tintros

Hey folks.

For those of you into gaming/rpgs, if you've the time, check out http://jamesmishler.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the one called 'The Doom of RPGs' and read it. I'd like your thoughts. It's also got 2 followups on there, that address some criticisms he got on the first one, but aren't necessary for the main point.

.....

We have been thrilled with the response to our recruiting efforts for the Store Manager position. We carefully considered your potential employment with our company; unfortunately, we are unable to invite you to interview. If we have a future opening to discuss with you, we may reconsider your application and contact you.

.....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHhhhhh

*repeat email and response until head explodes.

Wow, nice day today.

Also, for some unknown reason, today did not suck.

Exalted game actually got some character creation done and has 2 and a fraction more players interested, meaning I'll actually be able to run it. (That brings us to 5.X players, for those keeping score)

I'm pleased by that, as I've done a bunch of prepwork and I'd actually like to see it get off the ground rather than sink into the mire as one more failed attempt to make something of my time.

The Ghostbusters video game (despite what Yahtzee from http://www.escapistmagazine.com says) isn't bad. It is however not a good *game*. What it is is an extended fangasm of 'wheee I can hang out with the ghostbusters and kinda pretend to be one' wrapped around a mediocre and slow-moving game packed with bits from the Ghostbusters movies. Nostalgia makes it worthwhile for *me* but anyone who wasn't around to enjoy the first movie when it came out, or the first *game* on the Atari, probably won't agree. Also, the gameplay mechanics are at best marginal.

So, this weekend (Saturday) we've got free RPG day.

Except, y'know.. here. Because for some reason that I cannot conceive, none of my local RPG stores are participating. Despite it being like manna from heaven for one of them.
http://www.freerpgday.com/ has the details.

BATTLEGROUND GAMES & HOBBIES - ABINGTON MA
Compleat Strategist - Boston MA
Fantasy Realms - Pittsfield MA
Greenfield Games - Greenfield MA
Modern Myths Comics & Games - Northampton MA
Pandemonium Books & Games - Cambridge MA
STILLPOINT CARDS COMICS & GAMES - Fall River MA
Worlds Apart Games Amherst MA

Those're the stores in MA doing it. Nothing local. Certainly not the *local* store, with *instore gaming*, thats biggest problem is getting people to it that then will know where it is and will spend money there. You know, like the exact sort of thing this is supposed to provide/promote? And the fact that if they were doing it they'd have people driving from Springfield and who knows where else to come to your store? Yeah they totally wouldn't want that.

H'lo there people

-My Mutants & Masterminds game is dead, but at least it went out with an ending instead of dying on the vine.

-Looks like the new game will be Exalted, at least for the time being, currently recruiting players.

-Leverage is coming back, and apparently http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/ Wil Wheaton's gonna have a guy to play in one ep. He's a fan and blogging about being on the set a bit (he's a fan) so that's cool and fun and neat.

-Still unemployed. The suck continues.

- Watching The Phone : http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/the_phone/videos-full-episodes.jhtml

- Looking at the summer tv schedule.. http://television.aol.com/insidetv/2009/05/21/summer-tv-2009-schedule-premieres-finales-and-specials/

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-star-wars/49937

Part of me wants to say "HEY, hangonjustaminnit.. Sherlock Holmes is about the triumph of deductive reasoning over the dim, the superstitious and the criminal!"

The other part goes "WHeeeee! Victorian Adventure! Hey, that went BOOM! Yay! Go Holmes!"

=P

Is it bad that I didn't even realize Anime Boston was this weekend? Well, certainly shows a change in the times. Part of me misses the days when I went to a dozen cons a year, or heck even four, back when I ran things and rarely paid for conbadges or hotel rooms..

So, Blizzard, WoW, and Mountain Dew.. how can you go wrong? Oh, plus computer/video game and convention prizes.. Do these guys know their audience, or what?

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film

Sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves.. =) 

-The Summer on NBC:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/71228/nbc-fall-preview-2009-2010-summer-shows-featurette#s-p1-st-i0

-It's Over!
     So my music class is over and done now (MU115, for those that care of such cryptic things) and it was an interesting experience.  Unfortunately, by the time I'd figured out how the professor tested, two of the three tests were gone by.  I also find myself of two minds about the class itself.  Clearly I don't intend to be a musician, music critic or anysuch thing in the future, nor do 99% of those attending the class.  But it's a requirement (that or art history, pretty much) to graduate with any degree.  That seems wasteful, but looking back at it, it's not a bad thing to expose people to art/music they wouldn't otherwise get from American Idol/Britney/YoMTVRaps/etc and I'm curious about what the rest of you folks think about things like this that 'well round' our collegians. 

