Octopus Overlords

My father built me a tv stand 25 years ago that isn't terribly good looking or elegant. It was one of his first hobby jobs in his workshop he had built for himself after retiring. But I'll be damned if I can bring myself to replace it. Although I may finally do so when I move in the spring.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:14 am

ImLawBoy wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 10:50 am

LordMortis wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 6:58 am Is it just me or are they skipping Gen Z talk and going straight to Gen Alpha? And we thought X was forgotten. X was at least in the conversation when my portion of X was in our early 20s. Maybe Z remind us too much of COVID.

This is the first I recall seeing the term "Gen Alpha" and I still see tons of Gen Z talk, so I'm not saying it's just you, but I'm not saying its not just you.

Generation Alpha is a real thing.

Generation Alpha (often shortened to Gen Alpha) is the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 2010s as starting birth years and the mid-to-late 2020s as ending birth years. (see § Date and age range definitions) Named after alpha, the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Generation Alpha is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century and the third millennium. Members of Generation Alpha are usually the children of millennials and some of older members of Generation Z.

Generation Alpha has been born at a time of falling fertility rates across much of the world, and experienced the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as young children. For those with access, children's entertainment has been increasingly dominated by electronic technology, social networks, and streaming services, with interest in traditional television concurrently falling. Changes in the use of technology in classrooms and other aspects of life have had a significant effect on how this generation has experienced early learning compared to previous generations. Studies have suggested that health problems related to screen time, allergies, and obesity became increasingly prevalent in the late 2010s.

Great, an influx of Alpha Males incoming!

Lessee... The living room has a rock-solid coffee table that Michelle's mother gave us right after we moved in 21 years ago. It's solid, but was the table that we had while the kids were growing up, so it was beaten on with matchbox cars, spilled on, banged on, scratched, and dented pretty extensively.

Next is the couch, another moving-in gift from Michelle's mother. It was used when she bought it 23 years ago, and has seen more than two decades of heavy use, including one fairly large D&D player who was incapable of sitting down - he'd hover over the couch and fall on it, causing some of the boards to break off. It was a fairly nice couch, but it's in horrible shape. I can't replace it due to cost, and due to the fact that I have any means of hauling it to the dump. If it weren't a sleeper bed I could cut it up and dispose of it in the trash can over the course of a month.

The recliner is actually a really nice one, but I hate it. It was loaned to me when I had cancer ten years ago by a friend's mother's neighbor I'd done a few favors for. It had been her elderly (90+) mother's, who had died. Afterward, the neighbor didn't want it back. Since it was for an elderly person, it's one of the motorized recliners that can lay you down or lift you all the way to your feet. It's also incredibly slow to recline, the buttons that put it back down are starting to fail. The motor means that the thing takes to people to move, so it's pretty much stuck in place. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that it's so soft - way too soft. You disappear into it, which is uncomfortable for anything except sleeping, and is terrible on my back.

The rest is a mish-mash. The rug on the floor is a Walmart special from the 90s. The TV stand/entertainment center and my desk are from Amazon, and both are decent. The shelves in the corner are the true stigma producer - they're the plastic cube style. The drink table next to the recliner is an old computer tower. And then there are the cages - two of them. One's about 2 1/2 feet square and four feet high. The other is 2'x3', and about five feet high. Pigeons need space.

It's an ugly mess, and none of the colors match (blue couch, red-tan recliner, red oak coffee table, black desk and TV stand, gray and black rug, blue curtains.) When one gets the furniture that's available, one does not get to choose colors.

In a perfect world, I'd replace the recliner with a new one that strikes a better balance between comfort and usability, scrap the couch, put the recliner where the couch used to be, and end up with a significant amount of additional space in a crowded room. I wonder if I can cut up the sleeper frame with a hacksaw...

All I ever hear about is Gen Z, they don't shut up. Yes, like most of y'alls kids, my kids are also Gen Z.

Ikea - I have two sets of Kallax shelves an dI do agree that I am a nobody. I don't think we've bought anything else from them.

