Timewaster Tuesday – Another fan-made trailer

OK, this is another really short timewaster, about 2 minutes and 50 seconds of your life, but man, it made me chuckle when I saw it.

Nate Fillion as Green Lantern?  Hells yeah!  Sign me up!

Miscellany Monday – Happy Memorial Day

Husband and I, along with our PWD, are out on The Beneteau for the long weekend and we still want to remember the men and women who are sacrificed they lives for our freedom and safety!

Tabletop Thursday – The Pick-up Group, Part 2

For those of you joining us late, part one of this epic adventure can be found here.)

The GM laid out the map, and handed us our miniatures to use for the game, and gave us the scenario briefing…weary adventurers, walking to the nearest town, rain pouring down, dark, yadda yadda yadda.  We find the town deserted, walk to the center of town, and find two giant mutant bears ridden by little demon things.  Weird, but I’ve seen worse.

Initiative is rolled, and we engage the enemy.  I got the highest initiative, and I do the brave, bold and stupid paladin thing and charge the first bear I can get to.  It’s my job.  Other characters act, and then it comes time for the 13 year old kid.  The DM announces it  is his action.  And the kid sits there, staring at his sheet.

And sits there.  And sits there.  I glance at the DM.  He glances at me and shrugs.  He makes a couple of possible suggestions about what to do.  He still sits there.  His dad is busy complaining about how he doesn’t like his spells, and doesn’t step in.  So finally I walk around the table (we still don’t have a regular table to sit at, we are all still standing around a wargaming table) and show him what he could do.  He still sits there.  So finally I just tell him what to do, I move his miniature for him, and hand him the D20 to roll.  At least he did do that, and roll his damage.

Dad’s turn, he bitches some more about his spells, but at least he moved.  It was kind of a stupid move, but he moved.    Uncle’s turn, he actually is paying attention and gets through his turn with a good move, helps me out a bunch by taking on the second mutant bear with his warden.  Then the little girl goes, and she doesn’t do what I would do, but she delights in rolling the dice.  Then the new guy, who knows absolutely nothing about the game, so the DM pretty much helps him out with his actions, but the whole time is talking about 1st Edition D&D and how this is nothing like that.

Second round?  EXACT same things.  Emo kid does nothing.  Dad bitches.  Uncle does good.  Little girl rolls dice with enthusiasm.  New guy talks about 1st edition.  We work through this encounter, and it takes us FOREVER to even get the first giant mutant bear taken down.  And the players are using their daily abilities up right and left!  On the first encounter of the night!  I exchange many sympathetic glances with the harried DM who is trying to hurry us along.  Eventually he ends the encounter, cause we are getting our butts handed to us and if he didn’t stop it would be a total party wipe.

And the evening progressed pretty much exactly this same way.  Emo kid got sulkier.  Dad complained more when he couldn’t be effective.  1st edition guy talked about 1st edition.  A lot.  And the little girl?  She about halfway through decided that her enjoyment for the evening was to roll her dice as far and as hard as she could, most of them bouncing off the table.  And then she decided she wanted to try and knock over the minis with them, bowling as it were.  Dad and Uncle did nothing to curtail this behavior.  We had to end each encounter early, before we all got our asses handed to us.  I was counting the minutes, waiting for time to run out…

So, I really didn’t have any fun.  I did get a nice Dragonborn Paladin mini out of the deal, so that was sweet.  But it re-affirmed my belief that in most cases, pick up groups suck.  I swore never to do it again.

But now, this Saturday, Worldwide D&D Game Day once again rears its ugly head.  And I find myself preparing to go to not one, but TWO different stores to play.  The first store is going to just run the 1st level Dungeon Delve…you have 45 minutes to go as far as you can.  Kind of an iron man survival thing.  The second store is going to be running the standard adventure for the day, so I’m going to try and do both of them.

Why?  Why in the world would I expose myself to the chance of not one but two really bad sessions?  Cause I love this game.  I just can’t get enough of it.  And I want to play, not just DM.

I think I need an intervention…

Timewaster Tuesday – Multiple SIDosis

This one is a short timewaster, folks.  Will only take about 10 minutes of your day away, but it is a highly entertaining 10 minutes.  The attached video clip is called “Multiple SIDosis”, and it was created by an amateur filmmaker named Sid Laverents.  In his 60s when he made  this movie, it involves the use of extremely close synchronization of sound and film and multiple exposures on the film using different size and shape cut-outs for the special effects.  It is pure genius, that something like this could be made in a man’s garage with a 16 mm movie camera.  One has to wonder what his man would have done with home computer and a digital video camera.

This short film has been added to the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.  More importantly, it made me smile.  Thanks, Sid!

Fashion Friday – Must Be Marni!

My favourite season is Fall. There is a freshness to Fall, the cooler temperatures and the beautiful breeze off the Atlantic clearing out the humidity. It is the time for harvest and abundance. This fall the abundance will come in the form armfuls of and necklines filled with accessories—chunky wood bangles, resin or acrylic cuffs, and beaded neck pieces. Jewelry will be supersized.

I always want to harvest all the new trends but I tend to get only a few, quality things to add to my existing wardrobe—pieces that will move to another season or used differently in the next year or two.

The colour palette in the fall also changes. The colours are gentle and comforting, and we move away from the pops of bright colours into palettes of earth tones and muted colours from the sea.

From Marni to Marc Jacobs, the jewelry is highly appealing, next season, with its bold size and multiple pieces worn together creating a cascade of items and colours.

Check out other previews of the trends to find that one speecial piece that you will add to your wardrobe.

Tabletop Thursday – The Pick-up Group

I’ll be the first to admit, I am somewhat xenophobic when it comes to new gamers.  I think it all stems from having a bad experience with a group in college once.  In general, when I go to cons, I never play in games, only shop, because I just don’t enjoy playing with strangers.

