Travel:
Heading to Florida for a couple of weeks over Xmas - looking forward to the sunshine! It's also my first visit to Florida and I'm especially looking forward to visiting the Space Centre.
In Jan I head back home. Yep, OZ bound! Had an interview for a great sounding job in Canberra - fingers crossed I did well - it's very hard to tell over the telephone and selling oneself is difficult.
Gaming:
Added to my boardgame collection. Add a few staples such as Settlers of Catan (I got sick of it a few years ago but am keen for it again) and so grabbed a copy.
Infact, I've been looking for games for my not-so-gamer friends to sucker them into playing boardgames with me :) I havent found a group for Britanica etc so I figure I can build a group, starting with the simplier games.
Thus, Settlers (and the 5-6 player expansion). I've also grabbed Carasconne and a nify 2-8 player game called Tsuro that I tried out at GenCon a few years ago. Simple, fast and fun. Perfect.
However with no-gamer friends I tend to smack them down in any game involving strategy over luck and that frustrates them. If I try and make silly moves to lose or make the game closer, then I don't enjoy it, defeating the purpose of getting them together for a game. Argh.
What I need is a game that is cooperative rather than competitive...
Enter SRM and his very sparse blog. Nothing for months on end and then he posts on his blog about a cooperative game called Pandemic.
This has by FAR been the most popular game in the group - infact they ask me to play now rather my incessant begging to start a boardgame. Yay! The path the darkboardside has begun!
Thanks SRM!
Ok, now I must get back to some freelance writing. This blog is so out of date, I've probably lost my readership but at the very least its an interesting way to monologue without having to talk to myself...
"Dru, what is the CN Tower?"
Well, reader, I am glad you asked!
Here is some facts from a Toronto tourism site:
- At 181 storeys, 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 in.) it is the world's tallest building and free-standing structure
- Height of: Glass Floor - 113 storeys - 342m (1,122ft.) Look Out Level - 114 storeys- 346m (1,136ft.) Sky Pod - 147 storeys- 447m (1,465ft.)
So, firstly it is no longer the world's tallest building. Some Dubai guy, sucking the life outta millions with stupid gas/petrol prices has made the biggest building. BUT CN Tower is still bloody big.
I've been in the tower 3? times before, all for functions at night. Great view. However, this was the first time during the day. Weather was gorgeous. The building sways a little in the skypod though - its sweet.
Standing on a glass floor looking straight down 113 storeys... awesome.
The air show was ok. I fell in love with the F16. Damn that thing has some sweetness. But the advertised venue is the Exhibition Place. $14 entry. The planes are not available for viewing and its just a gimic to get people (MANY!!!) into the exhibition grounds (the 2 week 'EX' is on - fairground basically).
Anyway, grass stains on shorts and lots of sunburn later the air show was done. The Canadian Snow Birds are the RCAF acrobatic team. Pretty cool. The USAF F16 was the highlight for me though. mmmm power.
Oh, and the Submarine Spitfire (WW2 vintage, 'won the Battle of Britain') sounded like a purring cat. I've never thought an aircraft could sound sexy before.
Anyway my beautiful tan turned into peely sunburn and is now gone. Alas.
Here's some photos.
Well I've only had the chance to play one mod so far (Core 1-1). It was ok. I also ran Core 1-3 on the weekend (excellent module).
From the show, the feedback on LFR has been astounding. Chris T has done an amazing job getting this campaign together. I never ever thought I'd say this but... LFR looks to be better than LG. Yes. Stone me if you want, but its true.
The 3 Global Admins are all A+. Im very excited with the team at the helm of the campaign.
I am a little concerned over the Canadian crew. Ok more than a little. And I heard much the same at the show. Fingers crossed they prove my fears ungrounded (though to date its been poor).
My biggest concern with LFR and 4E in general is Skill Challanges. I think LG may have made too many DMs rely on blocktext and verbatim reading/judging. The Core 1-1 mod I played had alot of skill challanges. It sucked because it was 'U have to do this, u need X Y and Z skills, roll dice, get 4 successes before 2 failures'. So we rolled dice. ZZZZZ Boring!
