Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 😀
Dance Evolution (with Kinect) 😁

Viva piñata

Rare Replay, Mass Effect Trilogy, Fallout 3 & New Vegas. Now your 360 is complete.

So evacuations of Savannah are starting, and the interstate lanes are being reversed tomorrow all the way to my town, 50 miles away. My county EMA said hotels are already booked through Friday, and they opened the agricultural complex for evacuees too.

Rare replay on the 360?

Eh, I got ahead of myself. I could have sworn there was a collection on 360, must be thinking of the Sega collection.

@HobbitGamer So, Dorian is coming to pay you a visit as well? I hope you're going to get out of it unscathed. Good luck.

@HobbitGamer - Is your town under evacuation, or is everyone from Savannah flocking to your town? Be careful dude!

@bimmy-lee @ThanosReXXX My town is projected to just get storms and wind. I’m far enough inland that I may get gusts up to 20-30mph, but that’s never been a bother before.
We’re the closest safe zone exit on the evac route for this one, so folks from three counties will be stopping in.

Well, I'm working now and will be mowing later. That's why they call it Labor Day, amirite?

@HobbitGamer Good luck and Godspeed friend! While I'm glad that the storm is now missing some relatives of mine (West coast of FL), I'd hardly say the changed path is an improvement since it'll affect more states/people now.

@HobbitGamer - Glad to year you’re in a position to lend a hand as opposed to needing a lending hand. I’d probably lose some ash trees in wind like that.

Yep, us farmland folks already have chainsaws gassed and winches fastened to half our vehicles, ready to help them city slickers 😁.
Georgia Power uses our fairgrounds as a staging area for these things and they’re packed in. We’ve also got a large National Guard armory, and they were packing up generators and comms equipment Friday. Add the Army base in Hinesville and the Air Force Base and Army depot in Savannah, and disaster response is pretty well executed around here.

Oh man, all of that has been a secret so long!! No girl version of Zelda, tho!

@HobbitGamer Ah, good to hear. Meanwhile, in a news item I saw today, I've learned that we've got other American things to mourn as well, because the very last Blockbuster video/DVD rental store (located in Oregon) is in danger of being closed down. Yet another institution about to fall into obscurity...

The owner and some of the customers (still well over 5000!) were interviewed, and what it mostly came down to, is people not wanting to take subscriptions for 10 different streaming services to be able to see those things that they want to see, there not being a decent enough internet bandwidth in their area and also a bit of youthful sentiment.

Here's hoping they can keep it running for quite some time to come, otherwise those 5000+ customers will either be forced to pay a hell of a lot more for their choice of movies/series, or they'll have no alternative at all, if they live in an area where the internet basically sucks...

@ThanosReXXX Yup, the Blockbuster in my rural town that I moved from Charleston to come take over closed almost six years ago. People loved the service and being able to ask what I’d suggest (since I saw them and remembered them and their preferences). Only the franchises were left. But there were a lot of problems near the final two years of corporate stores, and Dish bought them in the hopes they could assimilate a potential customer base. Meh.

There’s a Family Video about a half mile south of my place nestled in a methy little strip mall with a Little Caesar’s, a discount tobacco, and several vacant storefronts. I have a large sum of money riding on a vape shop as the next store to move in. It’s always hopping there, day or night, but the parking lot is stacked deep in the weekends. I stream.

@ThanosReXXX - I’ve been to Bend, OR several times, and I know right where that Blockbuster sits. This was years ago, and even then, seeing it was slightly nostalgic. Bend is the exact sort of town that would still support the very last Blockbuster. The store manager probably has sidewalk grill parties out front on the weekends.

@bimmy-lee Awww, I did sidewalk grills too 😭
@RedderRugfish Yeppers. In fact, the last few years, Disney and a few others would no longer sign supply contacts with Blockbuster because those studios wanted more profit share. Which meant stores had to go and purchase multiple copies on release morning from retail stores at full price causing evening more of a revenue per unit issue. It also kinda defeated the idea because the studios and their suppliers got inflated “customer” sell through numbers, and actual customers wanting to buy movies from the retailers were impacted. It was also a logistic nightmare. The biggest mistake BB made was buying itself out from Viacom’s control.

@HobbitGamer Yeah, corporate takeovers. Meh, indeed...

@bimmy-lee Yup, it was in Bend. Forgot to mention that. Then again: there's only one Blockbuster in Oregon, so it couldn't be mistaken for another one...

And I certainly believe that the owner would love a couple of sidewalk grill parties a month. Or maybe even a couple a week, judging from her size...

Funny thing I forgot to mention is that people also simply come in there to buy the T-Shirts, as memorabilia of a more customer-friendly age, and a time where things were just simpler and cheaper.

It's so American to travel to another state just to do something like that. I couldn't even imagine going to another province over here, just to visit some store or get some memorabilia. I'd probably just find out if they have a web shop...

EDIT:

Found a great video about the Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, made by The Verge. It explains the need for the store and the way they work and manage it in exquisite detail. It's a short and interesting watch:

Speaking about outfits...

@Anti-Matter Wrong. We were not speaking of outfits, and certainly not of the cartoony kind. By now, you must surely be the king of derailing topics. Or at the very least of ripping things out of context in the wrong way...

@HobbitGamer 20-30mph gusts? That's even in the forecast? Here they forecast 30-40mph gusts as "pleasant - breezy" as a nice October day. (Not even joking.) 15 years ago they called it windy. Now its' "breezy" as the limbs come falling on your head.

@ThanosReXXX "and a time where things were just simpler"

I love how "more complicated, more problematic" is somehow sold as "better".

"It's so American to travel to another state just to do something like that. I couldn't even imagine going to another province over here, just to visit some store or get some memorabilia. I'd probably just find out if they have a web shop..."

I envy your "local everything." Here something in the next state is what you're told IS local. I mean the shortest trip you can expect to buy anything is about 20-30 minutes each way. Heck with how traffic has changed it can take 10+ minutes, each way, just to get off/on my own street, making a trip to the food store, literally on the opposite corner, a 20 minute trip. Heaven forbid they didn't bag something and you have to go back...that's a 40 minute trip to buy food, and I can see the store's sign from home.