Final Fantasy XV - PlayStation 4 : Square Enix LLC: Everything Else
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For full disclosure, FFX and 7 were my favorites, 9 and 12 were decent, 13 was barely playable, and 8 was my least favorite. If that lineup doesn't match yours, my review may not mean much to you. Fair warning

Final Fantasy XV is, at it heart, "A Jpop Band Tours Yosemite national park". You spend essentially the entire time driving and running back and forth, back and forth almost endlessly through the same terrain and areas. Yes, if you follow the main story over everything else, you see some neat maps and enemies, but the majorty of it is repetitive and far more "80 hours in a car with your family on summer vacation" than actual fantasy.

There's almost no sense of discovery because the game is completely open and you can pretty much see everything from the very start (and have to criss-cross it endlessly because of it – very much like FF8). Combat is moderately interesting, but I never felt like I was building power and capability like what made FF13 finally interesting (and most other FF games of course). As someone who likes to perfect characters and unlock new skills and powers, this game felt like you were only in control of the main character and the rest were pets that you could sometimes switch to when you got bored of Broody-mc-popstar's endlessly repetitive battle style.

The game honestly felt flat and dull. When something really interesting actually happens, you're left wondering why and maybe a little excited to find out, but you're locked out of most of the map and are stuck on a luge heading for the games highly mediocre ending. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that you could get about as much enjoyment from the game by watching other people play it on Youtube for a few weeks as you would from actually playing.

I can see that the Steam version has had some major updates (prominently displayed flying car) which is clearly their attempt to polish a turd. If you think that's good enough (or if the price is so cheap, it's worth it to you to find out for yourself) go for it. Otherwise, there are far, far better games to play.

don't believe their lies... this post shows the old (awesome) backpack, but they ship you the new (lame) one instead
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When I had some extra cash for the first time in basically ever, I splurged and bought myself a big, honking gaming laptop (whee!). The main problem with it was finding something to carry it in, but at the time there was a pretty rocking Targus backpack made for exactly this kind of problem. I think it's been almost 10 years now and it's stood up to quite a few trips across the states and out of country. It's sturdy, roomy, and boy does it last. There might be one or two tiny frays or broken bits, but that's pretty danged good for its age.

You go, you ancient, everlasting backpack!

Fast forward to today (last year actually, but close enough). I got a bonus and start eyeing the new laptops. At the same time, I figure my old one would be a great hand-me down for the kids, but they'd need a backpack too. I figure, why not get a brand new Targus XL 617 for me and give them the still-sturdy old one (since they don't travel near as much anyway). It was a perfect plan… until I got this garbage instead:

Who are you! What did you do with my REAL backpack!?

I'm exaggerating calling it "garbage" of course, but it was a nasty surprise. Not that I hadn't seen a few reviews warning that there's a new model and it's inferior to the old ones, but the pictures on the website still show the old model and not the new one.

Here's an updated post with the CORRECT new backpack clearly displayed
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It's not that the new backpack is really all that bad, but it's going to be a huge disappointment when you compare it to the old design when they knew what quality looked like. That's why I tried two separate times to get the real backpack and was fairly irked when I ended up with bait-and-switch for the new, stinky one. Apparently Targus used the exact same model number, but completely changed the quality which might not be intentional tomfoolery, but it does create confusion and disappointment regardless. When you see this backpack around, don't just assume you're getting the right one:

Are they real? Are they the fakes? There's no way to know.

Just be sure if you order one, check for the nice, solid, tubular handle and not the hand-destroying flat one. If you've got it, you're good. If not, return it or do a credit card chargeback for goods not as described.

Our Shark NV803 Duoclean -- I call him "Melty"

If I were to describe my history with vacuum cleaners, it would be "struggle". We have no long-haired pets (unless you count children) and we don't have a ton of carpets. If I'm being honest, we don't use the vacuum near as often as we probably should. What I mean to say is that we're not really putting these things through their paces or performing stress tests so there's no reason it should be such a struggle.

Still, you get what you pay for and all the ~100 vacuum cleaners and used models and Goodwill castoffs were a pain. They jam up easily and have varying levels of poor performance that my wife and I were sick of. We did our research and found what seemed to be a good model that came highly recommended, had tons of great ratings, and a good set of features. At the least, I hoped that spending more than double the price of our most expensive vacuum to date would be a win.

TL;DR – Nope!

The bits that look like dirt buildup are actually deformed plastic

Is that a gill?

Nah, just the roller belt popping out to say hello

Look, I'm sure they're great most of the time. The reviews sure seem to suggest so after all… but in the end having a vacuum cleaner eat itself in less than a year is a tad bit concerning. None of the cheap-o ones I've ever owned had problems with melting themselves, but I suppose I should give the Shark points for style: it started by melting the internal plastics of the roller and THEN it melted its way right out of the side casing (that belt is still in great shape though, so props for that!).

Let's be fair: stuff is defective sometimes and there's no point in getting bent out of shape if you get a lemon… assuming they actually take care responsibility for it.

7-year warranty!

The one I bought: a Shark NV803 DuoClean
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I'm new to Shark and didn't know what to expect, but the "7 year warranty – OMG!" was reassuring. I went through the trouble of registering (I normally wouldn't, but it was required) and called the phone number (that's suspicious… why couldn't I do this online?) and the very polite lady took my information and quoted me $89 to send a replacement part.

Wait, what?

Long-story short, the warranty only applies to the motor apparently – self consuming rollers is not their problem.

There were several things on the table at this point: going to my credit card for the auto-extended warranty, send a complaint letter to Shark directly, see if it's too late to do a credit card chargeback, etc. Instead, I contacted Amazon support to see what options they provided and it paid off! They offered a full refund and gave me a shipping label to send the unit back.

To be clear, Amazon didn't have to do this and I would never suggest you can expect the same, but credit to them for handling the situation. The bottom line and the point that I'm trying to make is that you might want to think twice about Shark vacuums. Maybe I got a lemon or maybe their reputation for quality is wildly over-stated, but one thing that's for sure, their warranty isn't going to help you if something goes wrong (unless it's the very specific part of the vacuum they actually cover I suppose).