When I ran Core 1-3 they barely knew they were in a skill challange. It was totally roleplayed and they had a hoot of a time. Even when I ran a Complex 2 trap, I had mechanisms on the trap that indicated when stuff was being disarmed rather than saying, '4 successes to disarm'. The players really enjoyed it, and as a DM so did I.
Here is hoping the more freeform and creative judge inducing 4E and LFR models help improve the judges.
I'm a 4E fanboy, its true.
I am a little concerned that doing higher level calculations that defenses seem 1-2 points too low at Epic tier and that the nerfing of the skill challange DC's was too agressive. I think they should have been lowered by about 2, maybe 3. 5 was WAY too much, in my opinion.
Here is a picture I really like of the gaming area (just a small part):
Ok I have been uber slack on the blogging. My major motivation to blog went bleh in May so I haven't bothered but I've decided, 'Bugger It' and Im back at it.
This past weekend I was at GenCon Indy. Well, not weekend, it was Thur-Sun (with a travel day on Wed).
Anyway, I hate the drive down so I was going to fly. Even better, I was owed a flight so I didnt have to pay for it. yay. Until 2 weeks before the con I was told I wasnt getting the flight and by then that was too late for me to book a decent priced fair under my own wallet, so I was back to driving. Shit.
Unless I land a job in Seattle (doesn't seem likely - hands up if you detest online HR!!), I'm moving back to Australia soon - so no car.
This means hire car. Uh oh. Fortunately I found 3 others from Toronto who needed to drive down. Yay, we could split the costs and driving (...in theory, more on this later).
The Drive
We left Toronto on wednesday around 10.30am. The Sarnia/Port Huron border is normally really good on traffic, or so I am told. Not on wednesday around 2pm it seems. We had to wait a hour in traffic. Fortunately the Aussie (me!) had his American tourist visa already sorted out from the Origins trip and we didnt have further delays.
The rest of the trip was pretty decent, a thunderstorm for 30mins cut down our travel speed, but other than that we made good time and arrived around 8pm. Its a 9 hour drive according to www.mapquest.com so that was a good 9.5 hour trip including a 1 hour border crossing. Not a bad effort. I did 7.5 hours of the driving though so looked forward to not having to do that on the way back (oh, how naive I was).
Mapquest did send us on a little weird detour through Indy though. It led us through some areas that, um, need improvement. We passed a seat bench that had us all howling in laughter. We found it on the way back and took a picture:
Oh, I was driving and none of the brave 3 sitting in the car would get their arses outside to take the picture - they made me turn around and drive past it slowly. BOK BOK BOKERK! Freaking chicken shits. True, there was some people hanging around in groups on each corner looking dodgy, but c'mon.
ARRIVED!
So we arrived and checked in. The valet is $28 per day. Ouch. My credit card is getting a beating and we havent even started day 1. I head down to the bar very tired and somewhat dehydrated. In my infinite wisdom I drink beer. I thought it was 3. Turns out it was 2-3 times that much. It explains Day 1 (see below). I hung out with Dave C, Jason from Paizo, Gib and Greg and co from Warren, Ohio etc and drink up a storm. The part of my brain that should of said 'drink water, you are dehydrated' apparently stayed in the car. Dammit.
DAY 1: hurling
I get up at 6.15. Need to be the RPGA area to set up the Delve at 7 (I was going to do it the day before, but then the whole not getting a flight thing...).
I had an AWFUL taste in my mouth and 3 seconds after waking up my stomach reminded me that it had purged itself last night... Twice. According to my roomie, I was a funny (not to me) shade of green.
Heading to the Delve I set up 12 maps and rushed around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find the minis and stuff I requested for the Delve. Half wasn't shipped and a bunch is just boosters so we break open a ton. Some proxies but we make it happen.
Fortunately I purchased a ton of stuff in Canada and had 30 sheets of foam board, 8 rolls of double sided tape and 60 zip loc bags with me. $300 worth of preparedness = priceless on Day 1 of a show.
We started the first delve at 9.30 and it was insane from that point on. We ended up running 13 tables at a time and could have used 16 or more if we had had judges. Wow.
