Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

How stupid are these people?

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Tick tock motherfuckers!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / How Do You Define Dork?

How Do You Define Dork?

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I’m not sure why, but I find it pretty depressing that I’ve spent the last three weeks waiting to have sufficient range of motion in my right arm so I can… play Mass Effect 2. At any rate, if I loosen the brace a little I can use a mouse, so I am installing the game right now.

And to complete the effect, I have Chuck, Season 1, in the DVD player so I can “multitask.”

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    JGabriel

    Aren’t you a little old to be just now accepting your inner dorkiness?

    I’m pretty sure I’d accepted mine by the time I turned 35. Maybe even a year or two earlier.

    .

  4. 4.

    Dreggas

    I am seriously considering buying Dante’s Inferno for my XBox, nothing on PC has me really excited (never played Mass Effect 1) at the moment.

    I even re-loaded Sacred 2 on my machine last night to find out that Ascaron is out of business and the company that took them over released an expansion for the game but only for the european versions.

  5. 5.

    cyntax

    May I also recommend Assassin’s Creed 2 when you’re done with ME2, and Breaking Bad for your DVD queue?

    I leave the choice of beer up to you.

  8. 8.

    scav

    @Morbo: and knowing this and/or taking them is one of the prime characteristics of any of them. :) aiming for geek, probably am nerd.

  9. 9.

    freelancer

    @Bret:

    I’m 8-10 hours in, still mining and prepping, and just the sheer scale of things you have to improve is really intimidating for setting up the final stage.

    How “prepared” do you need to be before going through the Omega Relay?

  10. 10.

    Warren Terra

    Treating this as an Open Thread, turns out Helicopter Harry Ford’s been living and earning in NY, but claiming to be an income-tax-free TN resident. Pretty sure that’d be illegal here in MA.

  13. 13.

    AB

    There’s also Bioshock 2 for those of you who are into shooters, which I’m not. Mass Effect series is the only shooter I’m willing to play, else I avoid them like the plague.

  14. 14.

    Bret

    @freelancer: Just a tip: Do EVERYONE’s loyalty missions. Upgrade all weapons/defenses on the ship.

    I had about 60% of the people/weapons upgrades and probably did the same amount of the side missions. I was pretty well prepared, and got a very satisfying ending.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Dread

    I’ve spent the last six weeks going through Dragon Age: Origins getting every romance, ending, and origin story I can.

    Right there with ya, buddy.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jeffreyw #7: LOL, good one!

    @John Cole: I know this isn’t a true Open Thread, but “Uncategorized” is pretty close, so I’ll repeat my request from the next thread up: would you please consider putting up an Olympics thread later this evening so we can liveblog the Opening Ceremonies? NBC starts coverage at 9:00.

    Thanks very much. Back to your dorkitude now.

  19. 19.

    Jason Bylinowski

    Mass Effect 2 is brillz for rillz!

    Bioshock 2 is also good so far but they really should have upgraded the textures for PC. Xbox 360 = 2005 = old and bersted.

    Can I just be excited that Assgusta GA is getting 6 inches of snow tonight? That was unexpected, but sure enough, it’s piling up outside! Rock!

  21. 21.

    Bret

    @Dreggas: A “Happy Ending” is the massage lady playing with your dice after the main event.

    A “Satisfying ending”, like I got, is that everyone lived. :)

  23. 23.

    Eric

    Mass Effect 2 is really just that good. I’ve only put in about 25 hours so far, because my free time for video games is rare, but it has been hugely satisfying so far.

    Not sure why you would want to multitask with a TV show, though, since it’s so cinematic, unless you’re talking about just the planet-scanning parts.

  24. 24.

    Norbrook

    John, you don’t have the Season 2 DVD yet? For shame! Just out of curiosity, what do you think of Season 3 so far? Still need to get Mass Effect 2, maybe when the tax refund comes back.

  25. 25.

    Clutch414

    ME2 is an absolutely amazing game. If you still have your complete game save file from ME1, import it. I can’t stress how much having my Shepard and the various decisions I made from ME1 in this game enhanced the experience for me.

    ME2 takes the top spot on Clutch414’s all-time favorite video games list. The spot was held by the first KOTOR.

