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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
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8:44 pm - Nice comment on Romantics and Environmentalists
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| Sunday, July 20th, 2008
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3:54 pm - Review - Hellboy II: The Golden Army
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We went out and saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the long awaited sequel, today. Quite amazing, better than the first movie, better writing combined with amazing special effects and action sequences makes for a very satisfactory movie. The vision of the fae lands and creatures is dark and fantastic, much like that in Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, and very pleasing both visually and conceptually. I would certainly have liked to have seen more of "the other side" of the world. Still, well paced, well acted and visually exciting. My Grade: B+
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 17th, 2008
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11:35 am - Everything is Steampunk now
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While the other forms of punk seem to be fading (though there is an interesting history of cyberpunk here), steampunk with its Victorian look and clockwork mad science is becoming increasingly popular. Not that I object.
The Sound of Steampunk featuring a discussion of the Steampunk aesthetic in music with links to several groups including Abney Park, go and listen to their Airship Pirates track right now!
For the visual side of things, there is the Brass Goggles site with links to all sorts of steampunkish things.
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(9 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, July 14th, 2008
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3:49 pm - Reviews - Man for All Seasons and Smoking Aces
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Man for All Season telling the tragic story of Sir Thomas Moore (played by the talented Paul Scofield). Very well done period piece with Robert Shaw playing Henry VIII as a complete and utter bastard. Quite interesting and fairly good at handling the complexities of the religious and political questions that are so integral to the story of Moore. With appearances by Leo McKern and John Hurt. My Grade: B-/B
Smokin' Aces which drops into my Shadowrun movie pool. Basic plot is Buddy "Aces" Israel is going to turn states evidence and the mob wants him dead, one million dollars worth of dead. So, a variety of killers close in for the loot ranging from the insane Tremor Brothers (who are entirely punked out killers), a knife master, a pair of lethal ladies and a master of disguise. Opposing them are Aces' bodyguards, a pair of FBI agents (with back up later) and a trio of bail bondsmen who want to return Aces. Violence abounds and the set up is very, very slick. The actual execution of the action gets confused however and the big reveal is weak. Still, a good Shadowrun movie as those people with plans do well, those who do not, suffer. My Grade: C
And finished Northern Exposure, Season 3, some time ago (working on finishing up S4 now) and it is still going strong. Has the standout final episode that plays out the history of Cicily. Great fun. My Grade: B+
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, July 12th, 2008
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5:58 pm - Could he look more British?
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| Friday, July 11th, 2008
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5:21 pm - Friday Findings (11 July, 2008 Edition)
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| Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
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1:27 pm - Vote Early - 2008 GA Primaries
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Vote Often. Just kidding. You people living here in Georgia can vote early in the primaries this week at your local board of elections (or normally on Tuesday next week). I voted today.
I voted in the Republican primary mostly for Paul Broun who was elected in last year's special election. He is a Conservative but the guy trying to replace him is even more so and would be in hock to the state party as well. But mostly though it was to annoy the State Republican party who are being total asses in trying to unseat one of their own party members because he does not toe their line 100%.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, July 4th, 2008
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9:53 pm - Review- WALL E
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| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
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5:17 pm - Wednesdays Wanderings around the Web
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| Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
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10:51 am - My Blood
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does not work right. I visited my Doctor today and was informed that I have Beta Thalassemia Minor, which means my red blood cells do not form properly, manifesting as anemia (lack of red blood cells). Not a major issue but interesting to know. I probably inherited it through my Turkish great-grandmother's line.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, June 28th, 2008
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10:26 pm - Tavelo the Traveller
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or the Not-Quite-Twin Brothers at the Athens Community Theatre. I dragged ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) doji_kumoko off to see this tonight. It is an improvisational Commedia Dell'Arte style performance and well worth seeing if you can (the last show is tomorrow -Sunday, 29 June- at 2pm). We had a wonderful time especially as the audience warmed to the idea that they could interact with the show (and we had three young ladies seated behind us who were just having the best time laughing at just about everything).
Go and see it if you can.
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 26th, 2008
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10:41 am - Review - Erik the Viking
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Finally got to watch Erik the Viking, "the Director's Son's Cut", quite fun if not entirely sure where it wanted to go or what story it was telling. John Cleese's villain, Halfdan the Black, does not get nearly enough to do, and a great bit piece by Eartha Kitt. But fun, though the special effects are occasionally painful to watch. My Grade: C/C+
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
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7:30 pm - Back from Unicoi
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We left on Friday (Leaving Tyche's in wuxiadaddy's capable hands) for a short and painless trip up to Unicoi State Park. We had one of cabins (B-7 in fact) which was really nice, no TV, phone or wireless but a stove, microwave and a fridge.
After settling in, we went off to Anna Ruby Falls, a small Federal park only accessible through Unicoi. The falls are amazingly beautiful, though the 1/2 mile walk to see them is all uphill, but the walk is really lovely as well. Then we returned to our cabin, had a nice dinner, played some cribbage and backgammon and went to bed early.
On Saturday, slept in a bit, and then into Alpine Helen, a North Georgia town that reinvented itself into a slice of (Americanized) Germany and it is a classic American tourist trap, where high and low brow rub shoulders with foreign and local tourists. Spent about three hours wandering through the kitsch and had a good time.
Then back to the cabin to get ready for the wedding of Kelly and Matt. The wedding was held in the main lodge at Unicoi, very nice short ceremony, followed by dinner and a bit of dancing. Laura knew the bride and groom and two of the guests (both co-workers), all of whom I new very casually, so I was feeling a bit of an outsider but that did not worry me. Still, a good time was had by all, I think.