I was super bummed that the Star Wars maps didnt turn up. Again, not being there wednesday, I didnt have the opportunity to go and find everything the day before. I was short judges anyway but I'd have liked to have had at least 1 table of Star Wars available. I found out Friday night that the maps had been with the league guys in Hall F. I sent one of my judges over first thing Saturday but no-one could find the maps. Very dissapointing. If we do the Star Wars delve again, Im just going to buy Galaxy Tiles out of my own pocket and bring them to the show. We also had no timers again, ugh. Oh well, I'll keep asking!
I finished my shift at 3.30. My stomach had been purging itself all day. That was my toughest day at a con ever: playing the Happy Delve Coordinator and throwing up every 30 minutes. I didnt beer for the rest of the con. Lesson learnt. I also went through 3 packs of Listerine tabs to keep the fresh breath in-between stomach fights. Only my roommate (also one of my judges) had any idea how sick I was until we told some friends so yay for being able to cover up the need to hurl as I explain how to play/run the Delve. I dunno if that is a skill I can put in my resume??
DAY 2-4: successful and no hurling
Day 2-4 were all much the same with the Delve doing GREAT numbers and having big lines again. It was a smashing success. Some new (for Delve) judges stepped up and that was great. Wizards R&D folks also lent some time to judge and that always makes the players day/week/year. Plus, it gives me a few more judges (god, we could use more judges).
This was the 5th RPGA Delve I've written and the 2nd for 4th Edition. It was a big success again and I am very proud of how well the judges did and how much the players enjoyed the experience. SO many new to 4E or even D&D at all played the Delve and told me how much they loved it. We had quite a few move on into the 4 hour RPGA games after playing some Delve so even as an acquisition tool it was great.
FRI NIGHT: Steak and burning arse
On Friday night Greg (friend from Ohio) took Dave C, Gib, myself and a couple of their Ohio buddies to an AWESOME steak place near the convention. We had champagne and steaks and lots of laughs. Good times. Oh except for the shrimp cocktail - the chili burnt me all the way from the throat to my arse in about 0.8 seconds flat. Thank god for ice cold water. Wow. Still, I ate it all. Heh. But not the steak, which sucks. It was AWESOME but way too much to eat. Wish I could have it now actually. damn. Anyway, thanks Greg. You rock.
SAT NIGHT: Judging for a star.
On Saturday night I overheard Rob Watkins (star wars minis fame) asking HQ for a judge for a LFR mod (core 1-3). I was itching to DM by that point so I said I'd do it. I ran the mod cold after a 15min skim of the mod and 5 minutes talking to the Author, Sean Molley.
Rob is a great guy and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to judge for him and his pals. I always get a kick out of being able to run a game with staff members (I am such a fanboi, eh!?). Who knows, one day I may finally land myself a job wearing a black shirt - until then I'm living the dream by association.
Rob and his crew said they had a great time. The module is excellent, I highly recommend it. I had a BLAST DMing (sorry about the scotch on the carpet...). D&D mods, esp RPGA mods, have a lot of block ext. This helps the average judge pass on the information and scene. I get that. But I personally *HATE* block text. I always paraphrase and tailor to the audience. I think the guys really enjoyed that style too.
I thinks its great that the RPGA has moved away from the LG model of 'you must run the module exactly word for word as written' to a more free form style within the contextual boundries of the module. It makes for a much better game for the players and DM when you can tweak and adjust to the group, both the characters and the players.
DEALERS HALL
Working from 7/7.30-3.30 without break means I get the evenings off. Unfortunately the dealers all closes at 6 and I usually dont wrap up stuff in the RPGA area until 4/4.30 and then I grab a shower and change. Still, I got to wander through the hall a little and picked up some Warhammer stuff I'd ordered before the show (US price with 20% off = 65% less than Canadian prices.. yeah its silly). I also grabbed some dice and some ALEA TOOLS magnets to use in 4E games.