Our oldest piece of furniture is probably our bed, that my wife keeps saying we need to replace... ok, actually that's a lie. The (sleep number) mattress will be replaced. In fact most of our bedroom furniture is from her first apartment. The family room has a cheap sofa that needs to be replaced when the kids are less likely to break whatever we get. Kitchen table is a relatively new table from a boardgametables.com kickstarter. The pool table is probably over 20 years old now.

OK, I think that covers all the recent randomness.

Okay, so we all know that while watching a YouTube video, you can single-mouse-click on the screen and it will pause the video.

Did anyone know (TIL!) that you can press and hold your mouse button and it will suddenly 2x play the video while your mouse button is depressed? I had never stumbled on this until today.

When I needed shelves for my office in the new house I went with Kallax and I'm really happy with them.

The only time I really hear anything about about Ikea is when I listen to Jonathan Coulton

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:57 pm Ikea has sent a solo indie developer a cease and desist letter reviewed by Kotaku, demanding he make changes to his unreleased survival horror game set in an Ikea-like furniture store.

there's also

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13129925-horrorst-r

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:51 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:57 pm Ikea has sent a solo indie developer a cease and desist letter reviewed by Kotaku, demanding he make changes to his unreleased survival horror game set in an Ikea-like furniture store.

there's also

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13129925-horrorst-r

New Republic Pictures Acquires Grady Hendrix’s Novel ‘Horrorstör’

Formerly set up as a television series with Charlie Kaufman, Gail Berman and Josh Schwartz producing at Fox and then at AMC, Horrorstör is now going the feature route with Hendrix adapting his own material for the first time.

All Upcoming Grady Hendrix Movie and TV Adaptations

The novel was published in 2021, and a television series is currently in the works. It will be written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (The Fix) and executive produced by Grady Hendrix, Megan Ellison (Her), Sue Naegle (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Patrick Chu (Miss Sloane), and Adam Goldworm (My Friend Dahmer). Considering the fact that the book was only published last year, the series is probably very early in development. Nevertheless, Annapurna Pictures is currently slotted to distribute once it is finished.

LordMortis wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 6:58 am Is it just me or are they skipping Gen Z talk and going straight to Gen Alpha? And we thought X was forgotten. X was at least in the conversation when my portion of X was in our early 20s. Maybe Z remind us too much of COVID.

Millennials are the current core adult generation: the youngest of them are pushing thirty, the oldest are mid-40s. They're entering the prime of their careers, and their kids are starting to grow into tweens.

Which is why we now hear all about Gen Alpha. They're the Millennials' kids, and discourse about "the kids" is always a huge market.

(Gen Z mattered most when they were Gen X's kids. Now that so many of them are in college or starting real jobs, they're a less interesting topic.)

So thats where Gen Z went...between the X and Mil..I always wondered about them.

I started reading and watching My Best Friend's Exorcism (from Isg's post) and couldn't get through either.

the Final Girls support group sounds interesting, but so did My Best Friend's Exorcism and both versions of that (book/movie) were just so clichéd that I just couldn't take any more.

I thought the book of My Best Friend's Exorcism was OK, but the movie was God-awful. Terrible adaptation.

I have Final Girls Support Group in my Kindle backlog. I've read Horrorstor which was OK.

I think I like the idea of being a Grady Hendrix fan more than actually being a fan. Though his nonfiction book "Paperbacks From Hell" was awesome.

hepcat wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 1:02 pm My father built me a tv stand 25 years ago that isn't terribly good looking or elegant. It was one of his first hobby jobs in his workshop he had built for himself after retiring. But I'll be damned if I can bring myself to replace it. Although I may finally do so when I move in the spring.

Maybe you can spiff it up some or rethink or repurpose it.

hepcat wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 1:02 pm My father built me a tv stand 25 years ago that isn't terribly good looking or elegant. It was one of his first hobby jobs in his workshop he had built for himself after retiring. But I'll be damned if I can bring myself to replace it. Although I may finally do so when I move in the spring.

