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

Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Master_Keralys, Jan 1, 2009.

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  1. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    To be fair, New Vegas basically inherited much of the setting, characters, and plot from the old Van Buren fallout 3, which was never completed before the company folded.

    As for a potential Fallout 4, we have had california, the upper midwest, and DC area. How about the next one goes to either the northwest/Seattle area, or say tropical hawaii?
     
  2. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    Last night was one of the better episodes of Community in recent memory. Focused on the core cast, not too much of the Dean's antics, and I love it when they show Chevy Chase isn't always an a-hole. I liked the Jeff/Britta connection and having Abed meet a girl was perfect.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  3. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    Yep, but that really only gave them a frame, they still had to fill it. :)

    Utah ;)
     
  4. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    Nah, we already had Utah via Honest Hearts. I would be down with the Pacific Northwest, although there's rumors that 4 will take place in the Boston area.

    In any case, I'd kill for Obsidian to get another shot at Fallout. Or hell, I'd love to see Avellone try his hand at Elder Scrolls.
     
  5. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    And they basically wrote the frame to begin with, anyway. The stuff that carried over into New Vegas was predominantly what Avellone and Sawyer et al. had been responsible for on Van Buren, AFAIK.
     
  6. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    An Avellone penned Elder Scrolls game would undoubtedly be interesting, but personally, I'm glad that he and Obsidian are finally getting a chance to create their own fantasy universe.
     
    Ulicus likes this.
  7. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    I found Fallout 2 to be the stinker of the series. The first view outside the Vault - the view of the crumbling Washington Monument - was one of the most memorable game moments I've had in years.

    New Vegas I enjoyed, but -
    1) It wasn't really post-apocalyptic. It was post-post-apocalyptic. I need more fallout in my Fallout.
    2) The opening was fairly linear. Yes, you could break out of the box (unlike, say, Rage) but there was an obvious 'path' you were supposed to take.
    3) Absence of random encounters, one of my favorite aspects of Fallout 3.
    4) Karma still present, but completely useless.

    Having said that, I could spend an eternity mucking about in Old World Blues. SCIENCE!

    Fallout 4? New England, I say.
     
  8. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    So im a a friend a house and they are playing this "wubstep" song (wtf is that?) and the base line and general musical motif reminds me of Last of the Mohicans. "Sail" by AWOLNation or some such.
     
  9. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    But, but, but... New Reno, the Enclave, Vault City... [face_plain]

    Yes Fallout in Australia would be pretty awesome [face_whistling]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_(New_South_Wales)
     
  10. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    It really felt like a season 1 episode. I liked Abed meeting a nice girl, but I disagree on Jeff/Britta. In character, they are bad for one another, and from a storytelling perspective, they already did that whole story arc and ended it. Jeff/Britta work far better when competing like brother/sister.

    I agree on the Dean and Pierce though. Especially that Jeff finally got fed up with the Deans adoration. Twice.
    As for best episode of the season, I'd still have to go with the convention episode.
     
  11. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    That was hands-down the funniest episode of the season so far. "He's the Colin Farrell of people" was the first time all season I had to pause the playback until I stopped laughing--something that used to happen almost every episode. And Abed totally needs to hook up with Brie Larson so they can have a spin-off next year.

    EDIT: finally, a GoT catch-up device that speaks my language. I literally did not realize until now that there were two Robs.
     
  12. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    For all New Vegas being worried about being 'silly' that they had to make their 'Weird Wasteland' trait - for material that wasn't really all that silly - Fallout 2 was lousy with it. Crashed Star Trek ships? Time travel to the first game? That awful bad-luck dog that was impossible to be rid of? I found it pretty irritating at points.
    I suppose I should say it was still much better than Fallout:BOS and Fallout:Tactics, but I don't consider them part of the franchise.
     
  13. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    That moment where you're so busy trying to restore the Karlings to power in France you forgot Doctor Who is on and miss the first twenty minutes.

    :(

    Oh well, I'll check it out on iPlayer later.
     
  14. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Conference over. There were some epic throwdowns today, with the Canadian and British diplomats verbally throwing down against the American ones, and with the Chinese ICJ judge slamming the ethnocentrism of international law. There was some serious real talk, and some serious burns.

    Most importantly though -- despite failing to network the entire conference, I ended up networking by accident at my friend's birthday party because we were bar hopping and some random person came up to my group to compliment my suit and then introduced me to his State Dept. friend who took my card and tested my on-the-spur constitutional and administrative law bonafides. :p

    edit: On the downside, I was so exhausted this morning that I fell down an escalator at the conference and gouged my hands. Ow. :p
     
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  15. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    If that's all you got Jello - you were lucky!
     
  16. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Were there witnesses? If so, were they taken care of?
     
  17. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Oh, totally. I didn't fall far, and like I said, my hand took the brunt of the impact. Could have been a LOT worse.
     
