AIM-11

Unless I am reading the article wrong he basically is saying 'theoretically' there could be a situation where it's worse for the team when Byfuglien is on defense, but his own analysis (which I think is pretty out there to be honest) doesn't even support that.

I'd have to check, but I'd feel the odds are better the Jets actually have a better record with Buff on the blueline than up front as well. The idea that Byfuglien is weak defensively is also mostly myth from what I can tell. Not sure where it came from but I'm fairly certain he's been a positive possession player on the blueline his whole career (or most of it) and the eye test seems to support this as well in my books.

This is true. Guardians could be a good movie for many people, but for me it was garbage. Fell asleep. Hated it. That's the beauty of art. It's subjective.

Birdman could be the greatest movie of all time, but that was never my point. It's not the type of movie I will like.

People told me the same thing about Guardians of the Galaxy and I thought that movie was atrocious. Fool me once ...

I don't think it mattered much, but that's just my opinion. That was one of the easiest Finals to predict in many years.

Yup there's people who think Buff is better as a forward. Fair enough. I don't agree at all. Not sure why people need to go on about how much smarter they are, or how much more they understand the sport of hockey simply because they have a different opinion on stuff like this. Not to mention I need him to produce like a banshee form the blueline to keep generating me fantasy hockey points.

Yeah I've heard really good things about both of them, but I'm at the point in my life where I can generally get a feel for whether I'll like a movie or not based on what people say about it, and I'm fairly certain I wouldn't like those ones. Just not my type of film is all. The last movie that fooled me with how good it was is Silver Linings Playbook, but I've been burned way more often than pleasantly surprised and my queue is too long as it is. Waiting for a DVD quality stream of Interstellar to come out on Kodi (as well as the third Hobbit, which will be bad, but in a way that I can still enjoy it, as well as the third Hunger Games movie, and Into The Woods). Then there's Boyhood, maybe Foxcatcher, American Sniper, Fury, The Theory of Everything. Those are just the more recent ones. I really love Sci-Fi movies (I Origins is waiting to be watched still!) and Classics (still never seen It's a Wonderful Life after all this time) so I rotate some of those into my movie watching from time to time as well. XBMC (now known as Kodi) has made watching movies from home such an easy thing these days and typically my wife and I watch one every Friday night and I'll sometimes watch a second one after. I also watch something while working out or running during the week, so that's at least another movie a week (though I watch the odd TV show during that time as well). The last film I saw in the theatre was Gravity (and I'm REALLY glad I did), but the local cinema only shows 1 movie a week here in my city, and it also really sucks as a place to watch movies, so unless I am somewhere else visiting I can't justify the money and uncomfortableness to watch a movie in the theatre any more. A comfy couch, drinks that my wife and I made, home made popcorn, and the ability to pause it to go to the washroom - it's a no brainer for us. Long story short - very little time to watch movies that I'm fairly certain I won't like, even if they are good movies in and of themselves for most other people.

2 Fan590s is several degrees lower on the pain in the ass scale than 1 Fan590 + 1 Podcast. I don't even know if I have a microphone kicking around my house to do a podcast at all.

No, Byfuglien is back to D again. Where he belongs! As per comments from Paul Maurice today.

I think the comments about Birdman being weird are the kicker for me. I typically don't enjoy movies that people love that are also weird. Stuff like Amelie, Being John Malkovich, or The Royal Tenenbaums come to mind. It's why I have not bothered with The Grand Budapest Hotel either as I'm fairly certain I'll just end up turning it off halfway through. It's why I appreciate threads like this though. Good feedback to let me know what to avoid OR watch.

I've heard nothing but good things about Birdman but even the trailer had me scratching my head.

Fan590s are typically incredibly off topic and can be written in about 12 seconds. I take the (almost) free point, and would take the (almost) free second point, but I don't know how much I really like the idea.

So long story short, Spidey gets to hang out with his buddies in films and that's the draw? I guess that makes some sense for Superhero fans for sure.

Fair enough. That's a different approach to the league. We're all different I guess. If I could do nothing and receive my 6 points I would. I'm just here to build a mediocre player and have a good time.

You guys are demonstrating why I've never once attempted a graphic PT. Zero interest in putting in 90 minutes of work (which is how long it would take me since I don't know anything about that stuff), just so my efforts could be torn apart and I get a 4 on the task. I don't come here to join an art class, but to build a player and have fun. So, I do Articles. In 20 minutes I can slam down an article and 100% of the time I have received a 6/6. Now, if I knew I would receive a 6 on my graphic then I would totally give it a try and see if I could learn the process, but as it stands right now there is no way I even attempt it. That being said, I'm not asking for a change to happen, but I "personally" never really understood the pressure to be a photoshop expert just to build your hockey player. Allowing for a far bigger range of Point Task ideas would be an interesting way to support the less artsy/writer types, but that's a much bigger discussion. For people who don't like the way graphics are judged in this league I'd probably just suggest you stick to articles. The grading on them is incredibly light.