My grandmother's hobby was acrylic painting (oil painting style) in that midwest style where anything is a canvas (especially old saw blades.) She had an end table next to her recliner for all of the years I knew her, and for all of the years I lived with her. It was about a foot wide, and maybe 2 1/2 feet long, and she'd painted the top with a cabin scene, then had a glass top custom cut to fit it. She spent her days watching TV or reading in that recliner, and slept there at night. The table held her TV Guide, whatever she was drinking, snacks, you name it.

When she died, and my father asked me if I wanted anything out of her house, I asked for two things: A paring knife I used all the time, and her table.

The table sits next to the couch, and is where I keep a drink and snack when I'm watching TV. It absolutely does not fit my personality, my style, or anything else in the house, but it's one of my most valued items, and there is no chance that I won't keep it there for the rest of my life.

Daehawk wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 5:19 pm So thats where Gen Z went...between the X and Mil..I always wondered about them.

So they skipped right over Gen Why?

My mother had a curio cabinet / secretary that I inherited. I chopped the top off to create just a secretary that fits under my TV. I'm sitting there as I type. This piece has no significant family history, but I'm glad I've kept it at least for now. I have a few small pieces my dad crafted in shop class that I plan to keep forever, as long as my sister doesn't mind storing them for me for awhile.

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Jan 02, 2024 1:38 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 02, 2024 1:09 pm As far as I know, Mickey Mouse has not entered the public domain - only Steamboat Willie.

Hmm, looks like one of my favorite sordid characters is also public domain now. Peg Leg Pete could make for some funny material.

em2nought wrote: Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:16 am I have a few small pieces my dad crafted in shop class that I plan to keep forever

When my mom died my father moved from their already small apartment to live with my sister. In the move the three siblings all picked out the things we wanted to keep. My top pick was a set of brass candlesticks that my grandfather made in shop class. Looking at them you can't tell that there is anything special about them but I think it's a neat link to a man I would have liked to know better.

Daehawk wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2024 5:19 pm So thats where Gen Z went...between the X and Mil..I always wondered about them.

Broadly speaking, it goes this way:

Boomers (children of the Greatest Generation)
Gen X (children of the Silent Generation)
Millennials (children of the Boomers)
Gen Z (children of Gen X)
Gen Alpha (Children of Millennials)

Each is discussed when they they are kids growing up, then forgotten for a while, and then discussed again when they are economically significant adults.

We talk about Gen X being ignored, but they will be a big topic after the Boomers have died off and Gen X is the crisis-of-retirement generation.

Gaming but also random. I can't play Last Epoch now. Whenever I try to play my cat stands in between me and the screen. With other games she has shown an interest but tends to wander off but the M&K ARPG gets her to bat at the screen and both my hands.

I was over at LootCrate looking at their old Fallout box and checked on their normal crate while there. $30 frakking dollars!! When they were new I paid like $12 or so and the contents weren't even worth that back then cept for the shirt. I loved their shirts. I still wear some now days. The rest might have one Item I liked the rest Id save up and give away. No way people still pay $30 for a crate of that junk do they? I noticed they are down to selling like 4 or 5 different crates now too. They used to have like 20.

Daehawk wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 8:34 pm I was over at LootCrate looking at their old Fallout box and checked on their normal crate while there. $30 frakking dollars!! When they were new I paid like $12 or so and the contents weren't even worth that back then cept for the shirt. I loved their shirts. I still wear some now days. The rest might have one Item I liked the rest Id save up and give away. No way people still pay $30 for a crate of that junk do they? I noticed they are down to selling like 4 or 5 different crates now too. They used to have like 20.

I never understand these services that just mail you a box of crap every month. I can't stand the amount of clutter I already have, I've been trying to recycle or donate some stuff but I'm at a point where it's just going in the trash (as environmentally unfriendly as that is). But to pay someone money to send me random stuff that no one would otherwise buy? Yeah...ok.