Dave C and I tried a Cthulu card game demo at FFG's booth. It was a little meh. I do love their Wings of War stuff and the demo meant I ran outta time to spend $$ I dont have, so yay. I did hope to get a demo of the new Battlestar Galactica boardgame but the hall closed. I think I skimmed about 75% of the hall. One year Im going to make sure I get a good half a day and just look and try stuff. It's something to look forward to. I also didnt buy the Arsenal book for Shadowrun. Its the only book I dont have but local peeps arent playing it here and its just more stuff to ship back to OZ. My self control was great this year. I do love toys though.
WOTC
Well I keep trying to get a job at Wizards and keep hearing nothing but it was good to see a bunch of familiar faces. I was supposed to get signed copies of the books back in June but it never happened so I did the fanboy thing and joined the autograph booth line. I now have a PHB with some signatures from my D&D idols. yay.
Mike M, Peter S, Shue, Bruce C, Chris S, James W, Keith B, Chris P: they all ran some Delve tables for me this year. The players LOVE the Black Shirts running games. It's awesome. It's a real priviledge having the R&D folks take such an interest in running games for the RPGA gamers and fanboys. Special thanks to Andy who made sure everyone turned up :) Some of the guys ran extra tables during down time just to help out (the lines were huge at times). Thanks x2.
One day I'll be in a cubicle near you lads, so keep my chair warm.
DRIVE HOME
Well, the Delve finishes at 1pm. We pack up as quick as we can and were done by 1.30. I like to hang around and help out, make sure everything is 100% and then take the opportunity to unwind with the rest of the RPGA staff but no flight = drive home. We managed to get on the road by 2.15. So that means before midnight we should be home in Toronto, right? BUZZ, WRONG. So I drive until we are on the highway (taking time to get that photograph noted earlier). We then go get food and gas. I've driven for 30mins and one of the guys says he's awake and happy to drive. GREAT I cant do another 8 hours of driving. He lasts for a hour or so. Doh. Fortunately Gregg steps up and does 3-3.5 hours. Then I take over again. We get stuck in the traffic from hell and it takes us over 1.5 hours to cross the border. After dropping each of the other 3 guys off, I get into my apartment just after 2am. Yay, 12 hours to get home and another 7.5hours of driving. So much for my relaxed trip back, lol. Still, other than the driving bit, it was a good group to travel with.
SUMMARY
The Delve was another hit. I love big shows. Driving 12 hours sucks at the end of a con. Im still trying to get a black shirt job and I got to meet up with a bunch of friends and gamers again. If Im in OZ next year (looks likely) I hope that I get the opportunity to return for the show. Thanks to Dave C and Chris T for the swag. Loving the new FR book. Looking forward to the players guide.
Note to self: drink tons of water wednesday.
Just saw Iron Man.
OH. MY. GOD.
You must see it... and thanks to SRM
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delve_srmfor the tip - sit through the credits. SO worth it.I was in NY the weekend before last - AWESOME. NYCC was great, getting to meet up with some of the wotc crew and volunteers. Great times.
Then I returned and the whole resignation thing.
And on Sunday just gone, my boss committed suicide. We are a small highend boutique firm. We have 9 of us and 5 support staff at this office. For such a dynamic goal-orientated workhorse to pass like that. It's, well, it's a kick in the face and the guts and the heart and the head. I don't get it. I feel guilty. Maybe I should have seen something, some sign. Maybe my leaving and all was an added stress. I'm angry. How dare he do this to his colleagues and more importantly his wife and kids. He was 35 ffs. The guy earnt GREAT $$, was handsome, charming, successful, well liked, popular. He had some home issues but come on. So it's been hard on everyone. Not alot of sleep going on. Some tears. He and I used to work a lot together. I can't count the number of times we pulled late nights in the office and then went to a pub for a few beers and some bad food, talking shop, chics and beer.
Anyway, we had the visitation last night. that was tough. Today is the funeral. The whole office is at the funeral except moi - someone needed to watch reception - the elevators auto unlock. As another example of why it's good I'm leaving, the co-op from last semester was called in yesterday to help out and HE'S going to the the funeral. WTF I worked closely with Cris for over 2.5 years - why isn't the damn co-op who spent a whole 3-4 months in the office staying here. Pissed me off. I volunteered before I knew about the co-op coming. Aholes didnt bother to tell me.