What am I missing here? Why are people excited about yet another version of Spiderman? I thought that horse was beat to death a long time ago, but people are flipping out over this. I'm not in the know with comic book stuff so obviously there is something exciting about Spiderman version 11 that is different from the first 10? EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not being sarcastic. I'm genuinely curious what's different this time around.

I've never understood why Grades even exist. If you do a point task and it's not a blatant attempt to try and 'game the system' then you should receive the full marks as far as I am concerned. This is a fun league and over the course of three players I've never once attempted a graphic because I know I won't get the full grade.

Screw you Edgar, I ain't illiterate. I use both my hands just fine!

Holy crap this is good. Reminds me a bit of Diane Birch who I LOVE.

The Third Way The third way Is the reign of idiocy One by one Freedoms stripped away The third way The offspring of our apathy Down we go Into the vortex of tyranny - The Third Way, Jacob's Dream There are times in the life of a VHL Player when the Muse just isn't around for a time. No matter how many ways you try and summon the beast of motivation, it refuses to allow itself to fall under your spell, and for a time the well of creativity runs dry. This can apply to either of the two main TPE sources. Creativity is a key piece of either writing an article, or of creating a graphic. For those of us who might be art-deficient, the loss of the creative juices means an idea for an Article simply does not exist. The VHL already has one way of dealing with this situation, and it's called Welfare. It's a wonderful system that rewards older members who have put in their time, and allows a Player to still advance without needing to come up with yet another idea. This article is looking at a third way - a place between Point Tasks and Welfare. A middle ground where a small amount of effort can be put into a task with the chance of earning a full six points, but a chance of possibly earning less. It's a lottery of sorts, but one in which everyone is at least somewhat of a winner. The Souped Up Practice Facility - Online Gaming Edition Online games are a wonderful addiction that many of us here have succumbed to. Whether it's killing time on the bus or entertaining yourself during the morning visit to the crapper, there is a good chance the vast majority of folks here spend time each week playing online games. I propose that the VHL allow for a hybrid point task that involves a new game each week that can be played by those who sign up for it. The individuals who have the highest score for the week on that particular game will receive 6 Points, and the points will scale down to a possible 2 for those who do the worst. Here are the proposed rules for the Hybrid Task. 1) Sign up for this task must happen by Wednesday evening of that particular week. 2) Sign up for this task cannot happen if the player has already done another Point Task or Welfare. 3) Once a player has signed up for this task they are ineligible to perform Welfare or any other Point Task, regardless of how well or how poorly they do on the Hybrid Task. 4) The Points earned will always be distributed evenly. For example, if there are 15 people who participate in the task then three will earn 6 points, three will earn 5, three will earn 4, and 3 will earn 3, and 3 will earn 2. In the case of an uneven amount of people who have signed up, the lowest tier of 2 points will pick up the first remainders, followed by the second lowest tier of 3 points, and so forth. The Challenges There are some obstacles to this challenge, though they are mainly in the form of how to accurately track high scores. One idea is to have screenshots of the high scores for the week. The downside to this is that they could be doctored by someone who wants to cheat. It's easily done, and we're not all known to be fine upstanding VHL citizens. Another option is to use some sort of gaming website that tracks high scores. This would require anyone who wished to take part in the challenge to create an account. That's a headache, but it's doable. Another issue is that of organization. This idea would require a new job to be created in the VHL - that of the Hybrid Task Organizer. This job would involve choosing the new games for each week, trakcing the scores, and handing out the TPE. It's a bit of extra work. Finally there is the issue of 'theme'. What the heck do online games have to do with the VHL? How does it fit in? This one is a little tricky as technically this task is a bit more off theme than the other point tasks. One idea is to consider this a beefed up form of the Weekly Practice. I'm not too picky on how to fit this into the theme, so I won't go into it any deeper. The Upside There are a few reasons why this idea would work well. First, it creates a new job! Yes, this was already listed in the Challenges section, but it can also be a good thing. The VHL always has people looking for creative ways to add to their TPE in the form of jobs. Just like the real economy, job creation is a good thing! Second, this is a fun way to earn some TPE during those times where you just can't bring yourself to write another article or zip out another graphic. At the same time, it's not incredibly overpowered as a task as those who spend less time on it may end up actually earning less than they would using Welfare, but will still be rewarded with activity should they actually try and achieve the highest score for the week. In the end I believe there is some real merit to this idea, or something similar. There may need to be some changes to it to make it work, but it's a fun way to push through the dry periods for those of us who may feel creatively challenged for periods of time.

I'm certainly in that category. If I wanted to analyze every tiny minutae of something then I would have gone into Film or Literature or something. I like to watch movies that entertain me, and that's about it.

Movie night with the kids. Either Big Hero 6 (if there is a DVD quality stream out there right now), or Boxtrolls.

If you enjoy time travel movies that play with your brains then I highly reccomend Time Lapse. Not a very well known movie, and the acting is kind of weak, but it has a really fun plot. I truly enjoyed watching the film and there were tons of 'Aha!' moments in it. Check it out!

Or he might not. You never know with him. Depends on what he decides his drool tells him to say that night.