| Dungeons and Dragons, 4e |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|11:55 am] |
So, out of curiosity, has anyone in here checked out 4e yet? I'm reading about it on forums and blogs, but I'm still not sure I'm sold on it.
From what I've heard...
It plays smoothly and cleanly, with minimal prep.
It encourages teamwork.
It is a really well-designed board game, but fails at the "role-playing" side of the equation.
Skill challenges (extended skill checks for significant non-combat plot points) are broken, as printed. But, minor tweaks to the DCs and number of checks involved can re-balance it fairly easily. Mike Mearls (the lead designer) has said to consider the text in the book a guideline, instead of hard and fast rules.
It plays something like a video game, where you toddle along in a macro view talking with people, exploring, and doing most of the general role-playing activities. But, when combat starts, you enter a whole different kind of view, with different rules. I haven't decided yet if this qualifies as a plus or a minus.
The integrated online features look like they are going to bomb. Ah, well.
I'd be curious to hear the experiences and impressions of others. |
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| Journey to the Center of the Earth |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|10:51 am] |
Saw this movie last weekend. The basic review is "visually stunning, very nicely paced, but otherwise meh." Really, the effects are worth the price of admission just by themselves. The action was very well paced. But, the script was underwhelming. It's basically more of a sequel to Verne's classic. Specifically, it's "what if Verne's tale was a true account?" Several years later, another scientist descends to the center of the earth, and dies. A few years later, that scientist's brother (also a geologist) and son follow his clues down the rabbit hole, along with an attractive mountaineering guide. Unsurprisingly, their adventures follow the general path of the original novel, with a couple twists (like a largely superfluous mine car ride, which might remind you of a certain movie about a temple in India). But, if any of the plot twists actually surprise you, you probably don't see a lot of movies. Very standard fare.
Oh, and I don't know if it was a poor script or poor direction, but Brendan Fraser felt stifled. Like he wanted to bring much more to the part, but was prevented from making it happen. Josh Hutcherson, OTOH, showed better acting than he did in The Dark is Rising.
To reiterate, though, it is teh pretty. I've made one of the better pictures I can find my desktop here at work. |
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| Random question for any other movie geeks out there |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|10:04 am] |
Is there a connection between John Landis and Guillermo del Toro (and/or specifically Hellboy 2). the movie used his trademark "See You Next Wednesday," and yet I can't find any known connection. Is Guillermo just a fan?
Oh, and BTW, Hellboy 2 rocks. Pretty much exactly as good as the first one (the goodness is pretty much the same, even if the rough patches are in different places). Of course, the things that Mignola did to Celtic mythology hurt my brain. But, once I could relax into it, Prince Nuada was awesome (even if they gave his silver hand to his father for no apparent reason). |
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[Jul. 12th, 2008|09:20 pm] |
I ought not facebook so much.
It makes me jealous.
He's so adorable, I have to look at his pictures, right?
It hurts, man.
every picture he's smiling his beautiful smile.
With a pretty little tart right next to him.
nuzzling his neck.
and despite that, i want him.
i want that.
and i miss him.
today i was given confidence.
this evening, i lost it. |
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| Helping out my dad |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|09:50 am] |
Stutter posting again.
I went down to my parents' cabin last weekend to help my dad put up the ceiling. I haven't mentioned this in a while (ever?), so let me explain a bit. Several (ten?) years ago, my parents bought a bit of property up in the mountains of Virginia, with the plans to retire there. It's completely undeveloped, still covered in forest, and far too steep to be useful as much. My dad, who has always had something of an obsession with This Old House and Norm Abrams, is building their retirement house from scratch, with his own two hands. He is only contracting out what he absolutely has to (sometimes because of expertise or equipment, sometimes because of time constraints). It's actually pretty cool, and frankly amazes me. The basic cabin is now up, and they should get their occupancy permit this year. It will likely get really finished up next year. Then he starts on building a second cabin, that will be attached to the first by a walkway. That cabin will house the kitchen (with the current kitchen being turned into a library) and laundry room. Then, he will build a third cabin, a mirror image of the first one, that will become the master suite. They have plans for other future cabins, too, but those may or may not ever come to be.
He only gets to work on it for 4-6 weeks every summer. I try to go down and help when I can, which is not nearly often enough. But, I went down last weekend, and I'm going back down Saturday to put in a few hours before the Weird Al concert. It should be good.
That reminds me, I need to email my sister and see how she did in the triathlon. |
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| Gag me with a spoon |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|07:14 am] |
So, I'm going to try a bit of stutter posting today, to get caught up on updates.
Wednesday night, we went to a test screening of a movie. But, it involved an NDA. So, I can't tell you which movie, or give you any details. It may be {removed}'s breakout role, as he did a phenomenal job. {removed} was great, as usual. The guy playing {removed} nailed it. I think it needs a bit of editing to be really tight. But, it's going to be a great movie when it comes out. |
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| What do *I* think of *you*? |
[Jul. 10th, 2008|01:28 pm] |
There is an update percolating in my head. Until then, a fun meme.
( The Random Question Meme! ) |
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| holy shit! 3 posts in 2 days! |
[Jul. 10th, 2008|02:01 am] |
What I just added to my user info:
So I've tried to add some of my classmates. They don't make themselves easy to find.
If I've randomly friended you, it's probably because you go to Davidson. And because I've realized that I'm halfway through school and that scares me shitless. I'm going to be abroad for the next full year, and I want to stay updated on what's going on with my classmates at home and abroad.
Basically, I've finally decided that I'm not afraid for Davidsonians to see this journal.
And now I'm actively seeking them out. Especially the ones I know moderately well. Help is appreciated. |
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| who knows, maybe i'll start using the lj again. |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|02:48 am] |
I just got back from Alaska this afternoon. Now I can't sleep because it's too dark here and I don't feel well. I'm running a fever and I'm basically allergic to Alaska. Though the fever makes me think I might be legit sick.
I keep having very strange dreams. Like about Sexy Turkish Man's girlfriend (whom I've seen in real life maybe three times). My friend Simrit, to whom I hadn't spoken since she graduated 3 years ago, who is now dead. She had an arranged marriage of which only her family knew, and her husband killed her in February. But now she's always in my dreams. A classmate of mine who died in the 11th grade, 4 years ago. Nick. We were kind of friends in third grade, but I don't even remember going to middle school with him. I don't remember going to high school with him. But we went to the same school. I dreamt that we were sitting together, and it was basically an invitation to ask him whatever. And I didn't. We sat across from each other in silence for a good half hour. He got up and walked away and then I woke up. But I really feel like it means something. Not like I can talk to the dead or anything like that, but why are these people creeping up in my subconscious? STM is, obviously, a sexy turkish man, and a member of Davidson's basketball team. Davidson is a small school and we actually have classes and parties and friendships with our athletes. But I never saw STM's gal. Why is she in my dream? I'm not jealous of her. He's attractive, but that's about it.
My friend Sarah Beth is very capable of lucid dreaming. I want to be able to ask these people questions. Why are you in my head? Did I miss something? Of course, the answers would only be my mind's own responses, but in that state, an answer would be an answer.
And maybe the dreams are part of my fever. Perhaps I was sick for the whole second half of the trip and was having crazy dreams as a result.
I was going to write more, but now I'm just feeling achy and blah. oh well. |
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