All I want is a job where teamwork and comraderie is the norm. But this post isnt really about me. Well it is, its my blog, but its about my sadness and the turbulence of life. So many ups and downs the past 2 weeks.
I applied for a job a couple of days ago. Its in the US West Coast. I would so kickass but the whole not-American visa thing might be a hurdle the company doesnt want to tackle.
Going out to Seattle next week (its on the West Coast, co-incidence...!?!?!). REALLY looking forward to it. I have some good friends and some good acquaintances that I think someday will be good friends in Seattle and it should be fun. Also planning an excursion up to Vancouver. Havent been there yet. Heard its great.
I'm part planner and part as-it-comes kinda guy. I like overviews and flexible structure and some play room in the middle. So I have made plans for drinks Thur. Vancouver saturday. Dinner sunday. Also have a possible trip to the baseball Fri night and I'll drop into wotc on wed or thur to say hi to peeps. Try and see some secret squirrel stuff (NDA, so no, I wont be saying what if anything avid readers, all 4 of you - yes I have increased my readership by 100% - stats are great). Would lurrrve to worm my way into a game of anything too.
I'd take a MtG deck - its just easy to carry - but my decks suck. I tried one of Jeff's (wotc volunteer/delegate at NYCC) decks in some social play. OMG his Faerie T2 deck was INSANE good. **THAT** is what a deck should be like. Wish I could borrow it just to destroy the local league here. I returned to MtG only recently (with lorwyn - that block just grabbed me). So I don't have alot of the Coldsnap/Timespiral stuff. When the T2 flips that block out I'll be in a better shape. I really like block decks. ie: lorwyn/morningtide only decks, but hardly anyone wants to play those locally. T2 is more popular, though limited has the biggest following - at least at the store I play at.
New York Comic Con 2008 (NYCC) was great. Delve numbers were good, though Tom and I bussed tables waaaay too much. I'm glad we did though. Another game company had a few tables near us and let half of them be used for eating. It looked worse than a rubbish dump at the end of each day. I meant to take a photo but alas I was distracted by some chic in a Leia costume. If *SHE* had played Leia, Luke would have SO banged his sister.
I'm looking forward to the new War at Sea: Task Force minis. The game rules need alot of work (way too basic) but the minis are gorgeous. (Well Set I was and I hear some of the scale and historical error issues are being fixed for Set II - so Wooohoo!).
I've made some notes on ways to improve the game. I purchased a bunch of coloured plastic 'blip' markers. 2 different colours. I use the for subs. For each sub you have, you can place 2 blip markers. You move them the same as the subs. Ships, based on their ASW rating, can turn over a blip at different ranges instead of attacking that turn. If they (the ship) doesnt move, it gets a bonus +1 to the range. Planes with an ASW rating can also fly sorties to flip the blips. Unless the sub owner sends his own planes to intercept.
Seems to work well in playtesting. I borrowed the idea from the old Space Hulk game, with the genestealers attacking as waves of blips, with 0-3 per blip. The spacemarines needed to get LOS to the blip to turn it over.
Well its 11:30. Im freaking starving and we have no milk for coffee. 2 days to go!
- Mood:
thirsty
Been a while since I posted. I was down in New York last week/weekend. Wow, that city is cool.
I have a new fav drink... Lychee Sake. I kid you not.
Anyway, I have a big blurb about NYCC and what I saw and did and tons of photos. But I'll wait on that, because they are at home and I am not.
Instead I'll update you on what happened AFTER I returned.
So, my workplace is really *not* a fan of my time being spent on wizards of the coast freelance work/rpga/conventions. I'm on salary and I do the wotc stuff on my weekends and vacation days, but they are still against it. Infact, they told me that I wasnt allowed to take vacation for shows after D&D Experience (see, I didn't call it DDXP...).
Anyway, they cancelled my holidays on the Monday, knowing I was supposed to leave Wednesday night for NY. I ended up being allowed to go (after pulling an all nighter in the office tuesday night - 29 hours of work in 32 and then onto a plane!). But it was hell to pay when I got back.
