The Steam Deck. Awesome, awesome device.

The Nintendo Switch when it came out. I was super hyped and somehow the console even exceeded my expectations.

Playing Breath of the Wild for the first time was amazing and even after 6 years the console still feels modern to me.

Bluetooth earbuds. Took me the longest time to buy a pair. Now I have them all the time.

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• The Harry Potter books and films

The polio vaccine.

SSD.
It is way way faster than HDD.
I can't use HDD-only PC anymore.

E-bikes.

Lasers. They seem to have endless uses from playing with cats, scientific measurements, military, construction, heating, cooling, even used for space-based internet communications. There’s so many more uses that I’m not using.

MRNA vaccines. Not only have they saved millions of lives from COVID, they look like they are going to revolutionize other areas as well. For example, there is a wide-range cancer vaccine under development.

Vaccines. My uncle had Polio as a child and so my Grandmother was still advocating strongly for vaccines before her death at 98. I'm happy to have received my first Shingrix shot last week. It's amazing we can get a poke, with something that's completely gone from the body in a week but we will have T-cells protecting us for a very long time.

Tv, The internet, the smallpox vaccine

Lemmy >> reddit

Change my mind?

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse

way exceeded the hype

The Steam Deck. I thought it was overhyped and it would just be another "sounds great but actually isn't that good" product like the Steam Controller or the Steam Link. Then I got one as a present. Hot damn is that thing amazing.

LeBron. He came out of HS as the "chosen one" and dominated the NBA most of his career. He could have easily have crumbled under the pressure and instead ended up being a top 3 all time player.

Linux, the internet, Smartphones and, IMO, in that order. The last two would be incrementally worse without the first one.

PS. I suppose you have to include e=mc^2 as well...

Red Dead Redemption 2 what a game. As a dev myself it's just awesome that there are still people respecting every inch of a video game. The animations, the story, the side activities, the acting, the underlying systems that are nearly prepared for everything. It's just insane. I lived like a hermit in the woods when it came out.

The Wire. It really is the greatest TV show ever made like people say it is.

A few years ago I finally saw Goodfellas for the first time. I watch a lot of movies, and I was certainly aware of it when it came out, it’s just one of those movies that I somehow never ended up watching. Of course I loved it and got it on Blu-ray immediately afterwards. But it sounds funny if I ever try to bring it up around anyone, like I’m saying ‘man that classic movie everyone loves, apparently it’s pretty good’.

Minecraft. Still super fun and there are servers for literally everyone (from pure vanilla to factions to semi-anarchy and anarchy)

Smart Phones

Tears of the Kingdom. A sequel to a game that swept the floor with all game awards that took 7 years, and it is getting nothing but glowing reviews.

Worth every day of the wait!

More recent one, but tears of the kingdom is really the game I wanted it to be. Game of the year, maybe of the decade :D

• James Webb telescope
• 🍕
• Dirty Dancing 😉

Smartphones. I only got one in 2012 and basically went from an old Nokia to having a flat computer in my pocket.

The Spiderverse movies are fantastic in animation, action, and story. The first movie is fantastical with comedy and a hero's journey story backed by revolutionary animation for the time. The second movie ups the ante with a superhero story that truly never feels forced, drama that tore my boyfriend apart, and so many plotlines that each get the respect they deserve. And then more...

Cooking food over a fire has worked out pretty well for us so far

Better Call Saul. I just finished the series a few days ago and I thought it was amazing. At the moment I believe it's actually better than Breaking Bad so I'm gonna have to go and watch that next to compare.

Pokémon Go. Like a typical hype you are sceptic at first, try it, see why everyone loves it and then see how the hype cools off again. But for those few weeks in the summer it first came out it was a blast. I met so many new people, the whole atmosphere of walking in a random neighborhood just completely changed.

Sous vide cooking. I jumped onto this as soon as the original Anova launched. People around me thought I was weird even though it was a well tested tech in large kitchens. They stopped laughing as soon as they tried my steaks. Now it is used by non-enthusiasts and most people know what it is. At least they do here in Norway.

The film BOOGIE NIGHTS.

The super mario movie. I went in expecting it to be good, and I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting

Elden Ring is the first thing to come to mind. I feel like it totally exceeded expectations no matter what you're experience with the soulsborne games was prior

PCR

I think the image of the black hole that was generated a couple years ago lived up to the hype. Both scientifically theorized and layman's guessed imagery of a black hole was pretty on point.

Sex

Milk.

Maybe a hot take, but Cyberpunk 2077. I didn't experience most of the bugs people complained about and I loved almost everything about the game and world. It's also only gotten better as they've patched it.

Book - Pride and Prejudice

Super random but getting laser hair removal. As cursed lady I maybe shave like once a month maximum now as opposed to twice a week. Yes it's cheaper to shave but my vision is horrible even with glasses (and I can't wear my glasses in the shower) so shaving is difficult... now I hardly have to think about it!

Everyone also talks about lasik for eyes being the best thing they've ever done. I would totally do it if it didn't totally freak me out and rely on me lying still and not blinking.

Lasers are cool.

Generative AI. Copyright maximalists and academics who are far-too-precious-about-their-particular-brand-of-bullshit may hate away, but the technology works, it works really well (and better every day), and the possibilities it's unlocking for creative output are incredible.

Hereditary

I can think of so many things that don't. Some of them in this post's comments.

Ice cold soda, beer, or fresh lemonade on a hot day. There's hype around all of them, and every single time I'm blown away.

Disturbed's classic albums. Going back and listening to them now, I'm still staggered by how good they sound and how hard songs like "ten thousand fists" hit you. Extremely overproduced, but hilariously smooth like melted butter.

Analog stuff (vs digital). I've long-time been an advocate for digital being cheaper, easier, and just as good. But... In reality, in so many cases, pure analog is just so much better, both subjectively and sometimes also still objectively. Don't write this stuff off so easy, the old farts aren't completely irrelevant. And at worse, it's another flavor that's extremely difficult to emulate perfectly.

Fresh strawberries/fruit. I've had a lot of strawberries in my life. I'm West Coast and used to live in California. A lot. But I'd never gone out to a you-pick farm. Man. Those strawberries were RIDICULOUSLY good. I think somebody there said it was a new breed of strawberry, but DAMN.

Knowing and loving yourself. This will be a lifelong challenge for most people, and some may never fully get there. But the ability to know and understand yourself and be honest to yourself while also learning to love yourself is huge. Spend the effort when you can, because this life is all you get. Human life is painfully short, and spending important parts of it being emotionally constipated is incredibly regrettable and sad. Make that bread, smile at a random person, buy the damn flowers, go on that trip, watch the sunset. I know that sometimes life can be hard and people can be unbelievably shitty. Just remember to breathe.

Which brings me to my last one: meditation. I don't mediate regularly. My parents both do and swear by it, but they can be irritating boomers. But, that being said, I have organically come to the conclusion on my own that sometimes you have to close your eyes, take some deep breaths, remember who you are, quiet the outside world and all the shitty shit out there and in there, and find some peace and solid ground. It can always be worse, but you have to try to stay in the here-and-now if it isn't a pit or a horrible place. Be thankful for being alive and then hear the space around you and accept the present. Some people call this meditation or something, so I guess that's what the hype is all about. If you don't need it, that's awesome.. but if you feel like your life is getting away from you, the hype just doesn't do it justice.

Smartphones.