I did it about 10 years ago or a bit less. I did it because I like surprises and liked getting a box of unknown stuff. Some I liked and the shirts rocked. But mostly it was junk and became more so over time.

I'll sell anyone a box of random crap for $20, or high-quality crap for $30. I don't want to make money; I just want to unload crap without sending it to a landfill.

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:24 am I'll sell anyone a box of random crap for $20, or high-quality crap for $30. I don't want to make money; I just want to unload crap without sending it to a landfill.

Yeah, same here.

I haven't a couple of friends who subscribed to several different types of loot crates. They had extra money, and I think they just liked getting a surprise from time to time.

One year for Christmas, they dropped off a box, a cube probably 1.5 feet per side In it was all of the items they hadn't wanted for a year or two.

Most we had little interest in, but there were quite a few things that were actually pretty cool, and a few we have loved, most of which are still around the house.

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:56 am I haven't a couple of friends who subscribed to several different types of loot crates.

I don't either.

Phone typing while laying in bed, swimming with disease.

I heard a podcast put it best:

"Lootcrate: Here, you throw this away."

gilraen wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:41 am

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:24 am I'll sell anyone a box of random crap for $20, or high-quality crap for $30. I don't want to make money; I just want to unload crap without sending it to a landfill.

Yeah, same here.

I still have piles of "new in box" stuff from Curio City that I couldn't sell and don't know how to dispose of. We're talking high quality crap. Please make it go away.

gilraen wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:43 pm I never understand these services that just mail you a box of crap every month. I can't stand the amount of clutter I already have, I've been trying to recycle or donate some stuff but I'm at a point where it's just going in the trash (as environmentally unfriendly as that is). But to pay someone money to send me random stuff that no one would otherwise buy? Yeah...ok.

Yeah, I'm working through my house room by room and haven't even gotten to the storage in my basement or garage yet. I don't have anything of worth to give away. I'm recycling what I can, but I'm just paring back down to the nothing I had when I moved in. More things are just more things to clean and maintain and I hate cleaning and maintaining things. I also have never had an urge to build a personal mausoleum to my life. I'm even debating dropping all my DVDs and CDs off to good will. With the 1000's and 1000's $ of past money put in to them, it's hard to let them go. I've also finally started dumping all my old game documentation that I haven't looked at two decades. With no DVD player I should just dump the games themselves as well. It's weird to have collected to so much media in a lifetime and then to come to the point where it's just clutter. As this point books and discs one sort or another take up more room then any other collective bits of my home except clothes.

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 2:37 am

gilraen wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:41 am

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:24 am I'll sell anyone a box of random crap for $20, or high-quality crap for $30. I don't want to make money; I just want to unload crap without sending it to a landfill.

Yeah, same here.

I still have piles of "new in box" stuff from Curio City that I couldn't sell and don't know how to dispose of. We're talking high quality crap. Please make it go away.

What are the highlights?

I was about to ask the same...

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 11:08 am

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 2:37 am

gilraen wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:41 am

Kraken wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 12:24 am I'll sell anyone a box of random crap for $20, or high-quality crap for $30. I don't want to make money; I just want to unload crap without sending it to a landfill.

Yeah, same here.

I still have piles of "new in box" stuff from Curio City that I couldn't sell and don't know how to dispose of. We're talking high quality crap. Please make it go away.

What are the highlights?

A little of this, a little of that. Mostly novelties...ice cube trays, a couple of clocks, some xmas stuff, LP bowls, etc. I know there are at least a few lighted caps in unpopular colors. Their batteries might even still work. IDK; I haven't rooted through those boxes since our last yard sale a few years ago.

If this was happening in a Twitch chat, this is the point where I'd pipe up to ask "How much to ship the entire lot off to Daehawk?"

Lots not junk to me lol.

Speaking of twitch I got my air freshen in the mail fro ma girl on there. Its her perfume on it and a pic of her from behind and little else. My first thought was "yay I can hang this on my car rear view mirror!"...second thought was "NOooooo I cant do that"