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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Social Hooper McFinney's RPF Bar & Grille 7.0 - "Keeping blind people away from Priuses one step at a time"

Discussion in 'Role Playing Forum' started by Thok, Apr 3, 2010.

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  1. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    I was hesitant to put it there specifically because I knew you liked it and would take umbrage, but in the end I had to my own self be true. :p
     
  2. Skywalker_T-65

    Skywalker_T-65 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2009
    Got to be true to our own tastes...which is why I can safely say I like SEED and take all the flak that leads to :p

    And hey, at least I can agree that G-Savior fits in its current spot :p
     
  3. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 13, 2008
    I don't think anyone can defend that movie. Even the silly live-action cutscenes from War for Earth are better, as they at least have some narm charm.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Skywalker_T-65

    Skywalker_T-65 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2009
    The day someone defends G-Savior is the day I give up my liking of Gundam X :p
     
  5. HanSolo29

    HanSolo29 RPF/SWC/Fan Art Manager & Bill Pullman Connoisseur star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2001
    So, we had our first snow day today since I started working at the school (that tells you how mild our winter was last year) and I'm loving it! While it doesn't really seem to be doing anything outside at the moment except raining, I'm not going to complain! :D
     
  6. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    That must be nice - it's snowing like all get out here and I only wore a windbreaker to work. [face_plain]
     
  7. Sarge221

    Sarge221 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 9, 2006
    Only had like a tiny snow shower. Then a drizzle. Then nothing :p
     
  8. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    Rookie mistake.
     
  9. Rampani

    Rampani Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Well, I disappear for a weekend and.....yeah, I got nothing. No funny quip or witty response :(. The past few days have been too rough.
     
  10. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Finished off Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness over the weekend, as part of my "remedial reading" into "stuff that I Should Have Read By This Time In My Life And Now Bloody Well Will Sit Down And Read".

    Conrad would be the guy of whom Hemingway said "If I could bring back Conrad to write novels by the expedient of grinding up T.S. Eliot, I'd immediately set out to find the biggest mincer I could afford."

    It's true. Heart of Darkness is a cliche in Western memedom now, and people seem to think if they've watched Apocalypse Now they've read the book. Me, I've now had the pleasure (?) of both, and Conrad's novel is, to me, far superior. Apocalypse just leaves you with the impression of having been on a drug-infused bender for two or so hours, of sheer cynicism against all life and against The Man, yo. Heart of Darkness leaves you with the feeling that you've been through a dream, but with a somewhat happy, uplifting cause for hope right at the end.

    What I was left with more than anything was the sheer power of Conrad's language, and how fresh it was. The scariest thing of all being that English was Conrad's third language -- after Polish and Russian. The whole book you feel like you're pushing through oppressive, relentless humidity, which I'm fairly sure was the intended effect. What Conrad does with light, temperature, movement, metaphor and simile is just amazing stuff. Even moreso given the book was published in 1899, but it seems more readable than, say, H.P. Lovecraft's work which came 30 years later.

    I mentioned old Cthulhumon in there because that impression kept ringing to me -- maybe it's just my bent coming from a sci-fi/fantasy/horror background, but I could easily flip into the idea that old Kurtz didn't just go bat**** insane from the ultimate Getting Back To Nature weekender, but that somewhere out there in deepest, darkest Africa he ran into ... something. Not that Conrad thought this something was other than man's own primeval nature (if I'm understanding it rightly) but that theme of running into nasty stuff at the edge of the world is something common to a lot of horror stories, too. On the other hand, Conrad also humanised the natives where H.P. Lovecraft preferred to dehumanise them: Conrad's awful images of the chain-gang crew at the Inner Station halfway into the story are staying with me.

    Did I find it immensely powerful? Not as such - probably the cultural and time gap is too great, similar to how I found Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep a little tough to digest -- and we've come a long way since the colonial period Conrad seems to have been stamping his feet about. But it was thought-provoking, and I think the images will stay with me for a long time yet. Thoroughly recommend it.