  27. 27.

    tom c

    You’ll love ME2 but if you haven’t played ME1 first you’re missing out on alot without an imported charactor.

  29. 29.

    Dave Ruddell

    ME2 is better than KOTOR, but there’s still something about dual-wielding light sabres that is just so cool…

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @jeffreyw: I saved that photo to my desktop when you posted it earlier this week. I have opened it countless times this week when I needed a laugh.

  33. 33.

    JeremyH

    John, I’m installing Mass Effect 2 as I write, and I’m currently working through the first few episodes of Chuck season 3 now that they’ve finally become available on iTunes. So I guess you have a brother-in-dorkiness across on the other side of the continent. Salut, my friend!

    In an hour, though, I’m going to walk across Cambie bridge here in Vancouver to witness the Olympic opening ceremony celebrations downtown – and hopefully also observe a moment of silence in memory of the poor luge athlete who died so horribly earlier today.

  36. 36.

    Gravenstone

    ME:2 is a great game. Never played the first so I didn’t have the save game to import, but made the first play through at just over 40 hours as a soldier. Giving it a second go around as a vanguard. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a plague to stop.

  37. 37.

    Dreggas

    @Ailuridae:

    I cannot wait for Diablo III.

    Lately my main fix has been Hellgate: London which is a pretty damn good game IMO.

    Got tired of Oblivion, too many options and too much to do.

  39. 39.

    Tiparillo

    I define ‘dork’ as sending back to Netflix a Venture Brothers Season 2 disc today and anxiously waiting for Afro Samurai: Resurrection this weekend.

  40. 40.

    Dreggas

    @Kobie:

    Yeah, sadly they did. I never did get to play it online or go to the stonehenge part (since that was pay to play). Loaded Sacred 2 last night as well only to find out Ascaron went bye-bye. The upshot is the company was bought out so there’s still online play and they are now talking sacred 3. The down-side is they have an expansion for Sacred 2, but not for the U.S. versions yet.

  42. 42.

    Grand Wazoo

    I got about halfway through Mass Effect when Bioshock came out so I dropped ME to play that. Now with ME2 out, I’m finishing up ME so I can import my character. I forgot how much damn fun it was to play this game. Oh yeah, and I’m also playing Dragon Age: Origins and just picked up Bioshock 2 today so I can get that fired up after ME, ME2 and DAO. And I like Rush. And collect comics. And I played D&D in high school. Dork? You bet. And proud of it. Also, too.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SIA #35

    It really is beautiful, isn’t it? A regular Marshmallow Fairyland. I love the bare-limbed trees all frosted with pristine snow. Will try to get up early tomorrow to take some photos before it all melts.

    That said, it took me 2-1/2 hours to drive the 25 miles from Midtown to Duluth. Left office at 3:00, walked through my front door at 5:30. Not a fun commute.

    Hope you are staying safe and warm. I heard on the news that 49 of the 50 states had measurable snow today. That’s pretty amazing!

  44. 44.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    I’ve spent the last three weeks waiting to have sufficient range of motion in my right arm so I can… play Mass Effect 2.

    Yeah. Uh-huh. My mom nearly caught me “playing Mass Effect 2” once. It was SOOO embarrassing.

    /gutterization of the thread.

  46. 46.

    PhoenixRising

    Can’t speak to your dorkiness level, but I can tell you that afterI hit the Shoulder Trifecta (fractured clavicle, chipped acromium, displaced shear-off of the scapula) ME2 was not a part of my rehab regimen.

    YMMV, of course, but I was lucky to have a PT as a friend who created a custom regimen for my injury. As a result, I have regained the full use of my arm. Not to mention that the process got me followed around the gym by a CUTE recruiter for the fire department. Not that I noticed, I’m happily gay-married, but…

  47. 47.

    Tax Analyst

    Hardly anyone does Self-Deprecation better than John these days. I’d bow to your mastery, but we’d probably conk heads somehow in the process.

  50. 50.

    Pennypacker

    I’m an EA employee who couldn’t even make it through ME1, but I’ll admit that I’m in the middle of ME2 and am horribly, stupidly hooked. I haven’t had this much fun since Uncharted 2. They fixed everything that was broken in ME1 — the shooting gameplay is now good, the level design and AI are vastly improved, and the production values around conversation are as good as it gets. Actually, better than it gets.

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