  18. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Yeah, it could of - I'm speaking from experience here! :)
     
  19. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    You know what? My latest commentary for Game of Thrones (the ninth episode of the second season) became twice as long as usual. Could be because the material is so great.

    Game of Thrones as an action film:
    [​IMG]

    This episode. Can't. I remember reading a spoiler-free interview of GRRM and he said that after writing tv-shows for years with the principle ”write the first draft, then take half of it out because of the budget” he wanted to write a novel series where he can go all-out and write dragons and big battles and magnificent buildings and castles without no one saying ”we can't do that”. And now that series is being transformed to television. And on my rewatch I read the words ”Written by George R.R. Martin” before the episode and wonder what was in the other half of this episode.

    I thought of writing this commentary the same way the episode was written: Speaking only about a few elements, doing bigger paragraphs and not hopping from one point to another just because I thought of a pun or a reference. Let's see if I could do it. I'm still going in chronological order to stimulate my brains better.

    Here goes: Dark view of the Blackwater Bay, then a ship blocks the view, the Stannis theme plays, Ser Davos walks to look at the fleet behind them... Can't I just watch this? Some shots showing the soldiers are sick of the sea and the stress (wait why is that big barrel so full? There is a sea and it wouldn't mind). It quickly shows that the common people are people too and this is not a chess game for them.

    Ser Davos has a conversation with his son. I don't remember much from their original discussion in the second episode, but this one repeats the main parts: Matthos is a believer, Ser Davos is a knower (how could he not be after the cave?). Matthos believes that the Red God is the only one and that he is on their side and that the common people of King's Landing will celebrate their coming. Ser Davos knows that maybe there are gods, maybe there is a power that is on their side (or just on Melisandre's side), but the common people of King's Landing will fear them and fight them because of what they have heard of the Red God.

    The night is dark and full of terrors. While Tyrion and Shae share possibly their last intimate hour together, Cersei meets the ex-council member Grand Maester Pycelle, to whom the time in the dungeons apparently did only good. Or at least his beard is more trimmed. It's good to have him back, even if only as a cameo. I remember when I was in the... yes, the episode. Cersei gets a small bottle of Nightshade to help her sleep, or... did she only want him released so he could make that for her? No, it was too long ago. It was just politics.

    The night is lit and full of boobies. Bronn sings the song of Castamere with some soldiers. Once upon a time there was a lord who said something, now his castle is in ruins. Great song but could have been longer. Then Bronn tries to do some sexposition, but The Hound stops him, which probably saved his life (we know what happened to Yoren just when we started to know him).

    I don't really get the scene between The Hound and Bronn. Why does The Hound want to pick a fight with him? They haven't had any interaction before so this came completely from the left field. But I'll play armchair psychologist and say that The Hound is envious. He sees that Bronn is almost exactly like him: Likes killing and would kill about anyone. The problem is with the word about. The Hound has killed innocents, his first kill in the show was the butcher's boy, but now he has taken a pity to Sansa and keeps her safe. Bronn wouldn't do that to anyone. And Bronn is happy. He does as he likes, drinks, rents women, lives in the keep. The Hound could do all that, but they don't bring him joy. The king he is sworn to protect isn't worthy of protection, he doesn't enjoy much anything except killing, and even that leaves a bad taste. It's like Bronn is living his life but much better version.

    Tyrion's squire is introduced. Podrick. Varys asks if Tyrion trusts him, and I decide to not care about his loyalties yet. There are too many characters whose loyalties are uncertain as it is. There's a battle coming, I don't care now if Podrick is a secret agent of Doran Martell. Varys shows a map of secret tunnels that can be used to escape if the situation gets too dire. Oh dear, this is bad news. Martin knows the truth of writing big battles: always have hope for the defenders. If a lose means that every main character will die, they can never lose. If the villain threats to kill the main character's wife, he has a chance to succeed, but if he threats to blow up the city and every main character in it he will never succeed.

    ”Have I ever told you how I was cut?” Thank you for once again pointing out that little detail of yours, Varys. But he hints that the ”dark arts” and mystical things were part of it. Well now I am interested in his past. Except that little detail.

    Bells play, drums play, and A Stag In Flames... smiles? Well now we can add ”music” to a list of things he likes. At the moment it's music and... boring things?

    Farewells between Tyrion, Bronn, Sansa, Shae and Joffrey, who now has a new sword. Let's see if this one will be thrown into water as quickly as the last. ”Hound, tell him I asked a question” ”The king asked you a question” ”Ser Lancel, ask the Hound to tell the king that the Hand is extremely busy”. The best interpretation of this joke I have seen.

