were you even speaking to anyone at all? It works because the horror comes less from a spooky monster who will kill you, and more from an inability to distinguish reality from illusion.

In a similar vein, one thing I liked about Hereditary was how the demonic forces were establishing "rules" for the protagonist just to fuck with her. I love the bit when she tries to burn the journal and is set on fire herself. So later on when she tries to get her husband to burn the journal, expecting to burn to death along with it, you're like "it's going to turn out that whoever burns the journal also burns, so the husband is going to die." But when he won't do it she throws the journal in the fire in frustration and the husband goes up in flames anyway. There are no rules to this. There were never any rules. The demon was just playing with its food.

So yeah, it's my opinion that if satanic stuff can tap into fears about losing control and losing your mind, it can be pretty scary.

I mean, he's right. We just let them do it. If he'd like us to take matters into our own hands I'm sure we can oblige.

I love that I put on a white noise video to help me sleep and now my feed is 80% white noise videos

I got to do this once. I look like the type a prosecutor would probably want on a jury and I wasn't individually asked any questions before being chosen. The case was a non-violent drug offense and it was a wild experience for reasons I won't get into. Once we got in the jury room it pretty much went like:

"Not guilty."

"Why not guilty? It's a pretty clear cut case."

"I don't believe the cops."

"Why don't you believe the cops?"

"I didn't find their testimony credible. It didn't convince me beyond a reasonable doubt."

"What about the body cam footage? Do you believe that?"

"I didn't find it convincing."

"The whole thing is on camera, do you think they faked it all?"

"I suppose that's a possibility. I just haven't seen enough evidence to convict."

"What more evidence could you need?"

"More than this. I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt."

And around and around we went like that. I was the lone holdout. I have to say, the other jurors were pretty cool about it. Eventually we had to tell the judge we couldn't reach a verdict on any of the charges and it was declared a mistrial. Totally worth it.

I want to work at the government Office of Whaddya-Need? where people come because they need help training their dog, or they need help moving across the country, or they need a leaking roof patched up, or they need someone to pick their kid up from soccer practice on Friday evenings, or they want to become a librarian and need career guidance, or they have limited mobility and just want someone to take them over to the lake and sit and chat. I want to be the person who helps to figure out how to get them the thing they need. For free of course, because it's a communist utopia.

As someone who has never cared about Batman or any other superhero but enjoyed all the Arkham games, I think it's worth it for the Gotham-at-Christmas atmosphere. I often replay it around Christmastime

People should write their info on paper more often. Meet someone on the train, have nice conversation, "this is my stop, here's my number/insta/tiktok/whateverthekidsusethesedays, hmu if you'd like to continue this over drinks" and leave it at that. It'll be clear you've asked them out, but they don't have to decide in the moment, they don't have to reject you to your face, and they don't have to give you any personal info. You leave them in a position where they only need to take action if they're interested in talking to you again, and they don't have to expend any additional energy on you if they're not interested.

never thought there would be video of this omg thank you so much

it's wild how quickly it lost me. I knew exactly what type of corporate product it would be, but the trailers made it look visually interesting, funny (the beach-off joke made me laugh ), and the whole idea of the Kens discovering patriarchy in the real world was pretty solid. 20 minutes in I was bored and couldn't wait for it to be over.

Make other characters look straight to the camera and say "wow Witt is so witty, and smart and cunning"

barely related, but my favorite moment from Wonder Woman 1984 is when Diana Wonder Woman and Kristen Wiig Cat Lady go out for drinks and get to know each other. The scene begins with Diana Wonder Woman laughing at something we the audience didn't get to hear, says to Cat Lady, "you're so funny 😂," and the scene moves on. Like, you've got talented comedienne Kristen Wiig in your movie and you're establishing her character, and the writer (writers? I'm not looking it up) couldn't come up with a single funny thing for her to say? The entire movie is inept on every possible level but for some reason, that moment of ineptitude is the one that lodged itself in my brain.

If someone asks for help and you're in a position to help, you help them.

It's especially weird that companies are still like this after seeing the success of a game like Baldurs Gate 3. The runaway hit of the year, and biggest earner on Steam, doesn't even implement the basic Steam DRM. I tried it. The game launches and runs just fine when Steam isn't running at all. It's so messed up how capitalism leads to that (providing good products at fair prices and respecting your audience) being seen as an "unsustainable business model."

Cole Escola was also in Search Party. He was The Twink who kidnaps Dory in whichever season it was where she got kidnapped. Who wants to talk about what an extremely fun and deeply flawed show Search Party is?

Half-Life: Alyx is the game that shows us just how incredible vr can be. And it's the game that ruins you for all other vr games because nothing else is anywhere near as good.

Since you mentioned Myst, Cyan published a vr game called The Last Clockwinder. It's a cozy little game where you solve puzzles using automatons that repeat your own recorded actions. So for example, you record yourself picking up an object and dropping it in a bucket, and then a robot repeats the same actions over and over. Before long you're creating assembly lines of robots that are all interacting with each other, and are all recordings of you. It's easier to understand from watching a trailer. Anyway, it has a cute solarpunk(?) aesthetic, some nice casual queerness, and the kind of corny, earnest performances I remember from the Myst games. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1755100/The_Last_Clockwinder/

Beat Saber is an obvious good option, but before you spend any money on song packs, check out a site like BEATSAVER. Beat Saber can be modded and there are custom song managers you can use, but you don't have to bother with all that if you really don't want to. Downloading the zip file from beatsaver and dropping it into beat saber directory is enough (assuming the custom song didn't require any mods, some of them do). There are so many good songs on there that rival anything officially released.

Also Blade and Sorcery. It's rough around the edges, but the implementation of magic is pretty great. Hurling fireballs, using telekinesis to pick up and throw weapons, objects, and enemies, holding a ball of electricity in one hand and using it to imbue the sword you're holding in your other hand, it's all very fun. Even if it does make me more motion-sick than just about anything I've played in vr.

Fully expecting this to be yet another Rockstar Special, i.e. a technical marvel rendering a painstakingly crafted world, full of boring gameplay, underdeveloped systems, and dull, unlikable characters.

someone already said to my boss "oh they're getting us all in a room so we're fish in a barrel?"

I'm having fun with friends online, jeez

this is my favorite suggestion so far

I like the grapefruit seltzer and hate actual grapefruit