I haven’t seen the show. From the context you provided and assuming good faith from both parties, it sounds like a skill issue on both their parts.

Don’t understand words? Ask for clarification during the conversation, not after the fact in a performance review.

Audience doesn’t understand your words? If the audience tells you they don’t understand, take that feedback and try to communicate more effectively.

It’s not fair to judge if this is micromanaging or toxic based on the first discussion about it. It depends on how both parties behave and choose to cooperate now that the issue has been raised. Knowing whatever history these characters have and the tone of the scene might paint a better picture of their intentions.

Conchiglie, the medium size of shells.

It’s not confirmed afaik, but there is big motive behind it for Spotify to flood listeners with artists they don’t have to pay.

There’s also the apparent problem of third parties uploading AI slop. Spotify is putting in minimum listener requirements to supposedly deal with this, but what it will do instead is it choke out real small artists, and the AI artists will just get botted above the minimum pay threshold. To me, this gives Spotify even more motive than before to dilute all artists on the platform with their own AI music. They already make deals with large labels and podcasters, they don’t care about the other 90% of artists who eat at their bottom line.

“Spotify … anticipates reaching profitability for the full year in 2024, which would mark the company’s first full profitable year since it launched 18 years ago.”

Interesting that they anticipate a full year of profit when there is this “AI problem” plaguing them. How convenient it would be if it turned out to be their own AI artists they don’t have to pay.

"Ek said moving forward, Spotify will be more disciplined about how it spends money. “You should not expect that we’re going to go back to 2021 behavior. We want to be very resourceful,” he said. "

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/13/spotify-projects-first-full-year-of-profitability-ever

This video shows some AI artist profiles and talks about it more:

Da Colinata - Spotify’s MASSIVE Fake AI Scandal

Bandcamp is a good option for directly supporting artists for the time being, especially if you queue up all your purchases for a Bandcamp Friday, where artists/labels receive all the money rather than BC taking their 20% cut.

Not just a good option, but the best option I know of. If you buy an album for $5, that’s equivalent to the earnings for thousands of plays on Spotify. And that would be assuming the artist even gets enough total Spotify plays to qualify for their payout under the new rules.

They are stealing from artists who bring business to the platform, and using the guise of protecting themselves from bot streamers. Oh, and they recently raised the subscription price by 25% in my country. Spotify was the most satisfying subscription to cancel that I have ever cancelled.

They’re also being accused of pushing their own AI-generated slop music so that they have to pay out even less to real artists. Fuck Spotify.

Land of the free

Graphics have never been a priority for me, they’re more like an inevitable side effect of technology advancing. Luckily there is no shortage of good old games, and a lot of smaller studios are making amazing titles with older art styles / less demanding specs.

That moment when the giant ball appears behind you, blocking the door like in a horror movie was one of the funniest moments I’ve had in gaming.

Legitimate reason, but I also hate fluorescent lights

Blade of Darkness looks up my alley

Keep a lint brush in the main rooms of your home. One for the couch and living room, one for the bed and clothes when getting dressed. I find they are a lot more effective than a vacuum, and less of a chore to reach for frequently.

Good news - chocolate rations have increased from 30 grams to 20 grams

No. Tired of people

I was always worried about perfectly round holes in the ground and falling into them. Looney Tunes really over-represented how common they were.

I highly recommend the lobster soup from Seabaron if you’re into that

It’s been a long time since I gave Sony money, but if they did release Bloodborne on PC I would buy it on day one. It seems like emulation will be a reality before that.

Poop butt can’t help themselves, shit ass can but chooses not to

Bleak Sword DX

I got stuck on a tough boss for a while, so I replayed some earlier levels to level up my character. We’re back in business. It didn’t even feel like a grind since each area/battle is short and gameplay feels great. Maybe 15 minutes to get the 2 level ups I needed. I’m enjoying the steady increase in difficulty and how new enemies are introduced. The game does a good job of making you assess the situation and use the techniques available to overcome it. There’s even some fire/environmental hazards that can be used to your advantage.

Fae Tactics

Also got stuck on a (boss?) fight, so I took some time to rearrange my party and spells to get some better elemental synergy and buffs and it worked! Definitely feels rewarding and, well, tactful.

9 is one of the best. Not sure what you didn’t like about 8, but 9 feels a lot more true to the older games imo.

I love them. FFIX was the reason I got a Playstation (2). To me, VI to X + Tactics were peak. I had a hard time finishing the older ones even though they were decent, but from VI forward it seems like they put a lot of thought into the characters.

I own FFXIII AND XIII-2 but didn’t get more than 5 minutes in thanks to the battle system. One day I’ll give them another try.

I really like the trope of a secret island in a corner of the world map.

I feel this. I’ve been playing it on medium-ish settings to compensate. It will be a blast when you do play!