Column A : "Vague, widespread, cramp-like pain, accompanied by bloating, tiredness, gas, and occasional nausea.             
You may also have diarrhea, constipation, or bouts of both. "

'Nothin we can do, go home, try to have less stress, eat better'.

Column B:"Chronic abdominal pain along with dark urine and yellowish skin and eyes."

'Viral hepatitis.  Ow.  You're boned.'

Column C: "Moderate to severe cramps that wax and wane, or occasional cramps that flare up after meals,

and vomiting, especially if the vomit smells like stool. Other possible signs include watery or ribbon-like stools, or no

stools at all"

'Intestinal Obstruction.  Go to an emergency room right NOW.'

Yeah.. Anyone besides me notice how very similar these are and how they all resemble "Damn, I don't feel so good.. kinda have a nauseous ache in my belly and have for a while now'?  Wonders of modern medicine, people, wonders of modern medicine.  You're either about to die, or need to eat more bran.  *headdesk*

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-launches

 

Cuz.. wow. Talk about a paradigm-changer. 

Quote of the day..Thoreau.  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Quiet because they don't speak of it? have nobody to tell? because nobody listens? because there's no-one to notice?


-Was watching Definetly Maybe earlier.  Decent movie, if a tad predictable, with some very well-written bits in it.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832266/

**Warning, Random Thoughts Ahead**

-What is it that we value now?   Intelligence? The ability to get along with people? Sycophantic simpering? Competence? Average-ness? Filling some checkbox or diversity cubbyhole?  There's a case before the Supreme Court on that last one.  That wasn't where I was going but I was thinking about it earlier..

-Does it matter that the reason someone hates you isn't just?  Does that make the venom sting less?  Does that make the barbs hurt less?  Does that make it somehow better down the road that they hated you for reasons that weren't your fault or because you did anything?  Or is the pain and misery the same, the damage equal whether you strike back out of spite or turn the other cheek and wish them well?

-Does anyone really realize what they have when they have it?  I was thinking the whole 'man who had no shoes, man who had no feet' thing the other day and it's been lurking in the back of my mind.  In the last week I've talked to people who thought themselves lonely or complained about someone who loved them while they had someone to love them and talk with, be with, share their life with.  I've talked to people who thought themselves alone and outside when they were surrounded by people who cared about them, and had people to rely on that others would love to have.  I talked to someone who complained about his job.. to people who didn't have one and would have gladly exchanged burdens with him. 

-I don't know where to go or how to get there.  Avenues grow steeper and more distant and roads that once seemed open to me close themselves off or seem insurmountable now.  I don't know whether it's the perspective or the reality, but the glass grows dark and dim, and everyone who's speaking says it's going to get darker before the dawn..  What of those that fear the dark, and what lurks within.  What of those that won't have somewhere to spend the night, the dark?

Hey folks..

A few newsbytes before we put the lid on..

-City of Heroes (www.cityofheroes.com) has added user-generated content.  This is something that pretty much every MMO has wanted to do, several had promised to do, and until now none had delivered on.  Kudos to them and if you play CoH/V, check out 'The Internet is down!' a tiny little mission I put up there whilst fiddling with the creator =)  Let me know what you think. 

-I keep watching The West Wing DVDs.  They keep being awesome.  I keep having nobody to talk about stuff with.  =P 

-My In Nomine game has evolved (read: died a horrible stinging death and been reincarnated) into a Dark Ages: Vampire game.  I'm reminded once again what tools White Wolf was for not continuing that game despite their claims they would.  Complete... Tools...

And that's it, have a good night everyone...

It occurs to me, and this is a sad thing, that I have no one to share The West Wing with.  No girl to huddle under a blanket with and share the dialog full of quips, no stalwart chum with whom to discuss the political insights and how things have and haven't changed in the years since the show was on... no one at all. 

It is, of course, part and parcel of a larger issue.  One which I've addressed before and will likely again, given the time of year.  But it struck me particularly on this very minor thing, given I've been watching the episodes on DVD (a very thoughtful... and self-suggested.. birthday gift from my parents) at 2am.