    Also sneaked in a little bit of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men over the weekend, too. Hemingway must be having a fine old chuckle, wherever he is right now. If Hemingway's short stories are anything to go by, I think he'd probably like McCarthy. Especially after reading The Road, it's my unleavened opinion that McCarthy does what Stephen King tries to do so often but doesn't quite get there. I've only read three scenes with Anton Chigurh so far and he's frigging terrifying. That's brilliant stuff, that is.
     
  11. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Oh, and double-posting because I think I blocked it out. I also got through 20 pages (and a few isolated paragraphs in the few hundred pages from then on) of Fifty Shades of Grey.

    Fortunately, in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words, because here's basically my review of it:

    [​IMG]

    And *don't*--*you*--*dare*--*pick*--*up*--*a*--*god*--*damn*--*pen*--*again*--*E*--*L*--*James*--

    I mean, Jesus. The tampon scene. Jesus. H. Christ.
     
  12. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    My mom had to try to read that for one of her book groups. She would turn to me after literally every page, and just say "Who the hell reads this crap? It's written like vomit." She didn't finish, obviously. :p
     
  13. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    I think you can make a case for it establishing that all literature holds to electrostatic theory, Rams. At the positive end, there's McCarthy and all the good books for which we stay alive, and at the other end of the current there's this thing. I'm very careful not to put Heart of Darkness next to Fifty Shades of Grey on the bookshelf for fear they'll cancel one another out and destroy the universe or something. As it is, consider this Kurtzian horror: in ignorant bookshops if not libraries, this crap will be shelved right next to Henry James and P.D. James. (And quite possibly James Joyce if the shelver's nearsighted.)
     
    Ramza likes this.
  14. Yuul_Shamar

    Yuul_Shamar Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2004
    Just had a friend tell me he's stuck at a friend of his' house, with the house's alarm system on, and he has no clue how to turn it off. It gave me a good laugh though. Hope he gets out.
     
  15. BLemelisk

    BLemelisk Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    May I have your attention for a brief video presentation:




    ...It's going to be a LONG wait to 2015
     
  16. Nick of Time

    Nick of Time Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 15, 2013
    I have no frame of reference for that game, but that video looks so pretty.
     
  17. BLemelisk

    BLemelisk Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    That's all they have to show for the game at this point, but the devs have said they want the final release to look like that video...in which case whatever next-gen system it's on will be mine.
     
  18. Sarge221

    Sarge221 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 9, 2006
    Meanwhile, in only a few more weeks...



    :cool:
     
  19. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    I really do not understand why everyone is so pumped for Cyberpunk 2077, it looks like it'll be another sci-fi shooter with RPG elements. Like, man! What a waste of a setting and style!
     
  20. Sarge221

    Sarge221 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 9, 2006
    I haven't really looked much into it and I usually don't look further into games that are a couple years away as there's not enough details to keep me interested anyway. But it does remind me that aren't they trying again with a Shadowrun video game?
     
  21. BLemelisk

    BLemelisk Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Aug 19, 2003
    There isn't much of anything out yet, but from the developer interviews I've read, I like where their heads are at judging by their design philosophy. Plus I'm sure they'll incorporate something along the lines of how the more you mod your character, the more potential you'll have to go rogue like the "psychos" in the game do.
     
  22. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    I suppose, but when I think of the genre of cyberpunk, I think of things maybe a bit more subtle and noir-influenced. It's about the dangers of transhumanism on a philosophical level. I guess I'd prefer a stronger Gibson influence in it, is all.
     
    BLemelisk likes this.
  23. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    We regret to advise that transhumanism and philosophy will not be making an appearance in any video game from this point on. Bioware had their shot at it with Mass Effect 3, but they decided the PewPew Principle was more important.
     
  24. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 13, 2008
    Well, great, time to scrap my plans for Dynasty Warriors: Wittgenstein.
     
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  25. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    o_O

    Deus Ex discussed it in a fairly interesting fashion, but ME's focus was never transhumanism, if you ask me.
     
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