Back in March, I decided to break this long standing rule for myself, and go and particpate in the Worldwide D&D Game Day.  As I had been bitching about back in this post, I’m always the GM, and never a player, and I wanted to try my hand at playing.  So I called up my FLGS and checked to see if they had any openings for any of the sessions.  As luck would have it, they had slots open in the last session of the evening.

So I arrive at the apponted day and time, and check in.  The store owner said to just relax and do some shopping, the rest of the group hadn’t arrived yet and they didn’t have a table open.  I asked if we had a full group, and he said yes, the rest of the party was filled out by a family.

[Cue Trumpets of Doom]

So the family arrives.  A dad, his brother, their @14 year old sulky emo teenage son that didn’t want to be there, and their perky @10 year old daughter.  And then they added another player, that was apparently David Cross.  (OK, not really, but it could have been his twin.)  A table still wasn’t available, but the store owner got us over around a taller wargaming table and we discussed which characters we wanted to run.  I almost got into a tussle about running the Dragonborn Paladin with the 10 year old girl.  Despite the fact that I got there first, and as such had first choice of characters, SHE wanted the dragonborn pally.  Rather than cause a scene, I graciously offered to let her play the Pally, and she was very excited, but then, like all 10 year old girls are, she got distracted by the shininess of running a new type of character and gave the Paladin back to me.  Yay me! 

Soon after that, the DM showed up, and then the game got underway.  And the game exemplified everything about WHY I dislike pickup games. 

(continued next week…)

We-View – DeJa Vu without the Fun

“It’s like deja-vu, all over again.” ~Yogi Berra

Last Wednesday, I wrote a review on Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl and gave it a very good review. I appreciated the banter and the good dialog. So on my own recommendation :-), I purchased Volume 2: Roleplay and Volume 3: Little Deaths expecting the same quality and fun loving dialog.

But, after reading both 2 and 3, I can tell you that my fondness for Detectives Walker and Pilgrim has unfortunately waned.

While Volume 2 is passable with 3 PRADAs, Volume 3 is a solid 1 PRADA.

Going into Volume 2, I loved both Walker and Pilgrim but after Volume 3, Deaths I like Walker less and I don’t like Pilgrim at all.

In Little Deaths, yet another superhero is dead. Olympia, who has a fetish for redheads, mysteriously lays naked in a sleazy, rundown apartment. The superhero’s reputation is soon tarnished by his little black book of conquests and quickies. Woman after woman after woman is revealed to have had an affair with him, a married man, and Walker and Pilgrim are sent in to find his killer.

While the there are some relatively interesting/enjoyable portions in this volume; it quickly becomes redundant, dull, and at the same time the character of Deena Pilgrim becomes downright annoying with her rough language and brashness.

I am being very generous when I give Powers: Little Deaths 1 PRADA.

Timewaster Tuesday – Hey Kids!!! (Government) Comics!!!

Just recently stumbled across a fun little archive of digital comics.  It’s the University of Nebraska – Lincoln digital archive of government sponsored comics.  Dates on the comics range from the 40’s (mostly military instruction comics) all the way up through 2006, where the government issued a series of comics the explained the economy (and, yes, it is quite ironic.)  Scattered amongst these comics are some real gems that are illustrated by some legendary talents such as Milton Caniff, Scott Adams, George Perez, Chic Young, Al Capp and even Walt Disney!  There are over 160 comics to download and browse.

Here are some that I enjoyed:

Will Eisner tells us how to maintain an M16A1 rifle

This is Ann, a 1943 comic by Dr. Seuss about the dangers of malaria

Walt Kelly’s Pogo Primer for Parents (TV Division), written in 1961, that guides parents in how to deal with TV and their children.  I loved this line from it:

“There are a few things to practice not doing.  Do not be afraid of your t.v. set.  These things are probably here to stay.  Do not be afraid of your child.  He is not here to stay, he is a precious visitor.”

Dr. Rex Morgan, MD Talks…About Your Unborn Child!  I wonder how effective a comic book was at convincing you not to drink and smoke while pregnant?

And my favorites – Smokey Bear’s Story of the Forest, along with The True Story of Smokey Bear.  I have very fond memories of these comics.  Every September we would go to the Apple Festival, the county fair in the farming community where I lived until I was six.  There was a carnival, and produce and livestock judging, and shows, and my grandfather was always working in the fish fry booth run by the American Legion, and tractor pulls and demolition derbies, and the Illinois Department of Conservation building where we would always end up with a goody bag of stuff, and I got a copy of theses comics every single year.  Man, did these bring a smile to my face when I read this.

Glad I stumbled across this site.  It made for a nice timewaster this morning while I was on a boring conference call!

Miscellany Monday – Dr. Dubai?

There was a competition to come up with a soaring structure for the Zaabeel Park in Dubai. Vision Division of Sweden came up with a structure based on Al Hakawati (a storyteller). Al Hakawati  was and remains a fixed figure in Arabic speaking communities. These storytellers carry on the tradition of orally broadcasting traditional stories in the evening in an open areas of the towns, reciting from memory epics of Arabic lore.

The statue will be the home of a library for children in the base and will recite stories and historical information, accessible to the general public via speakers placed all over the park. The statue will have other large public areas for reading, relaxing, and for social gatherings. Sunlight will pour in through window openings perforating the walls creating a bright indoor environment.

The statue will be designed with special joints so that the head and arms will be able to move, much like the joint in the double-length buses seen around the world. The arm and head movement will be controlled by computers and will have prerecording movements for different effects.

I think the design firm must a have a deep seated fascination for Watchmen and Dr. Manhattan because this statue looks very much like that character to me, minus the blue tint.

You decide.