Long and short of it, I've now resigned. My last day is may 2nd. It's kinda poo to expect someone not to participate in their hobby on their own time.
- Mood:
blah
Anyway,
YAY!!!
If this doesnt make you laugh, call your kids/partner/parents/cat and tell them where you will is, cause you a dead.
This:
I think I'm actually going to die from kidney failure due to vitamic C overdose, rather than the flu.
I'm soldiering on at work with Vitaman c, Echinacea tablets, Berocca Performance (had them sent over from Australia - they rock), Tylenol cold n flu, 3 cups of coffee, a lot of water and some yummy pad thai.
I need something cool to write about, eh?
dru
- Mood:
sick
I check the same website everyday to see if they'll put something up that will give me the chance to do what I want to do but they havent posted squat except the same things over and over. HELLO? I'm right here!
And I havent won lotto yet. Of course I don't buy tickets, but whatever.
Tomorrow is Tuesday. Given 3 weeks of work to do in 2 days on top of my full work load and my default secondary work load in the office as resident IT guy. I need to stop pulling off miracles and screw something up so they stop giving me work. But I hate doing a bad job. I'm torn.... time to check that site again.
..ok back. Nadda. Bah humbug.
Dru
Ok so I only just found lolcats.com
and spent the last hour laughing my ass off
Im behind the times, Im sure 99% of the net community knew about this. Why noone tells me? Hmmm?
and
There, I said it. I'm not ashamed!
Along with he difficulty of finding reliable regular gaming groups is finding reliable regular boardgamers.
So, I'll post some games I have that are unused and make me have geek tears, and some games that I would like to play but have refrained (just) from buying because I just keep buying stuff I dont get to use.
I'm a bit of an addict when it comes to games, I must admit, even if I only get to read the rules and ponder the mechanics. (and play with the board/peices and wonder how it could be improved, counters vs plastic figs etc)
Want to buy me a cool present? Get me a boardgame. Ship it with gamer friends I can keep in the cupboard.
So, favourite games I own that I dont/rarely get to play:
Brittania
This is one of my favourite boardgames ever. We played this alot back home. I grabbed the new version last year. Wish I had 3 buddies to play with! It was fun playing the game with the same 3 friends back home. At first the roman faction always won. Then the saxon (red). Then green became the new red. The blue. Different strategies and perceptions of the 'strongest colour - must beat them down' that flucutate give this game repeatable playability.
World in Flames
When I was in Sydney, OZ (2004), my landlord had this running in his spare room - yep you need alot of space tied up for a long time. This game is MASSIVE, and just damn kickass. I need a) someone who knows the rules well and b) people who can play on a regular and consistant basis. I would permanently displace furniture to have this set up, even if my little apartment gets smaller. It is soooooooo good. Ever played Hearts of Iron PC game? It's like that. But better. And bigger.
I bought the deluxe version and had it shipped here and in the box it has remained. sad. Sometimes I stroke the peices and giggle about world domination.
Risk 2210
I loved the old risk as a kid. This version has some interesting changes (the aquatic element in particular, no more australia bottleneck). I also enjoy the 3 random nuclear waste sites - that makes the game a little different each time. Anyway, played this once. Won, enjoyed it. Was it because I won? Well thats always good, but no, its fun, and simple - a no brainer kinda game in many ways but enough twists on the regular Risk to make it fun. I need boardgame friends!
Talisman
Ok, this game has alot of issues (game balance broken once you get your random character anyone?) but I enjoy it. I think most of that stems from the countless hours my grade 9 & 10 buddies played this. Game after game on weekends, when not playing Cthulhu. The game brings back lots of happy memories. For that reason alone I bought it at GenCon last year.
Wings of War
This game is FUN! I tried it at gencon and immediately bought everything they had. (They'd sold out of some of the booster packs). I also bought 4 of the planes. We played it at GenCon at the local pubs a few times with friends (oh, gamer friends, move closer). I just love this game. I'd like to incorporate it into a bigger campaign of some sort. It's just got alot of potential. And the mini's are purty. I bought a 5th plane the other day even though I don't get to play it. purty.
