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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. GrandAdmiralJello

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

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Long day. Went to a couple of wine tastings today (before you ask Nick, nothing to write home about at all -- terrible, barely qualify as table wine in my view... but I don't think Virginia is world renown for wine) and then bar trivia in the evening. Our group of friends had too many people to play as one team, so we were split. It's fun doing bar trivia against your friends. Originally one of my friends declared that she wanted to be on my team since I was the trivia master, but ended up on the opposing team due to the way the table was split -- and we had to split this other guy from our team because he's the smartest person (in general) in our group so it would be unfair to have both of us on the same team. We had originally named our team "Dave" after him, except then he was on the other team so they named their team "Actual Dave" so we responded by calling ourselves "Pseudo Dave." The other 14 teams were hugely amused by our team names and how our main goal was to defeat each other.

    After being neck-to-neck for the first two hours, we thoroughly destroyed them in the final round. Hilariously I was rather inept at most of the game because the rounds were (I. law-related movies (I've seen like almost none) II. random trivia about our own school III. TV shows that only teenage girls watch IV. sports). But then they asked what was the element with the lowest atomic number that has no stable isotopes and I brought my elementary school science nerdery to play.

    Glory is mine!
     
  2. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    We had a state-wide "Brain Bowl" type competition that used total wins-losses rather than elimination rounds - about 40 high schools participated, IIRC. Our school won by one, and one of the matches had come down to a dead heat and a tie-breaker. They would give a vague description of something, and then more clues, etc. until someone answered. If they were right, that team won. If they were wrong, the other team won. So, of course, everyone was too afraid to answer unless they were 150% sure.
    So - the opening description was "This British comedy troupe is known for sketches about spam, dead parrots, and silly walks".

    I panicked and froze, and then suddenly realized that absolutely no one else knew what they were talking about. So, I blurted out the answer, my team was horrified for a second, and then happy (but puzzled) when they announced I was correct. I'm still shocked that none of these honor students were even familiar with Monty Python.
     
  3. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I didn't know you lived that close to me.

    Alcohol and trivia competitions were how I spent my Friday nights in high school, although not in bars and not as expansive a game as you're describing. We'd drink whatever our parents had in their cabinets and play Trivial Pursuit.

    I was on my high school's Quiz Bowl team four years in a row; we went to the regional competition one year and lost out to a team from the Outer Banks who showed up wearing turquoise sweatsuits.
     
  4. AdmiralNick22

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

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    Virginia, New York, and a few other states are attempting to get into wine, but none of them can offer up what California, Oregon, and Washington can produce. I am biased, as a Californian, but the facts speak for themselves in regards to American wine producing regions.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  5. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

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    Mar 4, 2011
    I haven't been to the Biltmore House lately to taste their wine, and I hear it's pretty good, but otherwise North Carolina wine pretty much sucks. We don't do too badly with beer though.

    When I buy US wine, it's usually from California.
     
  6. GrandAdmiralJello

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

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    a_g: I'm up in DC!

    I prefer regular bar trivia, I tend to be better at those because they involve a lot of history and/or geography (while I tend to be a failure at the sports and/or pop culture and/or music rounds, but that's what teammates are for!). This trivia was really... weird. Aside from the final round where I owned with science, there was a "things every 5th grader should know" that I did really well in. Surprising how many law students don't know the year of the Louisiana Purchase.

    I mean come on, there was that old education computer game on the Apple IIe that featured that!

    I would like to go back to Napa one day -- I was underage the last time I was there. I've recently started getting into northern Italian wines, because I -- unfortunately -- have realized that while southern Italy was illustrious for wine back in antiquity, it's pretty crap these days :(

    And I did try the Allegrini you had mentioned. It was good! Not my favorite, but good.
     
  7. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Haven't played an RTS in years, but I'm gonna dive into Crusader Kings II. Let's see how long it take for my regime to utterly destroy itself.
     
  8. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 24, 2005
    I'm more interested in how long it takes for you to become hopelessly addicted.
     
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  9. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Any recommendation for a starting country? Something tells me it might not be the best idea to pick the Holy Roman Empire, or anything that will make me such a viable target.

    I'm leaning towards Ireland.
     
  10. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    Ireland is often referred to as "Tutorial Island", because it lets you get to grips with the basics of the game while not being threatened too much by any external forces while you unite the Kingdom.
     
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  11. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    The Irish it is, then. Let's see how this goes...

    Honestly, the first thing I'm struck by is how awesome the music is in this game. I won't be getting tired of hearing this anytime soon.
     
  12. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    yeah, HRE is definitely a bad group to start as, what with trying to figure out elective succession and all.

    And of course, welcome to CKII Players Anonymous. We're here to help :p
     
  13. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Bought TFUII on Steam a few months back, finally got around to playing it this week. Have to admit, half-assed cash grab or not, that **** be entertaining.

    And I have may been playing as Boba Fett with a darksaber.
     
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  14. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 2, 2009
    C-3PO skin all the way.
     
  15. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 24, 2005
    I actually rather like TFUII. It's one of the first times since the Marvel days that Vader is straight-up portrayed like Doctor Doom. He's a badass wizard-supervillain with an army of machines at his beck and call.
     
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  16. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Yeah, until he gets carted away like a pansy. But for reals--I remember having waayy more trouble with both him and Palpatine in the first game.
     
  17. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    With the dark side ending in mind, and elements of it presumably canon, I actually get the impression that Vader is in complete control during that scene; what was that line to Starkiller? "I'll always control you?", said while he was completely bound? I don't care what you guys say, that was badass :p

    Anyway, this tutorial is certainly throwing a lot at you. Lots and lots of buttons. I may just jump into a game and see how I do.

    Also: please tell me it's possible to capture the Pope and make him your court jester ;)
     
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  18. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    No, that's just a Trojan Horse gambit. I love, love, love the ending.

    We know that he has Dark Rhett waiting to interfere if things go south... and Drhett doesn't interfere. Ergo, everything is going as Vader intends.

    Better idea, yeah.

    It's possible to vassalise him and make him your court jester, sure. You can't award honorary titles to people who aren't in your own court, though. :p
     
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  19. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    My dream TFUIII opens with Vader utterly decimating a Rebel base, in something of a callback to the first game's prologue (AKA the best part of the game).
     
  20. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

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    Jul 8, 1999
    Ah, but he didn't count on Rhett's ultra-secret triple-decker gambit: no TFU3!! [face_devil]
     
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  21. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I just bought Lego Star Wars III for the PC. I'm still a novice so this should be interesting.

    Do they have that for Minecraft? My sons need an intervention. :p
     
  22. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    I recommend just jumping into the game. The tutorial is more useless than nipples on a breastplate.

    @AnakinFan- no idea on minecraft, my roommates play it but I don't. However, if you like Tolkien I can definitely recommend Lego Lord of the Rings. It's insanely cute and fun.
     
  23. Ulicus

    Ulicus Lapsed Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2005
    You should get your sons CKII! It teaches history, and statesmanship, and geography, and murder, and conquest, and fratricide, and patricide, and matricide, and incest, and...

    .. wait, how old are they, again?
     
  24. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    8 and 6. I think we'll hold off on the teaching matricide. :p
     
  25. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    Yeah, I'm going to do that. So far the tutorial isn't doing much beyond confusing me.

    I am curious, though: is there any practical use for offering someone the position of Court Jester, or is it always an insult? I
     
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