Then back to the cabin for more cribbage and backgammon and reading and then to bed. Up earlier on Sunday. Went for a nice walk along the lake and then checked out and headed home.
A nice break from our usual routine.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 20th, 2008
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9:16 am - Out of Touch for the next few days
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Laura and I are off to Unicoi State Park for a wedding and for our wedding anniversary, so I will be offline until Sunday or possibly Monday (depending on when we get back).
Will continue 4E discussions when I return.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 19th, 2008
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8:50 pm - Thoughts so far on D&D 4E
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OK, I have been reading pieces of D&D 4E for a few weeks, have run a few games with pre-gen characters and adventures, and, last night, actually got to play with a character I made (actually, I wrote out coffeebadass' character too).
The game was fun, forvrin runs a good game. We fought lizard men, had to escape cannibalistic halflings and their smokehouse trap, and fought a witch-doctor and his salt encrusted mummies on the edge of a cliff. Very pulp and much fun. But forvrin's games are always fun.
Things, I like:
Everybody having things to in combat, our party's wizard never was in a position where he could not use a spell. Now, it should be everyone gets to do cool things all the time in combat. For short combats, yes, it worked that way. In the longer combats, it had the standard, "I hit him" problem of D&D (except now it is, "I use power/ability/spell X") as you use up the limited use powers quickly. This might be less so for high level characters who have more ability choices but maybe not. The upper level enemies have absurd numbers of HPs.
Skill Challenges, in concept anyway, though the one we dealt with (escaping the halflings' smoke house) did not run as smoothly as it could have. I would put most of that down to us being new to the system.
Characters skills/abilities are more important than magic items, abilities scale up in power with character "tier" and they can work with a minimum of magic items. This seems like a good thing.
Things I am not sold on:
Charter Flexibility, I suspect (fear?) that most of the classes have a handful of effective playable builds, especially at low level, and you are going to see them all the time. The class roles and build are very defined. Now, yes, in theory, there are 2 x 8 x 4 x 4 (256) different ability combinations (before feats) for a starting Warlord, what I was playing. In actually, the choices are much fewer if you wish to actually be effective, as you have to play to the abilities that key off of your stats and a Warlord needs three good stats (Strength, Intelligence, Charisma) to get the best use (in some cases any use) out of their class abilities. In 3E building a well rounded character penalized your effectiveness, but usually only a little as every stat gave you a continuing useful bonus, if my Warlord is an example, trying to build a well rounded character in 4E will weaken them in play considerably.
All races being "equal" and the removal of Level Adjustments, while not a perfect system, the LA system worked. I could have a 1st level half-dragon accompany a 4th level party and still be effective and interesting. It just seems that some sorts of races will now be off-limits for play unless a similar mechanism is added.
And the one thing that are almost a deal breaker for me:
Game Balance Economics, this was sort of implict in 3E, but is entirely locked in in 4E. Everything is priced according to its game utility, plate armor cost twice (yes, twice) as much as leather armor for example. And the one that make me want to scream, the cost to buy a magic item is exactly equal to the cost to make it. Every time I think about this, it drives me crazy. It is impossible to rest a "realistic" world on this economy and a world cannot exist without economics.
All of these opinions are subject to revision as I learn the system better, but that last one is going to be hard to overcome.
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(16 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
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1:53 pm - My first D&D 4E Character
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Sevany
Born the runt of her clutch and with a most unfortunate coloration. Not expected to survive, Sevany has always had to fight for what was hers. From food, to recognition, even for her education. She learned by observation, by sneaking in to classes and training sessions, by
following the others from a distance.
As soon as she was able, she took what she needed to become an adventurer. Her goal is simple, restore the Dragonborn Empire with herself as its Empress.
I am not going to try and type the character sheet in, but Sevany is a Dragonborn Warlord. Short (5'4") with pink scales and limitless ambition.
I am playing her tonight and will let you all know how it goes.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, June 14th, 2008
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8:31 pm - Review - Rhetorics of Fantasy
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| Monday, June 9th, 2008
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10:42 pm - Review - Hot Wet American Summer
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Watched Hot Wet American Summer on Sunday, a parody of the 1980s Summer Camp genre (which I have little experience of). Has a lot of former members of the State comedy troupe, Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce, so a lot of comedic talent and some good scenes. Probably would have been funnier if I knew the source material better but still some good schtick but also a lot of padding. Overall, not bad with a very few stand out moments. My Grade: C-/C
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, June 7th, 2008
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8:45 pm - 4E D&D Surviving Worldwide D&D Game Day
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Today was Worldwide D&D Game Day, the fourth year I think, and with the release of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons yesterday it was insanely busy. We had more people in today than we have had for all previous game days combined. We ran the Game Day adventure five times (and I ran two of those) each one for five people. Beyond that we had several onlookers and visitors. Busy, busy, busy.
Yesterday, when 4E released, was Tyche's Games best single day ever.
Still have not read the new books through far enough to really feel that I fully understand the new system. But expect a review soon.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, June 2nd, 2008
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9:51 pm - Reviews- Harold & Kumar go to White Castle and The Seeker
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Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, a comedy. Wacky, bizarre, lots of jokes about weed, but mostly fairly amusing. (And forvrin is right, Neil Patrick Harris is quite awesome as . . . himself.) Some really good moments and some painful ones, but fun. My Grade: C/C+
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising from the book by Susan Cooper. Slowly paced but engaging, some very nice filming and special effects but the plot felt incomplete. Christopher Eccleston is not entirely convincing as the evil Rider, but Ian McShane is pretty cool as one of the good guys. My Grade: C
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