    Every scene Ser Davos and Matthos are in they disagree about everything. This time it's the possibility of having an element of surprise (”Lord Varys knows what you ate for breakfast three days ago, there are no surprises here”) or a riot in enemy ships (”Maybe”). The seeds of a conflict between them in the long run have been planted.

    Cersei and Tommen arrive in the hideout, and the queen starts talking to Sansa. And of course she starts it by lying ”Ser Ilyn is here to protect us when the door is cut down” and once Sansa points out that lie she says another. And gives Sansa advice about ruling the kingdom and how you just have to order executions. Why does she do that now? To keep her mind away from the possibility of three quarters of her most important people in the world dying this night?

    ”There they are!” It's on! Archer's on posts, ready... Tyrion orders them to hold fast. One ship moves against the fleet. Ser Davos orders their archers on post, ready... hold fast. The ship moves closer the fleet. The game of chess between the Hand and the Hand now, and both move the same soldier.

    Wildfire! It's a trap! Tyrion gives Bronn a command: ”You may fire when ready”. Bronn shoots, and...

    The arrow flies, high and true.

    Silence.

    The arrow drops.

    WHOOSSHH.

    ”Matthos, get down!” BOOM! There goes that plotline. Ser Davos flies to the water, so he surviv-
    BOOOMM!!
    Aahhh! Crashh! Broomm! Pheewww! Mushroom cloud! Crack! Boom! Yeaarrgghh! Crunch! Whoosshh!
    A little voice in my head from six weeks ago: ”GRRM often seems to start sideplots but then people die and that's all folks.”
    Wrrmmmcrunchaaaahhh...

    ”Prepare to land.” ”Your grace?” ”The dwarf has played his little trick, he can only play it once.” ”Hundreds will die.” ”Thousands.” Stannis' theme plays, and he's the first one to go on a boat.

    I breath again.

    Cersei and Sansa have another talk. In this one Cersei gives gives her a lesson about woman's weapons and how she should learn to use the one between her legs. And offers her drinks after drinks. She doesn't really think that this is the best time to give her councel, does she? This serves as a way to keep her mind off the dark future and a way to rant about the situation to someone whose childishness and grasping for right words is amusing to watch.

    Stannis is the first one to jump ashore. His men (many of them Renly's former men) run to the walls while fire rains on them. Many fall to the arrows. GOT: Total War, please? The man next to Stannis gets a rock in his head, and blood flies everywhere. I don't remember that happening in Helm's Deep. The Hound brings his men out through the Mud Gate and the swords hit together. Lancel catches an arrow and retreats.

    Cersei gets to the point where she talks about her childhood and how she was sold like a horse. She was Robert's queen the same way Sansa will be to Joffrey, and does she have anything to say about that? ”Enjoy.” Then she talks to Shae and sniffs that something is wrong. That discussion could have been the last the queen ever had if Lancel hadn't walked into the room and given a commentary. The Queen gives an order: The king will be taken to his chambers because Stannis' courage would annihilate him if they got too close.

    It took me some time to truly understand why fire affected The Hound so much. At first I thought it was because of the wildfire explosion that killed half the fleet. That could affect anyone. Then I looked properly at his face, and remembered. ”Ladders!” ”Good!” Who's the first one to climb them? You guessed it. I'll give Stannis 10 points for sheer laughi... being serious at the face of death.

    The Hound gives a lovely speech and walks out from the King's Guard and the king. Let that be a lesson of pets to you Joffrey. Meanwhile the battering ram (shaped like a stag? You are not one for surprises Stannis) is brought to the gate.

    Lancel gives Joffrey a message from the queen. He can sing ”lalalala” and go to his chambers or lead the attack, probably get killed and be remembered as a king who actually did something with the power that was given to him. He goes to his chambers. The men from King's Gate arrive at the worst possible moment to see their king leave the battle. Tyrion has to somehow save the city. And he does it in the only way he knows: using words. ”Don't fight for kingdom, don't fight for the king! This is your city Stannis is sacking! They are your houses he will burn, your gold he will steal, your women he will rape.” In the army we never got any speeches like this, but from the lectures the officers gave us you could get just this intent. ”There are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!”

    When Lancel (who left the scene at the worst moment) tells the queen that everyone lost their courage when the king left and are now running towards the city square white flags flowing, she stops listening, hits Lancel, grabs Tommen and leaves the room. Shae urges Sansa to do the same.

    In her chambers, Sansa finds a doll, and realizes that she is not alone. ”I'm going. Some place that isn't burning.” The Hound has been waiting to take Sansa away from all this. And I love it.

    Tyrion leads his troops from a postern gate and they attack the attackers. And win. Too quickly. It's a trap! Swords hit together again and I want GOT: Total War more than ever.