Games I dont have but would get if I had boardgame buddies:
Acquire
This is getting re-released (I like the old peices better though). I may end up getting it - its fun and simple and even non-hardcore boardgamers/partners can enjoy it. Hmm, I really do like the old school peices better than those the pre-release photos are showing.
The Napoleonic Wars
This looks like fun. In another land I used to play alot of tabletop wargames (oh how I miss my old games groups). This era always intrigued me. I saw this game first on Dave Noonan's blog last year - it looks good.
Puerto Rico
Settlers is fun. Gets a bit predictable at times though. This may be a better version of similiar product, from what I've read. I would like to try it.
Axis & Allies
This was my second favourite boardgame as a kid/teenager. I played this ALOT. I really do enjoy WW2 boardgames and mini games. I've had 3? copies so far. This is a classic. Sadly my differnet versions have been lost over time (I think 1 was stolen, 1 lost when moving, and no idea on the 3rd copy). Must get this again. Resisting because another game sitting gathering dust is :(. On and I do hope the Great War musings turns into a real game -- would be interesting.
Diplomacy
I loved this game as a teenager. LOVED it. So much so that this is what we played at my 13th birthday party with my fruend (I was often the DM/boardgame umpire - I had a bunch of buddies even then that I'd wrangled into my games). I still remember a friend, David Baker, my smooth talking nemesis. He and I would almost always be the 2 superpowers towards the end. Ah, good times.
There is others, but theres a small wish list.
/end ramblings
Dru
I love listening to music. Someone asked me the other day what kind of music I liked and I really couldn't give any sort of 'fits in this box' answer.
Here's an example of the last 10 songs that have come up on 'top rated' iTunes shuffle:
Tool, sober
Erasure: take a chance on me
John Butler Trio, message in a bottle (from the Australian Triple J like a version album - very cool)
U2, beautiful day
Coldplay, spies
The Mutton Birds, don't fear the reaper
George, release
Sting, if I ever lose my faith in you
Jebediah, military strongmen
Queen, flash
Robbie Williams feat. Frank Sinatra, it was a very good year
Ok, thats 11, but the last one came on as I was typing this out. And before the shuffle I was listening to Massive Attack's soundtrack for Danny the Dog (released as Unleashed in Nth America - you know, the Jet Li movie).
Nuff said.
SUNSHINE: 2.5 stars (wish I knew how to put stars in this code)
I watched Sunshine this week, a Sci-Fi movie of sorts. It was ok 2.5 stars. If you are bored and its on cable, its worth a look. Dont bother to purchase.
It does have interesting concepts but only superficially explores them - I'd have liked to have seen more character relationships and isolationism explored in the plot - aka submariners go through when under for a long period. The movie touched on a number of cool concepts, but failed to fully explore them. Also a few 'err, that couldnt happen' moments. Artistic movie license in effect people, suspend laws of physics in parts and you'll enjoy it more. Overall, a good veg out in front of the tv but not a must see at all.
WE ARE MARSHALL: 2 stars (includes half a star because it's a true story)
I saw We Are Marshall earlier in the week. It was ok. It was no Remember the Titans though. 2 stars. It had a good cast, just didnt grab me. I definately more of a fan of Denzel than Matthew M anyway.
The most stirring part of the movie was fairly early - the "We are Marshall, we are Marshall" chanting scene outside the office - it always threatened to climb back that emotive peak but never rose above its own mediocrity from then on. Some of the emotional and critical elements just seemed way too forced. Reminds me of Anakin's switch to the darkside in Episode 3 - too forced. Mind you I think he's a shitty whiny actor (Hayden Christensen) so I may be biased. We are Marshall, if its on cable and you've already scrubbed the bathroom tub, sorted the toothpicks by height and weight, and there's nothing left to do in your abode, feel free to give it a look. Just don't spend any cash.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Preview
I going to watch No Country For Old Men today some time. Hopefully its good - I have seen mixed reviews, despite the accolades. I suspect this might be a great film without hype and an ok one with hype? We shall see!
Here's a same - me being a goof in Cairns, Australia during my visit home April2007.
