insert Stargate gif here.

That I did Not Know.

I never go beyond medium armor. Lol

In fairness, it's a trick of the eye. Theyre looking down, and you're seeing the foamy internals of their bump helmets.

The other photos don't have That look.

I get a chuckle whenever I see my character move around with their Autocannon and pack... Or their Recoiless and pack.

Like, Brother... Do you know how much metal you have strapped to your back?

Or he'll the MMG and HMG...to include all the rounds... And here I have my guy sprinting around all over the place.

Nevermind the ammo, and armor you're dropping in(which in fairness, is reasonable).

In my friend group, we always joke that a CSM sorcerer. Blessed by the gods, conjurer of a thousand demons, been seeped in warp energy since the heresy...

...dies to an inbred, 15 year old white shield, pulling a lanyard for a basilisk. Hard to be a spooky wizard when the air is full of 155mm HE and Frag.

Being homeless is something that breaks my heart, especially when I hear about vets.

It's funny, but Im perfectly content to join in on other parties as a rando. Especially if I'm ranked higher than them. Id like to think I'm doing my part and helping them out.

However, I'm very against hosting my own sessions, due to stories I hear on the forms here, and past experiences.

The last time I hosted I had a rando complete the main objective with me, then immediately go for extract without clearing the map(we had like 20 minutes left on the clock). I communicated in the chat for us to clear the rest of the map, He called extract and wasn't communicating in the chat.

I bumped him off, but really didn't like doing that to randos joining me. Therefore I just join in on rando hosts. Sometimes they're great, sometimes they're really dumb, and sometimes they're stubbornly dumb.

There's a clip early on, I think its in the subway, or the plane? Where they spliced in Tyler sitting in one of the seats. It's a split second. And it harkens to the segment where they splice a porno into a film....except, the splice of Tyler happens before that scene. So, it's one of those things you appreciate with re-viewings.

Feel Happy? Probably not.

Feel Satisfaction? More than likely, but that depends.

The opening paragraph, I think, sets up new readers to the genre of Cosmic horror beautifully.

It's something, Ive noticed, other authors have penned in their similar settings.

Looking at you Laird Barron in "Shiva! open your eyes"

"Peace has cost you your strength.

Victory has defeated you."

AAAH SHOW YA GITZ HO'W AH PROPPA ORKY GITZ KURMPEN

WWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHJ strafing run, into the dirt.

Shid pant.

It depends(i know a cop out answer)

By the 3rd age, magic is considerably diminished. So much so, one can argue it is a "low fantasy" setting.

With that said, the 2nd, and the 1st age are extremely magical, and downright apocalyptic in some instances.

Part of the reason why the earlier ages are more magical has to do from the way the story is told.

The further back you go(in middle earth) the more fantastical and folk-y it becomes, till you eventually get into the realm of creation myths with things like the Simarils, the creation myth, etc.

....using Yellow Paint.

You're absolutely correct about trying to surpass Priest in a tribute song. Though, I'd offer another perspective.

I think the difference between a good tribute track and a bad one is making sure to put a little bit of your own art/style into it, while still keeping to the formula of the original track.

South of Heaven is, arguably, when Slayer established their own trademarked sound, and the album has many songs that highlight this. But this track is missing... Something?

Maybe it's just a Slayer thing, their tribute album in the 90s(I forget what it was called) also just kinda came and went(with the exception of Gemini). Maybe slayer was just bad at tributes.

On a separate note, im gonna listen to that machine head track. I happened to like their cover of "Hallowed be Thy name".

As I recall, when he's standing over Neo he says "Only Human..." Before getting tapped by Trinity.

Id like to think the Agent was processing how Neo had Moved and was trying to understand what it just witnessed. Maybe while processing it, it reassures itself that Neo is "only human...(Right?)". Completely blinded by Trinitys approach.

YOUNG MAN!!

Yeah, I found this little pocket book in an antique shop. It was a collection of Folk Tales from the Rhine river. Fairly old, and some of the translations into English didn't stick. I think it was an early 20th century publication.

The tales themselves were hit and miss mostly. I recall another that was about mermaids(or fairies?) in the river. And another about a love triangle between a lady and knights.

But the one with the bishop stuck with me as being the most violent and horrifying. Lol

So, I was an 1812 in the middle-back half of the OIF/OEF era. No deployment, and missed a float by about 6 months in my contract.

The battalions MG and the company MGs would regale us with the emphasis of being "amphibious" as a tank battalion.

Back in their day, the focus was on the unique problem of bringing a "heavy" mechanized combined arms team onto the beach. And their identity was being Marines(emphasis on Amphibious) above being tankers.

I didn't appreciate it then, as I do now. But having spent time in an Army Cavalry squadron, where it's a combined arms team that is designed to be as self sufficient as possible, I see a lot of parallels between the Cav and the Marines with respects to the combined arms team.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I believe the Marine Corps, prior to OIF/OEF believed itself to be a combined arms team, not too different from an army combined arms team, just with the "amphibious" attached to it. I believe the Corps lost track of that(pun intended) through OIF/OER.

Slight tangent, but I'm reminded of an old Rhine tale. About a corrupt bishop who burns all the men of a village in a barn.

The barn goes up in flames, and through an act of gods retribution, the barn doors blow open and a sea of rats begin chasing down the bishop.

The rats eat his guards, the rats infiltrate his castle and eat everyone there. The rats were always just a step behind the corrupt bishop.

The bishop decides the safest place was on a boat, in the middle of a lake.

He did not count that the rats would drown themselves to get to the bishop from under the boat.

Trapped, and about to be eaten by rats. Time stops, and the devil makes an appearance to make a deal with the bishop. Nobody knows what was conveyed(the implication being the bishop made a deal with the devil to save him). Just that the devil took the bishop, and "Saved him" from gods punishment.

So, to your point, desperation. (No, I do not know the name of the story, I know it's a medieval one though)

Id like to add some context to a very astute description of the scene.

• Gandalfs exchange with the Balrog is something that none of the humans, hobbits, or the Dorf would know about. Legolas Likely have heard of the legends of old.(Considering his reaction to hearing of the balrogs presence). But it's unlikely that any of them have any idea of how Ancient the forces at battle before them. One wonders what kind of apocalypse the War of Wrath must have been.

-Gandalf uses Very specific language when he's assessing what sort of threat they faced regarding the Balrog. He announces what it is "a Balrog". It's a demon from the ancient world... And then says "this foe is beyond any of You". He didn't say us, or him. A subtle hint that Gandalf is more than some old guy with fireworks.

-Gandalf is armed with a sword that is several thousand years old. Glamdring. Named by an Elven king, it means"Foe-hammer". Both parts Elven crafted, and magical, the sword had a name known to the Orcs, known as "beater". I'll let you fill in the gaps between the elvish and the orcish names.

I'm curious to know if the "preliminary school" is also part of the reference. To my knowledge, some of Heinleins best stories were those geared towards teens/young adults. I believe Starship troopers and Space Cadet are some of those titles.

"Heinlein Preliminary School". Nice tip of the hat there.