    Meanwhile Stannis has been killing people alone on the wall for the last ten minutes. And he's still doing fine. Tyrion is also doing fine, until Ser... Boros(?) sees his change and cuts his face and moves on for a killing strike when Podrick spears him from behind. Sorry I didn't trust you at first. But was this murder attempt (lol murder attempt during a battle) one of Cersei's plots or Ser Boron(?)'s own idea? Well who poisoned Jon Arryn? Who sent the dagger? Add this to the list.

    Cersei tells us a good night's story to help us sleep better. The movie Downfall has one scene no parody-maker has ever used, and for a good reason: Frau Goebbels giving her children sleeping potion. So no jokes in this paragraph. The haunting story is set against dizzy images of the cavalry attacking and Tyrion losing consciousness.

    Just when everything is on its darkest, the doors open, Lancel Lannister removes his helmet, and in walks Captain Westerlands, Lord Tywin Lannister, who has finally won a battle. The main theme plays. ”The battle is over. We have won!”


    Some mirroring: When Joffrey the king left the battle, the men would have lost without Tyrion. When Stannis' men left the battle, Stannis lost.

    So, I could point out how Tywin's cavalry was a deus ex machina and I would really have loved to see a battle where people fight each other until the other army retreats, not one where people fight until a new army arrives and just destroys the enemy like so many times in LOTR. But this was a fantastic battle. The highlights:
    -The wildfire explosion. That was great, awesome and terrifying
    -The characters. I cared about them. I'm sorry to have Ser Davos gone, and I think I now appreciate Stannis much more. Tyrion, Bronn, The Hound, Sansa, I felt for all of them.
    -I had no idea what would happen. Generally I didn't want Stannis to sack the city, but I would have wanted Joffrey to be there.

    Actually now that I think about it, there were very few character deaths. Ser Davos and Matthos were the only ones.

    I will count Stannis' points once I see the aftermath. But at the moment he only has 10, which doesn't buy him anything.

    So what now? Tywin fooled me, he actually went to save the throne. But when he's around, things are going to be done a little differently. Stannis is now a prisoner, and the trial won't take long. But now no one opposes Robb, so what about the Casterly Rock? This war is far from won, and I think that the last episode is going to be sweet and leave me waiting for more.

     
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  20. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    So, this weeks episode of Doctor Who was rather meh. I still absolutely adore Clara and how the Doctor reacts to her, but the whole part with the angry planet that eats people's sentimental objects and memories was a tad bit to strange for me. It just seemed like the plot wasn't that important.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  21. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Lugija, you wouldn't happen to have all of these compiled somewhere, would you?

    edit: "GOT: Total War, please?"

    There's a mod for medieval 2 that's been in the works for, well, years now. It's nowhere near release sadly (they have a really subpar alpha version out; not worth playing).
     
  22. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    So, the Elder Kings mod for Crusader Kings II. It's pretty awesome. Buggier than a Denning novel, but awesome. The two main bookmarks are both during the Interregnum of the Second Era, although you can push the timeline far enough ahead to play as Ulfric Stormcloak, if you so desire. Anyways, I started out as the King of Winterhold. Here is his realm ruled by his grandson, High King Ysmir Wulfharth III "The Noble" of Skyrim:

    [​IMG]

    Some notes:

    -The map also includes Atmora, Yokuda, Pyandonea, and Akavir. Atmora is a barren wasteland, unsurprisingly.

    -If I can claim the Kingdom of High Rock in addition to the Kingdom of Skyrim, I can reform the Nordic Empire of the First Era. Not sure how to form the Empire of Tamriel yet.

    -The Dunmer of the Kingdom of Morrowind are kind of OP. They can outright doomstack pretty much anyone who gets in their way- as I experienced when they declared an embargo against my vassal republic, the Nordic Trade Alliance (there's a bunch of republics in this one). Currently they are pushing south into Black Marsh. My plan for dealing with the Dunmer is to conquer the rest of Tamriel, and hope that this move gives me enough troops to crush them. Because holy crap, they don't take guff from anyone.

    -Some of the character portraits for Khajiits and Argonians are hilarious. Some Khajiit character portraits are just pictures of lions (or lion cubs, d'awwwwww) taken from National Geographic specials. Some of the Argonian portraits are just stock pictures of pet lizards. Also, this mod includes the Maormer (sea elves) and the inhabitants of Akavir, who all use the Mongolian portraits for some reason.

    - I am currently allied with the Kingdom of Daggerfall, which may very well be able to unite High Rock under its banner. I can also foresee Alinor capturing the rest of Valenwood.
     
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  23. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Have you fond M'aiq the Liar yet? (hint: look near water)
     
  24. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    Not yet, I'm afraid. And argh, just three more years and I can usurp the Colovian Estates! Then form Cyrodiil! Whee!
     
  25. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    Currently only on my computer. I'm thinking of putting them somewhere on the net but don't know what would be the best place. A blog could be an overkill, I write these kind of things very rarely.
     
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